‘Dr. Amy Acton Day’ proposed for Ohio
For months Dr. Amy Acton has been reviled by several Ohio lawmakers for signing health restrictions against opening up Ohio during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gun-toting protesters showed up outside her Bexley home. Some critics voiced what Jewish groups described as anti-semitiism.
But now a pair of state lawmakers want to give the former state health commissioner her own day — literally.
They introduced a bill Monday that would declare Feb. 26 as “Dr. Amy Acton Day” in Ohio.
The measure, sponsored by Democratic Reps. Mary Lightbody of Westerville and Kent Smith of Euclid, represents the date in 2019 when Acton was named health commissioner by Gov. Mike Dewine.
She is now a health adviser to the governor after stepping down from her post atop the state health department June 11 despite pleas from Dewine to remain on the job.
Acton vaulted from bureaucratic obscurity to superstardom almost overnight as she took part in Dewine’s televised briefings on the battle against the pandemic. Her Facebook fan club grew to more than 130,000 members. Yard signs bearing her name cropped up in front of several homes. Young girls dressed up in little white coats and imitated her, saying they wanted to be like Amy.
Yet she became the focal point of harsh criticism from lawmakers and others unhappy with the restrictions she issued — at Dewine’s behest — in an attempt to “flatten the curve” of the coronvirus outbreak in the Buckeye State.
The Ohio House approved a sweeping attempt to strip her of her powers that fell short in the Senate. However, a narrower measure was approved and sent to Dewine. A veto of that bill is expected any day.
The bill designating Amy Acton Day has five co-sponsors, all Democrats: Erica Crawley of Columbus, Tavia Galonski of Akron, Michael O'brien of Warren, and Michael Sheehy and Lisa Sobecki, both of the Toledo area. drowland@dispatch.com @darreldrowland
Dublin Community Church, 81 W. Bridge St., Dublin, 1-6 p.m.
Polaris Blood Donation Center, 1327 Cameron Ave., Lewis Center, 12:15-7:15 p.m.
St. Luke Lutheran Church, 4456 Morse Road, Gahanna, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.