Knowing the Homeless: The Individuals on Port Townsend’s Streets

Knowing the Homeless: The Individuals on Port Townsend’s Streets

by | Sep 27, 2018 | General

2012 was the year I moved to Port Townsend from Tacoma.  While I immediately loved this place, our proximity to nature and the beach, I found myself having difficulty relating to people in my new home town.

It wasn’t that I felt anyone gave off a negative vibe.  Most of the people I met in my Uptown neighborhood  just seemed like they were worlds apart from my own.  I tried volunteering at the Wooden Boat Festival, Film Festival, etc.  I spent some time at the Uptown Pub.  While I had a good time, I never met anyone I connected with.

I grew up in Federal Way.  The people I’d known there and later in Tacoma were, you might say, a bit rougher, grittier, more down-to-earth than the people I was meeting in Port Townsend.

Perhaps strange, I began to feel most comfortable at the Penny Saver, often late at night.  Many folks coming in late in the evening were dirty, just ending a long day of work at the boat yard, mill or other blue-collar job.  I’d built my own automotive businesses.  I knew the dignity and joys of getting dirty in work you love. I found it easy to strike up conversations with this side of Port Townsend.

Many of the homeless would come in during the later hours. I was honestly more comfortable talking to the homeless than pretty much anyone at the Co-op and the parties I’d attended since landing here.

I’d been through plenty of highs and lows in life by this time.  I’d never been homeless myself, but it was easy for me to relate to these people.  I enjoyed listening to their stories.  We had shared experiences.  I’ve seen things they’ve gone through and I was really at ease around them.  

Over the years, I have gotten to know many of the homeless, mostly those who are “from here.”  I’ve gotten to know their stories.  They’ve shared their struggles and triumphs. 

I’ve seen things that bothered me:  the people who come out of Penny Saver with a six-pack of beer and give a can or bottle to a homeless person leaning against the wall.  Or the teenagers who pay homeless person to go in and buy beer for them. 

In all the time I’ve spent with this town’s street people, I have only had a couple uncomfortable experiences.  A homeless alcoholic man threatened me and stuck his head and hands in my car through the window.  He said, “You better watch you back and hope you have good insurance on your car.”  I immediately stepped out of my vehicle and confronted him.  He backed down and apologized.  The cause for his anger:  I refused to give him cash for the sandwich he said he wanted and instead offered to buy him one.  I had known any cash in his hands would only be used to get him drunk.

Another time, I found a bicycle in the middle of the road behind McDonalds. This was late at night. The homeless hang out back there in Kah Tai Park or in the landscaping around the parking lot. I got out of my car to move the bike to the sidewalk and someone I couldn’t see started throwing rocks at me.  I calmly but loudly shouted, “If this is your bike, please, I was just moving it out of the road.”  Instead my car and my person continued to be pelted with rocks.  

Each week I will be telling a story about someone who is or has been homeless that I have come to know.  I hope my personal experiences can open up the minds of our readers and tie in these experiences to our past article by our anonymous contributor entitled, “Knowing the Homeless.”

It is my intention that by putting a face on the homeless, being realistic about who they are, their problems, and the dangers and problems they pose for the rest of us, my writing might help us have a better informed discussion about things such as a homeless shelter, the increased crime attributed to transients, and the impacts of the homeless on our public resources.  We can’t start to address the problem of homelessness unless we know who these people are.

 

 

 

 

 

Gun Control Emerges as Issue in Jeffco Commissioner Race

Gun Control Emerges as Issue in Jeffco Commissioner Race

by | Sep 25, 2018 | Politics

Initiative 1639 is not the only threat to your Second Amendment rights on the November 6 ballot. The Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners is joining the effort to keep you from exercising your constitutional rights.  The voters’ decision on who should fill the open District 3 seat on the Commission now looms large in the future of gun rights in Jefferson County.

I-1639 is the initiative that would invade your medical privacy if you buy a handgun or semi-automatic rifle; collect enough data to populate a federally-prohibited registry of gun owners; and subject lawful gun owners to prosecution if their gun is stolen and used in a crime, among other affronts to your liberties. 

 What Jefferson county commissioners are doing is more subtle and reflects an emerging tactic among anti-Second Amendment government bodies. Politicians in most jurisdictions know that being honest about wanting to take away people’s guns and their right to use them is a recipe for political disaster. To work around this inconvenient truth, liberal politicians manipulate the regulatory process by writing laws designed to chip away at your gun rights. 

