July 2nd, 2020
Official statement of Allan’s Coffee and Tea
Like the majority of small businesses in our country right now our main goal is
maintaining the health and safety of our customers and employees while keeping our
doors open and all our employees working.
Yesterday, July 1, 2020, a statewide mandate was issued by Governor Kate Brown
that face coverings should be worn in public indoor spaces. As a business, we
prepared to responsibly comply with this mandate by distributing an internal policy
to our employees outlining the procedures necessary to fulfill this mandate. Signs
were hung in the cafes instructing patrons that face coverings were required per the
governor’s mandate.
We were aware of the divisive climate during this time and the fact that face
coverings have become a politicized issue so we expected that our employees may
receive some backlash from customers regarding this new policy. We were fully
prepared to support our employees. However, we did not expect that within the first
hour of the state mandate four uniformed State Police Officers would defy the
orders, enter our café without wearing a face mask and refuse requests to wear one.
The situation became more distressing when one of the officers used profanity to
disparage the Governor and express his political opinion that the Governor could not
infringe on his civil liberties and that businesses need not worry about complying
with the order because law enforcement would not be enforcing the order. A
Customers expressed their opinion that if the officers were not wearing a face
covering that they too should not be required to wear a face covering. The four
Oregon State Police Officers put our small business in a terrible position yesterday by
openly defying the orders which we as a business are responsible for upholding.
I will state clearly that this issue should have never become a political or divisive
issue. Very simply we as a small business were choosing to follow the health and
safety guidelines of the CDC and the majority of the medical community as well as
complying with a state order issued by our Governor. Unfortunately, the State Police
made it exceedingly difficult for us to do that. After the incident occurred, we
immediately reached out to the Corvallis Police Department as well as Oregon State
Police regarding the incident. After much thought, we decided to release the
information regarding this incident. During our follow up interaction with the Oregon
State Police, we felt that the issue was taken too lightly and we received no
information regarding concrete steps that would be taken to address this incident
with the officers involved. As a business we have supported the law enforcement
community and even hosted several “coffee with a cop” gatherings to encourage
interaction with local law enforcement. We will continue to support our community
including our law enforcement community and believe that speaking up regarding a

 disturbing incident should not seen as a lack of support for our law enforcement
community.
We are saddened that the issue of face coverings has seemed to further divide a
community and a state that is already divided and that the backlash from this issue
will ultimately fall on the backs of small businesses. We hope that Oregon can
peacefully comply with the Governor’s mandate and work towards getting our state
back to where it was.
We ask if you have comments or questions regarding this issue that you please do so
respectfully through feedback@allanscoffee.com and remember that our employees
are working hard to follow our company policy and the Governor’s mandate. We are
working hard to stay compliant with the Governor’s order so that our business along
with so many others can remain open.
Respectfully,
Robert and Kathryn Morgan