Local Lawrence restaurant says it will refuse service to Republican Candidate
Article - 6 minute read
On Saturday, July 23, Republican Candidate for Douglas County District 1 Dr. Justin Spiehs left local Lawrence restaurant ‘The Sandwich Bowl’ with three of his friends after being informed they would not be served should they come in again. His friends included Amy Baughman, Sue Herynk, and Joe Herynk. The group had entered the restaurant for a late lunch after collecting signatures to protest Kroger following the company announcing it would pay up to $4,000 in coverage costs for healthcare and travel for reproductive services, including abortions.
Dr. Spiehs said he could tell right away that the owner recognized him, but nothing seemed to come of it. The group ordered and paid for their food before sitting down. The four were talking about church the next day when the owner came out with their food. According to Dr. Spiehs, the owner said she would serve them today, but going forward would not serve them anymore. They asked why to which she said, “Come on, because it’s you.” She would also go on to refer to them as a “menace.”
The interaction was filmed, and the group agreed to leave once they got their money back. Sue Herynk asked for proof that money was back in her account. The owner proceeded to call the police because they wouldn’t leave the building. Sue said she told the owner, “I can’t leave the building, I want proof that I’ve been refunded.”
The owner shooed the group, and after they got their money back, they did leave the building but stayed to talk to the police so they could be informed of their rights as citizens.
Sgt. Shipley and Officer Bishop responded to the disturbance call. According to the Lawrence Police Department, “A private business owner called police saying she asked a group to leave her property and that they were causing a disturbance. Officers attempted to calm the group and explain that the business owner did not commit a criminal violation by denying service.”
The group said there was an argument that they could not even be on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant because the owner of the Sandwich Bowl leases the property.
“I tried to explain to the two cops that it’s a sidewalk,” Joe Herynk said. “The owner owns the sidewalk, but it’s a right of way…. You can’t block people off the public sidewalk.”
The group also asked about discrimination laws, including whether an owner could kick out someone for being Black or gay to which the officers replied they could. This is not completely true, however, as Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act made it illegal for restaurants to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, and national origin. However, if an owner simply does not like someone, they are allowed to refuse them service. Due to political ideology not being a protected class, the owner acted legally when saying she would not serve them again.
According to the group, the responding officers told them they should not go back in again or they would be arrested. They also said they felt like the officers made it seem as if they knew that the restaurant would not wish to serve them.
“We didn’t know they would be like this until we sat down,” Dr. Spiehs said. “We don’t want to give them our money anymore. We didn’t know they were going to turn on us like that. That’s why we wanted our money back.”
Joe Herynk mentioned a sign in the restaurant door saying they were all inclusive.
“We went there because we thought they were hurting for business,” Baughman explained.
“On Facebook, there was kind of this rallying of some of these liberals on LFK for Dummies,” Dr. Spiehs said. “They were talking about how the Sandwich Bowl is hurting and we should go in there and support them…. Me and Joe, when we ate there, it was good. So, me and other people have tried to go there since then. Knowing that they’re hurting for business, knowing that they’re liberal, we still decided to go in there because they have good food and I’ll give them money for their food. We don’t want to see anybody in the community go out of business, so we were being the bigger people. We know who they are, and we were still going to give them our money, and she threw us out like our money didn’t matter to her. Like she’d rather go broke than have our money.”
We contacted the restaurant to get their side of things, but they did not want to hold any interviews as they wished “to move on rather than incite further incidents.”
However, following the incident that day, they did post on their Facebook page, “We reserve the right to deny service to anyone. And we will deny the right to serve some. We are pro-choice, pro-woman, BLM, Pro- LGBTQIA+. We believe in vaccinations and science. Thank you to the LPD for your assistance today.” This was written with a picture of a sign that stated, “No matter where you are from, we’re glad you’re our neighbor.”
Lawrence locals have made mention that Dr. Spiehs is a convicted felon, which is not true. While he has been charged with crimes—both misdemeanors and a felony—he has yet to be convicted of any crimes. False narratives have been spun around the Republican candidate, while locals have acted hostile to him and his friend group with threats of violence and an incident of battery. Lawrence Police have also not helped in the protection of Dr. Spiehs, some acting carelessly and irresponsibly when handling situations involving him such as letting an alleged gunman go.
“The important thing of all this is that we ordered, we paid, we went and sat down, they brought us our food, and that’s when I started filming,” Dr. Spiehs said. “Nothing happened. We didn’t argue with her. There was no scene. There was no hostilities. There was no interaction at all. When I went over to watch her [make our food], she said, ‘Can I help you with something?’ and I said, ‘No,’ and that was it. We were minding our own business. There are people online going, ‘Well, what’s the full story? What were you guys really doing? We weren’t doing anything. We were sitting around talking like we are now about church the next day and she said that we’re not welcome here anymore.”
It should be understood that this is not the first time a restaurant has chosen to refuse service to others due to political differences. In 2018 White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and her party was refused service at The Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia for their political ideology. Just last year in August, a Florida restaurant also made headlines for putting up a sign that told supporters of President Joe Biden to take their business elsewhere after the administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan. This is to say that, though the refusal of service is controversial, it has happened in the past, and it is not illegal to discriminate based on political ideology.