Just prior
to that, Morrison had been appointed to a Port sub-committee. Then, the idea
for the sprint boat deal was suddenly discussed at a meeting of the Port
Commissioners – even though it wasn’t on the agenda, which is a violation of
the law. The fact that Morrison was on a Port sub-committee created a clear
conflict of interest issue. The Port didn’t care about either of those things.
The land in
question was essentially ALL of the land left in Port Angeles that was zoned
industrial. Sprint boat races aren’t an industrial use. Giving it to Morrison
for that use would preclude any actual industry or employer being able to open
or expand in Port Angeles. The Port didn’t care about either of those things.
Then recall
that during the public comment phase on this ramrodded idea, both the Port
Angeles Parks Commission and the (Worst Ever) City Council voted unanimously to
oppose this sale. During public comments at one Port meeting, a former Port
Angeles Port Commissioner (I forget which one – his name is buried in my notes
from that meeting) testified against the idea, and specifically pointed out
that THIS WOULD DESTROY THE ABILITY OF THE AIRPORT TO EXTEND ITS RUNWAY, WHICH
HE STATED WOULD LIKELY BE NECESSARY VERY SOON. The Port didn’t care about any
of these things.
The deal was
a done deal. Morrison got the land, and the City got the headaches. (See
previous posting about Nathan West and his apparent inability to see Dan
Morrison’s huge permit violations and destruction of wetlands. Morrison is a
macho, land-raping bozo with a long history of ignoring laws meant to protect
the environment.)
And so, we
end up in a situation where the Port knows the airport will soon need to expand
its runway, but they proceed with a land sale that will make doing that very
thing nearly impossible.
Lincoln Park: Which brings us fairly up
to date, and to the point where – Gosh! Surprise! – the Port says the FAA says
the City will have to cut down those pesky trees at Lincoln Park so that planes
can continue to land. The Port Commissioners in their comments on this issue
always harp on safety, the need for runway access in case of some sort of
natural disaster, and, of course, how they’re willing to help however they can.
But so many
questions remain unasked and unanswered.
Like, why
did you sell the land that would have allowed you to simply extend the runway?
Is it really
realistic for an airline (even a small one) to expect to be a viable business
servicing the Port Angeles airport?
In the case
of an emergency, like an earthquake or something, couldn’t planes and jets just
land right down the road on ACTI’s airstrip? It’s built to accommodate planes
as big as 737s. And again, it’s just down the road.
And again,
is an airline really, really a viable business in Port Angeles? With a
shrinking population and declining numbers of passengers, the answer would seem
to be no. So why are we going through so much trouble and expense to save a
most likely dying business?
All this
foolishness then, as you know, leads to amazingly stupid outcomes like the
consultant that the Port hires suggesting a $25 million dollar makeover of
Lincoln Park – that the City will pay for.
Other
foolishness: Some City Council members make a great show of wanting to know
about the health of some of the big trees in Lincoln Park before deciding on
what to do. So they send Scott Johns to examine the trees and report back. Now,
this is the exact same Scott Johns who was sent to Dan Morrison’s property, and
apparently couldn’t see the large-scale (over an acre) destruction of wetlands
that the Army Corps of Engineers found. So Scott can’t see big things like an
acre of destruction – but they trust he’ll be able to “see” the health of individual
trees in Lincoln Park clearly? I think not.
Other
foolishness, that’s not surprising: Oh, and by the way City, those offers to
help pay for your grand and wonderful makeover of the park? Well suddenly the
Port doesn’t remember saying anything like that. You must have misunderstood.
You’ll be on your own in paying for whatever happens to Lincoln Park. (But hey,
we’re sure it’ll be nice – now could you please hurry up and cut down those
trees?)
And on and
on and on. Meanwhile, only City Council member Max Mania really speaks up
against the plan. Meanwhile, the City just ignores the thousands of citizens
who sign petitions in support of leaving the park as is. Meanwhile, the City
also ignores the fact that the plans to increase the amount of open ponds in
the new Lincoln Park will attract more waterfowl – which will create a new hazard
for aircraft.
Meanwhile…Left
unanswered are all questions about the actual long-term viability of the airport,
trees or no trees.
