One lawmaker is showing his support for a salon owner who was recently released from jail after being locked up for defying her state’s stay-at-home order.
“Just got my hair cut for first time in 3 months at Salon ALa Mode to support Shelley Luther, who was wrongly imprisoned when she refused to apologize for trying to earn a living,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted. “Glad Shelley is out of jail [and] her business is open!”
The Texas Supreme Court ordered salon owner Shelley Luther to be released from the Dallas County Jail this week after she was jailed for operating her business despite the state’s state-at-home order.
This followed after Luther refused to shut down her business in late-April despite a restraining order and cease-and-desist letter. She was sentenced to seven days in jail and given a fine.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) was among those who called for the Dallas salon owner to be released.
Abbott wrote in a statement, “Compliance with executive orders during this pandemic is important to ensure public safety; however, surely there are less restrictive means to achieving that goal than jailing a Texas mother.”
Hair salons & barbershops are open in TX today. Just got my hair cut for first time in 3 months at Salon ALa Mode to support Shelley Luther, who was wrongly imprisoned when she refused to apologize for trying to earn a living. Glad Shelley is out of jail & her business is open! pic.twitter.com/yJD8fWb84W
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) May 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/psvaughtFOX7/status/1258780695301849089
Amen. https://t.co/6BslixKlAk
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) May 8, 2020
Today I traveled to #Dallas to get a haircut at Salon A la Mode, owned by Shelley Luther. Thanks in large part to Shelley’s courage, hair salons are allowed to open in #Texas today. Shelley stood up for liberty and common sense and I am proud to stand with her. pic.twitter.com/mFYwBmjhjj
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) May 8, 2020
“We’re thrilled to be with you and know the whole State of Texas is standing with you, so thank you for your courage,” Cruz told the salon owner of Salon à la Mode, according to KTVT-TV, the CBS affiliate in Dallas.
Luther told Cruz, “When people reach out with true authenticity, it’s huge.”
In remarks following his haircut, Cruz told reporters, “I’m proud to stand with Shelly Luther. What happened to her was wrong. It was ridiculous to see someone sentenced to seven days in jail for cutting hair. That’s not right, that’s not justice and that’s not Texas.”
Luther also told CBS 11 News, “It’s a nice gesture. His family actually called my boyfriend and prayed for him for 20 minutes while I was in jail. To me that’s not political… that’s just really nice people reaching out and making sure that our family is okay.”
In Texas, the stay-at-home order ended on April 30. Retail, restaurants, and movie theaters were among some of the places that were allowed to begin reopening on May 1, with limited capacity, amid the coronavirus pandemic. Salons, among other beauty services, were allowed to reopen on Friday.
The state of Texas has over 37,700 positive coronavirus cases and more than 1,000 deaths due to the virus, as of Saturday morning.