PLUMSTED – Bringing their views about vaccine mandates and now, mostly defunct mask mandates to hundreds of attendees made a pitstop at the New Egypt Speedway recently.
The event was in conjunction with the People’s Convoy which was patterned after the truckers convoy in Canada that opposed their government’s mandate for all commercial truck drivers to be vaccinated.
The Plumsted pit stop was on route to their eventual destination of Washington D.C. but many locals came to the Speedway to support the convoy and to raise a flag, listen to music, buy some memorabilia and to hear radio personality Bill Spadea speak.
Among those present were the Havens family of the Cream Ridge section of Plumsted. Alton Havens joined his wife Elizabeth and daughter and were carrying signs as trucks, vans, vendor vehicles, cars and pickups entered the Speedway parking lot. “We want to back up the truckers.”
“My boyfriend is a trucker,” his daughter said “The truckers will be here today and into tomorrow. They are staying overnight.” The convoy reached Washington D.C. on March 7.
“If it wasn’t for the truckers, we would have nothing,” Alton Havens said.
The Havens were standing close by to a vendor trailer owned and operated by New Jersey native Nancy Delpeasio who was selling flags, caps, ski hats, banners and all manner of items. A cardboard Donald Trump figure was standing near the merchandise and Trump was pictured on the back of the trailer. Trump 2024 flags weren’t hard to find flying in areas of the Speedway’s parking lot and many of the attendees decorated their cars with bumper stickers, flags, decals and painted messages on their back and side windshields.
“We travel all over. We follow the Trump rallies and the truckers too, we are supporting them,” the vendor said.
Stella Labatch of Toms River joined a friend of hers for the event and was carrying a sign as she entered the Speedway arena. “We’re here for freedom of choice of what you want to do. It isn’t about being a Republican or Democrat it is about a freedom from mandates. I have kids and grandkids and everybody is thinking right now that with the mask mandates coming down (Governor Phil Murphy lifted the mask mandate in schools on March 7 which also included students wearing them on buses) that everybody is going to rest on their laurels but it isn’t over.”
“The ignorant people who really don’t know what is going on are thinking it’s really great. They are still pushing the vaccine (mandate) thing,” she said. The event served as a networking point for many likeminded individuals. During the interview a woman came by and asked Labatch if she was a member of New Jersey Stand Up and was handed a card.
Labatch noted when the pandemic began and the executive orders began, “I knew something wasn’t right. It was much deeper than what they wanted the public to believe and sadly and if you are just listening to mainstream TV you really don’t have a clue as to what is going on.”
Gary Dill who owns the trucking firm of G&M Dill and Sons Trucking and Farms Inc. based in Whiting had several of his trucks parked inside the Speedway track area as part of the convoy along with several of his drivers.
The firm has a terminal in New Egypt “and we wanted to support this. I’ve been doing this my entire life and we wanted to be here with them. Things need to change. We’re going Monday morning to DC,” Dill said. He hoped to talk to other truckers and see what can be done to change some of the regulations that have been imposed on them some of which go beyond those from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“They are taking the burden of the cost,” Dill added. He said the added costs are often passed on to his customers. “I’ve raised my rates three times within the last 12 days, Fuel keeps going up and we have to keep charging more. It runs downhill.”
“We run a medium size company. They put stuff on us. Restrictions that don’t even make sense. They publish false media (information) about conditions,” Dill said.
He pointed to his shiny 1993 truck and said “lots of people have trucks like this. They tell us we can’t run old trucks. New Jersey has a smoke emission testing. We are only one of two states that have it. Us and California. We have to pass emissions to be licensed in New Jersey but anyone else can come into New Jersey and they don’t need an emissions test.”
Dill said when he gets his emission test on his nearly 30-year-old vehicle, “these trucks make less emissions than the brand-new trucks.”
Beachwood residents Allison and David Banach and their daughter Natalie took part in a protest last August at the Ocean Medical Center in Brick Township opposing the state requirement for medical personnel to be vaccinated. They were present during the convoy rally to reiterate their view that being vaccinated should be a matter of choice.
“I wish I could go to DC,” Allison Banach said. She noted that she received a religious exemption for the vaccination as a hospital worker. “There are so many people who don’t want it and others who had no choice but to get it or lose their jobs. I think it is available and that’s great but if you want it you take it.”
“Especially for some people,” her husband added. “Some are immune compromised. If you feel you want to have it then do it. It should be freedom of choice. That is what America is all about. If you start mandating things, where is it going to end?”