And so here
we are. The City has gotten screwed by the Port – again. This leads the City to
want to screw the citizens of Port Angeles – again. And make them pay for it
all – again.
What do you
have to say? Are you happy about any of this? Do you think this process was as
clean and open as it could have been?
CK, I am surprised at how poor your information is this time, compared to some of your previous posts. If you have ever flown over the airport area (or even looked at Google Earth on your computer), you would instantly see that the sprint boat land is well South of the airport runway, in no way could that land have been used to extend the runway. The Lower Elwha Road and Kaycee Way is the barrier to westward expansion. Also there is no such thing as an ACTI airstrip, that is part of the Port's property as well, and it is way to short to be of any use, and to extend it would run into 18th street and the cemetery. Other than that, keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteFirst, thanks for your response. And for the record, I am confident that the information I put out is at least 90% accurate 90% of the time. In other words, I am open to being wrong, partly or (in some cases) totally.
DeleteSo, my understanding, and from the maps I've seen, yes, the actual sprint boat track is south of the airport, but the 113 acres that Dan Morrison and Co. bought includes the land west of the western end of the runway. And yes, that land, if used for a runway extension, would have problems/barriers of its own to be dealt with.
But the larger point I was trying make was this: Since the Port knew that there were "runway issues," and since those issues could only be solved in one of two ways - at the western end of the existing runway, or at the eastern end - it was, at best, incredibly foolish of them to give away one of those possible solutions. Especially since, as explained, Morrison said they didn't need all 113 acres.
It is also incredibly disingenuous for the Port to now say, "Oh, we didn't know!" when it's clear they did know there were runway issues. They just didn't care, and, given local history, were confident that the City could be suckered and/or frightened into fixing their problem for them. The way the City has responded thus far would seem to prove them right in that regard.
As for the ACTI airstrip...All I can tell you is that multiple people, from the Port, the City and from ACTI, have said that it's long enough for 737s.
Left unsaid in all this talk about "what if emergency supplies need to land after an emergency" kind of talk is...What if said emergency is the kind that makes ALL local runways inoperable?
Thanks again for responding, and for correcting/pushing back. That's what this is all about.
Seems like less interest in this topic than the others you've posted here. I wonder if that is actually due to less interest in Lincoln Park, or just general burnout when pondering all the different ways that Port Angeles and Clallam County are completely fucked up.
DeleteI think that most of us cannot even FATHOM how this deal happened, and whom blew whom in the backroom for it. Meanwhile, the trees are history because someone found a way to weasel out some money, once, and figure they'll go back to that well, again. The amount of corruption is so common place that people think it's normal. Of course, a great number of people in this little town have never lived anywhere else, so think this is actually the way the whole wide world works.
DeleteThat's a good point about the people who live here being SO unworldly that they think this blatant, ceaseless corruption is normal. I've known for quite a while that the people here can be, uh, unsophisticated, but never quite thought of it the way you put it.
DeleteIt makes sense.
It's good you're tying together the backroom sprint boat deal and the Lincoln Park fiasco. They are absolutely connected.
ReplyDeleteRemember how Morrison said they really only needed five acres for the sprint boats races - but then went ahead and bought all 113 acres? Why buy those extra 108 acres if you really don't need them? You think maybe there are plans for them?
Related to that, remember how Morrison also said that he and his partners weren't looking to make money on this, and that they were willing to lose money in the deal. Riiight. You don't want to make money, so you buy 108 extra acres, which ups the price of the whole project...Again, this smells totally fishy. How many people really and truly are willing to shell out a million bucks on their hobby? With no expectation of some sort of return on that? Not many of us can afford that, and I very much doubt Dan Morrison can either.
There are plans for those acres, just like Karen Rogers and Larry Williams had plans for the old Rayonier property back in the "eminent domain" days. The only question is what kind of dirty deal is being hidden from public view?
Per the news in today's PDN: It's a really, really bad sign when Third World countries won't even allow you to adopt their kids out to your community.