 The mechanism for this is a new ordinance to re-write existing county laws pertaining to shooting ranges. Judging by the language of the ordinance, it would appear the new and onerous regulations contained in this 38-page dictum are designed for one thing: to make it too expensive and too burdensome to operate a shooting range in Jefferson County. 

 This ordinance creates new, complex and costly barriers to exercising rights under the Second Amendment. Commissioner David Sullivan claims the ordinance is, “based on health and safety issues that have been cited at gun facilities,” the largest and best known being the range operated by the Jefferson County Sportsmen Association. 

 But a careful read of the ordinance betrays the motives of Sullivan and others. Modeled after a similar piece of anti-gun legislation in Kitsap County, the draft language for Jefferson County explicitly states that, “Kitsap County has passed a commercial shooting facility ordinance that withstood legal challenge.” In other words, they think they found a way to limit your gun rights and get away with it. 

 The ordinance also attempts to indict the Sportsmen Association and the range it has operated for more than half a century. It reads, “bullets striking a residence on November 22, 2017 near the commercial shooting facility located at 112 Gun Club Rd., Port Townsend, WA 98368 on land owned by Jefferson County but operated by Jefferson County Sportsmen’s Association called to question the safety of commercial shooting facilities.” 

 The deceit is revealed by the ordinance eventually acknowledging the truth that, “it was ultimately determined the damage was likely not caused by the shooting facility operated by Jefferson County Sportsmen’s Association.” The entire ordinance is based on a false premise. 

 The Sportsmen Association is not run by One-Percenters who fund anti-gun agitators from their offices in New York. It’s about 1,100 individuals and families who pay annual dues that are lower than my monthly PUD bill. By all accounts, this group of private citizens has been a good neighbor over the past 52 years, and operates its facility in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. But the new bureaucracy, permitting demands, inspections and surveying requirements of the ordinance aren’t cheap. We’re talking about tens of thousands of dollars that groups like the Sportsmen Association simply do not have. 

 Meanwhile, a lot of complaints are from people who moved near the range after it opened in the early 1960s and now gripe about hearing guns. It’s like wanting to shut down the Port Townsend mill because you bought a house near it and it smells funny when the wind blows the wrong way. 

 This is how liberal government works. They create new law that could put a shooting range out of business. This means law abiding gun owners of Jefferson County are denied the best and biggest facility of its kind on the peninsula. Combine this loss of a long-established range with the raft of “no shooting” zones ordered by the ordinance, and people are left with virtually no nearby place to legally practice and improve their gun safety skills. Your ability to lawfully exercise your constitutional rights is diminished. 

The current board wants an incremental stealth form of gun control. What will the future 2019 Board of Commissioners do? The November 6 election to fill Kathleen Kler’s open seat will determine whether Jefferson County is governed by commissioners who are unanimously opposed to your constitutional rights. Democrat Greg Brotherton has already indicated he doesn’t want to be a disruptor on the board, so he cannot be counted upon to support your Second Amendment rights. He also just happens to be the candidate recruited by the other commissioners. Republican Jon Cooke is more independent and open-minded on the issue.

So the question is, who do you trust to defend your right to keep and bear arms?  Put another way, who do you trust not to use their powers as county commissioner to undermine your Second Amendment rights?

This new law isn’t a done deal yet. A public hearing on the ordinance is set for October 1 and it’s a good bet that plenty of anti-Second Amendment agitators will be bused-in to the courthouse for the 6:30 pm hearing. For people who believe the Bill of Rights actually means something in Jefferson County, this is probably their last best chance to speak up.

 

Tweek Watch Olympic Peninsula: Facebook Crime Fighters

Tweek Watch Olympic Peninsula: Facebook Crime Fighters

by | Sep 24, 2018 | General

A game camera is triggered by motion at 3 a.m.  A black Dodge pickup truck is photographed leaving a meth compound in Sequim.  The pic goes up on the Facebook page of Tweek Watch Olympic Peninsula where it is seen by over 2,500 people.

This truck and unidentified driver was caught leaving a major meth compound in Sequim at 3am on our game cam. If this truck is near your property they are likely on the prowl. The people living at the compound are involved in a major drug – theft syndicate in Clallam County! Beware!

