Texas salon owner gets 7 days in jail for reopening

A Texas salon owner will spend seven days in jail after she refused to apologize for opening her business in defiance of COVID-19 restrictions.

A Dallas County judge offered Shelley Luther, the owner of Salon a la Mode, a deal — apologize for being selfish for having her salon open while everyone else’s were closed, pay a fine, shut down until Friday and she could avoid jail time.

“I have to disagree with you, sir, when you say that I’m selfish — because feeding my kids is not selfish,” Luther told the judge. “I have hairstylists that are going hungry because they would rather feed their kids  So sir, 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.”

Since she refused to apologize, bailiffs led the woman away to be booked into jail. The seven-day sentence represents the seven days her salon was open in spite of the countywide order.