Ebb and flow happen everywhere – in natural tidal rhythms, in social structures, and in the cycles of individual lives. Staying at high tide all the time is unsustainable.
These past 3 years, deadly lockdowns and incessant propaganda campaigns have propelled the world into a perpetual state of emergency, but things change. Paranoia and persecution over yesterday’s virus are thankfully waning, so folks have a breather to recuperate and tend their own gardens. Quoting my pastor, “now in this time of relative peace, let us build up in preparation for the next storm that may come.”
Likewise we editors at the Port Townsend Free Press find ourselves recharging after years publishing at fever pitch. Nobody’s going anywhere, but newsworthy local events, contributions arriving over the transom, and our own personal juice to write articles have dipped to a simultaneous low ebb.
This is to acknowledge what some loyal readers may have noticed — that content is sparse as we take a break. But whether or not new articles are published, we remain committed to maintaining a platform for open and uncensored community dialogue. Our monthly Off Topic! letters forum will continue to welcome your participation.
We do have some provocative pieces in the pipeline. And starting with the news briefs below, we’ll be posting “shorts” as they accumulate.
We also want to renew our call for reader contributions. The easiest way is to post a comment to the monthly Off Topic! letters forum, but if you’ve got some interesting local news, experiences, or insights to share in an article, don’t be shy… feel free to Contact Us!
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Where’s the Emergency? An Update
As previously reported, Jefferson remains the only County in Washington State still huddling in its own private State of Emergency.
But County Commissioners and staff have acknowledged they no longer see any impediment to terminating their 13th (!) consecutive temporary CV emergency declaration. That was made clear at their January 23 meeting when Human Resources Director Sarah Melancon reported the rate of infected staff had really declined and the need for employee CV leave and emergency help was questionable.
Nevertheless, their current thinking expressed by Commissioner Kate Dean at the March 13 meeting is: “We are still very much considering when to rescind our emergency order. The federal order, of course, is set to end on May 11th. So I think that that’s a good time frame for us to be targeted to.”
My own thinking expressed at January 23 public comment: “I appreciate your being open to normalizing it. … Just from an integrity point of view, an emergency is an emergency. When there’s an emergency, the captain can do whatever he wants, but when it’s not an emergency, things should be done by the rule of law.”
Whatever the practical excuse, governing by emergency powers when no emergency exists is abuse of office and a slippery slope to tyranny.
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Closed Door Policy at Jefferson Courthouse
Jefferson County Courthouse moved its courtroom security checkpoint down from the second floor to the basement in 2020 to enforce lockdown mask mandates throughout the building, in the process shuttering the beautiful main entrance doors on the first floor.
This forces everyone entering the building to walk through a metal detector and be searched by sheriffs for weapons (including keychain pocket knives) — perhaps appropriate for courtrooms, but time-consuming, invasive, and expensive overreach when it comes to folks just wanting to pay a tax bill, renew a license, or ask a question.
On February 21, 2023, Commissioners held a hearing to update courthouse weapon security practices. Multiple attorneys and courthouse employees gave Public Comment explaining why their jobs should exempt them from security screening, while one outsider advocated screening 100% of the time without favoritism.
Treasurer Stacie Prada commented the quiet part out loud:
I do appreciate that [screening] is at a public entrance for the full building. We’ve had a lot fewer tense incidents on the first floor since we’ve done this. We do have Assessor, Auditor, Treasurer, and while they sound administrative, people get pretty heated. And so we do not have to call security as often, because they already know they’re in the building and they’ve gone through security. And we also know that or can trust that they don’t have weapons on them, where we couldn’t before.
My comment was that there’s little benefit for employees continually having to go through checkpoints to take care of routine business, but the same is true for their customers. Both problems have the same solution: move the courtroom security checkpoint back up to the second floor next to the courtrooms where it always was!
Courthouse staff might like having their customers go through sheriff security checks as an attitude adjuster, but court rules and defunct mask mandates are disingenuous pretexts not enjoyed by public servants in other office buildings. Respect is important, but needs to cut both ways.
Moreover, any desire by staff to discourage unruly customers is irrelevant to the legal issue at hand. RCW 9.41.300(1)(b) requires “The restricted areas do not include common areas of ingress and egress to the building … when it is possible to protect court areas without restricting ingress and access to the building. The restricted areas shall be the minimum necessary.”
