HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — Holland restaurant owner Marlena Pavlos-Hackney, 55, is being held in Ingham County Jail on contempt of court orders. Her bond had been denied, and jail records indicate she can be held until June 4, 2021.
Pavlos-Hackney, arrested by Michigan State Police while driving from her Ottawa County home to her Allegan County restaurant, Marlena’s Bistro & Pizzeria, faces the contempt charge after months of refuses to comply with health rules for limiting the spread of COVID-19.
She’s operated her restaurant, at 909 Lincoln Ave. in Holland, without the three key guidelines put in place for food-service establishments: requiring masks when people are not actively eating; maintaining a distance of at least six feet between tables of unrelated customers; and limiting the number of customers allowed for dine-in service.
While Pavlos-Hackney’s supporters, including some who have called WHTC during open-line segments, blamed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer or Attorney General Dana Nessel for Pavlos-Hackney’s arrest, it is standard procedure under Michigan’s food safety law.
Allegan County and state health officials had visited the restaurant and documented violations, instructing her to comply with the safety rules, according to court testimony in Ingham County last month. Since then, she has barred health inspectors from entering the restaurant. She’s also state publicly that she would bar police as well, though a Holland Department of Public Safety spokesman told WHTC that police may enter any establishment where the public is permitted.
At issue is more than public health and safety rules. Pavlos-Hackney insists it is her Constitutional right to operate the restaurant as she pleases. But the State of Michigan requires restaurants to have a state-issued license to operate. That was suspended in January, after she refused to follow the rules most other Michigan restaurant owners have been following since the pandemic hit Michigan one year ago.
During a March 4 hearing before Ingham County Circuit Judge Wanda Stokes, Pavlos-Hackney appeared in the virtual hearing without a licensed attorney, as required by court rules. Her advisor at the time, Rick Martin, is a Texas man who has not attended law school and does not have a law license. Judge Stokes told Martin he would not be recognized by the court.
“In cases involving a corporation, the law requires the corporation be represented by an attorney,” Judge Stokes said. She went on to call Pavlos-Hackney’s actions in violating the state law “willful.”
During that hearing, state officials noted that at least one person with COVID-19 had dined at the restaurant on Feb 27. County health officials issued an alert, in an attempt to notify anyone who may have been exposed to the virus.
During the hearing, Pavlos-Hackney suggested Judge Stokes was treasonous and at times refused to answer questions from the court. Judge Stokes noted that Pavlos-Hackney didn’t seem to understand the legal process, telling her she would issue a bench warrant for Pavlos-Hackney’s arrest for failure to comply with a court order. She also fined Pavlos-Hackney $7,500. State law allows for an additional $1,000-a-day fine for operating without a license.
“We’ve got to come to some point where individuals are following the law,” Stokes said.
On Friday, she was remanded to Ingham County Jail by Stoke’s colleague, Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilina, who became impatient when Pavlos-Hackney refused to take the standard oath to tell the truth in a court of law.
“It’s the wrong way to be a good citizen,” Aquilina told Pavlos-Hackney. “It’s the wrong way to assist the public in a pandemic. You do not violate the law. I have no reason to believe you are, in any way, shape or form, in compliance with the law. And until that is proven, with a hearing, you will be behind bars.”
She also fined Pavlos-Hackney $7,500, and ordered Martin to jail for contempt of court with no bond until June 4.
Under the state’s food safety law, “a person who knowingly violates section 5101(1)(b) or (l) is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 4 years or by a fine of not more than $10,000.00 plus twice the amount of any economic benefit associated with the violation, or both.”
Friday afternoon, Marlena’s Bistro & Pizzeria’s doors were boarded up, though the restaurant had been open for service that day. Pavlos-Hackney supporters planned a caravan and rally for Saturday afternoon.
Pavlos-Hackney immigrated to the United States from Poland in the late 1980s and obtained citizenship in the early 1990s. She’s operated Marlena’s Bistros since 2014. County records show that, until her pandemic-related refusal to follow rules, she had followed all county and state food-service safety rules.
In the run up to, and wake of, Pavlos-Hackney’s arrest, her situation is being leveraged by politicians and others seeking attention for their particular campaigns.
Austin Chenge, who announced his candidacy for the 2022 Michigan governor’s race, made a live video appearance from the resturant’s parking lot Friday. Jon Rocha, a Kalamazoo-area director of operations for RCI Adventure Products, started Pavlos-Hackney’s GoFundMe effort — which has, as of Saturday, raised $118,837 by 11 a.m. Saturday. Rocha has announced he’s seeking to run as a Republican against incumbent Sixth District U.S. House Rep. Fred Upton.
Kalamazoo-area chiropractor Garrett Soldano, who has been involved in multiple efforts to relax COVID-19 restrictions, has donated at least $4,000 to the Pavlos-Hackney GoFundMe effort. He was criticized last year for selling a $75-a-month juice plan and overstating its effectiveness against the coronavirus, reported by the Daily Mail, which called his claims “bogus.”
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