Riverfront Times, April 8, 2020 by Riverfront Times

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APRIL 8-14, 2020

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MARCH 6-12, 2019

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APRIL 8-14, 2020

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Battling Through EVERYONE IS FINDING a new way to live right now. The limits of social distancing (hopefully, you’re observing them) have made even some of the most routine parts of our days ridiculously hard if not impossible. It can be bleak, frustrating and frightening, but one of the bright spots has been watching the creative ways that people have found to keep going. In this week’s issue of the Riverfront Times, Jenna Jones and Trenton Almgren-Davis talked to the gym owners and athletes who are finding new methods to train and stay sane, now that it’s not safe to head to the weight room or yoga studio. If you’re wondering how we got those amazing photos while keeping our distance, Almgren-Davis has transitioned nicely to capturing scenes with a long lens. For the boxing photos, he set up outside and shot through an open doorway — with permission, of course. It’s not what we’d usually do, but we’re adapting like everyone else. I think the results are stunning. We’re going to continue to find new ways to work and new ways to tell stories as we all go through this strange, difficult time together. I want to say thank you to everyone who has stuck with us, picking up the paper when they can, reading us online and donating to our journalism fund (link on our website) to keep the paper going. Keep the ideas coming. — Doyle Murphy, editor in chief

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Publisher Chris Keating Editor in Chief Doyle Murphy

E D I T O R I A L Digital Editor Jaime Lees Hero In A Hot Dog Suit Daniel Hill Contributors Cheryl Baehr, Trenton Almgren-Davis, Jenna Jones, Monica Obradovic, Andy Paulissen A R T & P R O D U C T I O N Editorial Layout Haimanti Germain Production Manager Haimanti Germain Design Contributor Evan Sult M U L T I M E D I A A D V E R T I S I N G Advertising Director Colin Bell Senior Account Executive Cathleen Criswell Account Managers Emily Fear, Jennifer Samuel Multimedia Account Executive Jackie Mundy C I R C U L A T I O N Circulation Manager Kevin G. Powers

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E U C L I D M E D I A G R O U P Chief Executive Officer Andrew Zelman Chief Operating Officers Chris Keating, Michael Wagner VP of Digital Services Stacy Volhein www.euclidmediagroup.com

Recipe for Disaster If politicians don’t act fast, St. Louis restaurants and bars are toast Cover design by

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INSIDE Hartmann News Feature Short Orders Culture Savage Love 4

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HARTMANN Gov’s ‘Order’ Is No Order COVID-19 helps Missouri discover how low it can go BY RAY HARTMANN

atching Missouri Gov. Mike Parson undergo a political root canal last Friday was almost as painful for rational people as it must have been for him. The governor read his “stay-athome” statement — mislabeled and misreported as an “order” — with the glee of a hostage at gunpoint, which in a sense he was. Parson’s reluctance to regard COVID-19 as an actual pandemic is no secret, and he only quasi-caved after a torrent of pleas and criti-

cism from health care groups (our heroes), business leaders, politicians and media. The governor needed to get a monkey off his back while placating some less-evolved political simians to his far right. He abided no questions at his “news conference” with good reason. But here’s the bottom line, Missouri: We don’t have a statewide stay-at-home in force here. Not even close. Not even after all those headlines and news accounts proclaimed, “Parson finally issues stay-at-home order.” However pure his intentions, Parson issued nothing more than a strong suggestion to the 65 or so counties that had no official order in place. They remain governed by less stringent guidelines than those in St. Louis city and county and all other large population centers in the state. Lots of places that would be shuttered here have “open for business” signs dotted throughout rural areas. All enforcement is left to localities

with no state-enforcement teeth whatsoever. The first hint of this lameness was its puzzling lack of urgency: Parson announced at 5 p.m. Friday an “order’ that would not even take effect until 55 hours later, at 12:01 a.m. Monday. If that delay wasn’t a WTF moment, I don’t know what qualifies. Was this a pandemic or a picnic? Was the governor concerned that he might ruin the virus’ weekend by not giving it advance notice? Oh, and there was this: The “order” only lasts eighteen days and actually expires six days before the aspirational end-of-April “guidance” announced by Donald Trump, the same guy who on February 27 proclaimed, “One day it’s like a miracle. It will disappear.” In the COVID-19 world, if you’re six days short of that genius, you’re a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Shutting down means shutting down. Nobody likes this, but the concept is pretty straightforward:

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Everyone stays home, and the virus doesn’t have a place to spread. The more exceptions you make, the harder it is to bend the curve and flatten it. Every inadvertent encounter with someone unknowingly having the virus can affect dozens, hundreds or thousands of people, exponentially, because it’s highly contagious and has no cure. It’s not “like viruses we’ve had before,” something the governor stated as recently as March 19. It’s a health care emergency. Somehow, though, that hasn’t sunken in with the Parson administration. Missouri still has 87 of its 91 state parks open, as opposed to Illinois, which has zero. A young friend from Illinois tells me of outdoor enthusiasts streaming across the Missouri border to enjoy the Show-Me state’s natural splendor, a bizarre reversal of the customary migration of Missourians seeking gambling, topless dancing

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HARTMANN

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and recreational pot in Illinois. Missouri so far has stopped short of outright advertising for pandemic tourism. Hopefully, the “We’ve Got Freedom That Your State Doesn’t” campaign stays on the shelf. But make no mistake about it: Missourians do retain more freedom than most Americans. Don’t take my word for it. Check out the website of the state Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), where the rules are spelled out. Here’s one eye-opening excerpt from the FAQ section: “Do work places that do not qualify as ‘essential’ businesses have to close? “No. Businesses that are not covered by (federal) guidance discussed in the Order may remain open but must comply with the social gathering and social distance requirements of the Order. This means that no more than 10 individuals can occupy a single space, this includes both employees and customers ... Businesses are also encouraged to allow individuals, where feasible, to work from home to achieve optimum isolation. “Businesses can seek a waiver of the social gathering requirements from the Director of the Department of Economic Development.” At the risk of seeming unduly cynical, what possible case of bureaucratic dementia would possess a state health department to invite non-essential business to stay open and to invite any business to seek social-gathering waivers during the worst pandemic in human history? Allowing employees to stay at home is “encouraged?” I’ll say this for DHHS: No freedom-loving business or virus should ever question its gentle spirit. Consider this reader-friendly translation of the state’s occupancy code in this time of shutdown: “A 40,000 square foot grocery store would be able to have 133 customers in the store at any one time. An 8,000 square foot retail store would be able to have 66 customers in the store at any one time.” The only distancing going on statewide in Missouri is between its government and the human brain. Are we really celebrating that the 134th customer is going to have to cool his boots outside of the Walmart for a hot minute? All snark aside, this isn’t cool. As I said in this space just a week ago, we don’t have time for any

