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Dave Reichert touts law enforcement career at Lewis County fundraiser

Based on data from the 2020 census, most Washingtonians were not alive the last time a Republican resided in the governor’s mansion.

Touting his record in law enforcement and an unblemished election record in King County, Dave Reichert said Tuesday that his experience qualifies him to break the Democrats’ 40-year winning streak.

“I found out when I went to Congress that being a hostage commander came in very handy,” Reichert said. “But I also found out that being a SWAT commander came in even more handy because you’ve got to know when to kick the door in. And you know what? It’s time to kick the governor’s door in.”

A fundraiser at Jester Auto Museum and Event Center Monday attracted roughly 300 attendees, including several candidates for public office, to hear from the man they believe can break the Democrats’ four-decade stranglehold on the governor’s mansion. The event was hosted by the Conservative Coalition of Lewis County.

The former sheriff of King County, Reichert represented Washington’s Eighth Congressional District in Congress from 2005 to 2019.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment,” said podcaster Brandi Kruse, who introduced Reichert. “There will not be another moment like this, at least not in our lifetimes.”

While the state party convention isn’t until next month, and the gubernatorial primary election is more than four months away, Reichert’s focus was solely on the Democratic frontrunner.

“Did you see (Attorney General) Bob Ferguson came out with his law enforcement plan the other day?” Reichert said. “Here’s my law enforcement plan, it’s pretty simple: give the cops the ability to enforce the damn law.”

To do so, Reichert said cops should face a higher standard for potential criminal charges in cases of use of force. Criminal justice is among the priorities of the campaign, Reichert said, as he repeatedly referenced his support for law enforcement.

It’s a pitch that’s personal for Reichert.

Upon arriving on the scene of a domestic call early in his career, Reichert observed a man holding a knife to his wife’s throat. The man, according to Reichert, planned to kill his wife and the first police officer who arrived.

While his partners distracted the man, Reichert snuck into the house through a side entrance and slowly approached before engaging the man in a scuffle, a fight that resulted in multiple cuts to Reichert’s throat.

“Part of the reason I wanted to tell you this is, number one, we never give up. We never quit,” Reichert said. “And number two, we have to back our cops in this state. One of the reasons I got back into this race is because our cops need backup.”

The sheriff during the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization protests, otherwise known as the Battle of Seattle, Reichert said anti-police sentiments that festered then continue to exist today.

“It started back then. It just slowly progressed and evolved to where we are today,” Reichert said, referencing protestors who temporarily blocked Interstate 5 in Seattle in January. “When I’m the governor, when we’re the governor, we’re going to direct the police chief to tell those state troopers to clear that freeway.”

The second tenant of his campaign, Reichert said, is homelessness, an issue he said ultimately stems from substance abuse.

“We’ve got to start to address those issues,” Reichert said.

As governor, Reichert said he also wants to address the state’s tax system, referencing failed legislation in the 2024 legislative session that would have raised the cap on tax increases from 1% to 3% and the state’s Climate Commitment Act.

“We have an inefficient, ineffective, deceptive government,” Reichert said.

As governor, Reichert said education would also be a priority, though he stressed: “Your children are your children.” In the speech, Reichert called for more charter schools.

“We’ve got to get back to teaching the basics,” Reichert said. “So that our children can be productive members of our community.”

Reichert’s visit comes roughly a month after the Lewis County Republican Convention, where Misipati “Semi” Bird won the unofficial straw poll of attendees with 63 votes, compared to the 28 votes Dave Reichert received. Three attendees were undecided on who they preferred for governor.

According to polling from the Northwest Progressive Institute, Ferguson leads a four-way race between Reichert, Bird and Democratic state Sen. Mark Mullet. In a two-way race between Ferguson and Reichert, the poll shows a 4% advantage for Ferguson.

“This election is not just going to be historic for the state of Washington, this election will be historic across this country,” Reichert said. “We are the longest-running state without a Republican governor in this country, almost 40 years, almost 40 years. And we can change that.”

