Letter: The freedom to stay healthy

Graphic by Lori Deaton

Weaverville decided to disregard the Buncombe County ordinance to require the wearing of masks in businesses to prevent the spread of disease. Mayor Al Root told me in an email that it was just “urging folks to follow all health guidelines instead of issuing an unenforced mandate drawing attention to only one health issue.”

Another mandate is to require employees to wash their hands after using the toilet to avoid the spread of disease. So it is fair to ask if that will still be followed or is that ordinance just another act of tyranny against freedom? Is that also unenforced in Weaverville? Should we just stay home if we don’t want to risk those diseases either?

We also have the freedom to spend our money where we wish. Let’s spend our money in places and in businesses that willingly follow the ordinances/laws that protect our families. We want the freedom to stay healthy.

For those telling us to just stay home, be careful what you wish for. Local businesses will be depending on people like me and my local family, neighbors and friends to spend money until the out-of-area tourists come back. We will be there in the recovery for those who were there for us now. Just because we don’t protest doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of us watching who has our backs and who does not.

— James Vaughn
Asheville

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4 thoughts on “Letter: The freedom to stay healthy

  1. Johnny to the A

    Those local businesses that are depending on people like you and your local family, neighbors and friends to spend money are doomed. The vast majority of Buncombe residents, especially North Buncombe, don’t have enough resource to keep any business afloat except Dairy Queen.

    WNC is doomed without tourists.

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  2. indy499

    You need to brush up on what constitutes a law or a mandate. The law Buncombe decided to impose on some county residents and not others should of course be illegal.

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    • James

      How so? We impose laws or mandates that apply to some people and not others ALL the time. We impose restrictions on drunk drivers to breathe into a device before they can drive their car but don’t do that for all drivers as just one example. It is required for people serving food to people in a restaurant to comply with many laws and mandates that aren’t required for people serving food to people in their home. Different situations call for different rules.

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