ReplyDeleteSo - what's really going on behind the scenes with this? From reading the PDN story it appears that a new board of directors has recently taken over at the adoption agency, and just a few months ago Brad Collins left his job at Serenity House to become the interim executive director --- probably knowing that he was hired to do a wind-down of operations. Who were members of the former Board? Who are the new Board members? Who was the former ED? How did the organization get into such deep financial trouble, as mentioned in Collins' news release?
DeleteSerenity House still has Brad Collins listed on their website as working there...Does anyone know if he actually does, or is this just another outdated website in Clallam County? And how about those comments on this story on the PDN? Seems like it was a pretty controversial place that Peter Ripley's mom started!
DeleteDoes anyone know how much it cost to go through AAI to get a kid? I was under the impression it was in the 50-60k range. I know just a home study was more than $1k. Is gouging a thing around here? Seems to be in the water, or something...
DeleteYeah, the Port (and the city for that matter) are always going on and on about how "we need to attract family wage industrial jobs" here. Then they go and give away the industrial land for use as an event site a couple of times a year. No family wage jobs associated with that at all. Typical Clallam County stupidity.
ReplyDeleteThe Port creates this problem through their own inattention and actions, then comes to the city and says "you need to fix this" and the city doesn't just laugh them out of the room. Instead, they start spending money and deciding how to make a bad situation worse. That's how things get done in Port Angeles!
ReplyDeletemy favorite was when the port decided to modernize the airport (1990's) all the way to the 1940's. Whoo hoo. Too bad, too. The unmodernized airport was really cute, and quaint. It wasn't an improvement!
DeleteAll I see is more of the same. A local government that has become accustomed to lying, and manipulating it's residents.
ReplyDeleteNot meaning to beat this dead horse more than it needs to be, but here is yet another example.
We all have been told to resolve the sewage overflow problems, the residents have to cough up $42 million ( the city's initial figure, now rising). The were two parts to it. Phase one, which involved fixing up the turd tank, and running pipes to it, along with other things. That was around $20 million.
But now it is time for "Phase Two", at a cost of $26 million. This is how the City describes this part of the "unfunded mandate" to stop sewage overflows:
"The CSO Phase 2 project is at the 90% design level, and
applications have been submitted for State funding sources . It must be
noted that the CSO Phase 2 project is largely the replacement of pump
station #4, which is older City infrastructure that will need
rehabilitation to a significant degree regardless of whether it is
resolved under the CSO project or as a standalone City utility project."
Stand alone City utility project? That is one option? Hunh?
Like all these issues, the local governments just come up with some big spiel to justify what they want to do, and we're just the chumps paying for it all.
You're so right, and everyone plays the pass the buck blame game. The city blames the port who blames the airport who blame the FAA...Meanwhile, no one actually uses the damned airport! It's expensive, out of the way, has inconvenient schedules and did I mention it's expensive?
DeleteThey want to cut the trees to make a clear approach for planes that barely come now, and will be coming even less in the future. It's insane! If they really want to spend millions of bucks on something, put the train between Port Angeles and Port Townsend back in place. That would be more useful, and would even draw visitors. Cutting down the trees is a terrible idea.
airport is too expensive, and the connections make no sense to anyone. If they had a "deal" for regular commuters, there would be more travelers. I used to travel often from the airport, when it was faster, and just a little more expensive than driving and parking. Now, driving/parking is way cheaper... Wish we had a train, or a ferry or something to connect us to civilization (that isn't Canadian).
Deletewe should be planting trees everywhere. The town is an ugly town, and the clear cut mentality just makes it look more like a slum.
DeleteThe fact is we won't know what really went down with this and any number of other local fiascos until and unless there are some sort of meaningful federal indictments. The corruption here is endemic.
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody remember in 2008 or so when the city cut down 300 or more trees in Lincoln Park supposedly because they were obstructing the airport runway? Rumor has it that former city councilman Grant Munro's firm (yes - the same Grant Munro who was one of the deadbeat PenPly owners but who also retained a good enough working relationship with the Port to be able to continue to use part of the PenPly property for log peeling and storage) got the contract to cut down that timber and paid less that market value for it.
ReplyDeleteCK - perhaps you or your readers could research the truth of this?
It never made any sense to me how somebody decided which of the 300+ trees were removed. Many tall ones were left standing near the runway approach; many were cut down in random patterns at some distance from the runway. The result has been pretty ugly.
