CLAYTON, Mo. — Emotions again ran high at a St. Louis County Council meeting Tuesday night, though there was little at stake for the crowd campaigning against mask mandates.
"Welcome to week four," the first speaker said as she addressed the council, acknowledging the weeks of debate.
For hours, the crowd spoke against attempts at increased public health policy like mask mandates and vaccine requirements.
Only one person spoke out in favor of a mask mandate, telling councilmembers, "the common good is what is most important to the situation, not the rantings and ravings of the loudest and most uninformed amongst us.” This was met with scattered boos, heckling and hissing from the crowd.
Also up for debate is whether some comments at a previous meeting qualified as anti-Semitic, as Jewish community leaders had alleged one day prior. One speaker told the crowd he will "try to be on my best behavior as I don't want to upset Rabbi Talve."
When Councilwoman Lisa Clancy said she felt the conversation was turning offensive and wanted to "call it out," Councilman Ernie Trakas responded that it was not the council's place to supervise decorum.
"While some of these comments may be disrespectful, arguably inappropriate, they are nonetheless completely protected by the First Amendment," Trakas said. "I am not going to sit idly by and allow other members of the council to somehow try to chill free speech. That won't happen on my watch."
A move by Councilwoman Kelli Dunaway to prepare a resolution supporting the July 26 mask mandate – which is still paused while a legal challenge is resolved in court – failed.