Lewis County needle exchange ordinance delayed amid legal threats, call for amendments

As written, an ordinance to restrict Lewis County’s sole needle exchange program “likely” violates state and federal law, according to a pair of letters sent to the board of county commissioners.

“Because syringe exchange programs are authorized by statute, we believe Ordinance 1354 is likely preempted by state law,” the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Washington wrote in a letter dated March 25.

The letter comes after Kaplan and Grady, a law firm specializing in civil rights, claimed in a letter dated March 18 that the ordinance “as written, likely violates federal civil rights laws.”

“If implemented, it will likely lead to a federal civil rights lawsuit for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act (RA), and the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution,” David Sinkman, an attorney at the firm, wrote.

The letter from Kaplan and Grady, Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Robert Bradley said, was addressed during an executive session this week. On Tuesday, Bradley recommended the board further discuss the ACLU letter in executive session, “considering the litigation history.”

The risk of legal action comes as the Lewis County commissioners again delayed a decision on adopting the ordinance, this time until April 16, after Commissioners Lindsey Pollock and Scott Brummer signaled they’d like to see additional amendments, changes that were not completed before Tuesday’s meeting.

As drafted, the ordinance would ban mobile needle exchange programs, require program operators to offer “on-site counseling or referrals for an approved substance use disorder treatment program,” and ban needle exchange programs from use as a “safe or supervised injection site,” among other requirements.

Currently, Gather Church operates the only mobile needle exchange program in Lewis County.

The ordinance would require the needle exchange to operate as a one-for-one — meaning to get a new needle, a participant would have to turn in a used one — and would forbid “other drug paraphernalia” from being “issued or distributed in any manner.”

“We have to do things differently. The numbers are going the opposite way,” said Commissioner Sean Swope, who first proposed the ordinance. “Record high overdoses. We need more treatment in our community, and we need to get people into treatment. This isn’t to penalize anyone. This is just a pivot and to say we need a change in our community because we want to save lives.”

According to Bradley, Pollock submitted “a list of proposed amendments” on Friday, which amount to “significant changes” to the proposal.

“There are enough changes where I’m going to submit, basically, an alternate chapter,” Bradley said Tuesday.

An amended ordinance is expected by the end of the week. Despite the legal risks, Swope encouraged his seatmates to move forward on Tuesday.

“To be very clear, I know that we’re probably going to have some type of litigation with this,” Swope said. “It’s important to make change in our community.”

Swope called for a vote on the ordinance as written during Tuesday’s meeting and voted against the motion to recess until April 16, though he was overruled in both instances by his seatmates.

“I think the ordinance will withhold any legal challenge, and I think it will save lives, as well,” Swope said. “And that’s the most important piece of this. We have to have accountability and we have to move people in the right direction.”

According to Centralia Police Commander Andy Caldwell, the number of overdoses in Centralia nearly doubled from 2021 to 2023, increasing from 34 to 65. In the first two-and-a-half months of 2024, Centralia has had 19 overdoses.

“We do not need to be like Seattle, Portland and Olympia and experiment because, as we can see, and I hope everyone can see, that is a failed experiment,” Police Chief Stacy Denham said Tuesday, adding that syringe exchange programs need additional regulation. “We are not those areas. We are Lewis County, and we’re Lewis County Strong.”

The potential for litigation comes as Lewis County considers becoming the first county in the state to adopt stricter regulations on such programs.

“For the sake of some other organization coming in and operating a (syringe services program), I’m very much in favor of some kind of ordinance,” Cole Meckle, the pastor of Gather Church, said Tuesday. “Again, it just has to be thoughtful, not punitive.”

Kate McDougall, a member of both the Chehalis City Council and the Lewis County Behavioral Health Advisory Board, said she opposed the ordinance as written.

“I would not pass the ordinance today. I think that we need more work on it,” McDougall said. “I think we need to do more work, and I would ask for more time to look at this ordinance to keep everything holistically safe.”

