“I’m not gonna take the vaccine. They’ll have to shoot me or drag me to the hospital,” Hillsdale Mayor Adam Stockford said.
Other members of the city council echoed Stockford’s words Monday, during a review of possible new COVID-19 policies.
Discussion began after Hillsdale County District 1 Commissioner Doug Ingles delivered an update on COVID-19 in the area.
In his update, Ingles reported that Hillsdale Hospital has been administering hundreds of doses of COVID-19 vaccines since January.
Following Ingles’ report, Councilman Robert Socha had a special request for the council.
“I was wondering if we have done anything as a city to maybe declare Hillsdale a ‘free zone,’ where the vaccines can be administered and taken if people freely accept to do so,” he said. “But if they choose not to, depending on how things go state or government-wide, that we can ensure that our individual liberty to choose to be injected or not is not taken away.”
This was met with loud cheers and applause from the crowd attending the meeting , although no such mandate has been proposed on a state or national level.
“It’s interesting to me how things have magically changed over the last three weeks on a national level as far as the rhetoric toward COVID,” Socha said. “With the nature of government to continue to encroach on our liberties, I would like us to be a line in the sand if you all are willing to draw that line with me.”
A recent report regarding Transportation Security Administration-mandated mask requirements at airports, including at the Hillsdale Municipal Airport, was met with a similar sentiment by the council.
According to an executive order issued Jan. 21 by President Joe Biden, anyone in an airport who refuses to wear a mask in the terminal and hangers may be subject to civil penalties.
Stockford said the mandate could be hard to enforce.
“I heard that legal language clearly says ‘may,’ so I wouldn’t get too bent out of shape about it,” Stockford said.
Councilman Ray Briner questioned if the city would be fined for not enforcing the masking policy, however.
Socha offered comments about TSA requiring masks at the airport.
“The overreach from Washington, D.C., to demand that we wear masks in our airport in Hillsdale, Michigan, is beyond the pale. It echoes tyranny and I am appalled,” Socha said. “I am livid about it, actually, and I would hope that we would have the courage here in Hillsdale to make a stand and to tell Washington, D.C., that we’re able to mind our own affairs. And hopefully we can get our fine community organized in such a way that we can maybe start to separate ourselves from that allegiance.”
As of Feb. 1, the county has seen 2,867 cases. total cases of COVID-19, with 68 active cases in the county.