Someone comments there are three identical trucks in Sequim.  Possibilities are narrowed down.  The truck is spotted at Lincoln Park in Port Angeles. It doesn’t take long to rule that one out.  Someone wants to know where the meth compound is located and the page administrator provides not only the intersection but a photo.   People weigh in.  They’ve seen the traffic and stolen property collected out there. But who owns this particular truck? Suggestions pour in, are  evaluated.  Finally, the community settled on the meth truck being regularly seen outside a particular tattoo stop.

Virtual vigilantes?  One commenter says “Call the cops…Starting vigilante sh#t could get you killed.”

The discussion rolls on, undeterred.

A “tweeker,” if you didn’t know, is a meth addict.  The term frequently encompasses heroin and other drug addicts, as it does in the case of this Facebook page.

We could not find out who runs Tweek Watch.  We were in communication with the administrator who initially agreed to answer questions but then the dialogue stopped.  We succeeded in locating people who know the identity of the administrator.  They say this person does not want to be publicly identified because of the potential for retaliation from users and dealers.

We understand.  Who would want to be outed for standing up to the crime associated with meth and heroin addiction on the Olympic Peninsula?  In one post the administrator stated that the tweekers had already found the site.  “Ban button wearing thin! Have a nice weekend was the response,” along with an expletive thrown at the tweekers who might be reading his post.

While readers of The Port Townsend Leader objected to naming arrestees in police reports, and the editor capitulated, the Tweek Watch community delights in posting photos and names of people they believe are engaged in criminal activity.  They post photos of RVs engaged in allegedly selling drugs on Port Angeles streets.  Someone posted having just seen a drug deal on Frost Road at the PUD gate. Photographs of persons accused of theft by a member of the community are posted, with full names.  Photos of recently stolen vehicles are posted with a request to speak up if they are seen. A Port Townsend man posts a photo with the message, “If you see this car in the hood, you are about to get robbed. PM me for details.”

Stash of hypodermic needles with location posted on Tweek Watch

We started watching this site months ago and have seen its following grow steadily.  What does law enforcement think?  We asked a Jefferson County deputy who hadn’t know about the site.  He thought it was a great idea and joined the page. Police are reading the comments.  They are part of the community.

Tweek Watch posted this on its “About” page:  “Meth and heroin thieves are victimizing too many good people on the Peninsula! It’s time to fight back! This page is to shed light on the tweeks.”

Not fearful of being sued, Tweek Watch also posts photos very clearly identifying homes and commercial properties as places where drugs are sold and used, or where tweekers reside and gather.  The administrator uses far saltier language to describe the locations and people there.

Some of the posts are followed with news that the wanted person had been arrested.  Police have raided some of the locations.  There’s no way of knowing if pressure from Tweek Watch motivated and informed police, or if information from police found its way to the site.

One thing is clear:  The Tweek Watch community knows quite a few of the miscreants and dodgy properties.  The anger about the situation is obvious, as is the determination to do precisely what the site set out to do:  fight back by dragging this activity and these people into the light.

This is not the only social media crime fighting effort.  In Seattle, the Next Door social media site has increasingly been used to share information about dangerous and criminal transients.  It has been reported to us that the Next Door network in Port Townsend is also engaging in rapid responses to drug crimes.

“When seconds count, the police are only minutes away,” the saying goes.  On-line crime fighting can bring the speed and sweep of the Internet to the battle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teen Marijuana Use in Jefferson County: A Growing Problem Needing An Aggressive County Commission

by | Sep 17, 2018 | General

Jefferson County has a real problem with teens using marijuana.

 Marijuana use among our kids, starting in the sixth grade, is significantly worse than the rest of the state.

 Marijuana use by teens, medical experts agree, damages brain development and can lead to memory loss, diminished verbal ability and learning and performance difficulties. 

 Most teens who enter drug treatment report their primary problem is marijuana abuse.  Teenage use greatly increases the risk of addiction.

 Marijuana use by teens can lead to more severe anxiety and depression, or the onset of those psychological problems.

 Does anybody care?  There has been less attention paid by our local newspapers to this serious problem than stories about Port Townsend’s deer.

