The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set newsroom policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com. Cynthia M. Allen is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Late last month, after Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley renewed the county mask order and told me he hoped he’d be in a position to lift it by July 4, I doubted that many Texans would wait that long. Less than a week later, Gov.