On Tuesday, we posted about how Lakefield City Council approved Constitutional and Business Friendly Community Resolution. From the Lakefield Standard:
The Lakefield City Council has taken a stand against Gov. Tim Walz’s stay-at-home order and temporary closure of bars, restaurants and other places of public accommodation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and has pledged to not direct any city resources to enforcing them.
The council on Monday passed a resolution affirming the city as a “constitutional and business-friendly community” on a 3-2 vote following a lengthy and sometimes heated discussion.
Could the notion be spreading? Martin County boards Jackson County on the west.
The Fairmont Sentinel's Jason Sorensen reports in Martin County leaders reject citizen’s plea:
Martin County commissioners on Tuesday heard and rejected a request by citizen Neal Meyer, who asked them to consider declaring Martin County a “Constitutional County.”
The board rejected such a declaration based on advice from the County Attorney.
Meyer presented the reasons behind his request.
“I’m asking you please to not put law enforcement in a position of issuing citations, fines or make arrests, and be made out to be bad guys because they’re not,” he said. “I’m asking for you to agree that there are non-essential workers here in Martin County who fear repercussions from law enforcement who can’t make their own decisions regarding their own health and safety. I’m asking you if you agree that churches in Martin County are non-essential and whose congregants can’t make their own decisions regarding their own health and safety.
“I’m asking you what happened in Martin County to our rights to due process, religious freedom, equal protection under the law, and rights to life, liberty and property? They’ve all been stripped. I’d ask you to trust your constituents, people who put you where you are, to take care of themselves and their families and seek their own medical attention and advice.
County Attorney Terry Viesselman weighed in.
“A lot of the issues are being debated across the country,” he said. “Ultimately, the board can make a public declaration on any of those issues if it wishes, but if what’s being requested is that the board make some sort of resolution or statement that [Gov. Tim Walz’s] order is unconstitutional and shouldn’t be followed, I’d advise against that.
“You as the board do not have any authority to tell law enforcement or any county officials not to enforce the governor’s order. The governor’s order is constitutional unless it was challenged in court and the court declares otherwise.
Read more about the debate in the Fairmont Sentinel.
Is this a movement? We checked the agenda for Tuesday's meeting and while the requested action was on the agenda, the text of the resolution was not.
UPDATE: If this Neal Meyer is the same man who publishes the Truman Tribune, then he posted about the resolution in a April 29 column, IT’S WELL PAST TIME TO PETITION OUR COMMISSIONERS TO DECLARE MARTIN COUNTY A CONSTITUTIONAL COUNTY:
Neal Meyer – Truman Tribune – In May of last year I reported to our readers the following: “It should be noted that legislatures in a plethora of states are pushing through unconstitutional legislation. In Minnesota there is drafted legislation for Red Flag laws (taking your guns without probable cause), forced vaccinations (stripping parental rights), mandatory K-12 sex education (again stripping parental rights) and a ban on conversion therapy speech (direct assault on the First Amendment).”
That was then and this is now. I should have petitioned our commissioners one year ago to declare Martin County a Constitutional county to protect us locally from the state’s overreach. That was my mistake and it will not happen again.
Governors all across the country are using an unknown viral threat to allow the theft and usurpation of our God-given Constitutional rights, telling people they are worthless and labeling them as “non-essential.” As I’ve stated before we are all essential and no one is going to tell me or my fellow Martin County residents they are “non-essential,” as far as I’m concerned. Living in this country with local, state and federal government entities the question is, “When laws are completely contradictory at these different levels, which level of government should I choose to follow?”
Currently, I am following the federal law in relation to these Draconian shutdowns. I still have my Constitutional rights and because all of these governors’ actions are completely antithetical to U.S. law, you have yours as well. You are essential, you can open your business and you can take the risk if you’re willing and able. Take whatever precautions you deem fit for yourself based on your own due diligence. If you are arrested or fined you can find a Constitutional lawyer and you can sue everyone involved in your harassment.
I wouldn’t want it to come down to that and we don’t have to make our dedicated police officers and sheriffs out to be bad people for following their city, county or state’s regulations. They’re in the same boat we’re all in. Many have taken an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and stick to it and many choose to follow localized laws and regulations that go against U.S. law. It has to bother law enforcement as well. Which level of government do I follow?
We must override the state’s overreach at the local level to have more government on the people’s side. Go to your city councils and have them declare your cities as Constitutional cities, go to your county’s commissioners and have them declare your county as a Constitutional county.
With much more information coming to light given the times we’re living in, it is becoming more and more clear that the corporate and governmental takeover of the country is a massive fail. Doctors and scientists all across the country are trying to sound the whistle, but corporate tech giants like Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are censoring, deleting, banning, flagging and labeling them as misinformation. Therefore you only get your dosage of information from “reliable” news sources like ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times and Washington Post. You can no longer find organic sources from the likes of Google and YouTube. You now get what you’re fed.
