American Business’ At Risk Under Current Federal & State Sanctions

While all states have been ordered to shut down all non-essential businesses in some shape or fashion all over the South and most of the United States, this article is going to talk about Alabama primarily. Under the current Alabama Declaration, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has sanctioned all Alabama non essential business including trade shows by mandating a Stay At Home Order. While all the Southern States may not have a Stay At Home order; all are ordered under the Presidential Declaration to do “Social Distancing” in some form until April 30th. It is unknown at this time whether or not Ivey will lift the sanction in Alabama but in the April 14th Presser to Alabamians, she stated she has plans to lift sanctions over a period of time. While media reporters rudely hounded her for details, she stuck to her grounds saying she & her Coronavirus Task Force will be looking at what is important and what they feel can start back, they will be meeting on April 28th to discuss the next steps. At the present time, Alabama has taken Social Distancing to the next level based on three major cities having extreme cases of the virus which are Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville area. Not all cities in Alabama have cases and not every county has high numbers of positive cases of the Coronavirus. Governor Ivey of Alabama thinks her new extreme of mandating a “Stay At Home” along with closing all so-called “Non Essential Businesses” have been flattening the curve of the virus and will allow her to reduce sanctions on businesses. There has been major speculation amongst citizens and media alike as to what is considered a non essential business and media tried to call her out on why some business have the right to open when others selling the same things cannot! Naturally she eluded that question stating that her task force will look into it if asked too. As most Alabamians do not have a clear and precise answer to what is Non essential Business, this based on how many businesses are still open that probably shouldn’t be and how many people are still on the roads & highways of Alabama conducting essential business.

On the other side, many feel you cannot violate our constitutional rights and make us stay home or off the roads. I will say most business have been in fact closed, except for restaurants and certain craft stores, pawn shops and banking institutions but that has not stopped people from still being on the streets. In the case of Tuscaloosa, the Mayor closed parks and boat ramps on one lake and got a lot of criticism and one week later he reopened 4 parks and all pubic boat ramps that Tuscaloosa controls violating the Alabama Governors orders. How does this affect the Trade Show Vendors & Small Business owners?

With Collectors & Shooters Company (AKA: CASC) supplying 22 trade shows a year throughout Alabama, this has drastically impacted 100+ Vendors, 10-9 employees and small businesses livelihoods along with the CASC company itself! CASC host shows in Huntsville, Hoover, Montgomery, Dothan, Mobile and Robertsdale, Alabama. So, there is economic impact and tax loss all around from local taxes, restaurants and lodging each city is not getting plus the income loss each vendor is loosing the longer this goes on! Saying this there will be 16 shows possibly cancelling from other promoters throughout the South if this goes to the end of May, further proving my point of vendors and 100’s of people being affected by these sanctions. While there are some that are retirees working a little extra for income subsidies, many in the in this industry do this as a career and this does affect these small business.

Under Alabama’s Ivey’s current declaration, CASC and all the other Trade Show Vendors, along with just about every other business in Alabama has not been able work since March. CASC has not been able to host a show since March 14th, AGCA – Alabama Gun Collectors Association was forced to cancel the first of two fundraisers for their organization, the first being scheduled for March 21st & 22nd. CASC cancelled their first show of the year for the Robertsdale / Mobile area scheduled for March 28th & 29th. A.G. Gun & Knife Shows along with Cahaba Motor Shrine both were forced to cancel their April 4th & 5th shows and now East Alabama Hunting show in Opelika was recently cancelled for April 18th & 19th. Just now cancelled is the Alabama Military Collectors show scheduled for April 24th & 25th in Huntsville. Under current state guidelines it looks like CASC will have to cancel their April 25th Robertsdale show and possibly their May 2nd show in Hoover. So, as you can see, this is causing economic hardship for all companies along with 100’s of vendors. Ivey’s original order in Alabama was to end opening the doors to shows the end of March but she extended it to follow the President of the United States declaration to shut down America originally until Easter and then he extended it until April 30th. No one knows what will happen after April 30th, but we need America Open!!! As stated above, Ivey does want to possibly start opening Alabama Business as soon as possible, if the virus trends stay in the same track as now. During the most recent press conferences by President Trump, had eluded he wants to Open America Back Up ASAP but refuses to elaborate on the time frame. Alabamians are hopefully this sanction will be lifted base on his statements sighting the first of May forcing Alabama Governors hand to also open Alabama along with local Mayors in towns throughout Alabama who issued their own orders before Ivey issued hers. If she changes things, most likely, these local Mayors will have to change their ruling too or that is the hope. In Tuscaloosa, Mayor Walt Maddox issued a 24 hour curfew upsetting most of West Alabama before Governor Ivey issued the stay At Home Order. He was the only Mayor in Alabama at that time to take such extremes going behind the back of the current city council and doing this own his own. There have already been reports coming out of North Alabama and also Mississippi thru word of mouth & social media that many Trade Show vendors have been forced to close up permanently and more will also be closing if things do not change by April 30th.

There are also reports that other states are going to open their state soon, even if the President doesn’t issue a new declaration on April 30th. The Presidents so-called Stimulus Checks cannot get here soon enough for many and based on reports, Federal checks are not even going out until next week which is ironic since the Trump stated checks would be out several weeks ago. Vendors are also filing for Alabama Unemployment and according to Governor Ivey 200,000 people filed for Unemployment over a 4 week period between March & April, the highest in Alabama History. Saying this, no checks have been paid out to vendors making things all but impossible for people to make it thru these tough times. Many we have talked to have eluded this is our own Depression Era and many just will not be able to hang on. Mark it in the books 2020 will be the worst year in modern American History due to the fact America was not prepared for what has happened and we have been invaded by a foreign entity and the powers that be cannot control it or cure it at this time. This definitely will be a history making event that will be talked about for years to come and could / should haunt President Trump going forward towards his election as well as Governor Ivey. Fact is, if money does not get to the people as they promised, voters will remember this. They longer they sanctions Small Business, the more it could affect life going forward. Alabamians and the United States were not properly prepared and it always falls on the leader’s heads in the long run! They both should have been better prepared for all contingencies! As Trump as stated many times, The Federal Government is not here to run your state and bail you out. You have the ability in your states to be prepared and take care of your state! Everyone needs to be writing their Governors, Senators and Congressmen’s to ask for these State sanctions to be lifted, America needs to go back to work NOW! The so-called Curve is flattened in most of America and the virus is on the decline according to the Presidents Task Force so, let’s get back to work America!!!

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