Siskiyou County restaurant adapts to Governor Newsom's mandate

Owners of the Dutchman initially decided to keep indoor dining in defiance of the Governor's order, but has since found a way to stay afloat while keeping in compliance.

Is newswatch 12 at 4."

But they've now adapted and created outdoor dinning spaces.

Newswatch 12's ana orsini sat down with owner ken crawford.

Were you fined for defying governor newsome's orders?

How did that kind of, how did you go about that?

Uh, we did not receive any fines as a matter of fact, the only authority that we really, um, came in contact with during this whole thing was the sheriff's department.

And what happened with the sheriff's department?

Uh, well, a deputy came by with a letter written by sheriff lopi, basically, um, asking us to, um, uh, abide by the mandate, um, because there was concern over the cares act funding, um, that was being given to the counties.

And we met with, uh, sheriff lopi and the deputies.

And we talked over things.

It's a challenge just because the way it has to be set up, but you know, under this current mandate, we're just doing what we can do.

Just keep the doors open and keep our community serve.

How did you guys choose to proceed from that point?

Well, we actually, um, got in contact with, uh, the mayor and the city council here in, in monte uw.

And they were very instrumental in helping us to find some way to do outdoor dining since we are on the side of a major highway.

And, um, we just went from there and they helped us with cal trans and getting barriers and everything else in place.

Has the community responded to your reopening and i guess just your persistence to want to serve the community during this time?

Well, from the beginning, the community was behind us 110% and they still are.

I mean, uh, we're seeing, you know, majority of the money you residents here as well as people from hornbrook and why rica and surrounding, um, cities throughout the county, that's something you guys will continue to move forward with after the pandemic, or will you kind of get back to business as usual?

Uh, well we're, i don't think we'll ever get back to business as usual, but, um, yeah, the, uh, permit for our outdoor seating runs out the end of september and because of the way our building is situated and on the side of a major highway, it's highly doubtful that we'll keep outdoor seating, at least, you know where we're at right now.

So at the end of september, what are your plans then to continue to keep that outdoor seating and option?

Uh, we're, we're looking at several options right now and, um, nothing's really put in place as of yet a lot, really depend too, on what, uh, the governor does, uh, going forward with, um, his mandates and