Video: District attorney Dan Dow declares SLO ‘a sanctuary county’ for worship in church
District Attorney Dan Dow declared San Luis Obispo County a “sanctuary county for worship and praise in church” before an approving crowd at a Fourth of July event in Paso Robles, video shows, despite public health mandates restricting church gatherings.
In a video shot by an attendee and shared on YouTube, Dow said that he will not enforce state mandates restricting large indoor faith-based gatherings amid resurging cases of COVID-19 across the state.
“I will tell you right now, for the first time with a microphone, that by the power vested in me as district attorney of San Luis Obispo County, I declare San Luis Obispo County a sanctuary county for worship and praise in church,” Dow says to applause.
During the video, Dow is seen wearing a face wrap around his neck and is sharing a hand-held microphone with another, mask-less speaker standing at Dow’s side.
It’s the second time in as many weeks that video has emerged showing an elected San Luis Obispo County official telling a friendly crowd that he will not enforce California’s anti-coronavirus measures.
County Sheriff Ian Parkinson drew criticism last week for filmed comments he made before a North County Tea Party meeting July 6 in which he said he would not enforce state mandates requiring face masks in public and said violent Black Lives Matter protests served no purpose “other than destruction.”
Parkinson’s comments helped fuel a 300-person protest in San Luis Obispo July 21 in which demonstrators blocked Highway 101 for about an hour and two participatns, including organizer Tiana Arata, were arrested.
In the July 4 video, which first gained attention on the Facebook page SLOSense, Dow responds to a state order from Gov. Gavin Newsom banning singing at houses of worship because of the elevated threat it poses in spreading COVID-19. That action came on top of fluctuating limits on indoor church gatherings.
In response to the initial restrictions in May, Dow penned an “open letter to the faith community” in which he wrote that “until there is further clarification from higher courts, this office will not seek criminal enforcement for alleged violations involving those who meet in-person for religious purposes during Phase 2 of the reopening plan so long as social distancing and other health guidelines are followed.”
Less than two weeks later, on May 30, that clarification arrived when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a challenge and upheld California’s shutdown order related to religious congregations with a 5-4 vote.
When questioned by The Tribune on Friday, Dow said that he was speaking in the video specifically about the state’s ban on singing and chanting.
“I am firmly committed to the principle that it would be a severe injustice for my office to charge a person with a crime who has simply chosen to practice their faith by singing in church,” Dow said. He also posted a video Friday and shared it on Twitter, saying he stands by his July 4 speech.
“Today in 2020, more than ever, we need more people attending their houses of worship and seeking help from the almighty for an answer to the coronavirus,” he said in the video.
The Tribune emailed county supervisors Debbie Arnold, Lynn Compton, Bruce Gibson, Adam Hill, and John Peschong for reaction to Dow’s statements Friday morning; only District 2 supervisor Gibson responded.
“This appears to be another of our elected law enforcement officials playing to his far-right base — except what’s quite concerning is that it appears the DA is imposing his religious beliefs to decide which California laws he will chose to enforce,” Gibson wrote in an email. “That calls into serious question whether he has the impartial judgment necessary for his position.”
Chief Administrative Officer Wade Horton did not respond to a request for comment.
Late Friday, county Public Health Officer Penny Borenstein wrote in an email that it’s the agency’s recommendation that public singing, especially in choirs or other groups, should not be done given the local high rates of COVID-19 infection.
Governor ‘wants to make it a crime’ to sing, Dow says
The YouTube video was posted July 5 by a user who goes by the name The Ambassador. After being contacted by The Tribune, the user identified himself in an email as Pat but would not give his last name.
He initially declined to give The Tribune permission to re-publish the video until he had read this article. In a separate video, the video maker identifies speakers at the event as county District 5 supervisor Arnold; state Senate candidate Vicki Nohrden; Scott Peterson, whom the video creator identifies as a CHP officer; and Dow.
