More of this, please.
Bob Martin, 80, has been hit with an avalanche of cease-and-desist letters, nearly $100,000 in fines, and a suspension of the barbering license he's held since 1967. Despite threats from local and state authorities, he isn't giving up.
"I haven't done anything wrong, nobody has gotten sick, and I'm not going to let anybody push me around, tell me I can't work," he told the Everett Herald. "I don't need a license to work and they can't stop me."
Much, much more.
While the state requires customers and employees to wear masks, Martin asks customers to take off their masks, offering them a tipple instead. "I tell people … ‘If you're worried about germs, I'll give you a shot of whiskey."
Some of you may remember this guy from last spring.
Bob Martin has operated 'The Stag Barbershop' in the same location in Snohomish for 51 years.
It's a place where a copy of the U.S. Constitution hangs on the wall beside animal pelts.
A place where Martin just might offer you a shot of whisky as you sit in his chair and talk politics.
It was only recently he lit upon the idea of whiskey being an effective COVID preventative.
I'm starting to think he considers whiskey an effective preventative to a lot of things!
"There's a lot of people who think the way that I do," he said. "They just don't have enough gonads to open up and do business."
Apparently not enough people think the way he does.
"We find ourselves in a situation we haven't really faced before — someone who refuses to work with us to comply with health and safety regulations and will not partner with us," Christine Anthony, a communications manager for the Washington State Department of Licensing, said.
"Refuses to... comply."
"After we work through our processes and procedures, we will explore all potential options in consultation with blah blah blah."
I might have added that last part.
He does a little saber rattling, making reference to a "personal militia" that will protect him, which I always fear will end badly.
I certainly hope it doesn't come to that, and really shouldn't as I believe there is a potential compromise here.
How about the authorities leave this guy alone so long as he takes the additional safety precaution of requiring customers to take two shots of whiskey.
I think it could work.
