🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
As areas of Oklahoma begin to reopen economic sectors, businesses and residents across the state have pushed back against continued restrictions in place to mitigate transmission of the new coronavirus. Some individuals have taken legal action against local officials in response to regulation efforts, while others threatened to react with violence in the absence of policy changes.
Owners of three salons in Norman, a city located about 20 miles south of Oklahoma's state capital, are petitioners in a lawsuit filed against Mayor Breea Clark in Cleveland County District Court on Thursday. The petition airs complaints over Clark's phased reopening plan for the city, which was issued on April 27 and permitted certain businesses such as retail establishments and fitness facilities to reopen on May 1 as long as they abide by designated sanitation and social distancing protocols. Personal care facilities, like hair nail and tanning salons, can begin accepting customers two weeks later, on May 15, by appointment only.
The salon owners' lawsuit claims Clark's reopening order violated their constitutional rights under the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause—which, broadly, requires a government body to offer individuals within their jurisdiction "equal protection" under the law—as well as a statute included in Oklahoma's state constitution.
A representative from Cleveland County District Court confirmed to Newsweek that the mayor had not responded to the petition's claims as of Sunday afternoon.
"The Mayor of the City of Norman has not provided any rational reason or authority to prevent Plaintiffs from operating their businesses," the petition stated, urging the court to declare the reopening restrictions unconstitutional and "unenforceable against Plaintiffs." It also requests a permanent injunction issued against Clark.
Although a few states like Georgia, Utah and Maine have permitted salons to reopen under strict mitigation guidelines, many have required personal care facilities to remain closed during initial reopening phases due to the industry's inherently close-contact environment.
Clark's office did not reply to Newsweek's request for comment on this story.
Almost one hundred miles north of Norman, business owners in Stillwater, Oklahoma, have encountered violent threats from civilians angry about terms outlined in a recent Emergency Proclamation issued by Mayor Will Joyce. The proclamation, which went into effect on May 1, ordered that all reopened establishments require customers to wear face coverings through the end of the month.
After learning that store employees had store employees in Stillwater had been "threatened with physical violence and showered with verbal abuse," including one threat that involved "violence using a firearm," local authorities amended the proclamation later on May 1.
In a statement, Stillwater's City Manager Norman McNickle announced face masks were no longer a requirement for store entry—just a recommendation.
"In that effort to insure the safety of others, we now have to weigh the safety of store owners and employees to threats of violence. We cannot, in clear conscience, put our local business community in harm's way, nor can the police be everywhere," he said. "Accordingly, we will now be asking our local stores and business to encourage, but not require, patrons to cover their faces. Of course, each business can choose to adopt a more stringent approach, and we ask everyone to respect and abide by such decisions."
