CRUELLEST CUT

Woman Jailed for Keeping Her Dallas Salon Open, Just as Governor Says Salons Can Reopen Friday Anyway

Minutes before the judgment was handed down, Texas’ governor said hairdressers can reopen on Friday.

A Dallas salon owner will spend a week in a Texas county jail that has had 248 inmates test positive for the coronavirus after she refused to obey a judge’s order to shutter her business. Shelley Luther was also fined $7,000. Luther’s Far North Dallas salon was forced to close March 22; however, she reopened on April 24 despite that order, and tore up a cease-and-desist letter from County Judge Clay Jenkins at a demonstration the next day. In a hearing broadcast live on YouTube on Tuesday, Luther said she had no choice but to open her business. “I couldn’t feed my family, and my stylists couldn’t feed their families,” Luther testified through a mask. The judge gave Luther an opportunity to apologize and promise not to reopen her salon and avoid incarceration, but she declined, saying: “If you think the law is more important than kids getting fed, then please go ahead with your decision, but I am not going to shut the salon.” Minutes earlier, Gov. Greg Abbott had announced during a news conference that barbershops and salons across Texas could reopen Friday.