“Will it be necessary for us to form armed nightly patrols?”
Charles Hough, who lives about 200 yards from the homeless encampment at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, has asked the Board of County Commissioners to act before someone is hurt by the dangerous people who have become his neighbors. He is not alone. The BOCC has received multiple letters from people on all sides of the Fairgrounds about their encounters with transients/homeless individuals who are on drugs or experiencing frightening mental health incidents. Children have also had alarming encounters. Neighborhs have experienced a spike in thefts and property crimes. The police are being called several times a week to the Fairgrounds and nearby streets to deal with the problems.
While local non-profits have offered to provide someone in the Fairgrounds as a kind of monitor of the population there, they will have no authority or resources to enforce order or prevent criminal activity and drug and alcohol abuse. They will not be patrolling nearby streets where problems are occurring.
The recent experience of Mr. Hough shows how fraught this situation is. The individual in question is known to police. He was housed at Western State Hospital after threatening a woman who lives on top of the hill over the Fairgrounds. He had been armed at the time with a sharp implement. He is back and again roaming the neighborhood near the homeless encampment.
Mr. Hough told us he believes he encountered this individual previously when he saw someone in the early morning darkness on his property examining his shed. Now he has reason to believe this individual is claiming Mr. Hough’s backyard for himself. Mr. Hough has reason to believe, as explained in the letter, that this individual has been in his backyard at night watching the family through windows. Mr. Hough says he was advised by police to expect this man to return now that he has focused on Mr. Hough and his house.
Here is Mr. Hough’s letter to the Commissioners. It will be read aloud today at their weekly meeting.
On Wednesday morning, December [sic–November] 18th, I went outside at 6 am to go on my daily morning walk. As I go outside my home, I see a small black dog with a red lite-up collar. At first I thought that it was my neighbor’s dog. It is pitch dark outside so I wear a headlamp, reflective vest and a belt that lights up red for my safety. The small dog comes over and I am petting and talking to it. This man comes up from behind me and says “Why are you stalking me?” Now remember that I am standing on my property and it is 6 am and very dark outside. I told him that I was going on a walk and I was not stalking him. With all the reflective and lighted safety equipment I was wearing, it would be hard to stalk someone without being seen. He then said that I was on my phone and that I saw him and I said “Oh there’s Peter and I am going to stalk him.” I told him that this is where I live. He replied that this was where he lives too. Remember that he is standing in my yard. I now realized that he was not in his right mind so I told him that I was going on my walk and to have a nice day and I started my walk.
Later I am thinking about this and I figured out that what he saw was me turning off my phone alarm while I was inside my home. For him to have seen this, he would have to be standing in my back yard since we leave our blinds open and the lights were on inside the home.
I filed a police report later that morning.
We live in the Lynnesfield addition which is behind the county fairgrounds. I am starting to feel that it’s not safe for myself, my family and my neighbors to walk in our neighborhood without some kind of protection or weapon. The homeless encampment that is currently at the fairgrounds is wrong and is getting very dangerous. This is not the first confrontation with this man harassing other people. As the police told me when I was filing the police report, Peter has mental issues. They have received many calls regarding him and currently has restraining orders filed against him.
Will it be necessary for us to organize armed nightly patrols of our neighborhood in order to feel safe and be able to walk on our streets and not have to worry about threatening harassment and people trespassing on our properties? I’m sure that the Jefferson County Commissioners are aware of all the 911 calls made to the police about incidents occurring at the fairgrounds. What is it going to take for this to stop…someone being hurt or killed? I no longer feel safe in my own home or for the safety of my friends and neighbors. I understand that this is not an easy problem to solve but this cannot continue.
Respectfully submitted,
Charles Hough
Related: “Lines form in Battle for Future of Fairgrounds,” PTFP, 9/9/20
“Transient/Homeless Village Grows at Fairgrounds,” PTFP, 10/29/20
Jim Scarantino was the editor and founder of Port Townsend Free Press. He is happy in his new role as just a contributor writing on topics of concern to him. He spent the first 25 years of his professional life as a trial attorney, then launched an online investigative news website that broke several national stories. He is also the author of three crime novels. He resides in Jefferson County. See our "About" page for more information.
My heart goes out to this man and families living near the fairgrounds. Your home is where you should feel safe. Knowing there could be people peering into your home would make me feel really uncomfortable. It’s well known that the homeless were a problem in KaiTai park and other areas downtown. Moving them to the Fairground was just shifting the burden to this neighborhood. Having the homeless living in a residential area is an accident waiting to happen.
