Dallas salon opens for business despite COVID-19 stay-at-home order
DALLAS - A Dallas salon owner is now open for business, despite a county order that says her non-essential business must stay closed.
Shelley Luther, owner of Salon a La Mode, says she’s had enough and is willing to go to jail over the debate if it were to ever come down to that.
With Luther's business being open for business, it also meant she also opened it up to local officials, who she said delivered a citation, along with a cease and desist letter for going against the county’s order that prohibits her non-essential business from reopening.
“I’m not closing,” she said. “Because all of the small business owners need to have some sort of voice, and we need to stand up for what’s right or we’ll continue to get our freedom taken away.”
The salon owner says she missed a mortgage payment on her home and has 19 employees who need to work.
RELATED: Coronavirus coverage
Dozens of people showed up for haircuts on Friday, but city officials also showed up.
FOX4 was at Salon A La Mode when city officials delivered a citation.
“This is a citation to see a judge,” Luther said.
And when a cease and desist letter came, that she said was from Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
A letter she read aloud: “Note that a violation of this order during a pandemic may be punished criminally as a misdemeanor or enforced by civil action pursuant to the order.”
“Have you ever heard of the right of assemble? The right to work? The right to pursue happiness?” barber Kristi Parker said. “And I don’t appreciate the long arm of the government telling the blue collar workers that we can’t work.”
A steady crowd of supporters brought her business.
“So I’m very used to having a very clean head of hair and having a haircut just makes me feel like there’s some level of normalcy out of this,” Patrick Cochrane said.
“You have to live life, regardless,” Dana Joy Nunn added.
Of course, not everyone agrees with reopening salons, even some stylists who came out just to see with their own eyes what was going on.
“I don’t agree with disobeying the laws, that is everything that I have resounded throughout this whole thing. It’s let’s stay at home, let’s obey the laws, so we can get back to work,” said Mimi Hawkins, who also owns a salon.
Hawkins believes the actions taken at this business will have a ripple effect.
“I believe salons and barbershops will follow,” she said.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott's state order also bans salons from reopening at this.
“The most dangerous places are salons and gyms. The CDC makes that clear, the doctors advising me make that clear,” the governor said.
He also said there are consequences for violating the order.
“And so those would-be situations where people who open up those types of businesses, they're subject to having their license revoked and forever not being able to reopen their businesses again,” he explained.
Luther was asked what she has to say to businesses that are following the order and suffering.
“I say open up businesses and this will stop happening,” she said.
At this time, the city and the county have not gone on record with what happened and the plan moving forward.
At last check on Friday, Luther’s salon has not been closed by officials.