Shortly after being reached by The Tribune, he removed all of his content from his channel. After The Tribune questioned the creator of the Parkinson video, they also cut off public access by turning the content private.
After this story published, he restored the video on YouTube and gave The Tribune permission to publish it.
Dow appears almost seven minutes into the July 4 clip, which has dramatic music playing in the background as he is handed the microphone.
“I’m proud that each one of us has our right to worship in the way that we want to, and getting back to right being wrong and wrong being right, our state over the last few years has been letting (people) out of prisons early, back into our communities and especially right now,” Dow says.
“But yet our governor wants to make it a crime to worship and praise God in church and by singing to our almighty God. And that to me is an example of where right has become wrong and wrong has become right,” he adds.
Dow then declares San Luis Obispo County “a sanctuary county for worship and praise in church.”
An audience member yells, “Yeah! Thank you, Dan!”
“When we’re releasing the real criminals into our community but we’re trying to criminalize those that are dedicated to exercising their First Amendment rights, we’ve gone wrong,” Dow continues. “And I won’t allow that to happen in San Luis Obispo County while I’m the district attorney.”
DA says churches should follow health guidance
Dow declined a Tribune interview request Friday but did send responses to written questions via email.
He said he attends the free Independence Day celebration at Sculpterra Winery — a free event open to the public, he said — every year.
As in previous years, Dow said he was asked by the winery owner to address the gathering to “talk about our nation’s freedom” and the importance of celebrating Independence Day.
He said he made the comments three days after an announcement by Newsom that places of worship “must stop singing during their worship services,” Dow said.
“As district attorney, it is my duty to exercise my prosecutorial discretion in a manner that is just and appropriate,” Dow said via email. “Upon hearing of the new directive, I was compelled to take a position on what I would do if a case was brought to my office.”
He wrote, ”It would simply NOT be in the interest of justice to prosecute someone for singing in their place of worship.”
Asked whether it is within his authority to contradict orders of the state, Dow said the prosecution of criminal offenses on behalf of the state is the sole responsibility of the public prosecutor, “who has sole discretion to determine whom to charge, what charges to file and pursue, and what punishment to seek.”
“The prosecutor’s own discretion is not subject to judicial control,” Dow wrote, citing case law, and adding that the district attorney of each county “independently exercises all the executive branch’s discretionary powers in the initiation and conduct of criminal proceedings.”
Asked whether his constituents have called on him to take this stand, Dow said no, but that he had been asked about whether residents could be charged with a crime and what would happen to them if they sing in a worship service in violation of the state order.
Dow said that the county Public Health Department has informed leaders in the faith community that places of worship may not exercise singing or chanting at faith-based gatherings.
Asked about his open letter to the community in May, Dow wrote in the email Friday that he only said at the time that his office would not not seek criminal enforcement for alleged violations of people meeting in person for religious purposes as long as social distancing and other health guidelines are followed.
”The California prohibition substantially changed after I wrote my letter and before the Supreme Court’s ruling which was made on a uniquely different issue than was presented when I wrote my letter,” Dow said. “I strongly encourage houses of worship to follow all of the health guidance issued by the state in order to reduce the likelihood of spreading the coronavirus, except for the recommendation of not meeting in person and not singing.”
He did not explain how failing to enforce those two elemental orders constituted following “all of the health guidance issued by the state.”
Instead, he said, “I call on all people of every faith in our county, our state, our nation and the world to pray for peace, to pray for healing, to pray for a cure for the coronavirus that has devastated people all over the globe.”
Asked if his message is consistent with that of county Public Health, Dow said that is a question for county health officials to answer.
In response, Michelle Shoresman, spokeswoman for the agency, forwarded a quote from Borenstein Friday that said “singing by infected persons, especially in choirs or other groups, is known to present a high risk of transmission of the COVID-19 virus, as well as many other respiratory pathogens.”
“Since this disease is spread frequently from asymptomatic people, it continues to be our public health recommendation that singing, especially without masks and in proximity to others, should not be done at this time of high rates of COVID-19 infected persons in our community,” Borenstein wrote.
