Editorial

Is this the most worthless warning sign in America?

ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial by the editor.

“Who was that masked man?

“I don’t know, but I wanted to thank him.”

— A late 1960s commercial for Pizza Rolls, featuring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, who asks, “Have a pizza roll, Kemosabe?”

Perhaps the most worthless sign in 2020-21 United State States of America is the one that tells visitors “No mask, no entry.” The warning is about as toothless as an old man who desperately needs dentures.

I’ve seen plenty of these signs posted at the entrances of businesses and public places such as school buildings and township and city government. I suppose some mean what they say, but too often I’ve seen them as nothing more than Paper Tigers.

“You paper tigers are all alike. Your roar is much worse than your bite.” — Susie Thompson, 1965

Signs telling visitors and customers to mask up began appearing on the public landscape about a year ago. One of the first controversies I can remember was at Family Farm & Home, in which a complaint was made, but police defended the offender by suggesting he or she could have some underlying medical condition.

Not long afterward I noticed that Harding’s Market declared a mask was necessary for entry, yet I still have a photo of State Rep. Steve Johnson in the checkout lane with no face covering whatsoever. I asked if Johnson had made a maskless appearance since and was told his physical presence in the grocery has not been noted.

Johnson and Dorr Township Trustee John Tuinstra remain as two people I have never seen wearing a mask during the pandemic. And Johnson very publicly supported a Holland restaurateur who defiantly allowed maskless patrons.

But businesses need not feel so lonely.

Leighton, Martin, Watson and Dorr Township Halls are graced with the mask warning signs, but enforcement is virtually nonexistent. A majority of the members of the Martin and Leighton board refuses to wear a mask during proceedings in a closed environment. Dorr has been about half and half, and its planning commission had only Dan Weber dutifully observing the facial precautions.

Not a single Watson Township official wore a mask at its most recent meeting.

The special Wayland Board of Education meeting Friday afternoon yielded everybody in the small quarters of the administration building donning the masks, but in walked an unknown citizen bare faced with no intention of following the instructions of the sign at the front door. After the meeting, I protested, and was told his presence and “crime” went unnoticed.

Board President Dan Cassini indicated it’s not his job to tell the man to put on a mask, yet it is his job to tell those from the public the rules about how long they can speak and warn them against making inappropriate comments.

What this all boils down to once again is that we privileged Americans will use the U.S. Constitution to do whatever we wish and disregard the rules necessitated by the interests of public health. Our “paper tiger” government doesn’t want to enforce these rules. And once again, too many people, most notably our state representative, has taken a health issue and turned it into a political issue.

Few people argue with a public official declaring martial law during a public safety crisis, yet they insist on breaking the rules when it suits them during a pandemic.

And we wonder why the United States is No. 1 in the world in Covid deaths and cases?

It’s not just yours truly beating the drum on this problem. Submitted for your approval or disapproval from “friends” on Facebook:

“When I went into D&W and was waiting to get something from the deli and a woman walked up beside me with no mask and the sign coming in says ‘Masks Required’ or something like that… Seems to be their thinking, think of themselves over others.”

“It is a problem at the Auction House Café, with people trying to come in without a mask then (getting) mad when told they need to wear one… Their right to not wear a mask ‘Trumps’ your right to be safe.”

Word.

 

 

7 Comments

  • You can have signs, but it is not a law, it is an executive order from the governor and the Health Department. It is a recommendation, a directive, a dire suggestion. It is not a law passed by the legislature. It has no legal weight.

    I wear a mask, even though I am vaccinated, to put others at ease in my presence. But Fauci and vaccine manufacturers swear you are immune from contracting or spreading Covid if you are vaccinated, even better if all those in your vicinity are also vaccinated. When someone enters a place of business not wearing a mask, who should enforce the governor’s directive? Police? Naw, they have real things to do. The manager or store owner of the business? They can ask but if the customer refuses, do you think a physical confrontation should ensue?

    You and the governor should wear your masks and not worry about others. Maybe they have a medical condition like asthma or heart/lung condition. Maybe they’ve been vaccinated. Besides, how safe are masks from spreading or receiving Covid? According to who you talk to, not very. Social distance – 6 ft. or the new science says 3 ft. is sufficient? Maybe wear 2 masks? 3? 4?
    Or maybe stay home and quiver in fear?

    Get back to work, start living again, and be an American, not a fearmonger.
    Many businesses have worked through the pandemic with little or no Covid cases.

    You have a higher chance of getting killed by lightning or vehicle accident.

  • Seems you could come up with something new……….Johnson and Tuinstra………Same old story. …..You should have added President Biden and the First Lady while visiting the elderly and vulnerable Former President Carter and his wife. No mask and no social distancing. Yet another example of do as I say not as I do……..How about all the illegal kids in cages at the boarder. Very few masks and NO distancing. Interesting……..

    If you are wearing a mask and are protected, you have no worries if others are not wearing a mask, correct?

    Cheers!!

  • As I understand the mask, it is used to help the wearer from spreading the virus if they may have it. I don’t believe it is to prevent the wearer from catching the virus. I also have come to understand the vaccine does not prevent one from getting Covid-19, but it is supposed to keep you off a ventilator. If by chance you get Covid.
    If people weren’t so ignorant and got the vaccine we would be over the mask issue by now.
    People will die from Covid-19 in the future, just like they do from the flu and other diseases. It’s time to put away the masks, if you don’t want to get vaccinated, then play “Russian Roulette” with Covid. You might get lucky and not have to be on a ventilator, and even survive any long-term effects.
    Or just get vaccinated and increase your odds of living… it’s a free country…so let’s start living.

  • This idea that those who wear face masks are living in fear and “not living” has gotten really annoying.
    We’ve gotten to the point where most of us can be reasonably safe from that nasty COVID bug if we get the vaccine, and/or wear a mask, and/or social distance ourselves from others, and/or give up entirely.
    Thanks to time and evolving knowledge of this virus, we in the United States can go back to being the selfish, egocentric people we are known the world around to be.
    I, for one, hope to have learned from this pandemic that all is not what it seems to be, and all people are not cookie-cutter clones of one another.
    Patience, consideration, respect, and common courtesy should be the watchwords we live by. Casting aspersions, name-calling, and making political every little aspect of life has become tedious, exhausting, and grating on the soul.

  • That darn constitution thing again… Always getting in the way. No wonder they want to get rid of it.

    • Absolutely! They hate it, can’t stand it. But being the selfish and egocentric people we are, we need it. Or so Ms. Mandaville says and I believe her!

  • Ms. Mandeville,

    I was under the impression you were highly educated and could read….evidently not. I said I wear my mask to put others at ease. I am fully vaccinated so I shouldn’t need to wear one. But to not freak out others like you and the editor, I wear it.

    Since we Americans are selfish and egocentric, and that obviously grates on you, you may want to consider moving to sunny, crime-ridden Mexico or welcoming, friendly socialists in Canada. Of course Canadians, being the American hating tribe they are, might balk at your entry into their frozen paradise. They do love our money so take plenty with you if you go.

    I love your line about making everything political – that is rich coming from a Socialist Democrat! What was the only thing Biden had to run on but Covid, Covid, and more Covid. He never had any accomplishments while in office and is pretty much a failed politician, and continues so now.

    Where are the masks on the invading horde coming across our southern border? Where are the masks and social distancing with the kids in cages? How many cases of Covid is spreading from these illegals transmitting the Communist Chinese Coronavirus to Americans?

    You know, those selfish, egocentric, taxpaying Americans!

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