In New Times Aug. 6 news section, the lead article chronicled a lawsuit against the Arroyo Grande Smart & Final brought by Sandra Prager Balsamo in response to her being asked to leave the store when she refused to wear the required mask (“Local Smart & Final sued for alleged discrimination over a face mask“). Ms. Balsamo’s attorney, who is (coincidentally?) named Dennis Balsamo, says the suit isn’t about wearing a mask: It’s about discrimination against and embarrassment of a customer with health issues, who claimed to not to be able to wear a mask. The fact that she was potentially endangering all the rest of the customers did not seem to occur to either her or her representative/relative.
As a former RN and an elder with health concerns, I have been a regular customer of this particular Smart & Final because the management and workers have been such consistent enforcers of the appropriate measures to avoid the spread of COVID-19 urged by the medical pundits. For the Balsamos to punish those who are acting to help others stay well by a pursuit, I imagine, of financial gain, is just wrong.
It is also suspect. There are a good number of groceries in our area that provide curb service to those customers who have health issues that prevent them from wearing masks or have disabilities. I know several families who use those services. I can’t think of any reason Ms. Balsamo could not have gotten her needs met without a personal preference for in-store shopping having overridden her concern for others’ well-being.
Take heart, managers of Smart & Final, there are hordes of people who appreciate your consistent and polite reinforcement of the only proven ways as yet for limiting the spread of this terrible virus until it is licked.
Istar Holliday
Arroyo Grande
This article appears in Aug 13-23, 2020.
With all due respect, Istar Holliday, do you implicitly trust the government when they tell you what is real (a “killer” virus) and how to live your life (wear a face mask and distance yourself from other people)? If so, WHY do you trust government? Haven’t governments throughout time consistently and without pause used psychological manipulation and brute force to commit acts of horrible injustice, including mass deaths of women, children, and the elderly, our most vulnerable people?
Would it be okay for your best friend to rob his neighbor of his hard-earned money and assets? No. Almost everyone agrees that stealing is morally wrong. So why is it okay when the government steals your best friend’s, and his neighbor’s, and YOUR hard-earned money and assets through illegal extortion fees called “income taxes”? Why is it okay for the governor to “mandate” (which he cannot) face mask wearing, which restricts your oxygen intake, increases your CO2 intake, creates a breeding ground for bacteria and other pathogens, and is useless in protecting against any virus?
What research have you personally found showing proven evidence that 1) there is a Covid-19 virus that has been isolated, purified, and witnessed under a microscope, 2) there actually is an epidemic from Covid-19, being the sole cause of people dying, and 3) that wearing a face mask prevents transmission of this so-called virus? (Hint: No such evidence exists.)
Do you consider health a personal responsibility, or do you think “authorities” like government and its agents should be able to tell you what is right or wrong for your health and well-being (and that of your children), even if it goes against everything you stand for? If the government told us all that being doused with a particular concoction of harsh chemicals would kill the virus but seriously burn and scar your skin, and that this was mandatory for everyone, would you do it? Do governors make laws? Are man-made laws legitimate in the eyes of the Creator? How do you know?
Sharine…
Congratulations on being among the most selfish, callous, and self-centered people on the planet… as well as a big part of the reason thousands of your American compatriots have died.
As a historian, I’ll make certain your part in this American tragedy is remembered.
The ADA, which Balsamo is asserting in the claim against Smart and Final for not accommodating her “disability” (a claimed inability to wear a mask), has long been abused. We have seen truck drivers suing after they were fired due to alcoholism and drug use, claiming that these are a “disability” which must be “accommodated”, and professional plaintiffs who make a lucrative business out of suing stores, etc. for claimed access shortcomings. It is time that the ADA be tightened up to prevent abuses like this.