Since “it is possible” to do so by returning the checkpoint to the second floor near the courtrooms where it was for decades, this should be an open-and-shut case.
Like our county’s continuing non-emergency State of Emergency, the issue is one of integrity: not to skirt or ignore the clear letter of the law. The public needs to be able to walk freely through the courthouse entrance doors instead of locking them down like in a police state.
But Commissioners kept those doors closed for now by approving Ordinance No. 01-0227-23 on February 27, which just tweaks the old policy by adding a weapon security locker and exempting attorneys and employees from screening, keeping the public in line.
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Streatery Departure Lets the Sunshine in at Quimper Sound
While enjoying the vibes at Quimper Sound on March 14, proprietor James Schultz told me how his business doubled the same day the streatery shack blocking his storefront came down, his January sales rose atypically higher than last summer’s streatery-blocked levels, and his attitude is much brighter now that sunshine through his window is no longer blocked!
During the bad old days, Quimper Sound’s window was almost completely obscured.
I joked with James about when he might expect a hefty refund check from the city and/or the blocking streatery restaurant for his years of lost business revenue. The twelfth of never?
Stephen Schumacher graduated with honors in Mathematics from Harvard College and programmed funds transfer systems between Wall Street banks and the Federal Reserve before moving to Port Townsend in 1983. He has served as an officer for various community organizations such as the Food Co-op, Jefferson Land Trust, and the Northwest Nutritional Foods Association. He co-created The Port Townsend Leader's original online newspaper and programs ship stability software used by naval architects.
Stephen, Ana, Annette and Jim, who checked out but could never fully leave, thanks for the many hours you chose to donate to explore and document so much that our local paper stayed away from or distorted. The women’s rights press conference that the Mis Leader headline called an “anti-trans rally.” comes to mind. We witness some wanting superior rights above those who have struggled for equal rights. But that conversation is not to be allowed in some minds. Best to both sides of that. Respect is a two-way street.
Bill Mann’s “Spreadneck” blame rant that the Mis Leader published was the final straw for me. I replied to his ignorance in that paper and canceled my subscription. I hope Bill’s very public stance to get all his grandchildren “vaccinated” and boosted with experimental mRNA works out for them all.
Free Press sharing of information and links has been an education. Some things I thought, I no longer do. Some things I am still learning. From Free Press contributors and from other sources, within tide pools and petri dishes large and small.
I started pushing back locally with the FWPDA takeover at Fort Worden, then manufactured parking issues in town. The FWPDA was a textbook example of how to control public input and reach a pre-determined end goal. Fool us once…. hell, fool some twice. Parking was really not limited to parking. It was about government not following its own laws and codes. Few readers seemed to get that at the Mis Leader. That constructed damaging and dividing problem is in year 10 and has revealed compromised people from Appointed Mayors to City Council to Police Chiefs to City Attorneys.
Mess tents came next after Cherry Street and the no public input overpriced visitor center park, roads and more. A pattern emerged that the Free Press has covered. What a great legacy documenting how these things occur and are managed.
The Free Press has covered it all. Documented it. It is a calling.
Rest up, you all deserve it. Sometimes, at least for me, our generations version of tribal songs helps to remember the path many started down, but fewer remain traveling. Come what may.
There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone
Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow
You, who choose to lead, must follow
But if you fall you fall alone
If you should stand then who’s to guide you?
If I knew the way I would take you home
Is there no money in the budget to be found for an xray machine? I found it quite invasive to have a sheriff’s deputy search my purse when I entered the courthouse to pay my property taxes! As well as asking what my business was being there. Sure does have the air about it of being a police state!!
It’s very disturbing to hear that you were asked the purpose for your visit to the courthouse, Dawn. That did not happen to me last November when I went through that security nonsense several times. I chose to drop my ballot at the auditor’s office rather than the parking lot box. While in line, I saw the deputy going through a woman’s purse, so I went back to my car and stowed everything but my ballot and key. Later in the month, I attended Alex French’s arraignment hearing, and again, was not asked why I was there. I encourage you to write to the BOCC and Sheriff’s office with your concerns about this wholly unnecessary invasion of privacy, if you haven’t already.
