Bill Williams plans to host a family-friendly, pro-police rally complete with "Proud to Be an American" singer Lee Greenwood and possibly hot-air balloons at Eagle Raceway next month.
Signs greeting attendees will encourage mask-wearing outdoors, social distancing and hand-washing, Williams said.
He regrets, however, the rally meant to encourage Lincoln-area police won't be in Lancaster County, where the process for hosting an event of more than 500 people proved too burdensome, said Williams, whose company Patriotic Productions is known for organizing honor flights for Nebraska veterans.
In July, he held a similar "Back the Blue" rally in Omaha's Memorial Park and an estimated 2,000 people gathered to express support for law enforcement.
He and his wife,Evonne, looked to hold one in Lincoln, especially after Lincoln Police Officer Mario Herrera was fatally shot last month.
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They eyed the 75-acre Camp Creek showgrounds in Waverly as a space to hold the event. But as they pored over the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department's the required planning and precautions seemed too daunting.
The county's reopening plan asks that organizers account for all attendees to ensure contact tracing can be done and inquires about how they will ensure social distancing between attendees, performers, worker safety, how attendees will be educated, disinfection and virus mitigation measures.
"We just said to heck with it," Williams said.
So they booked Oct. 25 at the raceway just across the county line, where Cass County is in Phase 4 and under fewer coronavirus restrictions.
Event organizers didn't contact the Health Department, said Scott Holmes, the department's Environmental Public Health Division manager.The departmentdeclined further comment.
Since the Health Department began allowing events with more than 500 people this summer, it has approved 64 events and denied two.
Two events subsequently canceled and four remain under review by Health Department staff.
"The Health Department is willing to work with any organization to hold an event safely," city spokeswoman Diane Gonzolas said in a statement.
Lincoln Independent Business AssociationExecutive Director Bud Synhorst, who will emcee Williams' event, said holding events, concerts and sporting contests— chief among them Husker football — has a cascading impact on the health of Lincoln's businesses and the economy.
He's expressed concern among local and state officials about events choosing to host their would-be-Lincoln gatherings elsewhere.
"The longer we go without those, the harder it is for businesses to survive," Synhorst said.
Amy Dickerson, who manages the Lancaster Event Center, said center staff have garnered the trust of Health Department officials for their handling of public health since they began hosting horse shows at the end of June.
Health officials denied the Event Center's request to host the National High School Finals Rodeo in July, but have approved the center's request to host novel drive-in concerts.
The center has hosted events of all sizes since the pandemic began and been fortunate enough to not have any spread of the coronavirus there, Dickerson said.
She believes the Health Department's event applications not only help keep people safe but also can assure the public that venues are taking thoughtful precautions.
"They’re not the no group," Dickerson said of Health Department staff. "They’re trying to figure out a way to say yes."
Election system has safeguards
No, you can't get two ballots mailed to you if you accidentally or intentionally request them, and Lancaster County Election Commissioner Dave Shively is unequivocal about that.
A Lincoln voter who requested the commissioner's office send him an early ballot reached out to the Journal Star after he received another form from a Missouri organization giving him a different form to request an early ballot.
He wondered if the mailer was an attempt to get him to request two ballots and worried doing so could invalidate his vote.
Shively has heard this confusion before, but he said the commission's software will recognize duplicate ballot requests and won't process them.
"There would be no way they would get a second (ballot)," he said.
Shively's staff will mail out more than 60,000 ballots from early requests next week.
Campaign confused for graffiti
Someone who saw people spray-painting on Haymarket sidewalks Monday filed a complaint with the city and learned they had confused a city public education campaign on coronavirus prevention for graffiti.
The complainant noted the circular logo with a mask in its center and the phrase "Keys. Phone. Mask." surrounding it on the sidewalk near Seventh and Q streets.
The mask logos painted on sidewalks across downtown are part of the city's "LNK is Greater Than" campaign, where it has partnered with local advertising agency Archrival to promote mask usage and social distancing among 20- to 29-year-olds.
Lincoln Transportation and Utilities officials confirmed on the complaint response that the logo was part of the campaign, which was displayed in washable spray chalk.
"Honestly, I'm OK with this," one woman responded to the UpLNK complaint.
Fast takes
-1.33% — The overall change in funding amount for the Lancaster County budget for 2021 from its 2020 budget. Commissioners officially approved an unchanged property tax levy at a meeting Tuesday.
F86— The name of the bridge on 14th Street between Waverly and Bluff roads that reopened Tuesday after being closed for 47 days. It's one of three key bridges along 14th Street north of Lincoln that Lancaster County Engineer Pam Dingman expects to repair and reopen in the coming weeks.
$20,302— U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant dollars awarded to the Lincoln Commission on Human Rights to conduct fair housing tests related to COVID-19, hire an additional staff person and purchase technology allowing the commission to operate in a 100% remote environment.
Covered— Any property damage to county buildings that results from rioting, UNICO President and risk consultant Tom Champoux told the Lancaster County Board last week.
Zero— City dollars supporting the keynote speech john a. powell will make to the city in a virtual address Monday at 11:30 a.m. Zero also equals the number of letters powell capitalizes in his name.
High-risk Halloween activities— guidelines discourage traditional door-to-door candy collection from a home where the host hands it out, attending out-of-town fall festivals, partaking in indoor costume parties and braving haunted houses. They recommend virtual costume parties, scavenger hunt-style trick-or-treating where Halloween decoration sightings are collected over chocolates and monster movie marathons shared with family.