Charges Dropped Against Owosso Barber

FILE – In this May 6, 2020 file photo, an Owosso police officer asks to talk with Karl Manke outside before ticketing Karl for being open at Karl’s barbershop in Owosso, Mich. Misdemeanor charges are being dropped against Manke who defied Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer and reopened his shop last spring during the coronavirus pandemic, a lawyer said Monday, Oct. 19, 2020. (Nick King/Lansing State Journal via AP File)/Lansing State Journal via AP)

An Owosso barber is no longer facing misdemeanor charges for refusing to close his shop as ordered by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Attorney David Kallman said the charges against 77-year-old Karl Manke are being dropped because of a Michigan Supreme Court decision regarding the governor’s powers to order businesses to close. Manke said it was “a weight” off his shoulders.”

Barbershops and salons were closed for several months, until June 15, but Manke reopened in early May, saying “government is not my mother.”