Kentucky police record license plates of churchgoers at Easter service

Despite governor’s orders to postpone or cancel in-person mass gatherings in the state of Kentucky, Maryville Baptist Church hosted Easter services inside their church Sunday morning.

Bullitt County health officials had continued to urge Maryville Baptist Church to prevent spread of the novel coronavirus.

Their efforts had been unsuccessful, and on Sunday morning, cars were lined up in the parking lot to celebrate Easter in-person at the church.

Maryville Baptist Reverend Jack Roberts said to WAVE 3 News last Sunday that the governor’s orders were illegal, questioning why churches weren’t considered essential.

With services continuing on as scheduled for Maryville, Kentucky State Police troopers were on hand to write down license plate numbers of the churchgoers inside, placing notices on vehicles to self-quarantine.

WAVE 3 News reporter Jerrica Valtierra was told by some churchgoers that they were there as a symbol of protest against the “governor’s infringement of constitutional rights.”

Valtierra was told by some churchgoers that they would not follow these quarantine guidelines.

“It goes against my first and second constitutional rights, then I’m not abiding by that. At the same time I am going to practice social discussing as they have already suggested,” Bevelyn Beatty, a churchgoer visiting from New Jersey, said. “We have been backwards following rules and they’re not gonna make me stay at my house for 14 days.”

Beatty told WAVE 3 News that she and a friend were there from New Jersey after planning to go to Tennessee on Monday.

On Friday, Governor Beshear announced that police would be recording the license plate numbers and reporting them to the health department. This would be used for contact tracing in the case that anyone became infected with COVID-19.