By Michael Bielawski
It’s been years since Vermonters en masse gave up wearing masks in schools, businesses, and other public workplaces. However, one man until Jan. 9 was still facing prosecution by the state for an alleged violation of the controversial COVID-era masking policy.
As of Thursday, the case has been formally dropped by the prosecution at the Orleans Country Criminal Division in Newport, this shortly after a half-day-long jury selection process.
The defendant, Dennis Steele of St. Johnsbury, was at a North Country Union High School basketball game in Newport in 2022 to watch his son play. He chose to not wear his mask as he observed players on the court taking off their masks. One of the school officials took notice and had a very public disagreement with Steele which resulted in a halt of the game.
“The kids took the masks off,” Steele said. “Then a guy started screaming at me. … He told me I had four minutes to leave, and they stopped the game.”
The whole ordeal has caused him much stress. “I don’t get much sleep,” he told VDC during a phone interview in December.
“A waste of time”
Then on Jan. 9 the jury selection took place.
“We spent half the day [on the selection process],” Steele’s lawyer Robert Kaplan, based in Burlington, told VDC in a phone interview on Monday.
“There was a lot of discussion among the jurors if the case was a waste of time,” Kaplan said.
Potential jurors had to be dismissed from both sides of the issue – mask supporters and critics – who were determined to be too passionate for a truly impartial jury.
He said of the masking critics, “Some were really adamant that it was just a tool of government control.”
Kaplan said he had originally filed a motion to dismiss before the jury selection and the motion was denied. He argued to the court that “this is a misguided policy that sort of flew in the face of what was truly scientific.” He said the prosecution “didn’t really give a clear answer” for its reasoning to dismiss the case.
Federal money for masking?
Steele claims that Vermont’s Department of Education received $250 million as a ‘carrot’ from the federal government to incentivize implementation of the state-wide masking policy. VDC reached out to the Department on Monday for confirmation of this point and may offer an update.
A higher calling?
Back in December, Steele said that he was disputing the charge in part because he doesn’t want to see masking return to Vermont.
“I’m afraid if we don’t win this again the mask requirement could return,” he said.
He also said taking on the mask issue felt like taking on a higher calling. He said that while the initial response was hostile, behind the scenes some students have been congratulatory towards him and his son for taking this on. He also noted there have been continued hostilities.
“God put me here,” he said. “To find me not guilty so they can’t do this thing again.”
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle