Burleson County bar faces uncertain future as they close again due to COVID restrictions
Buda Calobreves, owner of the Fort Half Moon Bar, doesn’t know what the future holds for his business
SOMERVILLE, Texas (KBTX) - Buda Calobreves, owner of the Fort Half Moon Saloon, doesn’t know what the future holds for his business.
Calobreves has owned the bar for more than 15 years and has four employees.
“We’re going to make it because I have a secondary job. This is not my entire income but I’ve got 4 employees that I absolutely cannot afford to pay,” said Calobreves.
Businesses in Burleson County are having to close down or reduce capacity once again due to rising COVID-19 hospitalizations.
“We don’t know how long we’re going to be closed. I don’t know what to tell my employees,” said Calobreves.
He said they’ve put precautions in place from having hand sanitizer stations to facemask enforcement. They also are keeping all the tables separated and they even kept all the doors open to have better ventilation inside.
“It’s killed us. No New Year’s. We won’t be able to have any kind of New Year’s celebration so here we sit you know my golden American dream has kind of turned into a nightmare for me,” said Calobreves.
”We were asked to block the bar. A lot of people did the plexiglass in front of the bar. The volleyball net is kind of humorous and it does the same thing,” he said as he walked inside.
Burleson County currently has 107 active cases and 809 total confirmed cases. County Judge Keith Schroeder said right now they don’t have COVID patients in the local hospital, but there are concerns about future trends.
”I’m wondering what science says it’s ok to have a football game but not have 7 people sit in my bar and enjoy a beverage?,” wondered Calobreves. “I understand it’s easier for anyone to say we’re going to close down Fort Half Moon than it is to say we’re not going to let Texas A&M have a home football game,” he said.
Calobreves had this message for state and local leaders regarding the shut down.
”Take a strong look at what they’re doing to us strong business men. They’re killing us,” he said.
The scaled-back operations are set to be in place until the hospitalization rate in our region falls below 15 percent for seven consecutive days.
We have our story about Brazos County changing business operations here.
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