Yes, yes, yes. Grant Munro. Hey CK, please give Mr. Munro his moment in the sun here. He has more than earned it, and is clearly deeply involved in many of the questionable activities of Port Angeles.
DeleteWe all know that one of the reasons for doing all this is because someone wants to log the park. Just like they want to log the ONP and everything else.
DeleteThese geniuses don't think any further than their own wallets. They aren't clamoring for more mill jobs - they just want to export raw logs. They aren't advocating for finding ways to make finished wood products locally - they just want to export raw logs. It's fast and cheaper and makes them dirty bucks fast.
Anyone who thinks these land-rapers care about anything or anyone other than themselves is just plain stupid, or blinded by ideology.
Give Munro credit for honesty. Where other conmen and crooks here (too many to name) try to smile and put a nice face on their pillaging and looting, Munro just said it like it is: Pound sand.
Deletehonest or lacking in more eloquent skills of conversation? Don't get the two confused.
DeleteSpeaking of lying, cheating and stealing in plain sight...CPI has been bought by Wave. A huge amount of the equipment and tech infrastructure that CPI "owns" and that Wave just bought, was bought and paid for by the city of Port Angeles. Their highly suspect sweetheart relationship with the city, dating back to the days of Karen Rogers and crew, is one that needs to be exposed as well.
ReplyDeleteI think people would be interested to know how many hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, of their tax dollars were funneled to CPI, who in turn charged the city for services using those same self resources. Someone somewhere got rich with all this, but the ratepayers got screwed - AGAIN.
Don't forget that CPI also always had a SERIOUS conflict of interest issue, due to the fact that Sue Roberds works in what laughably passes as the City's planning department. The fact that her husband's company kept getting contract after contract with the City is extremely problematic. When you toss is Karen Rogers' business relationship with CPI on top of that, you get a situation where all those contracts should be nullified.
DeleteSome of the evil people in town liked to portray CPI as a local success story, but they only succeeded due to connections and unethical behavior. It certainly wasn't due to their intelligence or quality of service.
CPI has the only access to the fiber optic cable in the city limits. From the PUD website: " In 2000, the State Legislature authorized PUDs to sell wholesale telecommunications services. The District built a 24-mile redundant fiber optic link between Port Angeles and Sequim to serve its own operations and to offer broadband connections to the public. Broadband will allow business and critical services, such as fire, law enforcement and healthcare to operate more efficiently and effectively." The project was part of the Rural Broadband paid for by the feds. It's part of www.noanet.net Now the city made the decision to put a stranglehold on this service we paid for with our federal tax dollars, to only have one provider be able to latch onto this service: a proprietary provider. And, now Wave, a crappy "gouge" cable company has, presumably purchased this? Really? This will continue to limit the amount of high-technology businesses that would want to be here. CPI had high prices, for crappy service. No doubt Wave will make the prices even higher. Another example of the city shooting itself in the pubes to benefit a very few corrupt people.
DeleteAnd yet...I await the next exciting chapter of Nathan West waxing poetic about the endless possibilities of hi-tech companies relocating here.
DeleteBut you are, of course, absolutely correct. Shooting themselves in sensitive spots again and again. "Thank you sir may I have another!"
The problem with industry around here: 1.) too far from I-5, and from a major port 2.) one road in/one road out (and even minor accidents close the road for hours on end) 3.) airport costs too high 4.) city government only wants Walmart here, or old "established" businesses, new businesses aren't welcome 5.) the concept of "tourists" is still something that bothers the good ol'boys 6.) the concept of a "convention center" is Vern Burton (with the basketball foul line painted floors) and a "first rate" hotel is the Red Lion 7.) fine dining is anything that isn't on a paper plate This is a town built on the phrase: gud enuf
DeleteAnd don't forget the big ol' problem that even Russ "I live in Sequim" Veenema had to acknowledge: The workers here aren't educated, aren't in any way skilled, have substance abuse problems, and just aren't interested in anything that doesn't include the word "mill." If it was good enough for their pappy and their pappy's pappy, it's all they can dream of - even if all it is is a dream, in a world (and a town) with ever-fewer mills. It's astounding that we still have kids here dropping out of school to hold out for a non-existent job in a mill. Meanwhile, they're getting fat, having kids, and becoming very, very familiar with social services and/or local law enforcement.
