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Pennsylvania State Police cited eight restaurants in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties for allegedly violating covid-19 restrictions last month, and the Allegheny County Department of Health closed several establishments during the first two weeks of the year.
The number of violations pronounced by state police fell in both counties in December, likely because restaurants and bars were ordered to stop operations inside for three weeks in an attempt to stem an increase in cases occurring in the weeks following Thanksgiving.
In Westmoreland County, Hugo’s and Rialto in Greensburg, Café Supreme in Irwin, the Oklahoma Inn in Apollo, and Ligonier Tavern and Table have all been cited for violations ranging from not requiring face masks to serving alcohol to customers at the bar or without purchasing meals.
In Allegheny County, the Spearmint Rhino Gentlemen’s Club in Pittsburgh, the Tugs in East Pittsburgh and Cantley’s in Carnegie have been cited for similar violations, including serving alcohol without purchasing meals and failing to comply with the warrants of mask.
Since early 2021, the Allegheny County Health Department has ordered Reese’s Super Club in Duquesne closed for operating without a health license, operating under a shutdown order, serving alcohol without meals and missing social distancing. The warehouse in Pittsburgh’s Allentown neighborhood was closed for similar violations.
Alleged Hottie’s Martini and Cigar Bar repeat offender in Carnegie was cited again on January 9 after an inspection found the bar was open and functioning despite being ordered to close multiple times for violating restrictions of covid, according to the Allegheny County Health Department report. .
The company that owns the bar, Three Durans, filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Health and others in December.
The lawsuit, in addition to Allegheny County and its health department, also names the state liquor control office, the Carnegie Police Department. The lawsuit argues that Carnegie Police have ordered the bar to close “on several occasions, following alleged ‘covid violations’.”
The bar was first closed for a week at the end of September for not needing masks, exceeding occupancy restrictions and serving alcohol after the curfew imposed by the Ministry of State health. The bar reopened for two weeks in October when it was ordered to close again for the same violations.
A re-inspection a week later kept the bar closed and the Liquor Control Board suspended Three Durans’ liquor license for two weeks, according to the lawsuit. The owners say the mitigation orders on which the closures and suspensions were based “have no valid legal basis.”
The lawsuit accuses a Liquor Control Board inspector of calling the bar patrons “them” and “suggesting that the” closure “was racially motivated because of Hottie’s African-American customers. “
The lawsuit says the orders are not enforceable, the defendants and the governor unduly extended their emergency powers, the mitigation orders violate the doctrine of separation of state powers, the owners were deprived of due process and equal protection, the defendants conspired to rape the owners. civic rights and all of that was at least partially motivated by racism.
Megan Guza is a writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Megan at 412-380-8519, [email protected] or via Twitter .
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