The Ripon Rabbit
Few people in the community have compared the City Mayor’s leadership to the likes of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Christ, yet Ripon Common Sense feels a better comparison would be to the likes of an “actor”.
During Ripon City Council meeting on Monday September 27th 2021, you might have missed an alarming, fear driven performance by the City of Ripon Mayor Ted Grant or “Theodore Shakespeare” as we call him.
Grant took the final remaining council moments to address information he was “Asked to convey”. He began Act 1;
“I do have a statement I was asked to convey this comes from the Fox Valley Wisconsin Healthcare Emergency Readiness Coalition”
We are not exactly sure how Ripon’s Mayor was asked to convey these messages during the city meeting, nevertheless this thespian mayor continued on script.
“Their statement says hospitals and Healthcare facilities throughout the Fox Valley region are experiencing an increased number of patients with covid-19 and asking the community to get vaccinated to reduce at the spread a help end this pandemic.”
It was at this breaking point of the show, Alderman John Splitt got up and walked out the chamber. Apparently he had enough of the Mayor’s bad political theater performance.
Mr. Splitt was the only council member to vote “NO” on the unenforceable Face Covering Policy during the September 14th Council Meeting.
As they say in the theater, the show must go on! Grant continued the dialog;
“Covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective at preventing serious illness and death. The climbing covid-19 cases across the nine counties of the FV-HERC have placed an undue burden on our healthcare workers hospitals and Health Systems in this District”
FV-HERC “The Fox Valley Healthcare Emergency Readiness Coalition” according to their website is a coalition sustained by grant funding agencies.
Maybe they are short staffed or perhaps running low on funds as the “LATEST NEWS & PRESS” section of this website has not been updated since April of 2020.
This compelled Ripon Common Sense to seek the original source of the playwright. We uncovered that it was first promoted on Facebook BeSafeWisconsin an organization founded by Thedacare.
BeSafeWisconsin.org and Thedacare have partnered with a number of local entities including Ascension and additional area health care providers, local communities, and even the Boys & Girls Club.
The press release headline reads “Fox Valley Hospitals Urge Vaccination to Prevent Critical Strain on Hospitals, Clinics, Healthcare Workers” and was issued on Sep 23rd 2021 it also provides notice to the public that;
“Area emergency departments are experiencing record high patient volumes due to a variety of community health needs. This may lead to extended wait times.”
12 days prior to this release of the concerns the Mayor addressed, NPR & Wisconsin Public Radio covered the following story:
Source: https://www.wpr.org/many-long-term-care-staff-wisconsin-reject-vaccine-despite-risks
That article above demonstrates perhaps another side of why Advocate Aurora Health, Agnesian HealthCare, Ascension Wisconsin and ThedaCare may be in panic…Labor Shortages.
Wisconsin data recently released by John Hopkins University & Medicine from the coronavirus resource center and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers interesting insight into what is really going on.
This data appears to challenge the Mayor’s statements. In fact it does reflect a high number of occupied beds & ICU in the state but shockingly due to “Non Covid-19” occupation.
Source: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/us/wisconsin
Perhaps unaware of the data above The Mayor dramatically continued to reading;
“This year from August 1st to September 21st the total number of covid-19 hospitalizations increased six-fold in the Fox Valley region in the same time frame they were five times the number of covid-19 and Intensive Care Unit hospitalizations more than 90% of patients being treated in the Fox Valley Hospital’s for covid-19 are not vaccinated”
Yet even further review of the John Hopkins data for Wisconsin clearly shows what took place just prior to the recent covid spike.
Vaccinations were up!
Increasing more than six fold during the lowest reported period of positive tests, covid cases and hospitalizations throughout Wisconsin during the entire pandemic.
Source: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/us/wisconsin
In light of this, anyone with common sense would ask, who really are the ones needing protection? If vaccination isn’t working to stop the spread of covid, what mechanism is in place to protect yourself and those around you from the vaccinated?
Furthermore, if “Non-Covid-19” patients are the result of limited beds and ICU, what are people in Wisconsin being hospitalized for?
It takes curiosity to learn. It takes courage to unlearn.
Learning requires the humility to admit what you don’t know today. Unlearning requires the integrity to admit that you were wrong yesterday. Learning is how you evolve. Unlearning it how you keep up as the world evolves.
Ripon is not unlike many communities around the nation struggling with the same political theater. Regardless of what side of the line you stand, we should all agree that freedom should always be the forefront of every conversation. Wrong, right, or indifferent. We should be a beacon of understanding, and in the interest of community well being, know the truth through transparency at all levels of community.
Nevertheless, this short stage play that took place from the “Council Globe” Ripon’s political stage is where local commonors can gather to enjoy the “Council Community Players” Political Theater performances any 2nd Tuesday or 4th Monday of the month.
You can watch the entire replay of the Mayor’s Shakespearean performance here!
