Against masks at sports

Editor,

The ongoing restrictions regarding indoor attendance numbers mandated by Governor Gordon, on the advice of Dr. Alexia Harrist-WY State Health Officer, obviously affects state-wide public school sporting events. These mandates are adopted by the Wyoming High School Activities Association which, in turn, local school districts are required to abide by if they want to participate in sports.

The correlation between unlawful mandates–meaning they were never legislated by a governing body elected by the people–and using our youth to make us all obey, is what is deeply disturbing. A recent news article in the Saratoga Sun regarding upcoming District #2 fall sporting events proves my point. The restrictions are mandated by Dr. Harrist, WHSAA and Carbon County Public Health Officer, Dr. Wayne Couch.

1. Attendees must be on a list/or possess a ticket, prior to attending

2. If you are not on the list/possess a ticket, you are denied entry to that event

3. If you do not obey mask wearing rules-you will subsequently be banned from attending

A quote in the very last paragraph by Saratoga Middle High School Principal Mr. Johnson, is most revealing; ”It’s to protect our kids getting to play.” From the state to the county and local schools, our children are being used as pawns.

This begs the question; who is going to enforce this? Principals? Athletic Directors? Local police? These people are appointed, not elected, by the people. Our elected school board has their hands tied by the Carbon County Public Health Officer-Dr. Couch, an appointed official.

In a District court decision in Big Horn County, the judge ruled “Wyoming is a sovereign state and the duly elected sheriff of a county is the highest law enforcement official within a county and has law enforcement powers exceeding that of any other state or federal official.” Elected officials take an oath to uphold the Constitution. Do appointed officials have the authority to enforce mandates that are not legislated by law? The simple answer is, No.

To quote Adolf Hitler, one of the most vile human beings in history–”He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future”. When our youth are being used as pawns to make the public obey non legislated mandates, it is a short trip to Orwellian societal conditions, described–“as being destructive to the welfare of a free and open society”.

Signed,

Tammy Barkhurst

Saratoga, Wyoming