Belleville orders restaurant to close for violating COVID rules. Owner defies ruling
Jimmy Johnson’s restaurant has a new name but a same old issue: He still doesn’t have a restaurant license or business occupancy permit for his Route 13 Diner because they were revoked by Belleville Mayor Mark Eckert for violating Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s ban on indoor dining issued to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Under current coronavirus restrictions, restaurants are allowed to serve customers in outdoor settings or with takeout. Pritzker, who has said restrictions could be eased on Jan. 15 if certain conditions are met, wants businesses to follow the rules to help control the virus, which has claimed over 17,000 lives in Illinois.
Johnson said he tried following the ban on indoor dining but he couldn’t make ends meet in the restaurant at 7309 Old St. Louis Road.
“It was very obvious after two to three weeks, we would not survive,” Johnson said. “We would become another statistic.”
So despite losing his license and occupancy permit and being ordered by Eckert to close, Johnson has continued to serve customers inside his restaurant, which had a steady stream of customers on a recent weekday.
Johnson said Belleville police officers have stopped by his place four times and he has received at least three “violation of business occupancy” citations that have a court date of Feb. 4.
The Route 13 Diner previously was known for decades as Moore’s Family Restaurant. But Johnson, who bought the restaurant last summer, said he renamed it because the Moore family wanted to “retire” their name from the restaurant business. The new name is a nod to its location off Illinois 13, which is also called Old St. Louis Road.
Eckert sent Johnson a warning letter on Dec. 4 and a license revocation letter on Dec. 10.
Eckert said he wants business owners to follow the state’s guidelines because people continue to lose their lives in the pandemic. He noted that on Thursday, over 4,100 deaths were reported nationwide for a record daily total.
“The situation is not getting better,” Eckert said. “It’s serious.” He said he’s following the advice of public health leaders who believe that when people gather in bars and restaurants, it poses a health risk.
“All we can do is try to cooperate, difficult as it is,” he said.
Johnson criticized Eckert for revoking his license and occupancy permit just days before the mayor was photographed inside Rigazzi’s, a restaurant in the Hill neighborhood of St. Louis.
“I really think it was kind of disgraceful,” Johnson said. “The mayor, of all people, who shut this city down and has the audacity to go across the river to eat indoors.”
Eckert has apologized for going to the St. Louis restaurant on Dec. 12 with his wife.
Johnson is being represented by Bond County attorney Tom DeVore, who has filed multiple lawsuits alleging that Pritzker did not have the authority to restrict businesses as he has ordered.
DeVore said Eckert’s suspension of Johnson’s occupancy permit was a way to “coerce my client into following the governor’s executive order inappropriately.”
Johnson said he would like to see more bars and restaurants serve customers inside.
According to documents released by the city through a Freedom of Information Act request by the News-Democrat, Eckert also sent a revocation letter to the Round Table Cafe at 11 N. 64th St on Dec. 10. That order was rescinded by Eckert on Dec. 17 when the restaurant formally agreed to follow Pritzker’s executive orders.
Eckert said Round Table representatives have agreed to keep their service within the covered patio area of the business.
St. Clair County bar and restaurant update
St. Clair County officials recently ordered seven bars and restaurants to close for violating the ban on serving customers inside.
Three of the seven businesses submitted remediation plans to the county and were allowed to reopen, according to Barb Hohlt, director of the county’s health department.
The three places are Lotawata Creek in Fairview Heights, Reifschneider’s Grill & Grape in Freeburg and Syberg’s in O’Fallon, Hohlt said.
Four of the seven businesses sought to have their food service licenses restored but Hohlt issued orders on Dec. 18 to deny the requests, according to records released by the county under a Freedom of Information Act request by the News-Democrat.
The four businesses are George’s Pub near East Carondelet, Shooter’s Bar & BBQ in O’Fallon, The Nail, a bar in New Athens, and H’s Bar near the west side of Belleville.
Juan Gillam, the owner of George’s Pub, said he has kept his bar open despite losing his food service permit and having his liquor license suspended by St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern, who also serves as the county’s liquor commissioner. Gillam also was fined $1,000.
Kern could not be reached for comment about the status of Gillam’s liquor license.
Gillam and Karla Blades, the owner of The Nail, are upset that they have been cited while other bars in the area have not been cited.
“They have no right to take away my way of living. When they quit their job, I’ll quit mine,” Gillam told the News-Democrat last month after his licenses were suspended.
