Port Angeles City Councilmembers Drew Schawb, Jon Hamilton, and Amy Miller provided thoughtful, insightful responses to yesterday's question regarding Mark Hodgson's residency. Mayor Kate Dexter and Councilmembers LaTrisha Suggs, Mark Hodgson, and Navarra Carr did not reply.
Today's email is to the county commissioners. All three can be reached by emailing the Clerk of the Board at loni.gores@clallamcountywa.gov.
Dear Commissioners,
Given that Marshall has reportedly been on the streets for over three years, was found with suspected meth and meth paraphernalia, was camping just a block from an elementary school, and was ultimately arrested for indecent exposure — how does the county define success for its harm-reduction policies? At what point do public safety concerns, especially when children are nearby, outweigh a hands-off approach?
The March 3rd Port Angeles City Council meeting is currently scheduled to have Deputy Director Oppelt from the County's Health & Human Services giving a presentation on Clallam County Harm Reduction. I know that I'm not the only council member to request this. I asked City staff to relay my expectation that HHS will address how the County defines success and have data to judge that success by.
He's obviously playing a game being responsive to community concern. :)
We don't see this from any other politician around here, and they would likely say that he is making them all look bad because of his good conduct, as in they aren't doing anything wrong. Sort of the minimally acceptable behavior vs best practice. Conversely the electorate would likely say that he looks good because of their bad conduct. I choose the electorate position.
Navigating social media as an elected official is tricky because of the Washington Public Records Act. Most training advises that staff handle posts to ensure records are captured, and many officials avoid posting themselves due to potential legal risk. I’ve been diligent about documenting my own posts with screenshots, though it’s labor-intensive. I wrote about this before here: https://open.substack.com/pub/drewschwab/p/why-i-dont-normally-reply-to-your?r=5qqveg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web, and my perspective has evolved. Despite the legal risks, I believe the value of direct communication with our community makes it worth engaging personally.
Drew not only are you appreciated for your responses but it feels like you are closing the empty gap of resentment the citizens have been expressing concerning a non-connect between the citizens and council members.
Wouldn't it be nice if our so called elected officials actually represented the public concerns instead of their Olympia based idealism. You are the best!
Great article. That people in this situation are not only allowed but actually encouraged to live in conditions of squaller and irrational behavior is NOT compassion it is the ultimate in cruelty packaged and “harm reduction or Housing first”, both are abysmal failures.
There is nothing wrong with changing course when something is not working.
I have no answer for what to do with unwanted lives. I do have an answer for harm reduction; stop it. Harm reduction perpetuates harm; reinforces harm and encourages harm. Clean needles, boofing kits, etc. tell the users we're here to support your broken life style. We are taking the results of your life choices and making them ours. You are no longer responsible for your addiction, using and homelessness. The results of your poor choices, ( suicide efforts ), have been taken by feel good altruists so that you can learn nothing from your choices. The hope of hitting your own bottom is now gone. Rather than arriving at a point of rehabilitating or dying, we will help you live a long life of unending agony.
This insane Harm reduction is a curse in the guise of compassion. How about the truth if big Pharma and tribal profit overrides real compassion! DISGUSTING...
This is what we always say, "Follow the money." JST, locally, and pharmaceutical companies (by means of nationally funded grants) both play a part in escalating this issue. They don't care about people. This is a money making juggernaut.
Maybe the reason for leaders(?) not focusing on healing addicts and caring for the mentally ill, living on our streets, is tied to the enterprise of Harm Reduction. What would many of those employed by the Harm Reduction economy do without the money flowing into Harm Reduction? How about redirecting resources toward rehabilitation and life skills and away from enablement. How about looking at the fifteen-year history of the ten-year plan and its success. While the numbers may show less overdose deaths, statistics do not indicate less addiction, or less vagrancy or less environmental harm. Non-Government Organizations (NGO) have become THE decision makers in Clallam County. Commissioners seem to take any input from an NGO as gospel, without investigating facts supporting or contradicting their requests. Input from citizens not connected to NGOs is deemed as coming from those with NO STANDING.
The addicts are a robust crowd. They eat day old stuff, sleep in artic conditions, hold swastika signs, and know how to snap chat and signal chat on their free phone.
