{"id":49989,"date":"2020-12-09T13:15:20","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T20:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wild-horse-saloon-may-face-enforcement-after-defying-public-health-order\/"},"modified":"2020-12-09T20:15:20","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T20:15:20","slug":"wild-horse-saloon-may-face-enforcement-after-defying-public-health-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wild-horse-saloon-may-face-enforcement-after-defying-public-health-order\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Horse Saloon may face enforcement after defying public health order"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Wild
Wild Horse Saloon owner Amber Gilchrist-Morris spoke at a rally last week in support of businesses remaining open. She chose to keep her bar open last weekend, and now faces possible enforcement actions.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Enforcement actions could be coming for the Wild Horse Saloon after the downtown Durango bar opened to indoor service last weekend in defiance of public health orders aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Liane Jollon, executive director of San Juan Basin Public Health, said the health department has referred a complaint to the city of Durango and the state Department of Revenue\u2019s Liquor and Tobacco Enforcement division.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve forwarded the concern to the appropriate dual licensing agencies \u2026 to open an investigation,\u201d Jollon said. \u201cThen we would regroup and decide next steps together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Requests for comment to the city of Durango and the Department of Revenue\u2019s Liquor and Tobacco Enforcement division were not immediately returned Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

Durango Police Chief Bob Brammer said officers noted the Wild Horse Saloon was open for indoor service Friday and Saturday nights, with its owner, Amber Gilchrist-Morris, openly promoting it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no secret they were open both Friday and Saturday night,\u201d Brammer said.<\/p>\n

A video on social media has also circulated in recent days that apparently shows the inside of the Wild Horse Saloon on Saturday night, though The Durango Herald<\/em> could not confirm the video was shot that night.<\/p>\n

A call for comment to Gilchrist-Morris was not returned Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Gilchrist-Morris posted a video to the Wild Horse Saloon\u2019s Facebook page<\/a> on Monday about choosing to stay open this past weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis weekend, to see all the smiles on everyone\u2019s faces, to feel the love and connection with all those people \u2026 it reminds me why I\u2019m here and why I started this battle in the first place,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gilchrist-Morris goes on to question the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic, and says the \u201cendgame\u201d of health officials and public health orders \u201cis to keep us dependent on government funds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a few people in this town using their power to control and predicate what\u2019s good for us and decide what we need to do for our own bodies,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re not the experts on my life. I\u2019m the expert on my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of the decision to reopen this weekend, Gilchrist-Morris said, \u201cI don\u2019t know what this week is going to bring. I have no clue.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a similar situation, the town of Lyons Board of Trustees voted this week to revoke the business license and suspend the liquor license of a bar that refused to close to indoor service called Lyons Den Restaurant and Tap House, Fox 31 reported.<\/p>\n

The state Department of Revenue\u2019s Liquor and Tobacco Enforcement division then raided and seized all of the liquor inside the Lyons Den, according to Fox 31.<\/p>\n

La Plata County moved into the Level Red public health order Nov. 20 as the result of a dramatic rise in COVID-19 cases.<\/p>\n

Under Level Red, bars are required to close unless they serve food. However, these establishments cannot offer indoor dining and are limited to offering only takeout and delivery services, as well as outdoor dining.<\/p>\n

Tensions over public health orders among restaurant and bar owners have been rising in recent days after being closed to indoor service.<\/p>\n

CJ\u2019s Diner, for instance, chose to keep offering in-person dining until this week<\/a> after a District Court judge ordered law enforcement to shutter its doors.<\/p>\n

Health officials say eating inside comes with a high risk of spreading infections, as customers take off their masks to eat and drink and are typically in close contact with people from other households.<\/p>\n

Jollon said when a complaint is filed against a business suspected of breaking a public health order, it is directed to the appropriate investigating agency. Then, once investigations are complete, local and state agencies decide on further action.<\/p>\n

DPD\u2019s Brammer said \u201cmultiple places\u201d are on the department\u2019s radar, though he declined to name the businesses, citing open investigations.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone in defiance of these orders is being investigated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Brammer stressed that DPD officers are solely the investigators in public health order violations, and it is up to other agencies to formally decide whether to pursue any kind of enforcement action.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last thing we want to do is penalize hard-working people,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very difficult, tough situation. The only way we\u2019re going to be able to do this is bond as a community, not separate.\u201d<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Downtown bar remained open to indoor service Friday and Saturday, police say<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,1065,28,29,4259,668,450,686],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-49989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-durango-police-department","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-newsletter-sign-up","tag-public-health","tag-restaurant-and-catering","tag-san-juan-basin-health-department"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49989"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=49989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}