According to Commissioner  Brummer, the commissioners have received more than 50 pieces of written public comment, with more than 40 in support of the ordinance “in its current form.”

“I think that it is prudent for the protection of the people, and the taxpayers, that we do our due diligence to ensure that, as best we can, we have carefully looked at all aspects of this ordinance before its passage,” Brummer said. “At this point, I am well in support of it as written, but as I’ve said, I would like to see your proposed amendments, Commissioner Pollock.”

 

Potential conflict with state law

In a three-page letter to the Lewis County commissioners, the ACLU of Washington wrote that the proposed ordinance “will greatly inhibit the viability of syringe exchange programs currently existing in Lewis County.”

As written, three or more violations of “any portion” of the ordinance could result in a misdemeanor charge for needle exchange operators in Lewis County, a charge that could result in a penalty of up to 90 days in jail and a monetary fine.

“I don’t want Lewis County taxpayers to have to pay money to try and defend an ordinance that has components in it that are not legal,” Meckle said. “It’s not the ordinance itself, it’s the criminalization of these activities, which itself is not legal.”

Like Meckle, Pollock voiced concern about the ordinance’s enforcement mechanism.

“I get really concerned when we’re talking about the criminalization of health care after the debacle that we’ve been through in the past four years,” Pollock said.

According to the ACLU of Washington, the potential criminal charge places the ordinance “in direct conflict with the Uniformed Controlled Substance Act as the lawfulness of needle exchange programs are expressly authorized under RCW 69.50.4121(3).”

“The ACLU of Washington trusts that the Lewis County Commissioners will develop alternative methods to ensure the safe implementation of harm reduction services that do not run afoul of state law,” the letter reads. “Moreover, it is our hope that the commissioners consider reasonable alternative measures for the greater good of the county and all its constituents.”

 

Potential conflict with         federal law

In a seven-page letter addressed to the clerk of the board, Sinkman states that both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Rehabilitation Act (RA), protect the program “unless there is objective evidence that Gather Church and its patients pose an actual risk of a direct harm to others (not themselves).”

“Ordinance 1354 is not supported by any report, testimony, photo, or other evidence documenting any public safety danger caused by the operations of the one mobile syringe service exchange in Lewis County,” Sinkman wrote. “Rather, it appears driven by animus against syringe service exchanges and the people they serve and by unfounded fears of increased drug use, crime, and the number of unhoused in the county.”

According to the letter, a federal challenge to a restrictive zoning ordinance resulted in the town of DuBois, Pennsylvania, paying $132,800 in damages and over $270,000 in attorney fees and costs.

“To avoid the risk of protracted and expensive litigation and possibly a federal investigation, Lewis County should not enact Ordinance 1354 as written,” the letter states.

East Lewis County veterans and family members attend Veterans Stand Down in Randle

Lewis County staff and the Lewis County Veterans Advisory Board held their first Veterans Stand Down event in Randle on Saturday, March 23, as part of an effort to give veterans and their families living in East Lewis County easier access to benefits and services.

Heidi Palmer — the Lewis County veterans benefit specialist and a U.S. Army veteran — said they had 10 veterans and their families attend, with 36 people showing up in total. 

“When repairing relationships with a community it takes time, patience, grace and showing up,” Palmer said in an email to The Chronicle. “We are showing our veterans in the east end of the county that we are working on repairing that disconnect.”

Eleven agencies and nonprofits were on hand to provide veterans and their families services, including:

• The American Red Cross

• Cascade Community Healthcare

• Destination, Hope & Recovery

• Daisy’s Hair Salon

• PTSD Hope for Heroes Equine Therapy

• Veterans Journey Forward

• The Washington Department of Veterans Affairs Internship Program

• The Department of Veterans Affairs HUD Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing

• Housing Opportunities of Southwest Washington Veterans Integration Program

• Catholic Community Services Supportive Services for Veteran Families

• The Lewis County Veterans Advisory Board

While Palmer does hope to hold another Veterans Stand Down in East Lewis County, the county will be organizing the next one, tentatively scheduled for September, in the Twin Cities area.

