Applause for our Decision Makers
As our county and city continue to cope with the ongoing pandemic, there are a few people that should be recognized and applauded for their work in our community.
Our School Superintendent, Dr. Jeff Perry, is on an island with decision making where there are no right or wrong answers and with essentially, no credible guidance from state or federal leadership, on how to start a school year. The highlights of these recommendations are 15 kids per bus. This makes you wonder if the individuals making these recommendations have ridden a school bus, much less attended school in a rural area. These decisions are being left to individual school systems, and I can tell you from working with him, we are fortunate to have Dr. Perry leading these decision making processes.
Our city and county mayors, Gary Chesney and Bill Brittan have also shown wonderful leadership during this time. As we get to a discussion about requiring or not requiring masks in public, I think it is important to remember that our mayors are doing everything in their power to protect our community while allowing and promoting the normalization of our economy. No one has written the guidebook of how to do that yet, but our mayors are displaying their leadership in this decision making. Whatever mask decision is made, I would ask our member businesses to encourage the wearing of masks in your establishment to follow CDC recommendations. Masks are available and have been free from our Health Department for some time now.
As a community, we are each responsible for our own actions. These personal actions can protect yourself but also protect our most vulnerable population. As a society, we have proven the last few months that we truly care little for others. This lack of care and empathy is reflected in our rise of cases and our inability to follow the most basic rules. We must adapt and change as businesses and individuals if we are to continue to enjoy the freedoms and community we all enjoy and love.