Gov. Roy Cooper and Alamance County are having a failure to communicate.
Cooper has complained about Ace Speedway in Alamance County opening to the public on Saturday, May 23 and said he was considering all the options on how to handle it.
Cooper according to Alamance County officials has not taken advantage of the option of communicating himself or having someone on his staff communicate with the folks in Alamance County.
From the press releases, the owners of the Ace Speedway went to the Alamance County officials for guidance, contacted the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services for guidance and contacted the governor’s office but received no reply.
In the May 22 press release, Alamance County Attorney Clyde Albright explained the county’s position stating, “The Exemptions listed in Section 4 of Executive Order 141 include activities constituting the exercise of First Amendment rights, which include the right to peaceably assemble. This exemption retroactively applies to earlier Executive Orders. Significantly, the Governor’s language in the Exemption has changed from ‘order’ to ‘strongly urges.’ The Governor recognizes that he may only urge people engaged in exercising First Amendment rights to practice social distancing and other disease control measures. He cannot Constitutionally limit the number of people who can peaceably assemble under the First Amendment.
“The Temporary Restraining Order issued last Friday by United States District Judge James C. Dever, III, in the lawsuit Berean et al versus Governor Roy A. Cooper, held that the earlier Executive Orders violate the freedom to attend worship services protected by the First Amendment. Because the right to peaceably assemble is also a First Amendment right, if Alamance County were to attempt to restrict the operation of a business not otherwise restricted by Executive Order 141 then such action may itself be in violation of the First Amendment.”
Judge Dever in his order stated, “There is no pandemic exception to the Constitution of the United States…”
Executive Order 141 by Cooper recognizes that and states, ”Worship, religious, and spiritual gatherings, funeral ceremonies, wedding ceremonies, and other activities constituting the exercise of First Amendment rights are exempt from all the requirements of this Executive Order and Executive Order Nos. 121 and 138, notwithstanding any other provision of this Executive Order or of Executive Order Nos. 121 and 138.”
It certainly appears that since freedom to peaceably assembly is protected by the First Amendment that it would not be covered by the executive order.
Esq. Albright is a rare bird. A fine lawyer and great individual with the ability to apply common sense.
An incredibly weak position by Alamance County. To totally throw out common sense and to disregard the risk to public health in the wake of increasing COVID19 number in North Carolina. Bottom line, Ace Speedway was allowed to put the public at risk for profit and personal gain. And, our community made national news for being stupid thanks to Alamance County officials and a politically motivated sheriff. How awesome.
I don’t think so.
Money is what makes this world go around! It doesn’t matter if someone dies it doesn’t matter if someone loses everything they have it doesn’t matter if people are hurt it doesn’t matter it’s a piece of paper with ink on it and that’s all that matters in this world and Money money money!I hope everyone’s happy I hope they see the state of this country has become because they want to go swimming because they want to work out because they want to go to the beach and get sun and drink at bars do what they did along time ago stay yo narcissist ass at home!
Does common sense not play a part in anyone’s decision? I couldn’t believe it when I saw the news story about 2500 people attending the races at Ace Speedway. How could anyone believe this was a smart thing to do? I hope the owners are happy with the profits from their event and that the Alamance County officials will reconsider their responsibility to their citizens.
Everybody’s following the guidance of the President of the United States think about it people just think about it
It seems the Gov. waffles and back-pedals when confronted with constitutional rights. No Govt official has the right to arbitrarily prohibit the exercise of our rights. The more we tolerate the restrictions of our liberties in order to secure a little “safety”, the less we will have of either. Just like the 2nd and 1st amendments, our govt continues to chip away our constitutional rights. The most important is the 2nd. Without the ability to defend ourselves from tyranny, both foreign and domestic; all the other amendments will follow quickly enough. It is up to you and me to decide if we want to attend an automobile race. Is it essential? Yes, we have the right.