87 Comments
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Steven Pelayo's avatar

Wow. This one hurts. Port Angeles is going through a 20 year self inflicted suicide. I collect a lot of data and I struggle to find one positive metric where we are outperforming similar sized towns. We are continually lagging in growth in wages, jobs, housing, sales tax collections, and school enrollment and outcomes. The only things growing faster are layoffs, crime, drug use, and vacant and blighted properties. I increasingly find myself wondering if I should continue to spend so much time and money here. Are we a lost cause? Do I have to vote with my feet and move?

Robert's avatar

It’s the same story in Sequim. The major growth in Clallam County seems to be in the size and scope of government and NGO influence, as well as the power of the tribes to influence and control policy and their own empires β€” and, of course, our growing property tax bills. The fact of the matter is, you cannot help someone who refuses to take ownership of their addiction and help themselves.

Garry Blankenship's avatar

What I see is a near exclusively Democrat political leadership that has created the lost cause you reference. Rather than voting with your feet, try voting anything other than the historically dominate political party.

Robert James's avatar

The question on every rational mind, Steven!

The state is corrupt, so no chain of command to follow up regionally.

The DJT admin is up to its neck in legal and spiritual battles...they are challenging Ferguscum and his minions at the legal level but legalism has corrupted Law, so uncertain outcomes there.

There are a few places that are pro-Constitution and pro-2A but corruption is in every system to some degree...the places (in the U.S.) I've perused have climatological and biological challenges such as storms, floods, tick/mosquito-borne diseases, poisonous insects and dangerous animals...this planet is an iffy place at best...and criminality is rampant even where law-enforcement/justice is doing it's job.

Interesting times, indeed!

Overseas would be a one-way move for us and nothing has 'popped' up!

Best wishes!😎

Ken's avatar

Seventy-two in the drunk tank would help. Withdrawls are painful. Help is at the MAT center. A simple β€œmove along. You can’t sleep here” is needed. Cut off the suppliers, cut off the demand, cut off the enablers (county). Enforce the laws. Attack this problem from all angles. City leaders do your jobs so we don’t have to depend on our useless County leadership. Clean up our streets.

Susie Blake's avatar

With addiction to opiates, even prior to widespread fentanyl, it takes at least 30 days to regain some clarity in thought processes. When a loved one was badly strung out on heroin I read quite a few research papers that found a year of confinement was optimal for the patient to have best odds of staying off the drugs because it took that long for brain to recover to the pre-addiction state. Family advocated with the federal prosecutor for court ordered treatment which we were told was highly unusual, but he took our request seriously and that extra time incarcerated saved a life and provided effective behavioral therapy. Prison therapy is not perfect and can come with it's own traumas, but I will forever credit it for saving the life of someone I love. Thank heaven for neuroplasticity. Even meth detox is more complicated now due to most street drugs being mixed with at least some fentanyl or even xylazine

Ken's avatar

Thanks Susie. Have never been an addict or had a close associate as one, I'm no expert. Seventy two hours is a start. Seventy two hours they are not out there stealing, buying, using, and accessing free stuff on the streets.

Denise Lapio's avatar

It's the gov't bureaucracies that need their fix.

Timothy Weller's avatar

Your money and resources is their "jones", personally. Politicians send their children to the best liberal colleges money and influence can buy; remember "aunt Becky" (Lori Loughlin)?, so that they can slide their kid into their vacant seat when they "retire" on your money. It isn't rocket science, just a decent memory at election time, based on performance of the incumbent, or their impending successor.

Robert James's avatar

City/County...same-same...infiltrated by socialist/communists.πŸ˜΅β€πŸ’«

MK's avatar

It takes just one Ginny story and we have people giving harm reduction programs 100% weight and 0% to consequences. We've got a handful of people controlling the narrative and tax dollars to manage walking corpses, the rest of us have no say in this.

Susie Blake's avatar

she is a strong advocate against harm reduction policies.

Timothy Weller's avatar

Don't kid yourself; unless your tongue is cut out, with your legs useless, you have a voice and a spine. Two things that seem to be in short supply, until after-the-fact, 'til very recently.

