Elected leaders approve COVID vaccine mandate
The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday morning to approve COVID-19 mandatory vaccination and testing policies, despite the appearance of a person portraying himself as a member of a group that the FBI says has ties to white nationalism.
County supervisors David Goldemberg, Ryan Campbell and Jaron Brandon voted to approve the new policies that are mandated under an order by the California Department of Public Health, while Anaiah Kirk and Kathleen Haff were opposed.
The mandate applies to county workers in health care facilities, who must now receive a COVID-19 vaccine or meet an exemption for medical or religious reasons and get tested weekly. The policies are effective immediately and remain “in full force and effect” until state public health orders dated Aug. 5 and Sept. 28 mandating the same are lifted.
The state orders define workers broadly and include those who enter a health care facility frequently.
County Counsel Sarah Carrillo, who advises the board and county staff on legal matters, said county employees and volunteers who are subject to the vaccination mandate include those in the Behavioral Health, Public Health, Facilities Maintenance, Human Resources and Information Technology departments.
Carrillo also said the state Department of Public Health orders are lawful and that the county must adhere to them.
Before the board voted, a man who later identified himself as James Kent, 35, of Placerville, stepped to a podium during a designated period for public comments at the start of the meeting.
He wore a black, longsleeved hoodie under a black short-sleeved polo shirt with yellow lettering that said “Hangtown” on the front, and “Behind Enemy Lines” and “Proud Boys March 2021” on the back. He also wore a dark, reflective face shield and
sunglasses that obscured his facial features under the lighting in the public meeting room.
The man used his phone to make video of himself and told the board he was there “to serve notice you guys are in violation of the Nuremberg Code,” apparently making a reference to ethics principles for human experimentation that, according to the Associated Press, were written after World War II Nazi atrocities were discovered.
“If you look up this poison, they say don’t give it to mammals,” the man said, and then he began to sing a song described by some news agencies that cover the Proud Boys as a neo-fascist anthem from another group of white nationalists who call themselves “the Mannerbund.”
Campbell eventually tried to cut the man off when his three minutes of allotted comment time were up, but the man continued singing for a few additional seconds before leaving the board’s chambers.
Outside of the County Administration Center at 2 S. Green St. in Sonora, the man initially said he did not want to say where he was from because “we have terrorists who go and try and dox you.”
The verb “dox” comes from online slang intended to mean the act of publicly revealing previously private information about someone. The Union Democrat did not ask the man for any private information, other than his name, age, and hometown, like any other person the newspaper interviews.
“I just want to get across that they think they are safe, behind their power, but this COVID-19 is coming for everybody,” the man said.
The man went on to say “quite a few people want to take a supervisor’s position” and “the patriots around here are awesome, and they’ll be taking whoever’s up for election out.”
Asked about “Hangtown” on the front of his polo shirt, the man said it’s “a city in California” and then he said “Placerville.” He declined to speak on the record for a video, displayed the words on the back of his polo shirt and then walked away toward Washington Street.
The FBI has kept up with the Proud Boys since at least November 2018. The group is known for participating in highprofile protests and seeking the spotlight at violent gatherings, in Washington state and in Washington, D.C.
Members of the Proud Boys and wannabe Proud Boys helped plan, recruit and raise money before deadly Jan. 6 rioting at the U.S. Capitol building left four civilians and one police officer dead and was followed by four police suicides.