Sheriff Defends Decision Not to Enforce Mandated Mask

Video Transcript:

that are reimposing restrictions because they've been looking at a spike in cases and at the very least urging people to wear masks. In fact, it's coming with a very, very strong sense of urgency in the state of Ohio. Richard Jones is the Butler County Ohio. Sheriff, and he appreciates what the state is dealing with here. But if you are expecting that he's going to be the mask police there, he's a busy guy. They don't anticipate that. Sheriff, very good to have you. So what do you do if you go around town, Sheriff? And you see a lot of people not heating advice to wear masks. What do you do? Hey, I tell them, hi, how are you? Have a nice day. I'm not the mask police and people are fed up. You know, it's down here in the heartland and all over the country. I wear a mask when I go out in public. I worse my hands, but it should be your right to wear a mask. And the police are so decimated. They've had their budgets cut this year because of the COVID places are closed down. People are angry. And the police don't have the resources. I don't call 911. Don't call my dispatch centers. We've had all we can take the governor's a nice guy. He's a good guy. And he believes in what he's doing. But I am not going to write citations. I'm not going to go ahead and arrest people for not wearing a mask. Period. You know, when higher ups hear that, Sheriff, you're afraid you're going to get any or full or worse for people. Oh, listen, I've been the sheriff going on my fourth term. I'm unopposed this time on the 8th of 88 counties in Ohio, the largest, one of the largest. And I expect the governor will call me. He's called me before. I'm a very outspoken individual, but I'm not the only one. People are tired, but I'm the first one. And I expect I'll get in here. Full, maybe. But I'll be very respectful. He's not my boss. And I'm not going to be the mask police. And when he done the first regulation and lot of businesses now, I told him I'm not going to be the power police. I'm not going to be the rest of the police. If they want to do it, they can call the governor's office or they can call the health department and give them a little yellow light and they can go around and give people citations. But I promise you, Neil, they have the people are tired and they won't like it. Period. I'm going to I'm going to appreciate that, Sheriff. You know, you hear a lot from those in the medical communities. I'm very least, however you feel about wearing a mask. I does go a long way to making sure the people around you don't get anything protects you and them. So they're flirting with, you know, cases igniting in your state, even in your county. If that was case, what do you say? They were doing more testing. That's all it is. You can drive up and get testing. Our hospitals aren't full in our county alone. We're not even at capacity. 10% are in there for the for the illness and the others are not most of them are all getting tested. If they have it, they go home. We've not had anybody that dies from it. It's terrible. It's a tragedy. I agree. But we have shoot shootings. We have car crashes. People die every day. It's all tragedy. But our community cannot do any more shutdowns. People are laid off. They're not working. They're angry as hell. I wish the governor would come down and talk to people. I believe he surrounds us with people that think, well, I can similar, which sometimes people do. But you need to get out and feel what people are feeling. I do. I feel it. And they're tired and wore out. And they're confused. Wear a mask. Don't wear a mask. I talked to hospital people. Hospitals have laid off because during the COVID, they went ahead and put people. They've done all the elective surgeries and cut them all down. I went to the emergency room the other day because I was hurt my leg doing an athletic maneuver, which I'm not 22 anymore. And it caused me some grief. I had to wait two hours. They hope to get in, but which is normal. But the lady that checked me and wasn't a receptionist. She was the lady that was seeing me back in the back. She was the nurse. So they're all doing double duty. Wings are closed down because of this. So it's a catch 22 people are tired. But people want to go to work. Barbers aren't back to work. Restaurants aren't going to open even when they give them the cosine. Restaurants only allowed to have so many. 25 50% they can't make a profit. So there comes a point. We got to go back to work. And if you want to wear a mask wear a mask. Me, I like to wear a mask when I go places because people don't know who they I am. So and I was somewhere. The other day and they said, I'm glad there's no police in there. And I looked around said me too. So there's a good thing about wearing a mask. That's one of. A lot of people recommend I wear a mask all the time. So just because they're not fans. I'm the sheriff. Thank you very much. We'll watch other scopes.