Resolution passed condemning terrorist group Hamas attacks against people of Gaza Strip and Israel
PASO ROBLES — City Councilmembers approved two resolutions during the Tuesday, Nov. 7, meeting — one condemning the Hamas attacks against Israel and another declaring businesses within the City of Paso Robles as essential and that masking is a personal preference within the City of Paso Robles. Both resolutions were requested by Councilmember Chris Bausch at a prior City Council meeting.
During the closing of the Oct. 4 meeting, Bausch requested for the council to add an agenda item to a future meeting that would declare all businesses in the city an essential business in preparation for any potential closures ordered by the county, state, or agencies. He also requested the council to consider a resolution stating any mask mandates similarly imposed will not be enforced by the city and that masking would be a matter of personal preference.
Bausch referenced a similar resolution that was passed in the City of Coalinga. In May 2020, that city passed a resolution declaring all of its businesses essential to allow them to operate during any government shutdown.
Many members of the public expressed their support of the council declaring all Paso Robles businesses essential and that masks are a personal choice if another shutdown were to occur in the county, state, or country.
Former Paso Robles Joint Unified School District Trustee Frank Triggs, who is almost 84 years old, believed the council is within their reach to determine all the city’s businesses are essential.
“We should not be doing government overreach to determine which businesses are essential and which are not,” he said. “We need to keep our economy going … Also, I appreciate the fact that you’re considering that this resolution will simply say it’s the choice of the individual whether to wear a mask [or not].”
Councilmember Fred Strong, echoed the public’s stance on freedom of choice for masking and essential businesses: “We should all be free to make those decisions. I fully agree with what was said.”
The councilmembers unanimously approved the resolution “Declaring Businesses within the City of Paso Robles as ‘Essential’ and Clarifying that Masking is a Matter of Personal Preference within the City of Paso Robles.”
Members of the public expressed their support for the council to pass the resolution condemning the violence currently happening in Israel and Palestine.
Councilmembers unanimously approved the resolution to condemn the atrocities by the terrorist organization Hamas against the people of the Gaza Strip and Israel, and they stand with all the victims who have been affected by the violence.
Mayor John Hamon, who just returned earlier this week from a trip to Egypt and Jordan, commented that while there were no signs of war where he was, “From my knowledge and what I have been researching, it’s Hamas that has the problem here and not so much the Palestinian people … this whole region has been fighting for thousands and thousands of years. And I don’t know if it’s ever going to stop, but this kind of action certainly needs to be condemned, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Newly sworn-in Councilmember Sharon Roden, added, “And if you are a religious person, it goes back to Abraham. They are all related. If you go back genetically we’re all related period. So we hope that those things can be resolved. We all hope that for that area and everywhere else.”
The next Paso Robles City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 21, 6:30 p.m.
