Open a business now and or stay the course? Sacrifice lives or sacrifice jobs? The issue is almost as fraught as the simple choice facing all of us: Do we wear a mask to protect others or go bare-faced in public?
Those willing to take risks that seem reckless to others include Lauren Boebert, the always-armed owner of Shooter’s Grill in Rifle, Colorado, who served patrons despite Gov. Jared Polis’s order, and Doug and Christine Lohman, owners of Hardware Brewery in Kendrick, Idaho, who made a big deal of opening May 1, also against a governor’s order.
Kendrick, population 307, is where Doug and Christine Lohman poured their life’s savings into a pub fashioned out of a former hardware store. The bar depends almost entirely on customers from somewhere else, like the University of Idaho, 30 miles away, or Lewiston, about 60 miles away. Their Hardware Brewery would be recognized in most towns as a pleasant local Cheers, except it’s not in anybody’s neighborhood.
