A local gym owner went against state restrictions and opened his business Friday. John Taube, the owner of Raleigh Institute of Martial Arts, held an outdoor class at 5 p.m. Friday.
This was the same time phase two of North Carolina’s reopening began, but shortly after the hour began, no participants had shown up for the class.
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Gyms were included in the preliminary plans for phase two. However, Gov. Roy Cooper announced on Wednesday that gyms would remain closed for the time being.
“When restaurants open, we’ll open too,” Taube said. “We’re defying Gov. Cooper’s order and I want to be arrested. I am not going to let my business be a political pawn by the governor.”
When asked if the Wake County Sheriff’s department would enforce Cooper’s restrictions a spokesperson said they would take an educational approach first and only respond to calls. The Wake County Sheriff’s department is also only handling enforcement in unincorporated areas of the county.
“Our deputies will respond to any calls of possible violations of the order and deal with them accordingly. Our primary option is to educate,” said Eric Curry, the public information officer for the Wake County Sheriff’s department.
WRAL has reached out to the Raleigh Police Department on how they will handle businesses opening ahead of when they are allowed to.
Other area gyms like Crunch Fitness, which has two locations in Raleigh, will remain closed until given the green light by Gov. Cooper.
"We want to make this as seamless as possible," said Walker Gorham, the owner of Crunch Fitness. "It’s obviously a change and somewhat of an inconvenience for members, but we’re fortunate our facilities are 30,000 square feet plus, and so we definitely have the size and the amount of equipment inventoried to be able to give people access to all the stuff that they want in a safe manner."