Six Stanislaus, Merced restaurants violated COVID-19 orders over July 4 weekend, state says
In case you were wondering whether the state is serious about enforcing the new shutdown orders meant to slow our worsening surge of COVID-19 infections, the answer is an emphatic yes.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, six Stanislaus and Merced county restaurants were allegedly found in violation of indoor dining and social distancing orders enacted by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Both Central Valley counties were among 19 ordered to close inside dining and bars again on July 1 just before the busy holiday weekend. More rollbacks of reopenings — including indoor operations of hair salons, fitness centers, shopping malls and church worship — were announced at the start of this week.
The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control noted six businesses in the region that were defying orders meant to fight the pandemic during an enforcement from July 3 to 5. Four of the businesses were cited on the spot and at the other two agents noticed indoor operations and are reviewing the information for a possible future citation. The businesses allegedly found in violation were:
- Almond Tree Restaurant, 1490 Sycamore Ave., Atwater — cited for indoor operation
- Culichi Town, 3250 Dale Road, Modesto — cited for indoor operation and failure to social distance
- La Nitas, 2684 Shaffer Road, Atwater — cited for indoor operation
- Stevinson Bar & Grill, 20104 3rd Ave., Stevinson —agents noticed indoor alcohol or food consumption
Velvet Grill & Creamery, 2204 McHenry Ave., Modesto — agents noticed indoor alcohol or food consumption
Velvet Grill & Creamery, 3250 Dale Road, Modesto — cited for indoor operation
ABC Public Information Officer John Carr said the misdemeanor criminal citations were all given to individuals. Possible fines for the violations typically range from $100 to $1,000. He said each county’s district attorney will then make the decision whether to prosecute through the criminal justice system, and a judge would then impose the fine.
Restaurants could lose liquor licenses for violations
The department could also move forward with its own disciplinary action against the cited businesses. The range of actions, Carr said, could go from receiving a letter of violation to in the most extreme cases the potential loss of their ABC liquor licenses. Carr said the department has not decided yet whether to pursue additional actions against the six regional restaurants.
The Bee reached out to all four cited restaurants. The Velvet Grill & Creamery did not return calls at the time of publication. A message on the Almond Tree Restaurant voicemail said it was temporarily closed until July 17. No one picked up the phone line at La Nitas.
Raquel Hatfield, the Ripon-based attorney representing the Modesto Culichi Town location, said the restaurant is fighting the citation. The chain of Mexican-inspired fusion sushi and seafood restaurants also had its Fresno location cited for coronavirus health order violations over the same holiday weekend.
Hatfield said the restaurant’s continued indoor operation was a misunderstanding of when the shutdown order started. In a written statement she said the restaurant was “working diligently to ensure its operation remains in full compliance” and that the health and safety of its employees and customers was its “top priority.”
“When Culichitown read the order from the Governor, they were under the guidance that they had until the July 4th weekend to shut down indoor dinning. However, Culichitown was cited on July 3, 2020. Culichitown’s response was a reasonable interpretation of the guidance issued by the State. Immediately upon learning that the operation was required to close, Culichitown immediately ceased all indoor operations,” the statement went on to read.
As more businesses are forced to shut down once again across the state, enforcement will become even more of an issue. For the most part, throughout the first four months of the global pandemic, enforcement has been left up to county and city officials. In Stanislaus County and the city of Modesto, compliance has been largely voluntary, save for a few strongly worded letters sent out to non-essential businesses at the start of the stay-at-home order.
A handful of cities — Turlock, Newman, Oakdale, Patterson and Riverbank — approved fining residents or businesses who defied orders, though it’s unclear if any fines have been issued since the policies were enacted in April. Other than that, the region’s approach has largely been public pressure.
State steps up coronavirus shutdown enforcement
But now, statewide, that is clearly changing as the outbreak worsens. When Gov. Newsom announced the indoor dining shutdowns, he also revealed the creation of a special statewide “strike team” to handle enforcement issues. The team included workplace and business licensing agencies like Cal OSHA, Alcohol Beverage Control and the California Highway Patrol.
Carr said the Fourth of July enforcement was based on flagged businesses which were visited for compliance checks by ABC agents following up on complaints. Statewide agents visited some 6,000 licensed locations over the course of that weekend. But only 52 cites were issued. Carr said since the holiday enforcement, more cites have been written in the region, but those are not ready to be released yet.
Carr said the relatively small number of cites written shows compliance for the most part has been strong. Which is great, great news. Businesses, for the most part, want to follow the rules. But those who flout them and threaten the public health should face consequences.
Without it, this pandemic will just continue doing what pandemics do — grow exponentially. Think I’m kidding? In Stanislaus County we reported our first COVID-19 cases on March 11. It then took us 16 weeks to record a total of 2,310 cases. In the past two weeks, from the start of July until today, we’ve recorded more than 3,000 additional cases (taking us to a grand total of 5,356 cases as of Tuesday).
I repeat, 16 weeks to reach about 2,000 cases. And just two weeks to clock another 3,000 cases.
Wear a mask, make your customers wear a mask, follow all state and local health orders and care about everyone’s health and safety. We’re only all in this together if we’re all following the same rules.
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
