Judge delays ruling on health order violation

A Jefferson County District Court judge on Thursday delayed ruling on whether Bandimere Speedway violated public health orders at its July 4 event, saying she needs time to address the novelty of a case focused on how personal freedoms collide with public health guidelines amid a pandemic.

Judge Tamara Russell noted that Bandimere family testimony about the importance of personal freedoms was dear to Americans’ hearts.

“We get to situations like this where your freedom bumps up against my freedom,” Russell said. “Your rights bump up against my rights. If you have rights, they come with responsibility, and that’s where this is all mixing together for me. I need to figure out what the law is asking me to do about this situation that has never come up before.”

Russell is scheduled to issue a ruling in the matter at 9 a.m. July 21.

Meanwhile, the temporary restraining order limiting racetrack crowds to 175 people is still in place as Bandimere Speedway’s events — including races this weekend — remain on its website’s calendar.

Over a two-day hearing, the Bandimere family testified that capping attendance at 175 people would put the racetrack out of business.

Rebecca Klymkowsky, an attorney representing Jefferson County Public Health, said she understood the hardships the Bandimere family was facing but also realized the entire state, country and world are facing hardships

because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The legal battle began July 2 when the health department sought and received a temporary restraining order against Bandimere.

The order required the racetrack to limit its crowd sizes to 175 people per activity during its July 4 events and to follow social distancing guidelines. But the county health agency said the racetrack owners violated the order.

On Thursday, John Bandimere Jr. and son John Bandimere III were questioned. Each argued that conversations with Mark Johnson, executive director of Jefferson County Public Health, led them to believe the agency was OK with the thousands of attendees expected to turn out for their July 4 event.

“We thought that we had made them comfortable with all the protocols we had put in place and once it was over, we’d be able to have a conversation and feedback about what the areas were we needed to work on,” the younger Bandimere said. “He said he didn’t want to shut the event down. He wanted us to have a good event and the numbers we were talking about seemed to be reasonable for the size and scope of the event.”

Randy Corporon, Bandimere’s attorney, argued the Bandimere family had “tacit approval” from Johnson that there would be more than 175 people at the event.

Johnson said his discussions with the elder Bandimere in the days leading up to and morning of the holiday event convinced him Bandimere Jr. was a man of faith and integrity who could be trusted.

“After the event, there was a period of time I was led to believe I had been duped,” Johnson said, explaining that the way the event was run did not match the conversations he had with the Bandimere family about following distancing guidelines.

Johnson said he understood around 4,500 tickets were sold for the event, and he believed that number was OK as long as social distancing measures were followed, considering the stands could hold 23,000 people.

Bandimere III testified on Wednesday that around 7,000 attendees came to the holiday event.

The elder Bandimere said he did not believe it was his family’s duty to enforce public health orders on guests once they entered the facility.

The fight has become a flashpoint in political arguments over whether people should be forced to comply with public health orders or allowed to make personal choices as the pandemic surges.

During Russell’s final statements, the judge thanked the hundreds of viewers who tuned into the Zoom court session, noting many of them were Bandimere Speedway supporters who she believed offered positive support to a community they loved. Russell also thanked the public health experts who testified, adding that they had a “thankless job” trying to ensure public safety.

“We’re really blessed because we have all these people who want to do the right thing on both sides,” Russell said.

“The clash is only how do we do that and does that violate someone’s freedoms? … All those things are very frustrating and necessary to look at because we’re in the COVID-19 pandemic and have to figure out ways to continue our lives as we can.”