“All of our stand downs are focused on unhoused veterans, but we want to be able to reach out and provide resources to all of our veterans and their families in the county,” Palmer said.

Additionally, the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis, where the nonprofit Veterans Journey Forward is based, will be hosting its own pair of veterans resource fairs beginning next month.

The first Veterans Journey Forward Resource Fair is scheduled for Sunday, April 21, from noon to 2 p.m., and the second will be held on Saturday, July 13, from noon to 2 p.m., both at the Veterans Memorial Museum, located at 100 SW Veterans Way in Chehalis.

For more information, call the museum at 360-740-8875, follow the Veterans Memorial Museum on Facebook or visit https://www.veteransmuseum.org/

For more information on the upcoming Veterans Stand Down in the Fall, email Palmer at Heidi.Palmer@lewiscountywa.gov

Chehalis finance director retires after six years of service to the city

Retiring Chehalis Finance Director Chun Saul attended her final Chehalis City Council meeting on Monday, March 25, and was honored for her six years of service to the city.

Both Chehalis Mayor Tony Ketchum and City Manager Jill Anderson thanked Saul for her time with the city overseeing its budget.

“Chun began her career with the City of Chehalis as an experienced financial expert, having served the City of Lacey as its senior accountant for 13 years after becoming a CPA in 2000,” Ketchum said.

While wishing she wasn’t leaving her position working for the city, Ketchum congratulated Saul on her “well-deserved retirement.”

“All I can tell you is she is leaving huge shoes to fill,” Anderson added. “Chun is intelligent, she’s hardworking, she is incredible with numbers, she is dedicated and she has been a resource for the staff from the day she arrived. She is going to be terribly missed.”

Along with receiving an honorary proclamation from the city for her service, Saul was also presented with a bouquet of flowers in a custom engraved vase, a gift bag and a poster featuring the six annual budgets she oversaw during her time as finance director signed by the Chehalis City Council and city staff.

“Thank you so much, Jill, for giving me the opportunity to work for the city,” Saul said. “I truly enjoyed working here, with the council’s support and trust in me to allow me to do my job … And the wonderful staff, the best people I’ve worked with all my career.”

Saul plans to travel in her retirement, beginning with a road trip to Florida with her spouse next month.

“I’m just gonna start with taking a month off, take my mind off of working and de-stress myself,” Saul said following the meeting. “We’re going to drive, with our fifth-wheel (trailer), and haul it to Panama City, Florida, and we’ll spend a week there, and see where we go from there.”

Two years after becoming Chehalis library manager, Muriel Wheatley now managing Centralia as well

After originally starting her librarian career at the Centralia Timberland Library in 2017 before becoming the Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library’s manager in 2022, Muriel Wheatley is now the library manager for both branches.

“I did not know it was happening. It took me a little bit by surprise, but it’s been a fun thing to come back to Centralia,” Wheatley said of her recent promotion.

She started in Centralia as the library’s operation supervisor. Seven years later, she now manages two libraries, and she is still working out how to balance her attention between the locations.

“I try to do an even split of my time, but that never perfectly works out because I need to be responsive to the needs of each library,” Wheatley said. “Luckily, it’s only 4 miles away, so I can jet back and forth.”

When Wheatley took over managing the Chehalis library, she was already networking with Centralia’s prior library manager to develop a cooperative approach to library programs and community outreach. Some library program staff had already started working at both libraries.

“This is kind of a continuation of that. They’re moving back and forth, and now I am too,” Wheatley added.

While the libraries have programs for children, including multiple storytime sessions every week — which was her focus when she initially became manager in Chehalis — Wheatley also wants to focus on getting adults and teenagers back into the library.

Recently, some events organized to help bring back older library patrons included a Paint & Pizza Teen Hangout held at the Centralia Timberland Library and an Adult Lego Club held at The Juice Box in Centralia and McFiler’s in Chehalis.

