DALLAS—On Tuesday, May 5, Shelly Luther, a hair salon owner from Texas, was sent to jail for a week and fined $7,000 for keeping her Dallas hair salon open despite restrictions that kept nonessential businesses closed.
Last week, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins sent Luther a cease-and-desist letter ordering her to close the salon. She ripped it up in public, according to CBS DFW.
Dallas Judge Eric Moyé found Luther in violation of Governor Greg Abbott’s stay-at-home orders and a court-issued restraining order. Moyé is also fining Luther $500 for each day that her salon remains open – 7 so far – up until this Friday, which is when Abbott claims that all salons can open. When this fine is combined with the other worth $7,000, Luther owes a total of $10,500 as of May 5.
In an attempt to help Luther avoid jail time, Moyé stated that “if you would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge that your own actions were selfish, putting your own interest ahead of those in the community in which you live,” If Luther apologized, acknowledged she was wrong, and closed her business until Friday, he would consider only issuing her a fine.
However, Luther replied by saying that “I have much respect for this court and laws. I have never been in this position before and it’s not someplace that I want to be. But I have to disagree with you sir, when you say that I’m selfish because feeding my kids is not selfish. I have hair stylists 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.”
Warren Norred, Luther’s attorney, said that he would appeal the decision, as reported by CBS DFW. He also noted that the salon would probably continue to open, which would only increase her fine.
