Montana Governor Takes Legal Action Against Local Businesses

 

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post noting how local Montanans were done wearing masks. It turns out that I was not the only one who noticed the casual stance toward the mask mandate; it seems that our governor did as well. In response, he has taken steps to pressure businesses into compliance, moves that may backfire on him. According to this Flathead Beacon article, he:

1.) Is responding to hundreds of complaints about businesses, and soaring COVID numbers in our valley and elsewhere, by sending investigators out into our town’s establishments.

2.) Has singled out several businesses for violations in our town, and announced that he wants them under restraining orders. I thought that it sounded like he wanted to make examples of them. This quote confirmed it:

“The goal here is to make sure businesses are following the measures we need to keep folks safe,” Bullock said. “We expect that afterwards, most businesses will come into compliance and we will immediately seek to remove the temporary restraining orders.”

One of the businesses targeted is Sykes diner, a local favorite. He may find he pushed residents too far with that one. Even with all the local bickering over Coronavirus, from what I saw, Facebook registered uncontested indignation over this move. I read of a couple of plans for pushback, including announcements that locals were planning to eat there the next day in a show of support. Sykes has been around for years, popular especially with seniors. A few years ago, a retired businessman bought and renovated it. It’s a landmark for people who live around here.

The state just issued an online form where citizens can report businesses for being out of compliance. Who are these people so busy reporting businesses to the authorities? My husband and I went to a popular restaurant in a nearby town a few weeks ago, and that place was crowded. There wasn’t much mask-wearing going on, and diners were sitting cheek-by-jowl, so I chose to go to a quiet Asian place instead. But I would never have thought of reporting the busy restaurant for noncompliance. This whole thing feels like micro-management by the state. I’m not sure Bullock, who is running for Senate, is going to see much applause for these authoritarian moves.

Published in Domestic Policy
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  1. Nohaaj Coolidge
    Nohaaj
    @Nohaaj

    I would have lost a $5.00 bet if someone asked me if the governor of Montana was a D or R prior to reading this post.  What the heck were the people of Montana thinking? 

    • #1
  2. Samuel Block Support
    Samuel Block
    @SamuelBlock

    I’ve been enjoying your lovely state for the last four days. (I’m sure I’ll be back – perhaps we can grab a coffee next time.) Having come to Montana directly from Oregon – where most people deem it necessary to wear masks alone on sidewalks, on hiking trails, even alone inside their vehicles, and where my friend recommended that I do my best to avoid mentioning that I was a Floridian – I sensed that I had come to a place that was appropriately concerned with health and wellness. 

    Even though your state is absurdly cold in October it is truly delightful. Godspeed, Montana! 

    • #2
  3. Weeping Inactive
    Weeping
    @Weeping

    sawatdeeka:

    A few weeks ago, I wrote a post noting how local Montanans were done wearing masks. It turns out that I was not the only one who noticed the casual stance toward the mask mandate; it seems that our governor did as well. In response, he has taken steps to pressure businesses into compliance, moves that may backfire on him. According to this Flathead Beacon article, he: 

    1.) Is responding to hundreds of complaints about businesses, and soaring Covid numbers in our valley and elsewhere, by sending investigators out into our town’s establishments. 

    Does the article ever tell you what the phrase “soaring Covid numbers” actually means? Does it tell you how many cases there are and what percentage of the population that number represents?

    • #3
  4. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    Tin-pot dictators, all of them.

    • #4
  5. sawatdeeka Member
    sawatdeeka
    @sawatdeeka

    Nohaaj (View Comment):

    I would have lost a $5.00 bet if someone asked me if the governor of Montana was a D or R prior to reading this post. What the heck were the people of Montana thinking?

    In the fourteen years since I’ve been here, the governor has always been a Democrat, I believe. They’ll vote for conservative senators and Congressmen, but they like their governors to be Dems. I dunno, I’ve wondered about that myself.

