Merced County sheriff responds to critics of his letter to state about COVID-19 response
Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke sat down Tuesday for an interview with the Merced Sun-Star, elaborating about his recent letter to the state that was highly critical of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
The letter was an lightning rod for reactions from people who supported Warnke’s position not to enforce Newsom’s shelter-in-place orders, versus those who feel it’s not safe to reopen Merced County at this time.
Later on Tuesday, after the Sun-Star had interviewed Warnke, Merced County was finally approved by the state to transition to the next stage of reopening.
During Tuesday’s interview, Warnke also responded to some of his critics, including a group of UC Merced professors who wrote an op-ed column that appeared on the Merced Sun-Star’s website Monday.
Here are some excerpts from Tuesday’s interview with the Merced County Sheriff. For video of the entire interview, visit www.mercedsun-star.com/local
Sun-Star: What prompted you to write the letter to the state?
Warnke: I was actually asked by the state to give a formal declaration on my stance with regard to potential to enforcing or not enforcing the governor’s orders.
Sun-Star: Have you received any response to your letter from Gov. Newsom or anyone at the state level?
Warnke: Nobody from the state level has given any response to me.
Sun-Star: Were you expecting a response or surprised by that?
Warnke: No, knowing how bureaucracy works they might respond two months from now. Don’t know, it wasn’t intended to get a response. It was intended to reply to a request from the law enforcement director so I did.
Sun-Star: Once the letter was released to the public, what kind of reaction were you expecting?
Warnke: I don’t know if I was expecting a reaction. I do know that because of the intense phone calls, e-mails, people stopping me, there were a lot of concerned folks that I deal with on a daily basis. And you really don’t know what you’re going to deal with people as far as their requests, but when you pick up the phone and you’ve got people in tears talking to you about them losing their houses, losing their livelihoods, losing these things because they can’t go to work. That has a tendency to send a different message out than some of the folks that I’m going to say are responding negatively to that letter.
My concern pretty much at that point was to help the folks that need to be helped, and also the reason I went into depth on that letter was that everything that has happened since this thing has started, nothing and none of what was predicted has come to fruition. My entire command staff has spent multiple hours, and I mean multiple hours, dealing with the local public health who have to deal with the state directives. We got to a certain point where we were meeting, collaborating, making sure everything was taken care of and when this thing started, OK, we’ve got something serious. I don’t know. I’ve been here 41 years and I’ve never had to deal with a pandemic or a declaration like this.
When we started having meetings and then I watched Gov. Newsom on the television, single out one county and his reaction to that singling out told me that if this was truly that pandemic or epidemic, he shut down the beaches in one county. The counties to the north and south were left open at that point. Was it that county who is the only one that is going to have this virus?
Then he made a comment a few weeks ago and he made a statement about we don’t want to be oppressive. Well he’s already thinking about oppression. So dealing with this, if any of the worries come to fruition, I’m not saying this isn’t a valid disease. It’s serious. And I want people to take this disease seriously like they do with the swine flu or the valley fever or all these other things we have to deal with on a regular basis, tuberculosis. We have to deal with chronic diseases out there when we deal with people.
It’s not that I want to take away from this disease…If we get out and there is business has a sign that says ‘please wear a mask’ I’m putting it on. That is that business’ right. Also if I’m going to go into a place, like some of our bigger box stores where I know that people aren’t as cautious, well I tell you I’m going to put that mask on and I make sure my hands are sanitized...
The three constants that have been with this pandemic for protecting yourself has been wash your hands or (use) hand sanitizer, social distancing and wear a mask when you need to if you can’t do the social distancing. That’s the only three things that have been constant. Everything else has been up in the air.
Warnke says he’s spent hours in meetings with local public health directors where they’ve developed a road map for directives for the public only to see the directives change when they are announced to the public.
Warnke: How can you follow the bouncing ball when it keeps going a different direction? It’s like trying to predict where a football is going to bounce when it hits the ground. Well that’s the way we’re going with this and the state is the same way. I’ve watched the governor time and time again, ‘Oh we’re going to give it to the local jurisdictions but they need to do it this way.’ Well, that’s not giving it to the local jurisdictions.
Merced County is different than Stanislaus County, which is different than Madera County, which is different than Mariposa County. The feeling of treating them all the same. Well, you know what, the folks in Mariposa County know how to take care of themselves, and the social distancing and stuff. I’m not talking about willy-nilly opening the businesses up and letting people standing shoulder to shoulder.
Sun-Star: You don’t want to see crowded bars or crowded restaurants?
Warnke: No. If the folks take into consideration that this is still pretty dangerous and I’m not a doctor, and I resent the fact that I heard, “don’t take medical advice from a sheriff.” Not one time did I give medical advice. Folks, pay attention. I’m telling you what is out there. The medical field, when I go to my doctor he tells me what to do and I’m going to do what my doctor says.
