Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves allowed the statewide face mask mandate to expire on Sept. 30. In three weeks since, local mask requirements that remained in place since the governor’s action have generally been accepted as a fact of life among businesses in Columbus and Starkville during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Honestly, we haven’t really had a lot of conversations about masks,” said Barbara Bigelow, director for Main Street Columbus. “Most of the merchants I’ve talked to just accept it as something they have to do now.”
There are exceptions, however.
In Starkville, police have issued citations for violating the mask order at four businesses since Oct. 1, including three separate incidents at Drifter’s Bar and Grill, where 42 separate violations were cited.
But Columbus, where mask citations were issued to a downtown business, has caught the attention of the public.
Blaine and Corie Walters, owners of The Bride and Groom Bridal Boutique on Fifth Street South, say their business has been targeted because of their outspoken opposition to the city’s mask mandate.
According to the Walterses, police officers came to their shop four times between Oct. 6 and 16, issuing citations to both owners and an employee on Oct. 16.
“I’ve been very outspoken about the mandate and the legitimacy of it,” Blaine Walters said. “I believe that’s made us a target.”
Walters turned to Facebook to express his disapproval of the city’s action, posting Facebook Live videos on Oct. 8, after the CPD’s first visit to his store, and again on Oct. 16, the day the citations were issued. The latter post attracted 253 “likes,” 112 comments and 173 shares.
Walters said the first visit from CPD came from Chief Fred Shelton on Oct. 8. He said Shelton informed the couple that the sign on the door of the business was not in compliance with the city’s ordinance and needed to be changed.
“When the governor issued the mask order, we discovered what we believed to be a loophole that allowed us to be exempt from the order,” Walters said. “We printed that story out and that was what we used for a sign.”
The governor’s orders have often excluded certain businesses from complying with requirements if the business could not function under the mandates. That list included doctor’s offices, dentists and other essential businesses. The list of exempted businesses did not explicitly list bridal shops, but the Walterses believe the nature of their business makes it eligible for the exemption.
“We’re not like most retail,” Corie Walters said. “We typically don’t have a lot of customers in the store at any one time like Lowe’s or Walmart. Our clients are by appointment. They’re trying on a thousand-dollar dress. They’re stressed, maybe they haven’t eaten because they want to fit into the dress. Then we have to make them do something that makes it difficult for them to breathe on top of all that? We’ve had customers pass out, just from the stress.”
Even so, Blaine said he complied with Shelton’s instructions to replace the sign.
The sign at the shop now reads: “The mayor of Columbus dictates that everyone wears face masks. They made us post this sign.”
Blaine said three CPD officers visited his store two days later, when the store was closed and he was alone in his shop doing paperwork.
“They said they were responding to a report,” Blaine said. “After I told them that the store was closed and I was the only one there, it seems to have befuddled them. They were just kind of scratching their heads.”
Blaine said they left without issuing a citation.
On Oct. 14, CPD officers visited again. Neither owner was at the business at the time, but an employee was issued a warning for violating the mask ordinance.
Finally, on Oct. 16, CPD officers visited the store. Blaine said he was on the phone with a vendor and was not wearing a mask at the time. Corie was in the back office. A store employee was also in the store and not wearing a mask. No customers were in the store at the time, Walters said.
Officers cited both the Walterses and the employee for violating the mask ordinance.
“Every time they came, they said they had reports,” Blaine said. “Right now, we’re doing FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests to find out if there were really any reports. I have my doubts.”
Reached Monday, Shelton declined comment, other than saying the city would issue a statement on the dispute and would provide information on how many mask citations the department has issued since Oct. 1. As of press time, neither the statement nor the citation statistics had been provided to The Dispatch.
Blaine admitted he has not been enforcing the mask requirements, based on the belief that his company is excluded from the requirements found in the governor’s initial order.
However, in the initial county-by-county and later, the statewide order, the governor’s executive order has stated that local ordinances can be more restrictive than the state-ordered mandates.
“I’ll be honest,” Blaine said. “We don’t enforce (the mask requirement). I don’t make my employees wear masks. It’s a do-as-you-wish situation.
“Are we following the order? No,” he added. “But there are many other places that aren’t doing it either. Are they being targeted as much as we are?”
‘This is what we have to do for the time being’
Two doors down from the Bride and Groom, Ivy Knight, 81, owner of Ivy’s Outlet, said the mask order hasn’t created much of an issue for him.
“The only thing I see sometimes is someone will forget to wear a mask when they come in, then they’ll turn around and go back to their car and get it,” said Knight, who has been in business at his location for 52 years. “We wear masks. Our customers wear masks. That’s how it is. It’s not a problem.”
Vanesha Williams, owner of Swanky B Boutique on Main Street in Starkville, has had a similar experience.
“We re-opened in August and we’ve followed the state and city orders ever since,” she said. “Our customers haven’t complained and we’re not complaining, either. This is what we have to do for the time being. Everybody understands that.”
Neither Knight nor Williams recall police dropping into their businesses to check on compliance. Blaine Walters, on the other hand, notes a different experience.
“It hasn’t been like they are out going door-to-door, patrolling,” he said. “They pull up, park in front of our business, come in and go back to their car.”
Blaine said he has talked to both Mayor Robert Smith and Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard, whose ward includes that portion of downtown, but hadn’t reached an understanding.
He said there are two solutions: Either leave it up to individual business owners as to whether they require masks or draft a new mandate that permits exclusions because of the unique nature of a business.
Blaine said unlike the governor’s mandate, the city’s order does not seem to be based on the current state of the virus.
“What are the numbers they are using to determine that a mask is needed?” he said.
On Monday, Reeves issued mask orders for nine counties, based on increases in COVID-19 cases.
“But you’ll notice that Lowndes County isn’t on the list,” Corie Walters said.
According to the latest weekly data provided by the state health department, Oktibbeha County (56 cases) and Lowndes County (55 cases) ranked 14th and 15th in new cases of the state’s 82 counties between Sept. 28 and Oct. 2. Only six counties had a higher percentage increase compared to the previous week (3 percent).
Blaine Walters hopes to meet again with the mayor to find a solution.
“We want to sit down with the mayor again and tell him about our problems with this situation,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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