Last Updated on March 30, 2020 12:07 pm
With Governor Roy Cooper's Stay At Home Order going into effect today, which you can read more about at this link, WataugaOnline.com reached out to Sheriff Len Hagaman about how the order will be enforced. His full reply can be found below.
All state and local law enforcement agencies (Watauga County Sheriff’s Office, Boone Police, Blowing Rock Police, Beech Mountain Police, Seven Devils Police, Watauga Medical (ARHS)Police, and Appalachian State University Police) are tasked with enforcing Governor Cooper’s executive order which is reflected in the Watauga County State of Emergency declaration that limits mass gatherings to 10 or fewer people effective Monday, March 30.
In the meantime, we know that the current order bans gatherings of 50 people or more, and we expect the community to comply with that and the new order reducing gatherings even further along with the stay at home order effective March 30th.
While our goal is to have voluntary compliance as we encourage more people to stay at home and practice social distancing, we want to make certain that people are aware that violating this order may result in a Class 2 misdemeanor. We urge the Appalachian State community and our broader community of Watauga County to assist us as we help support the latest public health recommendations and that of the Governor’s executive order.
We know this is challenging, but we all have a responsibility to help protect EACH OTHER during this pandemic. There is a real need for all to understand and adopt a, hopefully a temporary, “new normal” of healthy awareness.