I’m telling folks, this is the land of free choice and our constitution says that...
Warnke read the op-ed column written by a group of UC Merced professors that was critical of Warnke’s letter to the state.
Warnke: When I have (11) professors identify themselves from University California Merced, and my understanding is even UC Merced says they work for us but that’s not our stance. When those (11) professors are at home collecting a full paycheck, for not being in school, collecting that, sitting pretty easy while the folks here can’t collect a paycheck that have been living from paycheck to paycheck. I’m getting fully paid and so is my deputies, but we’re at work on the front lines every day still facing this. I’m not staying at home collecting a paycheck. I’m working.
Those who are staying at home collecting a paycheck and have the nerve to criticize wanting to open up businesses (and saying) that I’m being reckless. OK, what are we going to do with those poor folks who can’t afford that? Put yourself in those shoes. We can do this, we can do it smartly, but we can do this.
Sun-Star: Going back to the letter, you wrote “I truly believe that Governor Newsom’s motivation is to have the majority of the citizens (and illegal residents) dependent on government’s assistance so he could maintain this control once this “pandemic” is declared over. This is being caused based upon a crisis he himself has caused in this state based on a declared pandemic on a virus that should have been dealt on a completely different level.”
In your opinion how should the virus have been dealt with differently?
Warnke: It should have been dealt with medically, come up with a different plan than to throw everyone, lock them down in their houses. Let’s do this first, let’s find out what the virus is. A lot of folks are telling me, and I don’t know, I’m in law enforcement, but I think they could have done a lot different than this, they could have taken different steps, but it’s like they are telling me, even those that have been tested, what are they going to do with them? Those that have been tested are staying at home.
Most of those haven’t had to had to have any medical treatment. Most of the people who have tested positive have not, so we put everybody in their own little quarantine? I just don’t think, that was too fast of a reaction based upon something that happened in some of these big cities. Big cities are a lot more concentrated...
I think the knee-jerk reaction by sequestering everyone. I’m up front with this, at the very beginning of this I want to protect the citizens of this county because I’m not a medical expert so I jumped on board. If you recall, we had a preacher on Easter Sunday. The problem with that happened was he locked the doors on the inside and he couldn’t get out. I have a problem with that.
The whole thing was premised on the directive by the governor. So that was a big to-do on what happened with that local pastor. I got beat up on that one too for defending that or going after. We have since alleviated the problem for him. He has a complete total understanding and now we’ve got that and he’s not going to be charged with anything and he has nothing to worry about.
That was based upon the original assumption and so far none of the predictions have been true. I heard today that public health says the peak hasn’t hit yet. How do we know? How do we know? The peak, in my opinion, should be determined on the hospitalizations and not the number of people who test positive because people get the flu every day, they just do. I’ve been fortunate this year and me personally, can consider myself an at-risk person because I just quit chemotherapy in the middle of March. I’m one of the high-riskers.
Sun-Star: How has Governor Newsom’s handling of the pandemic affected your ability and your department’s ability to do your job?
Warnke: So our ability to do our job has been stymied based upon the government, our state government telling us as sheriffs we can’t arrest certain people. They are telling all the police departments you can’t arrest certain people because of COVID. They know this.
Sheriffs up and down the state have had to release felons based upon that. The governor just set down another rule for us if somebody is going to have to do less than a year of prison, they don’t go to prison. Come on, what resources are we going to get?
Maybe I’ll segway with that resources to another question you had about what do I think the governor is going to, I don’t want to say retaliate.
Sun-Star: Will there be negative consequences for Merced County ?
Warnke: I believe there will be based upon his probably being upset with me. I’ve got a job to do like he’s got a job to do, but my job is actually dealing with people on an every-day basis. People can walk into my office. I doubt the general public can walk into his office. I doubt he goes to a local coffee shop without having an entourage with armed police officers standing around him. I go into coffee shops by myself and I deal with the public every day. I’m very personal with these folks here. I’m very personal about this county and I take it very personal when I can’t do my job based upon politics I’ve got a problem.
Yeah, I believe that’s going to be an issue. Who knows, but he’s spending money, giving money away and then telling us we’re going to have to cut the budget. Why don’t you stop giving the money away?
Sun-Star: Obviously you read the response from the UC Merced professors?
Warnke: I did.
Sun-Star: What did you think about some of their concerns? And were there any points that were valid that they made?
Warnke: Their concerns, well, I think a lot of the professors out at UC Merced already don’t like me and so it’s going to be one of those things that anything that goes against their grain. They chastised Atwater for being a sanctuary city for citizens of Atwater but they praised Livingston for being a sanctuary city for illegal aliens.
