BAY MINETTE – Baldwin County sheriff’s deputies will not take law enforcement action against churches or businesses that defy Gov. Kay Ivey’s “Safer-At-Home” order, Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack said Wednesday.
The order requires some businesses, such as hair salons, to remain closed and limits restaurants to carry-out service. The order also limits gatherings to less than 10 people, including for church services.
Mack said Wednesday that deputies will continue to issue notices to businesses that violate the order, but his department will not take law enforcement action.
The Sheriff’s Office enforces laws in unincorporated areas of Baldwin County. Municipal police departments enforce laws in cities and towns.
Mack said the decision about personal protective measures should lie with individuals and businesses, not the government.
“I wrote a letter yesterday asking Gov. Ivey to immediately modify her current order and allow Alabamians to go back to work and to go back to worship. I think this is important to our community,” Mack said. “In that spirit, I have also, in consultation with my deputy sheriffs and other law enforcement, I have also added that while we will continue to notify businesses if they are in violation of the governor’s order, will notify them that the governor’s order is still in place because there are other institutions out there that are a part of this. There is the Health Department and there are many regulatory agencies outside of the Sheriff’s Office that have a say in the enforcement of that rule, but the Sheriff’s Office will not take any law enforcement action on those businesses or on those religious institutions that are wanting to meet and wanting to get back to business.”
Ivey issued the order modifying her earlier “Stay At Home” order on April 30. The new order allows some retail businesses to reopen at limited capacity and with the requirement that customers follow social distancing guidelines.
Alabama Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth and the state Small Business Emergency Task Force recommended in April that restaurants and businesses that require close contact be allowed to open at 50 percent capacity with social distancing restrictions.
In addition to Mack, several city councils in Baldwin County, including Fairhope, Spanish Fort and Daphne, have voted to also send letters to Ivey asking that more businesses be allowed to open immediately.
“What we really need to do is to just ask the governor to change the order. We need to ask her to lift this order,” Mack said. “Allow Alabamians to get back to work and to get back to collective worship. I think that’s going to make the biggest difference as we go through this together.”
