HARDBALL: Michigan Suspends 77 Year Old Barbers License for Staying Open During Whitmer Shutdown

AP featured image — (AP Photo/David Eggert)

The saga of 77-year-old Karl Manke (America’s Barber) took another turn Wednesday in his fight to earn a living in Michigan. As I covered HERE yesterday, Mr. Manke won his first court battle against the state.

Now the State has taken this a step further by suspending the license of someone who has cut hair for almost 60 years.

From ABC 12:

Karl Manke’s license to work as a barber in Owosso has been suspended, according to his attorney.

The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs licenses all barbers and hairstylists in the state. Manke’s attorney says the agency suspended the license more than a week after Manke reopened in violation of state orders.

Manke was still open and cutting hair on Wednesday morning because he hadn’t officially been served notice of the suspension. But the loss of his license would prohibit Manke from working as a barber.

Manke’s attorney, David Kallman, was assembling a petition for an emergency hearing Wednesday to have the license suspension lifted.

The Michigan Attorney General’s Office also was expected to file a new motion against the 77-year-old barber. If they do so, the defense will have until next Friday to file their response.

So the Attorney General and the Governor have a bee in their bonnet over this. You would think that they might want to slow their roll with the example of what happened to Shelly Luther who was the salon owner in Dallas that became a focal point of government overreach last week. Now we have the focus in this state on a 77-year-old man who is fighting for his right to make a living as he has for almost six decades. Not a swift PR move.

Hopefully, the attorneys for Mr.Manke will be able to appeal this and allow him to continue operating a service that people want to use. No one is forcing anyone to visit his shop. The opposite is true for those who want everyone to sit at home until a politician says you can go outside and breathe free.

Americas Barber has been leading the way here in Michigan and I hope he continues his fight to just simply earn a living with as lil government interference as possible.

The fight continues and there will be more to come which will be covered here at Red State.