Its the only place that the young too male and too pale can get in the Oppression Olympics....
Harm reduction requires less resources (clinicians, counselors, etc.) than a rehabilitation program would. Less expensive resources translates to more profit.
So much is wrong with the situations we are facing in our community. Our moral compass has been smashed. Harm reduction? Worthless words. The perpetrators aren't being helped. Citizens aren't being helped. Law enforcement is stretched to their limit and not allowed to help. We all need to scream in our "leaders" ears until something positive is done.
A question: What would city officials do if a "normal" person decided to camp out on the public sidewalks, littered, voided their bowels outside, and generally made a mess of things like the addled, drug-addicted "homeless" do now?
Once upon a time the State of Washington was a desirable place to live. What happened? Folks in office became greedy. They forgot their constituents. Personal wealth was more important than taxpayer survival. Below is just a sample of the failures now facing us retirees, our younger workers, our children.
1. Trojan Horse, Olympia Style
Democrats in Olympia are pitching their 9.9% “Millionaire Tax” as a targeted fairness measure, but in a recent op-ed, Amber Gunn of the Mountain States Policy Center argues it’s really a classic political bait-and-switch designed to crack open the door to a permanent statewide income tax.
Trojan Horse.
Tax and Spend, Tax and Spend. Here we go again.
As highlighted this is a “bait and switch. With an addition to spending more and more on lost causes our administrators want an open door on spending. We are currently over spent and still the focus is on more spending. Where is the sane approach that budgets income and spending, raises income, and then looks for ways to reduce spending. Say NO!
2. Defund the Police… Then Forget the Backup Plan. Seattle and King County Democrats spent years insisting police were the wrong response to behavioral health crises, pushing defunding efforts while promising a polished alternative system.
Defund the police.
Every community that approached this subject has failed. How many shots do they want. Which “Behavioral Health Worker” will respond to dangerous confrontations? How will they know? The next request will be for doubling the staff so a police officer will accompany each “Behavioral Health Worker”. Then we can arm and train all “Behavioral Health Workers”. Seems like circular logic.
3. Olympia’s Soda Pop Shake-Down
A new piece from the Washington Policy Center is raising alarms about Democrats in Olympia reviving the push for a statewide soda tax through House Bill 2734. The proposal would impose a three-cent-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages beginning in 2028.
Soda Pop Shake Down.
Include the tax and include a required deposit on each container. More tax and more negative costs for the seller. Maybe Amazon can deliver the soda from a non-shake-down state.
4. Paid Leave… Paid by You, Used by Someone Else
The Washington Policy Center is warning that Senate Bill 5292 could quietly set the stage for higher payroll taxes tied to Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program. While the bill does not directly raise the program’s 1.2% tax cap today, critics argue it rewrites the rules in a way that makes future increases far easier to justify once the program again struggles to stay solvent.
Paid Leave.
Who pays? Tax and Spend. The prudent policy should be to look at taxes as a penalty and find other sources for funding. Significantly the solutions to higher and higher expenses is higher taxes. These give-away programs sound great until the *hit arrives at the door step.
Summary.
We read about proposals that burden more people, and their businesses, than ever before. We citizens are being assaulted by our, supposedly, representatives. Who is profiting from this assault? It certainly is not the average tax payer.
Each rise in the costs of doing business threatens their survival. Each rise in costs to those struggling to survive retirement in our state make the pressure increase to leave the state. Too many cannot afford to move and just see their standard of living decline. Where is the effort to have our citizens thrive? These costs are killing our future.
I ask our leaders, (I use the term loosely) to answer questions about limits. A Seventy five year bond issue? No challenges to questionable elections? Being unable to elect our local Sheriff? Who enforces the law? Does anyone read the statistics about businesses leaving the state? Is any responsible person left in Olympia? Is ineptitude contagious?
Here is my request. Do the homework. Create an environment for each business to thrive. Reduce expensive liens on new businesses. Have our representatives earn the public respect. (Who are your constituents?) Enforce the law. Stop tolerating the influx of undocumented, and demanding, and often illegal, migrants. Let us voters think our elected officials really want our state to improve. Our children deserve attention to these omissions. We all do.
