By Nicole Montesano • Staff Writer • 

Sheriff says he won’t enforce state mask mandates

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Comments

Rotwang

Good on him. I'd vote for him again.

madmacs

I suppose we can all decide which laws we want to follow in Yamhill County then. If you don't want to do your job go find another one.

Rotwang

Yes, we decide to follow the valid laws.

Russ

Rotwang, the validater.

Scotty

Rotwang: the woke thug

Rumpelstilzchen

Since enforcing mask mandates isn‘t within Sheriff Svenson‘s jurisdiction, talk is cheap. It‘s an easy way to score some points with the reality-challenged, while he probably counts on the good job he is otherwise doing keeping him in the good graces of the population at large.
Compared to some of the unconstitutional nonsense some of the more extreme “constitutional sheriffs” have been putting out, his letter is pretty fluffy and general.
It will be up to the voters to ultimately decide how much of a good example an elected public servant should be, and whether this kind of posturing is the way to a majority in the county.

Bill B

A sheriff's job is to enforce the law; that's it.

Robin

What does "Not enforcing the mask mandate" mean? I wouldn't expect we would call the police to enforce. But begs he question. When a business has a mask policy and a patron enters without a mask, refuse to wear one, refuses to leave, can the business call police for trespass? I see their posting the statement being nothing more the political posturing at best, at worst advocating for unhealthy actions.

Don Dix

Knowing there is a faction in society that cannot resist meddling, the Sheriff's Department would be swamped with mask-related calls. There are much more important issues that need the department's attention, wouldn't you say?

tagup

Robin, Business trespass should still be enforceable, but in most cases, it would likely be a city police matter rather then county....

MBert70

Noted for re-election!

Joel R

Well, if you're on the left and you're whining about the Sheriff not enforcing all laws, keep in mind that he and Matt Scales (as best I remember) have gone on record saying they won't enforce our nations immigration laws. So doesn't that kind of balance things out? They just kind of pick and choose I guess.

BeTheMatch

Sweet. I guess we can drive drunk/high, plow through stop signs, etc. Whatever we feel like disobeying is fine. It's open season!

bonnybedlam

Just remember that the consequence of not wearing a mask is that you're more likely to kill a more vulnerable person who also has to live in this world. If you ignore all the safety advisories and don't get sick, good job. But you'll never know if you seriously harmed someone else during an asymptomatic bout. Kill yourselves if you want, but only a true sociopath would choose to randomly strike down their friends and neighbors in the name of their own "freedom".

Homer

I wouldn't expect him to enforce the mask mandate because they have more pressing things to do. But he didn't need to come out and release a letter saying that he won't. This will just lead to more belligerent behavior amongst the peasants and continue to be divisive amongst the rest.

Robin

Tagup: there are a lot of businesses outside city limits and a small city like Lafayette contracts with the county for police service. I still question in practice will individual officers ignore trespass calls if triggered by a business mask policy.

Writeitdown

Thank you, sheriff, for your common sense. The governor has decided to criminalize the innocent and coddle the criminals. It's destroying society and the sheriffs understand this. They have limited energy, time, money and resources (and even less if the anti-police crowd have anything to do with it) so they need to focus on those who are actually a danger to society.

tagup

I missed the common sense part clause in the sheriffs oath of office....

Justanotherday

Very well said. He has my vote again.!!!!

rosebloomer

I thought he was term limited out and we wouldn't be voting for or against this Sheriff again. This sure seems like an election statement rather than law enforcement related information, maybe a BOC seat is in his future.

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