Eugene gym stays open despite two-week freeze

The owner says he plans to stay open for as long as he can.

Garza kezi 9 news.

The owner of one fitness studio in eugene is still open tonight... despite gyms being told to close... as part of the two week freeze.

Kezi 9 news reporter emma withrow shows us his reasoning and why customers aren't complaining.

Rena fitness in south eugene is owned by john joseph... a 68-year-old vietnam war vet who has a passion for exercise.... however..

Another passion joseph says he has is also maintaining his constitutional rights... which is why he is choosing to keep his fitness studio open... and not requiring masks.

John joseph, owner of rena fitness: "you should be able to choose whether you want to wear a mask or not, you should.ld be able to choose whether you want your business to be open or not, it's my right and that's the point of being an american" although the oregon health authority reports wearing a face covering is one of the most effective things you can do to prevent the spread of covid-19.

But joseph isn't the only one who shares these thoughts... all of his clients who still come to his classes do as well.

One of which is mandy fisher..

A mother of three who has been going to rena for over 10 years.

"listen we followed the rules, and now we're at our breaking point, where the money that we need to make to at least keep our doors open, keep our overhead, keep the rent going, those are all really important factors."

Emma: joseph says the governor has no right to shut his studio down.... especially when the liquor store next door gets to stay open.

So rather than closing down during every freeze or mandate from governor brown... he hired a constitutional attorney to fight what he calls the good fight.

"i want to keep going forward, i want to fight because i think i have the right, because i think other businesses have the right to fight, we have a right to be open, we have a right to provide for our families, we have a right to keep our business going."

Coming up at 6 we'll hear more about why joseph doesn't require his clients to wear masks when they're excercising.

Reporting in eugene emma