WACO, Texas — Salon owners in Waco and Killeen spoke about Shelley Luther's attempt to keep her Dallas business open despite COVID-19 restrictions.
Lakendra Dugas is the owner of Beyond the Chair in Waco. She is happy to finally reopen for business and feels it was a bit extreme to put Shelly Luther in jail for refusing to close her salon and violating local and state orders.
"I definitely understand from the point of view of trying to make it through an unknown situation we've never been in before,” Dugas said. “It’s very tough. Especially not to try to judge them, but have compassion in the fact we don’t know their financial situation.”
Melisa Cooper, owner of Design Team Salon, said Luther is admired by a lot of the hair stylist she knows.
"The girl who opened in Dallas is kind of a lot of our hero,." Cooper said. "She used all the precautions we know and understanding we're going to have to get in there and move and take the chance."
But not everyone thinks Luther is a hero. Salon Monai in Killeen is owned by Sharon Johnson.
Johnson heard about Luther's case, but said you have to obey the law.
"The rules are the rules,” Johnson said. “Of course, you don’t want anyone to be sentenced to jail time but there are consequences for the actions we take. Whether we agree with the rules that were put out or not, we have to abide by them."
In April Ana Isabel Castro-Garcia and Brenda Stephanie Mata of Laredo were arrested on misdemeanor charges for selling beauty supply products online.
They were also released.
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- Texas attorney general says judge should release jailed salon owner
- Dallas salon owner who refused to close sentenced to 7 days in jail, ordered to pay fines
- Texas salon owners hope Gov. Abbott will allow business to resume