Blades, who closed her bar after losing her food service license last month, said she doesn’t understand why some businesses can serve customers in a tent or a patio draped with tarps, but she can’t allow customers inside her well ventilated banquet hall where they could socially distance themselves. Guidelines call for the outside areas to have at least two sides open but Blades said she sees businesses that don’t follow that rule.
“It’s not fair,” said Blades, who noted that the price of commercial tents has skyrocketed and she can’t afford one.
Blades said The Nail — the name of which comes from an abbreviation of New Athens, Illinois — doesn’t have a kitchen but needs a food service license for ice.
Blades said her customers have been going to bars allowed to remain open in other towns including Red Bud, Waterloo and Columbia and that she’s struggling to pay her bills during the shutdown.
Officials in surrounding counties have not followed the path taken by St. Clair County and Belleville authorities. For instance, state’s attorneys in Bond, Madison and Monroe counties have not prosecuted Illinois State Police tickets issued to restaurants for alleged COVID violations.
A representative of H’s Bar could not be reached for comment and John Schildknecht, the owner of Shooters, declined to comment but noted he is being represented by DeVore.
Gillam and Blades also are clients of DeVore.
“These businesses are being crushed financially,” said DeVore, who plans to go to court and ask a judge to issue a stay of Hohlt’s Dec. 18 orders. “I’m just trying to protect them so they can survive and continue to operate because these cooks and waitresses, they can’t afford to go three, four, five, six, eight weeks without getting paid.”
Hohlt said if the businesses file remediation plans, they can ask to have their licenses restored.
“I know it’s tough,” she said of the predicament business owners face.
The businesses were cited because the county had received complaints about them, Hohlt said in an interview. She said county officials do not go out searching for places to cite but instead reacts to complaints.
“Our positivity is still high,” Hohlt said Thursday in reference to the coronavirus testing rate. The latest statistics showed that St. Clair County has a seven-day average positivity test rate of 12.9%.
For restrictions to be lifted, the region needs to have a seven-day rolling average positivity rate of less than 12% for three consecutive days while also seeing 20% available intensive care unit and medical/surgical bed availability for three consecutive days. Those standards are not being met in the area.
The positivity rate in the metro-east, which the state classifies as Region 4, has dropped after restrictions have been put in place. The region’s positivity rate increased after restrictions were lifted in June and again when restrictions were loosened in October. The latest statewide restrictions went into effect on Nov. 20 and since then, the region’s positivity rate trend has mostly been downward.
Restaurants and COVID
When Eckert sent warning letters to Belleville businesses, he cited a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released in September that said adults with positive COVID test results “were approximately twice as likely to have reported dining at a restaurant than were those with negative” COVID test results.
Hohlt said in her Dec. 18 orders that the businesses had allowed “indoor dining which presents an imminent health hazard and a substantial threat to the public health.”
DeVore and the business owners contacted by the News-Democrat say they do not believe their bars and restaurants harm the public’s health and that they can serve customers safely.
DeVore said an Illinois Department of Public Health report lists 10 locations that are more likely to have a COVID-19 outbreak than a restaurant.
The report is titled “COVID-19 Outbreak Locations” and it shows outbreaks of cases in various settings except for long-term care facilities which are covered in a separate report.
“An outbreak is defined as five or more cases that are linked to a common location during a 14-day period,” the report said.
Statewide, the category with the most outbreaks was listed as “factory/manufacturer” with 13.1% as of Jan. 1.
The second place was a group home and the third place was listed as “community event.” Restaurants were 11th on the list with bars at No. 14.
More restaurants reopening
St. Louis County on Monday allowed restaurants to serve customers indoors but capped the number of customers at 25% of the building’s capacity. Restaurants in the city of St. Louis already had been allowed to serve patrons inside.
In Illinois, Sangamon County also allowed some indoor service to resume this month despite Pritzker’s ban.
Johnson said he would like to see the city of Belleville and St. Clair County “follow” the actions by St. Louis County because he doesn’t think rules on restaurants make any difference on the spread of coronavirus.
When asked if people from the metro-east will go to restaurants in St. Louis since Illinois still has a ban on indoor dining, Johnson said, “That’s been happening for months. That’s why the mayor was across the river.”
“Maybe the city of Belleville and St. Clair County needs to follow their lead,” Johnson said.
