As we, sadly, noted yesterday, the Kentucky state Supreme Court upheld Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) executive orders to fight COVID-19. Now the Lexington-Herald Leader is reporting that several businesses have been fined for not servings as the Staatspolizei in enforcing the Reich Governor’s decrees:

7 Lexington businesses fined over masks before top KY court upholds COVID-19 rules

By Jeremy Chisenhall | November 12, 2020 | 11:15 AM EST | Updated 11:22 AM EST

The Kentucky Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Gov. Andy Beshear’s COVID-19 restrictions means businesses are still subject to penalties if they don’t enforce the statewide mask mandate.

Seven Lexington businesses have been fined over the mask mandate since it first went into place in early July, with one business getting fined twice, according to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department.

The health department had received more than 670 complaints of COVID-19-related health violations as of Wednesday, according to health department spokesman Kevin Hall. At least 85 notices to correct have been issued, and eight citations have been given out to seven different Lexington businesses. Citations come with fines of $50, $75, or $100, depending on how many times the business has been cited, Hall said. . . .

The health department does have the authority to fine businesses for multiple violations, including restaurant tables not being 6 feet apart or employees not requiring that patrons practice social distancing. But all of the COVID-19-related complaints as of Wednesday had been about masks, Hall said.

The businesses listed by the Herald-Leader as having been fined:

• Kroger, 4104 Tates Creek Center, two citations, for $50 and $75.
• Walmart, 500 West New Circle Road, $50.
• Speedway, 2900 Richmond Road, $50.
• Speedway, 1401 Leestown Road, $50.
• Wing Zone, 580A Eureka Springs, $50.
• Thornton’s, 2291 Elkhorn Road, $50.
• Steak N Shake, 1832 Alysheba Way, $50.

I urge anyone reading this who happens to be in Lexington to patronize these businesses!

Have I mentioned yet that I have exactly zero respect for the Karens who make these complaints?

But, let’s get real here: $50 to a huge Walmart store is nothing, and $125 to Kroger, a huge supermarket chain? Laughable. While the article does not tell us whether the violations were due to employees not wearing masks, or non-enforcement against customers, those fines are far less than the businesses would lose if they pissed off customers.

What this story points out is what I have mentioned previously, that the Governor’s orders are not being enforced by the police, but by local health departments, and they have little power. They can issue citations, and minimal fines, to businesses, but if a health department worker sees me walking down the street without a mask — which is exactly how he would see me, if he saw me at all — he couldn’t do [insert slang term for feces here] about it. He couldn’t issue me a citation, and he couldn’t stop me, and if he called the police on me, there’s nothing they could do.

That’s what Governor Beshear did with his pathetic orders. While the General Assembly has to limit his emergency rule by decree power, because we cannot be a dictatorship, the Governor made not the police but pathetic little county health departments as the ‘enforcement’ agencies for his orders. He hasn’t targeted civilians for his enforcement decrees, but businesses, which are dependent upon holding business licenses. He hasn’t told armed police officers of deputy sheriffs to enforce his mask mandate, but 19-year-old waitresses and 16-year-old kids working behind the counter at McDonald’s to confront customers.

Of the seven businesses listed, other than the managers, most have minimum wage employees working in the public contact positions, but the Governor expects them to get in the faces of 220 lb bikers? What’s wrong with this picture?

That the state Supreme Court had let Mr Beshear get away with this stuff is unfortunate, and the incoming General Assembly, with the GOP holding veto-proof majorities in both chambers, needs to drastically curtail his ’emergency’ powers under KRS 39A. But, for a dictator, Mr Beshear is a pretty weak-willed one.