Union County Sheriff sends letter to Governor Brown
By Braden Way on Friday, August 13th, 2021 in Featured Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE — On Friday, August 13th, Union County Sheriff Cody Bowen released a letter directed to Oregon Governor Kate Brown in response to the mask and vaccine mandates recently enacted by the Oregon Governor. (View the text of those mandates here). The letter reads as follows:
Here is a text version of the letter:
Governor Kate Brown,
08/13/21I write to you today in hopes of opening a dialogue and as a last resort to put you on notice that we the people of Union County, Oregon have had enough!
Enough of your overreaching mandates! Enough of your bullying threats. Enough of you dictating our state by fear. You have once again initiated what many consider to be an unconstitutional mandate requiring our children to wear a mask while in school. You have gone so far as to threaten our teacher’s livelihoods and their ability to provide for their family with fines and certification revocations if they don’t enforce your mandate. You have backed our school board members into a corner even though the east side of the state has expressed a desire to have local control over these situations.
Leaders listen to their constituents. You have continued in a long line of politicians who ignore the will of the people on the east side of the state. You sit on the opposite side of the state and dictate with a heavy hand. You ramble off your orders to Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Department of Education telling them to carry out your mindless orders or face the consequences of your threats. You are inflicting more damage to our children than any virus could ever do, and you hide behind the misrepresentation that you care for us all. You ma’am care nothing about our children or the people of Eastern Oregon.
As Sheriff of Union County I took an oath to uphold the Constitution and stand up and defend the people of this beautiful county we call home. We have the God given right to freedom and the God given right to choose what is best for ourselves and our children. Let us do so.
We will raise our children how we see fit. We will choose to wear a mask or choose not to wear a mask. We will choose to get vaccinated or choose not to get vaccinated. Your mindless dictates will no longer be tolerated.
Sheriff
Cody Bowen
