Orange County resident Roberto Antonio Minuta, who has owned Casa di Dolore in Newburgh for seven years, announced the reopening in a video on social media on Tuesday, May 26.
The shop reopened Saturday morning, May 30.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m essential, and so is anyone else out there, especially when you have dependents such as children and so on,” he said in the near five-minute video. “I am doing this in complete defiance of the tyrannical authority that our governor here thinks he has over the millions of people in this state.”
Minuta said that he “is going to need some major support from anyone that cares about the last shreds of freedom we have left in this country,” while citing his Constitutional rights.
“These aren’t laws … We have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights, and I implore you to recall the oath (law enforcement) took to defend and uphold that Constitution against enemies both foreign and domestic.
“I’m not an enemy to you … I love all of you dearly and this is a very essential time for people to take a stand. This is the last straw.”
Minuta said that he willingly shut down his shop before Cuomo ordered non-essential businesses to close, but now that the COVID-19 curve has flattened as the state begins to recover from the pandemic, he’s going to defy the executive order.
“I do not know what to expect, but I’m a parent, and I can’t afford the fines, I can’t afford being arrested, and I don’t want charges against me,” he said. “But if I do those charges will come down from tyranny.
“I’ll be here,” he continued. “And I’m ratting myself out here, so you can save yourself the time … you snitches.”
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