CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is praising the state’s Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists decision to dismiss a complaint filed against a Berkeley County barber who had kept his shop open during the Coronavirus pandemic.
The board’s Aug. 10 vote was spurred by a complaint from April filed against barber Winerd L. Jenkins, 73. He owns Les’s Barber Shop in Inwood.
“Exercising one’s right to inquire about the legal nature of an executive order should never result in the revocation of one’s license to do business, and I commend the board for its ruling,” Morrisey said. “Government must be very sensitive to not overreaching during these very challenging times.
Morrisey
“We must bend over backward to defend the freedoms of our citizens, while we protect the public health. We can do both.”
In April, Jenkins was charged in Berkeley County Magistrate Court on a misdemeanor charge of obstruction after an incident involving him and a woman with the State Board of Barbers and Cosmotologists who appeared because people had reported Jenkins for refusing to shut down his business despite Gov. Jim Justice’s orders because of COVID-19.