Spanish Lookout | Auction Sale

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  It was a bright, sunny day. A gentle rain had fallen earlier in the morning. I headed out to Reimer's Feed Mill, the place where the farm auction sale was being held. (Here is a video of part of the event.) As expected, there were different types of Mennonites from across the country gathered there. Quality Poultry had their tents up, selling food and drinks. Customers, mostly men, milled about inspecting items and meeting old friends. The bidding had already begun. One or two government officials were present. Everything felt normal, looked normal, seemed normal. Dozens of people without masks, not much social distancing, no police... at first. Except for a few Mennonites with masks under their chin and non-Mennonites with masks under their noses, it could have been the year 2019BC (before coronavirus). I left after a few minutes.


  The following is an account given to me by a friend:

  Well, the crowd continued to grow and the bidding kept on. The local government police-they have a station inside Spanish Lookout where 2 or 3 police are usually posted-walked around reminding people about masks and social distancing. Apparently they weren't doing enough... perhaps some outsider became fed up...or someone was alarmed at the size of the crowd. Whatever the case, the higher ups from San Ignacio were called. At least 10 police, if not more, climbed out of their trucks and proceeded to disperse the crowd and stop the event. One of them was upset to the point where he even drew out his handgun as he stepped out of his vehicle. Was he seriously thinking of using it? Maybe simply feeling it in his hand gave him courage to face more than a hundred people without mask or he expected the Mennonites to begin firing at the officers. That didn't happen. What did happen is that the crowd scattered and the auctioning was toned down. I asked one of the local police if I could still walk in to collect the stuff I had paid for and he was very understanding. He told me to go ahead. So I put on my mask, walked over to where my items were and picked them up but one of the outside police, from San Ignacio, was telling me, "This is over! You're disrespecting!" I ignored him and kept on walking and got out of there. Later on people returned after the police left. I was so glad to see everything normal at first, it felt like old times, but if that's what the government wants for us citizens, to oppress and harass us, then we're doomed.

 One Old Colony Mennonite from Shipyard told me the police acted as though they were chasing a pack of dogs. Another of my friends was disgusted at the police, claiming they were unfairly taking advantage of a peaceful community. It wasn't as if they were having a wild drinking party.

Note: Several months ago the law concerning physical arrest for not wearing masks was changed into a ticket system, where violators are given ticket fines of USD$250. But the crowd was too big for the police to single out each offender.









                                                 A. Mendoza


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