Editor’s note: “Ruh-roh! Mayor Widmyer!” as Scooby Doo would exclaim, repeating his famous line. “Watch out for an out-of-town posse!”
Mayor Steve Widmyer told KHQ in a statement on Friday, July 10, that mask use is a matter of personal responsibility and he would not vote to mandate them.
Widmyer’s full statement is as follows:
“I strongly encourage the wearing of a mask when social distancing is not possible. I believe it’s the right thing to do to keep yourself and others safe. Personally I wear a mask when social distancing is not possible. Controlling this virus is a partnership between government and the citizens. The government helps provide testing , health care , and all the health care guidelines. The citizens need to take those guidelines and act accordingly. It’s being personally responsible. It’s caring for your fellow citizens. I will continue to strongly encourage personal responsibility. That being said , I would not vote to mandate masks.”
Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report 
I just heard an interview this morning with Dr Irwin Redlener (who is he?), who claims that there is a “pandemic wildfire” in the US and that we are on track to have somewhere between 800,000 and over a million deaths from COVID-19 by the end of the year. With our current incompetent president, this seems entirely plausible.
Since the pandemic has been tamed elsewhere primarily by means of masks, distancing and contact tracing, the idea of a mandate seems entirely sensible to me, not especially radical.
A friend told us an anecdote the other day, about a Londoner during the Blitz who complained that being told to turn off his lights during the blackout was an infringement of his freedom, an assault on his right to make his own responsible decision.
No doubt in Nevada County today he’d be an anti-masker.
I guess it’s not enough to persuade people with arguments such as “right thing to do,” “keep yourself safe and others too,” “caring for you fellow citizens,” “personal responsibility,” and a “partnership.” Instead, we have to order them.
Another mayor with a bad case of Donald “DF” Flu. That’s the flu that does indeed come from an Asian country, mythological in nature, near the border with Russia, that ends in “stan.”
Doug,
For whatever it’s worth, the mayor is a moderate. He belongs to a group — Balance North Idaho — that is trying to push out the hard-line conservatives. https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/nov/06/coeur-dalene-moderates-victorious-in-election/
As you probably know, we seem to have a shortage of moderates in our community. It’s either one way — or the other.