Smith County will not enforce Abbott face mask order with fines

TYLER — Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith announced on Friday that his office will not enforce Gov. Abbott’s face mask order with fines. That’s according to our news partner KETK. “While we encourage the public to take all precautions, we will encourage voluntary compliance regarding wearing a mask and will not be issuing citations for failure to comply,” said Smith. The sheriff did go on to write that a business in the county would be well within its rights to refuse to serve a customer who refused to comply with a mask requirement and could ask the customer to leave. Elsewhere in East Texas, Upshur County has also announced it will not enforce the order with fines. Rains County has applied for an exemption from the order.