SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Snohomish barber says AG’s latest threat to deny a jury trial doesn’t ‘scare me one bit’
Dec 10, 2021, 3:17 PM | Updated: 4:35 pm
Snohomish barbershop The Stag was rewarded with customers after the owner, Bob Martin, explained he would stay open during Gov. Jay Inslee's stay-at-home order. (Photo: listener submitted to KTTH)
(Photo: listener submitted to KTTH)
A cease-and-desist order. A $90,000 fine. A state denial to renew his cosmetology license. And now, pushback from Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson over a jury trial.
None of this has scared 80-year-old Bob Martin, who has defied state COVID-19 mandates for the past year while keeping the scissors sharp and doors open to .
Now, says the U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he’s pushing back against what he calls Gov. Jay Inslee鈥檚 and Ferguson鈥檚 attempts to take away his right to a day in court about the matter.
鈥淚 paid $250 for a jury trial and now they鈥檙e telling me I can鈥檛 have one because of COVID,鈥� Martin told Dori Monson Show listeners. 鈥淐OVID has nothing to do with this. He (Ferguson) doesn鈥檛 want me to have a jury because he knows nobody likes him.鈥�
Trying to avoid a jury trial, Martin believes, is Ferguson鈥檚 way of trying to have a judge make a decision in his case instead.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what he鈥檚 hoping for,鈥� Martin told Dori, 鈥渂ut they can鈥檛 do that to me. I鈥檓 guaranteed a jury in Superior Court in Everett. I am going to hold (Ferguson鈥檚) feet to the fire.鈥�
Martin says he wants his day in court before a jury because he “didn鈥檛 do anything wrong.”
“Nobody got sick here. And anybody who came in, came in to support our Constitution,鈥� he said.
Dori recalls fondly-dubbed “Bob the Barber” telling him his refusal to shut his business doors was based, in part, on his staff — disabled vets on his payroll 鈥渨ho needed to work to keep feeding their families.鈥�
鈥淲hen I was a kid I was on welfare, and I sweared [sic] up and down that I would never let that happen to me (as an adult),鈥� Martin said, adding, 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to depend on the government (to take care of me). … I have faith in our Constitution. I鈥檓 going to keep on working.鈥�
Martin, who has been cutting hair in Snohomish for 54 years, is known for using salty language when he gets riled up. He saves some of his best lines for elected state officials he calls 鈥減arasites.”
鈥淭hey don鈥檛 scare me one bit. Their mouth is in high gear, but their brains are in neutral,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to put up with this [deleted]. It鈥檚 going to start in the courtroom. That鈥檚 where I want to go. Somebody鈥檚 got to stand up.鈥�
Listen to Dori鈥檚 entire interview with 鈥淏ob the Barber鈥� of Stag Barber and Styling:
Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from noon 鈥� 3 p.m. on 成人X站 Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the聽podcast here.
