STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Health Freedom Defense Fund is suing Hailey Mayor Martha Burke and the City of Hailey over the city’s recently imposed mask mandate.

The Fund filed suit in Sandpoint, Idaho, on Sept. 26, alleging that the city has violated federal law by mandating masks.

The Hailey City Council voted unanimously to reinstate a mask mandate on Sept. 13, maintaining it was necessary to protect its citizens given how quickly the Delta variant has been spreading across the United States. The cities of Sun Valley, Ketchum and Bellevue also have reinstituted mask mandates indoors, as has Blaine County.

The Health Freedom Defense Fund sued Hailey over its mask mandate in May 2021. The suit was filed  the same day the city lifted its original mask mandate. The Fund maintains in its lawsuit that the use of face masks are experimental and that the mandate is “a human experiment” forced on citizens.

“No government official has the right to deprive citizens of the right to breathe,” said HFDF president Leslie Manookian.

Five residents of the Wood River Valley were involved in filing the complaint: Ryan Blaser, Emily Knowles, Barbara Mercer, Kendall Nelson and Michelle Sandoz.

The city has 20 days to respond to the filing.