The Alberta Health Services finally wore down pub owner Scott van de Pypekamp..For six days after Jason Kenney ordered the COVID-19 lockdown closures of all restaurants, the owner of the Olds Tracks Pub fought to keep his establishment open..Slowly, but surely, the AHS ramped up their campaign against him before van de Pypekamp was forced the throw in the towel..“They were threatening to close the business entirely. I lasted six days, but it was time to bail,” said van de Pypekamp said..“I mean they put Chris in jail.”.Chris Scott, the owner of the Whistle Stop cafe in Mirror, was arrested by the RCMP on May 8. He had kept the restaurant open after being ordered closed. AHS and RCMP ramped up enforcement that eventually saw the Cafe raided and booze seized followed by a dawn raid that saw the building padlocked..He was finally jailed after 1,500 people from across the province showed up on his land for a lockdowns protest..van de Pypekamp said there were initially 40 restaurant owners, who together vowed to fight the lockdown and stay open. But they were all eventually whittled out..With patios still allowed to be open at that point, van de Pypekamp then invested $6,000 to build one for Tracks..But as COVID-19 cases continued to spike in the province, Premier Jason Kenney and health officials ordered patios to close as well..van de Pypekamp said it’s only his other job in the oilpatch that enables him to keep Tracks open..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
