Russ's Ravings: Forcing Businesses To Reopen Is Not Patriotism

Editor's note: The following is Patch Field Editor Russ Crespolini's, hopefully, weekly column. It is reflective of his opinion alone.

I wanted to write about Memorial Day this week. I wanted to talk about the traditions and celebrations and, of course, patriotism. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971.

Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. This year, the unofficial kickoff to summer looks different.

This year, rather than the news cycle being about the patriotic and heroic acts and the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom, our constitution and our way of life...the label is being applied to gym owners in Bellmawr who want to open up their business and risk the health of others.

I've been a card-carrying gym member for almost 20 years. It takes a lot of work to look this mediocre. I love my gym, I miss my gym and with my various health maladies in many ways, I need my gym. But I fully endorse their closure because it just simply isn't safe for them to open.

I know this because there are people who study such things, and they have shown evidence and data that lays out how these respiratory droplets can be spread and how exercise can expel them more forcefully.

I've also seen the studies about how people without symptoms can become vectors for spread and how we need to finish getting our testing and contact tracing in place.

In short, I feel I have a grasp of the situation. As much as one can have grasp of something like this.

It seems that many, do not.

All over social media there are people who are calling these gym owners patriots. They are describing their defiant act as defending the constitution.

Because that is what the Founding Fathers wanted. To make sure you could get swole and risk spreading a deadly pandemic.

For those of you who may be unaware to what I refer to, a South Jersey gym that has been reopening all week in defiance of Gov. Phil Murphy's stay-at-home executive order. On Thursday, after a sewage back up, they were shut down by the state and county. The owners have said repeatedly they will reopen and are consulting their attorneys. And they have.

The owners said they plan to file a federal lawsuit on Tuesday and ask for injunction to allow the gym to stay open. They claimed they weren't given due process, and the governor unfairly declared Atilis non-essential.

The gym reopening has been pure spectacle. The gym owners said they would have measures in place to adhere to social distancing and health guidelines as set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), but the state health department said those measures are not enforceable or sufficient to protect public safety.

But that just simply isn't possible, and the order to close them notes the measures don't sufficiently address the risks of the coronavirus in an indoor gym because the virus is "still too great to allow for relaxation of the current mitigation measures that are in place and necessary to reduce the transmission of" the coronavirus.

But the owners, Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti, don't seem concerned.

It doesn't bother them that front line responders have to come to their business and risk contact. It doesn't matter to them that their patrons could be fined or jailed depending on how the situation escalates. It doesn't bother them that asymptomatic spreaders could carry the illness from their benches and treadmills to vulnerable people in their homes and in essential areas like food stores.

Because the gym owners have decided that self-pity is patriotism.

And that, at its core, is offensive.

I don't fault them for being concerned about their businesses. The mental health toll that the isolation and economic constraints have put on people is having a very real and a very marked impact. I do honestly feel sympathy for them and their position. No one likes to feel helpless.

But if they are concerned for their livelihoods they could get a job as an essential worker. Either as a contact tracer or one of the many other positions open through the NJ COVID-19 website. But that would require looking beyond themselves and having perspective.

Look at the video Smith posted about his drunk driving conviction in 2008. He was sentenced to prison after he ran a stop sign and killed 19-year-old Kevin Ade. The video shows both heart-breaking humility, honesty and a lack of understanding of how his actions can impact others.

"This is something I've been public about my whole life. I've never run from it, nor would I ever," Smith said in the video. "It's something I accept full responsibility for, and for anybody out there who hates me, I think you are completely justified in doing so."

Saying he wanted to set the details straight, Smith went on to discuss how he woke up after a night of drinking in his dorm room and got in his car.

"Moments later, I was the sole cause of a motor vehicle accident that took the life of a young man named Kevin," Smith said. "When I awoke that morning, I didn't realize there was still alcohol in my system. Being a 20-year-old kid, no one ever explained those dangers. It was always don't drink and drive, and we didn't drink and drive."

Smith says no one ever explained to him the danger, specifically, of alcohol which could still be in his system. Apparently the fact that he was underage drinking is illegal, for a reason, never entered his mind or into the equation. He also, at 20, was an adult. Things he fails to acknowledge.

I bring this up not to shame him about his past, but because he seems to have not learned from it. The takeaway should be if you violate the rules, people could get hurt. But Smith is showing the same myopic worldview now, as he did when ran that stop sign. And other people could pay the price. Just like Kevin Ade and all who loved him did.

So let me be very clear to make sure I say this so that he understands.

"Mr. Smith, your actions are placing the lives of others at risk through the spread of COVID-19. Please close down your gym before you are the cause of another family's unbelievable and needless loss."

There, someone told you.

Russ Crespolini is a Field Editor for Patch Media, adjunct professor and college newspaper advisor. His columns have won awards from the National Newspaper Association and the New Jersey Press Association.

He writes them in hopes of connecting with readers and engaging with them. And because it is cheaper than therapy. He can be reached at russ.crespolini@patch.com