DeleteFor a second day the PDN has run an article about Adoption Advocates that ends with the line "Collins has been named in a sexual harassment complaint filed with the city of Port Angeles."
ReplyDeleteYes, Brad was their interim director, but come on - this has nothing to do with the story. Nothing.
But the PDN just can't pass up an opportunity to smear someone, especially if that person is on the outs with the crooks who run this town.
The PDN doesn't so much report as they do destroy. All their hateful articles and insane hateful racist comments they allow certainly help destroy the image of Port Angeles for anyone who takes a look from outside. The PDN shows this area to be just about 100% redneck idiots.
DeleteEver try to submit a "Letter to Editor"?
DeleteAnyone who A) Has any sense, and has B) Submitted a letter to the editor, knows what the PDN's agenda is, and that Paul Gottlieb is a genuine prick in trying to suppress public comments and participation. Gottlieb is worse than cancer, more unpleasant than herpes. He is a truly miserable excuse for a so-called human being.
DeleteNot that I have an opinion about him...
Yes. Absolutely true.
DeleteBut the important part is the way he demands letters be re-written to say what HE wants to see! Or else, they are not published.
It was a low blow to equate Mr. Collins so-called sexual harassment with an adoption agency (which has done a few, very questionable, things, and been so prominent in some very nasty abuse/deaths of adopted foreign kids). This is actually a very DEEP story. What is of interest in how this has affected ALL international adoptions, and their lack of oversight in providing kids to parents who had questionable discipline practices (i.e. "how to raise up a child" by the Pearls). The story of Hana Williams http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/11/hana_williams_the_tragic_death_of_an_ethiopian_adoptee_and_how_it_could.html ( and, also for reference: http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/9477) Please, make careful note of this 1989 "molest" case that was peculiar in so, so many ways: http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/25564 http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/25566 And, note in 1971...Theodore Ripley was named Deputy Prosecutor in Clallam County. http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/33151 Don't forget to read what some of the "adopted kids" said...http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/25559
DeleteWhile I have no doubt that there were many,many shady backrooms type dealings going on around Lincoln Park, the thing that most disturbs and confounds me is how tone deaf the city council is to public comment. So many of us have spoken up again and again against this idea, but it just keeps rolling along. They never even seem to slow down long enough to consider anything else.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the last election tells them there's no need to worry, I guess. No one wants to run for office, no one can be bothered to run against them, and the one person who was on our side got driven out.
This town is so totally messed up.
I'm not so sure the City Council is tone deaf, as much as they are scared of taking a position that is not supported by staff. Of taking responsibility for questioning what is put before them.
DeleteMuch easier to just ask lame questions during the meetings, to make it look like they are actually DOING something. Like they actually understand what they're voting on.
We, and more importantly THEY have seen what happens when a council person doesn't go along with the program. Who wants to get publicly trashed like that?
So, we have the illusion of democracy, everyone gets paid, and here we are.
Yes, the public trashing of Max Mania for the "crime" of asking questions and speaking up for the people of Port Angeles doubtlessly served as a very good warning of what happens to those who stray from the party line.
DeleteMax really tried, and busted his hump to try and make things better and more open here. His reward was to get trashed and abused.
And there we have the compliant city council and so many unopposed elections.
Okay, so we're all going to go apply to get on the boards of this town, right? There are some openings!! I'd like to sit on the Ethics Committee and the Forward one..... http://www.cityofpa.us/boardscc.htm Who's with me?
DeleteThe "PA Forward" group is THE MOST BACKWARD collection of sad sacks around. But Cherie brings cinnamon rolls to the meetings!
DeleteI think we can tie several of the proposed PADA slogans together in Lincoln Park. "Sawing Heights, Surprising Depths (of Corruption)"
ReplyDeleteWhere the buzzsaw meets the budget....
Harold Norlund has suddenly resigned and is returning to his home in Canada.
ReplyDeleteIt seems this was all unexpected down at the Nippon mill.
Let's all wait now for the other shoe to drop. Something is up.