You know, darned if you do and darned if you don’t. They’ve got a right to their opinion and God bless them. As far as I know and what I’ve heard and read, they weren’t unprofessional in this, but I’m not going to retract my statement. I’m not going to come out here and say they were right on any of this. I say they have a valid, legal, right to make the statements they made, but it’s pretty significant when they aren’t financially impacted, and they can come out and say I’m the one being reckless and don’t care about the citizens here when they are obviously staying at home, nice and safe, and don’t have to worry about it, and I have to deal with the people.
Sun-Star: Were there any particular points in the professors’ letter that bothered you, that you want to respond to that you haven’t already?
Warnke: The part that bothered me was I guess, for highly-educated individuals, they didn’t look at the entire picture or to me they made an outlandish statement, ‘Don’t take medical advice from the sheriff.’ At what point in that letter did I give any medical advice, point it out. At what point? I didn’t, I just said to give the choice back to the people. Plain and simple, give it back to the people.
But the First Amendment also says that they can make their comments. They made their comments. I stand up for them for making their comments. Do I think they’re accurate? No. They are basing it on their world, their perception on their world is how it is. But it’s not real. Their perception on what is really going on in this county is skewed because they aren’t dealing with it. I am. I am dealing with it every single day, and I was elected in here, and trust me when I say this next one, I have 41 years of wearing this brand.
I know this county and the people have asked me to take care of it so I’m doing everything I can. I take this very seriously. I haven’t slept a full night in months because I wake up at 3 o’clock in the morning and the first thing I’m thinking about is all of this because we’re bombarded with it. And I’ve got real people with real problems having some difficult times and they’re looking at me for solutions.
Sun-Star: If the numbers of coronavirus infections does increase dramatically in Merced County, will you change course in your decision to enforce Newsom’s shelter-in-place rules?
Warnke: The question is a valid question. Until I find out where it’s coming, the blanket, just jump on the bandwagon, is not going to happen again. Not with me. I’ve seen too much. If the numbers go up, OK, what numbers? Is it the hospitalization numbers? Is it the fact that they can tie it to a local business, that they caught it all at this business? Tell me all the facts on why those numbers rose and we’ll base it on there.
But to throw a blanket over something like this based upon sheer numbers. Unh-uh, you go after the problem. It’s like the teacher in the classroom. A little boy keeps acting out says you know what, the entire classroom is not going out to recess because of that one little boy. No, teacher do your job. Take that one little boy who is causing problem, have him sit tight and let the other one go.
Say we have a big box store. They figure, oh my gosh, we tied it to this big box store. Now you deal with that big box store. You don’t shut them all down because one big box store.
Sun-Star: What if we do see the hospitalization spike up, or maybe the death rate?
Warnke: I’m not going to jump on that bandwagon again like I did at the beginning of this until I have all the facts. Everything goes up, we could woulda, coulda shoulda this to death. What are we going to do? This agency deals with emergencies every day and we deal with them very well. So if that comes up we will deal with it and I’ll tell you right now, I’m not afraid to pull the trigger on anything that is going (on) out there. If we have to say, ‘You know what, everybody out of the pool,’ we can do that, but I want to see the facts and figures first. What I am asking is for our folks, the people in this county, if you want me to help you, help me. When I say help me, stay (with) the social distancing. You can still do a lot of things and still monitor what is going on so we don’t increase these numbers.
That’s what I’d like to see. Help me, help you, because if you’re wanting to do these things, you know what, don’t be a knucklehead. Don’t go out there and get 30 of your best friends and go to a hamburger joint. OK? — that’s being silly. That is absolutely being silly because I said I wouldn’t enforce it. Well, you know what, you can still be responsible, you can still be responsible for this.
Three months ago it was legal for them to do this and three months from now it will be legal for them to do this, so do you want to make a criminal record now? No. Folks, take yourself seriously. When you go in there, think about your family, think about your grandma, think about your children.”
Sun-Star: If you see crowded bars or restaurants will you step in at that point?
Warnke: Again depends on the circumstance. I don’t know, you say what would you if? What would you do if you see 30 cars running a stop sign? Well, all 30 of those cars there are going to be (a) different story behind each one of them. You got one guy that thumbs his nose at the stop sign and runs through it, well he deserves a ticket.
But you’ve got a mom of three kids and they’re bouncing off the car windows and she now gets distracted for eight seconds and rolls through it. She didn’t intend to do that. So if I write her a ticket now is it going to take away the food off their kids’ table and they’re going to have to give to the government?
So I go by fairly, I don’t go by equally. It has to be fair so when we’re dealing with these things, when you talk about that, I’ll make the assessment when I see the problem. That’s the only thing I can do. I can’t say there’s a big blanket thrown on everything because that’s what got us into this mess.
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Merced County sheriff responds to critics of his letter to state about COVID-19 response."
