Overreach
TO THE EDITOR:
Gov. Abbott said he would issue no shelter-in-place order because "The virus has not been found in the vast majority of Texas counties."
The Alabama governor said he would not issue a shelter-in-place order because "We're not California by population." Shreveport is not issuing a shelter-in-place, but the Chicken Littles of Bowie Commissioners Court wants a shelter-in-place due to three cases, no deaths.
A shelter-in-place is virtually martial law without the military but using law enforcement instead. This is not New York City and this is overreach. There is no emergency.
I researched the authority of the Commissioners Court and couldn't find how they could issue such an order. I thought it would have come from Texarkana, not the county. The issue of the county officials is surely their own fear of death and the desire to control the people. I saw Judge Howell on television and he's worried about young people meeting when they are the least of risks, so Judge Howell decides he will control Bowie County, along with the Commissioners Court. It's hysteria and fear mongering that belongs on CNN, not in Bowie County. Many residents are still trying to locate family needs and they don't need the threat of arrest while seeking mundane items such as toilet paper.
Let's remember them at election time. Be courageous, rescind the shelter-in-place Judge Howell. You are causing fear! A statement was head on the radio, "We have a massively media-controlled population, not a massively informed one." Law enforcement should have our backs, not be riding it. Our officials have forgotten we survived SARS and MERS and the death rate of the coronavirus is 1% or less.
J. Wright
Texarkana, Texas