    • #5
  6. sawatdeeka Member
    sawatdeeka
    @sawatdeeka

    Samuel Block (View Comment):

    I’ve been enjoying your lovely state for the last four days. (I’m sure I’ll be back – perhaps we can grab a coffee next time.) Having come to Montana directly from Oregon – where most people deem it necessary to wear masks alone on sidewalks, on hiking trails, even alone inside their vehicles, and where my friend recommended that I do my best to avoid mentioning that I was a Floridian – I sensed that I had come to a place that was appropriately concerned with health and wellness.

    Even though your state is absurdly cold in October it is truly delightful. Godspeed, Montana!

    It was one degree up at our house this morning. This is unusual for October, and I hear we’re in for a doozy of a winter. Where in Montana did you visit?  I do not understand the mask-wearing outdoors. 

    • #6
  7. sawatdeeka Member
    sawatdeeka
    @sawatdeeka

    Weeping (View Comment):

    sawatdeeka:

    A few weeks ago, I wrote a post noting how local Montanans were done wearing masks. It turns out that I was not the only one who noticed the casual stance toward the mask mandate; it seems that our governor did as well. In response, he has taken steps to pressure businesses into compliance, moves that may backfire on him. According to this Flathead Beacon article, he:

    1.) Is responding to hundreds of complaints about businesses, and soaring Covid numbers in our valley and elsewhere, by sending investigators out into our town’s establishments.

    Does the article ever tell you what the phrase “soaring Covid numbers” actually means? Does it tell you how many cases there are and what percentage of the population that number represents?

    Here is the quote from the article: 

    Bullock singled out Flathead County early in his press conference as an area of “significant concern” in the state, pointing to the 1,700 cases the county has reported in the month, including 503 cases in the most recent reporting week.

    According to the state database, Flathead county currently has 801 active cases, the second most in the state behind Yellowstone county.

    I get that that there is concern about a bad flu year coupled with Covid, plus a harsh winter coming up with people indoors, and how the governor may be concerned that he will be blamed if things get out of control. However, he will not win the hearts of the people with these methods. 

    • #7
  8. Samuel Block Support
    Samuel Block
    @SamuelBlock

    sawatdeeka (View Comment):

    Samuel Block (View Comment):

    I’ve been enjoying your lovely state for the last four days. (I’m sure I’ll be back – perhaps we can grab a coffee next time.) Having come to Montana directly from Oregon – where most people deem it necessary to wear masks alone on sidewalks, on hiking trails, even alone inside their vehicles, and where my friend recommended that I do my best to avoid mentioning that I was a Floridian – I sensed that I had come to a place that was appropriately concerned with health and wellness.

    Even though your state is absurdly cold in October it is truly delightful. Godspeed, Montana!

    It was one degree up at our house this morning. This is unusual for October, and I hear we’re in for a doozy of a winter. Where in Montana did you visit? I do not understand the mask-wearing outdoors.

    My cousin and I met in Whitefish to see Glacier during the beginning of the winter. We didn’t know that a large stretch of Going to the Sun road closed when it did. So we went through Kalispell and into Flathead Lake State Park during that snowstorm that just came through. Even though I’d have loved to see more of Glacier, catching a first real snow of the year was an alien experience and we loved it.

    Right now we’re in West Yellowstone, where it’s even colder than it had been up north. 

    • #8
  9. Weeping Inactive
    Weeping
    @Weeping

    sawatdeeka (View Comment):

    Weeping (View Comment):

    sawatdeeka:

    A few weeks ago, I wrote a post noting how local Montanans were done wearing masks. It turns out that I was not the only one who noticed the casual stance toward the mask mandate; it seems that our governor did as well. In response, he has taken steps to pressure businesses into compliance, moves that may backfire on him. According to this Flathead Beacon article, he:

    1.) Is responding to hundreds of complaints about businesses, and soaring Covid numbers in our valley and elsewhere, by sending investigators out into our town’s establishments.

    Does the article ever tell you what the phrase “soaring Covid numbers” actually means? Does it tell you how many cases there are and what percentage of the population that number represents?

