Wednesay, August 17, 2020
Bar owners, Stillwater City Council react to influx of students Jennifer Maupin, Staff Reporter, @JenniferMaupin8
With students returning to campus this past weekend, there has been an influx of visitors to Stillwaters bars on Washington Street. Due to the large number of eager students, some bar owners are struggling to uphold social distancing and mask requirements. This was documented by The O’Colly in a series of videos showing a packed bar with little to no social distancing and almost no one wearing a mask. On Tuesday, Mayor William Joyce said he was preparing additional emergency orders to limit bar capacity to 50%, and require customers to be seated to be served. Joyce said the details were still being ironed out, but predicted the document would be released on Tuesday afternoon. As of 8 p.m on Tuesday, the document had not been released on the city’s website. “We are doing our best to try to figure out how to
keep everybody safe and deal with the ever-changing conditions with this pandemic,” Joyce said. Currently, there are no penalties associated with individuals who fail to follow guidelines off-campus. Instead, the responsibility falls on businesses to post the signage and enforce the rules. “We are seeing people comply with the mask ordinance as it is written. It’s not everybody but even if you were writing tickets you wouldn’t get 100% compliance,” Joyce said. “It’s a cost/benefit problem. How many more people do we think we can get to wear masks and how many resources is it going to require to get there?” Councilor Alane Zannotti said she wants to commend those who are following the mandates. “There’s some peer pressure and you almost feel silly walking into a business if you don’t have a mask on so
See MAUPIN, PAGE 2 Photo by Adam Luther
Petition against weedstock “Attendance at a large music festival where social distancing is not strictly required...is just going to allow COVID to rapidly spread amongst those that participate,” Andrews said. “It’s our job to not just protect ourselves, but also to protect those in our community.” Weedstock is a three-day music festival in Stillwater that starts August 20. The event has caused controversy regarding its timing in the pandemic
Chase Congleton, Entertainment Editor, @ChaseCongleton
An Oklahoma State University student started a petition Tuesday morning to help let the Stillwater voice opposition against Weedstock. Courtney Andrews, who is a senior majoring in biosystems and agricultural engineering, started the petition on Change. org. Andrews grew up in Stillwater, and she said the decisions students make will affect those who are living in the town.
See CONGLETON, PAGE 4 Photo by Atira Feliciano
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