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Governor Abbott of Texas bans jail for business openers… — 12 Comments

1. And Luther has a slice of Abelard.

2. Makes me proud to be a Texan, it’s a good day during bad times.

3. Meanwhile, somewhere, Sam Nunn smiles…

4. The salon owner has over half a million waiting for her when she gets out given a funding page…

   [go back a few weeks and you will see me mentioning that this is going to get expensive for the state given their actions and settlements… ]

   NEXT location of issue:
   The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday voted to identify hotels refusing to take in the homeless during the coronavirus pandemic and said they could possibly be “commandeered.”

   [this may not go as well for the democrats as they think it will… MANY MANY wealthy and business owners, and others may start to say.. WTF am i doing helping this kind of peoples?]

5. I feel a certain personal sense of joy seeing all the “Luther” connections being made. It’s like the world has suddenly wandered up to my place for a beer & I’m happy to oblige.

   And I’m happy the PTB in Texas are trying to make this nice woman’s life a little less difficult. And the half-a-mil in GoFundMe won’t hurt either.

6. I hope that “Shelley Luther” will be a name ascribed to patriots. Maybe all it takes is one to stand up and then others will follow. I was surprised to find that even CNN and MSN covered the release but without much fanfare. So perhaps the libs are even getting a bit of the message.

   @Art: yeah, California will be the next test. Maybe there will be Shelley there.

7. Seems to me Abbott has himself to blame for Luther’s predicament. He ordered the lockdown.

8. To paraphrase a famous movie, Ms. Luther is going to need a bigger beauty salon.

9. parker – the news reports I read are confusing, because they often don’t distinguish between state and county orders; or between orders, directives, and guidelines – some are legally enforceable and some or not.

   The following exercise is just for information, since the case is now moot.
   However, it’s interesting to see the documents in the case rather than just pundits’ interpretations.

   The judge was almost within the strictures of the EO (the $7000 fine was actually more than the upper limit of $1000), although by my reading any attorney worth his fee could get Luther acquitted anyway.
   The protests were more about his pontificating, which was gratuitous and condescending, and the imposition of a fine at the maximum level rather than at the minimum (none) where it should have been, and any jail time at all — when hardened felons are being released; robbery suspects, turned loose without bail; and high-status criminals, celebrated by conspirators in the halls of the government with impunity.

   Bottom line is that almost everyone but Judge Moye agrees a jail sentence and massive fine (for a hairdresser’s income) “does not serve the cause of justice,” to quote another legal opinion issued today.

   Here’s the official State orders if anyone wants clarification.

   https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-issues-executive-order-implements-statewide-essential-services-and-activities-protocols

   March 31, 2020 | Austin, Texas | Press Release

   Governor Greg Abbott today issued an Executive Order implementing Essential Services and Activities Protocols for the entire state of Texas. The protocols direct all Texans to minimize non-essential gatherings and in-person contact with people who are not in the same household. The Governor’s Executive Order renews and amends his previous order enforcing federal social distancing guidelines for COVID-19, including closing schools and instructing Texans to avoid eating or drinking at bars and restaurants. The protocols allow exceptions for essential activities and services based on the Department of Homeland Security’s guidelines on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce. Examples of these essential services include healthcare, grocery stores, banking and financial services, utilities, child care for essential service employees, and government services.

   Today’s Executive Order follows the decision by President Trump and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to enhance social distancing guidelines and extend the deadline for these guidelines to April 30th.

   …

   “Social distancing is our best tool in the fight against COVID-19, and the actions we have taken thus far have proven to be effective in limiting the spread of this virus,” said Governor Abbott. “Now it is time to redouble our efforts to reduce further exposure as much as possible and flatten the curve. As with all the actions the state is taking, the Essential Services and Activities Protocols is informed by the expertise and guidance of the CDC as well as state and local health officials. I urge my fellow Texans to heed these heightened social distancing directives to protect their health and the health of those around them. By following these guidelines, we will limit the spread of COVID-19 and overcome this challenge together.”

   The Executive Order renews and expands the Governor’s previous directive to minimize social gatherings and minimize contact with people who are not in the same household. It also renews the Governor’s directive to avoid eating or drinking at bars, restaurants, and food courts, and visiting gyms or massage establishments, and it expands the order to include tattoo studios, piercing studios, and cosmetology salons.
   …
   These orders will be effective on a statewide basis starting at 12:01 AM on April 2, 2020 and will end on April 30, 2020, subject to extension thereafter based on the status of COVID-19 in Texas and the recommendations of the CDC.

   Information on re-opening. Hair salons are not included in the first tranch.
   https://www.themonitor.com/2020/04/22/dshs-issues-guidelines-non-essential-businesses/

   Timeline of the tranches.
   https://tdem.texas.gov/essentialservices/

   Here are the relevant provisions from the EO itself.
   https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/EO-GA-14_Statewide_Essential_Service_and_Activity_COVID-19_IMAGE_03-31-2020.pdf

   …
   WHEREAS, under Section 418. 173, failure to comply with any executive order issued during the COVD-19 disaster is an offense punishable by a fine not to exceed $1,000, confinement in jail for a term not to exceed 180 days, or both fine and confinement.
   …
   In accordance with guidance from DSHS Commissioner Dr. Hellerstedt, and to achieve the goals established by the President to reduce the spread of COVD-19, every person in Texas shall, except where necessary to provide or obtain essential services, minimize social gatherings and minimize in-person contact with people who are not in the same household.
   …
   In accordance with the Guidelines from the President and the CDC, people shall avoid eating or drinking at bars, restaurants, and food courts, or visiting gyms, massage establishments, tattoo studios, piercing studios, or cosmetology salons; provided, however, that the use of drive-thru, pickup, or delivery options for food and drinks is allowed and highly encouraged throughout the limited duration of this executive order.
   …
   This executive order shall supersede any conflicting order issued by local officials in response to the COVD-19 disaster, but only to the extent that such a local order restricts essential services allowed by this executive order or allows gatherings prohibited by this executive order.

