Wayne County Today

A lack of even-handedness with respect to COVID-19 restrictions has influenced at least one small-business owner’s decision to support Jim Renacci as he seeks to unseat incumbent Mike DeWine in next week’s Republican gubernatorial primary.

“I have always supported Jim, but I really started supporting Jim when my campground was shut down during COVID, but hotels were permitted to stay open,” Kim Witucki, owner of Town & Country Campgrounds in West Salem, said. Town & Country is described as a 170-acre family-friendly campground that offers a variety of campsites, from tent spaces to RV hook-ups. 

What bothered Witucki most, she said, was the effect the shutdown had on her potential customers.

“I had many elderly customers trying to get to their home, but because I was not permitted to open, they could not stay at the campground with their own unit,” she told Wayne County Today. “Instead, I advised them to go to a hotel.”

Renacci, a businessman and former U.S. representative for the 16th congressional district, is challenging DeWine. The winner of the Tuesday primary will represent the Republican Party in November’s general election.

Witucki is one of 100 Ohio business owners who recently endorsed Renacci, Ohio Business Daily reported. 

“I am beyond humbled as I look over this list of business leaders. It’s not Ohio’s politicians, it’s people like these that make Ohio run,” Renacci said in Ohio Business Daily. “As a business guy who has now spent four decades in the business world, I know what it takes to succeed and I know what it feels like when the government gets in your way. When I am elected governor, Ohio will see leadership that gets the engines of this state firing again.” 

Shutting down campgrounds might not sound like a big deal to some, but it certainly can take a toll on those directly affected.

Witucki recounted a scary tale of how far-reaching the impact can be.

“One disabled, elderly man stopped during the time I was only permitted to allow seasonal campers. I was forced to turn him away,” she said. “I later found out they found him deceased at the local rest area. I am not sure what they determined his cause of death, but an investigator did talk with me a few times, which leads me to believe foul play may have been suspected.”

Another consideration for people who travel in RVs is that some choose that mode of travel because they feel more comfortable and safer staying in their homes on wheels at a campsite. “It’s not hard to understand that people felt much safer in their own units instead of staying in a hotel,” Witucki said.

Her campground also offers amenities — multiple ponds that are great for fishing, a heated pool and cabins that can be rented — and holds special events such as hay rides and golf cart parades throughout the year. Such things appeal to campers. 

“A campground is for a family to come and enjoy their home away from home,” Witucki said. “I could go on and on, but really it amounts to DeWine’s inability to understand a small business campground, yet so easily shut it down.”

In supporting Renacci, she said she appreciates the prospect of having a governor who “has an open mind and a better understanding of how hard it is for smaller businesses to operate.”