El Paso Standard

The Sun City Tattoo staff had no choice when a lockdown was ordered in El Paso.

Their shop closed, they went home and waited for it to reopen with no income and no idea when work would resume.

“We just had to survive,” said Andy Fernandez, who works at the front counter. Fernandez told El Paso Standard that the lockdown requires the business to close its doors for two weeks.

Sun City Tattoos | Submitted

He said the 12 tattoo artists booked appointments for after the lockdown and currently wait for an opportunity to resume work. The shop limits one person per artist, does not allow others in to observe the work and everyone wears masks, uses hand sanitizer and practice other precautions. Fernandez said they have had no coronavirus cases at the business, which opened in 2004.

“We haven’t had anybody catch it yet,” he told El Paso Standard.

El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego issued the closure on Oct. 29, effective at midnight. On Nov. 11, he extended it until Dec. 1.

A court battle erupted, with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, El Paso Mayor Dee Margo and several El Paso business owners vowing to overturn the lockdown. A state district court judge upheld it before the 8th Court of Appeals struck it down on Nov. 13.

“I commend the 8th Court of Appeals for stopping El Paso County Judge Samaniego’s shutdown order – pending the final decision on the merits,” Paxton said in a tweet. “It is important that we do not shutdown the economy ever again.”

Samaniego said he would not challenge the ruling, despite his deep concerns about rising cases and the number of COVID-19 deaths in the city and county.

“While I am extremely disappointed in the ruling, I will honor the court’s decision,” he said in a statement. “Our family members, our friends, and our neighbors are dying, and our hospitals, funeral homes, and morgues are at capacity.”

Samaniego noted there are still restrictions, as businesses deemed non-essential are mandated to remain at 50% capacity, restaurants had to end in-person service at 9 p.m. and bars remained shuttered.

No more than 10 people may gather at a time and face mask use is required in public places.

Luz Villegas, owner and manager of LV Hair Salon, said her business is also closed for two weeks. Villegas doesn’t agree with closing businesses despite the pandemic being in full force.

“I don’t think that’s the solution,” she told El Paso Standard. “I think everybody’s got to get it. That’s the only way we can get through it.”

Villegas said closing down just hurts working people.

“The bills keep coming,” she said. 

Justin Kaufman, the owner of the Back Nine Bar & Lounge, El Paso Drafthouse, the Brass Monkey and El Rey Muerto and two gyms named Ratio One 61, had resisted the lockdown order from the start.

“I think they’re all going to be thrown out at the end of it,” Kaufman told El Paso Standard.

He did end seated service at 9 p.m. but said he wanted to allow his employees to try to make a living. Before the pandemic, he had 130 employees; now, about one-third that many have jobs.

“It sucks,” Kaufman said. “It really sucks. It’s really hard on them.”

The business mandates masks for employees and customers, has hand sanitizer at the ready and practices social distancing.

“The whole nine yards,” Kaufman said. “We’re very diligent on that stuff, as a matter of fact.”

He has received eight citations for remaining open and has one answer for that.

“I give them all to my lawyer, let her handle that,” Kaufman said.

He said about half the businesses in town stayed open during the lockdown while the others closed, in part because business dropped dramatically.

While local agencies have been citing his businesses — the sheriff’s department was issuing citations after the judge’s order, as were constables, and, eventually the El Paso Police Department — the state has approved his operations.

He said the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission had an inspector stop by and said they were in full compliance, Kaufman said.

“That’s where all the confusion is,” Kaufman said. “And it’s leaving us in the middle.”