Now here's a tough lady. This single black mom in a small Minnesota town is saying "Nope" to onerous state lockdown orders and plans to open her bar Friday in the face of threats of fines and jail time.
Larvita McFarquhar is the owner of Havens Garden in Lynd, Minnesota. She plans to open her bar come hell or high water, and the state is livid. On November 19th she posted a Facebook video inviting people to come to an open mic night on November 27th.
This of course prompted the state to threaten her—a black single mother just trying to survive. It started with a deputy with the sheriff's office asking McFarquhar if she just knew about the orders that forbade her from opening the bar. Here's her response,
"Yes, I'm aware, but are you aware that the governor's mandate is not a law? The governor does not pass laws and you are supposed to uphold the Constitution. You don't work for the governor; you work for us."
She even told Alpha News that the sheriff's office called the DJ she had hired for the event and told him he would be arrested if he performed.
"You spin, you sin." I'm assuming they said.
McFarquhar explained her defiance,
"No person in power has the authority to shut down a business for no reason, and pick and choose who can stay open and who cannot. For me, it's [about] taking a stand. We always want other people to do things, but it's time that we the people stand up and say, ‘No, we're not going to agree with these outrageous demands.'"
Then the state upped the ante. She received a letter on Monday from Minnesota Attorney General's office demanding that she promise not to remain open or face steep penalties.
"Emergency Executive Order 20-99 empowers this Office to investigate and take action against businesses or persons that are operating or threatening to operate in violation of the Order. As the chief legal officer for the State of Minnesota, the Attorney General has authority to file a civil enforcement action seeking injunctive relief and civil penalties of up to $25,000 for each and every occurrence Executive Order 20-99 is violated, as well as its attorney's fees and costs."
What do you think she did?
She made another video and noped their nope is what she did.
In it, she basically says "the party's still on." She also warned potential patrons that they could be fined $1,000, but encouraged them to come down and support her nonetheless.
Echoing what we're hearing from so many small business owners, McFarquhar said that the lockdown orders have created a massive financial burden for her,
"These are the things that you have to struggle with. I'm struggling to keep my lights on. The thing that makes me mad during this whole thing is we still have to pay our bills. I have to still pay taxes on the building … The bills that were there before — they don't go away because we're not open. They're still there and I still have to pay them. Then to have the threat above that. That's the worst part."
But she's sick of it and wants to set an example for her daughters.
"I'm not going to give up my liberties, I'm not going to teach my daughters to give up their liberties, and I want them to learn how to fight. If I'm not that example — which is very hard for me — who else is going to do it?"