   Looks like to me that the onus was on the people who were not avoiding visiting the salon as much as on the owner.

10. Here’s what went down –
    (a) Governor realized that his EO allowed jail time, and that was too harsh for the crime of violating the EO (especially since they were releasing real criminals); he should have thought of that before he signed it, but governments always over-threaten to encourage compliance, and just because they can.
    My parenting books advised: never threaten a punishment you aren’t willing to go through with.
    (b) some legislators got illegal haircuts also, pointing out that there was no rationale for pushing salons to the second wave of openings in the first place; it was a knee-jerk obeisance to the CDC, without thinking it through.
    (seems to be a lot of that going around these days).

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/abbott-issues-executive-order-eliminating-jail-as-punishment-for-violating-coronavirus-restrictions

    The dustup Wednesday over Luther’s actions came after two Texas Republican lawmakers got illegal haircuts at another business in protest of the fact that hair salons and barbershops were not part of the initial wave of businesses to reopen under the governor’s plan.

    “Hairstylists and the cosmetology industry don’t have a lot of lobbyists in the Capitol advocating for them, whereas maybe the big-box stores and large restaurant chains do and sadly they were overlooked when this should have been an industry that was opened first, because of how regulated they are and the health standards they have to comply with,” state Rep. Briscoe Cain said, according to Fox 26 Houston.

    He was joined by Rep. Steve Toth in his act of civil disobedience.

    Note that neither of them were arrested, fined, or jailed.

    Interview on “Hannity” followed her release pretty quickly – did they social distance or do it over the phone? Not watching to find out!
    https://www.foxnews.com/media/shelley-luther-speaks-out-released-from-jail

    Luther said she is feeling much better after being allowed to go back home, and told host Sean Hannity she stands by her decision not to apologize as instructed by state District Judge Eric Moye.

    “That was the last thing I was going to do, honestly,” she said. ” … I just couldn’t, I couldn’t bring myself to apologize.”
    …
    “We were shut down March 22, so it had been several weeks that the government was kind of telling us the [small business] money was coming,” Luther told Hannity. “The Dallas County Judge, Clay Jenkins, kept pushing back the date of when we would open weeks out in advance, before we would hear any new comings of what was going on with masks or whatever.
    “When he finally pushed it back a final time I just woke up one day and I said, ‘I have to open, my stylists are calling me, they’re not making their mortgage,'” she continued. ” … I’m two months behind on my mortgage.

    “My stylists were telling me that they wanted [to go] underground and go to people’s houses,” she said. “I just said, ‘You know, that’s not a good idea because we can’t control the environment there. We don’t know if it’s been disinfected or anything like that,’ and I just decided I would open.”

    Luther added that during the time she was open in defiance of the order, the salon instituted strict sanitation and social distancing measures.
    ‘We tried to use gloves at first,” she said, adding that the hairstylists couldn’t work with them. “But we made sure that I had no clients waiting inside the salon at all. I had chairs six feet apart outside of the salon … and when the stylist was ready and wearing a mask — we didn’t let any clients come in without a mask — they instantly sanitized their hands, the hairstylist sanitized their hands. They came in, they did the cut and that person left.”

    Luther said her brief stay in jail was “not pleasant,” though she did have a cell to herself.

    “The worst thing was that I didn’t get to call anybody when I got there, the whole first night,” she said. “And that’s kind of scary, because I have a daughter that just turned 17 at home, and if my boyfriend wasn’t there to tell, you know, to talk to her or anything, I would not have come home and she would not have known where I was.”

    Babylon Bee has the final word.

    https://babylonbee.com/news/american-christian-glad-he-doesnt-live-in-one-of-those-commie-countries
    “American Christian Thanks God He Doesn’t Live In One Of Those Communist Countries Where The Government Can Shut Churches Hair Salons Down On A Whim”

    https://babylonbee.com/news/bill-of-rights-was-hidden-away-for-safekeeping-during-lockdown-and-now-no-one-can-find-it

11. Gov. Abbott did bring this on himself by ordering shutdowns, but he and the entire state leadership bent over backwards not to be heavy-handed about it. He never tried to make an example of any business that was in violation, opting instead for a kind of charm offensive of phone calls and exhortations. He issued a re-opening order with some flexibility, so that counties with very low COVID-19 case counts could open up faster to higher occupancy rates. The Dallas judge was out of step with most of the state. That kind of thing seems to be playing better in Dallas, and perhaps the other big cities, than it is in small-town Texas.

12. “Abbot frees Luther.” It has a certain ring, doesn’t it?

    Friendly reminder: Father Johann von Staupitz, Martin Luther’s Father Superior, is rightly celebrated in some Lutheran synods, and was played in Luther by the late, great Bruno Ganz.

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