By G BiZ
Dec 19, 2020
A mayor has just stepped down after receiving great pushback and criticism for supporting mandatory mask enforcement. The scrutiny was manageable, but once Dodge City Kansas Mayor Joyce Warshaw began getting death threats over her mandate position she knew things had gone way too far.
Warshaw released an official resignation letter earlier this week stating, “Life has dealt out many challenges in our world that have perhaps caused many people to act inappropriately but I do not feel safe in this position anymore and am hopeful in removing myself this anger, accusations and abuse will not fall on anyone else and will calm down,” Warshaw wrote.
Dodge City Daily Globe
Investigators in Dodge City have concluded angry emails sent for former Mayor Joyce Warshaw didn t contain threats.
The emails, which contained such messages as You and your city council should be tried for murder, led Warshaw to resign effective during a Tuesday meeting.
The Dodge City Police Department and Brad Ralph, counsel for the city, released the investigation summary Wednesday.
According to the summary, emails sent to Warshaw were turned over to Dodge City Police detective Sgt. James Thompson through Dodge City Police Chief Drew Francis. The first email was time stamped 9:18 p.m., the summary said. The only text contained in the subject line read, You and your city council should be tried for murder.
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A friend wanted you to see this item from WRAL.com: https://wr.al/1JXzk
The former mayor of Dodge City, Kansas says her life was threatened after she voiced her support for a COVID-19 mask mandate.
Show Transcript
On Tuesday, Dog City Mayor Joyce Warshaw officially resigned from her elected position, effective immediately. The resignation comes after Warshaw felt her safety was in question. She says she, along with other city commissioners, were faced with aggression and threats of violence through email and phone calls. Well, maybe if I am the target, if I remove myself, maybe they can calm down. The backlash escalated following a recent article published by U. S. A. Today regarding the city s mask mandate. Those that were against the man mandate were very aggressive in their Burbage, she says. Although she has stepped down as mayor, she stands by the decision she made in that role, wearing mask and distancing and trying to limit our crowd size. That is the least we ca
AP Photo/Eric Gay
Joyce Warshaw, mayor and commissioner of Dodge City, Kansas is relinquishing her elective duties. From her resignation letter:
“It is with a heavy heart that I am submitting this letter of resignation from the commission and the mayorship effective immediately today, December 15, 2020. Life has dealt out many challenges in our world that have perhaps caused many people to act inappropriately but I do not feel safe in this position anymore and am hopeful in removing myself this anger, accusations and abuse will not fall on anyone else and will calm down.”
Dodge City, like much of the country, is seeing a surge in COVID-19 infections, and Warshaw was one of the 5 commissioners who voted for the institution of a city-wide mask mandate in November. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly had previously issued a statewide mask mandate, but gave Counties the choice to opt out. Ford County, where Dodge City is seated, took that option; but with the increase in cases and deaths,
On Tuesday, Dec. 15, Dodge City Mayor Joyce Warshaw officially resigned from her position effective immediately.
“I understand people are under a lot of pressure from various things that are happening around society like the pandemic, the politics, the economy, so on and so forth, but I also believe that during these times people are acting not as they normally would,” Warshaw said regarding her reasons for her abrupt resignation. “I think it’s best for me and the city that I love to remove myself from the commission at this time and from the mayorship so that the city can move forward and be the best that it can be because I believe in the city.