Commissioner Ozias has a responsibility to the Jamestown MAT clinic to frame the conversation as he does, "If your argument is ‘let them die...”
His moral strawman response is designed to stop the conversation.
If he says that to me, I have options.
"Actually, my argument is that leaving someone in a cycle of addiction without a path to accountability is what lets them die. Compassion isn't just about the next ten minutes; it’s about the next ten years. If we provide the tools for use but not the requirements for recovery, aren't we just subsidizing a slow-motion tragedy?"
.
Or
.
"It’s exactly because I don’t want them to die that I’m asking for accountability. Harm reduction keeps them alive today, but accountability gives them a reason to live tomorrow. How can we call a program a success if it manages the symptoms of the crisis but refuses to incentivize the cure?"
.
Or
.
"The goal of harm reduction is to reduce harm to the individual and the community. If we ignore results and accountability, we aren't reducing harm—we’re just relocating it. Why is it an 'either/or' for you? Why can’t we save lives today while demanding the progress that prevents deaths tomorrow?"
I like your first statement. Because it denies what Ozias' mis-interpretation of your argument is, and focuses mainly on the accountability. Then asks the direct question that I really wonder how Ozias could possibly answer,
These are excellent responses. The strawman argument is taken straight from Berry and they both like to use it when there is no opportunity for public response. I am saving these for future letter writing.
You can sense the frustration through his responses. Holding on to his position of power with all the benefits therein becomes increasingly tenuous. I can surmise that he is getting more correspondence in recent months about the state of our community, and not of the "fan mail" variety. As the voices increase in intensity and unity with message, passing the blame looks more clownish.
My hope is that more of us will feel emboldened to speak up and get involved in some way (big or small.) We have to keep pushing for the change we seek for our future to have any real possibility of a thriving Clallam County.
The commissioners did not respond to yesterday's question asking if they would consider sending a letter of support on behalf of constituents -against- the transfer of two wildlife refuges to a sovereign nation. Here is today's question:
Dear Commissioners and Dr. Berry,
After reading Commissioner Ozias’ recent remarks (below), I want to ask a straightforward question:
At what point does Clallam County leadership take ownership of the conditions here instead of attributing them to failures at the federal level?
Residents are dealing with the real, daily impacts of addiction, public safety concerns, and visible decline in public spaces. These are not abstract policy debates—they are local outcomes. And they are happening under local leadership.
Blaming federal inaction may be convenient, but it doesn’t explain the policy choices being made here at the county level—choices around harm reduction, enforcement, and public health priorities.
So, the question is:
What specific local policies or decisions do you believe have improved conditions in Clallam County over the past several years—and how are you measuring that success?
And if conditions have worsened, as many residents believe, what accountability do you accept for that?
Just a compensation mechanism to heal a broken relationship for European colonization is all he, we, you and I have. He needs to admit it and start listening to ideas. He has to get his co-managers out of there or go around Emery. You can't just walk around with compensation mechanism to heal a broken relationship for European colonization stamped on your head blaming Trump. Trump didn't misspend 14 years of U.S Department of Commerce money.. to create a compensation mechanism to heal a broken relationship for European colonization.
It’s the classic bait and switch that only fits their narrative. They refused to listen to good ideas about harm reduction and how to end the homeless encampments. Dr. Berry is just a joke to me somehow we need to vote her out.
My belief is that most of these "outdoorsmen" are homeless by the choices each made in their life. Thus, they abused their Privileges and Rules under the roof where they lived, and thus were kicked out by people exercising "tough love". "Clean up you act and you can come back. Don't clean it up and never appear on our doorstep." Clallam County policies don't support "tough love" but instead puts out a Welcome Mat starting at Blyn (our door step) , that extends all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Our billboards proclaim , "Welcome and we mollycoddle all you "outdoorsmen".
You are spot on...we had to do that and after a second return to our property, we have a son who is ready to become a journeyman electrician. Not easy to do but he is my favorite fishing buddy too.
Advocates looking to fleece taxpayers always redefine actual definitions or situations to fit their agenda. Someone choosing to live in a manner that doesn't involve a building annointed by county building codes isn't homeless. You just can't tell the advocates that difference because they might have to actually build a widget and support society than take from it.
