Consumer protection refers to the laws designed to aid retail consumers of goods and services that have been improperly manufactured, delivered, performed, handled, or described. Such laws provide the retail consumer with additional protections and remedies not generally provided to merchants and others who engage in business transactions, on the premise that the consumers do not enjoy a sufficient bargaining position with respect to the businessmen with whom they deal and therefore should not be strictly limited by the legal rules that govern recovery for damages among businessmen. The overarching goal is to protect individuals and the interest of the public in general from unfair and misleading activity in business and commerce (such as false advertising and deceptive trade practices) and scams perpetrated by criminals (such as identity theft and pyramid schemes) that harm a substantial number of consumers.
Clarence is a village in Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 516 at the 2000 census. It is located some seven miles east of the parish seat of Natchitoches and is part of the Natchitoches Micropolitan Statistical Area. Still owned by descendants of its founders, Grayson Barbeque, with a smokehouse, is the best known business in Clarence. It is located on U.S. Highway 71 near the intersection with U.S. Highway 84, which leads to Winnfield. Clarence Baptist Church was founded by thirty charter members in 1945, but its sanctuary on Louisiana Highway 6 dates to the pre-World War I era, having been the chapel of the former Camp Claiborne, a United States Army facility near Alexandria in Rapides Parish. The chapel was physically moved to Clarence in 1948, dedicated in 1949, bricked during the 1950s, and still serves as a worship center, having undergone complete remodeling in 2002. The balcony, now a storage area, was used by African American troops who were segregated in worship from white soldiers who used the pews of the lower tier. The church has a baptistry and maintains a parsonage across the highway. Since 2003, the pastor has been the Reverend Harry Bamburg, the 21st man to hold the position. Among previous pastors is William A. Poe (born 1926), formerly an historian with Northwestern State University in Natchitoches who has retired to his hometown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama.