During the July 22 Board of Commissioner meeting, the Board majority voted 7-4 to eliminate the county motto, “Where Freedom Rings.”
Voting in favor of keeping the motto – Commissioners Allison Miedema, Sylvia Rhodea, Kendra Wenzel and Joe Moss.
Voting in favor of eliminating the county motto – Commissioners John Teeples, Josh Brugger, Jordan Jorritsma, Jim Barry, Jordan Jorritsma, Phil Kuyers and Doug Zylstra.
Prior to the vote, I shared some of my thoughts which are copied here for you to read.
“A vision statement such as a motto helps to focus in on what matters and where every other decision stems from.
Churches and businesses create them. Sometimes families do.
Our own nation has the motto – “In God We Trust.”
In God We Trust reminds us how we began as a nation and who we are to seek after for wisdom and discernment. There is purpose and intention in why we choose to begin our meetings with prayer.
The concept of freedom has been hard wired into each of us since the Creation of the world.
Over the course of history, freedoms have had to be intentionally fought for and our own nation’s founding was one of the biggest experiments of all time.
The motto, “Where Freedom Rings” was voted in on January 3, 2023 as a promise to the people of Ottawa County that their voices had been heard, that government needed to be kept in its lane, and that the gift of freedom was one that would be continuously fought for – whether in easy or hard times that fell upon our community.
This vision statement sets a county’s ultimate ideal or goal — where individual freedoms, parental rights, and freedom of religion and conscience are protected, all people belong; and, where we welcome all to live, work, worship and raise a family in Ottawa County.
The ultimate purpose of government is to protect and to secure the rights of its citizens.
May we never forget.
Here are tangible ways that from 2023- present that a few of us have stood to protect and secure those rights:
A few very short years ago during the Covid Pandemic, we faced a government locally here in our county and schools, in our state, and our nation that horrifically abused the ultimate purpose of government.
Ongoing lockdowns, great economic loss to businesses and families, threatened jail time for schools and businesses that knew their constitutional rights, masking, testing and isolating the healthy, separating citizens into classes of vaccinated vs unvaccinated, the proclamation of a winter of death from a sitting president for citizens who weren’t vaccinated, and for the first time in our nation’s history, shaming or coercing parents to “save grandpa and grandma” through their children. Up until that point in history, it was the children that all adults sought to protect.
This was a large reason that the newly elected Board of 2023-2024 changed the motto on day 1 – it was our demonstration to the people that their voices were heard and would not be forgotten. It was time for a reset. This was a tangible way of demonstrating we are here to protect and secure the rights of each Ottawa County citizen.
Another tangible way we acted to protect and secure your rights was letting the past corporation counsel, Doug Van Essen go on January 3, 2023 and hiring Kallman Legal, a highly recognized and respected constitutional law firm.
For a bit of short history, Doug Van Essen served as this county’s corporation counsel during the time of COVID and was behind the threats of throwing people in jail and heavy pressure on the Health Dept and County Board Leadership to continue masking our children in the fall of 2021.
Earlier this year, the Board majority proceeded to hire Ron Bultje as interim counsel. Ron Bultje turned and hired Doug Van Essen as an employee of his firm and now Doug has slid back into the seat of corporation counsel at the county. And this was never brought forward in a transparent manner to the public or to the entire Board.
This does not reflect Where Freedom Rings.
Again – The ultimate purpose of government is to protect and to secure the rights of its citizens. Not just when things are going well. All the time.
May we never forget.
How else did we put action to “Where Freedom Rings?”
We shut down the DEI department on January 3, 2023.
Surrounding the years of the pandemic, DEI had been brought into our county. Ottawa County had been strategically selected to be one of the first counties to implement it alongside of very unaligned progressive cities such as Portland, Oregon.
Each part of this country has a history and a story. So does ours.
Does that mean everyone is or should be Dutch? Absolutely not. But if we know our history and our roots, we will realize it’s actually something quite beautiful and something to be proud of. All people should be free to obtain a job through merit, character and excellence and should not be passed up because they are not the right skin color, nationality, gender, or sexuality.
And at the same time, freedom of conscience and parental rights must be protected.
Our county was the first in the nation to close its DEI department. Now, a couple of years later, the nation has seen the damage its ideology has brought with it and with its collective vote is seeing it being taken out of our nation’s government and schools.
Again – The ultimate purpose of government is to protect and to secure the rights of its citizens. Not just when things are going well. All the time.
May we never forget.
There are many more examples I could give but I will end with one more tangible way we believe that Freedom is for everyone.
Earlier this year, there was one long 9 hour day and one shorter day discussing what our Board Rules would be. One of those items was regarding the invocation or prayer before our Board meetings. A well-meaning commissioner invited everyone to stand as he led the prayer that morning. I chose to stay seated and explained why later when the invocation came up during that section of the Board Rules discussion. I explained that there are individuals that do not believe in God that attend our meetings and that I didn’t want unnecessary attention to be drawn to them if they chose to sit. Prayer is an invitation to join together in communication to our Creator, our loving and just Heavenly Father. A relationship with Jesus, the Savior of the World is something I personally desire for each person but it must be a choice. It’s not love if it’s forced or pressured on someone. Again, freedom is for everyone.
Those are just a few reasons why I stand by our county motto “Where Freedom Rings”. It’s for everyone. Not just a few, no matter what anyone says. And it invites accountability and self refection. Pointing us back to the Constitution and for me personally, God’s Word.”
