Martin County can be a strange place for the uninitiated. Even for those of us who have been here for a while need to put on our “Martin thinking caps” before seeing things in the special light endemic only to this county.
Take masks for instance. Local governments like the fact that the governor has relieved them of having to decide whether to have mandates or not. There need be no angry public comment about how masks suck the oxygen from your system or hurt your eyesight. Most local government members would probably like it better if the governor had a statewide mask mandate. But taking the decision out of their hands is the next best thing.
No local government board in Martin County is going to buck a Republican governor. It would be suicidal. There is no percentage in doing that.
I am in favor of masks being worn by everyone who steps into a school building. It makes scientific sense to me. I will now probably see 20 comments telling me that masks are wrong and even the work of Satan. If I keep my Martin hat on, it doesn’t bother me and, frighteningly, I understand that point of view.
School Board Member Victoria Defenthaler, the subject of a recent Stuart News column, was born in New York (as was I) so I understand where she is coming from. She wants to have the medical experts explaining things to her is natural. Yet what is the point since other board members believe they are powerless to issue a compulsory mask order without bucking the governor’s prohibition recently upheld by an appeals court. All it will do is make hundreds of people come out and threaten the school board for even considering doing such a thing.
The governor has signed an order prohibiting local boards from issuing mask mandates. Like Caesar crossing the Rubicon in defiance of the Roman Senate, going further could result in becoming a test of political purity. It does not matter what side of the river you are on…most people just want to live in peace with their neighbors.
Information can lead to conflict. The Martin County School Board (and every other local government entity) feels they have enough to deal with without asking to be placed in a no-win situation.
How many people in Martin County do not believe in the lethalness of Covid? The naysayers do not believe that vaccines are effective or that masks are needed. You can cite the statistics regarding hospitalizations for the unvaccinated until you are blue in the face. The non-believers come back with some strange theory about guns being taken away next after imposition of masks.
The individual beliefs of people in both camps must be respected. Those of us that are vaccinated and a bit careful should pull through alright. The others need to fend for themselves. Unfortunately, kids under 12 are not eligible to be vaccinated so they are the ones being sacrificed to the political gods.