We have to demonstrate to the few people that do stand up for the common man/woman that we are beside them in the fight. Sheldon, you are providing information that we need to help with the fight. Thank you!
From the National Harm Reduction site: Establishes quality of individual and community life and well-being, not necessarily cessation of all substance use as the criteria for successful interventions and policies. Harm reduction is a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use. Harm Reduction is also a movement for social justice built on a belief in, and respect for, the rights of people who use drugs.
Just WOW! Harm reduction equates to more harm for the addicted and harm for the people just trying to live their lives in this county. First, facts, cartels control drugs in this country, state and even into this county. We will never ever rid this country of drugs completely as the appetite is too huge and the money too much. The cartels absolutely LOVE harm reduction; this program keeps the drugs flowing and drug users using and the dollars flowing! Look at the increased crimes, too many to list. We see the increased need for police/sheriff and fire to respond. Just think, if we could DECREASE the use of drugs, our first responders could be more proactive rather than reactive in our communities.
I purchased my retirement home here 15 years ago after having been familiar with this area (family here) since 1972. Little could I imagine that I would live on a road with three dope dealers. A search warrant on the house behind me pulling out pounds of meth and long guns from a felon. Little did I think I would get a call from a neighbor one day asking me to look at a baggie he found by his driveway, where he has young kids playing. The little baggie contained a white powder, appeared to be fentanyl (not crystalline). I told him to call the Sheriff's department and ask them to collect for destruction. He was told to destroy it himself. Seriously???? I walk my dog every morning at dawn, I pass by one of the dealers on my road and have seen deals going down in the wee hours. I have seen drug deals in the parking lot of Safeway in Sequim. I have contacted OPNET and given them information about the dealers around here. I see no change, nothing better.
I have seen the destruction of what drugs do to neighborhoods and communities and apparently our "leaders" support this. I would encourage the commissioners to go on ride alongs with the first responders and see first hand what a sternum rub on an infant looks like, trying to keep the the infant alive after ingesting drugs from their doped parents, or see a repeat user being given multiple administrations of Narcan, or go to a family and tell them their child was found dead with a needle still stuck in their arm. I say this from experience after 25 years in law enforcement. The commissioners are keyboard warriors and write articles about how good harm reduction is for this county and the reduction of deaths. Those articles are for folks, who only read the titles, and for them to increase their resume on supposedly good "results".
The decision to keep funding harm reduction leaves me speechless. But being what this state has become they must commit to the catchy terms of "social justice" and "rights for those who use drugs". If there was ay ounce of morality they would look for a reduction of drugs and drug use in this county. I put in a lot of hard years in another state seeing what drugs do to families and communities and if this keeps up, I cannot even imagine what this county will be like in just a few more years, it will not be livable for the rest of us.
Wow! is right! "aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use." That's the mentality we here in Clallam County have to deal with. The LOCKDOWNS that gave us these mentally ill authoritarians have perpetuated all the negative consequences. CAS, you have suffered the negative consequences of drug trafficking, drug addicts, and a legal system that doesn't care about you, the innocent citizen. LaTrisha Suggs's re-election campaign was heavily funded by out-of-area donors. Her attitude on issues such as this tells us why.
Ignorant board commissioners have 0 foresight,we have all seen the disastrous results of counties supporting homeless drug addicts.Clallam co board commissioners are going down the same home wrecking path as other counties have done that results in higher taxes-higher crime-higher death rates-higher drug addictions ect ect ect.The sooner these ignorant hypocrite libtard elected home wreckers get voted out of office the better.
Maybe the reason for leaders(?) not focusing on healing addicts and caring for the mentally ill, living on our streets, is tied to the enterprise of Harm Reduction. What would many of those employed by the Harm Reduction economy do without the money flowing into Harm Reduction? How about redirecting resources toward rehabilitation and life skills and away from enablement. How about looking at the fifteen-year history of the ten-year plan and its success. While the numbers may show less overdose deaths, statistics do not indicate less addiction, or less vagrancy or less environmental harm. Non-Government Organizations (NGO) have become THE decision makers in Clallam County. Commissioners seem to take any input from an NGO as gospel, without investigating facts supporting or contradicting their requests. Input from citizens not connected to NGOs is deemed as coming from those with NO STANDING.
