From Staff Reports

It was obvious to everyone in attendance of the Buncombe County Board of Education meeting on Aug. 5 evening that the board would be voting for the mask mandate for students and teachers, regardless of the views of the large contingent of citizens in attendance who were overwhelmingly against the mask mandate, according to Don Yelton, one of the speakers at the Buncombe County school board meeting on Aug. 5.

Yelton got so upset with the board during his allotted time to speak — after the mask mandate vote — that he angrily walked out of the meeting as he finshed his address.

“I left because Pat Bryant (who holds the Erwin District seat on the school board) jumped on somebody who spoke in the audience,” Yelton told the Daily Planet in an Aug. 7 interview.

“I basically said, ‘Pat, you’re not worth an apology. I’m leaving because it’s not worth my time to listen to a bunch of idiots (the school board) who don’t know what they’re talking about.’ 

“I walked out. I sat outside in my Jeep in front of the building... Apparently, the board voted for ‘Option B — no choice,’ meaning you have to wear a mask.” He noted that Option A would have allowed each individual to make a choice on whether to wear a mask.

Yelton added, “They had the meeting that morning and they were going to let the people come in, but they couldn’t say anything... They basically said: ‘This is the way we’re going to go.’ 

“Max Queen (the Enka District representative on the school board) was 100 percent against somebody making the decision” on an individual basis. “He wanted masks. 

“Amy Churchill (the Roberson District representative on the school board) wanted masks. 

“Ann (B.) Franklin (the school board chairwoman) wanted people to have a choice on masks and ... somebody (a school board member) wanted to add” (that)  you don’t have to wear a mask under strenuous exercise. 

“Ann Franklin acting like she made a motion that made everybody happy. Then they overrode her, saying they would put off a vote till the night’s meeting.”

Continuing, Yelton said, “Then, that night they were going to let the people in and they could speak. But just like the county commissioners, you could speak for three minutes. (Both the county commissioners and the school board don’t want any input). What happened when the people started speaking — everybody brought up good points for why they didn’t want their kid wearing masks.”

However, until the citizen attendees emerged from the meeting, Yelton said, “I did not know what was happening... My understanding is they (the citizens in attendance) jumped up and said they wanted a re-vote.”

Yelton then criticized WLOS (an Asheville television station, aka News 13) and the Asheville Citizen Times (in their subsequent news stories) for their descriptons of the crowd as ‘hostile’ and acting like ‘tyrants’” during the public comments portion of the meeting.

“They (school officials) called a break and left,” Yelton said. He learned from his contacts that remained at the meeting that a number of the attendees demanded a vote. They “elected a new school board — and they voted to not require masks.”

Yelton defended the behavior of the citizens speaking at the school board meeting, noting that Churchill, in particular, and some other school board members, in general, “treated the public like crap. That’s why I walked out — because they treated everyone like idiots... And I thought they were idiots.”

Yelton then asked, rhetorically, How many new (COVID-18) cases in Buncombe County exist because of the delta variant?

“The whole attempt (with the school board and the commissioners) is an attempt to hide. They want their government behind closed doors.”

Regarding (Dr. Tony) Baldwin (county school superintendent) and Susanne Swanger (associate superintendent of curriculum and unstruction), Yelton said, “I talked to them after the morning meeting. I said, ‘You know people need to know the facts. Let them make the choice.’

“They said, ‘Well, we lined them up and gave them polio shots (in the 1953).’”

Yelton noted that he told Baldwin and Swanger that the difference is that, “‘at that time (in U.S history), people trusted the government. Now, people don’t trust the government at all. People know it’s being done behind closed doors.’”

Further, Yelton asserted, “Anybody who watches that meeting knows it was orchestrated.”

With a wry laugh, he added, “Somebody told me that when they send me to the re-education camp, they’ll tell me what to say.”

In closing the interview, Yelton lamented, “The future is this the county commissioners will say you have to wear a mask starting Monday (Aug. 9) at the County Office Building.”