{"id":1320048,"date":"2020-05-16T17:06:13","date_gmt":"2020-05-16T23:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=996489"},"modified":"2020-05-16T17:06:13","modified_gmt":"2020-05-16T23:06:13","slug":"rifles-shooters-grill-closes-food-service-license-suspended-ahead-of-monday-court-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/rifles-shooters-grill-closes-food-service-license-suspended-ahead-of-monday-court-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"Rifle\u2019s Shooters Grill closes, food service license suspended ahead of Monday court hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\">\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"660\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/Shooters-gpi-051520-3-1024x660.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/Shooters-gpi-051520-3-1024x660.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/Shooters-gpi-051520-3-300x193.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/Shooters-gpi-051520-3-768x495.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/Shooters-gpi-051520-3-1536x990.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/05\/Shooters-gpi-051520-3-2048x1320.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p><figcaption><strong>Matthew Palomvi talks with mother Sandra, who is visiting from Minnesota, after they had breakfast Thursday morning at Shooters Grill in Rifle. Shooters&#8217; license was suspended on Friday.<\/strong><br \/><em>Kyle Mills\/Citizen Telegram<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Garfield County Public Health late Friday suspended the food service license of Shooters Grill in Rifle, after the restaurant was serving customers on site in defiance of state public health orders and against a court injunction issued earlier in the week.<\/p>\n<p>Yvonne Long, public health director for the county, confirmed Saturday that the license suspension was served on Shooters owner Lauren Boebert at 5 p.m. Friday. Long declined further comment, \u201cas we are in a court situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boebert is due in court in Glenwood Springs at 9 a.m. Monday to answer to the preliminary injunction that was issued by Judge Anne Norrdin on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>In a video posted to her \u201cLauren Boebert for Congress\u201d Facebook page shortly after the suspension was served, Boebert said she would comply and not continue serving food through the weekend.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\" readability=\"6\">\n<div class=\"row gspi-donation gspi-donation-mobile p-0\" readability=\"7\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.postindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2020\/03\/PI-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\" onclick=\"handleDonationButtonClickMidArticle()\">Donate<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cI said I was taking this day by day \u2026 so, I\u2019m not serving food until I meet with them on Monday morning,\u201d Boebert said in the video.<\/p>\n<p>In her post, she calls out Gov. Jared Polis, whose statewide executive order limits restaurants to curbside take-out and delivery service only during the state\u2019s public health response aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour policies are literally bankrupting small businesses like mine that are trying their very best to responsibly stay afloat,\u201d Boebert wrote. \u201cThis has to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In protest, Boebert began serving customers inside her restaurant last weekend. She <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/garfield-county-to-seek-state-waiver-to-allow-restaurants-other-businesses-to-reopen\/\">told county commissioners<\/a> May 11 that she was following CDC guidelines, including social distancing between customer tables, requiring wait staff to wear face coverings, and limiting her dining-in capacity to 30%.<\/p>\n<p>Boebert was first issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/shooters-grill-in-rifle-served-with-cease-and-desist-order-after-reopening-against-state-public-health-orders\/\">cease and desist<\/a> order on Tuesday. The court order came Wednesday after Boebert continued to operate, and on Thursday and Friday she had moved her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/in-continued-defiance-of-health-orders-shooters-grill-takes-dining-outside\/\">table service outside<\/a> on the sidewalk and street parking area.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, Garfield County commissioners forwarded a formal request to Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"seeking a variance (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/garfield-county-seeks-waiver-from-state-health-orders-to-restart-some-businesses-at-30-50-capacity\/\">seeking a variance<\/a> from the state health orders.<\/p>\n<p>It asks that restaurants, fitness facilities\/gyms and churches be allowed to reopen at 50% capacity ahead of May 27 when the governor\u2019s executive order is set to expire. Larger tourist businesses would be limited to 30% capacity under the county\u2019s early opening request. A decision by the state is not expected for five to eight days.<\/p>\n<p>One other Rifle restaurant operator, Rasa Higens, who owns Brickhouse Pizza on Third Street a few doors down from Shooters, said she worries that Boebert\u2019s \u201cmartyrdom\u201d could negatively impact the county\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n<p>In a letter to the editor sent to the Post Independent, Higens said, \u201cWaiting patiently to open is our part in fighting covid 19. It is our way and sacrifice in this action that we show our support for all the medical community has done, for which we are grateful.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to open, however we do not feel the need to fight local government,\u201d her letter reads in part, continuing, \u201cwe are actively planning to open after the health department gives us the go and we are using our time to brainstorm a healthy way to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Higens added in a followup interview that she\u2019s \u201ca lot like\u201d Boebert in her beliefs, but she chooses to take a different tact in the current situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a Christian, I\u2019m a Trump supporter, I believe in open carry,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we don\u2019t want to go about this in a way that\u2019s going to take us longer to open.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Boebert is a Republican candidate for Congress in Colorado\u2019s 3rd District running against incumbent Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) in next month\u2019s primary.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"mailto:jstroud@postindependent.com\">jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/news\/rifles-shooters-grill-closes-food-service-license-suspended-ahead-of-monday-court-hearing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Matthew Palomvi talks with mother Sandra, who is visiting from Minnesota, after they had breakfast Thursday morning at Shooters Grill in Rifle. Shooters&#8217; license was suspended on Friday.Kyle Mills\/Citizen Telegram Garfield County Public Health late Friday suspended the food service license of Shooters Grill in Rifle, after the restaurant was serving customers on site in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1320048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-02 12:21:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320048\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}