“We also have a library film club going at McFiler’s Chehalis Theater,” Wheatley said.

Additionally, those who have a library card have free access to the Kanopy streaming service.

She also hopes to host more educational seminars for adults at both libraries, and has two coming up.

“One of them is happening (next month) here at the Centralia Timberland Library, and it’s going to feature a Humanities Washington speaker who will be talking about homelessness and the meaning of home,” Wheatley said. “And then we have a speaker who is coming at the end of the month at our Chehalis branch who is talking about anti-semtitism.

The anti-semitism seminar, titled The Oldest Hatred: Coming to Terms with Anti-Semtitism, is scheduled for this Saturday, March 30, at the Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library — located at 400 N. Market Blvd in downtown Chehalis — beginning at 4 p.m.

It will feature Nancy Koppelman, a professor of American studies and humanities at the Evergreen State College where she currently leads the Evergreen Jewish Studies Project. For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3TRbLem.

The homelessness seminar, titled Homelessness and the Meaning of Home, will be held on Saturday, April 6, at the Centralia Timberland Library — located at 110 S. Silver St. in downtown Centralia — beginning at 2 p.m.

It will feature Josephine Ensign, a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle and former nurse practitioner who experienced homelessness as a young adult. For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3VAqoDW.

Both seminars are free to attend.

“I believe strongly in the power of libraries to connect people both inside the branch and out in the community, and I’m excited to find ways to facilitate that in both Centralia and Chehalis,” Wheatley said.

Originally from Olympia, Wheatley, now 39, lives in Centralia. Prior to her librarian career, she was working in a violin repair shop before deciding to pursue a master’s degree in library science from the University of Washington.   

For updates on upcoming events at the Centralia Timberland Library, follow the library’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CentraliaTimberlandLibrary; and for Vernetta Smith Chehalis Timberland Library event updates, follow its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ChehalisTimberlandLibrary

Both libraries are part of the Timberland Regional Library system, which has 33 locations throughout Lewis, Thurston, Grays Harbor, Mason and Pacific counties. To learn more, visit https://trl.org/

 

 

 

Lewis County's unemployment rate continued to rise in February

Lewis County’s unemployment rate is continuing to rise, reaching 7.8% in February, up from 7.1% in January and 6.3% in December.

The rate remains one of the highest per-county rates in Southwest Washington and is significantly higher than the state unemployment rate of 4.7%, according to data released by the Employment Security Department and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The state’s unemployment rate, up from 4.6% in January, is the highest rate Washington has had since a spike caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to reporting by the Bellingham Herald.

Per-county unemployment rates increased across Southwest Washington in February.

Across Southwest Washington, Thurston County reported a 6.1% unemployment rate in February, up from 5.1% in January; Skamania County saw a rate of 7.1%, up from 6.5%; Pierce County reported a 6.8% rate, up from 6%; and Cowlitz County saw a 6.8% rate, up from 6.4%. Counties on Southwest Washington’s coast saw higher unemployment rates in February, with Grays Harbor County at 8.8%, Pacific County at 8.4% and Wahkiakum County at 9.4%.

Despite rising unemployment, Washington’s economy increased by an estimated 2,600 jobs in February, according to data released by the Employment Security Department.

This comes after Washington’s economy lost 3,600 nonfarm jobs in January, according to data released by the Employment Security Department.

The U.S. as a whole added 275,000 jobs in February, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

At Centralia town hall, state GOP chair touts Republican victories

Following the passage of three initiatives to the state Legislature, success in the 2023 election and promising data in the presidential primary, the Republican Party is poised for success, state Republican Party Chairman and state Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, said Tuesday.

“We see trends that are favoring common sense conservatives in this state, and that’s very hopeful,” Walsh said. “So we’re going to build on this momentum as we go to November.”

The comments came as Walsh joined Rep. Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, and Third Congressional District congressional candidate Joe Kent at a town hall recapping the 2024 legislative session on Tuesday at O’Blarney’s at the Gibson House in Centralia while previewing the upcoming election.