 We learned about these alarming statistics from the 2016 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey in connection with reporting on the prospect of a marijuana retailer, Greg Brotherton, being elected to the County Commission.  In that position, he would have power over public efforts to fight teen marijuana use and educate consumers about its harmful effects.  We return to coverage of that looming conflict of interest in a future article.

 Our report about Brotherton highlighted marijuana’s adverse physical and health risks and drew some of the most vitriolic reader responses to anything we have written.  Repeating facts about marijuana’s dangers, such as increasing the risk of testicular cancer by 250% or more than doubling a pregnant woman’s chances of giving birth to a dead baby, or that marijuana smoke contains more carcinogens and tar than cigarette smoke…look out.

 Fact-resistant worship of marijuana is making things worse for our kids.

 According to that Healthy Youth Survey, more than half of our teens think regular use has no harmful effects.  A good deal of this ignorance is attributable to the perception that adults don’t see anything wrong with marijuana use. 

 Perception of harm is decreasing even as scientific evidence establishes more physical and mental health problems related to marijuana use, especially with the more potent varieties finding their way to teens.  Today’s dope is nothing like what sent the Grateful Dead on mellow (and boring) hour-long versions of “Truckin’.”  Today’s genetically and chemically manipulated THC-soaked pot is green crack.  Yet this Franken-weed is being marketed as “organic and gentle.”

 Back to the scary statistics.

 Sixty-eight percent of teens report marijuana is easy to obtain.  The black market is all but gone. This means that teens are using marijuana coming out of retail shops.

 Seventy-eight percent of teens who use marijuana smoke it, a statistic comparable with adult use. There is no safe way to smoke marijuana, any more than there is a safe way to smoke cigarettes.

 More kids in Jefferson County drive stoned or in a vehicle driven by someone who is stoned than kids statewide.

 Teen marijuana use was declining markedly until 2010, started rising and has since stayed at about 32% of Jefferson County teens. 

 Legalization has made the problem worse with the marketing of marijuana promoting its use and acceptance and pooh-poohing its dangers.  The Chimacum Prevention Coalition has recognized this, as there are two marijuana retailers just down the road from the high school.  Marijuana retailers spending their advertising budgets to remove the stigma of marijuana use are not helping young people make the right decision.

 Instead of accepting worsening trends, we could be leveraging legalization to fight teen use and better educate the public so that the perception-of-risk trend line turns around.  We could fight marijuana use as we have fought cigarette use, by advancing facts that justify stigma and ridicule.

 The pot shop could become a classroom about the dangers of marijuana, if our county commissioners would take decisive action.

 The state law legalizing recreational marijuana empowered local governments to require more consumer information than the state mandated, which mentions health risks but glosses over specifics.  Just like Big Tobacco lobbyists blocked consumer education, pot’s lobbyists in Olympia have also been busy.

 Our county commissioners could require signs prominently displayed in every retail outlet and the distribution of printed material before every purchase providing the following information that comes through the county’s Public Health Department website (all hyperlinked in our previous Brotherton report).  After all, if the information is important enough to be made available by the county, why not make sure the intended audience gets it? 

-Marijuana is addictive.

-Marijuana can damage brain development, from babies absorbing THC through their mother’s placenta or breast milk to anyone up to age 25.  It can cause long term damage and a permanent drop in IQ and loss of verbal ability and memory.

-Pregnant women who use marijuana have 2.3 times greater incidence of still birth.  Marijuana-exposed children are more likely to show gaps in problem-solving skills, memory and the ability to remain attentive. Parental marijuana use is associated with a greater likelihood of using marijuana at an early age.

-Marijuana smoke contains carcinogenic combustion products, including about 50 percent more benzoprene and 75 percent more benzanthracene (and more phenols, vinyl chlorides, nitrosamines, reactive oxygen species) than cigarette smoke. Marijuana smoking leads to four times the deposition of tar compared to cigarette smoking.

-Marijuana smoking is associated with large airway inflammation, increased airway resistance, and lung hyperinflation.

-Marijuana use has been linked to increased psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety and substance abuse disorders.  It is particularly dangerous for individuals with a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia and psychosis.  The high THC content of today’s marijuana products increases the risks of psychiatric problems.

-Marijuana’s negative effects on attention, memory, and learning can last for days or weeks. A daily user may be functioning at a reduced intellectual level most or all the time.

