“If it gets bad enough, and our rights are infringed upon enough, we can physically stand in defense in whatever way we need to,” Mr. Bundy told the meeting. “But we hope we don’t have to get there.”
In a state with pockets of deep wariness about both big government and mainstream medicine, the sweeping restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the virus have run into outright rebellion in some parts of Idaho, which is facing its own worrying spike in coronavirus cases.
The opposition is coming not only from people like Mr. Bundy, whose armed takeover of the Oregon refuge with dozens of other men and women in 2016 led to a 41-day standoff, but also from some state lawmakers and a county sheriff who are calling the governor’s statewide stay-at-home order an infringement on individual liberties.
Health care providers and others have been horrified at the public calls to countermand social-distancing requirements, warning that failing to take firm measures could overwhelm Idaho’s small hospitals and put large numbers of people at risk of dying.
“There are a lot of people that listen to those voices around here,” said Dr. Hans Hurt, an emergency doctor at Bonner General Health, a medical center in the town of Sandpoint, 45 miles north of Coeur d’Alene. “Even if it’s just a small group that wants to exercise their right to assemble, it puts the community at large at such a high risk.”
Many of the latest claims about the Constitution have come from Idaho’s northern panhandle, where vaccination rates for other diseases have always been low and where wariness of government is high.
State Representative Heather Scott, a Republican from Blanchard, northwest of Coeur d’Alene, is encouraging her constituents to push back on the statewide stay-at-home order, saying people have “a God-given constitutionally protected right to peacefully assemble.”
Tim Remington, a Coeur d’Alene pastor who was appointed to the State House of Representatives in January, led a church service on March 29, four days after the stay-at-home order went into effect, that was open to the public.
And in Bonner County, Sheriff Daryl Wheeler posted an open letter saying that the public had been “misled” by public health officials’ dire predictions and called on the governor to convene an emergency session of the Legislature to debate his stay-at-home order.
“In the spirit of liberty and the Constitution, you can request those that are sick to stay home,” Sheriff Wheeler wrote. “But, at the same time, you must release the rest of us to go on with our normal business.”
“If it gets bad enough, and our rights are infringed upon enough, we can physically stand in defense in whatever way we need to,” Mr. Bundy told the meeting. “But we hope we don’t have to get there.”
In a state with pockets of deep wariness about both big government and mainstream medicine, the sweeping restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the virus have run into outright rebellion in some parts of Idaho, which is facing its own worrying spike in coronavirus cases.
The opposition is coming not only from people like Mr. Bundy, whose armed takeover of the Oregon refuge with dozens of other men and women in 2016 led to a 41-day standoff, but also from some state lawmakers and a county sheriff who are calling the governor’s statewide stay-at-home order an infringement on individual liberties.
Health care providers and others have been horrified at the public calls to countermand social-distancing requirements, warning that failing to take firm measures could overwhelm Idaho’s small hospitals and put large numbers of people at risk of dying.
“There are a lot of people that listen to those voices around here,” said Dr. Hans Hurt, an emergency doctor at Bonner General Health, a medical center in the town of Sandpoint, 45 miles north of Coeur d’Alene. “Even if it’s just a small group that wants to exercise their right to assemble, it puts the community at large at such a high risk.”
Many of the latest claims about the Constitution have come from Idaho’s northern panhandle, where vaccination rates for other diseases have always been low and where wariness of government is high.
State Representative Heather Scott, a Republican from Blanchard, northwest of Coeur d’Alene, is encouraging her constituents to push back on the statewide stay-at-home order, saying people have “a God-given constitutionally protected right to peacefully assemble.”
Tim Remington, a Coeur d’Alene pastor who was appointed to the State House of Representatives in January, led a church service on March 29, four days after the stay-at-home order went into effect, that was open to the public.
And in Bonner County, Sheriff Daryl Wheeler posted an open letter saying that the public had been “misled” by public health officials’ dire predictions and called on the governor to convene an emergency session of the Legislature to debate his stay-at-home order.
“In the spirit of liberty and the Constitution, you can request those that are sick to stay home,” Sheriff Wheeler wrote. “But, at the same time, you must release the rest of us to go on with our normal business.”
MORE AT:
New York Times
A ‘Liberty’ Rebellion in Idaho Threatens to Undermine Coronavirus Orders
Even some public officials have challenged social-distancing requirements, calling them assaults on the Constitution. One group wants to gather up to 1,000 people for Easter.
'Carolyn 'Bunny' Welsh
Sheriff, Chester County'
FROM;
REPUBLICAN PARTY OF PENNSYLVANIA
September 10,2016
"When Trump held his rally at West Chester University on April 25, Welsh greeted him in person and had her photo taken with him. She said she helped escort him before and after he delivered his speech.
Welsh has been involved with other campaigns in the past. In November of last year, Welsh attended a private fundraiser for Dr. Ben Carson, a former Republican presidential contender, in Berwyn."
FROM:
Chester County GOP warming up to Trump
By Adam Farence, Daily Local News
POSTED: 05/18/16, 6:22 PM EDT | UPDATED: ON 05/18/2016
A radical and growing organization of ‘constitutional sheriffs’ is promoting defiance of federal laws it doesn’t like.
CHESTER COUNTY SHERIFF WALSH IS A LEADERSHIP MEMBER OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL SHERIFFS AND PEACE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION-CSPOA
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