Robert James's avatar

And we thought the zombie movies were just fiction!😱

MK's avatar

Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Denise Lapio's avatar

Very powerful, Jeff. Thank you for being a strong voice for what is wrong with our community. We've seen how badly cities decay once drugs are allowed to be freely "discreet." The users become prominent and seriously threatening to the public. We, as a nation, a state, and a county cannot allow any excuse from anyone regarding drug addiction, drug trafficking, and drug rehab. The gov't's answers and profits are resulting in crime and chaos. We, the majority, who fund these money laundering schemes are disgusted with our leaders. They don't respect us, and as long as the money and power from the drug trade keeps their coffers full and their egos inflated, they never will.

m b's avatar

As the conservation leaders said to a knowing bocc, the money is out there we just have to go and get it.

Philip Bates's avatar

Thank you @Tozzer (and associates) for this critical review of the state of the local homelessness industrial complex!

It is ever clear to me that we will not see any change unless the supporting organizations are publicly lobbied against, and defunded! This requires that we do the same against the three despotic Boys ( Ozias, French, Johnson) that support the disingration of Clallam's social fabric

Eric Fehrmann's avatar

Great interview. Our streets need to be swept and the addicts, involuntarily detained, then offered the choice of voluntary rehabilitation or moving on. Our civil liberties are being encroached on by street encampments and vagrants. Supplying drug paraphernalia and free pizzas is like offering this alcoholic a beer and telling me to drive home. Our elected should watch this interview and implement this strategy through the non-profits they support.

Robert James's avatar

Moving on to some kind of containment...It's unholy to just move them along when they are so disruptive...making them someone else's problem is not socially acceptable.😎

Eric Fehrmann's avatar

Get clean, stay clean, be productive. No substitute drugs.

Geoff Fox's avatar

Agree. Moving on to other communities means shipping them to Clallam County didn't we just see that in this column a few days ago?

Jennifer's avatar

I was wondering why the Health Dept has not taken a more active role protecting the community’s well being. Now I know.

The lack of municipal jurisdiction enforcement has sent us backwards to a new 21st Century definition of Hunters-Gatherers. They are MAT nomads who live a life foraging the territory of Clallam County under Lord of the Flies behavior.

Hunter-gatherer

Peoples who forage or hunt for most or all of their food and life

Robert James's avatar

Free fentanyl...but you have to live in a 'compound' away from decent society!🧟

John Bowen's avatar

When people are addicted to.drugs you can't reason with them.because the addiction controls their mind .You can't reason also to radicals because they too are addicted to a idea .That their way is the only way to see things and the end can justify the means ? They aren't open to see does this work in the real world and maybe if we don't see improvement let's try a different approach ? Radicals won't admit they are wrong so they are fanatics which is someone that is a fan of a ideology .Which is a thought system that says this is how the world should work and we have to keep following this system no matter what happens .

.Instead of using observation ,intuition,wisdom on how things in life really work .Washington State spent 500 million ilast year on jury payout for the mistakes that where made maybe the reason we now can be proud of having the highest gas prices in the country to pay for this ?

So far this year it's 87 million 42 million to a woman that was repeatedly raped by her stepfather as a child .Because the dept of corrections didn't put him in prison ,but let him out ? Her mother was a alcoholic

Can you imagine anybody in their right mind leaving a child in that situation only a system that is run by radicals could do such a thing ?

Robert James's avatar

Satan...it's real!😱

Danetta Rutten's avatar

This is my land. It may have been their land but purchases and treaties make it my land.

MK's avatar

The tax dollars taken from you and spent by the agenda driven crowd disagree unfortunately.

Eric Fehrmann's avatar

I think pharmaceuticals may outlive cockroaches. Even the elected representatives.