-Chronic use can lead to Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome—a condition marked by recurrent bouts of severe nausea, vomiting, and dehydration.

And don’t forget that cringe-worthy fact about marijuana use by young men increasing their risk of testicular cancer by 250%.

We have a real problem with teen use of marijuana. But with a marijuana retailer likely winning the open seat on the county commission, and the other two commissioners supporting his candidacy, what are the chances they will aggressively use their lawful powers to help our kids?

Related:  Marijuana Facts for Teens from National Institute on Drug Abuse

Two Million Teens Vaping Marijuana, Survey Finds

Spike in Marijuana Overdoses Blamed on Potent Edibles, Poor Public Education

America’s Invisible Pot Addicts

What You Need to Know About Marijuana Use in Teens

Marijuana Addition is Growing and Teens Face the Highest Health Risk

Republican Jodi Wilke Wins Union Endorsement; Judges, Lawyers Score Haas Low on Integrity, Competence and Leadership

by | Sep 14, 2018 | Politics

A little campaign news.

Republican challenger Jodi Wilke has snagged a union endorsement in her David vs. Goliath race against incumbent Mike Chapman, who represents Jefferson County in the State House of Representatives.  In his race to remain a District 24 State Rep, Chapman has been racking up endorsements.  We previously covered his collection of organizational allies, as well as his fundraising advantage.  He has continued to add to his list of endorsements and build his war chest. The primary poll results showed Chapman with a sizable lead going into the general election.

Wilke has not let the unfavorable odds diminish her spirit and has remained in constant motion. For a first run against a much more experienced incumbent, she has been acquitting herself well.

So it is newsworthy that underfunded, outgunned Wilke can claim a union endorsement.  Union support of Democrats is not an attention-getter.  But a Republican winning union support, that deserves some keystrokes.

Laborers International Union of North America, Local 292, has thrown its support behind Wilke.  They represent construction workers, with a nationwide membership in excess of 500,000.

This was Wilke’s union hall out of Everett when she worked in the construction industry.  She also did some work out of ##242 and 440 in Seattle.  When she started own her construction business, she hired union help and signed the collective bargaining agreements.

Says Wilke, “They know I understand both sides of the union issues – both employee and employer. I became well-,versed on many of the issues facing the construction industry both in my own business and later when I worked in the mortgage industry dealing with construction loans and investor projects.

“I support the union,” she says, “for what it can offer workers [in] training, offering a living wage, and benefits. These things are critical for families and individuals to make a decent life.  As a business owner, I knew I could count on a skilled, hard-working crew of any size when I was able to land a big foundation contract. This was a critical aspect of being profitable. I did not sign union contracts for the smaller jobs, such as fencing and decks but we did pay comparable wages.

“I also know the work that goes into providing a ready, knowledgeable and skilled workforce that is geared up, reliable and has a good attitude. I completed the apprenticeship program, as did my ex husband, and my older son is currently progressing through it as well. The Laborers apprenticeship program out of Kingston is an excellent program. When I was married, we even had our wedding reception at their camp! [T]hese are good people and were a big part of my life at that time.”
Judges, Lawyers Score Haas Poorly on Integrity, Competence and Leadership
Good Results for Harrison and Nole
  
The Jefferson County Bar Association poll of its members is out and does not look good for incumbent Prosecuting Attorney Michael Haas.  The people who interact with him daily in the courthouse gave him failing grades on key professional qualities.
On integrity, 53% found him unacceptable.  Only 27% found him acceptable.
On professional competence, he scored worse.  57% rated his performance as prosecuting attorney unacceptable.
On management and leadership, he scored the worst.  Only 10% found him acceptable.  Nearly two-thirds of judges and lawyers rated his performance as unacceptable.
You can read the full poll results here.
James Kennedy, who is challenging Haas, received very few “unacceptable” ratings in any category, and scored significantly higher than Haas on integrity, competence and especially management and leadership.
Noah Harrison, who is running for District Court Judge against Mindy Walker, scored very high.  Walker’s results spoke poorly of her reputation among her peers for competence, judicial decision-making, and preparation and effectiveness in court.
Detective Joe Nole, who is challenging incumbent Sheriff David Stanko, also scored well in all categories, far outpacing Stanko, who received only 1 “acceptable” vote in the category of management and leadership.