I am laughing out loud at their warnings about uncut grass while people addicted to drugs defecate on sidewalks and in parks. What a disturbing contrast. Will law-abiding citizens at some point decide that having two sets of rules is intolerable and decide to start ignoring the law themselves? Will that be the point at which the idiotic criminals in power decide they have to do something about the open-air drug use, violence, and squalor?
Is the fix to place a homeless person on a patch of unmowed grass to finally see accountability happen, or to have a homeowner squat in council chambers to then be annointed with an unaccountability title?
Is it not obvious that current city and county political leadership in this blue state reflect deep blue values? And this, residents get the policies and excuses you see today. Dr. Berry proved herself to be nothing more than a progressive tool during Covid, parroting positions that have proven to be so very wrong and so very harmful to so many. The same is occurring now with the health issues caused by homeless drug addicts.
Reinhold Niebuhr wrote the prayer now known as the “Serenity Prayer.” Niebuhr understood a deep truth about resilience. Take away his religious aspect and one has the bare truth of our homeless disaster...we need to change the things we can.
"The Serenity Prayer is a prayer or invocation by the petitioner for wisdom to understand the difference between circumstances ("things") that can and cannot be changed, asking courage to take action in the case of the former, and serenity to accept in the case of the latter."
Any “word on the street” what the latest arrest of Watts did to the availability of fentanyl on the market and its use? This is the intelligence this county health department and law enforcement must know in order to get an idea of success or failure. Success would be less demand, higher prices, fewer over doses and judicial outcomes. Failure would be more homeless, which we see. Failure would be open drug sales and use, which we see. Failure would be a landscape filled with trash and drug paraphernalia, which we see. Failure would be a judicial system of arrest and release cycles, which we see. Open your eyes Clallam County. Your answers are before your eyes.
Commissioner Ozias has a responsibility to the Jamestown MAT clinic to frame the conversation as he does, "If your argument is ‘let them die...”
His moral strawman response is designed to stop the conversation.
If he says that to me, I have options.
"Actually, my argument is that leaving someone in a cycle of addiction without a path to accountability is what lets them die. Compassion isn't just about the next ten minutes; it’s about the next ten years. If we provide the tools for use but not the requirements for recovery, aren't we just subsidizing a slow-motion tragedy?"
.
Or
.
"It’s exactly because I don’t want them to die that I’m asking for accountability. Harm reduction keeps them alive today, but accountability gives them a reason to live tomorrow. How can we call a program a success if it manages the symptoms of the crisis but refuses to incentivize the cure?"
.
Or
.
"The goal of harm reduction is to reduce harm to the individual and the community. If we ignore results and accountability, we aren't reducing harm—we’re just relocating it. Why is it an 'either/or' for you? Why can’t we save lives today while demanding the progress that prevents deaths tomorrow?"
I like your first statement. Because it denies what Ozias' mis-interpretation of your argument is, and focuses mainly on the accountability. Then asks the direct question that I really wonder how Ozias could possibly answer,
These are excellent responses. The strawman argument is taken straight from Berry and they both like to use it when there is no opportunity for public response. I am saving these for future letter writing.
You can sense the frustration through his responses. Holding on to his position of power with all the benefits therein becomes increasingly tenuous. I can surmise that he is getting more correspondence in recent months about the state of our community, and not of the "fan mail" variety. As the voices increase in intensity and unity with message, passing the blame looks more clownish.
My hope is that more of us will feel emboldened to speak up and get involved in some way (big or small.) We have to keep pushing for the change we seek for our future to have any real possibility of a thriving Clallam County.
The commissioners did not respond to yesterday's question asking if they would consider sending a letter of support on behalf of constituents -against- the transfer of two wildlife refuges to a sovereign nation. Here is today's question:
Dear Commissioners and Dr. Berry,
After reading Commissioner Ozias’ recent remarks (below), I want to ask a straightforward question:
At what point does Clallam County leadership take ownership of the conditions here instead of attributing them to failures at the federal level?
Residents are dealing with the real, daily impacts of addiction, public safety concerns, and visible decline in public spaces. These are not abstract policy debates—they are local outcomes. And they are happening under local leadership.
Blaming federal inaction may be convenient, but it doesn’t explain the policy choices being made here at the county level—choices around harm reduction, enforcement, and public health priorities.
So, the question is:
What specific local policies or decisions do you believe have improved conditions in Clallam County over the past several years—and how are you measuring that success?
And if conditions have worsened, as many residents believe, what accountability do you accept for that?
