Operators - slick operators at that - are standing by now!
Meanwhile, yes, local bluffs are continuing to erode - at an even faster pace than anticipated. Tidal action down below, runoff up above, and goodbye bluffs. If you thought it was expensive to deal with the old Garbage Bluff, wait until more homes are imperiled and abandoned because of bluff slough. 
It's no bluff! Everything must go!
Meanwhile, it looks like the race (it'll be a slooow one) to replace Mike Chapman is on. We meet the first two candidates in twin articles by Paul Clotlieb. The Democrats are offering up Ron Richards, 71, who used to be a County Commissioner decades ago. Now, Ron's a well-off retired guy who likes to go out on his boat. But he doesn't want to seem like just a well-off retired guy, so he is apparently describing himself as a "commercial fisherman." Retired, or just plain tired, Ron Richards hardly seems to represent the future.
On the other hand...The Republicans have their own leftovers on offer, in the form of Maggie Roth, 61. Maggie is the widow of Terry Roth, and like her late husband, Maggie is edging close to Perennial Candidate status. A pleasant-enough-but-clueless right-wing gadfly, Maggie might be described as a sort of "community organizer," if not for the fact that she would doubtlessly reject such a title. In any case, like Ron Richards, Maggie Roth hardly seems to represent the future.
Just swallow it and don't ask any questions.
Believe me, you'll be happier that way.
So, to sum up: A police dog slips into the wrong house and bites the wrong guy...The bluffs keep on slip, slip, slipping away...And the local political parties are trying to slip the voters some cold, cold leftovers. Just another Sunday edition of the PDN, chock full of good news. Makes you wonder how depressing the stuff they aren't telling you is.
More of the same.
ReplyDeleteRon Richards is close to Steve Tharinger who helped give us the bipolar, bi-monthly flip-flopping of Mike Chapman, and the backroom backstabbing within the local Democratic party in the last several elections. The same Steve Tharinger has a record of overt sexism.
Maggie Roth, on the other hand, is super tight with Dick Pilling, who is as stupid and backwards as he is crass and egotistical.
Both are too spineless and too beholden to their handlers to offer any hope of change.
So we get....more of the same.
But wait, there is another candidate likely to put in for the Commissioners job--our own Chirpy Kidd. No, really, she thinks she is a shoo-in for the job.
DeletePrediction here: Steve Tharinger will run for the senate seat being vacated by Sen. Hargrove. You read it here first. Tharinger is the daddy of fluoride for the entire county water supply. Tharinger is the daddy of the Carlsborg sewer system which no one wants and no one needs. Also, this just in from our Chrystal ball: Mike Chapman will go to work for the Tribe if he is able to deliver the Carlsborg Sewer project. The tribe needs it in order to build low-income housing in Carlsborg for their employees at the big resort now in planning at the Tribe. No water-No problem seems to be the guiding principle of the Carlsborg Sewer project. Now, thinks about this, we dumped McEntire for these type blunders and yet thanks to Tharinger we got Ozias who seems to be following right on the heels of McEntire. So, there is no difference between the local democrats and republicans--they all want to screw the taxpayer for their special interest friends.
DeleteLast October, Delta Dental made a little gift to both Tharinger & De Wege. They were only 2 of a total 100 or so fluoride "contributions" to polits & darkfunds all over the state.
DeleteDon't talk about the Dick that way. It may hurt his feelings, that is if atavistic types like him have evolved any feelings other than reptilian ganglia.
DeleteHey! Don't insult the reptiles like that. What did they ever do to you?
DeleteI have a friend who had to leave their home because the bluff was receding so quickly. They just left the area entirely.
ReplyDeleteYes, the machine that is Party Politics has lumbered into inaction, and present us with more of the same. More of the same while the people are saying "We can't afford them anymore".
ReplyDeleteYes, Ron is nice enough. If there is no other choice, he is a far better choice than Maggie. That is easy to see, and say.
But, when will we step up, and say "Enough"? The area stagnates, or looks like something that just circles the toilet bowl instead of going down.
Our neighbors to the North, while trying to promotes us, start off describing us as "ailing". It is no secret to anybody but, seemingly, the leadership of the area.
We still hear the suggestion that we need new industries to come here to save us. When are we going to wake up, look around, take an honest assessment, and see it hasn't happened, and it isn't going to happen. Every person who has run for office in the area has campaigned on how they were going to bring in new ideas, create "family wage" jobs, entice new businesses to the area, etc. Year after year. Campaign after campaign.
I'm sure we will hear more of the same in the coming weeks and months.
