SWEET HOME, Ore. — In the small town of Sweet Home, Oregon, a man said his refusal to wear a mask landed him in jail.
“We're in an unprecedented time," said Ray Towry, Sweet Home city manager. "We're all kind of learning as we go through this."
Towry’s been fielding a lot of questions about what happened in Sweet Home Municipal Court Wednesday. John "JT" Kulbeth appeared on harassment and traffic citations. He also refused to wear a face mask. Kulbeth shared his account of what happened on the Lars Larson radio show.
“When I checked into the clerk’s window, the clerk promptly told me, ‘Well you need to have a face mask.’ I was confused and said, ‘Well I don't and I'm not going to because I have enough breathing issues as it is.’ She goes, ‘Well the judge is going to disagree with that.’”
He did.
Towry said Judge Larry Blake Jr. didn't back down on face mask requirements.
“[Blake] said, 'You need to wear a mask,' and again [Kulbeth] refused,” said Towry. “The judge said, ‘Well you don't really have a choice,’ essentially. And Mr. Kulbeth said, ‘Well then I'm just going to leave,’ and he left.”
Kulbeth said he tried to explain his health reasons for not wearing a mask to the judge.
“I said, ‘I have enough respiratory issues as it is but I'm more than willing to come back another day,’ and he didn't like that idea,” said Kulbeth. "So finally I said, ‘Fine, I'll just leave.'”
Minutes later, the Sweet Home police chief arrested Kulbeth in the parking lot and booked him into the city’s jail for failure to appear and contempt of court.
Enforcement of the COVID-19 mask mandates is murky. Sheriffs have said they don't have the capacity to follow up on complaints. Oregon's governor has left it up to counties to decide how to enforce the rule. And some individual jurisdictions have their own guidelines.
Towry said despite multiple advance notifications of mask requirements, Kulbeth never called the court ahead to ask for special health accommodations. He said the court would have gladly made them. Kulbeth said he spent close to two hours in jail. KGW asked Towry if he thought the judge overreacted.
“I think [Judge Blake] was acting within the scope of his authority as a municipal court judge,” said Towry. “[Kulbeth] left during the interaction with the judge and walked out. Was not wearing the mask part of the issue? That certainly elevated this to the situation it's become, absolutely.”
Judge Blake arraigned Kulbeth in jail and set his next court date for July 22. Kulbeth said the judge was very clear with his instructions.
“He said, ‘When you come back on July 22, if you don't have a face mask or you don't have a doctor's note saying you're not legally required to wear a face mask, you're going to go to jail,’” said Kulbeth. “For up to 30 days.”