Dear Editor,
On October 8, at 12:00 p.m., at the Mohave County Building located at 700 W. Beale St. in Kingman, I went to the Board of Supervisor meeting with a group of Mohave County residents.
A few days prior to this meeting, I had made this meeting public on social media so that others would know about it and attend. When we got there, security guards and Sheriff deputies were already there. We were denied access to this public meeting, and according to them, we were blocked from entering under the orders of the county supervisors. We were adamantly told by security and deputies that we could not enter the chambers without masks. We told them that we had exemptions that were allowed under Governor Ducey’s executive order. Their response was they did not care, and that we were not going into the meeting. We were told that if we tried to enter the auditorium, we would be arrested for aggravated trespassing. One of the supervisors, Hildy Angius, had walked into the lobby with us, and walked right into the chambers without a mask. She was waived in, but we were blocked. I asked security and the deputies why she could go into the building without a mask and why we could not. The rest of the people being denied entrance were asking the same thing. The answer we kept getting was it didn’t matter, and that we would not be allowed in without masks. Supervisor Angius saw the commotion and came back out of the auditorium into the lobby to talk to us. I asked her why she could go into the meeting without a mask, and why we were being denied access to our public meeting, in our public building, to listen to our supervisors that we pay for, and why we were being denied our first Amendment rights. She told us that she did not wear a mask, but that we would not be allowed in without one. She said that there had been an ordinance passed by the supervisors (she did not vote for it) that mandated us (we the people, the taxpayers), to wear masks in the building, regardless of exemptions. I asked her again why some supervisors, including herself, Jean Bishop, the chairman of the board, Sam Elters, the county manager, and others, were exempt from this ordinance. I had also watched the live Board of Supervisor meeting a few days earlier on Oct 5, where Sheriff Schuster, almost all of the supervisors, the County Manager, and many of the BOS special guest speakers that addressed the board, were all not wearing masks.
We watched the Oct. 8 meeting on our phones in the parking lot, stalked by more Sheriff deputies, the Sheriff Chief Officer, and Undersheriff. I showed them the ongoing meeting that I was watching on my phone, and I asked them several times why the board of supervisors and the county manager were allowed to be conducting the meeting, inside the chambers, without masks. I asked them why they didn’t arrest them. They always answered that they did not want to disrupt the meeting, that’s just the way it was, we were not allowed in, we would be arrested if we attempt to go inside, and that they would talk to the board later. A couple of times I told the deputies that if they were in there without masks, that I could go in there without a mask. They warned me several times, that if I did that, I would be arrested for aggravated trespassing. They also told me that this arrest would be from the direction of the supervisors. I asked them how the supervisors could be directing the deputies to arrest me for something that they were doing. They only replied that this is just how it was.
I was humiliated, discriminated, and denied my rights as a law-abiding American. I was treated like a slave while the masters (aka supervisors) were directing the enforcers (aka the Sheriff Deputies).
I will exercise my rights as an American in a civil court of law and I will press criminal charges for violation of:
Bridget Langston
Kingman
