‘It’s unjust.’ Elected Tri-Cities officials rally against Inslee, latest COVID restrictions

Tri-Cities officials are pushing back on the latest state restrictions on businesses because of surging COVID-19 cases.

Richland Councilman Bob Thompson called Gov. Jay Inslee a fascist during a several-minute tirade at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

“He doesn’t care about the people,” Thompson said. “He likes to be a ruler. He’s lost his moral authority.”

While other elected officials this week said they understood that the recent spike in COVID infections call for some action, they didn’t believe shutdowns are the right approach.

“Look. Wear your mask, wear your mask when you’re gathering with your families that don’t live in that household, wash your hands, social distance,” said Kennewick Councilman Jim Millbauer. “We need to make that sacrifice in order to help these small businesses open back up and get on with business.”

The officials who spoke out at meetings Tuesday agreed that Inslee’s new restrictions put in place starting this week are not the right way to combat the growing problem.

The four cities and two counties are sending letters to Inslee with their concerns.

Among other changes, restaurants must close indoor dining rooms and fitness centers and movie theaters must shut down until at least Dec. 14.

It came just about a month after the Tri-Cities moved into Phase 2, allowing several of those types of businesses to finally reopen with restrictions.

The two counties haven’t been immune to rising COVID-19 case numbers, the Benton Franklin Health District reported 152 new cases in the area on Tuesday. Health officials have said that the increase has been caused by people attending social gatherings with friends and families.

Wrong message

While commissioners and council members have different opinions about the severity the pandemic, they agreed the governor’s order sent the wrong message to a community tired of being cooped up.

And they said it punishes businesses who are trying to keep their customers and the community safe.

“Our business community has been extremely successful in implementing high-level safety protocols and made significant financial investments to provide safe social distancing and environments for their customers,” Kennewick Mayor Don Britain said during Tuesday’s council meeting.

After Britain hearing Inslee’s announcement on Sunday, he asked the city manager to draft a letter calling on the governor to reconsider the move. Richland, Pasco and West Richland soon signed onto the letter, as well.

The letter points out local health officials believe the surge is coming from private gatherings where people aren’t wearing masks rather than interactions at businesses.

“We understand the need for renewed efforts toward limiting social gatherings,” the letter says. “We have put forth tremendous time and resources toward safety messaging and stemming the spread of COVID-19 in our cities and we will continue to be a partner with our state and local health officials in this effort.”

Britain admitted he sickened with COVID-19 in April and was ill for two weeks.

“I’m not diminishing the effects,” he said. “I try to look at this in a way that, it’s not a death sentence, but it does kill people.”

He is the second Tri-Cities mayor to report testing positive for COVID-19. Richland Mayor Ryan Lukson contracted it in late October.

Previously, the Kennewick School Board president, Dawn Adams, reported being sick with COVID in early October. She believes she was infected while traveling.

While all of the Kennewick councilmen agreed Tuesday with sending a letter to Inslee, there was a varied response to the disease itself.

“If you don’t believe that COVID is real .... there are a quarter million dead people who would disagree with you,” said Kennewick Councilman Charles Torelli.

But Councilman Brad Beauchamp said the public is tired of the continued moving of the goal posts. He urged the council to “trust our citizens.”

“The public is getting pretty tired of getting preached down to,” he said.

In Richland, Thompson said he doesn’t believe masks or social distancing curb the spread of the disease, and said that he feels happy that the case numbers are going up. He believes an increase in cases will lead to a “herd immunity.”

However, the concept that the spread of the disease will slow as more people catch and become immune to it has been called “a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence” by many medical professionals, who say much about COVID-19 remains unknown and, for one, it’s unclear if people will remain immune to the disease.

County commissioners

The letter from the cities inspired officials to reach out to Benton and Franklin counties to ask if they want to send one as well.

In Benton County, Commissioner Shon Small said he understood the issue with social gatherings, but didn’t understand what more people could do to prevent the illness besides wearing masks, washing their hands and taking precautions if they have medical conditions.

“The world has to continue and it’s going to be real bad if we continue to go down this thing,” he said at Tuesday’s session. “Otherwise we’re going to be living in a ghost town because everything is going to stop. Businesses are going to be closing.”

Commissioners Jim Beaver and Jerome Delvin agreed with sending the letter.

In Franklin County, Brad Peck and Clint Didier spoke in favor of putting together a letter.

Peck wanted to see a draft before signing off on the specific wording, but he supported the concept.

Didier called for a bigger step, pointing to Weld County, Colo., where the county has fought against any additional restrictions in the state. He called for Franklin County to look for other counties across Eastern Washington to partner with.

“This lockdown is uncalled for,” Didier said. “It’s unjust. We’re hurting and destroying our communities and people are losing everything they worked for.”

This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 2:00 PM.