Many Sheriff’s Offices across the country are slowly starting to say they will no longer enforce many of the Bat Soup Virus restrictions. Especially when it comes to church services
More sheriffs plan to stand down and allow indoor religious services
Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said his deputies won’t “interfere or prevent churchgoers to peaceably assemble and exercise their constitutional right to freely worship.”
The North Carolina Sheriff’s Association along with many other sheriffs departments are siding with those who want indoor services.
Father Peter of Saint Ann Catholic Church said, “People are stressed and they need the churches. They need this encouragement.”
The state plan to resume business and social activities during the pandemic suggests that churches hold outdoor worship services or limit services to 10 people at an indoor service for now, but law enforcement officials, ministers and others have been pushing back against that restriction in recent days, noting retailers can have dozens and sometimes hundreds of people inside their stores.
You also have the Nash County and Halifax County Sheriff’s department weighing in, saying they won’t bust anyone over this. Of course, that’s only 3 out of 100 counties, but, outside the urban area counties, the ones with cities like Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Greensboro, and a few others, you can bet the sheriff’s were already ignoring the order
Public heath experts say there is evidence that stationary activities indoors have a higher likelihood of spreading coronavirus.
Yet, many businesses that have been open the whole time have this happening. People sit in waiting areas waiting for their cars to be done. We have chairs blocked off to keep people separate, but, they can sit there for hours. Customers can sit in front of us for an hour or more negotiating then doing paperwork then waiting for finance.
At Saint Ann, they’ve been holding outdoor Mass. But Father Peter believes it should be up to a church’s discretion to decide what to do moving forward. “I really think churches can regulate just as regular businesses can regulate the safety of its people,” he added.
I know some places work hard to clean, such as the carts at the grocery stores and the check out aisles. We have a person that comes in and sprays. However, you can’t get everything. And I can be there are some places that aren’t doing much of anything that are open. Think they clean the gas pumps?
Within hours of Bizzell declaring that his office wouldn’t stop churches from holding indoor services in violation of the statewide stay-at-home order, Rev. Steve Grice, pastor of New Life Baptist Church in Smithfield, said his congregation will worship indoors on Sunday.
“If 400 people can meet at Lowe’s then the few of us can meet at church Sunday morning,” Grice said. “We have plenty of room to practice social distancing.â€
I was in Dick’s Sporting Goods yesterday seeing if a bike was available (tired of going for a long walk. No bikes. Didn’t expect any, but, took a shot). There weren’t many people, but, they had a sign saying 278 people were allowed. If there were 100 customers in there it would have been jammed in the aisles. Go to the supermarket and people are getting within a foot of each other all the time.
Anyhow, you can bet this same thing is starting to happen in Republican states and counties across the country. And in California
(Breitbart) Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said Tuesday that she would not be able to enforce Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home orders because she was too busy re-arresting accused criminals set free under the state’s new “zero-dollar bail†policy. (snip)
Carey asked her: “I’ve heard multiple sheriffs around the nation state they will not enforce their governors’ shelter-in-place orders. Is that your position?
“That is my position. We do not stop the public to find out what they’re doing when they’re not sheltering in place. We don’t ask those questions, we don’t ask if they’re ‘essential’. We’ve got our hands full trying to re-arrest people that are released due to zero-dollar bail. So we’ve got other things that are on our mind that are more important than stopping normally law-abiding citizens.â€
You’ll surely see this more over the next few weeks to months.
Read: Many North Carolina Sheriff’s Refuse To Stop Indoor Church Services »