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June 22, 2021 10:07 AM UTC

In Mesa County, The Crazy Rivals The Disease

  • 18 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Mesa County Commissioner Janet Rowland (R).

The Grand Junction Sentinel’s Charles Ashby has the latest updates on a disturbing developing story in arch-conservative Mesa County, where even as COVID-19 cases increase and hospitals near capacity amid one of the lowest vaccination rates of any populated county in the state, angry mobs of residents are showing up weekly to demand the county nullify state and federal laws they consider to be impingements on their freedom, with the alternative being civil war:

Just as they did at the end of the commissioners’ meeting a week ago, a large group of area residents complained Monday to the three-member board that the local, state and national reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic was a violation of their civil liberties, and called on them to enact a resolution declaring the county to be free of state and federal laws.

Many comments included not-so-veiled threats, while others were fraught with debunked allegations.

“We have citizens that are crying out, but eventually they’re going to get tired of crying out … and it’s going to come to a civil war,” Wendy Wood said.

It’s difficult to sort out exactly what these people are demanding, since the basis of their demands ranges from the benignly false to the craziest stuff your crazy uncle ever dared whisper. And none of these people were whispering:

“Our children are still being forced to wear masks in school, unhealthy,” added Diane Baker. “Our hospitals refuse to provide medical care to those not wearing a mask. Not OK. The cures available for COVID are still being withheld by the government. Definitely not OK.

“The media is still lying to us about the vaccine for a virus that should be labeled as a bio warfare weapon,” [Pols emphasis] she said. “Medical experts are still advertising the benefits of the vaccine, when in fact people are dying after taking it.”

Mesa County Commissioner Scott McInnis (R).

On the receiving end of this bellicose mob’s rage last night were the three Republicans who serve on the Mesa County Board of Commissioners: former Congressman and failed 2010 gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis, failed 2006 lieutenant governor candidate and noted bestiality opponent Janet Rowland, and lesser-known area businessman Cody Davis. Mesa County of course never enacted COVID-19 restrictions beyond the state’s requirements, and as of today, most COVID-19 restrictions in Colorado have ended.

In last night’s hearing, Rowland refuted the contention that hospitals refuse to treat unmasked patients via her personal experience, and implored the audience to understand that 95% of COVID-19 deaths since the beginning of 2021 have been among the unvaccinated. The pleading of both McInnis and Rowland for this mob of their nominal political allies to see reason is a revealing microcosm of the struggle of the whole Republican Party to come to grips with reality in a “post-truth” world they helped create:

“I’m not sure why folks are getting the idea that a board of county commissioners all of a sudden can rise above everything else and dictate what’s going to happen,” McInnis said. “It’s just not reality.” [Pols emphasis]

McInnis also said it was unfair for the speakers to imply that their individual rights were paramount to others, such as business owners who may still be requiring mask wearing.

Those of us watching this spectacle unfold from across the Divide might be tempted to revel in the schadenfreude of Republican elected officials facing the misguided wrath of their own constituents, whose low-information energy they were happy to cultivate for political gains whenever it suited them. But because these people are actually threatening violence if their impossible demands are not met, it’s probably best to not encourage them in any way.

Suffice to say that Mesa County’s low vaccination rate is just one symptom of a much larger problem.

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18 thoughts on “In Mesa County, The Crazy Rivals The Disease”

  1. These kind of loony tunes filled with inchoate rage are precisely what the right wing commissioners cultivated – it's only appropriate that the monster begin attacking its creators.

    1. I'm all in for a taste, I'll tell you that.

      And I am all in for red-faced nose to nose spittle shouting at the Commissioners, for armed occupations of the council chambers, for primary challenges and recall efforts, for a variety of boycotts and threats of boycotts, for some wild accusations and maybe an exposed solicitation arrest or fraud settlement, and even for a dead racoon tossed through a window or two.

      In fact, I am all in for just about any Karmic retribution short of bodily harm or children.

  3. I live in Mesa County. The commissioners brought this on themselves by discussing these matters as individual rights issues instead public health issues when they passed the ridiculous "Freedom to Choose" resolution. That simply emboldened these people and now we have this escalating situation.  Prior to the recent city council elections, at least one of the losing candidates was engaging on social media with people who were asking candidates to commit to pursuing the so-called "sanctuary city" idea. This situation is unlikely to end well.

    1. I live here, too, and the problem started a long time ago. Who could forget the tea party and its “Get your government hands off my Medicare'' signs, thoughtfully printed by Americans for Prosperity,'' at a Lincoln Park rally in which then-state Sen. Josh Penry told them how smart and real American they were.

      We've had a string of gutless wonders in county and legislative offices who continue to look baffled by what they have wrought.

      Screw 'em.

       

  5. What makes you think these very same CONservatives are not just stoking the fires of their base in order to get them ready for 2022, all the while appearing the moderate for the Western Slope's true U's? They're not getting a taste of their own medicine, they're dosing it out.

     

  6. There's a reason state laws and things like state public health orders need to be floors, not ceilings under which local guvs can do less than what they oughta be responsible for. I wish the best for people in Mesa, especially the folks in health care who have to deal with people who maybe didn't have to get sick, but I hope with all the hopeiness I can manage that the widespread refusal to do right things doesn't spread to other counties in the form of more transmissible variants.

      1. Stay away. Stay far away.

        This weekend is Country Jam, a drunken brawl thinly disguised as a music festival, which usually attracts 25,000+ fans a day for four days out in Mack. Blistering heat is a bonus in their minds. It'll be a Covid paradise.

        Way to go, Scooter & friends! Your “freedom to choose'' how to handle the virus is taking the non-vaccinated down the tubes.

         

  7. I’m enjoying being back in the classroom ( elementary summer school). We’re mostly unmasked, which feels great.

    We can do that because Jeffco has a 70% adult vaccination rate, Also kids under 11 tend to not transmit COVID when community spread is low. Staff’s all vaccinated, and young kids tend to not get severely sick with the virus.

    Mesa County needs to get its community spread down- then kids can unmask.

    Currently, Mesa and Delta incidence rate is 50-75 per 100,000, while the Denver Metro area is less than 10-30. Per CDC data: https://covid19.colorado.gov/data

    Per Children’s Hospital COVID FAQs

  8. Hit 'em in the pocket book. If people have access to mountain bike discussion boards, start spreading the word that Mesa County is an unhealthy place to ride. Forget Fruita and the Palisade Plunge. Better to drive on to Moab.

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