ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — To race, or not to race. That has been the question for weeks now.
On Friday, for the first time, we heard from the owners of Ace Speedway, Jason and Robert Turner as they testified in court against the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS).
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You might remember, the NCDHHS shut Ace Speedway down last Thursday for defying Governor Roy Cooper's Executive Order that states no gatherings larger than 25 at a sports venue under phase 2 of the reopening plan.
Five people testified in court during the second hearing, including Major of Operations at the Alamance County Sheriff's Office, Jackie Fortner.
Major Fortner said he was with Sheriff Terry Johnson when they served Jason Turner with a warning to close Ace Speedway, at the command of the Governor's Office.
"He broke down, Mr. Turner was crying and he said 'I'm gonna lose everything, I got my house, I'm going to lose everything'" Major Fortner testified in court Friday.
Ultimately the Sheriff's Office decided it would be unconstitutional to serve the Turner's with a citation.
"No one in my office has issued a citation to the Turners," Sheriff Johnson said on the witness stand.
Sheriff Johnson said that there was no clarification from the Governor's Office on how they would enforce the order, or what the punishment would be for defying the order.
"We sent a letter to the Governor's Office, we got no response, a phone call was made trying to get clarification on Executive Order 141 and we never got any response so we took the action that I thought necessary which was to not write a citation," he testified.
The defense compared Ace to 311 Speedway in Stokes County, questioning why they've been singled out.
"Sheriff Johnson spoke to the Stokes County Sheriff, talking about 311, and he asked if he has been served with any order to shut racetrack 311 down and he said he didn’t know what he was talking about."
Turner said Ace Speedway has been taking precautions.
"What would happen if someone did have a fever?" the defense asked.
"They would not be allowed in the facility, we had one that we had to turn away that I'm aware of," Turner said. "We have plexiglass at concession stands and plenty of hand sanitizer."
The state reminded the court that even the White House Coronavirus Task Force flagged Alamance County as a problem area.
"Would you agree statewide trends and trends in Alamance county are moving in the wrong direction?" The state asked Alamance County Health Director Stacie Saunders.
"Yes sir, in the last two weeks we've seen an increase in new daily cases."
Saunders addressed contact tracing.
"We have not identified a case in Alamance county associated or linked to the racing events based on our current cases."
But one coronavirus case in Cabarrus County did turn up, connected to a May 30 Ace Speedway race.
"DHHS has notified us of one case in another jurisdiction."
Jason Turner says his team voluntarily started taking fan rosters.
"We chose to require ID's, we photographed ID's with tablets and submitted them to the Health Department afterwards.
The state argued it's concerning the rosters prove that fans are coming in from all over, furthering the spread of COVID-19.
"Only 15 percent of the spectators had an Alamance County address," Saunders said. "Most popularly they were coming from Virginia but we also had Colorado, New York, Florida and South Carolina."
Cases in Alamance county are trending in the wrong direction.
"You are you aware of the White House Coronavirus task force is concerned about the spread in North Carolina, specifically Alamance County?" The state asked.
"Yes I was briefed," Saunders said.
The State said with all the cheering and loud talking at these racing events, fluids are easily transmitted which can spread the virus.
The State also pointed to pictures of Ace Speedway gatherings where there was no social distancing, and no masks.
Sheriff Johnson said in his 49 years in law enforcement, he's never seen anything like this.
The judge said he'll issue a ruling by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The Temporary Restraining Order against the speedway is still in effect until then, so no weekend races.