Michigan sheriff challenges Gov. Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders
Barry County Michigan Sheriff Dar Leaf joins ‘America’s Newsroom.’
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As Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders are causing a harsh backlash from residents for being too strict, Sheriff Dar Leaf is joining a group of other sheriffs who are pushing back.
“We’re not saying that we’re not going to listen to Whitmer. We’re saying that we’re going to use common sense when enforcing it,” Barry County Sheriff Leaf told “America’s Newsroom” on Friday.
“When people are being respectful and using that six-foot range [then] we’re not going to go out and tell people to start going home,” Leaf said.
Leaf joined other sheriffs from Michigan who have vowed to not strictly enforce Whitmer’s social distancing restrictions.
“While we understand her desire to protect the public, we question some restrictions that she has imposed as overstepping her executive authority,” Benzie County Sheriff Ted Schendel, Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Borkovich, l, Manistee County Sheriff Ken Falk and Mason County Sheriff Kim Cole said in a press release.
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The sheriffs said that, instead of stringent enforcement, they “will deal with every case as an individual situation and apply common sense.”
Leaf said that people cannot go fishing due to the stay-at-home order prohibiting the use of a motorboat. Leaf also said that the sheriffs pushing back on Whitmer are not making a "political" move but calling for "common sense."
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“We have an order right now that you can have a kayak, a canoe, but you can’t have a motorboat. I want people out of their house — we have an uptick of domestics from our 911 center. I want people to get out and get stretched and get out of the house: What better place than out in the middle of the lake when nobody is around you?”
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