Ammon Bundy mask refusal forces HS to call game at half-time

[ProudModerate2]

Idaho high school football game called at halftime after activist refuses to wear mask.

A high school football game in Idaho was stopped at halftime when anti-government activist Ammon Bundy refused to wear a mask or leave campus, officials said Monday.
... Bundy, best known for a 2016 standoff with his father, Cliven Bundy, at an Oregon wildlife refuge ...

... “I have a strong belief in my right to choose to wear a mask or not," Bundy said. "And If they think somehow there's a safety issue, then they need to section off a part of the bleachers to accommodate for those of us who believe differently than others.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/idaho-high-school-football-game-called-halftime-after-activist-refuses-n1242161

[ProudModerate2]

You will need to read the whole article (I can't post too much of it, due to rules), but basically his son was playing in the game, and then he went to the parking lot to watch. (The article is not long. Please read it, if you are interested in this story.)

Anyway, it's totally absurd for this idiot to act in a way that would cancel the game of these high school kids, because he wants to act like a total douchebag.

And I can't believe he would demand having a "a section of bleachers to accommodate those of us who believe differently than others" (basically the idiot, moron anti-maskers).

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

They stopped the game because someone in the parking lot wasn't wearing a mask?

[Trump Is A Maoist]

They stopped the game because someone in the parking lot wasn't wearing a mask?

[Anni di ghiaccio]

This is the trash that libertarians and mask denying Republicans have hitched their wagons to.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

You don't have the right to engage in behaviors that are dangerous or reckless to others. You cannot drink and drive for that reason. You cannot start a bonfire when it is dry and risk of fire is high, for that reason.

When you are infected or possibly infected with Covid, you are carrying the equivalent of a WMD in your body and right now the science we have says the mask reduces your risk of spreading that disease. Therefore, my opinion is, grow the f up and wear the damn mask. In my view if you willfully engage in reckless behavior endangers others and their property: 1) You are criminally and civilly liable for the consequences of your actions. If someone dies, that is negligent homicide. 2) You have no right to accommodation of your irresponsible behavior. 3) Public venues have a right to engage in policies for the protection of their students/customers/clients etc including regulating masks in their parking lot.

This is not a matter of personal liberty, this is laziness, selfishness, arrogance and convenience hiding behind the cry of liberty, obfuscation of science and denial of other people's rights to life, liberty and property.

If we lived in a reasonable society, both right and left would not condone this behavior, but at a certain point the right decided to stop policing itself and instead has condoned and even encouraged blatant madness for the sake of winning votes. This has in turn allowed these behaviors to spread and it is not just here on this issue.

Civil society has to manage itself by pursuing policies that balance freedoms of speech and so forth with protecting the safety of people. To do this, it is necessary to protect the public health. If someone infected you with anthrax, no one in their right mind would let you spread that to others under some warped concept of freedom. It is a doctrine that is well established and that is that your freedom ends when your actions deprive someone else of life, liberty and property.

If you disagree with the science, that is fine, but civil society has to use the best science available to make decisions and you as a law abiding member of society, who wishes to take part in some kind of public functions, MUST ABSOLUTELY MUST abide by the rules established for the safety and well being of the people. You don't have a right to take some quack ideas, overrule the governing authorities and risk the safety of many people to satisfy your personal needs and desires.

Average people do not understand law, this is why you need responsible leadership on both sides to will explain to people complex concepts like "your freedom ends when it adversely affects someone else" and "civil society must defend its people based on the best science available to make decisions for the public good". These things should not be partisan and no ideologically preference for constitutional liberty and small government should ever have been warped in this fashion as to be hijacked to defend what in my view cannot be justified, sheer blatant stupidity and selfishness.

If Bundy walked in their shooting a gun instead of a spraying covid out of his mouth, the right would not hesitate to justify 1) the venue acting to stop him and even 2) individuals exercising the right to self defense via the second amendment. I am not condoning people going around shooting people for not wearing a mask, but frankly a similar mindset is called for and if it gets people to the right place and state of mind here, I will take it.



 

[jimrtex]

They stopped the game because someone in the parking lot wasn't wearing a mask?

This gives a different version. Scroll down past the FAQ from the school, to read a newspaper article. But they may have sourced the article and then posted it on the district website.

https://www.caldwellschools.org/apps/news/article/1310628

But here is a different version. In particular watch the video, where the Emmett coach comes over and talks to Ammon Bundy and tells him that the Caldwell superintendent is going to cancel the game. So this means that the superintendent became aware that Bundy was outside the stadium fence - but possibly within an area that is considered part of the school property (note people wandering in and out in background), and told the coach that she was going to call the game unless he the coach did something about Bundy. After the coach couldn't get Bundy to leave, superintendent decides there is a credible threat and calls the game.

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2020/10/idaho-high-school-football-game-stopped-at-halftime-after-dispute-involving-ammon-bundy/

[Fuzzy Bear]

He didn't last too long in "The Resistance", did he?