You can see it coming,soon as these brand new multi million $$$ luxury housing projects get finished the drug addicts will want to setup encampments onsite so they to can have a nice place to party while they wait for their new multi million $$$ luxury apartments get built.
Merely providing the swap is MORE THAN ENOUGH compassion. How about just telling them to F**K OFF, GTFO of our county, and NO CAMPING OUTSIDE OF DESIGNATED CAMPGROUNDS! Ignore it and you will be put in a cage, fed gruel, and will have to go through withdrawal without help. The lesson in that is the compassion!
Port Angeles City Councilmembers Drew Schawb, Jon Hamilton, and Amy Miller provided thoughtful, insightful responses to yesterday's question regarding Mark Hodgson's residency. Mayor Kate Dexter and Councilmembers LaTrisha Suggs, Mark Hodgson, and Navarra Carr did not reply.
Today's email is to the county commissioners. All three can be reached by emailing the Clerk of the Board at loni.gores@clallamcountywa.gov.
Dear Commissioners,
Given that Marshall has reportedly been on the streets for over three years, was found with suspected meth and meth paraphernalia, was camping just a block from an elementary school, and was ultimately arrested for indecent exposure — how does the county define success for its harm-reduction policies? At what point do public safety concerns, especially when children are nearby, outweigh a hands-off approach?
The March 3rd Port Angeles City Council meeting is currently scheduled to have Deputy Director Oppelt from the County's Health & Human Services giving a presentation on Clallam County Harm Reduction. I know that I'm not the only council member to request this. I asked City staff to relay my expectation that HHS will address how the County defines success and have data to judge that success by.
Drew, I appreciate you helping the citizens of PA and CC get the information needed to particpate.
He's obviously playing a game being responsive to community concern. :)
We don't see this from any other politician around here, and they would likely say that he is making them all look bad because of his good conduct, as in they aren't doing anything wrong. Sort of the minimally acceptable behavior vs best practice. Conversely the electorate would likely say that he looks good because of their bad conduct. I choose the electorate position.
Navigating social media as an elected official is tricky because of the Washington Public Records Act. Most training advises that staff handle posts to ensure records are captured, and many officials avoid posting themselves due to potential legal risk. I’ve been diligent about documenting my own posts with screenshots, though it’s labor-intensive. I wrote about this before here: https://open.substack.com/pub/drewschwab/p/why-i-dont-normally-reply-to-your?r=5qqveg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web, and my perspective has evolved. Despite the legal risks, I believe the value of direct communication with our community makes it worth engaging personally.
Drew not only are you appreciated for your responses but it feels like you are closing the empty gap of resentment the citizens have been expressing concerning a non-connect between the citizens and council members.
Good Governance Daily Proverb:
In a system governed by law, crimes are defined by statute — not by sentiment.
Institutions protect trust by consistently and publicly enforcing clearly written rules.
Good morning Dr Sarah,
Wouldn't it be nice if our so called elected officials actually represented the public concerns instead of their Olympia based idealism. You are the best!
Great article. That people in this situation are not only allowed but actually encouraged to live in conditions of squaller and irrational behavior is NOT compassion it is the ultimate in cruelty packaged and “harm reduction or Housing first”, both are abysmal failures.
There is nothing wrong with changing course when something is not working.
Now that climate change (and WA's CCA) is shown to be a scam, can we expect a refund from the state for all those $1-extra/gallon of gasoline that we've been paying? A repeal of the CCA? An apology? https://govoversight.org/the-evidence-is-in-endangerment-finding-was-pre-cooked/
I have no answer for what to do with unwanted lives. I do have an answer for harm reduction; stop it. Harm reduction perpetuates harm; reinforces harm and encourages harm. Clean needles, boofing kits, etc. tell the users we're here to support your broken life style. We are taking the results of your life choices and making them ours. You are no longer responsible for your addiction, using and homelessness. The results of your poor choices, ( suicide efforts ), have been taken by feel good altruists so that you can learn nothing from your choices. The hope of hitting your own bottom is now gone. Rather than arriving at a point of rehabilitating or dying, we will help you live a long life of unending agony.
