Holy 3 Eyed Fish! Hundreds Jam Parking Lot, No Social Distancing

Stay at home orders?

We don't need no stinking stay at home orders.

Clearly defying the ban on large gatherings, openly mocking it actually, 3 Eyed Fish in Richland had about 200 people congregating in their parking lot on Friday night while a whiz bang DJ was whipping the crowd into a post COVID-19 pandemic frenzy.

Only the pandemic has not yet reached the "post" phase. Not even close. That certainly didn't seem to bother the swarm of people, with not one instance of social distancing or a mask in sight, as they responded in droves to a heavily promoted gathering on the restaurant's Facebook page.

As of this writing, the only mention left on the page about the party says, in part,

"We appreciate the overwhelming support we have received. Most of you are absolutely amazing!! However, we have received some harassment calls and emails and MAN! some of y’all have dirty, raunchy mouths. If you call us to harass us, we will hang up on you."

The Richland Police Department says they got calls from "citizens concerned about the blatant disregard for social distancing", and they came out to take an informational report, however RPD will not enforce the social distancing, just encourage it.

That's interesting, given the State Attorney's office is in the process of suing a number of Washington businesses who are actively endangering public health and refusing to comply with state orders, or so they allege.

According to a statement released to nbcrightnow.com, the Richland police said, "RPD encourages members of the public to contact the Washington State Department of Health and the Benton-Franklin Health District with any Coronavirus related concerns."

But but but....Governor Inslee's office specifically states "all complaints about groups of individuals violating the order should be made to local law enforcement.”

So what is the protocol, again?

Representatives for the Governor alerted the State Liquor and Cannabis Board, and the State Patrol about this gathering.

Today the restaurant received a slap on the wrist from the State Liquor and Cannabis Board with just a warning, noting that the party violated the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order as well as several liquor laws. The outcome of this incident is to educate, not penalize, this time.