Letter to the Editor: This letter comes from Mr. Daniel Latham. Mr. Latham has spoken at recent school board and board of supervisors meetings on the mask issue. Here is Mr. Latham’s letter, in his own words.

I have lived in the county for 35 years. I went to Berkeley Elementary and Courtland High School. I then worked at Brock Road Elementary as a para for special needs students. I love my county. This is my home. I am sad to see the same politics that are being fought on the federal level make it all the way down to the school board level. To the item at hand with mask mandates and vaccine mandates coming quickly behind them. These are problems on many levels. There is a safety issue for our children wearing masks this long each day. The increase in CO2 levels has a very negative impact on developing brains especially in the elementary schools. But honestly, we can argue differing data sets all day.

The main issue here is the government overreach into the realm of parental control. We are having our rights stripped away from us incrementally and it has been happening for years. The reason you are seeing the pushback from people is the government has started to target children and essential personal liberties. There are a lot of people like me that have always been observers but never involved that are now becoming activated politically. This is happening because we see the path we are on. All throughout history we can see where people have given up control to the government because of a crisis or fear just to have it torn away permanently. The mask issue is a war in proxy about parental rights. We understand that once we cede the ground on parental choice here, we will not have the ability to choose on other issues such as CRT and Transgender education for elementary school. What is happening is antithetical to the morals and foundations of this country and our way of life.

We have to protect the freedom we have been given through the blood of generations. There is no other country on the planet that affords its citizens the liberty and freedom to pursue their life and happiness in the manner they see fit. This is exactly what these mandates and orders seek to erode. If we let freedom die here, there will be no one left to fight for freedom when we are gone. Australia has fallen to totalitarianism and Europe is racing to catch up to them. Allowing the government to strip away these God given rights no matter how small we believe them to be will lead to a future that I do not want my daughters to have to experience.

I do believe we are building momentum. On day one my daughter was the only one in her school without a mask and today there are nearly a dozen. We cannot understate how brave these children are to go into school and stand up to their friends and teachers and set an example for others to follow. I believe that the harder and farther the government pushes the population you will start to see more and more people resist.