Difference of views at Clinton County Commissioners meeting

LOCK HAVEN, PA – There was something of an indirect verbal skirmish at the Clinton County Commissioners’ meeting on Thursday, the participants state Rep. Stephanie Borowicz (R-76) and minority commissioner Angela Harding.

Borowicz, in attendance to present some House citations, also offered a report on issues pending in Harrisburg. She started by stating that the results of the Tuesday election were “a huge referendum” against state and federal mandates.

She said governmental  mandates are the “top issue” in her district and said she has offered an “opt-out” bill to give parents the option of declining masks for their children. She said parents are having difficulty in obtaining a now required medical exemption so their children do not have to wear masks; she said the state and federal mandates “affect all of us.”

Harding, in her comments at the conclusion of the meeting, restated her previous view that she is “a proponent of masking.” She said Clinton County is in a crisis and mask wearing, per UPMC and Geisinger, assists in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and the flu. Harding said the county has registered 305 new COVID cases over the past two weeks, along with 11 deaths over the last several weeks. She cited “division in the community,” an uptick in mental health disorders and “a lot of fatigue.” She said the community needs to come together in an effort to mitigate the COVID spread.

Later in the meeting commissioner Jeff Snyder lamented the difficulty in finding people willing to work in the county and said, “I don’t understand” why this is. Borowicz indicated the mandates are a factor but Harding said she believed it’s that some people don’t want to go to work.