The co-owner of Sunday River Brewing Co. in Newry who defied state orders by opening his doors to diners on Friday afternoon has lost his state health and liquor licenses, he said.
Restaurants must obtain state heath licenses to legally serve food.
More than 150 people came to Sunday River Brewing Co. in Newry on Friday afternoon after co-owner Rick Savage announced Thursday night that he would reopen in defiance of state orders meant to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
After learning that he’d lost the licenses around 4:30 p.m., Savage initially said he planned to keep operating the restaurant and just pay the daily fines that he would face. However, later in the evening, Sunday River Brewing Co. posted a Facebook post stating that the restaurant would be closed until further notice.
Frustration with the state’s coronavirus-related business restrictions has been growing in some circles, but the restaurant’s deliberate act of disobedience appeared to be the clearest example yet of those tensions boiling over in Maine.
Although the restaurant initially said it would open at 4 p.m., it started serving food after people showed up around noon in defiance of a March order from Gov. Janet Mills that barred dine-in restaurant service.
By 4:30 p.m., the crowd of diners lined up around the building on Route 2 had grown to a peak of around 150. By 6 p.m., the restaurant had served roughly 250 people, according to an employee.
Savage, who announced the restaurant’s opening on Fox News on Thursday night while criticizing the Democratic governor and reading her cellphone number on the air, said that he was not worried some of the diners coming from areas with more documented coronavirus cases would spread it in his restaurant.
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Liberal Tyranny Sucks!
Could it be any clearer that the most dictatorial politicians are Democrats?
Maine, New York, Illinois, California.....just think if one of these governors was President? The current sorry state of affairs is exactly what The Green New Deal would do to USA. Destroying businesses, including small businesses and large, like the petroleum industry.
That's not true anymore. It doesn't matter, neither right nor left are on the side of the American people. We are considered "enemies of the state" if we at all dissent from ANY of the globalist agenda. Governor DeWine in Ohio is worse than most Democrats, he's supposedly a Republican.
THESE are the types of people who NEED our support. They need us up off our butts and in the streets. This guy had the guts to say "no more" but will likely lose because no one will stand with him. It's got to change. This isn't a one man show and these tyrants must be pushed back. I don't even recognize this country anymore.
I hope the owner sues the Governor and wins!