Pasadena bar holds protest over COVID-19 closures
PASADENA, Texas (KTRK) -- A group of bar owners and supporters gathered at a Pasadena nightclub to protest Gov. Abbott's bar closure order.
"All these people's lives are on the line. We need to work. We need to pay our bills. We have a rent, we lease this building. She wants her money," said co-owner of Chuters, Helen Bergeron.
The bar had been closed since the governor's latest closure order went into effect on June 26 but opened for the event.
This comes as multiple bar owners, as well as the Texas Bar and Nightclub Alliance, are suing the state saying it's not fair that bars have to remain closed while hair salons and other businesses have been allowed to stay open.
The governor has specifically blamed bars for the state's recent increase in COVID-19 cases.
"We're not afraid TABC might show up. If they show up, they show up. But, we are here to protest and rally for the bars," said co-owner James Kopeck.
"We just want to go to work. It's not fair that at a restaurant right behind us, I can go sit at their bar and get hammered on margaritas, but I can't come to my club and drink a beer because it's a bar," said Bergeron.