Parson announced at 5 p.m. Friday an “order’ that would not even take effect until 12:01 a.m. Monday. Was the governor concerned that he might ruin the virus’ weekend by not giving it advance notice? nonsense about an urban-rural divide, not on this one. The nurses and doctors in rural Missouri are just as wonderful and heroic and under-protected as the ones here in the St. Louis area. The people in rural Missouri are just as important and decent and caring and good-hearted and intelligent as the people in the metropolitan areas. We have some differences, yes, but no one’s better than anyone else. No one matters more or less than anyone else. Missourians need to come together as one state — one people — resolved to work as one to bend the cur e of and flatten it. But that’s only happening if there’s a sense of connectivity, of purpose and of urgency that’s sorely lacking today. We need leadership now, and it’s just not there. We need unity now, and it’s just not there. There can be no denying that state government is broken in Missouri. But it’s one thing to have a philosophical aversion to taxation and governance and make the Faustian bargain of low revenues for bottom-of-the-barrel spending for education and patrolmen and social services and all the rest. Not being able to answer the bell for a pandemic is something else again. n

Ray Hartmann founded the Riverfront Times in 1977. Contact him at rhartmann@sbcglobal.net or catch him on St. Louis In the Know With Ray Hartmann and Jay Kanzler from 9 to 11 p.m. Monday thru Friday on KTRS (550 AM).

NEWS

The Walmart Licker’s Defense Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

n the video that made him a pariah and got him arrested on a terrorism char e, ody Pfister does what is at least gross under normal circumstances and infuriating as more people die every day of COVID-19. “Who’s afraid of the coronavirus?” the 26-year-old Warrenton man says teasingly while standing in an aisle of his hometown Walmart. “Don’t touch your face?” nd then Pfister leans down and licks a row of deodorant sticks. The video that was posted to Facebook quickly spread across the world. Warrenton police would later say they were contacted by people from as far away as the Netherlands, Ireland and the United Kingdom. By the time police arrested him on March 23, both St. Louis County and city had issued stay-at-home orders, restaurant dining rooms were shut down and the first deaths were being reported in Missouri. In short, even skeptics (not all of them) were beginning to see the danger at the door, and the si ht of Pfister’s dum , mocking face enraged people who responded online with furious comments. ut Pfister’s attorney Patrick Coyne says it’s important to consider the time when the video was recorded. In a probable cause statement, Warrenton police say it was March 11 and that the nited tates officially recognized COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 10. Coyne says they’ve incorrectly swapped the dates. The World Health Organization’s pandemic declaration was on March 11, and Coyne says the video was actually from March 10. At the time, St. Patrick’s Day parades were still planned, people were still going out to eat and even the loosest of restrictions on crowds in places like St. Louis were still days away. On March 9, NBA

Cody Pfister was arrested for licking items at Walmart. | COURTESY LINCOLN COUNTY SHERIFF player Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz thought the growing coronavirus fear was funny enough that he made a point to touch every reporter’s microphone on his way out of a press conference. On March 10, President Trump told everyone to relax: “Just stay calm. It will go away.” Coyne says the difference between March 10 and 11 changed everyone’s understanding of the virus’ spread — “Those” two days are gigantic ... ” — and that should be factored into whether Pfister’s actions are truly worthy of the felony charge of secondde ree terrorist threat filed y prosecutors. It’s even more jarring when comparing March 10 to the time of his arrest, the attorney says. “If it happened on the 22nd, I’m with everyone else on those comments,” Coyne says. “But if you put it in the perspective of the day he did it, it’s completely different.” Pfister s ent three days in Warren County jail. By the time he bonded out, the fact that Gobert had tested positive for COVID-19 and the NBA had suspended its season had become just one tremor in a cascading disaster. By then, death threats were pouring in as the video and news stories about the incident continued to spread.

Actor and director Michael Rapaport, who has been wailing on Trump’s response to the coronavirus during his popular podcast, inter iewed Pfister durin an nstagram live broadcast. “What the fuck made you lick the deodorant at Walmart?” Rapaport demanded. Pfister e lained that he thou ht it would be more of an inside joke, pranking a friend who had been extremely worried about coronavirus. He let another friend post it to Facebook, he said. “I was like, ‘I’m not even scared of it if it’s not a big deal, because the government’s not making it a i deal,’ Pfister told a a ort. “The next day it was declared a pandemic. I was, ‘Holy shit, I might’ve did something really bad.’ A couple weeks later, yes, I was arrested and realized it was really bad.” The 26-year-old was apologetic in the interview. He said he never meant it as a threat, adding that he has tested negative for COVID-19. “I want to let everyone know I really am sorry, Pfister told apaport. “I didn’t know it was a big deal. Now that they started closing everything down, I realized this is really serious. I have older people in my family that I don’t want to get sick.” Rapaport blasted him as a

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“dumb fuck” but ultimately concluded it was just a stupid move, especially given the timing. “Everybody fucks up, you just fucked up on an international level,” the actor told him before wishing him well. It’s not going to be so easy for Pfister oin forward, thou h. e was on parole for a 2013 conviction for burglary and stealing a gun, and with the attention of his latest arrest, it wasn’t long before his arole officer wanted to talk to him. That led to a parole hold, and he’s now back in jail in Lincoln ounty, officials there confirmed. Coyne says with courts largely shut down and cases delayed, it could e a lon time efore Pfister has an opportunity to go to trial. “This guy is going to be sitting in jail for months, awaiting trial,” Coyne says. In the interim, he has asked for bond in the Walmart case to be re oked so Pfister will at least et credit for time served when his case finally ets called. oyne says he could see an argument for some kind of misdemeanor charge for peace disturbance or something, ecause Pfister clearly messed u , but the felony is overkill. March 10, he says, was a different time for all of us: “People were joking about it, the corona, drinking beers.” n

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APRIL 8-14, 2020

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30 Sheriff’s Deputies Quarantined Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

Two Ferguson-Florissant bus drivers died in one day. | PAUL SABLEMAN

Two Ferguson-Florissant School Bus Drivers Die Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

wo bus drivers in the Ferguson-Florissant School District died on Saturday, prompting school officials to stop delivering meals to kids, at least for now. Both bus drivers had helped with the food distribution program. One of the drivers, who had been helping with the program at Cross Keys Middle School, died of a long-running illness but also had symptoms of the coronavirus, school officials say. The second driver, who had tested positive for COVID-19, had helped with the distribution program that was based out of McCluer North High School. Another employee at the high school also

St. Louis County Closes Public Parks Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

ell, now outside is cancelled, too. St. Louis County announced last week that all its public parks were closing until at least April 22. “This will help us save lives. That’s our top priority,” County Executive Sam Page says in a news release. “I had hoped we could keep the parks open, but the spread of COVID-19 is too big of a threat to the health of our residents.” The number of confirmed cases has continued to grow, and so has the death toll. As of Monday morning, 985 people

tested positive, the district announced in a note on its website. “None of the employees have worked since spring break and only learned of their positive results late [Saturday],” the district said in the written statement. “It has been more than 14 days since they worked, and anyone exposed would likely have experienced symptoms.” As a precaution, the district is suspending the meals program through April 10. Schools across the country have struggled with the best ways to continue feeding kids who depended on school breakfasts and lunches. Throughout greater St. Louis, districts have set up drop-off locations, often using buses to deliver the food. Ferguson-Florissant closed its schools on March 30 and expects to be out until late April, although the closures could be pushed back. As of Monday morning, there had been 985 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and fourteen deaths in St. Louis County, according to the county’s health department.

had tested positive for the virus and fourteen had died in the county. The county had already closed down playgrounds, basketball and tennis courts, indoor facilities and the Creve Coeur Soccer Complex. But after big crowds continued to pack the parks, public officials decided to shut it all down. “With warmer weather, our parks are becoming more and more crowded,” county Parks Director Tom Ott says in the release. “During this health crisis, we cannot allow large groups of people to be together in one place.” The city had announced earlier in the week it was closing roads in some parks as a way to discourage groups, but Mayor Lyda Krewson has suggested complete closures could be coming if people continue to bunch up in groups. As of press time, city parks were still open to the public. So here’s a plea, don’t screw this up, people. Keep your space so we can still safely take a walk in the city’s parks. We don’t have much else these days. n

St. Louis Sheriff’s deputy has tested positive for COVID-19, and now all 30 members of the infected person’s unit have been placed under quarantine. “I am deeply concerned about this deputy, their family and the rest of my staff and their families,” St. Louis Sheriff Veron Betts said last week in a statement. “The unit and other staff members who may have come into contact are all under order to self-quarantine for the next two weeks.” The deputy was part of the Outside Services Unit, which serves summonses and ex parte orders of protection, but those duties have been limited under new coronavirus-related restrictions. Since March 20, the unit has only been serving the ex parte orders of protection. According to a news release from the sheriff’s office, the unnamed deputy did not work in the courthouse and there was only “minimal exposure to the buildings.” Any areas of the courthouse that might have been exposed are being sanitized, Betts says. The sheriff added that people should continue to keep

St. Louis Sheriff Vernon Betts says a deputy has COVID-19. | COURTESY CITY OF ST. LOUIS their space from others and wash their hands but the courthouses are safe. Betts says they are following the advice of the city’s health department. The sheriff plans to shift deputies from other units to continue the work of their quarantined colleagues. “The heriff’s ffice is on the front lines of this pandemic,” Betts said. “We have deputies out in the community serving court orders, working in area hospitals, handling prisoners and guarding the courthouses risking exposure every day. Thanks to the professionalism of my deputies, we are prepared to face this crisis.” The St. Louis police department’s traffic di ision also had to self quarantine recently after at least one of its supervisors tested positive for COVID-19. n

Looks like the deer will have Jefferson Barracks to themselves for a while. | DOYLE MURPHY

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STAY STRONG St. Louisans are figuring out how to adapt their workouts to keep themselves sane and healthy in the era of social distancing

Trainers Rachael Kearns (above) and Brian Montgomery keep the energy up with his now-distant clients while TITLE Boxing Club is shut down. | TRENTON ALMGREN-DAVIS

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TITLE Boxing Club trainer Sam Smith teaches one of the gym’s online fitness classes. TRENTON ALMGREN-DAVIS

Punching Through BY JENNA JONES

hen COVID-19 forced TITLE Boxing Club (14944 Manchester Rd., Ballwin) to close, owner Ken Cox knew going online with his classes was the only option. Yet, he decided not to charge for his class. For Cox, boxing was never about the money. “I didn’t go into the boxing industry to get rich,” Cox says. “I’ve always said that ‘I love this so much, I’d do it for free,’ so I am.” Cox hosts an Instagram and Facebook live stream every night for his followers, leading the workouts with his co-owner and trainers. On March 23, St. Louis County’s stay-at-home order closed down operations for a wide swath of businesses considered “non-essential,” and that included gyms. That’s left people like Cox scramlin to fi ure out how to continue

to connect to a customer base they can no longer see in person. Cox said his gym has no real means to generate revenue during the shutdown, so the live streams were the best option to keep members active. “It was the obvious choice,” Cox says. “To the government, we’re not a necessity, but to our guests we are. We have to keep our members engaged during this.” Cox brainstormed with his team in order to keep his staff

TITLE Boxing Club owner Ken Cox had to close his doors in late March. TRENTON ALMGREN-DAVIS

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A free livestream helps engage TITLE Boxing Club’s members. | TRENTON ALMGREN-DAVIS

The Detox Yoga crew before social distancing was a thing. | COURTESY APRIL ELLIOTT

“Everything is run off the few phones, in a single shot running for 30 minutes, so keeping that entertaining and creative was the challenge.”

Trainers at TITLE Boxing Club uses phones to stream workouts. | TRENTON ALMGREN-DAVIS

STAY STRONG

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employed during the shutdown. Federal loans are helping pay the staff, but they can only make that money last for so long. The owner also credits his landlord for allowing him to not pay rent while the club is shut down. “As long as the doors are all back open by the end of May, we will e fine, o says. “ fter une 1, we’d have to re-look at that. So, unfortunately, the answer is time will tell. The team came up with the live streams they would offer at no charge. Trainers like manager am mith, o , and his wife and co owner arah o all ha e taken on the challenge of streaming their workouts to the members of the gym. “We’re oin to kee fi htin to-

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gether; that’s the only way through this, mith says. Normally, the rounds that Smith and o conduct would last three minutes each. In order to keep the live stream interesting, they switched up the routine. The streams offer a variety of workouts, each lasting 30 seconds with a 15-second rest in between rounds. The trainers alternate as the rounds o on, mi in u workouts and encouraging the watchers just as energetically as they would in person. t first, the rocess was not as seamless as it is now. “We don’t have a huge budget, no full camera crew or anything like that, o okes. “ o, e erything is run off the few phones, in a single shot running for 30 minutes, so keeping that entertaining and creati e was the challen e. During the live stream, the club ractices shadow o in , a way to

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test the viewers’ imaginations since some may not have a full punching bag at home to practice on. ther e ercises include re ular workouts, such as bicycle crunches and um in acks. The o ing gym even works a bit of yoga into their e ercises, as one trainer drops into a downward dog and then further into a pushup. Across the river in Wentzville, local yoga studio owner April Elliott has moved her classes online as well. eto o a 1155 Wentzville Pkwy. #107-109, Wentzville) offers reduced-cost online yoga practices through Zoom, a videoconferencing app. She closed her studio on March 18, and her classes and trainers went completely virtual two days later. “The idea of my clients losing their practice during this time was horrific, lliott says. “ had to act fast. I fought really hard to push it out as fast as possible so that all the clients did not skip a beat with their practice. They need it now more than e er. lliott, like o , has had her own struggles moving her operation online. Trainers have had a hard time findin a quiet s ace, as have their students. With children knocking on doors or pets barging in, the fi ht to kee ractice calm and rela in has ro en difficult. “However, given the situation we are in, there is no other choice, Elliott says. “I believe that after this pandemic is over and we are back at the studio we will all be better and stron er and definitely more thankful for our space. “ Many of her trainers have been able to compromise with their neighbors, friends and spouses

to help control the noise level. The yogis have also noticed the higher volume of instruction that is possible with the online classes. With no physical limits due to the space of the studio, the teachers can reach more people and have larger class sizes. lasses usually last for a out an hour and range from gentle, restorati e yo a to their “ classes which are more challenging. Elliott notes that yoga helps its ractitioners control an iety they may feel about the virus and hel s rela minds. “With keeping steady with your practice you are able to handle the fi ht or fli ht feelin that we are all dealin with, lliott said. “If you are more at ease, you are able to comfort those that are not more effecti ely. oth o and lliott iew their businesses as a way to serve their community in a time of need. Where most people have found themselves struggling to maintain a routine, o and lliott ho e to provide some structure to their clients’ days. “We just want to help people out as much as possible during this time, o says. “We’re ust tryin to keep people motivated to stay on their current fitness ourney. TT o in lu oes li e Monday through Friday at 6:30 p.m on its Facebook and Instagram pages. No signup or payment is required. eto o a offers their classes seven days a week, and you can sign up through Mindbody. The cost of virtual classes is $8 per class — or there is an offer for $30 for 30 days of unlimited classes. n

Nick Dondzila jumps rope in an empty parking lot. | TRENTON ALMGREN-DAVIS

Weights borrowed from a local gym round out the mobile training center. | TRENTON ALMGREN-DAVIS

soloing BY TRENTON ALMGREN-DAVIS

or a split second, the bright midday sun flashes off the inner ring of the stack of ten-kilogram weights in the trunk of a blue 2013 Honda CRV, illuminating a young man’s face and blond hair. The broad-shouldered athlete leans the weights against the parking chocks of an empty AT&T lot near his home in the Southampton neighborhood. He removes his Red Panda Strength hoodie revealing a teal tank top with a pouncing, crazy-eyed kitten and grabs a few more ten-kilogram and fifteen-kilogram plates, setting them next to the barbell and rubber mats on the pavement. Sitting on a small stool, the competitive lifter slips out of his tennis shoes and exposes his blue-eyed kitty socks. He laces up his white Nike Romaleos 2 weightlifting shoes and turns on a pump-up metal song.

Nick Dondzila, 27, planned to compete in the pinnacle of USA Weightlifting’s competitions, the Nike 2020 National Championships this May in Lombard, Illinois. However, it has been postponed until December due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dondzila still wants to train. He has made himself a mobile weighttraining facility to continue lifting amidst the gym closures, including his team’s, the Lab Gym. A blanket stretches across the CRV’s trunk, and the middle row is folded up to fit all the plates, mats, clamps, shoes, a jump rope and barbell. He borrowed the mats and Rogue weights from another local gym, Output Performance. “I don’t need a masculine car. I need something I can put everything into,” Dondzila says. For the most part, the ten-year lifting veteran keeps it close to home, driving to the parking lot across the street, but he has gone to some parks with his gear as well. At the lot, the music shifts to some-

thing more alternative. It is 67 degrees, and there is little shade to be found on the blacktop. A dogwood tree along Eichelberger Street buds its white flowers in the background. After three sets of 90-kilogram snatches and three sets of 100-kilogram power clean and jerks, Dondzila adds twenty more kilograms to the bar. He removes his tank top and slings it over the side mirror of the car. He twists his back muscles, looks at his hands and takes a deep breath, preparing himself for the next rep. He sets up his phone to videotape and walks over to the bar. A little boy and his dad in matching sunglasses eye the shirtless athlete as they walk their corgi. Dondzila clenches his hands around the bar and heaves the bar to his shoulders. Holds. Then thrusts it above his head. Holds. His face turns red as he grimaces. The weight crashes back to the earth. Dondzila turns around. A “Stay Awake” tattoo referencing a song by the alternative band All Time Low stretches across his wide back. He walks over to

Dondzila’s CRV doubles as a clothing rack and mobile gym. | TRENTON ALMGREN-DAVIS grab his chair and sits down. It is not too long before he does the set again. “I guess because it’s warm out, and it’s less comfortable to sit down and relax. I’m just like, ‘All right, let’s do it,’” he says later. Dondzila wrestled while at St. John Vianney High School, graduating in 2011. When he went to Loyola University, he lost the competitive outlet that wrestling offered. Dondzila tried CrossFit for a bit. He eventually transitioned into Olympicstyle weightlifting. The past few years he has been competing nationally. He medaled at the Chicago nationals in 2017, won the university championships in that same year at 77 kilograms, earned a silver medal at the 2017 American Open Finals, won the American Open Series 1 in 2018 and captured bronze at the senior nationals in 2018 for the Lab Gym. In the first week of March, just prior to the stay-at-home mandates, the athlete, coaching himself, placed third overall in the 2020 American Open Series 1 in

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Columbus, Ohio. He has one of the best clean and jerks in the nation. In Columbus, he finished second in the clean and jerk, lifting 175 kg (385 lbs) in the 77-kilogram (170-pound) class. In the parking lot, he does the best he can with what he has. “Theoretically, I don’t have enough weight to push certain strength portions. So, I am slowing what I do down a lot, making it harder because I can’t get as high of weight as I want,” he says. Along with adjusting the program due to the limits of his makeshift gym, Dondzila has looked up blueprints online to build a wooden squat rack to supplement his mobile training regimen. “With what’s happening in the world right now, it’s demoralizing because I don’t even know the next time I will compete is but ... today is day one: I wrote it out. I have a plan, and I’m going to try to progress things. … What else am I going to do? Get some sun. Burn. I might just wear a swimsuit tomorrow,” he jokes. Besides weightlifting, Dondzila works on software-developing projects, searches for a developing job and hangs out with his father during the stay-at-home mandate. His father plays pool competitively in local pool halls. “He’s young, only 52, but still gets a little nervous,” Dondzila says about his dad and the pandemic. Since they cannot go play pool together, they watch movies and build puzzles. Weightlifting has been something that Dondzila has used to stay competitive, be fit, overcome his girlfriend driving away in an RV and, now, as a way to keep busy during the pandemic. “Yeah the gravity has turned on today,” he says sarcastically between reps, sweat dripping on his forehead. n

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SHORT ORDERS

[SIDE DISH]

Appreciating What’s Gone Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

n February 27, Dale Kyd was riding high on the wave of unbelievable professional success. Gin Magazine, an international publication considered the authority on the spirit, had just named him its 2020 Bartender of the Year, an honor that seemed unachievable just a few years ago when he was an electrical engineering student at Mizzou. His leap into the service industry, it seemed, had paid off. “This was a big deal for me — the guy who got honorable mention is a god of bartending at this really cool bar in London,” Kyd explains. “The distiller of Beefeater got inducted into the gin hall of fame in the same ceremony, so it was a huge deal for me to be included with my idols and people I have such huge respect for. I really felt like I was coming into my own and got to enjoy that for about two weeks. Then this all put a halt to it.” The “this” Kyd refers to, of course, is the COVID-19 pandemic which has wreaked utter havoc and devastation on the hospitality industry. One minute, Kyd was receiving international accolades for his work at the Gin Room (3200 South Grand Boulevard, 314771-3411), the next, he was facing an uncertain future as the bar and accompanying restaurant, Cafe Natasha, went to takeout-only service and eventually ceased o erations indefinitely due to the public health crisis. Though Kyd is moved by how the owners, Natasha and Hamishe Bahrami, have gone out of their way to put their employees’ needs before their own, it doesn’t change the fact that he — and his fellow restaurant and bar colleagues — don’t know when, or if, they will get to go back to earning a living doing what they love to do. “There are some businesses that are not going to reopen after this,”

Dale Kyd, Gin Magazine’s Bartender of the Year, faces an uncertain future thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. | MONICA MILEUR Kyd says. “Cafe Natasha will come back, but others won’t, and that’s terrifying. I don’t know what bartending is going to look like on the other side of this. The talent pool is going to shrink, and artistic endeavors are going to get jeopardized. I think many of us are going to become risk averse. At one point, I had these skills that were transferable, and now, they don’t seem like that so much. None of us are feelin safe in these fields anymore.” Income loss aside, Kyd is also mourning the loss of creative momentum that came from collaborating with colleagues, interacting with guests and trading knowledge with peers. Before the pandemic, he and his Gin Room co-worker Michael Fricker were experimenting with creative techniques for cocktails, like alternative acids and other unique ingredients. Not being able to work together in person has put a halt to their efforts, and his lack of access to the tools and ingredients he has behind the bar at the Gin Room has prevented him from continuing to push forward with taking his cocktails to the next level. Kyd does not sugarcoat his feelings about the current situation: He is mourning the loss, no matter how temporary, of his job, his guests, his colleagues and his sense of security. Still, he remains heartened by his caring and compassionate employers and the lev-

el of cooperation and willingness to help he sees from fellow hospitality professionals, even as they, too, experience hardship. “Having seen the industry as a whole come together over this and help each other out is such a good feeling,” Kyd says. “It makes me feel like, regardless of what is going on around us, we have the resources together to make it through. That makes this easier to bear.” Kyd took a moment to share his feelings on what he’s going through right now, the impact he feels this will have on the industry in the long-term and the one thing that is giving him hope in these difficult times. As a hospitality professional, what do people need to know about what you are going through? I want it to be known that the hospitality industry simply doesn’t run on hi h rofit mar ins. We work tirelessly to compensate for very small variances in our numbers, and while a lot of places are still open for takeout, that is absolutely not supporting that restaurant’s staff. With ery little warning, our income has dropped to zero for an untold amount of time, and that stress can be pretty overwhelming. I think the industry as a whole right now is scrambling to help each other with very few lifelines being thrown our direction from official odies. We don’t really have anywhere to turn, and

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the $1,200 that we might get isn’t a ermanent solution. We are in the unique position that the best way to accelerate the healing process of this virus is to completely kill our own livelihoods, so we are very literally fucked if we do and fucked if we don’t. It feels bad. What do you miss most about your job? I miss interacting with people. I work at a bar where every interaction with guests is a chance to build a relationship over the course of their stay, and until that abruptly ended, I don’t think I realized what that really meant to me. The simple but great pleasure of getting someone a cocktail they’ll love into their hands has left a pretty serious void in my day to day. What do you miss least? Cleaning my tiny little apartment is so much easier than cleaning that bar. Between the rest of the team and I, we have a tendency to get pretty neurotic to the oint of inefficient a out how pristine our stations are kept. My home kitchen can go from spotless to Dale-cooking-disaster and ack a ain in minutes flat. What is one thing you make sure you do every day to maintain a sense of normalcy? I’ve been working hard to keep some sort of a structured day. Being as easily distracted as I am and being out of work, it can be super easy for me to slide into a

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totally chaotic and lethargic mess. To combat that, I’ve been working to get ready for work like I would any other day and then engaging in an activity that’s on my feet. It can be really ritualistic, but it helps me retain that routine that I know I thrive on. What have you been stress-eating/drinking lately? There’s been a pretty inappropriate amount of stir-fry going through my apartment. For some reason the combination of a protein, some veggies and some noodles all fried up together with a super savory oily sauce is my top-tier comfort food. Between my ability to fumble around in the kitchen and make something passable and my proximity to Pho Grand (which is totally open for carry-out, by the way), I’ve been hitting it pretty hard. What are the three things you’ve made sure you don’t want to run out of, other than toilet paper? I won’t be running out of London Dry gin anytime soon. Cocktail hour has been a sacred time of day for me forever, and even though I’m an equal opportunity imbiber, London Dry is my constant companion. Second, I have two lovely cats that have been my esties since was fifteen. don’t want to age myself too much, but they aren’t spring chicks anymore, and they are very set in their ways, so if they don’t get their favorite cat food at the time that they like it, the world mi ht catch on fire. guess it sort of is anyway, though. Third, instant noodles. I try to eat healthy as much as possible, but I just love instant noodles so much. When the signal was coming down the line that we were probably going to have to shut ourselves in our apartment for a while, my partner and I went to Jay’s International and loaded up on a rockin’ variety. They’re just a great snack. If you’ve never experienced the magic that is Ichiban brand noodles, then you have to get your hands on some. They’re num er one in name and fla or. You have to be quarantined with three people. Who would you pick? Well, I have the luxury of already being shut in with my partner, Jen, and that is really excellent. Our schedules are typically pretty out of sync, so the time together has been swell. A little extra time with my best friend, you know? I’m really fond of this radio personality and podcast producer named Roman Mars. I feel like he is one of those people that

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can have really profound conversations and also take pleasure in pretty meaningless small talk, but either way his depth of knowledge is sure to make it interesting. Lastly, I think it would be a pleasure to hang out with comedian Tig Notaro. I really do enjoy comedy, and I am a big proponent of the power of laughter. I think she does a really good job not making jokes that are politically or socially charged (even though when she does they can cut deep) but delivering punch lines at no one’s expense. I have immense respect for that. Once COVID-19 is no longer a threat and people are allowed to go back out and about, what’s the first thing you ll do I’m probably going to pop down to Civil Life and drink beer and play games and hopefully pet some dogs. That sounds like a really killer reintroduction to normal life right now. What do you think the biggest change to the hospitality industry will be once people are allowed to return to normal activity levels? I think that this whole ordeal has kind of exposed some of the hardships that people in this industry face. I feel like this crisis has highlighted the opposite and dark side of what we see on shows like Chef’s Table, where talent and promise is met with success. There are some really amazing kitchens and bars in St. Louis right now that simply won’t be able to reopen on the other side of this thing. These people have worked really hard, and this isn’t just some gas-money job — it’s a profession from front to back that has been getting a lot of disrespect for a long time. I think that void is going to be felt by a lot of consumers as acutely as it is being felt by the hospitality industry right now, and I think the outcome is going to be a little more respect for that work on the other side. Hopefully, at least. What is one thing that gives you hope during this crisis? Over the last week and a half, there has been a tremendous amount of support coming through for people who lost their income, and it rocks. It can be easy in times like these to be suspicious and spiteful and selfcentered, ut can’t fi ht the feeling that St. Louis has been a great example of how to care for others. It’s really humbling, and I’m very grateful, and I’m very optimistic that, while none of us may come out unscathed, we will come out of this together and with a tighterknit community. n

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The Lucky Accomplice, a new restaurant from chef Logan Ely, to open in Fox Park. | MABLE SUEN

Savage Owner Opening New Restaurant The Lucky Apprentice Written by

CHERYL BAEHR

ike everyone in the hospitality industry, Logan Ely is in the midst of a personal and professional upheaval unlike anything he could have imagined. With his Fox Park restaurant Savage (2655 Ann Avenue, 314-3548488) shuttered, the chef and restaurant owner has been scrambling to figure out how to make sure his business survives and his employees are taken care of to the best of his abilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, in the midst of the uncertainty, Ely is forging ahead. Last week, he announced plans to open his second restaurant, the Lucky Accomplice (2501 South Jefferson Avenue) in Fox Park, just a few blocks away from Savage. Though the date is up in the air because of the pandemic, he anticipates the restaurant will open this summer. “We started planning this about a month or so before all this happened, and we have to see this through,” Ely says. “I’m not sure if we could get out of the lease or back out, but we want to figure this out and push forward. You have to keep pushing and stay positive, adapt and adjust.” While Savage is known for its elegant, cutting-edge tasting menus, the Lucky Accomplice will be a more casual, come-as-you-are neighborhood restaurant and bar. As Ely explains, the same culinary ethos that underpins Savage

will be present at Lucky Accomplice — using seasonal ingredients and only ethically sourced meat — but the dishes will be a la carte and more approachable. “We wanted a restaurant where you could drop in and say hi without making a reservation and not spend $100,” Ely explains. “You can hang out at the bar, grab a beer and some snacks — nice but approachable, where you can walk in and get something easy.” As Ely explains, he did not necessarily set out to open a second restaurant, but rather felt it come together organically because of the wonderful talent pool he has at Savage. Together, he and his team decided that the best way to keep challenging the crew and expand their restaurant family was to open a second restaurant where employees could further develop and take on new responsibilities. With those employees currently idle because of the COVID-19 pandemic, they are all banding together to help realize the vision of the Lucky Accomplice. From helping with the buildout to planning menus, everyone is pitching in — something that is giving the team hope for a future Ely sees as bright once guests can start patronizing restaurants and bars again. “I think if anything, people will realize how important restaurants are,” Ely says. “Bars and restaurants are sociable places. It’s important to get out of the house, see friends, go on a date. It’s a big part of any community, and it’s not just restaurants and bars. Ranchers, food producers, musicians, theater performers — all the things that bring people together are suffering. I think that once this is over, people will realize the importance of that; these are the things that bring us together and make us a community, and that’s important.” n

CULTURE

Virtual Happy Hour is Here For You Written by

DOYLE MURPHY

ou’re not drinking alone in your basement/bathroom/ closet. You’re having a virtual happy hour. Until that “new normal” we keep hearing so much about kicks in, we’re all just looking for ways to slog through the daily chaos. Chris Denman, who hosts the St. Louis-based podcast We Are Live!, was kicking around ideas a couple of weeks ago with Matt Longueville of STL Barkeep for navigating the current whirlwind of health and economic disaster sweeping across the world. t first, on ue ille, whose business hires out bartenders for parties and events, was going to come on Denman’s show to mix a few cocktails. But that idea quickly led to them roughing out plans for Virtual Happy Hour, basically an online variety show that takes place at 4 p.m. every Thursday.