Just a compensation mechanism to heal a broken relationship for European colonization is all he, we, you and I have. He needs to admit it and start listening to ideas. He has to get his co-managers out of there or go around Emery. You can't just walk around with compensation mechanism to heal a broken relationship for European colonization stamped on your head blaming Trump. Trump didn't misspend 14 years of U.S Department of Commerce money.. to create a compensation mechanism to heal a broken relationship for European colonization.
KIM-CCCD - With this being said..
Why, if the water is SO CLEAN and drinkable (right?) why did we pay for a 5,000 Water Filtration system for a select few?
ha ha-
The joke is on us.
And it's running down our legs
It’s the classic bait and switch that only fits their narrative. They refused to listen to good ideas about harm reduction and how to end the homeless encampments. Dr. Berry is just a joke to me somehow we need to vote her out.
I wish we had the power to vote on her…
My belief is that most of these "outdoorsmen" are homeless by the choices each made in their life. Thus, they abused their Privileges and Rules under the roof where they lived, and thus were kicked out by people exercising "tough love". "Clean up you act and you can come back. Don't clean it up and never appear on our doorstep." Clallam County policies don't support "tough love" but instead puts out a Welcome Mat starting at Blyn (our door step) , that extends all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Our billboards proclaim , "Welcome and we mollycoddle all you "outdoorsmen".
You are spot on...we had to do that and after a second return to our property, we have a son who is ready to become a journeyman electrician. Not easy to do but he is my favorite fishing buddy too.
4-5 years in the right direction.
Advocates looking to fleece taxpayers always redefine actual definitions or situations to fit their agenda. Someone choosing to live in a manner that doesn't involve a building annointed by county building codes isn't homeless. You just can't tell the advocates that difference because they might have to actually build a widget and support society than take from it.
I am laughing out loud at their warnings about uncut grass while people addicted to drugs defecate on sidewalks and in parks. What a disturbing contrast. Will law-abiding citizens at some point decide that having two sets of rules is intolerable and decide to start ignoring the law themselves? Will that be the point at which the idiotic criminals in power decide they have to do something about the open-air drug use, violence, and squalor?
Is the fix to place a homeless person on a patch of unmowed grass to finally see accountability happen, or to have a homeowner squat in council chambers to then be annointed with an unaccountability title?
Is it not obvious that current city and county political leadership in this blue state reflect deep blue values? And this, residents get the policies and excuses you see today. Dr. Berry proved herself to be nothing more than a progressive tool during Covid, parroting positions that have proven to be so very wrong and so very harmful to so many. The same is occurring now with the health issues caused by homeless drug addicts.
As long as her bread is buttered by the Clallam County Commissioner Trifecta she'll continue with her personal self-actualization behavior.
Vote for a new message.
Vote for Jake.
WHEN POLICY BECOMES THE PROBLEM
WHAT COMES NEXT?
Reinhold Niebuhr wrote the prayer now known as the “Serenity Prayer.” Niebuhr understood a deep truth about resilience. Take away his religious aspect and one has the bare truth of our homeless disaster...we need to change the things we can.
"The Serenity Prayer is a prayer or invocation by the petitioner for wisdom to understand the difference between circumstances ("things") that can and cannot be changed, asking courage to take action in the case of the former, and serenity to accept in the case of the latter."
God,
Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I can not change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and WISDOM to KNOW the difference.
❤️💥🙌🏻🇺🇸
One of my sll time faves!
Port Angeles is on life support.
Yesterday work section:
They spent about an hour with Kim, i took 5 pages of notes!! (because im a dork)
Another presentation (before Kim) RV Homeless Zoning extension time… few minutes.
She asked for a 12 month extension because the program has NOT met its 50% compliance.
No Discussion from the commissioners.
They agreed to grant her wish.
No measurement of success-
Done deal.
No check, No balances.
No charts.
No
Feckless, again.
Any “word on the street” what the latest arrest of Watts did to the availability of fentanyl on the market and its use? This is the intelligence this county health department and law enforcement must know in order to get an idea of success or failure. Success would be less demand, higher prices, fewer over doses and judicial outcomes. Failure would be more homeless, which we see. Failure would be open drug sales and use, which we see. Failure would be a landscape filled with trash and drug paraphernalia, which we see. Failure would be a judicial system of arrest and release cycles, which we see. Open your eyes Clallam County. Your answers are before your eyes.