I don’t have a solution for the homeless problem since this is a collective of addicts, mentally unstable people, and people down on their luck. However, I know this situation, along with affordable housing, should be the top priority in the city and county rather than bike paths and traffic circles. Instead of spreading ourselves thin dealing with so many issues, maybe concentration should be on the biggest problems which are the homeless. There are many creative thinkers in this county; surely someone has a solution to this problem. The more the drug issue is ignored, the more people will become addicts just by association and/or peer pressure. Determining who is really mentally unstable or unstable due to drugs is another issue. Allowing this group to roam the streets, without any real assistance is not helping. Look what it has done to Seattle’s tourist trade because it got out of hand. We need some solutions that are effective and we need them now.
I have one solution which in itself might not be feasible. But, it could work. I heard that our jails are overrun and some legal professional don’t feel jail time is suitable for petty offenses due to instability or addictions. So, my solution to reuse abandoned manufacturing plants or prison across the country – in remote locations. The people who are arrested for a crime and are known to be unstable or drug addicts are sent there to live. A separate facility will be established for the mentally unstable where they will receive the care they need. The “inmates” will be in charge of maintaining the facilities, such as electrical, plumbing, housekeeping, carpentry and cooking that will be taught to them by instructors. They will maintain a garden for food. Perhaps there is something they can make to sell for additional income. All the while, they would be required to attend drug classes and get therapy. There will be no money issued to the inmates until they are rehabilitated so money is not available for illegal drugs. This will hopefully get the drug addicts off the streets and the unstable into an environment that could assist them. I don’t know what the consequences will be if the inmates refuse to cooperate. I don’t have the experience of dealing with addicts or the unstable. With the millions each state has spent ideas that did not work, perhaps pooling their resources will work. The government could hire medical personnel and trade people to come in and service the group – maybe on a part time or full time basis. Teach them a trade. I realize there are a lot of holes in this plan, but my knowledge is limited when it comes to these things, but it’s a possible solution. Anyone else have any ideas?
Some of the “homeless” would probably welcome interim housing, food and community services. Those should be offered such assistance. Those with mental issues should be institutionalized and given treatment until they can resume a place in society. Chronic drug addicts and criminals do not belong in these groups. First, they do not want any part of work, even to extent of feeding themselves. Offering recovery services to these is a waste of money, as they are content to steal, shoot drugs and torment other people.
It is unfair for the government to expect the law-abiding to continue to be victimized by these drug-addled bums. The government should build rudimentary wood-framed shelters in remote areas adjacent to cattle feedlots and assign these “homeless” losers the task of shoveling manure for eight hours each day, which would pay for the roof over their heads and the food they eat. Those who refuse to work would be locked down and fed bread and water. No booze, no drugs and no cigarettes for anyone in these camps. If they want to live like animals, society should give them that choice, but away from where they can torment the rest of us.
Port Townsend is following the same pattern of destruction as Seattle and Olympia. I lived in both those places and wasted many years of my life attempting to save them. Much of the funding for trashing cities comes from taxpayers in the form of grants for “homeless services” that rarely include any permanent housing. Citizens have been meeting for decades with their alleged state and local government representatives who ALWAYS allow “the homeless” to invade and destroy middle and working class neighborhoods. ALWAYS!
There is no legal solution because there is essentially no rule of law in the territory that was once Washington State. The US and state constitutions are suspended indefinitely for Covid emergency. The Washington State we once loved no longer exists except in memory. It is an increasingly violent place – especially the cities. People who cannot adapt to this reality may not survive.
Homeless people live in the woods behind my place of work on Sims Way. When I spoke to the police about the situation, that I did not feel I or my property were safe, they came to check it out. I was told they knew the people living in the woods and there was nothing they could do unless the homeless were caught commiting an actual crime. The police suggested putting up no trespassing signs. This was last year. To this day the homeless still live in the woods behind my work. They use the outdoor outlets and water. They leave a huge mess which I have to clean up. The police do nothing because they claim there is nothing they can do.
Did you know that back in March, at the very beginning of the stay at home order, the shelter downtown was closed, deemed unsafe for the people who stay there due to crowding. One of our non-profits got a grant of $350,000 to house and feed the homeless who normally use the shelter. They were housed in a hotel downtown, each in their own waterfront room and local caterers were hired to bring in three meals a day. I was one of those providing food. I was told to charge $15 per meal. It was a great boost of income for me at a difficult time. We were told it would start at 25 people and they expected it to increase to the hundreds. Hundreds of homeless housed and fed in our hotels! The number never did increase, thank goodness. Actually it declined, fewer people came each week. By the end, there were 10 kind elderly homeless folks staying at the hotel. After two months the brilliant minds behind this plan and the ones with the grant money realized the money was not going to last much longer yet the lockdown would continue. That was when we were told the homeless would be moved to the fairgrounds and food would no longer be provided. I wonder where the kind elderly homeless are now. They are not the ones who are living behind my work, nor are they the ones stalking around the fairgrounds creating trouble.