September 29, 2020 - Julie Formby
Coloradans along the Front Range took a big step forward this past weekend with opening up our state FOUR counties at a time! Sunday, September 27th was COUNTIES AGAINST COVID CHAOS held in: Douglas, El Paso, Jefferson & Larimer counties. Citizens of these four counties gathered together at concurrent events in these counties to re-open businesses in Colorado completely and normally. These events drew hundreds of citizens together at each of the four county courthouses.
First, the MCs at each event presented COVID data for their counties compared to Colorado as a whole. These counties have experienced lower incidences of deaths and hospitalizations than the Colorado as a whole. Data was also presented from other counties and states where no lockdowns or mandates were implemented. The data shows that the destruction of business and our economy here in Colorado is unjustified! Weld County and South Dakota, a county and a state that did not lock down or implement mandates, have lower death rates than Colorado as a whole.
Next the business impact data from COVID policies was also presented by the MCs. From Macroeconomist Paul Prentice of El Paso County:
U.S. DATA
2020 Q1 (Jan-Feb-Mar) US real GDP fell at an annual rate of 5% (Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis)
2020 Q2 (Apr-May-Jun) US real GDP fell at an annual rate of 32% (Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis)
Total decline in US current-dollar GDP from peak in 2019 Q4 was $2.26 trillion in lost economic activity (Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis)
Peak-to-trough decline in total employment was 25.4 million jobs lost--about 16% of all US jobs (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Permanent loss of 7.5 million small businesses (Source: estimate, CNBC survey)
CO DATA
2020 Q1 (Jan-Feb-Mar) CO real GDP fell at an annual rate of 4% (Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis)
2020 Q2 (Apr-May-Jun) CO state-level data not yet available
Colorado peak-to-trough decline in total employment was 343,500 jobs lost--about 12% of all CO jobs (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Keep Colorado Free & Open and FEC Colorado conducted a local business survey which evaluated the impact of COVID on local businesses found that:
· 19% of businesses re-opened in defiance of the governor’s orders
· Of those who re-opened in defiance, 21% had their business license threatened by the health department
· None have been fined
· None have had their license revoked
· All but one small business reported a financial impact due to the governor’s orders:
o 92% reported a loss of $100,00-250,000 so far this year!!!
60% of restaurants will not survive if this continues for 60-90 days more (National Restaurant Association)
As citizens, we contend that given the data and statistics for our counties, there is NO emergency and therefore NO reason for businesses to remain restricted from operating at FULL CAPACITY with NO RESTRICTIONS!
Next our MCs introduced speakers who spoke about "What It Means To Be An American" and "What Is Government Of, By and For the People." Speakers included: a collection of candidates, as well as former and sitting officials, radio personalities and politically-involved citizens, including:
Greg Lopez (former Mayor of Parker & Current Gubernatorial Candidate)
David Casiano (former Mayor of Parker)
Kristi Burton Brown (constitutional lawyer and co chair for state Republican Party)
Samantha Koch (House District 1 Candidate)
Laurel Imer (House District 24 Candidate)
Randy Corporon (Attorney for lawsuit by Patrick Neville & two others for Bandimere, talk show host & Chairman for the Arapahoe Tea Party)
Don Overcash (Loveland City Councilman & Mayor Pro Tem)
Karen Kataline (commentator, columnist & talk show host)
Kevin Lundberg (former Colorado Representative & Senator)
Jessica Joy (activist against censorship, pornography, and the subversive liberal takeover of our cities including legislation passed in 36 states)
Mike Holler (Toured with the National Tea Party Express, known as “Mr. Constitution,” Author of The Constitution Made Easy)
After the MCs at read The Resolution that we are asking Commissioners and Health Board Members & Directors to adopt:
A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING AND ENCOURAGING ALL BUSINESSES TO REOPEN IN X COUNTY UNDER SECTION 1 OF THE 14TH AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES WHICH PREVENTS THE STATE FROM DEPRIVING ANY PERSON OF LIFE, LIBERTY, OR PROPERTY WITHOUT DUE PROCESS OF LAW; NOR DENY TO ANY PERSON THE EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAWS
WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners has the legislative authority to manage the concerns of the County when deemed by the Board to be in the best interests of the County and its inhabitants; and
WHEREAS, citizens of the County rely on the Board of County Commissioners & Board of Health to protect the common welfare of the business community; and
WHEREAS, the State along with the Department of Public Health & Environment has arbitrarily determined that businesses must comply with unfunded mandates and overbearing restrictions; and
WHEREAS, the State along with the Department of Public Health & Environment have threatened to revoke state issued licenses from all business that reopen and must remain closed until a further notice; and
WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners & Board of Health take the position that the actions of the State and Department of Public Health & Environment conflict with Section 1 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners & Board of Health declares that the Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land and supersedes all Executive Orders issued by the Governor of Colorado and Public Health Orders issued by the Department of Public Health & Environment until due process has been exercised; and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the citizens of the County that the businesses in the County reopen without any fear of repercussions or penalties as they are protected under Section 1 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that all businesses are hereby able to self-determine if they should open or not without any impediment or interference from the County, and if the State or the Department of Public Health & Environment revoke any state issued license the County will issue such revoked license to the business to allow them to remain open within the County until the business owner is provided with due process.
PASSED and ADOPTED this _____ day of ________________, 2020, in ___________, _________County Colorado.
THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE COUNTY OF
_____________________________, COLORADO
BY:
_______________________________________________, Chair
ATTEST:
___________________________________________________________, Clerk to the Board
In Douglas County, one Commissioner spoke up, and he is in favor of re-opening his county and will be encouraging the other two Commissioners to adopt The Resolution.
Here are videos of The Resolution being read:
At the end of each event, The Resolution was taped to taped to the courthouse doors, and a copy will be delivered to each official tomorrow.
More photos and videos from these events can be seen on Facebook at Keep Colorado Free & Open - Events Page and under each event listed there:
SAVE THE DATE:
In two weeks, we are hosting another event on October 11th at 3pm at the same four courthouses once again to hear back from our county officials about their response to our request to adopt The Resolution and re-open our counties.
Details to follow soon.... stay tuned...
Enough is enough! Colorado is FED UP! Invite your friends and family to join us and stand against the COVID chaos. It’s time to get back to the old normal! NO MORE LIES! NO MORE RESTRICTIONS!
RETURN TO FREEDOM!
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