LLANO COUNTY (KXAN) — “It plays on a loop in my head. And if God needs me to take what I witnessed and use it to prevent another family from having to go through something similar, that’s my mission.”
Benjamin Beaty takes the memory of his wife, Laura, and how she died, with him wherever he goes. Not just in spirit, but also proudly on display in the cover of his work binder.
“I take my wife’s picture everywhere I go. She gives me the mission and I’m out here enforcing that mission,” he says as he presses the binder to his heart, the image of he and his wife shining out from better days, before she died of a respiratory illness in January of 2019.
The binder holds all the county information he’s been distributing to all businesses still open in Llano County. He’s trying to educate the public on the safety regulations now required by state and county officials in the ever changing landscape of COVID-19.
“We are here for a partnership with our businesses. We are here for information and education, to hopefully gain compliance, with the ultimate goal of having a healthy citizenry and an informed citizenry of Llano County. We’re not here to issue citations. We’re not here for legal repercussions. We want to be your partner. We want to inform you. We want to educate you. I want to assist you in anyway possible, so that you keep the healthy citizenry of Llano functioning.”
Benjamin Beaty, Llano County’s COVID-19 Education and Enforcement Task Force
Beaty is an investigator for the Llano County Attorneys Office, but as of this week he also heads up the county’s new COVID-19 Education and Enforcement Task Force. Each day he and Llano County Sheriff’s Deputy Kyle Cox call, email or visit county businesses to spread as much information as they can, offering their help to businesses in making themselves compliant to new guidelines.
These are some of the fliers Beaty and Cox pass out:
Sometimes it can start off a little awkward.
“What’s been the reaction so far? To be honest with you, businesses right now are fearful of what the future looks like. Most of the time when we walk in the door with a badge and gun, they are standoffish. I quickly tell them that we’re there for assistance, for education, we are there to partner with them and I can break down those barriers. The reaction after that has been very positive.”
Miiller’s Meat Market and Smokehouse was one of the businesses they visited. Turns out, owners Brian and Lisa Miiller have been proactive in staying healthy while shopping.
“One of the biggest things we’ve done is offer curbside service,” Brian says. “The customers can call in and pay for the orders and then we do the shopping.”
Not only is Miiller’s a famed purveyor of tasty smoked protein but it also now doubles as a grocery store.
“We take it out to their vehicle and they never have to get out of their vehicle. That limits the foot traffic inside the store. Customers themselves have been very aware — even if they’re visiting with their friends — to make sure to keep a respectable distance. Of course we’re doing the normal things: sanitizing door handles, sanitizing grocery carts, sanitizing everything we can,” Brian says. “Washing hands. Hand-washing is just something that needs to be done anyway, especially in this situation. All the employees wash their hands repeatedly through the day.”
They even have X’s of blue tape that mark exactly where folks should wait in line to check out – six feet apart.
Lisa Miiller admits that it’s not always easy.
“Because we are all working so hard and fast, we try to keep social distancing between the workers also. But that’s a real challenge because everybody is working so fast and furiously to get a lot of the curbside out,” she says.
Many of those employees also wore face masks as they served the in-store customers who decided to brave the light of day and stretch their legs a bit.
“I think everyone is tired of being in their houses,” says Brian. “So a trip to the store to get some food is the outing for the day. Just being able to see other people has been good. But you really notice the distancing. People really make an effort to stay away — even from their friends that they know. They visit in the store but they keep their 6-foot distance between them.”
But Llano residents aren’t the only people raiding the aisles these days.
“We’ve been very busy. We’re not rocked to sleep at night,” Lisa Miiller laughs.
Brian chuckles in agreement: “We’ve had a lot of people from other communities driving over to stock up their freezers and buy groceries, everything.”
Not just nearby towns either. Turns out the big cities are invading and raiding the small town stores.
“San Antonio, Dallas/Fort Worth. Just having trouble finding the meat, vegetables and groceries that they need so they come down and stock up and go back home. From that standpoint, we’ve been very busy in the retail,” says Brian.
Beaty has been thoroughly impressed with most of the businesses he’s visited thus far.
“Most of the businesses that we walk into are already taking the steps. They have signs for social distancing posting on the front door. That’s step number one. But I’ve been so pleased by the reaction on the business part that they did on their own,” Beaty said.
Another one of those businesses is Bay Pharmacy in Horseshoe Bay. As a pharmacist, owner Jason Pool has already implemented most of the regulations.
“Last week when this really hit hard, I knew that we need to put a sign in the window warning people not to come in. Direct contact seems to be the best way to get this virus. So we put a sign in the window asking people to utilize our drive-through,” Pool says as a gloved staff member greets the newest customer driving up.
“One of our new realities and one of my biggest fears is that if I get this virus – or any of our staff – we will all have to go into quarantine and shut our business down. So as a small business owner that’s definitely probably our biggest concern we have…for these guys to offer this initiative, and come in to make sure that businesses are staying safe, is a big deal for our entire community so we appreciate them very much.”
For Beaty, the mission is all encapsulated in the picture of his wife, forever at his side.
“Initiatives like ours make a difference. If people take an ounce of prevention now, it will matter for certain families later. I’m the poster child for that. I know the damage that it does. If I can prevent a family from having to go through that, I’m gonna do everything in my power to make sure that they don’t have to suffer. An ounce of prevention really matters. Let’s take the opportunity now, so that we can make a difference later.”
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