Martin “Modey” Hicks, the mayor of Grants, New Mexico, has had enough of the mandate that businesses remain closed in the name of countering coronavirus. Russell Contreras reported last week at the Associated Press that Hicks, in defiance of an ongoing shutdown order from New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, “said he’s giving businesses permission to reopen on Monday and is ordering the police force in the city of about 9,000 people to prevent any State Police officers from issuing lockdown violation citations.”
Contreras reports that 81 businesses in Grants had “signed a petition calling for the reopening of the city.” And it seems that Hicks is adamant in his effort to ensure this desire can be acted on. Contreras writes:
“I’ve told businesses to call 911 if State Police show up to their place. We are going to stop Lujan Grisham and her Gestapo,” Hicks said, referring to the secret police of Nazi Germany.
On Monday, KOB-TV reported on the reopening of Grants. The report notes that, unfortunately, state police did harass businesses in Grants on Monday. At the same time, it is refreshing to hear Hicks powerfully defend his decision. Hicks declares in the report:
This is about the Constitution of this country, period. It’s about our livelihood. It’s about our liberties. It’s about our rights, and we will not compromise them no more to a tyrant in Santa Fe.
Santa Fe is the state’s capital from which the New Mexico governor has been overseeing the state government’s coronavirus crackdown.
Watch the KOB-TV report here:
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