I'd rather not wear a mask, but it's one of the least intrusive measures whose goal it is to halt the spread of COVID-19.  I'm not convinced of their efficacy, but I'm not going to sign off on people being jerks and ruining things for everyone else.

I'm a Team Player who's vested in Civil Society.  Not everyone is.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

They stopped the game because someone in the parking lot wasn't wearing a mask?

This gives a different version. Scroll down past the FAQ from the school, to read a newspaper article. But they may have sourced the article and then posted it on the district website.

https://www.caldwellschools.org/apps/news/article/1310628

But here is a different version. In particular watch the video, where the Emmett coach comes over and talks to Ammon Bundy and tells him that the Caldwell superintendent is going to cancel the game. So this means that the superintendent became aware that Bundy was outside the stadium fence - but possibly within an area that is considered part of the school property (note people wandering in and out in background), and told the coach that she was going to call the game unless he the coach did something about Bundy. After the coach couldn't get Bundy to leave, superintendent decides there is a credible threat and calls the game.

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2020/10/idaho-high-school-football-game-stopped-at-halftime-after-dispute-involving-ammon-bundy/

If they thought he was being a threat by just standing there, that's stupid, and based on superstition rather than science.  Or was he doing something else that was threatening?

[ProudModerate2]

... In particular watch the video, where the Emmett coach comes over and talks to Ammon Bundy and tells him that the Caldwell superintendent is going to cancel the game. So this means that the superintendent became aware that Bundy was outside the stadium fence - but possibly within an area that is considered part of the school property (note people wandering in and out in background), and told the coach that she was going to call the game unless he the coach did something about Bundy. After the coach couldn't get Bundy to leave, superintendent decides there is a credible threat and calls the game.

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2020/10/idaho-high-school-football-game-stopped-at-halftime-after-dispute-involving-ammon-bundy/

Watch the video link above, everyone.

Thank you for posting the link to this video, jimrtex.
The coach tried to be reasonable, and explain to Bundy that his actions would harm the kids' chances to continue to play in the playoffs.
But Bundy wanted to act like a jacka$$.
I especially found it amusing how Bundy told the coach that he was doing this for "you (the coach) and your family." WTF?
If I was the coach I would have told Bundy ... "If you want to do something for me, then I ask you to please leave or put on a mask. Do this for me and the kids who want to play."

[jimrtex]

They stopped the game because someone in the parking lot wasn't wearing a mask?

This gives a different version. Scroll down past the FAQ from the school, to read a newspaper article. But they may have sourced the article and then posted it on the district website.

https://www.caldwellschools.org/apps/news/article/1310628

But here is a different version. In particular watch the video, where the Emmett coach comes over and talks to Ammon Bundy and tells him that the Caldwell superintendent is going to cancel the game. So this means that the superintendent became aware that Bundy was outside the stadium fence - but possibly within an area that is considered part of the school property (note people wandering in and out in background), and told the coach that she was going to call the game unless he the coach did something about Bundy. After the coach couldn't get Bundy to leave, superintendent decides there is a credible threat and calls the game.

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2020/10/idaho-high-school-football-game-stopped-at-halftime-after-dispute-involving-ammon-bundy/

If they thought he was being a threat by just standing there, that's stupid, and based on superstition rather than science.  Or was he doing something else that was threatening?

Emmett has been awarded the victory (they were leading 35-0).

Since this is high school football, there are probably about teams being responsible for their fans. The Caldwell school website has rules for an upcoming game. Visitors are allotted two tickets per rostered player, while the home team is allotted four tickets per rostered player.    I don't know if students other than the players and the band were permitted to attend. High school students on a Friday night are going to be hard to control. Even if Bill and Susie behave in the stands, keeping 6 feet apart, they are likely to wander off. Even if they don't fornicate, osculate, or hold hands, they may get in the same car and head over to the DQ for hamburgers and shakes.

The field and stadium runs east-west, with the home stands on the south sideline, and the visitor stands on the north sideline. There is a chain link fence around the perimeter of the stadium (to keep unticketed riffraff out).

Based on the video, Bundy was outside the west end-zone, which is nearest to the school and the main parking lot for the school/stadium. If that is a "restricted area", it is because it is cross-hatched on a school administrator's action plan for "COVID-19 Response, Football Games - See Map on Page 20". They probably had 6-foot distancing markers on the sidewalk from the designated visitor parking lot to the designated visitor entrance.

Because of the crowd restrictions, a hall monitor may have noticed Bundy. Caldwell police decided not to react, based on the reasonable belief that there was no problem with a parent standing outside a chain-link fence to watch his son play a football game.

The school administrators then probably freaked.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The schools job is to keep the students and parents safe. You might think they went too far but remember this if they didn't do everything in their power here and someone got sick and died that would be horrendous. They are in a hopeless position really and thus I cannot blame them for taking the approach that they did.