Winneshiek County supervisors approve extension of weapons ban to all county-owned and county-leased property

It was a sometimes emotional discussion on Monday morning, but in the end the Winneshiek County Board approved a resolution that prohibits firearms and other dangerous weapons from all county-owned property, not just the Courthouse.

County Attorney Andy Van Der Maaten, who drafted the ordinance, said it would protect county employees as well as the public. "We don't want to make the national news," Van Der Maaten noted.

But County Zoning Administrator Tony Philips spoke against the resolution. "You're causing fear," Philips told the supervisors while arguing that the resolution wouldn't do anything to make county employees safer.

But several county officials argued otherwise. Winneshiek CPC administrator Jan Heikes said simply "I would like to have my employees covered." NEICAC Executive Director Marianne Humpal, whose agency rents county-owned property, said such a resolution "would give us the option to call law enforcement."

Said Van Der Maaten, "We have employees in other locations that ought to be afforded the same protection as those in the Courthouse."

Supervisors agreed with Van Der Maaten and passed the ordinance on a 5-0 vote. Supervisor Bill Ibanez rejected Philips' suggestion that the supervisors were creating fear, noting "We were discussing this ordinance a long time before the incident in Arizona."