Hundreds Rally To Support Mass. Gym Owner After Gov't LOCKS HIS BUSINESS

P. Gardner Goldsmith | June 21, 2020
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Hundreds of supporters, from as far as hundreds of miles away, turned out Saturday, June 20, to support David Blondin in his existential battle against the insulting, rights-trampling lockout imposed by the government on him, his business, and his clientele.

As we reported on Friday, June 19, Blondin is the owner and proprietor of Prime Fitness and Nutrition, in Oxford, Massachusetts, and he’s been pushing back against the weight of the Massachusetts Republican Gov. Charlie Baker and the bureaucrats of Oxford, since he chose to reopen on May 18, contrary to Baker’s edicts.

Blondin told reporters that he had to pay his bills, and, despite the Superior Court telling him to close, and despite the local government on May 22 hitting him with a $300-per-day fine that was bumped up to $1,000 per day last week (a fine that the town attorney Mark Reich wants to increase to $3,000 per day, according to the owner), Mr. Blondin did not give up.

Then, while Blondin was in bed Wednesday night last week, the town had his power shut off. When he opened the gym and nutrition store Thursday morning, and while clientele exercised using headlamps and camping lights, Oxford bureaucrats arrived with other functionaries to shut off the water.

In a conversation with Boston radio host Howie Carr, Blondin explained that he’s begun a lawsuit against the town and those who assisted the crackdown. Then he noted that the town also CHANGED THE LOCKS ON HIS BUSINESS, locking him out of his own establishment.

A visibly stunned Carr asked:

How—Who did that? Did they hire somebody, or was it someone from Town Hall?

And Blondin replied:

Yeah. They hired a locksmith, so they’ll, uh, they’ll be part of the lawsuit, as well.

Until now, the statements of town attorney Reich left it unclear as to who shut down the power – whether it was the landlord of the Prime Fitness space, or it was the town. In a public offering, Reich used the passive voice, saying, the “locks had been changed,” which, of course, does not attribute the action to any party.

But now, the Boston Herald as confirmed precisely what Blondin said.

The fight between the gym and the town escalated earlier this week when town officials changed the locks at the gym and turned off the lights and water.

And that, combined with all the other injustices linked together in what Thomas Jefferson might have called a “long train of abuses and usurpations,” has not only spurred Blondin to fight in the higher courts, but also to tell others...

...and to protest in a large public gathering, without “masks”, contrary to many facets of Governor Baker’s unilateral crackdowns issued since the start of this absurdist exercise in anti-constitutional authoritarianism.

Simply put, not only are most of the first 10 constitutional amendments at stake when Mr. Blondin and his friends stand up for his rights to operate and their rights to freely accept his invitation to enter his business and engage in peaceful commerce, a key, often overlooked provision of the Constitution is at stake.

It’s called the Contract Clause, can be found in Article One, Section Ten, and insures that no state government will interfere with the fulfillment of a private contract. Here it is, in context, should the politicians in Massachusetts, and – specifically -- the town of Oxford, want to read it and awaken from their authoritarian fever-dream:

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

Of course, given their track record, it’s unlikely they will bother, and it’s highly questionable whether any of the politically appointed judges who could hear Blondin’s case pay attention to their so-called “rules” either.

But Blondin and his supporters are of good cheer. Thousands got to hear his conversation with Mr. Carr, in which Blondin noted that the town overlords allowed the Wal Mart nearby to operate, people from all over the US have sent their words of support to his Facebook page, and, as a way to salute Baker, Blondin wore a crisp, white t-shirt emblazoned with the words, “My Governor’s An IDIOT.”

Smiling in the face of adversity, trying to function as a peaceful person, offering services to people and allowing them to exercise their free will, David Blondin distinguishes himself from the forces that have been trying to crush him.

Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty would have welcomed him to the Tea Party.

In fact, they likely would have been with him, rallying in front of his gym, and finding out how they could get their own versions of his shirt.

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