Health department closes Bay Meats

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include the arrest. SANDUSKY — The Erie County Health Department closed a local butcher, Bay Meats at 421 W. Perkins Ave., after a dispute over whether employees should wear masks. "If you want to get into an argument, I'm going to win," Erie County health commissioner Peter Schade said in reference to Bay Meats. The store was closed Tuesday, although it can do delivery and curbside service Wednesday if the employees wear masks, Schade said. The store said on social media it resisted making employees wear masks because it seemed unsafe around meat-cutting tools. Later Tuesday, a 19-year-old Bay Meats employee was arrested after he allegedly made a threatening phone call to a receptionist at the health department, threatening to assault health department employees, said Jared Oliver, chief deputy at the Erie County Sheriff's Office. The telephone call was recorded and traced to the caller's phone, and the suspect was arrested after he came into the sheriff's office for questioning, Oliver said. A jail roster shows the man was booked into jail on misdemeanor charges of menacing and telephone harassment. He bonded out later Tuesday afternoon. Schade said he ordered health inspectors back to the store Tuesday with instructions to close it if the employees were still not wearing masks. The health commissioner said he's convinced social distancing rules are important to hinder the spread of the virus. While most people understand the seriousness of the situation, "there are pockets of people in every community who are not taking this seriously," Schade said. The store took to Facebook Tuesday to give its side of the story. "The health department is ordering us to only do curbside pick up. We do not feel it is safe for employees to wear a mask and use dangerous slicers and saws and grinders," a store posted. "As all of them wear glasses and they were digging up when we tried to wear them. It of course was each employee's choice and they didn't feel safe doing this. So they have ordered us to shut down or do curbside and delivery." Customers should call the store for curbside delivery or pickup, the posting said. "Please be patient while we try and figure this all out," it said.