The town of Mossyrock, Wash., passed an ordinance allowing businesses to stay open in defiance of Gov. Inslee’s COVID mandates. Mayor Randall Sasser argues that there’s little data to support keeping businesses closed, and that not all areas should be held to the same standard.

“I think this is a very important issue that’s going on within our country and within our state right now, and we’ve got to stand up for what is right,” Sasser told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Show. “They have issued the numbers by commissioner’s district, but not by zip code. And currently in Mossyrock, in our 98564 zip code, there is no information that states that there are any cases whatsoever within our zip code of COVID, or any deaths related to it.”

“One of the interesting comments I made at our council meeting was that in Lewis County this year, we’ve had a total, as of today, of 14 deaths due to COVID, unfortunately,” he said. “But so far this year, we’ve had 10 suicides, and last year there was only three suicides in Lewis County. So when we look at the shutdowns and everything that’s happening and there’s no data that says the Mossyrock area 98564 zip code has any cases or deaths, why then should we suffer as a city and as citizens following the governor’s mandate?”

Sasser says areas not as impacted by COVID should not be held to the same standards as those hardest hit, and that Inslee is not sufficiently providing data to back up the lockdowns.

“The other thing that we did is that we actually put in a public records request from Lewis County health to release that information as far as zip codes,” he said. “Because how can you manage a pandemic if you don’t know exactly where the hot spots are? And if in our area we do not have any hot spots, so then why should we as a community be held hostage with our schools and our citizens to the rest of the state?”

“Early on, I thought it was a financial thing, but I believe it’s more of a control than anything else,” he said. “I believe that they want to be able to control us and tell us what we need to do and get us accustomed to always following what they say. Because I believe that there is something bigger that they have planned to keep us under their thumb.”

“First thing, I believe that they’re definitely going to try to get some sort of income tax to pay for all of the money that’s been printed,” he added. “I believe also that as people are just following whatever the governor says that it makes it easier for them to … pass legislation for gun control and that sort of thing.”