As President Donald Trump laid out the plan for the country’s economic re-opening, a Dallas salon owner refused to apologize for operating her salon during the lockdown, claiming that she was not “selfish” for wanting to provide for her own family.

During the hearing, which was held via a Zoom conference, Judge Eric Moyé offered Shelly Luther, owner of the Salon Á la Mode, no jail time as long as she would agree to apologize and admit to the court that her actions were wrong.

However, Luther responded, “I have to disagree with you, sir,…because feeding my kids is not selfish.” The business owner explained, “I have hairstylists that are going hungry because they’d rather feed their kids. So, sir, if you think the law is more important than kids getting fed, then please go ahead with your decision, but I am not going to shut the salon.” The presiding Judge told Luther that she must acknowledge her mistakes, to “understand that the society cannot function where one’s own belief in a concept of liberty permits you to flaunt your disdain for the rulings of duly elected officials.”

Judge Moyé told the business owner that she owed an apology to elected officials by violating strict lockdown orders. Due to her defiance to concede, Luther had received seven days of jail time and will be fined $500 for days that the salon had opened. Currently, the fine stands at $500.

Luther’s attorney said that they would appeal the ruling.

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Luther’s story is only among the numerous accounts of business owners who desperately tried to defy state orders.

Even federal officials refused to implement the strict stay-at-home orders due to humanitarian considerations. In fact, a California Sheriff from Riverside County, Chad Bianco, refused to enforce the state order. Just this week, Bianco told the County Board of Supervisors that he would not “make criminals out of business owners” or individuals who are not at risk of doing their constitutional rights.

Just like Luther, Bianco claimed that the health and economic crisis had forced upstanding citizens to violate the law, citing that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s orders had disregarded people’s inalienable freedom that had already been established 200 years ago.

While the Sheriff agreed that the stay-at-home orders had helped flatten the curve, he pointed out that only 4,300 residents had tested positive from the virus, out of the 2.5 million people in their county, 2,000 of which had already recovered from the infection.

However, Bianco continued to stress out that at-risk citizens or those that have underlying conditions continue to stay at home. He also believed that elected officials should be more aware of the decisions they make, and should only base it on facts, and data, and not of fear. Currently, Bianco stood firm with his decisions and refused to arrest citizens, as he believed in their ability to decide what’s best for themselves.

Due to the increasing pressure from business owners, Democratic Governor Newsom agreed to open certain businesses such as bookstores, flower shops, clothing stores, and sporting goods stores as the state moved to Stage 2 of the economic re-opening. However, Newsom warned that the state is “not going back to normal” unless the administration can provide a vaccine.