Letter to the Editor:
Let’s understand what happened before most of us became aware of the opioid center:
http://fiscal.wa.gov/BudgetCProjList.aspx.
For the 24th District, (that’s us), click on the tab by 1st Legislative District and go to 24th District and then click on “View Report”. The budget numbers are in the thousands. The first item under commerce is for the Jamestown S’Klallam Behavioral Health for $7,200,000.00. This budget was enacted on May 21, 2019, supposedly in the wee hours. The date of the deed to Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe for the purchase of the property at 526 S. Ninth, Sequim, WA, is May 21, 2019. One can easily infer that the property purchase was contingent on funding in the State Budget. FYI – the purchase price on record is $900,000.00. To verify, go to Clallam.net, home page, property search, owners name, type in Jamestown and scroll through to the property address, click on “View Details” and scroll to the bottom of the page to see date of transfer.
Another item that plays into this is the statistics for Clallam County opioids. The local paper on July 24 gave information on pill numbers for years 2006 – 2012. Why those years? Why pain pill information? There was pill prescription info thru 2016 and other opioid use thru 2018 on the Clallam County web site. Other, more current information was given by the paper a day or so later. Just a smidgen of opioid info found on this site. There was 2 opioid related deaths in 2018. To see this report, go to www.Clallam.net. Home page, Departments, Health and Human Services, scroll down and click on link to Current County Opioid Surveillance Report (click here to see the report).
Lastly, according to the article “ Sentencing set for drug supplier” in the local paper on July 30, Nicholas Cruz, a Mexican citizen, who has pleaded guilty to distributing large amounts of drugs on the North Olympic Peninsula is to be sentenced on this Friday. The court papers describe Nicolas Cruz as the primary drug supplier and distributor on the Olympic Peninsula. He was arrested last year. The U.S. is recommending Cruz serve 54 months in prison prior to his near certain deportation.
A whole lot of negotiations went on before we were presented with what appears to be a big stick in the eye with a “Go lump it if you don’t like it!” Sequim is a retirement town with medium age of about 59. I was under the impression that government, regardless of which administration was in, wanted to protect at risk people, old people and children.
What data justifies a large behavioral health center in rural Sequim. Prove to me that satellite offices are not a more appropriate approach to solve the problem of illegal drug abusers. This opioid center makes me believe that our County and State leaders have given up on getting drugs out of Clallam County. Instead, they are creating a haven for abusers. The emphasis is keeping a huge drug facility, rather than eliminating illegal drugs in Clallam County. Instead, the greater area of Sequim residents will have our safety of community and quiet enjoyment of our homes compromised by people who make repeatedly unhealthy decisions for their lives. Perhaps we ought to include our elected officials in the abuser category because they decided to cram this down our throats. We have absolutely no reason to keep them in office! We should especially remember the names of Mike Chapman, Steve Tharinger and Kevin Van De Wege who are proud of bringing this mess to Clallam County.
Sue Runyan
Sequim, WA
Recent Comments