Along with the “Quarantine Cocktails” demonstrations, the show has featured national comedians and musicians, including former Houdmouth keyboardist Katie Toupin and comedians Iann Bagg, who has been a regular on Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club show, and Jessimae Peluso, whose many stops included MTV’s Girl Code. St. Louisan Pat Gioia is on every show to help with the drinks. “It’s combining the stuff that I love doing with, ‘Hey, maybe there are some people looking for entertainment during some super strange times,’” Denman says. About 10,000 people tuned in for the first three shows. ast

Host Chris Denman and comedian Mia Jackson share an online cheers during Virtual Happy Hour. | WE ARE LIVE! week’s broadcast included guest comedian Mia Jackson. Musician Daniel Womack, lead singer of the Georgia-based rock band Futurebirds, made a brief, but silent appearance, due to some technical difficulties such is the nature of roducin a new show on the fly. (He later followed up with an ap-

Two-Man Band Serenading We’re Searching Alcohol South St. Louis Online During Pandemic Written by

Written by

JAIME LEES

The small but mighty marching band in action. | SCREENGRAB VIA TWITTER/@Nate_Tice

pearance on We Are Live!.) Master Blender David Whitmer and Andy Mansinne of MGP dropped in, virtually, to teach viewers about rye. You can tune in, drink or no drink, at 4 p.m. through the We Are Live! Facebook page. Past shows are archived there as well, because it’s 11 a.m. somewhere. n

ell this should bring a little sunshine to your day. It also might make you cry, but they will be happy tears. A two-man brass band has been marching through the Tower Grove South neighborhood, thrilling residents with their heartwarming version of Ben E. King’s classic “Stand By Me.” The two men, roommates Dominique Burton and Benjamin Kosberg, played tuba and trumpet as neighbors stepped out on their porches and lawns to wave — and film the surprise performance. One video uploaded by Twitter user @ Nate_Tice had been viewed 2.5 million times by Monday. It shows Burton and Kosberg marching down the middle of Connecticut Street. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch later spoke with the pair of musicians. “I was getting stir-crazy at home, so I said let’s just go play,” Kosberg tells the daily. “That was all we really planned.” Planned or not, we’re fans. Thank you for bringing this blast of hope to all of us. n

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e knew that people in Missouri loved their alcohol, but we didn’t know until recently that they loved to tweet about it, too. According to a report from LawnStarter. com, a full 15.5 percent of tweets from Missourians since the start of the pandemic here have been about alcohol. And not the cleaning kind, the drinking kind. While people from other states are tweeting their very important political opinions, we’re over here tweeting about things like “Is the liquor store still open?” and “Dang, dogs and beers are cool.” But we’re only twelfth on the list for states that mention alcohol the most during this crisis. Maine is at the top of the list with 20.33 percent. Y’all must be really bored up there. If you’re in Missouri and you need another reason to tip back a Quarantini, check out this virtual happy hour and sip on, friends. Sip on. n

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SAVAGE LOVE THE NO-PANDEMIC CHALLENGE BY DAN SAVAGE Hey, Dan: Your last two columns and your last two podcasts were all about the pandemic. Everything everywhere is all about the pandemic right now. Can you give it a rest? For maybe a week? Could you answer some questions that aren’t about pandemic? Any fun kink questions come in this week? I could all use a break from the pandemic, Dan, and I’m not alone. Columnist’s Oeuvre Vividly Instills Dread Some kink questions did come in this week, COVID, and I’m happy to answer them. But the pandemic does come up in the second one, which you should feel free to skip. Hey, Dan: I have a kink/fetish that’s been giving me a lot of anxiety over the last few years. I inadvertently discovered that I’m turned on by big bellies weight gain and stuffing. t s actually been there since I was a little kid, though I didn’t understand it until now. If it’s relevant, I’m a female in my mid-20s, in a heterosexual monogamous relationship. My problem is that I have a lot of trouble getting off without looking at pictures or at least thinking about my kink. I believe the common guidance is, “If it’s not hurting anyone it s fine. ut feel super gross and ashamed. Neither my partner nor myself is large and we both value our health and fitness. have absolutely no desire to participate in this activity with a real person. Every time finish masturbating, I feel embarrassed and disgusted with myself. Some part of my brain obviously craves the kink, but the rest of my brain HATES it. I keep telling myself I will stop, but I have such a hard time getting off with other porn (or without porn) that I always return to it. I genuinely enjoy having vanilla sex with my partner. I feel turned on and have fun. ut m often not I able to come. It sometimes makes him think he isn’t doing a good job, when in reality he’s doing great and I’m just frustrated with my body. So I guess I’m wondering: Does continuing to watch belly porn reinforce the kink in my brain? Should I stop watching it and force myself to find other ways to come hould somehow find a way to embrace the kink instead?

Big Belly Woes

Six years ago I roped Dr. Jesse Bering, author of Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of Us, into answering a question from a dad who was worried about his teenage son’s sexual interest in Pokémon. (Yes, Pokémon.) Dad wanted to know if there was anything could done about his son’s “pathetic” sexual obsession. Bering explained that his kid’s kinks — that everyone’s kinks — are hardwired. “Nobody knows why some people are more prone to developing unusual patterns of attraction than others,” Bering said. “But whether it’s a penchant for Pokémon, feet, underwear, or spiders, the best available evidence suggests that some people — mostly males — have a genetic predisposition for being ‘sexually imprinted’ during development.” And once our erotic imaginations have seized on something, once we’ve imprinted on Pokémon characters or big bellies or wrestling singlets, there’s not much we can do about it. Before we’re adults — before we hit puberty — our kinks, as Bering put it, are “ retty much fi ed, like it or not. For all we know the teenage boy with the Pokémon fetish was completely comfortable with his own niche sexual interests. The dad wrote in, after all, not the kid. (But if you’re a 23-year-old Pokémon fetishist and your dad routinely invaded your privacy when you were a teenager and heaped shame you about your kinks, please write in with an update!) But I have heard from people who, like you, weren’t comfortable with their own kinks, BBW, and desperately wanted to know what could be done. Most sex scientists and researchers agree with Bering: There’s really nothing you can do and masturbating to the porn that turns you on doesn’t “reinforce” your kinks. You can’t starve out your kinks by refusing to think (or wank) about them, BBW, and you can’t pray your kinks away anymore than I could pray my gay away. Embracing your kinks and exploring them with other consenting adults — or if your kinks can’t be realized for ethical reasons, enjoy them through solo or partnered fantasy play only — is the only realistic option. That said, some doctors have prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), aka anti-depressants, to people who were uncomfortable with their kinks. Those drugs don’t selectively eradicate kinks, BBW, they crater a person’s libido. Takin s would mean sacrificing the vanilla sex you enjoy with

