Dear Neighbor,
This week the Minnesota DNR released the winter walleye fishing regulations for Mille Lacs Lake. Winter regs go into effect Dec. 1st, 2021. The limit is one walleye between 21-23 inches in length or one fish longer than 28 inches.
The Mille Lacs Lake fishery also has a number of other special regulations that apply to non-walleye species. For more info, visit the DNR website.
The Biden Administration using federal OSHA issued an emergency edict requiring all companies with 100 or more employees to implement a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination program. Companies must be in full compliance within 60 days of the federal register notice dated November 5, 2021. The 154-page OSHA emergency rule can be found at: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-11-05/pdf/2021-23643.pdf.
The employer must require all employees to be vaccinated or be subject to weekly COVID-19 testing. All non-vaccinated employees must wear masks when indoors and when in a vehicle with another person. The employer must determine vaccination status and keep records on each employee. It is a criminal offense to provide false information about vaccination status. The OSHA emergency standard preempts state and local law.
I disagree with this heavy-handed approach by the federal government. It will only further politicalize the issue of vaccinations. It threatens good people with losing their jobs if they don’t buckle under to forced vaccination.
The decision to be vaccinated should rest with the individual. It is not the federal government’s role to dictate whether you or I must be vaccinated as a condition to be allowed to work. However, that is exactly what this administration is doing with this latest OSHA regulation.
It remains to be seen if this edict will be stopped in the courts and the federal government will be allowed to begin severely penalizing companies that are not in compliance by the end of 60 days.
People are under enough stress today without the federal government piling on with this latest mandate. It’s time the administration in Washington DC started treating US citizens as adults and allow the individual to make an informed decision on what is best with respect to their healthcare.
Please be safe, good luck if you are in the woods this weekend hunting deer.
Sincerely,
Dale