I do not think the radiation is necessary,,, how bout we just allow people to move about freely??? Who are we protecting anyways??? Who has all the power??? The Government serves at the pleasure of the people…
If they are afraid of the mess and sense of conflict they have created,,, that is too bad… I do not feel sorry the public servants,,, they are fully exposed and not useful in any sense,,, our corporate government,,, local,,, state and federal impedes and constricts human life and expression and no longer has a positive purpose…
We are already finished with them and the liability they created… We will not be honoring our obligations to continue paying for this abortion or the salaries and benefit packages for these degenerates… Defunded and disbanded… “FIRED’,,, Employment Terminated…
It is over,,, and with the collapse of the US Dollar we can abandon these liabilities and obligations…
I was at the Court House today. As with Dawn (comment above) I was asked my reason for coming to the Court House as the officer went through my back pack.
I know as well as anyone how much work something like this can be. When I co-founded an alternative press here 23 years ago (Annette was a supporter back then, as it happens) it felt simultaneously necessary and yet impossible to maintain. I certainly haven’t always agreed with the conclusions of the articles at PTFP, but I have learned quite a bit in the reading of them. Of course, the point should never be to agree in lock step, but to see how we can improve our mutual lot.
Good luck, and thanks for all the fish!
Hey Ben-
I had just recently said that tools of the system can’t comment publicly because they are not really free people. And here you are. Didn’t you read the rules? Now see what happens.
Don’t know if you remember the whole mess tent taking limited public parking space for private use thing, but at one meeting I attended in ’22 Council person Monica gushed about the great parking plan that was coming this year as council in lock step voted to keep mess tents taking limited parking spaces through the end of 2022. For very special special interests.
Damn, where does the time go? Busy season is upon us. Time for vibrant recovery.
I really want to be vibrant and resilient, but the same old folks and new ones are still taking up the limited asset of parking. Is Johnny back from vacation yet?
The same old corrupted city government, Faber, Mauro, Council, City Attorney Greenwood, and Chief whoever are still not following their own laws and codes. That practice is sustained. Corruption sure seems to be resilient.
I didn’t believe it when Monica gushed it then and know why now. Seems that the self trashing of council and Mauro’s credibility in a vibrant and sustained way lives on. And on.
Glad you are poking your head out here so we can “never agree to be in lock step, but to see how we can improve our mutual lot.” That’s a “lot” of crap Ben.
My lot in the real world I inhabit seems unchanged as Mauro gets raises and 5 week vacations. Haven’t heard anything regarding cleaning up the chaos and losses Council and Mauro sustain and seen even less action.
10-year anniversary of corrupted parking and 3 years in for Mauro. Is it two years now for Monica and you Ben?
That is millions and millions of dollars lost to the community according to an expensive study Council had done Ben. Hardly sustainable for us not so special folks, isn’t it?
Just wondering. Are you a free man and able to answer? Mauro surely is not. Perhaps a new study? That’s the formula.
Of course I’m free to answer, Harvey. We have been pushing for a comprehensive parking plan. It’s gotten slotted behind creating a strategy for affordable housing and making it easier to build in town, especially smaller units. That has frankly pushed parking further along than I had wanted. And obviously the Golf Course is taking up a lot of energy.
I wish we could just start enforcing current laws now (why else are the signs there?), so perhaps we agree on that. But with anything on a Council of 7, you would need 4 votes. And even then that doesn’t guarantee the staff is there to do the parking management. The issue is far from dead, though apparently we’re all dead to you.
Does that answer make sense to you Ben? Can’t Council and Mauro walk and chew gum at the same time?
I would not and cannot take over a month away with pressing obligations and promises undone.
The dethatched and protected elite personified.
You have had 2 years to do something real regarding parking Ben. Other players 10 years. The cities parrot organization Main Street could do something as simple as handouts to educate merchants and line up volunteers to educate employees and visitors of options. But parking simply does not exist and cannot be addressed in Mari or Main Street’s protected world.
For all who should be responsible parking issues are Port Townsend’s Hidden History.
Remember that parking has 3 parts. Planning, education, then enforcement. The patient is dead Ben. Has not moved or shown life in years.
Mauro and Faber were very instrumental in keeping everyone in the dark regarding proposed Ordinance changes regarding permanent mess tents. Hidden History. The “survey” that a couple of dozen businesses I took the time to speak with one afternoon were unaware of the street scape and parking changing move by the city. Hidden History.
