'Government overreach'

COEUR d’ALENE — The chant outside Monday afternoon’s Coeur d’Alene City Council meeting rose louder.

“No more masks. We will not comply," they shouted over and over.

Soon, the group was singing “God Bless America.”

Then, more chants. And more singing. And some marching in circles.

The meeting was closed to the public outside, so early on, two men knocked on doors and windows trying to be let in. Police came out and warned them they could be arrested for disorderly conduct if it continued.

Others held signs that read “Where is the real data?,” “Freedom 1st No Masks” and “Stop trampling on our constitutional rights.”

While a few debated the wearing of masks with a TV reporter, some people chatted in small groups as they waited for the council’s decision.

Shelly Porche was one of about 100 people, mostly adults and some teens, who gathered in 30-degree temperatures outside the meeting room of the Coeur d'Alene Public Library, where the council was considering a mask mandate.

The Coeur d’Alene woman held a sign that read “99.6 percent recovery rate. No masks.”

“I can’t personally wear a mask,” she said, adding that she was freezing but wanted to be there to share her views. She hoped the council would vote against a mask mandate because she doesn’t believe masks are effective.

“But I know they’re going to vote for it,” Porche said.

She was right. The council approved the mandate by a 4-2 vote after a meeting that stretched on for more than two hours.

By the time they voted, the once boisterous and enthusiastic crowd had dwindled to about 25, many too cold to hang around longer.

Even before the vote, a Coeur d’Alene couple said they opposed being forced to wear masks.

“I don’t think they help,” Pamela said, declining to give her last name. "I don’t think they do any good.”

While Tim said he believed medical-grade masks did something to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, he doubted the cloth masks many wear do anything.

He also considered it an infringement on his rights.

“I don’t think you have a right to mandate to me to wear a mask,” he said.

Another woman who asked that her name not be used cited a study that found a majority of the people who have contracted the coronavirus wore masks.

A mandate, she said, is “government overreach.”

“The city council, they do not have the right to morally, lawfully, to mandate what we can and cannot do,” she said.

Asked if she would comply with the mandate, she said no.

“We are free facers. We refuse to wear masks and we should not have to comply.”

Nina Beesley said she would not comply with the mandate, nor would her family and friends.

“If I have to come to a meeting, or if I have to be fined to defend our life and liberties, so be it,” she said.

Beesley said the situation is reaching a new level of frustration.

“People are getting to the point where they are getting angry,” she said.

A man who goes by “Idaho Guy” said there was no problem with people who want to wear masks or practice social distancing.

“No one out here is anti-mask. They are anti-mandating things,” he said.

Asked if he would abide by the council’s mandate, the Idaho Guy shook his head.

“Nope.”