Police cite Fast Eddie’s Bon Air in Alton for not complying with Illinois’ COVID rules
Fast Eddie’s Bon Air in Alton, one of the most well-known restaurants and bars in the St. Louis region, has been cited by the Illinois State Police for not complying with state coronavirus restrictions, according to news reports.
The Alton Telegraph on Wednesday morning published the following statement from Delila Garcia, deputy chief with the ISP Public Information Office:
“Based on a complaint, a COVID-19 Compliance check on Fast Eddies Bon Air in Alton was conducted. Illinois State Police officers issued a Notice of Non-Compliance to the manager on duty and advised.
“After approximately, one hour, ISP officers returned and issued a dispersal order to the same on-duty manager. After approximately another 30 minutes, ISP officers returned and issued a Madison County Non-Traffic complaint to the business for the observed violations. The manager signed and accepted the written complaint on behalf of Fast Eddies Bon Air.”
Violators of Illinois Department of Public Health regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic can be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, which carries a fine of $75 to $2,500. The Illinois State Police statement didn’t say which regulation Fast Eddie’s was accused of violating.
The restaurant and bar draws people from miles around, including St. Louis, for its cold beer, grilled food and live music. It has a large enclosed patio with a roof that can be retracted to create an open-air atmosphere, in addition to indoor seating.
The Fast Eddie’s Facebook page, which proudly describes the business as a “Dive Bar,” didn’t mention the ISP citation. It announced expanded hours on Oct. 1.
Restaurants and bars in several metro-east cities have been reopening for indoor dining and drinking recently, rebelling against state restrictions that prohibit it due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some owners say they would rather pay a fine than lose business now that cooler temperatures are keeping customers from sitting outside and eating.
Jon Roderick, owner of Jerry’s Cafeteria in Granite City, kept his dining room open, even after Illinois State Police responded to a complaint Sept. 17 and gave him a warning for not complying with Illinois Department of Public Health regulations.
“Is it a stand against the man? Not really,” he said during a BND interview this week. “But I have a wife and kids and a mortgage and college and car payments, just like everyone else, and so do my employees.”
Metro-east restaurants have been on a bit of a roller coaster, closing March 17 as part of a state shutdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Many reopened for outdoor dining on May 29 and indoor dining on June 26 under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Restore Illinois plan to restart the economy.
Pritzker banned indoor dining again on Sept. 2 in Region 4, which consists of seven metro-east counties. The ban was one of several “mitigation” restrictions imposed after the region’s seven-day rolling positivity rate on coronavirus tests hit 10.5%, well past an 8% threshold.
The counties are St. Clair, Madison, Bond, Clinton, Monroe, Randolph and Washington.
State officials have declined to lift the additional restrictions until the region’s positivity rate, which was listed as 6.9% in the latest statistics available, drops down to 6.5%, even as local leaders argue that some individual counties have reached that goal.
Owners of The Fainting Goat restaurant and bar locations in Breese and Pocahontas went public with their plans to continue serving food and drinks indoors in mid-September. About a week later, the Illinois State Police issued a citation.
The Illinois Department of Public Health had asked the Illinois State Police for assistance with enforcement in the case “because of a consistently high positivity rate in Region 4 and complaints about a small number of businesses violating public health rules,” according to a statement issued by ISP spokeswoman Beth Hundsdorfer at the time.
“As outlined in the administrative rule, enforcement is an incremental process starting with a notice of non-compliance,” it read. “If businesses continue to not comply, as has been the case in some instances in Region 4, state or local law enforcement can issue the business a misdemeanor citation, similar to enforcing indoor smoking laws.”
County state’s attorneys determine what ultimately happens with the citations, as they do in any other misdemeanor cases.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website states that restaurants with indoor dining are more risky for spreading the coronavirus than those with outdoor seating.
The agency offers tips to reduce the risk, including spacing tables six feet apart and limiting seating capacity, which are both part of Restore Illinois restrictions.
“COVID-19 is mostly spread by respiratory droplets released when people talk, cough, or sneeze,” the website states. “It is thought that the virus may spread to hands from a contaminated surface and then to the nose or mouth, causing infection.
“Therefore, personal prevention practices (such as handwashing, staying home when sick) and environmental cleaning and disinfection are important principles. .... Fortunately, there are a number of actions operators of restaurants and bars can take to help lower the risk of COVID-19 exposure and spread.”
This story was originally published October 7, 2020 at 12:37 PM.