Coronavirus News

Defiant Dallas salon owner gets out of jail thanks to Republican pile-on

Shelley Luther mug shot.

Courtesy photo/Dallas County Jail

A Dallas salon owner who defied a stay-at-home order designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, got out of jail thanks to an intervention from the governor and the Supreme Court of Texas.

Shelley Luther, who was at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center in Dallas, was sentenced on May 6 when she re-opened her salon despite a state-wide order saying salons must be closed. She was also fined $3,500, plus $500 for every day her salon is open until May 8, when all salons and barbershops are allowed to reopen in Texas.

Her act of defiance attracted attention from a rogue's gallery including Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton, The Masked Singer contestant Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, and a group of open-carry fellas who showed up at her salon armed to the teeth to "defend" it.

After she made a spectacle of tearing up her cease-and-desist letter from Dallas County, Luther became a cause du jour from "Open Texas" advocates, one of whom helped set up a GoFundMe page, which has raised more than $500,000. The case has also drawn national attention.

Once Abbott caught wind, he modified his order to eliminate jail time and the Texas Supreme Court — judges Nathan Hecht, Paul Green, Eva Guzman, Debra Lehrmann, Jeffrey Boyd, John Phillip Devine, Jimmy Blacklock, Brett Busby, and Jane Bland, most of them his appointees — stepped up with a letter ordering Luther to be released.

Dan Patrick jumped on board, stating, "I'm covering the $7K fine she had to pay and I volunteer to be placed under House Arrest so she can go to work and feed her kids."

Luther has two college-age children and lives in a home valued at $.5 million. She also received a PPP grant.

Paxton chimed in, speculating that whoever sentenced Luther to jail must be doing it as "another political stunt in Dallas."

Palin showed up at Luther's salon for a photo op with the staff while on her way to visit her daughter in Austin.

Huckabee tweeted "God bless TX Supreme Court for ordering Dallas salon owner released as Abbott bans jailing citizens for lockdown violations. Now lock up that idiot judge who must have thought he was in China!"

But another more rational Twitter user referenced "affluenza," the defense used by Burleson teen Ethan Couch, who killed four people while he was driving drunk.

"In Texas we have a 'special' law," TXSleuthUSA tweeted. It's for people who have 'affluenza.' They don't get same punishment as most people get. I'm pretty sure a barber in South Oak Cliff, in Dallas, might not get same deal."

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Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

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