Lake Elmo Inn owner John Schiltz has a simple message for Gov. Tim Walz:
“We’re hanging on by a thread.”
And Schiltz says he knows his business is not alone. The holidays are usually busy for places like his inn. Money made this time of the year is critical to their finances. Schiltz said he should be allowed to reopen safely.
“We have to shut down when we have the protocols in place, we have the sanitation, we have the safety precautions in place and are doing them,” Schiltz said.
He thinks bar and restaurant operators who did not follow safety rules when they were allowed to reopen earlier this year are largely to blame this extended closure.
“They were the renegades,” Schiltz said. “They’re the one that forced the governor’s hand and that’s unfair and those people should be paying a price if they want to break the law.”
About 100 hospitality businesses have pledged to defy the order to remain closed. The Lake Elmo Inn is not one of them. Bogart’s Entertainment Center in Apple Valley is.
