In late August, Rutherford County Mayor Bill Ketron extended a county-wide face covering executive order, crediting the wearing of masks with contributing to the decline of COVID-19 cases.

Reportedly, MTSU officials placed great pressure on Ketron to renew this order, one which, as unenforceable as it was, generated a great deal of controversy, support and opposition.

Shortly after announcing the decision, Ketron told a constituent “I get a call from MTSU and they’re going ‘I’ll get on my knees. Please Mayor, don’t discontinue the masks.’”

He did acknowledge, though, that the call on the executive order was ultimately his alone to make.

“Countywide, I’m the only one that has that decision,” Ketron said. Many opposed to the mask mandate said that a county mayor should not have the authority to order healthy individuals to cover their faces, that it was an overreach of governmental power.

The Rutherford County mayor did end the county order on Sept. 22, though an MTSU order affecting the university campus remains in effect.

Before the fall 2020 semester began, MTSU President Sydney McPhee said he would consider expelling a student who would not comply with the on-campus mask mandate.

These actions have brought up many questions with college students, and other local observers. Why would MTSU push for the entire county to be under a mask order? How does the university administration wield so much power over county business? Why would an institution that has a heavily young, college-age demographic be so concerned with the spread of a virus that seems to target the older population?

According to many reports, very few college-age individuals are at a great risk of serious health complications from COVID-19.

Andrew Bostom, a medical researcher associated with Brown University, compiled a referenced study looking at various large universities early in the fall 2020 semester.

His study, analyzing 29 campuses, found 26,000 students testing positive for COVID-19. These thousands of cases resulted in zero hospitalizations, Bostom reported on Sept. 8.

In response to these stats, CNBC did manage to find instances of two college students, one in San Diego, one in Kansas, who were hospitalized due to COVID, according to a report it ran a few days later.

Daniel Horowitz wrote in a piece for The Blaze that universities are sowing panic for no good reason. In March, at the onset of the COVID shutdowns, the message was to slow the spread so that hospitals would not be overrun. Looking at the story behind the numbers—that among 26,000 college students testing positive, no one had to be hospitalized—the conclusion is that outbreaks of COVID-19 on college campuses will most likely not overrun hospitals.

If it weren’t for such a focus on increased testing, Horowitz writes, “we quite literally would not know the ‘epidemic’ of mild and asymptomatic cases on college campus even exists.”

“Not only are college campuses disrupting traditional college life with mask orders and social distancing requirements and bans on gatherings, but some are creating surveillance states,” he continued.

A New York Times piece covering the “outbreaks” and “hot spots” on university campuses stated that the University of Dayton “launched an aggressive testing and tracing program,” which uncovered over 100 positive cases a day at its peak.

“Only two students had to be hospitalized, and both have recovered,” the piece went on to say.

Back in Rutherford County, in Walter Hill, one local business owner said he recently found his pizzeria in the cross-hairs of the cancel culture mob after voicing opposition to mask compliance.

Joe Peters listed many reasons that restaurant staff at Spooky’s Pizza should not wear masks.

Why would a cook working over a grill with an open flame wear a piece of cloth or paper on their face? “It’s a possible fire hazard,” he said.

Face coverings impede communication and make it more difficult for employees to speak with customers and each other, placing a hindrance on getting orders correct and running an efficient kitchen. Wearing masks causes food service workers to touch their faces more than when not wearing a mask.

“It’s hot as can be in the kitchen,” Peters told the Pulse. Plus, he doesn’t think masks would really keep a virus from escaping.

“Go in a walk-in cooler with a mask on. Breathe out and watch the breath come out of the top and the sides of the mask,” Peters said.

“This is not merely a mask,” Peters said about face covering orders and social pressure to mask up. “It is a shrewd bandit that steals your smile, personality and humanity! It is a test market for submission.”

When a group of pro-maskers learned that Spooky’s was not going to be a station of the mask police, the mob activated.

“Hundreds of negative reviews flooded in from individuals who had never set foot inside our restaurant,” Peters said. But he refused to be intimidated into changing his views or his policy.

Mark Levin and Phil Valentine both let Peters speak on their radio shows about the situation, and the outpouring of support following these call-ins far outweighed the negative attention.

“I realized how many people shared my sentiments,” Peters said.

He said like-minded patriots from states away would ask how they could support the restaurant during this time.

Although Spooky’s did not originally have branded merchandise for sale online, the restaurant owner created a shirt, and a campaign, just for the occasion, launching a shirt for sale featuring Spooky’s cartoon ghost mascot and the proclamation that “Masks Are for Halloween.” Find these shirts for sale at masksareforhalloween.com.

Peters said that the present political and social debates and frustrations are about far more than masks, that the struggles for the rule of law, reason and liberty rage across the country this year in many forms.

“Our freedom is non-negotiable!” the Spooky’s owner said in a statement he released. “Together we must fight for the soul of our nation.”

Many local business owners see Ketron lifting his face covering order as a small victory for individual liberty and freedom of choice.

Upon announcing that the mandate had come to an end on Sept. 22, Ketron acknowledged that individual businesses can still require those inside of their property to wear a mask, or not to. Some community members will choose to wear a mask and others will make the decision not to, Ketron said, asking everyone to remain respectful of one another.

“This does not mean that this difference among citizens should cause discord in the community. . . . Rutherford County is a caring and compassionate community. Do not let this pandemic change that,” Ketron said. “Be kind.”