To his home in Canada. Yeah, I hear it's a lot nicer there, actually.
Hmmm...Yes indeed, this does seem a little unorthodox, Harold. What will we tell your close personal puppet...I mean friend, Cherie Kidd? She of the inability to see wrong where Nippon is concerned. She who cannot stop calling Nippon a "local" business. She who always spoke so highly of your personal and corporate commitment to Port Angeles. Cherie will doubtlessly be hurt and confused by this, Harold.
ReplyDeleteBut the rest of us know you're just a corporate rat with no more feeling for Port Angeles than you have for a pimple on your over-paid ass. And the rest of us would most assuredly like to know, as the saying goes, THE REST OF THE STORY.
So if anyone has the real dope on why Harold is suddenly fleeing Port Angeles, I know we'd like to hear it. Meanwhile, thanks ever so much to Harold Norlund, bureaucratic rat extraordinaire who made big money polluting our town, and is now leaving for greener fields. We'll remember you, Harold, every time we hear a kid wheeze with asthma. Your legacy is assured.
Don't forget Cherie's complete inability to understand that at least half of the money going into the Nippon biomass project was made up of U.S. tax breaks and other giveaways. She would always talk about Nippon "investing $71 million dollars in our community." Wrong! This foreign corporation was sucking up OUR tax dollars to produce power we won't use here, and to create profits that fly back to Japan as fast as they come in.
DeleteIn other words, Cherie is as stupid as Nippon is slimy/shrewd.
Cherie Kidd needs help ordering her own food from a menu if it doesn't have pictures. The fact that she is in a "leadership" role, and was even Mayor, is very scary. She really is as dumb as she seems.
DeleteWhich made it oh-so-easy for Nippon and Harold to roll her over and get her to do whatever they wanted her to. After all, they are a "hometown corporation."
I assume Harold wants to get the hell out of town before all the lies he's wrapped around the biomess project get torn down by corporate decisions. Like say, the mill essentially getting shut down, the biomess sells electricity, and a majority of the workers get laid off. You know, something like that.
DeleteWhatever the case, it doesn't bode well for all the people who have spent so much energy boosting Nippon, and saying what a great, great thing it is to have their hideous, polluting plant here. No jobs plus more pollution make it a LOT harder to be rah rah for Nippon.
From everything I've seen Cherie really, really, really believed that Harold was her friend, and a friend of this town. I'd be curious to know if she knew about his leaving in advance. I would bet my life she didn't.
DeleteBut she is just the most visible and laughable example of the Nippon blinders this town has been wearing for years. Pretty much everyone at the Chamber wears them. Everyone at the PADA, prime recipients of Nippon's pollution and particulate matter, they all wear them. Nathan West wears them; that's why he couldn't "see" that it was wrong and illegal for Nippon to start work without their permits.
And on and on. But this sudden departure might - hopefully - signal a change in behavior by Nippon that might - hopefully - become a sort of day of reckoning. It will be interesting to see what this REALLY means in the long-term.
Another AAI adoption that didn't work out?
ReplyDeleteNorland leaving the country is probably Brad Collins' fault.
It is amazing how often people who have had some sort of prominent or public role here just get the hell out of town - without waiting for everyone to take one more punch at them. Larry Williams finished his last term on the City Council and was gone. Max Mania got out before his term was up. And now Harold Norlund is just...gone. Even the closing of AAI fits this mold - no announcement that they're closing, they're just gone, Brad's resigned, and no comment thank you very much.
DeletePort Angeles: A great place to leave - quickly!
they probably live under an alias and hope that the indictments never come...
DeleteI'm sure Harold will be glad to see the last of the hicks and boobs here in Port Angeles. And now he'll never have to hear Cherie's screeeeeching voice again, lucky guy!
ReplyDeleteAAI had countries refusing to do business with it....
ReplyDeleteNot to mention a 1989 "sexual scandal".
It has a very, very questionable reputation amongst most adoption professionals. They like to place children with the mega-Christian "lets have too many kids for our own good".
