Open Letter to Governor Greg Abbott

Office of the Governor

Governor Greg Abbott

P.O. Box 12428
Austin, Texas 78711-2428

Dear Governor Abbott:

I have written to express my deep disappointment and dismay at your recent display of overt favoritism from the Governor’s office in the recent Shelly Luther salon debacle here in the city of Dallas. I would like to inform you of what I witnessed as a fellow Texan and what the country witnessed as fellow Americans last week during the Shelley Luther situation where she was completely wrong and totally out of line for deliberately violating the Texas Supreme Court’s stay-at-home-order mandate of closing non-essential businesses as a safety precaution to us residents in the state of Texas and who also violated your very own stay-at-home executive order.

Shelley Luther violated the stay-at-home executive order supposedly in the name of “feeding her kids,” which still remains to be seen as the entire truth. She showed outright disrespect to your state wide executive order when she publicly ripped up the cease and desist letter that was sent to her from Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins as an act of defiance. She went on to get arrested and rightfully so for breaking the law. During her appearance in court, Shelley was given an opportunity to forgo any fines and possibly jail time if she apologized and promised not to violate the executive order anymore by Judge Eric Moye’. She refused this offer of a slap on the wrist under the guise “feeding my kids.” As a result of her unjustified defiance, she was fined $7, 500 and taken into custody for a period of 7 long and excruciating days for her refusal to obey the law.

Suddenly, Lt. Governor, Dan Patrick, and the state’s Attorney General, Bill Paxton, rally to Luther’s rescue as if she had been roughed up by the police and thrown into some Russian gulag. They publicly criticized the Judge for just doing his job and even offered to pay her fines. Governor, here is the kicker. You, the leader of our state, used your office to completely change the executive order in order to suit that one individual. She only served two days of the seven day sentence and upon her release; it was as if she were some prisoner of war being set free. Governor, the world is whispering and not so softly about what we as Texas residents witnessed firsthand, which was a blatant display of elitism and white privilege. We all witnessed this blonde white woman who is from the better part of town purposefully break the law, thumb her nose at law officials, and then get away with breaking the law with the assistance of the three most powerful white men in the state of Texas, you, the Lt. Governor and the Attorney General.

Since this politically motivated coup, Shelley Luther has become some sort of knock off Norma Rae of Dallas with this false narrative of fighting for the rights of small business owners to operate during the pandemic thanks to the political backing she received from your office. However, even Stevie Wonder can see that all of her staged victimhood was done strictly for the benefit of one person, Shelly Luther. Strangely, somehow the sentencing judge in Shelley’s case, Judge Eric Moye’, has become the villain in this story. Governor, what all three of you did in this situation was very disrespectful and it publicly undermined the authority of District Judge Moye and the law. With your actions, you all attempted to make him look like some fresh out of law school intern or clerk who was not yet qualified to be a judge. There are no words to describe the deep anger and disappointment I felt in regards to the blatant disrespect of a Judge who was only doing his job.

Governor Abbott, I have often bragged to other people about the state of Texas being a place where anyone can come to find prosperity and make a new life for themselves. When I arrived to the state Texas eleven years ago, I knew that my life would not be the same. I have enjoyed living and working in the DFW area since my arrival on August 8, 2008 at 5:30pm. I was driving through the city of Rockwall across the beautiful Lake Ray Hubbard when I felt this sudden burst of excitement and anticipation for what’s to come in my new home state.

I am not going to hold the entire state of Texas nor the city of Dallas hostage for your deliberate display of shortsightedness. My awesome experience here in Texas will not be diminished because of the blatant display of favoritism by the Lt. Governor and the Attorney General. Governor, the recent behavior of you and your staff has definitely sent out the very clear message to all non-white Texas residents that “If you are blonde, white and from the better part of town, you can break the law and not have a thing to worry about by way of consequences.” 

In closing, when you were first elected in 2014, I thought it was special that a man in a wheelchair ran a successful campaign to become the Governor of the Texas. I am pretty sure that you serve as an inspiration to the wheel chair community everywhere. Sadly, after your recent behavior, I realized that it’s not the paralysis which has forever bound you to a wheelchair that is your particular handicap, but what’s in your heart and in your mind is where the true handicap lies.

Sincerely,

Rico Rivers

Dallas, TX.