HOLLAND, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – Some Republican state lawmakers came to support a jailed Holland restaurateur on Monday.
Senators Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton) and Roger Victory (R-Hudsonville) were joined by Representatives Steve Johnson (R-Wayland) and Mary Whiteford (R-Casco Twp.) at a press availability across Lincoln Avenue from Marlena’s Bistro and Pizzeria. That establishment has been closed since owner Marlena Pavlos-Hackney was jailed last week for violating a court order and continuing to defy several state COVID 19-related health mandates.
While the four legislators expressed outrage over Pavlos-Hackney’s incarceration while claiming that the Whitmer Administration is avoiding efforts to investigate the nursing home policy during the early days of the outbreak, one Lakeshore lawmaker who couldn’t attend, House member Brad Slagh (R-Zeeland Twp.), said that the issue isn’t that cut and dried.
“All of the restaurateurs across the state of Michigan have suffered under a bunch of rules that have kept them from being able to be open,” the second-term Republican said during his monthly appearance on “WHTC Talk of the Town,” “but on the other side, we have to have rules to make our society work.”
Pavlos-Hackney was ordered by an Ingham County Circuit Court Judge to remain jailed for up to 93 days if she fails to pay a $7,500 fine and obey state and Allegan County health department regulations.
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