Isn't it funny how the heated debate on PDN (http://peninsuladailynews.com/article/20140312/NEWS/303129985/0/SEARCH) is replaced by the exact same article http://peninsuladailynews.com/article/20140313/news/303139991/0/SEARCH (note the change: from 303129985 to 303139991) to simply clear the Facebook comments, which were fantastic. Search: Adoption Advocated International on the facebook page to see all the changes, and switcharooos to clear the Facebook comments. This is manipulation, as the "updated" article is not any different, at all. Game the system much PDN?
ReplyDeleteThe PDN is fascinating to observe. On one hand, they game their own system like you say, seemingly in order to do away with "controversial" comments. But in other cases they let strings of dozens of idiotic, racist, redneck comments stay just as submitted forever - which, as pointed out before, paints a TERRIBLE picture of the town for anyone who bothers to look.
DeleteIf I had to guess, it probably boils down to something like the PDN likes to say bad things about people, and smear them, but isn't always okay with others doing the exact same thing. Weird.
racist is what PA does best. Clearly it is fine to brand your kids, and bulldoze your neighbors house. We have a wonderful "catch and release" program for thieves and burglars. Clearly since Mr and Mrs Ripley were pillars of society here, any one who brings up any of the dirty laundry are edited. It is very strange politics in this town. A former Prosecutor's wife opens an adoption agency. There are allegations of sexual abuse (kids on kids, dad is brought into the fray, no one knows what's going on) and then it's all dropped, and wagons are circled. I dunno.... seems like business as usual in this dirty little town. Seems everyone has skeletons in their closet, and everyone else knows all about them, because they don't want THEIR skeletons exposed? I think this town was built on fear and innuendo. HEY...that's the new slogan.
DeleteI noticed with interest that Harold is leaving Port Angeles to move to Port Albernie, BC.
ReplyDeletePort Albernie has been deemed "The Worst Town in Canada" for years in a row.
Hmmmm.
So, THAT was a better option than staying in Port Angeles?
Hmmmm.
It's entirely possible that the worst town in Canada is still better than the worst town in the U.S. And his move could well mean he knows something about how it's going to get worse right here in the near future. Like say, if the Nippon plant suddenly shed a great many jobs?
DeletePort Angeles: We're Better at Being Worst Than Canada!
DeleteLOLOL!
DeleteSo let's say the recent "maintenance" shutdown of the biomass facility wasn't really maintenance at all, but really was a test run to see how few people they actually need to run it.
ReplyDeleteAnd let's say that the test, having been completed, gave Nippon the number of necessary employees to keep the biomass facility up and running. Which makes anything above than number extraneous.
And let's say that the Nippon plant is finally going to get out of the ever-shrinking paper market, and focus on the potentially more lucrative "green" energy market.
And finally, let's say that Harold, after years of being "friends" with the easily duped locals and spreading corporate bullshit everywhere, didn't want to be here when the inevitable layoffs went down.
All of a sudden you might see how a job in Canada's worst town might seem more attractive. Plus, maybe Harold actually likes visual and environmental blight.
We all KNOW the actual mill is on its last legs, producing a product there's little market for. So it's only a matter of WHEN the mill closes, not if. (Anyone who thinks this isn't so is living in denial.)
DeleteMaybe Norlund's leaving is the sign of the axe coming down on the mill jobs. Regardless, as others have said, I'll be interested to see what comes next.
Whether it's Lincoln Park, or Nippon, it's all about cutting trees and raping the land, isn't it? I mean, that has been the very reason for Port Angeles to exist for decades. Unfortunately, the town seems to be completely unable to transition to something other than being a (dying) timber town.
ReplyDeleteNational Park? Access to Victoria? Waterfront? Naw, let's log! It's a really, really outdated view, but it still persists in everyone from the high school dropout all the way up to elected reps like Steve Tharinger. Idolize loggers, protect the mill, and no questions, please.
This place is so out of time, I'm surprised we have color TVs here. Ugh.
The whole mill mentality here is so depressing - both personally and economically. It's like the second half of the 20th century never happened, and forget about the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteBut resource extraction is always a pursuit of diminishing returns. Too bad the so-called leadership here doesn't have even a hint of a clue about that.
I keep hoping, with each "old timer" who dies, that it will finally tip the scales. Old bastards won't die fast enough, though.
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