Great comment Gary,
This insane Harm reduction is a curse in the guise of compassion. How about the truth if big Pharma and tribal profit overrides real compassion! DISGUSTING...
This is what we always say, "Follow the money." JST, locally, and pharmaceutical companies (by means of nationally funded grants) both play a part in escalating this issue. They don't care about people. This is a money making juggernaut.
Don't forget all the MAT facilities in PA, they were in the game before JKT, JKT just plays same game with massive tax and grant advantages
ANDREA, you have that right.
$ What does harm reduction look like $
$ome of the be$t-known harm reduction tool$ include$
• Free $yringe $ervice
• Overdo$e prevention $ite$
• Fentanyl te$t$
• Naloxone kit$
• $terile injection or $moking equipment
• $ervice$ and re$ource$
Maybe the reason for leaders(?) not focusing on healing addicts and caring for the mentally ill, living on our streets, is tied to the enterprise of Harm Reduction. What would many of those employed by the Harm Reduction economy do without the money flowing into Harm Reduction? How about redirecting resources toward rehabilitation and life skills and away from enablement. How about looking at the fifteen-year history of the ten-year plan and its success. While the numbers may show less overdose deaths, statistics do not indicate less addiction, or less vagrancy or less environmental harm. Non-Government Organizations (NGO) have become THE decision makers in Clallam County. Commissioners seem to take any input from an NGO as gospel, without investigating facts supporting or contradicting their requests. Input from citizens not connected to NGOs is deemed as coming from those with NO STANDING.
The addicts are a robust crowd. They eat day old stuff, sleep in artic conditions, hold swastika signs, and know how to snap chat and signal chat on their free phone.
Its the only place that the young too male and too pale can get in the Oppression Olympics....
John, they are also proficient nomadic urban hunters and gatherers.
Harm reduction requires less resources (clinicians, counselors, etc.) than a rehabilitation program would. Less expensive resources translates to more profit.
From personal experience and the wisdom of AA and NA , if you baby the addict
You bury the addict ! The Commissioners are complicit in the addicts demise ! Tough love baby !
VERY WELL SAID!
So much is wrong with the situations we are facing in our community. Our moral compass has been smashed. Harm reduction? Worthless words. The perpetrators aren't being helped. Citizens aren't being helped. Law enforcement is stretched to their limit and not allowed to help. We all need to scream in our "leaders" ears until something positive is done.
A question: What would city officials do if a "normal" person decided to camp out on the public sidewalks, littered, voided their bowels outside, and generally made a mess of things like the addled, drug-addicted "homeless" do now?
Give them a free phone, teach them how to signal chat and hand them a swastika sign.
Forgot the grocery cart...
That's the nomadic clan. They move around according to the seasonal handouts.
Once upon a time the State of Washington was a desirable place to live. What happened? Folks in office became greedy. They forgot their constituents. Personal wealth was more important than taxpayer survival. Below is just a sample of the failures now facing us retirees, our younger workers, our children.
1. Trojan Horse, Olympia Style
Democrats in Olympia are pitching their 9.9% “Millionaire Tax” as a targeted fairness measure, but in a recent op-ed, Amber Gunn of the Mountain States Policy Center argues it’s really a classic political bait-and-switch designed to crack open the door to a permanent statewide income tax.
Trojan Horse.
Tax and Spend, Tax and Spend. Here we go again.
As highlighted this is a “bait and switch. With an addition to spending more and more on lost causes our administrators want an open door on spending. We are currently over spent and still the focus is on more spending. Where is the sane approach that budgets income and spending, raises income, and then looks for ways to reduce spending. Say NO!
2. Defund the Police… Then Forget the Backup Plan. Seattle and King County Democrats spent years insisting police were the wrong response to behavioral health crises, pushing defunding efforts while promising a polished alternative system.
Defund the police.
Every community that approached this subject has failed. How many shots do they want. Which “Behavioral Health Worker” will respond to dangerous confrontations? How will they know? The next request will be for doubling the staff so a police officer will accompany each “Behavioral Health Worker”. Then we can arm and train all “Behavioral Health Workers”. Seems like circular logic.
