A substantial number of bars and restaurants have not been able to stay in business due to COVID-19 shutdowns. | Pexels
A substantial number of bars and restaurants have not been able to stay in business due to COVID-19 shutdowns. | Pexels
On WJIM's "The Steve Gruber Show," the host read from a list of Michigan businesses that had to close up shop because of the state-ordered COVID-19 shutdown.
“This is just a partial list of restaurants, businesses and companies shut down permanently, destroyed by the edict from the government,” Gruber told his audience.
Then he continued to list the names of more businesses, one by one.
“I’ve got pages and pages and pages of this,” he said on the radio show. “I hope somebody is listening and understands the economic destruction done. Because it's not just these businesses, it’s the people that started them, poured their blood, sweat and tears into them, the people that worked there, the customers they had, all gone.”
He continues reciting the names of lost businesses.
Jon’s Goodtime Bar & Grill in Inkster was on the list. “No good times left at Jon’s,” Gruber commented. “It’s all done.”
In a July 13 Facebook post, the bar owner said, “Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 Jon's can no longer keep the doors open!”
“The list is heartbreaking,” Gruber said on the air. “The list goes on and on and on. I could read it for hours to you, but you get the point.”
Then Gruber gave a shout-out to “those that tried to pursue the American dream and were stopped and stepped on and crushed by terrible politicians and terrible policies, not given a chance to fight back or come back, their dreams in ruins, their employees gone, and the cities they were in left with a wound as well."
Those businesses that have survived the pandemic remain under attack from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, according to Gruber.
“Once again, a small set of Michigan businesses is getting the screwing from Gov. Whitmer and her baseless attacks on gyms, theaters, bowling alleys, yoga studios, dance studios, ice rinks," Gruber said on his radio program.
An executive order by Whitmer requires those businesses to maintain records of every customer for contract tracing and to "deny entry to any visitor who does not provide at a minimum their name and phone number."
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