What we have today is a manufactured problem that we have had for years. I see it daily. Already this year there have been days customers complain about parking and being able to easily see me and do vital business. This is the case with all business in the Historic District. Ben
I can’t avoid the number of things I have to multitask and do to keep my business going as you claim is the case with Mauro’s version of city management.
Remember he is your sole employee.
The city has staff. And a ready tool in cheerleader Mari and Main Street. Budget priorities are what they are. That which cost businesses millions according to City studies and treats every visitor as a fool is ignored.
Year after year after year. And even made worse during the dark days of mess tents. Hidden History in plain sight.
Your excuse and Monica’s gushing empty assurance are business as usual.
Any entity is dead when it cannot hear or respond. So its vital components are dead. Your excuse is no response. Corrupted thinking is contagious and resilient. Ben.
Harvey, continuing to alienate everyone with strident absolutism is a narcissistic strategy, and leads to a self-fulfilling fate of angst. I can’t help you there. I have a very full life with a lot of vying priorities that you’ll never understand. I want to help create (I can’t do it alone) a better downtown parking plan for the sake of downtown business owners and employees. I’ve lived, worked and owned a business downtown over the decades. I get the problem as well as you do. Pedantically talking down to people will get you exactly nowhere.
But pedantically talking down to people, openly mocking them, inciting violence, aligning with known pedophiles, and using one’s platform as a city official to publish degrading, vile commentary seems to be working out perfectly for David Faber, doesn’t it? Ben, I admire the commitment to community, the sacrifice of time away from job and family, the vulnerability assumed when putting oneself in the line of public criticism that is inherent to any elected or appointed public governance role. Truly, if one’s motives are to be of service and positive change, I tip my hat to those who are willing to take on the mantle.
But you all – elected city councillors – by either directly supporting or simply sitting on your hands and saying nothing – have failed this community by not removing Faber as mayor, neither censuring him nor Libby Wenstrom for their failures of judgment and in doing so, condoned behavior that is not worthy of their offices. You are therefore complicit. I have lost all respect for and trust in this body of “leaders”. I know there are good folks amongst you, but you chose to do the wrong thing.
I sent 2 items regarding parking to Ben Thomas and council on 2/5/23. First, empty promises from then city manager Timmons from about 6 years ago. Ben had asked about that. Here is Timmon’s empty assurance. “We will be updating our efforts soon via Main Street discussions this fall and winter. I am hoping to have a plan ready for implementation next spring”. That obviously never happened.
The longer letter was written by a police volunteer as Mauro came on board a few years ago. It is edited due to 500-word FP limit.
It is not about parking. It is about city government not following its laws and codes, and new clean hands getting dirty.
“As a former Police Volunteer and Parking Enforcement Officer, I wish to comment on the issue of parking in the city of Port Townsend. The root of the problem is the city council and its refusal to adequately address the problem. The police department does not make the laws but only enforces them. The department is at the mercy of the city to pass reasonable laws and provide the police with the means to enforce them.
Sergeant Troy Surber is correct when he recently commented that there are adequate parking places in Port Townsend. Unfortunately, there are also an adequate number of persons who repeatedly flaunt the laws. Fines are a necessary evil to curb these violators in order to provide available parking places and ensure reasonable access to our businesses. However, the fines are antiquated and ineffectual. The fine for violation of the two-hour limit in much of downtown is $15.00 and cannot be given to a car more than once in a day. In 2919, $15.00 for a full day of parking is a bargain, and in this case, a joke. Too many times, I have written a citation only to see the violator come to his car, look at the ticket and laugh over his getting away with this parking bargain. Then, he/she usually repeats the act time and time again, occupying a space all day for days on end.
As I said, this is not a police matter but one for the city council who pass the laws and set the fines. In addition, they are the people who determine the financial resources of the police department with which to enforce the laws.
It is also disheartening to know the offenders scoff at the fines and repeatedly come back for more.
As a former volunteer, this policy is one of the reasons why I am a former, not current, volunteer. The other is the “dumbing down” of the volunteer organization, but that is another subject for another discussion. It would be great if there were 30 volunteers as there were just a few years ago. This is possible to achieve because there are other cities with such organizations that have even larger volunteer groups. Achieving that goal requires significant alterations in policies and this also is a different topic for another day….”