3. Olympia’s Soda Pop Shake-Down
A new piece from the Washington Policy Center is raising alarms about Democrats in Olympia reviving the push for a statewide soda tax through House Bill 2734. The proposal would impose a three-cent-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages beginning in 2028.
Soda Pop Shake Down.
Include the tax and include a required deposit on each container. More tax and more negative costs for the seller. Maybe Amazon can deliver the soda from a non-shake-down state.
4. Paid Leave… Paid by You, Used by Someone Else
The Washington Policy Center is warning that Senate Bill 5292 could quietly set the stage for higher payroll taxes tied to Washington’s Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program. While the bill does not directly raise the program’s 1.2% tax cap today, critics argue it rewrites the rules in a way that makes future increases far easier to justify once the program again struggles to stay solvent.
Paid Leave.
Who pays? Tax and Spend. The prudent policy should be to look at taxes as a penalty and find other sources for funding. Significantly the solutions to higher and higher expenses is higher taxes. These give-away programs sound great until the *hit arrives at the door step.
Summary.
We read about proposals that burden more people, and their businesses, than ever before. We citizens are being assaulted by our, supposedly, representatives. Who is profiting from this assault? It certainly is not the average tax payer.
Each rise in the costs of doing business threatens their survival. Each rise in costs to those struggling to survive retirement in our state make the pressure increase to leave the state. Too many cannot afford to move and just see their standard of living decline. Where is the effort to have our citizens thrive? These costs are killing our future.
I ask our leaders, (I use the term loosely) to answer questions about limits. A Seventy five year bond issue? No challenges to questionable elections? Being unable to elect our local Sheriff? Who enforces the law? Does anyone read the statistics about businesses leaving the state? Is any responsible person left in Olympia? Is ineptitude contagious?
Here is my request. Do the homework. Create an environment for each business to thrive. Reduce expensive liens on new businesses. Have our representatives earn the public respect. (Who are your constituents?) Enforce the law. Stop tolerating the influx of undocumented, and demanding, and often illegal, migrants. Let us voters think our elected officials really want our state to improve. Our children deserve attention to these omissions. We all do.
We have to demonstrate to the few people that do stand up for the common man/woman that we are beside them in the fight. Sheldon, you are providing information that we need to help with the fight. Thank you!
From the National Harm Reduction site: Establishes quality of individual and community life and well-being, not necessarily cessation of all substance use as the criteria for successful interventions and policies. Harm reduction is a set of practical strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use. Harm Reduction is also a movement for social justice built on a belief in, and respect for, the rights of people who use drugs.
Just WOW! Harm reduction equates to more harm for the addicted and harm for the people just trying to live their lives in this county. First, facts, cartels control drugs in this country, state and even into this county. We will never ever rid this country of drugs completely as the appetite is too huge and the money too much. The cartels absolutely LOVE harm reduction; this program keeps the drugs flowing and drug users using and the dollars flowing! Look at the increased crimes, too many to list. We see the increased need for police/sheriff and fire to respond. Just think, if we could DECREASE the use of drugs, our first responders could be more proactive rather than reactive in our communities.
I purchased my retirement home here 15 years ago after having been familiar with this area (family here) since 1972. Little could I imagine that I would live on a road with three dope dealers. A search warrant on the house behind me pulling out pounds of meth and long guns from a felon. Little did I think I would get a call from a neighbor one day asking me to look at a baggie he found by his driveway, where he has young kids playing. The little baggie contained a white powder, appeared to be fentanyl (not crystalline). I told him to call the Sheriff's department and ask them to collect for destruction. He was told to destroy it himself. Seriously???? I walk my dog every morning at dawn, I pass by one of the dealers on my road and have seen deals going down in the wee hours. I have seen drug deals in the parking lot of Safeway in Sequim. I have contacted OPNET and given them information about the dealers around here. I see no change, nothing better.