In response to county Supervisor Gibson’s comment on the video, Dow wrote that it is “unfortunate” that Gibson would broadly describe people of faith as being “far-right.”
“Matters of faith are personal and know no political boundary; exercising prudent prosecutorial discretion in every type of case is exactly what the voters elected me to do,” he wrote. “While the task of exercising discretion is not always easy, I will not apologize for declining to prosecute people for singing in their house of worship no matter the faith represented. I am very grateful to have deep friendships with people of all faiths within our diverse community and I welcome constructive conversation with all members of our community, even with supervisor Gibson.”
Cases of COVID-19 spreading at church
Since the onset of the pandemic, several outbreaks of COVID-19 resulting in death have been reported at places of worship around the country.
The highest-profile case involving singing came early in the pandemic In March, when COVID-19 spread among dozens of congregates who attended at least two choir rehearsals at a Washington state church.
After one practice, 52 of 61 attendees fell ill, 32 of which tested positive for coronavirus and another 20 showing symptoms of the disease. Three people were hospitalized and two died.
A report by the Skagit County Public Health Department said that there was no physical contact between singers during the events, but that “the act of singing, itself, might have contributed to transmission through emission of aerosols, which is affected by how loudly someone speaks.”
In April, a church in Sacramento experienced a major outbreak when 71 members or people associated with them were infected. One parishioner died, and the pastor was also sickened.
“They’ve basically told us to leave them alone,” Sacramento County health chief Dr. Peter Beilenson told the Sacramento Bee. “This is extremely irresponsible and dangerous for the community.”
In May, a Florida church that had reopened once again closed its doors after its pastor suddenly fell ill and died of what church leaders said they believed was related to COVID-19. Five other parishioners also tested positive after attending the resumed services.
And just this week, more than 40 people were infected with the coronavirus after attending a multi-day revival event at a north Alabama church, the congregation’s pastor told Time.
DA says he takes racism very seriously
After Dow speaks in the video, a man identified as Peterson presses the recently passed microphone against his chin and addresses the crowd to offer his thoughts on racism, saying he’s been in law enforcement for 26 years before apparently commenting on recent Black Lives Matter protests.
“I know a lot of police officers, I really do, and this whole idea of systemic racism, I know that there is racism in this country, but as a man who’s been in the profession for a very long time, I just haven’t seen it,” Peterson said, looking at Dow, who nods back. “I don’t know if I’m sheltered, in the State of California, but I know a lot of people. And I’m just here to tell you that you guys are all safe.”
In the video that made waves last week, Parkinson received backlash over his comments on racism and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Dow does not address the issue in the July 4 video clip but stands on stage next to Peterson as he delivers his opinion.
Dow defended Peterson Friday, writing that Peterson acknowledged the existence of racism, but said he hasn’t seen it in law enforcement.
“That is exclusively Mr. Peterson’s statement expressing his unique life experience as a law enforcement officer, not mine,” Dow wrote. “Sadly, I know all too well that racism exists in the heart of human beings of every race and every background and it is here in our county just like it is in every place where human beings live across the globe.”
“As district attorney, I take racism very seriously,” he wrote, accurately pointing out that during his tenure, the county DA’s Office has prosecuted several “hate crime” cases where evidence existed of underlying racism as a motive.
“I am firmly committed to uprooting racism wherever it can be found, whether in the criminal justice system or anywhere else,” Dow wrote.
Dow is currently scheduled to speak on the issue from a public safety perspective at an Aug. 12 online forum hosted by the Diversity Coalition of San Luis Obispo County. The event is also scheduled to feature San Luis Obispo Police Chief Deanna Cantrell, Vivien Devaney-Frice of the nonprofit Restorative Partners, and Arroyo Grande Councilman Lan George.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to add Dr. Penny Borenstein’s comments.
This story was originally published July 31, 2020 at 6:11 PM.
