Just two weeks after a Graham County bar was shut down by state liquor investigators because some of the 50 patrons were walking around inside the bar, nearly twice that number of people took part in a well-publicized dance in Yavapai County where no one seemed to practice COVID-19 mitigation.
Sarah’s Bull Pen was banned by Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control (ADLLC) from opening as of March 6 because of patrons seen “standing, congregating, and mingling around tables and the bar area while failing to maintain at least six feet of space between each other to properly social distance.”
The owner, Sarah Henderson, was not even allowed to engage in non-alcohol business, such as selling to-go food and sodas. She was eventually allowed to reopen last week, albeit under an agreement that the business would adhere to several restrictive regulations.
Yet last weekend at least 100 people gathered under an event tent for the annual Cattleman’s Weekend Dance, held in conjunction with the Prescott Livestock Auction. Video of the dance shows dozens of people dancing in close quarters while dozens more stand around in small groups without utilizing masks.
Gov. Doug Ducey and officials with the Arizona Department of Health Service (ADHS) have repeatedly cited concerns about bars and saloons contributing to an increase in COVID-19 transmissions due to a lack of social distancing as well as lower “inhibitions” brought on by consuming alcohol. However, restaurants and almost every other type of liquor license holder has been allowed to be open for months.
The state has imposed the strictest constraints on owners of Series 6 and 7 liquor licenses, which normally include small mom-and-pop establishments. Officials have not explained why consuming alcohol in hotel bars, restaurants, and at social events like dances does not pose the same COVID-19 transmission risks.
That disparate treatment by state officials is something more than 100 owners of Series 6 and 7 licenses challenged in Maricopa County Superior Court. They lost, but are hopeful Ducey’s orders will be reversed next month when their attorney, Ilan Wurman, argues the case before the Arizona Supreme Court.
Some of the Series 6 and 7 bars have been able to obtain ADHS’s consent to reopen, while many others have been shuttered for months and may never reopen, according to Wurman. His clients are seeking an order allowing them to reopen free of COVID-19 regulations so obstructive they cannot be complied with, and to level the competitive playing field with other liquor sellers.
Attorney General Mark Brnovich sided last fall with the bar owners regarding Ducey’s disparate rules for liquor licenses, noting that at the beginning of the pandemic the governor was “well within his authority to declare an emergency and close down all non-essential businesses in an even-handed manner until health officials could better determine the nature of this novel virus.”
The problem, Brnovich noted in a legal brief, is it’s “clear that we are now in a world where the governor is picking winners and losers regarding the economic recovery from the emergency, not reacting to the emergency itself.”’
When Wurman filed a petition to transfer his clients’ case to the Arizona Supreme Court, he cited the “extraordinary circumstances” involved. Ducey and attorneys for ADHS and ADLLC opposed to the effort, but on Dec. 1 the Justices granted the transfer.
Oral arguments were scheduled for March 9, but on March 5 the governor issued a new executive order which prompted the Supreme Court to postpone the proceeding until April 22. The new executive order revoked occupancy and capacity limits for most businesses, but leaves in place physical distancing rules and other regulations which Wurman says effectively act as a capacity limit.
“The Governor has issued an order to make it ‘look’ like he’s opening up, but he’s not,” Wurman said, pointing out the March 5 order makes no mention of repealing an earlier executive order which effectively closed most bars and saloons. “Governor Ducey has pulled a fast one.”