I have seen the destruction of what drugs do to neighborhoods and communities and apparently our "leaders" support this. I would encourage the commissioners to go on ride alongs with the first responders and see first hand what a sternum rub on an infant looks like, trying to keep the the infant alive after ingesting drugs from their doped parents, or see a repeat user being given multiple administrations of Narcan, or go to a family and tell them their child was found dead with a needle still stuck in their arm. I say this from experience after 25 years in law enforcement. The commissioners are keyboard warriors and write articles about how good harm reduction is for this county and the reduction of deaths. Those articles are for folks, who only read the titles, and for them to increase their resume on supposedly good "results".
The decision to keep funding harm reduction leaves me speechless. But being what this state has become they must commit to the catchy terms of "social justice" and "rights for those who use drugs". If there was ay ounce of morality they would look for a reduction of drugs and drug use in this county. I put in a lot of hard years in another state seeing what drugs do to families and communities and if this keeps up, I cannot even imagine what this county will be like in just a few more years, it will not be livable for the rest of us.
Wow! is right! "aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use." That's the mentality we here in Clallam County have to deal with. The LOCKDOWNS that gave us these mentally ill authoritarians have perpetuated all the negative consequences. CAS, you have suffered the negative consequences of drug trafficking, drug addicts, and a legal system that doesn't care about you, the innocent citizen. LaTrisha Suggs's re-election campaign was heavily funded by out-of-area donors. Her attitude on issues such as this tells us why.
Ignorant board commissioners have 0 foresight,we have all seen the disastrous results of counties supporting homeless drug addicts.Clallam co board commissioners are going down the same home wrecking path as other counties have done that results in higher taxes-higher crime-higher death rates-higher drug addictions ect ect ect.The sooner these ignorant hypocrite libtard elected home wreckers get voted out of office the better.
And we have to be prepared to pick up the pieces when they are voted out. They will leave a burdensome mess that we can't fathom until they're gone.
Maybe the reason for leaders(?) not focusing on healing addicts and caring for the mentally ill, living on our streets, is tied to the enterprise of Harm Reduction. What would many of those employed by the Harm Reduction economy do without the money flowing into Harm Reduction? How about redirecting resources toward rehabilitation and life skills and away from enablement. How about looking at the fifteen-year history of the ten-year plan and its success. While the numbers may show less overdose deaths, statistics do not indicate less addiction, or less vagrancy or less environmental harm. Non-Government Organizations (NGO) have become THE decision makers in Clallam County. Commissioners seem to take any input from an NGO as gospel, without investigating facts supporting or contradicting their requests. Input from citizens not connected to NGOs is deemed as coming from those with NO STANDING.
Harm Reduction Mission Statement
E N A B L E
Do not worry pretty soon he will have a free condo and exposing himself to all the other perverts in their new hotel PBH. All on our dime!
jedjen, he'll have a 360 angled rooftop to expose himself from for our viewing enjoyment. He'll certainly expand his audience.
You can see it coming,soon as these brand new multi million $$$ luxury housing projects get finished the drug addicts will want to setup encampments onsite so they to can have a nice place to party while they wait for their new multi million $$$ luxury apartments get built.
Good morning Jeff,
Another fine article showing more proof to the commissioners. Why won't they stop?
The answer is getting more clear by the minute...$ for them, Tribe, and the real pain and should be targeted "Big Pharma".
Please keep it up !
Thank you and have a great day all.
Can we please talk about the insanity of paying to haul and store those "belongings?"
If our county "leadership" made a simple ruling:
Turn in one used syringe for a new one
Turn in one used crack pipe for a new one
Turn in one used boofing kit <yech> for a new one
It might make a serious impact on the garbage left behind.
NOI, Where's the COMPA$$ION in that?
Merely providing the swap is MORE THAN ENOUGH compassion. How about just telling them to F**K OFF, GTFO of our county, and NO CAMPING OUTSIDE OF DESIGNATED CAMPGROUNDS! Ignore it and you will be put in a cage, fed gruel, and will have to go through withdrawal without help. The lesson in that is the compassion!
You’ll have to convince our 3 Compa$$ionate Commi$$ioner$
You must mean the compASSionate ones, like OziASS, French Fry, and Short Johnson?
Yepper. That makes 1 ass, 1 fry and 1 short Johnson. Are these to go? ; )
I wish they would, to far, far away! Like Patagonia!
I still think our " leaders" are making $$ off it somewhere. Can they really be that ignorant or naive otherwise??