“You can’t starve out your kinks by refusing to think (or wank) about them, BBW, and you can’t pray your kinks away anymore than I could pray my gay away.” your partner on the same altar with the kink that stress you out. I can’t imagine you want to go down either of these routes, BBW, which brings us back to embracing your kink and coming clean with your partner. The risk you run telling a partner about your kink is no doubt the forefront of your mind, BBW, because the consequences could be immediate, i.e. he might dump you. But not telling your partner about your kink — and leaving him to wonder why you can’t get off with him but have no trouble getting off alone — isn’t risk free either. If he feels inadequate, if he feels like you’re hiding something from him, if he feels like he can’t satisfy you … he might dump you. So share your kink with your boyfriend, BBW, and kinks should always be presented as crazy and endearing — and potentially really fun — quirks, not as tragedies. You have a thing for big bellies, BBW, you don’t have leukemia. And you can explore your kinks without gaining weight or stuffin your artner until he does. A little big belly dirty talk could help you get off with your partner, BBW, and e en the fittest erson can ush their tummy out and create the illusion of a rounded belly. Have fun! Hey, Dan: My boyfriend and I live in San Francisco where we’ve been sheltering in place. We are unfortunately unable to shelter together, which means that we cannot have physical contact, especially since he lives with a parent who’s at heightened risk. (It’s not an option for him to stay with me for the duration.) We’re as frustrated about having to abruptly end the physical aspect of our rela-

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tionship as you might expect. We go for (distanced) walks during the week, we talk every day, and we jerk off in front of webcams together but that only goes so far. I was thinking about giving him some of my worn panties for him to do whatever he wants with. My question is this: If I were to wash my hands and be cautious while putting together a pervy care package, is there much of a risk of spreading the virus around by doing this? I’m currently in good health but I know that people can be infected but asymptomatic and we’re being really careful to keep both of our households as safe as possible. Can the virus be spread via pussy juice?

Very Aromatic Gift

COVID-19 hasn’t been detected in a inal fluids, , so your ussy juice by itself doesn’t constitute a threat. But the virus, which is usually transmitted through the air (by people with the virus coughing, sneezing, or even exhaling), can survive for hours or days on different kinds of surfaces, including clothes. The virus can live for up to 24 hours on card oard, , which mean it’s the package, not the panties, that are potentially a danger here. If the last person who handled your care package — think the UPS guy who dropped it on his porch — had COVID-19, your boyfriend could wind up exposing himself by touching the box and then his face before washing his hands. But I think you should send him that package — but wear gloves while you pack it, don’t send it overnight (your scent will keep for a couple of days), and make sure your boyfriend immediately washes his hands after opening and discarding the package.

On the Lovecast, comedian Pete Dominick: www. savagelovecast.com mail@savagelove.net Follow Dan on Twitter @ FakeDanSavage www.savagelovecast.com

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APRIL 8-14, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

APRIL 8-14, 2020

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APRIL 8-14, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

BELEAF’S LIFE’S OILS

ST. LOUIS’S PREMIER CBD COMPANY & PRODUCT LINE Established in Missouri in 2016, BeLeaf Company has deep roots in the greater St. Louis area. BeLeaf’s commitment to superior hemp cultivation, quality, and education is what sets the company apart— and it’s why we’ve been an authority in the CBD space since the beginning. Now, with our award-winning CBD product line BeLeaf Life’s Oils, we’re more confident than ever that CBD can be a beneficial addition to any lifestyle. With the heightened level

of stress and anxiety many of us in the community are currently experiencing, there’s no better time to incorporate this antioxidant and neuroprotective compound into your self-care routine. Let us help you find the calm, focus, and relief you need from everyday life.

Learn More: www.beleaflifesoils.com Contact Us: (314) 209-0859 info@beleafco.com

THE GREEN DRAGON CBD

IS A ST. LOUIS, FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESS THAT RECENTLY OPENED ITS FLAGSHIP LOCATION IN CHESTERFIELD Did you know that your body already produces cannabinoids every day as part of a key system that runs throughout your body and helps to regulate almost every part of your body’s functions? CBD is one of many natural cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant, and is used to promote overall health and wellness, as well as to deal with many health challenges. Our company’s mission, and the physical store itself, was constructed with the intention of helping to educate both existing and brand new potential users on every aspect of CBD. The education center includes video, wall displays and printed material to help customers explore CBD and related topics. The inviting environment, much like a spa, is supported by knowledgeable and friendly associates. We are excited to have created an animal friendly establishment, where 5% of all pet product sales go to benefit Stray Rescue of St. Louis. When you are ready to buy CBD, you have the largest selection of top-quality, trusted brands and

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products anywhere. Select from many product categories to find the best method based upon personal preference:Jack CBD Oils & Tinctures, CBD Flower or Pre-Rolls, CBD Topicals, CBD Gummies, Edibles, Drinks, CBD for Pets, CBD Vaping…and more! In addition to the store resources, the online presence, at www.thegreendragoncbd.com has dozens of blog posts covering many topics of CBD usage, CBD myths, and unique testimonials from CBD users. You can also place orders online for delivery at-home. 15% off for all first time customers in-store, or go online for special web offerings!

The Green Dragon CBD www.thegreendragoncbd.com 14856 Clayton Rd Chesterfield, MO 63017 (636) 220-7278 Open Mon-Sat 8am-9pm, or Sun 9am-6pm

MARCH 25-31, 2020

RIVERFRONT TIMES

Riverfront Times, April 8, 2020

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