VIDEO - Agents Cite CA Salon for Defying Shutdown Order: ‘They Treated It Like a Drug Raid’

 

By AMY FURR | breitbart.com | 27 Dec 2020

A salon owner and several stylists in Stockton, California, were cited Wednesday for keeping their doors open despite the state’s regional stay at home orders.

“Agents with the Department of Consumer Affairs visited Pomp Salon in Lincoln Village, where the owner and staff have been outspoken about their desire to stay open,” KCRA reported.

Video footage of the incident shows one person asking an agent, “Are you gonna pay our bills? Would you like to pay my mortgage?”

Stylist Denise Levitt said she believes it should be up to clients to decide whether they want to visit the business or not, adding, “I was screaming because I said, ‘the governor does not follow his orders, so why should we?'”

Masks are worn at all times inside the salon, according to owner Dino Ballin, who said he is baffled as to why the personal care industry is being targeted.

“They burst into our salon and they treated it like a drug raid,” Ballin’s wife, Vicki Kirk, told Fox 40.

In a recent statement, the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology said violations of the order may involve the removal of licenses from barbershops and salons.

“The Board strongly encourages licensees, as well as the public, to comply with the applicable Regional Stay-at-Home orders to slow the spread of COVID-19,” the statement read.

However, Pomp’s owners said salons are not spreading the coronavirus.

“If there were any evidence that we should close, we would close, absolutely. There is virtually zero evidence to support the closure of our industry,” Ballin noted.

“I just want to earn a living and we all want to do it safely,” Kirk added. “We have strict safety protocols here, and we will continue to do so.”

On what appeared to be its Instagram page, the salon shared a photo December 10 of business owners and citizens on the steps of city hall with signs that read, “Sorry, We’re OPEN”:

“We cannot stand idly by and do nothing. Businesses and jobs are about to be lost. And for no good reason. There is ZERO data, no science, no evidence to support the closure of our businesses,” the post read.

Although a few stylists left after being issued citations on Wednesday, the salon stayed open for business.

“The agents said they also would be back,” the KCRA report concluded.