Restaurant owner Marlena Hackney tells panel she was arrested and had license revoked after defying COVID rules; AG emails cited

Marlena Hackney, owner of Marlena’s Bistro in Holland, told the Oversight Subcommittee on Weaponization of State Government that state enforcement actions including a license suspension and an arrest followed her decision not to enforce COVID-19 mask and distancing orders at her restaurant.

Helen Brinkman, who identified herself as Hackney’s attorney, opened Hackney’s testimony by saying the case shows “the problem with the health department” and the risks of unelected administrators exercising broad control. Hackney said she initially complied with rules, posted signage explaining her policies and reopened in June 2020; she said she later refused to close when the governor extended emergency restrictions.

Hackney described receiving a corrective action plan from the local health department in early December and, on Dec. 12, being served a cease-and-desist order in her restaurant by two health department employees accompanied by two Holland police officers. She said no one arrested her at that time.

Hackney told the committee she later faced an administrative hearing where an administrative law judge suspended her food license, and she said a bench warrant for arrest was later issued. Hackney described an early-morning incident on March 19 when state police followed her from her car, blocked her driveway and arrested her; she said agents transported her to the Ingham County jail and she spent several days detained. Hackney said she refused to wear a mask during transport and jail intake on the basis of medical/HIPAA concerns and said she experienced shackling and cold cell conditions.

Brinkman displayed emails and an administrative-order document that, she said, showed the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services emergency orders and related MDARD/food-law enforcement were the stated basis for the license action. Brinkman told lawmakers the attorney general’s office sent emails suggesting officers should “pick her up before she goes on” a scheduled segment on Fox News with Tucker Carlson; the documents shown and quoted to the committee included a March email to the governor’s office about Hackney’s planned television appearance and a reply the attorney’s office later provided, which Brinkman said demonstrated intent to have Hackney arrested to prevent the appearance.

Hackney and her counsel said the Court of Appeals later found fines were excessive and directed the agency to refund or otherwise address the excess; Brinkman said the attorney general’s office sought reimbursement of attorney fees instead of returning the fines. Hackney told the committee she paid one previous attorney $70,000 and that proceedings remain active; she said fines originally assessed totaled $15,000 and that the Court of Appeals reduced or criticized that amount as excessive.

Committee members asked about venue, warrants and why Allegan and Ottawa County authorities did not execute the warrant; witnesses said local sheriffs declined to arrest her and that state police from Lansing carried out the arrest. Representatives questioned whether the warrant was known to counsel in advance; Hackney said she never saw the warrant at the time of arrest and that she had requested records and video and been told some material was classified.

Members expressed concern about the emails shown to the committee, the jurisdictional decisions that led to her transportation to Ingham County and the magnitude of fines and costs. Representative Shriver said the House previously sent a letter urging an end to what he called “political harassment and persecution” of Hackney, and lawmakers said they would consider legislative responses to administrative authority.

Hackney told the panel she fled communist Poland decades ago and framed her opposition to forced public-health mandates as a defense of constitutional rights. Her case remains the subject of further litigation and appeals, the witnesses told the committee.