South Plains state senator contributes to Dallas salon owner defense

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Texas State Senator Charles Perry said Shelley Luther showed true patriotism and courage when she opened her salon before it was allowed under Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order. He made a financial contribution to her defense fund after the Dallas salon owner was sent to jail for seven days and fined for opening her business.

READ MORE: Texas Supreme Court orders release of Dallas salon owner who was jailed for ignoring shutdown order

“[She’s] a mom with kids that did nothing more than say, ‘It’s my right to have pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. It’s my private property right to go and open my doors today and I’ll do it responsibly,’” District 28 Senator Charles Perry said. “If you feel insecure, as a person that is in that vulnerable population, don’t show up. That’s your right.”

Perry contributed $100 to Luther’s defense fund Wednesday. He said it was the least he could do. He said his disagreement with the punishment went beyond the jail time and fine but the request by the judge that she apologize to the court.

“I felt I had every right to fund her defense,” Perry said. “She was well within her right to say, ‘I can’t do this.’ As she said, if you believe your law trumps my ability to provide for my family, then so be it. So, I wasn’t disputing the consequence but the idea that you have to apologize to the system that you are charged with the responsibility of governing and to let that go by as an elected official? It’s just time to call it out what it is. I’m not making an indictment or a statement on any of my elected officials that feel differently. We all have to live in, kind of govern under our personal beliefs as well as what we believe but I couldn’t let that stand.”

Perry tells KCBD there have not been smart or consistent policies when it comes to restricting or opening businesses. He said those policies have picked “winners and losers.” He said too much power has been given up to the government for too long during this pandemic.

“There are so many principles undermining where I’m sitting right. We have forgotten the public good is best served by the public themselves, and not looking to a government," Perry said. “There’s a philosophical shift that I’m talking about. We seem to have forgotten what happens when you grant this much authority, even though some of it may have been well intended and some of might have been needed on a short-term basis. But, usually when you give up ground to a government, you don’t get it back when it’s over. We have lost a lot of territory very quickly. That gives me pause.”

Perry said he would ask the governor to open all businesses that feel they could do so safely.

“If I’m an owner and I believe I can be responsible, and I believe the market can decide whether I am or not, I think they should be able to do that,” Perry said.

With the data that has been gathered about COVID-19, Perry believes restrictions can be lifted further.

In District 28 26,187 people have filed for unemployment, as of April 25. Nearly 3,200 had filed at this time last year in those 51 counties.

“The economic fallout and the strife it’s going to create if we don’t get over this issue in May, I tell everybody for every day we delay, it’s not adding a day to the recovery,” Perry said. “It’s adding a month.”

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