Did you ever think the city mayor would mobilize the public against your small business? I never thought we would be living in that era, ever… But here we go.
So the Rogers Arkansas mayor held a press conference on Wednesday June 17th and announced that he was implementing a new program. He is calling it #KeepRogersSafe and here is how it works:
- As a business owner, sign up to be a part of his program
- Agree to abide by anything the mayor ever tells you to do related to Covid-19
- Agree to abide by any future items the mayor or governor tell you to do
Here is the pledge that you agree to when you sign up to be a part of this program:
By signing this form and agreeing to participate in the pledge to #KeepRogersSafe, I agree and acknowledge that I will abide by all executive orders issued by the Governor of the State of Arkansas and directives from the Arkansas Department of Health related to Covid-19 and my respective business. The business also agrees to abide by any newly issued executive orders or health care directives issued after the signing of this document related to Covid-19 and my respective business. By agreeing to this pledge, I agree to any inspections by the City of Rogers to assure compliance with its continued participation in the #KeepRogersSafe program. I agree and acknowledge that the City of Rogers enjoys certain immunities under Ark. Code Ann. § 21-9-301. Further, I agree and acknowledge that any non-compliance with any executive orders issued by the Governor or any health care directives issued by the Arkansas Department of Health will cause my business to be terminated from the #KeepRogersSafe program and its name will be removed from any acknowledgements in the program.
Now, before you go all liberal on me and tell me that we should always follow what our government officials tell us to do, without question… You need to remember what site you are on, we don’t operate that way. If you would like to make a law, we will follow the law, but executive orders and recommendations that are not voted on by the people or vetted by anyone, I am going to question that every time.
Now let’s throw some gasoline on this fire that was just created by the mayor. Next he marches out the Rogers Chamber of Commerce president Raymond Burns and Raymond gets up there and tells the media that all Chamber businesses are on board with requiring masks to enter their stores. No mask and we business owners will physically not allow you in, or remove you for our stores.
Let that sink in for just a moment or two… How exactly is that going to go down for the business owner when someone comes into the store and doesn’t want to leave? We can’t call the police because they are not breaking the law. If we physically remove them, guess who ends up on the 6 o’clock news?
Now, if that wasn’t bad enough and a complete break down of Americans rights, wait for the best part…
The mayor calls on the public to ‘Shame’ any business that does not comply with this suggestion. Seriously, he is basically calling for a boycott of any business that refuses to require masks (and other items). Is that legal? Is that moral? Is that right?
Well, first thing we did on June 18th was cancel our membership with the Rogers Chamber of Commerce and we would HIGHLY suggest that everyone involved with the Chamber cancel their memberships as well. If you do not think the Mayor and Chamber should collude with each other in order to force businesses to comply with unlawful orders or be met with a public boycott of your business, end your relationship with the Chamber immediately.
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