By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Val Verde County Commissioners Court members voted unanimously Tuesday against forcing county employees to vaccinate against COVID-19.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr., who led the discussion, and County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton both denounced vaccine mandates being contemplated by President Joe Biden as government overreach.
“Last week, on Thursday, I think, President Biden signed a deal that if you work for the federal government, if you work directly with the federal government or have business with the federal government or if you have 100 or more employees . . . then you must require for every employee to be fully vaccinated. If they’re not fully vaccinated, then one of the other things that was said was they must within a reasonable amount of time, be tested (for COVID),” Owens said at the start of the discussion.
The judge added, “I believe it’s the best thing. I think we need to get vaccinated. My whole family’s vaccinated. My daughter didn’t get vaccinated until after she had the baby. I do believe that it is the right thing to do. I believe it is the wrong thing to mandate something to be put into somebody else’s body . . . I think our administration just jumped off the cliff, and there’s no water down there. It just to me does not make sense. It just blows my damn mind that we would require (vaccinations).”
He said two county employees, who are pregnant, asked him if the county planned to mandate COVID vaccinations.
“I started to laugh, and I told them, ‘With the makeup of the court, do you really think we’re going to enforce this? It’s not going to happen’,” Owens said.
“Judge, what about the Congress and the Senate?” County Commissioner Pct. 1 Martin Wardlaw asked.
“What about them?” Owens said.
“They don’t have to take the shots, or their employees,” Wardlaw replied.
Owens chuckled, then said, “It just don’t make sense . . . It’s a ‘do what I say, not what I do’ type deal.”
Owens said the final decision, though, rested with the entire court.
“Something that I’d like to state is that, at the end of the day, I think it will save lives. It protects you, your family, your neighbors, the people you work with, but that’s my opinion. That’s the way I feel about it,” County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores said.
“I completely agree with you, commissioner, that the vaccine is a good thing. I do. I believe that it will help. It’s not going to keep you completely from getting sick, but you’re chances of surviving, if you don’t have a lot of other issues, are better with the vaccine than without it, but as government, less government has always been, in my opinion, better,” Owens said.
“If I wasn’t sitting up here, I’d be sitting out there (in the audience) screaming and hollering, what are you all fixing to do by mandating (the vaccine). I agree with you that the vaccine is good and that it will help save lives . . . We just keep overreaching. I just don’t believe it’s the right thing to do. I think at some point we need to assume responsibility for ourselves, and at some point it needs to be up to us and not to the government,” Owens added.
County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton said, “I will make a motion that the county will not require its employees to be vaccinated.”
Wardlaw gave the second.
“I totally agree with the judge. Me and my whole family are vaccinated. I think it’s the right thing to do, but I do not believe government should mandate anything to people, especially when we’re allowing thousands and thousands and thousands of people into this country illegally without vaccines. For us to force Americans and businesses to make those decisions, and if (a) business decides to do that, that’s up to them. That’s their business and their prerogative, but for a government to reach to this level is completely inexcusable, in my opinion, so my motion is that the county will not require vaccines for its employees,” Nettleton said.
Owens then asked the court if any other members had comments. When none did, he called for the vote, and all five members voted in favor of Nettleton’s motion.
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