    Here is the quote from the article:

    Bullock singled out Flathead County early in his press conference as an area of “significant concern” in the state, pointing to the 1,700 cases the county has reported in the month, including 503 cases in the most recent reporting week.

    According to the state database, Flathead county currently has 801 active cases, the second most in the state behind Yellowstone county.

    I get that that there is concern about a bad flu year coupled with Covid, plus a harsh winter coming up with people indoors, and how the governor may be concerned that he will be blamed if things get out of control. However, he will not win the hearts of the people with these methods.

    According to Census.gov, Flathead County is estimated to have a population of 103,806. So 801 cases would be less than 1% of the population (about .77%, assuming I did the math correctly). As I said elsewhere, the problem appears to be more of a problem with how thin of a margin the hospitals run on than a running-wild-through-the-population problem. Personally, I think the problem with the hospital margins should be tackled – not locking up and/or “shackeling” the mostly safe population.

    • #9
  10. sawatdeeka Member
    sawatdeeka
    @sawatdeeka

    Samuel Block (View Comment):
    We didn’t know that a large stretch of Going to the Sun road closed when it did. So we went through Kalispell and into Flathead Lake State Park during that snowstorm that just came through. Even though I’d have loved to see more of Glacier, catching a first real snow of the year was an alien experience and we loved it.

    Well, I’m glad you ended up enjoying the snowstorm. Another Ricochet member talked about not being able to complete her Glacier vacation as planned, either.  Yes, coffee next time with Kay of MT would be great!  I was on the road that day (Friday?), so we could have passed each other without even realizing it. 

    • #10
  11. sawatdeeka Member
    sawatdeeka
    @sawatdeeka

    Samuel Block (View Comment):
    So we went through Kalispell and into Flathead Lake State Park during that snowstorm that just came through. Even though I’d have loved to see more of Glacier, catching a first real snow of the year was an alien experience and we loved it.

    You have to see that lake during early summer.  

    • #11
  12. Samuel Block Support
    Samuel Block
    @SamuelBlock

    sawatdeeka (View Comment):

    Samuel Block (View Comment):
    So we went through Kalispell and into Flathead Lake State Park during that snowstorm that just came through. Even though I’d have loved to see more of Glacier, catching a first real snow of the year was an alien experience and we loved it.

    You have to see that lake during early summer.

    I bet it’s gorgeous. I’ll be sure to do that.

    • #12
  13. DonG (skeptic) Coolidge
    DonG (skeptic)
    @DonG

    Montana is a little bit socialist.  Not as much as Minnesota, but it is there.   It is really dumb, because the Dems are out to make life impossible in Montana.  Impossible!  No fossil fuels, no beef, no access to government lands,… 

     

    What does it mean for a restaurant to be non-compliant?  From the Flathead Beacon:

    On Thursday, Gov. Bullock announced the orders would be filed against “egregious violators” and the filings allege widespread noncompliance at all four businesses that were visited by DPHHS sanitarians on two separate occasions between Oct. 20 and 21. Officials observed numerous unmasked employees and patrons at all four businesses, and alleged the businesses did little to nothing to enforce the directive.

    Doug White, whose family has owned Your Lucky Turn for more than three decades, acknowledged that some of his customers enter the convenience store without wearing a mask, or they remove their face coverings once seated inside the casino. Beyond posting the required signage explaining the mask directive, White said he provides free masks and hand sanitizer at the entrances to his business, as well as hand-towel dispensers outside of restrooms.

     

    People were eating without wearing the magic mask.  It is amazing that emergency orders don’t expire in Montana.  Does your state allow for unlimited emergency suspension of rights for unlimited duration??  

    • #13
  14. sawatdeeka Member
    sawatdeeka
    @sawatdeeka

    DonG (skeptic) (View Comment):
    for unlimited duration??

    That’s what bothers me about this ongoing stuff, too.  I could understand some of it in the short term. But it’s too much to ask, without some sky-high death rate, to ask people to do this stuff for months on end. 

