Michigan restaurant owner, Marlena Pavlos-Hackney of Marlena’s Bistro and Pizzeria, defied the lockdown in Michigan so she has been instructed to turn herself in by the end of day today but refused to comply. She says “they can arrest me” but she’s not turning herself in to the authorities.
During a hearing with the Ingham County judge earlier this month, Pavlos-Hackney was issued a bench warrant saying she should be jailed until she shuts down her restaurant.
News 8 stopped by the restaurant Thursday afternoon, where Pavlos-Hackney was serving customers, refusing to comply with the lockdown protocols like mask-wearing or capacity limits. Pavlos-Hackney knows oppression first-hand because she fled communism five years ago to come to America.
“We don’t want this country to be a communist regime that’s going to dictate what we can do and what we cannot do. I’m not afraid if I have to go to jail, because I fight for freedom.”
Pavlos-Hackney said she’ll be in jail for as long as it takes to fight for her freedom. Her customers have spoken out to support her and say she’s a hero.
There is a GoFundMe for Pavlos-Hackney and she has been speaking out on Tucker Carlson and The Blaze about her ordeal.
HER STORY FROM THE GOFUNDME:
In 1983, Marlena escaped Communism of her home country Poland for the Freedoms and individual rights of These United States of America. She became a citizen in 1992 and decided to open her business, nestled in Holland, Michigan “Marlena’s Bistro and Pizzeria.”
Marlena is the pure definition of the American Dream and she exudes that every day, grateful to be part of a country that upholds individual liberty and freedoms over totalitarianism and authoritarianism. Free from a Communist country she and her business thrived!
Then came 2020, Unconstitutional lockdowns from Michigan’s Governor Whitmer and her draconian lackeys at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Together, with no data presented, in defiance of the Constitution and the oath they took to uphold it, they shut down ALL restaurants.
Marlena had seen these edicts before and refused to lose everything she worked her entire life for only to live in a country that started to look like Communist Poland. She would remain open in defiance of tyranny and well within her protected Constitutional rights. But the government had other plans.
Like most authoritarian governments, the Health Department tried to shut her down with fines and fees. When she stood her ground, they revoked her license to operate a restaurant. Marlena is would not be deterred and like the Founding Fathers before her, refused to comply: She would continue to serve the patriots of her community.
This last week, in a court-ordered Zoom appearance, without Constitutionally protected representation, the judge levied a fine and ordered an arrest warrant for Marlena. Finally, under tremendous stress and pressure, Marlena did what she knew was right: She continued to serve her community even under the possibility of arrest.
