Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette Approximately 1,000 people attended a rally at the Houghton County Courthouse on Saturday, in support of Calumet’s Café Rosetta, which is facing several challenges from Michigan over refusing to prohibit indoor dining, enforcing face masks on the property, and for ignoring social distancing guidelines.

HOUGHTON — On Dec. 31, Ingham County 30th Circuit Court Judge Wanda Stokes issued a temporary restraining order against Café Rosetta for continuing to operate without a valid food service establishment license, states a release issued through the Michigan State Emergency Operations Center.

The release states that Stokes’ order comes after Café Rosetta disregarded an epidemic order from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), which included protections against the spread of COVID-19, such as a temporary prohibition on gatherings for indoor dining in the state, and a cease-and-desist order and summary suspension order issued by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD). Following an administrative hearing on MDARD’s summary suspension order earlier this month, an administrative law judge, the release termed as impartial, determined that the continued operation of Café Rosetta posed an imminent threat to the public health, safety, and welfare, the release continues.

MDARD Director Gary McDowell said epidemic orders issued by the state are meant to be temporary, but only work “if everybody follows the same rules.” He went on to say that thousands of Michigan restaurants, bars, and businesses are “trying to do right” by their communities and fellow business owners, but their sacrifices must not be undermined because others ignore the law and make up their own rulebook during a pandemic.

In response to actions taken against Café Rosetta by state agencies, approximately 1,000 local residents gathered for a rally outside the Houghton County Court House, where Erik Kiilunen addressed the crowd. Kiilunen, organizer for the group All Business is Essential, is working with Café Rosetta, according to a Thursday Detroit Free Press article, but the Free Press did not disclose in what capacity Kiilunen is working with the breakfast and lunch cafe.

During the rally, Kiilunen spoke of the challenges faced by the Fifth Street, Calumet, eatery and coffee shop, including Stokes’ Thursday order, saying that “on a technical front, it’s absolutely illegal, they have no jurisdiction.”

He added that lack of jurisdiction does not seem to matter to the Whitmer Administration, which he referred to as a troika (a political regime ruled or dominated by three powerful individuals, usually troika in the context of the Soviet Union and Russia), consisting of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

“The challenge is, we don’t have a legal system that functions in our … state or in our country anymore,” Kiilunen said, referring to petition drive last fall called Stand UP Michigan, which although garnering more than half a million votes, came to nothing.

“You take a look at (the) Stand Up Michigan crew did: I know quite a few people here did a lot of work on that,” he said. “We dropped 540,000 signatures onto the desk of the secretary of state back in October, and they just got summarily shoved to the back. They weren’t important. Benson wasn’t responsible for canvassing them, wasn’t able to review the 1945 law, so there goes our chance to do anything there.”

Because of that, he said, petition drives in Michigan have proven to be a complete waist of time, and, he said, the people are living in an absolute totalitarian state today.

A Nov. 15, 2020, order issued by DHHS concerning gatherings and face masks, was followed by a Dec. 7 order, substantially similar to the November order, aimed at restaurants and bars, but allowed gyms and bowling alleys to remain open.

On Dec. 2, after MDHHS issued its epidemic order, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development–the state agency with authority to implement and enforce Michigan’s Food Law–determined that Café Rosetta’s continued operation created an imminent or substantial endangerment to public health and summarily suspended the operation’s food establishment license.

Since Nov. 27, the state has ordered Cafe Rosetta to pay $1,000 in fines for every day the business remains open. MDARD then suspended Café Rosetta’s license to operate. After a Dec. 10 hearing, an Administrative Law Judge the release stated was impartial, found that MDARD’s summary suspension of Café Rosetta’s license should be continued. Despite the Administrative Law Judge’s decision and order–and despite Café Rosetta not having a valid food license–Café Rosetta has continued operating.

When Café Rosetta continued to offer indoor dining after this ruling, MDARD submitted a motion for a temporary restraining order to the 30th Judicial Circuit in Ingham County.

“We have a governor who believes she can shut down any business she wants. I got a real problem with that,” Kiilunen said at the rally. “I mean, we’ve got a small community up here, everybody here probably knows Amy’s story. About nine years ago, Amy was destitute, she was on her back. She picks herself up, builds herself a successful business and gets told by the government that she can’t continue to practice business.”

Kiilunen opened the rally with the Pledge of Allegiance, then a prayer, followed by his thanking Houghton County Sheriff Brian McLean for his and his department not enforcing orders issued from Lansing.

In response, McLean Monday told the Daily Mining Gazette that there was a lot of misinformation spoken at the rally, including Kiilunen’s claim that the Sheriff’s Department is not enforcing orders.

“What is going on between Café Rosetta and Lansing are licensing and regulatory procedural and licensing issues,” said McLean. “Those are civil matters, and as such, we (the Sheriff’s Office) does not involve itself in civil matter, unless we are called to a site to protect people. We did that with Kate Beer from the Health Department, and I told Kiilunen we would do that for him, too, if needed. We respect the rights of everybody, and we protect everybody.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Tomorrow, the Daily Mining Gazette will continue with McLean’s response to statements made at the rally.