    • #14
  15. sawatdeeka Member
    sawatdeeka
    @sawatdeeka
    • #15
  16. Z in MT Member
    Z in MT
    @ZinMT

    Montana has a very strong pro-union, pro-environment contingent that is a legacy of the Copper Kings in Butte.

    The only thing that Montanans all agree on is guns. 

    • #16
  17. ClementContardo Coolidge
    ClementContardo
    @ClementContardo

    As the old cliché has it, you can look it up.  From the Declaration of Independence, one of the facts submitted to a candid world to justify the colonists independence: 

    He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

    • #17
  18. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    This virus thing and orders from the Governor is a farce. We have mandatory testing when we go to a doctor for any reason. The 3 or 4 test I’ve had were negative. My daughter, and her significant other, have been tested about 4 times in the last 3 weeks. She has tested negative every time while her Other, was tested positive for about a week and it is gone now. Two weeks of quarantine and he is fine. I think we have had 2 deaths in the last 2 months.

    I can’t breath well with a mask and only wear one to get into a market or Para-transit, then drop it below my nose, and nobody complains. We have 24 apts in our complex and I rarely see anyone with a mask, and none in the complex have been sick that I know of.

    With all the new mandates, and our incompetent Governor, our current near 0 deg temps, I am beginning to think that hell has frozen over.

    • #18
  19. CarolJoy, Thread Hijacker Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Thread Hijacker
    @CarolJoy

    sawatdeeka (View Comment):

    Samuel Block (View Comment):

    I’ve been enjoying your lovely state for the last four days. (I’m sure I’ll be back – perhaps we can grab a coffee next time.) Having come to Montana directly from Oregon – where most people deem it necessary to wear masks alone on sidewalks, on hiking trails, even alone inside their vehicles, and where my friend recommended that I do my best to avoid mentioning that I was a Floridian – I sensed that I had come to a place that was appropriately concerned with health and wellness.

    Even though your state is absurdly cold in October it is truly delightful. Godspeed, Montana!

    It was one degree up at our house this morning. This is unusual for October, and I hear we’re in for a doozy of a winter. Where in Montana did you visit? I do not understand the mask-wearing outdoors.

    I have puzzled over the mask wearing outdoors myself. It is something the Dems do as another virtue signalling activity.

    Like Scott Adams explained after Trump won, the people on the Left and the people on the Right watch totally different scripts involving reality.

    Apparently with the right amounts of propaganda, you can turn half wits into zero wits.

    The Lefties in my area wear masks while jogging. They do this even if the only danger to them is being hassled by a hawk, or attacked by a  cougar. But since March 15th or so, they have been told

    1) Once your mask is on, don’t take it off for the day

    2) Since I am wearing my mask to protect you, out of courtesy, you should wear a mask to protect me.

    3) You don’t wanna be responsible for killing granma, do you?

    • #19
  20. CarolJoy, Thread Hijacker Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Thread Hijacker
    @CarolJoy

    Kay of MT (View Comment):

    This virus thing and orders from the Governor is a farce. We have mandatory testing when we go to a doctor for any reason. The 3 or 4 test I’ve had were negative. My daughter, and her significant other, have been tested about 4 times in the last 3 weeks. She has tested negative every time while her Other, was tested positive for about a week and it is gone now. Two weeks of quarantine and he is fine. I think we have had 2 deaths in the last 2 months.

    I can’t breath well with a mask and only wear one to get into a market or Para-transit, then drop it below my nose, and nobody complains. We have 24 apts in our complex and I rarely see anyone with a mask, and none in the complex have been sick that I know of.

    With all the new mandates, and our incompetent Governor, our current near 0 deg temps, I am beginning to think that hell has frozen over.

    It is all a  farce. Really and truly.

    Someone on my twitter feed is from Ireland, and she stated they have had around 90 deaths there, in a population of 5 million people. Yet government officials still treat the matter  like the end of the world.

    And Calif is so over the top in locking us down that Newsom is facing a court ruling about having to give up his mandate making powers.

     

    • #20
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