NC sheriff says he’ll stop large speedway crowds after Cooper tells him to ‘do his duty’

If weather allows racing as planned at Ace Speedway in Alamance County on Saturday night, Sheriff Terry Johnson says his officers will be there to enforce Gov. Roy Cooper’s executive order that limits outdoor gatherings to 25 people.

But he doesn’t agree with it.

“This is totally politically motivated” Johnson said in a phone interview with The News & Observer Friday, “and I don’t like that one doggone bit.”

After the Altamahaw venue twice allowed thousands of spectators to attend its races in violation of the mass gathering restrictions the last two Saturdays, Cooper sent a letter to Johnson and Alamance County Commissioners Chair Amy Galey demanding the rules be enforced.

“Sheriff Johnson is formally requested to do his duty under the law and enforce the Phase 2 Order,” William McKinney, general counsel in the governor’s office, wrote in the letter dated Friday. “If Sheriff Johnson declines to perform that duty, the Governor will take further action to protect the health and safety of the people of Alamance County and North Carolina.”

After the state was in a stay-at-home order for all of April and most of May due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cooper signed an executive order moving the state into Phase Two of his reopening plan on May 20. It took effect May 22 and allowed gatherings of no more than 10 in an indoor setting or 25 for an outdoor setting.

Johnson, though, believes the executive order lacks clarity because of the section on exemptions.

“Worship, religious, and spiritual gatherings, funeral ceremonies, wedding ceremonies, and other activities constituting the exercise of First Amendment rights are exempt from all the requirements of this Executive Order,” Cooper’s order reads.

“People have a right to assemble, the way this order reads, at the raceway or anywhere else,” Johnson said.

Johnson pointed to Cooper’s own actions in Raleigh, where this week he briefly joined a group of people protesting George Floyd’s death at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers, as an example of the executive order’s lack of clarity.

“We will go issue the citations,” Johnson said. “However I disagree with issuing the citations simply because he marched in the streets in Wake County in Raleigh with 2,000 people side-by-side with no mask on his face.”

Another Ace Speedway race scheduled

On May 23, Ace Speedway, about 9 miles north of Burlington, held its season-opening night of racing. After consulting with Alamance County government and the sheriff’s office, owner Robert Turner allowed at least 2,550 spectators at the venue. News & Observer reporters on site estimated the crowd to be 4,000 with few people wearing masks or practicing social distancing recommendations.

Johnson said Friday that his office monitored ticket sales that night to ensure the 5,000-seat facility had no more than 2,500 spectators, so it would be in compliance with the 50% occupancy limits Cooper laid out in his order.

Cooper called the event “reckless and dangerous” during a news conference a few days later. But Ace Speedway held races with another “large group of spectators” on May 30.

Johnson said the raceway had sanitation stations and took photos of the driver’s licenses of those in attendance so they could conduct contract tracing should a COVID-19 outbreak occur. But Cooper took the added step of reaching out to Alamance County officials directly this week.

“Ace Speedway has continuously and flagrantly violated the plain and unambiguous language of the Phase Two order,” the letter from Cooper’s office said. “Those violations pose a serious risk to the health and people of Alamance County and throughout the state.”

Ace planned to race on Friday night, but the event was postponed until Saturday due to weather forecasts calling for rain.

Cooper’s letter pointed to the rising number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Alamance County as reason for strict enforcement.

According to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, 427 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Alamance County, which has a population of 169,509. The virus has caused 20 deaths there.

Burlington coronavirus death rate one of highest in country

The letter said Burlington, the largest city in Alamance County, “has one of the highest average daily growth rates of coronavirus deaths in the country and recently topped the list with the number of COVID-19 deaths doubling every 6.7 days.”

“That fast-rising death rate indicates that COVID-19 has likely been spread widely in recent weeks among Alamance County residents,” McKinney wrote.

The county’s cases per 10,000 residents ratio was 8.8 on May 8, when Cooper modified his stay-at-home order to move the state into Phase One of its reopening plan.

On May 20, when Cooper signed the executive order moving the state into Phase Two, Alamance’s rate of cases per 10,000 residents was 13.5.

On Friday, it had increased to 26.

Guilford County, which neighbors Alamance to the west, has 28 cases per 10,000 residents while Orange County, which borders Alamance to the east, is at 26.

This story was originally published June 5, 2020 at 4:43 PM with the headline "NC sheriff says he’ll stop large speedway crowds after Cooper tells him to ‘do his duty’."