Underneath masking

Allen D. Fisher REPORTER

Masks are required by state and county mandated law.

Although it may be required by state of an emergency mandate due to coronavirus pandemic, you’d be hard pressed to find someone to enforce that law in Bosque County.

“I agree with wearing a mask as a courtesy, but I do not agree with the enforcement of it.” said Clifton Police Chief Trace Hendricks.

“The mandate says we can not detain or arrest. When you have someone before you and writing them a ticket, that’s legally defined in the penal code as a detainment. I’m sure they’re going to work it out, but right now, masks aren’t a big issue.” Bosque County Sheriff’s Office,

Bosque County Sheriff’s Office, Meridian Police Department and Clifton Police Department have said they will not be issuing citations to people refusing to wear a mask.

“We look at what the majority of the county approves of or not,” said Bosque County Sheriff Chief Deputy Clint Pullin on Monday.

“For example, I know wearing a seatbelt is law, but if they don’t want to, they’re not going to do it, If they want to protect themselves and others they can do so. If they don’t really care and don’t want to protect themselves, they’re grown adults and don’t have to, I guess. We’re not trying to make any waves or any problems that may create civil unrest. Pullin also said there is more than enough going on without having to worry about writing people tickets for not wearing a mask.

The three departments did make it clear that if a private business called upon them with a complaint about someone not wearing a mask, they would remove the individual from the business. going to come in and handle it,” said Meridian Police Chief Will Stevens.

“We’ll ask them to leave and if they refuse, well that criminal trespassing. But as far as going around and ticketing people, no sir we’re not doing that.”

Violations

It’s been almost two weeks since businesses, especially at public official meetings.

It took less than two weeks for all of those laws to be violated in Bosque County.

“I feel that everyone should follow what the law requires,” said Meridian Mayor Johnnie

Hauerland, who wore a mask at Monday’s Council meeting, but next him sat three council members who didn’t.

“I would not be in favor of issuing a citation to someone who refuses to do so. However, I would be in favor of not allowing someone to enter a public building that refuses to wear a mask. Enforcing that law is a little bit of tricky situation as you saw tonight.”

Members of the Meridian Council aren’t the only ones ignoring the masks laws. A Meridian mini mart,

A Meridian mini mart, located in the 300 block of East Morgan St., doesn’t require its employees to wear masks. Management there didn’t want comment in the newspaper, but only said it was about choice.

That sentiment was echoed by Rattlesnake Ballroom bar owner Laura Bush, who has joined a class action lawsuit by the Texas Bar and Nightclub Alliance against the state for making them close down.

“There was a bartender I know that killed herself after the second shutdown was announced. She barely made it through the first shut down and was afraid she wouldn’t make it through the second,” said Bush.

The Rattlesnake Ballroom was shutdown by Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) the same Friday the Governor’s orders were issued. The bar has been closed, but Bush retains her license.

“We were given three hours notice and there was not time to come up with some kind of game plane,” Bush said.

“We took our chance June 26 and were shut down by TABC that night because some one called and turned me in. The agents handed me a copy of the governors orders and said I had to shut down.”

Bush plans to hold a liberty protest Saturday outside the Rattlesnake Ballroom in Walnut Springs and she plans to sell food the help raise funds for her now, struggling business. She says all political sides are welcome.

“All food will be design for to-go and we’ll have a bike and car wash as well. That’s all I’m allowed to do, but the bills keep coming,” “I’m struggling now to make

“I’m struggling now to make August’s bills because I haven’t asked for any government assistance because I haven’t needed it. I planned well and was prepared when something when wrong. I lost a lot of money on supplies purchased the day before the governor issued the order. I lost a lot of money cause I had already bought food for the event.”

The lawsuit is planned to be heard July 22. Mask handout

Bosque County Emergency Management Chris Anderson and CERTS team have been handing out masks for weeks to anyone that lives in Bosque County.

Making stops around the county communities, he and his CERTS team have handed out almost 50,000 make to residents and the middle of the Texas summer.

“It maybe hot, but it for a good cause,” Anderson said. “We’ve had some great positive feedback, but we’ve had some bad too. I got tired of deleting facebook comments.”

Mask debate

The debate on to wear or not to wear a mask has become a political ball thrown around between parties struggling for supremacy in this year’s election.

For that reason alone, the science behind mask wearing has been thrown to the side.

The AARP and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) strongly suggests wearing masks because research shows the primary way the coronavirus spreads is from person to person by respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks. Face masks, however, can block these droplets.

A new simulation from researchers at Florida Atlantic University illustrates just how effective face coverings can be in reducing the number of droplets that are dispersed into the air and the distance they travel. Without a mask, droplets

Without a mask, droplets traveled more than 8 feet. A bandanna cut the distance to 3 feet, 7 inches, and a folded cotton handkerchief reduced that distance even more, to 1 foot, 3 inches, the researchers note.

According to AARP, it used to be that masks were recommended only for people who knew they had COVID-19, as a way to protect others around them. When it became apparent, however, that the virus can be transmitted by people before they start showing symptoms (presymptomatic) and by people who never develop symptoms (asymptomatic), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) broadened its guidelines, urging everyone to wear a cloth face covering in public.

Some studies, including a paper recently published in the journal Nature, have found that over 40 percent of people with coronavirus infections never develop symptoms of COVID-19. This makes it extremely difficult to detect who is a potential transmitter of virus.

Masks could offer an economic boon, as well. A report released by investment firm Goldman Sachs found that a national face mask mandate could serve as a substitute for lockdowns “that would otherwise subtract nearly 5 percent from GDP [gross domestic product].”

A good example for masks working would be to across the ocean to Japan and Scandinavian countries that required masks for their population at the start of their outbreaks in March and April, the same time that it reached the US. Those same countries have now gone several weeks without any positive cases and has even gone so far as to open back up sports stadiums.

When local law enforcement were asked if there was a point that coronavirus numbers would get so bad that it would require them to start writing tickets for not wearing masks in public, all agreed there would be. But none of them could or would specify where that line would be.

Clifton Mayor or Clifton city officials could not be reached for comment by press time Tuesday.