OXFORD, MASS. (WHDH) - The doors of Prime Fitness in Oxford are still open and inside, gym-goers are still pumping iron despite a judge’s order to shut down.
“I am ordering Oxford to close the place,” Judge Susan Sullivan said. “Our real concern is public safety…This behavior needs to stop. I’m not looking to punish. Civil contempt is not about punishment, it’s about coercion.”
Dave Blondin owns the infamous gym and said that he has no plans to back down. He is promising his community members that he will stay open even in the face of jail time. Now, he has begun planning a protest to be held in the parking lot on Saturday
“No matter what, I have to protect my business,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to me.”
The judge said the town can change the locks, board up the building, and even cut the power to make owner Dave Blondin comply.
“I think people will come and rip the locks down, rip the boards down, 100 percent,” Blondin said.
He reopened his gym in mid-May despite the governor’s order stating all gyms are to be shut until Phase 3 begins.
He has been fined $1,000 a day, but it is not acting as a deterrent.
“There’s massive riots and the and the worst thing they are trying to do is shut down a gym people are trying to be healthy with,” he asked.
Masks are not required at the gym but, sanitizer is handed out and members said social distancing measures are in place.
“I went to TJ Maxx the other day, ton of people around, Walmart, the grocery store,” member Cynthia O’Gara said, “A lot of people without masks.”
A law firm, representing the town of Oxford released this statement on the gym shutdown:
“The town is determining the best way to undertake such action in a matter avoiding confrontation to the maximum extent possible.”
Blondin’s attorneys say their client will leave the gym if the town orders it to close but that he can’t compel others to leave the building.
“I will walk away peacefully, but I can’t say what my members will do,” Blondin said.
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