350,000You may be familiar with the story of Shelly Luther. She is the hair salon owner from Dallas who defied the shutdown executive order imposed on businesses in her state. She was arrested and charged for conducting business, in an effort to support herself and her employees, going so far as to rip up the cease and desist order.
Luther had her trial date – though she did not appear in court. Her hearing was conducted over video conference, and the testimony is worth hearing.
[ Sidenote: It is pretty disturbing to see our government conducting official business using the Zoom video conference platform. This is, for those unfamiliar, a service that has a large portion of its workforce in China and has been found to gather data off of the video feeds of its customers, as well as sharing personal information with third parties, without notification. It is a large security issue many businesses have avoided for these reasons.]
The judge in the case, Eric Moye, was rather stern in his address to Ms. Luther. While we will stop short of calling his demeanor ”aggressive”, it does seem rather apparent that what he is intending is to make an example out of the salon keeper.
The judge told Shelley Luther she
could avoid jail time if she apologized, admitted she was wrong, and agreed to close her hair salon until it was allowed to open.This is her response…@CBSDFW pic.twitter.com/1phdNUsLme
— Andrea Lucia (@CBS11Andrea) May 5, 2020
Basically what you see here is the judge laying out the prospect that she becomes fully subservient and also lay out for the record how very wrong she had been in her actions. Shelly Luther’s response is not at all rude or disrespectful. It also is not coming anywhere near close to what the judge had asked/demanded of her to avoid jail time.
Listen to Ms. Luther and hear what it takes to be a patriotic citizen – as they say – ”In these trying times”.
The judge told Shelley Luther she
could avoid jail time if she apologized, admitted she was wrong, and agreed to close her hair salon until it was allowed to open.This is her response…@CBSDFW pic.twitter.com/1phdNUsLme
— Andrea Lucia (@CBS11Andrea) May 5, 2020
This is what our nation has been reduced to in these hysterical times. A person looking to do nothing more than conduct their private business and earn their keep has become criminalized. We are releasing convicted criminals back into the population in the name of safety, and now replacing their occupancy in the jails with people committing the ”crime” of wanting to earn a living.
A brave woman. We all owe her our thanks for standing up for what’s right.
— Kyle Newcomb (@KyleNewcomb5) May 5, 2020
Very well said ma'am.
Why not let business owners and customers make this decision?
These people are not kids and are trying to stay alive. Stop using the government to crush them and their livelihoods.
Let them work if they want to and stay home if you want to. Simple!
— Frica Unite (@FricaUnite) May 5, 2020
This woman is on the front line in our fight for FREEDOM!
— Barbara Raymond (@barbraymond) May 5, 2020
Two bits of good news surrounding Shelly Luther’s situation. A Go Fund Me set up to help with her legal fees has so far raised $350,000, as people across the country have rallied to back her efforts. Additionally, the Governor and the state Attorney General have mentioned seeing to it Shelly is released.
And Lt Gov Patrick offered to pay her fine and Gov Abbott is asking for her release. She stood for her rights and in the process has brought the spotlight to the Dallas Co officials who overstepped (with all its citizens)
— Elizabeth Rose ⚘ (@1ElizabethRose) May 7, 2020
Let us hope this is one of the signs that this country is making the move to return us to normalcy.
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