Terlingua
Businesses across the Big Bend are posting notices reserving the right to refuse service to border wall contractors. One week after the arrival of Kiewit contractors to build roads related to the border wall, carefully worded messages have appeared alongside “No Wall” and “No Al Muro” signs across the tri-county, suggesting that contractors eat and sleep elsewhere.
The Ivey family, one of the founding families of Terlingua, has a sign on The Starlight Theatre Restaurant stating that contractors are not welcome and they “prefer you seek alternative venues for your services.” La Kiva, another popular bar, is more blunt, suggesting that the contractors try McDonalds, 87 miles away.
Under Texas law, businesses can refuse to serve someone on the basis of their job alone. Certain characteristics, such as race, national origin, religion and disability are considered protected statuses that cannot be a basis of refusal.
During one of the slowest months of the year, refusing business means refusing much-needed money. An ad hoc directory of over 140 businesses has been built for locals and tourists looking to support places that are possibly losing money by standing up to the contractors.
The list was built by local business owner Jamie Flack, and includes establishments that have “committed to opposing the border land projects and the destruction of our public lands and way of life.” The document includes river outfitters, restaurateurs, real estate agents and many more across the tri-county area and extending as far away as Santa Fe, over 500 miles away.
Some of the local business owners that have relented and agreed to rent RVs or space to the contractors have faced intense backlash. Owners have acknowledged the difficulty in policing everyone who walks through the door or books online, a task that will get more difficult as the busy season starts. None of the owners who spoke with Big Bend Sentinel expressed animosity towards the workers themselves, who they acknowledge are just here to do a job, but they also realize they do not want to facilitate anything that makes doing that job easier.
