Gov. Roy Cooper may hit a grand slam this week and win the game, but currently the score stands at Ace Speedway 3 – Cooper 0.
Ace Speedway has held three races with thousands in attendance and so far has not received a citation.
Cooper ordered Ace Speedway shut down this week and gave the owners until Tuesday, June 9 to announce to the public that the racetrack was closed, a deadline which the owners reportedly missed.
Cooper described the actions of the owners of Ace Speedway to be “reckless.” But the actions of the Ace Speedway owners did not appear “reckless” when you look at more of the story. In fact, they sought guidance on how to open their business for operation under the Phase 2 guidelines, and the state offered little in the way of guidance.
According to a press release from Alamance County, the track opened under the restrictions and guidelines set by the Alamance County Public Health Department after the owners “communicated extensively” with that department.
The owners of the Ace Speedway also contacted the Alamance County attorney about how they could open their racetrack for business under the current restrictions.
Alamance County Attorney Clyde Albright contacted the governor’s office with a question about what, if any, restrictions would apply to a “peaceful assembly” at a racetrack. The right of Americans “peaceably to assemble” is in the First Amendment and the Phase 2 order states that First Amendment rights are exempted from the order. Whether or not a crowd peacefully assembling at a racetrack is a protected assembly by the First Amendment is a legitimate question and appears to be a question without a specific court ruling.
Albright didn’t get an answer back until after two races had already been held. In state government, taking weeks to respond to a question about how a small locally owned business can open under the constantly changing state regulations may seem like a prompt reply. But for the owner of a small racetrack, missing two weeks of revenue is a major blow particularly when that business had already been closed for months.
When Cooper’s attorney William McKinney did respond, he said that the First Amendment right to peaceful assembly did not apply to commercial enterprises such as a racetrack.
Cooper’s attorneys also said that the governor had the right to restrict religious services during the pandemic, a legal opinion that a federal judge strongly disagreed with.
I guess the governor can participate in a March ignoring social distancing but a business cannot operate. He gets worse every day with jis royal edicts.
It is because of the BS you just reported as to why EVERYTHING in this country has to be legislated. Play on words, play the ignorance card, etc, etc. NO other commercial enterprise had such trouble interpreting the guidelines and restrictions. You know, if the imbecile that owns ACE wanted to open and make money all he had to do was follow COMMON SENSE guidelines that have been harped upon ad nausea, but NO, all he really wants to do is make this is into a political stand. NOT ONE face mask in evidence at any race, ZERO social distancing, NO enforcement of contact information for contact tracing. EVERY single person that showed up at those races did so just to thumb their nose in the current political climate. These same people will harp on about their rights and religious freedom yet DO NOT have possess ONE Christian cell in their body. Else they would do the small important steps such as face coverings, hand washing and social distancing to protect their community, family and friends. I just don’t get it.
Hey lizzy, who are you to judge their chritianity?
Their are no ‘common sense ‘guidelines, just the ever changing ones that the ‘experts’ can’t seem to agree on!
Next time you call someone an imbecile, please look in the mirror first!
Hey lizzy, who are you to judge their chritianity?
Their are no ‘common sense ‘guidelines, just the ever changing ones that the ‘experts’ can’t seem to agree on!
Next time you call someone an imbecile, please look in the mirror first!
And once again the NC DES unemployment website is overwhelmed. You can sign in but try to navigate the site and you get “ERROR”.
For the past seven plus weeks, the NC DES has been shutting down their site from 11:00 PM to 3:00 AM seven days per week to update their service.
After shutting the system down 28 hours per week for seven plus weeks, one would think that the genius administration could figure out how to deal with the demands placed on the system.