Walsh will host a town hall on Friday from 7 to 8 p.m. in Battle Ground at the Manor Grange, located at 17901 NE 72nd Ave.

“Washington, D.C., pretty much has one agenda right now, and that’s to spend us into oblivion,” Kent said, referencing two spending packages that recently funded the federal government through September. “This inflation that we’re all feeling every time we go to fill up at the gas pump or the grocery store, that is because Washington, D.C., has prioritized, well, pretty much everything else other than basic fiscal responsibility.”

President Joe Biden signed a second package of six government spending bills on Saturday, March 23, averting the potential for a government shutdown. Between both spending packages, the bills include $5.16 billion for Washington, which includes nearly $242 million in congressionally-directed spending.

“Guess how much money was allocated to secure our wide open southern border? Yeah, that’d be zero,” Kent said. “That’s Joe Biden’s America, fully supported by Marie (Gluesenkamp) Perez.”

While the bill cleared the Republican controlled House of Representatives, a majority of Republican representatives opposed the measure.

In state politics, Abbarno highlighted some of the wins in the 2024 session, including a trio of initiatives to loosen vehicle pursuit restrictions, establish a parental “bill of rights” and prevent the state from implementing an income tax in the future.

“When I talk to police officers, sheriff’s deputies, chiefs of police, sheriffs, they said the single most important step we could take is restoring pursuits, allowing them to chase criminal suspects,” Walsh said.

The three other measures — Initiative 2109 to repeal the capital gains tax, Initiative 2117 to repeal the Climate Commitment Act, and Initiative 2124 to allow more people to opt out of the state’s long-term care program — will appear on the November ballot.

“So they split the baby, but any of you who have read the Bible know that strategy, generally, doesn’t work,” Walsh said. “And I don’t think it’s going to work for the left in this state.”

Walsh said the initiative process could be replicated in the future.

The supplemental capital budget, which Abbarno negotiated, will send more than $43 million in funds for projects in the 19th and 20th legislative districts, including nearly $2 million to fund the United Learning Center in Centralia, funding Abbarno said Tuesday would help address Lewis County’s status as a “child care desert.”

In his recap, Abbarno warned the group the upcoming election will be dominated by “cash from Washington, D.C.”

“And it’s going to drown out our message, and (Kent’s) message, all of our messages,” Abbarno said. “So we need to talk to people now before that money comes in. We need to make sure we get the word out so that we turn out the vote.”

Walsh, entering his second election season as chair of the Washington GOP, cited the party’s involvement in 36 school board candidates throughout the state, including the re-election campaign of Tanya Naillon in Onalaska. While the party did not officially endorse candidates, it did provide voter data, messaging assistance and other non-financial assistance. Of the 36 candidates, 32 were elected.

“We tried to pick those 36 school board races that were examples, that were good tests,” Walsh said.

Walsh also touted the 2024 presidential primary as a success, a race that saw 904,000 Democrats submit ballots compared to 786,000 Republicans. The split, he said, was smaller than it’s been “in like 20 years.”

The election saw Republicans gain in support among young voters, Walsh said.

One potential hiccup, Walsh warned, is a legislative map that shifts some voters in South Thurston County from the 20th Legislative District to the Second Legislative District and will likely be used in the upcoming election. The new map will connect Latino communities from East Yakima in Yakima County to Pasco in Franklin County.

“(Judge Robert S. Lasnik’s) map is not designed to help Latino voters, it’s designed to help Democrats,” Walsh said. “And, it does.”

Columbian Newspaper

Investigation of Baltimore bridge collapse picks up speed as divers recover 2 bodies from water
Author: LEA SKENE and BRIAN WITTE, Associated Press

BALTIMORE (AP) — The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent “routine engine maintenance” in the port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday, as divers recovered the bodies of two of six workers who plunged into the water. The others were presumed dead, and officials said search efforts had been exhausted.

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