It's the case gaining attention across the state.The city of Lincoln is taking a local business to court for refusing to follow its mask mandate.Strangers outside of the Lancaster County Courthouse wished Ben Madsen, the general manager of Madsen's Bowling and Billiard Center, good luck on Wednesday.Inside the courtroom, which the public could watch online, attorneys for Lincoln said the business gave them no choice. Chief Assistant City Attorney Chris Connolly said Madsen's violated several directed health measures, including staff not wearing masks, no social distancing and signs saying masks were optional.Madsen's also refused an order to shut down for 24 hours. "It's sort of a finger in the eye to the city, we're not going to pay attention to these rules," Connolly said.The city asked the judge to close the business until Madsen's comes up with a court-approved plan to comply."The protection of the community has to be paramount," Connolly said.Madsen's attorney, JL Spray, argued the legality of the order and selective enforcement by the city.He also challenged the authority of interim Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Director Pat Lopez, whom he said hasn't been approved by City Council or County Board."These orders they seek to enforce, including the DHM, are invalid because the person issuing them is invalid," Spray said.Lancaster County District Court Judge John Colborn asked why the city didn't use the powers it already has."Couldn't you one, close the business either through using the police or sheriff, and two, couldn't you restrict patrons?" Colborn said."We chose not to do that. We did not want have that kind of a circus," Connolly responded.The judge took the matter under advisement.Outside the courtroom, Spray said he feels the reason the city didn't take legal action is because a criminal standard of proof is higher than civil standard."And I guess there is some serious concern they can't do that," Spray said.He said he feels optimistic."It's just a matter of fairness, due process of following the rules. And it just hasn't been done by the city at all," Spray said.Madsen has set up a legal defense fund through Venmo.He said support has been overwhelming positive."We've got a lot of people stop in to say they support us, give us monetary donations, encouragement. They definitely have been very instrumental in getting us to this point," Madsen said.