Fox Cities News

Jessica Netzel is the owner of a children's hair salon in Appleton, Wisconsin. 

Like many others across the country, her business, Kingdom Kuts, is on the brink of elimination because of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Netzel is standing up for her rights as a small business owner and others who face the same plight, even challenging Gov. Tony Evers' "safer at home" order that closed nonessential businesses calling the directive a violation of free speech and religious rights.

Netzel filed a lawsuit in May asking U.S. District Judge William Griesbach to lift the order to allow her hair salon to receive treatment similar to businesses that received an essential designation.

Netzel argued that the order violates her ability to practice her religion because she cannot attend in-person services or operate her Christian-based hair salon.

"Ms. Netzel sincerely believes that she is to share her faith with others through her work at Kingdom Kuts," her attorney, Joseph Voiland, wrote in the lawsuit.

In May, police issued a cease-and-desist order to Netzel, claiming that her based salon violated the governor's order, and her business would be referred to the attorney general's office with the intent of prosecution.

Appleton police, the attorney general's office and the governor did not respond to requests to comment. 

Netzel said she's tired of feeling worried for trying to do the right thing.

"It is really hard for me to separate my business from my family, faith and personal life. I created this business with the help of my family. Many sacrifices were made," Netzel said. "My children and my husband spending less time with me. My parents helped out as much as they could even leveraging their home and property against my new salon building bought two years ago this coming March."

The pandemic has hit many American families hard, and Netzel said her's has felt the effects of the COVID-19 crisis.

"My husband is a concrete foreman, and here in Wisconsin, you don't do flatwork in March. He was laid off, which happens every year to people in that industry. At that time of the year, I am the bread-winner of the family," she said. "The one who sustains us in every area. I thought two weeks to 'flatten the curve,' OK, we can survive two weeks. It won't be good, but we won't lose everything. Then, the governor pushes it out and pushes it out. We were praying, lots and lots of praying. Looking at the possibility of losing everything we've built, working hard just as anyone who wants to live the American Dream should. "

Netzel called help for small businesses a "joke" and that "many others feel this same way. Some people came out smelling like roses, others not so much. Business is definitely not the same as pre-pandemic. I have a fraction of the appointments and definitely a fraction of the big-ticket services."

The new normal has not been popular with many small business owners, and Netzel believes politicians like Evers have gone too far with their response to the coronavirus.

"Then you have the insanity of schools wanting to do virtual. We have created a society where most of the time both parents have to work. And what happens when both parents work? They spend and have bills as if both work. So, to then tell them that they need to figure out how to pay bills while one parent is forced to stay home and essentially homeschool their children is absolutely insane," she said. "How ludicrous, while, all this time YMCA programs, boys and girls club, camps, and daycares have all been running successfully, without any major issues. We are hurting financially and very scared. Waiting for Gov. Evers to drop the other shoe and put the nail in our coffin, so to speak. We have come to the conclusion that if he shuts down schools or businesses again, we will lose our home and my business". 

When the flap over Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's flouting of mask and closure rules during her visit to a San Francisco hair salon hit the fan, it illustrated the struggle salon owners are going through to remain open under COVID-19 restrictions.

"As far as Nancy Pelosi violating her own rules, I am not surprised. Even during shutdown they all were getting haircuts. They weren't walking around looking shaggy like the rest of us. The sad thing is it seems to me that people in high political positions think they are above any suggestions or laws they put in place," Netzel said. "Do as I say not as I do. Well, I am sorry this doesn't work for the vast majority of us. This country is about' we the people' and we the people have had enough. And then to be so lame as to try and blame the salon and say she was set up. Give me a break. She sounds like a kid who has been caught and is trying to deflect from what they have done wrong to get off the hook. "

And she adds that if it was her violating the rules, there would not be as much support.

" I already know. We were facing losing everything and I wasn't going to just sit there and let that happen. I wasn't OK sitting around in hope of sucking off the government's teat. So, I opened during mid quarantine. The police came constantly harassing me. Threatening me with misdemeanor charges, loss of my license, and possible jail time and fines," Netzel said. "They sent marked and unmarked cop cars to sit outside my salon on either end of the streets. So much so clients and neighbors asked questions. They had cop cars that would drive around and around my building like a shark circling prey. I was finally forced to obtain an attorney and bring a lawsuit. "