Maybe that should be the campaign slogans for both "More of the same".
Ron Richards is as inspiring as yesterday's cold oatmeal. Just another blind old white guy filling a seat until the next blind old white guy comes along, mouthing platitudes. Blah blah blah. More of the same, so nothing changes, at least not for the better.
DeleteIt's impossible to envision this area moving forward into the future when BOTH political parties here seem hell-bent on dragging us back to the past.
DeleteNOW is the time to educate your non-political friends and get them energized and registered for the upcoming elections. Yeah, the presidential election is underway but that will have so little effect on us out here on the edge of the continent. However, the county election has enormous immediate effect. If we snooze through this one we may be at the mercy of Bill Peach and his ilk for the next few years. Ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm, ain't gonna listen to Chripie Kidd for another four years at the county. RR is the best hope so far but there must be some YOUNG progressive out there in the foothills who can mount a challenge to this Geritol-Guzzling bunch of wanna be candidates.
DeleteAs someone who knows Ron, I am SO embarrassed every time he trots out that "commercial fisherman" thing. It's about as true as Cherie Kidd being a "motivational speaker." Knock it off, Ron!
DeleteBefore 1700 all that land upon which downtown Port Angles sits was still up on the mountain. The year 1700 was when the last earthquake struck this area with a jolt figured to rate a "9" on Richter Scales if they had one 300 years ago.
ReplyDeleteGeologist studying this area conclude the area an active seismic zone where similar major quakes occur about every 250 years. If so we are 65 years overdue for the next big shake. Recently a study suggested after the next big one everything west of I-5 is "toast."
Local authorities who are planning for the next one suggest Port Angeles area residents should be prepared for 30 days or more of no electricity, no water, no food deliveries, no medical evacuations due to fallen bridges on the 101. Now, in the midst of this scientific evidence why is the Olympic Medical Center pumping million of dollars into the current campus that will surely go over the bluff--and probably in our lifetime.
Good points all - especially the one about the soon-to-be-surfing hospital.
DeleteOf course, this pesky bluff erosion thing seemed to baffle the City so, years ago. They came up with their fabulous multi-million dollar 600 foot long seawall that was supposed to protect the City garbage behind it from erosion.
ReplyDeleteI mean, what a crazy idea that a 600 foot long wall WASN'T going to stop the Washington coastline from continuing to erode? Even if not ALL of Washington's coastline, was it so unreasonable to think that 600 foot long wall wouldn't stop erosion for all of Clallam County? All of Port Angeles? ANY areas not directly in back of the wall itself?
Well, damned if the erosion didn't continue. In fact, it continued immediately where the wall stopped, on either side. Really! Honestly, as hard as that is to believe, it did.
So, $20 million later, the City continues to play at the bluffs.
You surely don't mean to imply that staff and/or consultants LIED, do you? Or that the City Council was foolish enough to believe those lies? Even though a five year-old with a cup of water and a bucket of sand could have proven that they were, in fact, lies? Surely, please, surely you're not suggesting THAT.
DeleteAnd, combine the two garbage/bluff/erosion projects together for a total of how much? No, really. How much?
DeleteAre we getting close to what was spent on Cutler's Turd tank? Gee?! Was Cutler the head of public works then, too? And Karen Rogers on the Council? How about Cherie Kidd?
Sigh.
ALL THAT MONEY spent to try and clear the garbage bluff.
DeleteBut look at all the garbage that is left in city hall.
Not sure which dump will require more effort to properly fix.
DeleteSo much has been spent, and the community has so little to show for it - other than mountains of debt. As others here have said, I can't believe these council idiots can walk around town without feeling hugely embarrassed. By any objective measure, they have failed the people of this town. Totally and completely.
DeleteHow come Cherie was quoted as saying "they hired the attorney". Who is they? Somehow I think that we're paying for this.
DeleteWe need a comprehensive document explaining all of the waste, corruption and incompetence in Port Angeles going back as far as we can. It should have details, dollar amounts and name names of those responsible. It would be a very useful resource for anyone planning to run against the old guards of the status quo.
ReplyDeleteI agree.
DeletePerhaps we need to set up a kind of WikiPA, where different aspects can be posted by anyone, and added to. We all have different vantage points from which we've observed things.
Any of us that have been here for awhile have heard lots of outrageous accounts of things done, coming from city employees who watched them happen first hand.
Why couldn't we set up something like "Crime stoppers", where people can call in anonymously (to protect their identities) with the promise of rewards for information leading to the confirmation of wrongdoing within the city?