As I’ve stated before, our newspaper is not a cult with one set of ideas. Just a few weeks ago we printed an article in which one author felt the shutdowns are absolutely the best way to go and they are working and this coronavirus is very deadly, much more so than the regular flu. Directly attached to it was an article from an author who has said, “give me coronavirus or give me death,” and who has argued from the very beginning that these shutdowns will kill many more people than the virus. It is up to the reader, not Big Brother, to research for themselves and decide what is best for them and their family.
End the tyranny now before the next big something comes around in which you are locked down again and forced to take a mark to buy or sell.
We'll continue to search for a copy of the resolution itself. [End update]
UPDATE #2 May 7: Meyer and his wife Nikki own two newspapers in South Central Minnesota. From the Mapleton Messenger About Us section:
The Maple River Messenger serves the area encompassed by the Maple River School district and surrounding communities. It is the conglomeration of area papers, including: The Mapleton Messenger 1879, Mapleton Censor, Mapleton Enterprise 1884, Blue Earth County Enterprise, Amboy Herald, Good Thunder Herald, Mapleton Enterprise, Enterprise-Herald 1972, Mapleton Enterprise 1980, Country Times 1983. In the paper 1993 it gained the name bears today.
in 2015 the paper was purchased by Neal and Nikki Meyer, who also own the Truman Tribune. They make their home in Truman with their four young children. The family believes in the value of small businesses and seeks to support each of the area communities and businesses as much as possible.
Given the rough place many small town papers find themselves during the economic downturn, we hope the couple's businesses survive. [end update].
Is it good public health policy? As we noted in Lakefield City Council approved Constitutional and Business Friendly Community Resolution:
According to the Map of coronavirus cases in Minnesota: Latest COVID-19 numbers at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Jackson County has reported 24 cases of the novel coronavirus. To its west, Nobles County has 1011 reported cases and 1 death; to the north, Cottonwood County has reported 37 cases, and to the east, Martin County has reported 108 cases and 4 deaths.
To the south, Jackson County is on the border with Iowa's Dickinson County. According to data at the Iowa coronavirus map, there were 6 cases in Dickinson County as of May 3.
The Sentinel reports in Martin Co. officials: Virus ‘peak’ not here yet:
Martin County commissioners received an update Tuesday on COVID-19 cases in the county.
They heard from Emergency Management director Abigail Nesbit, along with Chera Sevcik, executive director of Health and Human Services of Faribault and Martin Counties.
As of Tuesday, Martin County stands at 108 positive cases, down from 111 on Thursday, something Sevcik explained.
“It’s because some people’s addresses were listed for Martin County, which is why they were credited to Martin County,” she said. “Then it was discovered that they had moved and they don’t live here, but they still work here.”
“For Minnesota, we are at a 58 percent recovery rate, which is the highest that we’ve been at so far,” Nesbit noted. “Between Sunday and Monday, 1,200 people recovered and no longer need to be isolated, and that’s been our biggest jump throughout the state. Once the stay-at-home order ends, our numbers are going to jump up again throughout the entire state.”
Sevcik then shared information regarding the outbreak at Fairmont Foods.
“We had a substantial number of positive results from that plant,” she said. “They have been doing a fantastic job of coordinating with local Public Health in ensuring that they have prevention measures in place to help prevent any further outbreaks.
“They are now requiring masks for all of their employees and they have put up physical barriers on the factory line so people have a separation if they can’t maintain a 6-foot distance. They’re doing a very enhanced screening process for everyone who walks in the door. So if anybody is found to have elevated temperature, exhibit signs and symptoms, or becomes ill during the course of their shift, they are sent home for proper testing.
“They did institute having all of their employees tested before they could come back to work. The Minnesota Department of Health wasn’t exactly keen on that process because their standpoint was they weren’t sure what to do with people who were asymptomatic but positive for a COVID-19 test.”
Sevcik also said Public Health and Human Services are working on outreach to make sure Spanish-speaking communities understand the guidelines for isolation in quarantine.
Regarding the ongoing effects of the virus, she did not offer a hopeful outlook.
“I will say that we are nowhere near the end of this,” she said. “We’re looking at a few years, and until a vaccine is available things are going to be substantially changed. We have not nearly reached the peak at this time.”
While that might have been the report the commissioners heard from Emergency Management director Abigail Nesbit, along with Chera Sevcik, executive director of Health and Human Services of Faribault and Martin Counties, it's clear from the other report on the board meeting that the commissioners were inclined to agree with Meyers.
Sorensen reports in Martin County leaders reject citizen’s plea:
I agree with him (Meyer),” said Commissioner Richard Koons. “Sometimes it’s not about making a law, but making a statement.”
“When we took this office, we all swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States, so obviously we agree with whatever’s in it right now,” said Commissioner Steve Flohrs. “I agree with Terry; I don’t think there’s anything we can do lawfully.”
Commissioner Kathy Smith sai[d] she agreed with Flohrs.
We'll continue to watch for this sort of thing in COVID-19 stricken southwestern Minnesota.
Graph: Minnesota Public Radio's David Montgomery graphed out COVID-19 cases per capita by county on May 4
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