COVIDICTATORS: Court Upholds NJ Health Dep’t Closure Of Gym–Co-Owner Vows To Fight ‘Slimeball’ Gov. Phil Murphy
One of the owners of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey says that “they’re in this for the long haul” and hope to reopen soon.
On May 18, the gym opened in violation of the state’s executive order forcing some businesses to remain closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the owners, Ian Smith, has been very outspoken about the Governor’s decision to keep gyms closed when others like liquor stores and big, box stores are allowed to be open.
Before officially reopening, Smith and his business partner put in place rigorous safety measures that follow the CDC guidelines, including requiring members to have their temperature taken and fill out a medical questionnaire before permitting them to enter the premises, reducing the number of people permitted in the space, and closing the gym to non-members.
Atilis made national headlines when a New Jersey Cop refused to enforce the Executive Order.
ClashDaily covered that here:
But, after repeatedly violating the New Jersey Department of Health’s orders to close, the state got the courts involved and shut down the gym over the long weekend.
The owners of a South Jersey gym say they won’t be reopening this weekend after a judge granted a request from Gov. Murphy to shut down the gym. Atilis Gym in Bellmawr reopened on Monday and was open for several days in defiance of the governor’s stay-at-home order.
After receiving the court order to shut down on Friday, Atilis Gym co-owner Ian Smith posted an Instagram video calling the governor a “slimeball” and called the health department’s closure on Wednesday, “flimsy and bogus.”…
…The gym was shut down by the health department Wednesday night due to plumbing issues. The owners say their bathrooms flooded after their toilets were clogged by paper towels, something they called suspicious.
The owners have been cited several times for reopening. Some members have also been cited.
Source: CBS 3
Here is Smith’s Instagram post where he calls Governor Murphy a “slimeball” and vows to keep fighting. Smith says that the gym will be closed as their lawyers work on a federal case against Governor Murphy alleging that the state for robbed them of due process and “violated their Constitutional rights.”
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CAgwuYOpRVY/?utm_source=ig_embed
It looks like things are about to get interesting.