Robert James's avatar

Which you rent from the gov't!😊

John Bowen's avatar

The tribal mentality is people who are stuck in a mindset of us vs them We see that so clearly in the Middle East where they have been fighting for 5000 yrs .Same thing in Africa constant fighting between the tribes.Here too some minority groups not willing to be part of the whole country ? .Living in past some perceived wrong that happened so long ago ? Their leaders to.stay in power keep the hate rhetoric up to indoctrinate the next gen never looking at the real actual history of those times ? Because today our system has been corrupted by lobby money where it's pay to play it's easy to find politicians to push their agenda on the public .

John Worthington's avatar

Tribe kicks them off the Res

John Bowen's avatar

Thoughtful people should really consider too where we live ? Right next to a huge forrest hundreds of thousands of acres of timber .According to LA fire dept a third of all fires are started by homeless encampments .What's to stop the same thing happening in Ca. because of their failed policies where entire communities are burned out from happening here ?

Susie Blake's avatar

there have been multiple encampment fires under the 8th st bridges from encampments in the Tumwater and Valley creek areas

Kristin's avatar

or government-assisted suicide --- Sadly assisted suicide just to make money off of them.

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Sep 15
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Kristin's avatar

Yep and it is so disturbing they are willing to treat folks like this.

Garry Blankenship's avatar

I could not make up a more counter productive policy toward drug abuse. Government is accommodating, encouraging, rewarding and promoting drug abuse. It is functioning as a marketing arm of illicit drug trafficking. Nurturing the very thing you do not want is completely without logic. Regardless of any amount of effort made to help the drug addicted, they too ultimately die. Government is only serving to possibly change their chosen time table. It is not the business of Government to take the results of people's choice away from them.

Susie Blake's avatar

not just a marketing arm, also a supply house for dealers. when dealers and customers can get all the tools needed from the health dept, more $ is left for narcotics. The government is actually increasing the demand thereby increasing prowling, shoplifting, burglary, etc. Don't even get me started on how keeping people addicted is keeping vulnerable humans captive in the sex trades

Kristin's avatar

Regarding Nov. Election Kate Dexter has been in office since 2018 and La Trisha Suggs has been in since 2019. How's that working?

MK's avatar
Sep 15Edited

Maybe Dexter and Suggs are reading the inspirational messages...

User's avatar
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Sep 15
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Susie Blake's avatar

"listening and responding" bahahahha hogwash

Susie Blake's avatar

always anecdotes from those folks, never data

User's avatar
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Sep 15
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Susie Blake's avatar

the actual outcomes and money spent to not achieve them would be laughable if it wasn't so damn sad

User's avatar
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Sep 15
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Kristin's avatar

It was disturbing to read about her grand plans to bring businesses to PA during her debate with Mimi.

Dudette you have had since 2018 but we have more empty now than we did then! You are clearly doing a super poor job.

Joseph Poole's avatar

Sad , a travesty , not to mention a waste of tax payers money.

No more enabling !

Don Beeman's avatar

Are the homelessness and addiction epidemics more parts of the depopulation and Bloomberg Cities (15 Minute Cities) movements? We can plug Land Acknowledgments, wildfires, burning forests, and higher property taxes in as additional tactics.

I believe our county health witch is a product of the Bloomberg School of Medicine at once proud Johns Hopkins in once proud Baltimore, home of H. L. Mencken and Fort McHenry. (Home of β€œBaltimore Dad” too?).

My thesis of many years is that the man-made CO2 caused global warming lie has had a result that is overlooked. Many see part of the money and power grab, but there is more. Along with the energy scare lies, it’s been the rationale for forcing higher exhaled CO2 on us in tighter poorly ventilated homes, schools, offices, etc.. This can also be another part of the depopulation movement because of the mayhem created the last 50 years. Many homes are making people sick and crazy. No wonder so many have found an alternative outdoors.

What chemical can make us sense too many others around us? Would you deploy it if you were a depopulationist? Would you want people masked and to stay home?

What chemical would you choose if you wanted America to beg for ObamaCare?

In 1995, the CDC told us to treat violence as a health issue. Is it? Did they explain why we should? Were more drugs prescribed?

(One of my canned rants almost went here. Be thankful).