The state of Alabama has been in a shutdown since the middle of March with an official enforceable Stay at Home order since April 1.
Last Friday the governor was presented with the Small Business Council’s Open Alabama recommendations in hopes that she would move forward with a cautious, structured process to reopen portions Alabama prior to April 30.
Approximately one hour prior to a scheduled Reopen Alabama drive-by rally at the capitol, the governor announced that she would make no decisions on reopening the state prior to the date that she and her appointed Head of Public Health had established.
While her press conference was occurring, barricades were being placed around the capitol building. Police officers fanned out across a three block area preparing for what was to be simple stay-in-your-car, wave-a-flag, honk-your-horn rally to show support for the reopening of Alabama for business and gain back some sense of normalcy.
As participants started to arrive, they found the original route altered, and the original location intended for speakers was now over two blocks away from the new route established by the local police department.
Then it got interesting. As the drive began, anyone driving by and honked their horn were initially warned that would be ticketed if they continued to honk the horn. A member of the COS Alabama team was approached by an officer and told not to honk their horn again.
Several individuals were pulled over by law enforcement and asked where they were going and whether they were going to work or an essential employee. They were then told to leave the downtown area or risk being ticketed for violating the Stay at Home order.
Citizens have the right to protest peacefully without the fear of retribution from local officials. The time has come to reopen the state while following the CDC guidelines. We cannot allow unelected officials to infringe on our rights as they have here in Alabama.
Visit www.openthestates.com, sign the petition, let our elected officials know we are ready to get back to work.