The information could come from past employees of the city, or contractors hired by the city. Or residents who observed things.
If only a fraction of the things I've been told over the years could confirmed, it would sure shake things up.
the most recent budget to be passed on this Tuesday includes Spyglass Consulting from all departments. I don't remember this being discussed. And don't understand why we hired a
Deletemarket intelligence firm and consultancy focused on the current and future potential of mobile computing and wireless technologies within the HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY was hired. Spyglass website: http://www.spyglass-consulting.com/
Why is the city hiring a consultant (same one that build the beaches) with a very VAGUE contract (current agenda packet: https://wa-portangeles.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/2845
DeleteI am going to guess that the city is hiring them to meet some GRANT, and I'll BET it is the one to tear up Race, to make it a boulevard (with no parking on either side AND a median strip). Firm: SCI http://www.studiocascade.com/about/
So, this will route trucks up Race, past Civic Field, past the Dream Playground and turn at the new Lauridson Bridge, and out past two grammar school areas, though residential.
Do we really want this? And, why are we hiring a consultant first, and THEN asking people what is going to be shoved down our throats?
How much does this boondoggle cost, and at what expense to our existing roads needing paving?
Excellent concept! How hard would that be to set up?
DeleteDon't you just hate it when a university''s recent research shows an increase in cavities upon cessation of fluoridation? http://www.dmdtoday.com/news/study-finds-rise-in-tooth-decay-following-cessation-of-water-fluoridation
ReplyDeleteDon't you just hate it when someone posts something totally off-topic? (Sometimes.)
DeleteDon't you just hate it when governing bodies try to forcibly medicate you? (Yes. Every time.)
Don't you just hate it when people refer to studies without knowing anything about the (scientific) laws of cause and effect, and how difficult it is to prove said effect from said cause? (Sometimes.)
Don't you just hate it when governing bodies try to forcibly medicate you without any sort of Constitutional authority to do so? (Yes, every time.) And don't you just hate it when people don't get that for some of us it's less about the health issues, and more about the Constitutional issues? (Yes, every time.)
Ah, yes, from that impartial group, "Dentists Money Digest"! LOL!
DeleteAnd, from the article itself :
"Lindsay McLaren, PhD, of the University of Calgary, said she was struck that such a difference was observed so shortly after the cessation of water fluoridation.
“It had only been about three years since fluoride was removed, which is on the short side,” said McLaren, the study’s lead author, in the press release. “Plus, there are potentially several sources of fluoride in both environments, which would tend to reduce the observed effect of removing fluoride from drinking water.”
Hmmm. Even the Drs there are suspicious of the claims. Of course.
Don't you just hate it when your attempts to be so clever end up, well, just showing that you're not?
And, did you notice how carefully they proof read their article before printing it?
Delete"A new study boosts the case for fluoride in water, showing a market increase in tooth decay when fluoride was removed from a water system in Alberta."
Yes, I understand that it is printed in "Dentists MONEY Digest", which clearly is looking for new MARKETS. Which is MARKEDLY different than caring about the truth, the facts or personal rights.
Besides the reality that the increase wasn't very, anyways.
Follow that money. Who do you think supports the "Journal of Community Dentistry & Oral Epidemiology" that published that one report.
DeleteThat Journal of "all fluoride all the time".
Not exactly unbiased. And the study itself? Not exactly peer-reviewed, eh?
Trolling is better done in open waters.
So, Cherie Baby didn't need to read the complaint, but now needs a lawyer? For an Ethics Violation complaint coming from her actions as Deputy Mayor?
ReplyDeleteSounds all good to me!
Yes, and Big Boy Dan has "lawyered up", too.
Where will this end up?
this should be really good for a laugh.
DeleteWait until you see the other 3 complaints now in the pipeline. Gase better provide this out-of-town lawyer a home cause he's going to be spending a lot of time in town.
ReplyDeleteWhat is even more interesting--these two long-time residents cannot find a local lawyer they trust to defend them on ethics charges. The local bar should be incensed.
Or, maybe Kidd-Gase know more about the local bar than the rest of us. Let's just hope the city is not paying the fly-by attorney to represent the reprehensible council members.
It isn't a fly-by attorney. It is an attorney that is well schooled in the ropes of city government, and will screw the people at every turn.
Deletenot sure you folks knew what the real plan is here...do some research on michael kenyon...learn what schemes he's been involved in...
ReplyDeleteCherie Kidd and organ grind monkey sidekick Gase video has over 1k hits on Clallam Public eye. Most hits ever for a Clallam Public Eye video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKOKjLqhBsM
ReplyDelete