Breaking: Post Falls Votes Down Mask Mandate
By Greg Pruett • November 9, 2020Just a few days ago, Governor Gary Herbert (Republican – Utah) declared that the state was issuing a statewide mask mandate.
A number of health officials in Idaho are pushing Governor Brad Little to do the same. Mask mandates have been implemented in some parts of Idaho but not the state as a whole.
Some Idahoans want a mask mandate and others do not. Scroll through social media and you will see the debate continues on both sides.
Local governments in Idaho are also continuing the discussion and making decisions for their local communities.
Earlier today, the Post Falls City Council voted down a mask mandate.
The Panhandle Health District, which Post Falls is a part of, was under a mandate previously. However, that mandate was lifted several weeks ago.
Since then, Coeur d’Alene has passed its own mask mandate.
The city of Post Falls took up the issue Monday morning with a number of health officials telling the city council that hospitals were being overwhelmed.
After nearly an hour of discussion on the issue of a mask mandate, only two city councilmembers ended up voting in favor of the mandate.
One of those city councilmembers was Steve Anthony. Here is what he said during the meeting on the issue of a mask mandate:
If we can save one person, one person by wearing a mask, it’s worth it.
But not all city councilmembers agreed with Anthony. Four city councilmembers voted against the mask mandate.
One of the city councilmembers that voted against the mask mandate was Lynn Borders. Borders said he was in favor of recommending masks but had concerns with a mandate.
Here is what Borders said during the meeting,
If we mandate it, it leaves less opportunity for discretion. My opinion is, I’d be in favor of a recommendation to wear a mask, but not necessarily an ordinance.
In the end, the two city councilmembers voting for the mandate were Steve Anthony and Alan Wolfe.
The four city councilmembers voting against the mandate were City Council President Linda Wilhelm, Lynn Borders, Joe Malloy, and Kerri Thoreson.
Mayor Ron Jacobson told the council that if there were a tie he would vote in favor of a mask mandate. However, not enough councilmembers were in favor of a mask mandate for Jacobson to be able to break a tie.
What do you think of mask mandates?
Are you in favor of them or opposed? Let us know in the comments below.
Tags: Alan Wolfe, Joe Malloy, Kerri Thoreson, Linda Wilhelm, Lynn Borders, Panhandle Health District, Post Falls, Ron Jacobson, Steve Anthony
12 thoughts on “Breaking: Post Falls Votes Down Mask Mandate”
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Until some health official can provide verifiable proof that masks do anything to stop the spread of Covid 19 or save a life, wearing masks should be left up to individuals to decide what is in their best health interest.
Thank you, Post Falls!
Adams County has put an end to COVID crap, in their county; as I understand it.
By now, any official pushing this COVID crap is either a complete science denier or corrupt to the core.
This has been nothing but Bio Terrorism for profit. It caries a lifetime prison sentence. And to restore any faith in government, officials need to go to prison. Because of Mt St Helens 1980 eruption, Washington legislators gave total emergency powers to their Governor. They never anticipated a governor like Inslee. Think hard, out of state arrivals, before you look to the government for anything. Power needs to reside with the people.
The proper role of govt is not oppressing the people and forcing them to comply with their opinions. People need to quite asking the govt to do everything; if a person feels strongly about masks or some other idea, they should get out their and try to sway opinion rather than using the force of law against others. Viva Liberty!
Absolutely opposed anywhere in the state…
“If we can save one person, one person by wearing a mask, it’s worth it.”
Seriously? Our Freedom to decide our own destiny trumps the “state’s” tyranny.
feel free to stay home, but leave my freedom alone.
Thank you Post Falls and now I know who won’t get my vote in the future
Awesome! Masks do nothing, 1918 proved it, so has the past 8 months. All one needs to do is look at the WHO site or the CDC. Or Worldometer. Covid19 deaths are dwarfed by what the lockdowns are doing. That is actually something that is easily proven by the numbers. Also? The mask ‘mandates’ are illegal and unconstitutional, and those enforcing them can risk their own careers and even a jail sentence. So bravo, this was a great decision all around.
“a number of health officials telling the city council that hospitals were being overwhelmed”
I am amazed at how lazy WE are in the face of everything happening.
If someone cared and wanted to actually know what they were talking about it would take 3 mouse clicks, probably 2 too many for most. I put in “Covid Idaho” and appear at Idaho H&W. I click on “View the Covid-19 Data Dashboard” and then click on the only important information that is pertinent “Emergency Department Visits.” Mousing over the “Admitted to the hospital with Covid-19 symptoms” I find that Nov 9 ZERO ADMITTED STATEWIDE,
Nov 8 ZERO, Nov 7 ZERO, Nov 6 1, Nov 5 ZERO, ETC. Following the numbers back we can see dates for masks/ no masks haven’t changed anything magically. These are their statewide numbers on the official site that everyone who lost a business, wants their children in school, wants to work or get a job should know. Every mom at that Canyon County school board meeting should have known these numbers. How about our Governor, senators, congressmen, city council members, mayors? How about your friends or better yet you? I’ve been watching these numbers for 8 months and I have never seen or heard anyone bring these up. What’s really scary is if you pass the 3 click limit and hit “Notes” one could find that ANY cough, fever or trouble breathing is automatically labeled Covid-19 symptoms. I’ve been using a lot of quotes so I’ll leave a couple more. Take them as you will.
“When you point a finger at the moon to indicate the moon, instead of looking at the moon, the stupid ones look at your finger.”
– Mao Zedong
” If…if…We didn’t love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation…. We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
– Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
I believe that the Pandemic phase of COVID-19 is over and we have an endemic, just like a bad (possibly very bad) case of the flu. The virus is in the general population and its too late to try to contain it with things like lockdowns and masks.
If someone is high risk, then they should take all the precautions they feel necessary, but realistically, the COVID-19 precautions are no longer useful for the general population and getting us back to regular function will do more good for more people and even save the lives of those that need emergency medical care and are afraid to go to the hospitals.
Thank you Post Falls! 30 yrs in healthcare=30 yrs of PPE training, cloth masks do NOTHING! If you think they do, go out tonight and talk, sing or scream, if you see your breath and you will, it’s not doing what they are trying to convince you of! Kootenia hospital has not been overloaded, if they sent a pt or two to Seattle or Portland, it’s because the pt is beyond their scope of care, NOT because the hospital is full of COVID pts like the Libs would like you to believe!!! Again thanks to those that voted this down!
I really appreciate Councilmember Lynn Borders’s view: “If we mandate it, it leaves less opportunity for discretion. My opinion is, I’d be in favor of a recommendation to wear a mask, but not necessarily an ordinance.”
More lawmakers and politicians should keep in mind this kind of respect for the dignity of citizens.
There is absolutely no evidence that wearing a mask, any mask, protects one from a virus, which is different from bacteria. There is scientific evidence that mask wearing stresses the muscles around the lungs and also you are rebreathing co2. Mask wearing is about government controlling the people through a state of fear condition.