HEARING: Removed woman speaks out

I am the woman jerked out of the Panhandle Health Board meeting on mandating masks by a macho deputy. I am not an imported or paid protester. What I am is a retired R.N. who moved here 43 years ago. Anyone can stream YouTube PHD mask mandate and see what happened for themselves.

Shari Williams and I were near the front of the line. Unmasked people yelled in our faces. From overheard conversations, I realized that many of these people were from a church.

While we waited, a deputy ushered some unmasked men into the room. These three were given front-row seats inside.

“Random” people were called to speak by the board chairman, Pastor Marlow Thompson. The three front-row men were allowed to combine their public comment time. They are State Representatives Tony Wisniewski, Ron Mendive and Pastor Tim Remington. It is my opinion that Shari Williams was not allowed to speak because she is a Democrat running against a Republican, Mary Souza, for the Idaho State Senate in November. I spoke up and approached the podium. Protocol was not followed. No one, including the legal counsel, stood up for us. I was removed from the room, pushed and carried down the hall by deputies. I did not fight back.

PHD did their job. The buck stops with the mayors and commissioners. Law enforcement needs to enforce this mask mandate. That is their job. As President Trump says, “If you can’t do your job, you are fired.”

MARY ANN LANDERS

Coeur d’Alene