LONGVIEW — A hearing regarding a Longview restaurant’s resistance to state indoor dining restrictions has been delayed for a third time.
The Thursday hearing was rescheduled to 10 a.m.Feb. 18 in Cowlitz County Superior Court so the state could serve the owners of Stuffy’s II a summons to appear in court.
The lawyer for the Washington State Attorney General’s Office said they had served a manager at the restaurant. Cowlitz County Superior Court Judge Gary Bashor said the owners must be served at the restaurant instead.
The restaurant’s owners face two separate sanctions: They are being fined by Washington State Department of Labor and Industries for not complying with state indoor dining restrictions and are also going to court over a temporary restraining order from the state attorney general’s office to further force them to comply.
A third rally in support of Stuffy’s started prior to the hearing and drew about 30 attendees with signs and statements against Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s restrictions on businesses to protect Washingtonians from the coronavirus.
“I hope we win,” said Stuffy’s co-owner Glenda Duling at the rally. “I hope we get our life back.”
The state banned indoor dining last spring and again in the fall, after reopening for a few months, while other businesses remain open.
After nearly two months of offering indoor dining and $234,000 in state fines, Stuffy’s II continues to seat customers inside.
L&I said Stuffy’s received 98 complaints for defying restrictions as of Jan. 26.
The deadly, airborne coronavirus can be more easily spread at restaurants, said an L&I employee, than other businesses like big-box stores, because people stay in one spot for extended periods and take their masks off to eat.
On Jan. 25, Inslee allowed two regions under the state’s reopening plan to offer indoor dining at 25% capacity, but not the region that covers Cowlitz County, where Stuffy’s is located. Lewis County, just north of Cowlitz, has moved to the next phase because its region met three of the four metrics:
- a 10% or greater decrease in the two-week rate of admissions.
- ICU occupancy of less than 90%.
- test positivity of less than 10%.
- Lewis County’s region did not meet the goal of a 10% decrease in two-week COVID-19 case rates.
The owners of the restaurant, which was founded in 1988, said that the state’s closure of indoor dining cut their revenue so much they had to defy the government’s orders to save their businesses.
In a Facebook post, Stuffy’s owners said their revenue was almost cut in half, from the second quarter of 2019 — before the pandemic — to the second quarter of 2020 — after the first round of indoor dining restrictions took place. The loss in revenue forced them to lay off staff.
“We choose to open up because we can’t survive on the decrease any longer and our employees are not getting unemployment,” stated the post.
Stuffy’s employee Beth Lee said the diner has been seating customers inside since Dec. 6, even though the governor closed indoor dining two weeks earlier for the second time in 2020.
Lee said staff comply with state coronavirus safety guidelines set when indoor dining was allowed during the summer. They moved tables at least 6 feet apart to retain social distancing and request customers to wear masks. The restaurant seats at half capacity and staff sanitize surfaces between customers.
“We’re really trying to be as safe as we can for our community,” said Lee. “We don’t want anyone to get sick.”
