A-12 • May 6, 2015
SEQUIM GAZETTE
Odds, ends from the editor’s desk Are scammers just getting lazy, or more inane? So far this year, we’ve seen a rash of scams of myriad types, from one that involves jury duty to another purporting IRS claims to a third involving lapsed payments to Clallam County PUD. Two of the more recent scams to hit the Olympic Peninsula include one that pretends to give thousands of dollars from AT&T, and another in which the caller feigns a position with a chamber of commerce — in this case, the Port Angeles chamber — to gain access to personal information. In the latter, the caller asks for updated information and aggressively pursues more and more. A Gazette reader said she had a sense it was another scam, promptly hung up her phone and tried the number back, Editor’s getting a long silence and disconnect after a Corner minute. A simple Google Michael Dashiell search reveals not only that the number features an Omaha, Neb., area code, but that other communities across the state are getting similar scam attempts from Yates County, N.Y., to the Greater Westerly-Pawcatuck Area Chamber of Commerce in Rhode Island to the Outer Banks islands in North Carolina. In the former, residents get an envelope in the mail containing a realistic-looking check from AT&T and a document from Billtrust Financial Incorporated of Capetown, South Africa, claiming they’ve won a $250,000 prize from a “consumers sweepstakes lottery” on April 5. With the enclosed $3,950 check, the company asks for a $3,600 processing fee. The document notes that “your bank account details are not needed at all,” and that, “payment of your winning prize money will be made by a certified check” that is “brought to you in person by our special courier company.” Phone numbers follow. The idea, I suppose, is that anyone making that call may be foolish enough to eventually give up critical personal info that scammers use to drain bank accounts. Sequim resident Janet McDonald received such a note in the mail. “I started reading it, and it said I won $250,000? I thought, ‘Scam.’ It shakes you up.” “I went to the police department … and showed it to as many friends I could show it to,” McDonald said. She added, “The most valuable thing on it was the stamp on the envelope.”
To submit a letter 147 W. Washington St., Sequim, WA 98382 Phone: 360-683-3311 • Fax: 360-683-6670 E-mail: editor@sequimgazette.com Deadline noon the Friday before publication
Opinion Wednesday, May 6, 2015
SEQUIM GAZETTE
Time to run Candidate Filing Week for Clallam County is May 11-15, and while this may be an “off year” in the grand scheme of Washington state elections it won’t be a quiet one locally.
See ODDS, ENDS, A-13
Published every Wednesday 147 W. Washington St. Sequim, WA 98382 Phone: 360-683-3311 Fax: 360-683-6670 www.sequimgazette.com Sound Publishing Inc. Vol. 42, Number 18 USPS 685-630 • ISSN: 1538-585X
Random Questions Sequim Gazette photo by Matthew Nash
In the April 29 edition of your paper there was a letter to the editor regarding the cause of the damage to the Railroad Park Bridge. A reader was speculating that logs placed upstream of the bridge were the cause of the problem and that they were unnecessary in the first place. I would like to make sure that all your readers know that engineered log jams installed by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe eight years ago were built to last, are very much intact and are doing a great job creating fish habitat. Of the 11 log jams we constructed, five were located upstream of the bridge and six downstream. Observations confirm that pools created by these log jams provide popular places to live for both adult and juvenile fish. We have no reports or observations of any logs missing from our engineered log jams. We are con-
PUBLISHER John Brewer jbrewer@peninsuladailynews.com 360-417-3500 EDITOR Michael Dashiell editor@sequimgazette.com 360-683-3311, x5050 SPECIAL SECTIONS EDITOR Patricia Morrison Coate pcoate@sequimgazette.com 360-683-3311, x5054 NEWS & PRESS RELEASES news@sequimgazette.com REPORTERS Matthew Nash mnash@sequimgazette.com 360-683-3311, x5056 Alana Linderoth alinderoth@sequimgazette.com 360-683-3311, 5060 DISPLAY ADVERTISING Advertising Representatives Harmony Liebert hliebert@sequimgazette.com 360-683-3311, x3050 Sara Schaefer sschaefer@soundpublishing.com 452-2345, x3054 PRODUCTION production@sequimgazette.com Ad Designer, production Mary Field 360-683-3311, x4050
With Megan O’Mera, 2015 Irrigation Festival Queen By now, it’s likely you know Megan O’Mera’s face. The Sequim High School junior is the Sequim Irrigation Festival queen and is heading into her second week of one of the busiest weeks of her young life making appearances, singing and smiling for a lot of aside from trying to find & photos time for AP classes and the high school golf team. “My life is a big crazy mess right now with how busy it is but it’s worth it,” she said. “It’s really awesome being born and raised here and to be part of it all is awesome even more so as the queen.” Going into the festival, O’Mera said she’s learned how much volunteer effort makes the festival happen. “There’s a ridiculous amount of time and energy that goes into this,” she said. “Each person has their own thing from the car show to the kids parade.”
Q
A
Question 8: What is your favorite food? O’Mera: I’m obsessed with Caesar salads not for the health aspect though. I like the chicken and dressing. Every restaurant I go to I have to eat one. It’s an added bonus when the croutons are garlic. Bonus question 1: Where is your favorite? O’Mera: The Cheesecake Factory. Bonus Question 2: Where is your favorite place to eat in Sequim? O’Mera: Jose’s Famous Salsa. We eat a lot of Mexican food because it’s fast and easy. For me, the pork-filled taco is huge and filling enough and cheaper than a school lunch. Question 11: What is a guilty pleasure of yours? O’Mera: Netflix. Sometimes I tell myself I can do homework while watching it but then a whole season is done and I haven’t even started. Bonus Question 3: What do you like to watch? O’Mera: I like “Friends.” I watch it all the
See RANDOM, A-13
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Clarification about the Railroad Park Bridge
A-12
SEQUIM GAZETTE
Help with heroin Port Angeles police recently used an antidote to quell a potentially deadly heroin overdose. Our sister paper The Peninsula Daily News reported that Cpl. Josh Powless and officer Sean Ryan responded to a report of an accidental overdose on the 200 block of East Vashon Avenue and discovered a 29-year-old man who was not breathing and did not have a pulse. Powless administered a 0.4-milligram dose of naloxone, a medication that temporarily blocks the effects of heroin or other drugs and helps a person having the overdose breathe. After a second dose, the man regained a pulse and began shallow breathing. Part of the reason police wanted the antidote, the PDN reports, is because they often arrive to medical calls before emergency medical technicians. Port Angeles police had the drug on hand thanks to a grant from Kaleo, a prescription drug company. Public health officials have said more law enforcement agencies should have access to naloxone. According to Centers for Disease Control researcher Mark Faul, more than 16,000 people in the U.S. died from drug overdoses involving prescription opioids in 2013 and about 2 million Americans abused prescription opioids. With heroin the growing drug of choice in Sequim in recent years — thanks to a combination of its addictive characteristics and relative affordability — anti-opiates like naloxone may be much more commonplace.
vinced that engineered log jams can be used to improve fish habitat in the Dungeness River. Certainly, a great deal of care must go into how these jams are planned and constructed. Based on our experience, we will continue to use this technique to restore fish habitat. Scott Chitwood Sequim (Chitwood is Natural Resources Director for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.)
Get facts straight on MPD I am distressed by statements recently made in a letter printed in the Gazette (April 22). It is true the legal statute limits the amount a Metropolitan Park District can tax to is no more than 75 cents/$1,000 (assessed valuation). As I understand it, once a newly formed Metro district is in place, the newly elected commissioners of the new district will establish a tax rate to begin in 2016.
SEQ
There are only 18 Metro districts in Washington and there isn’t one that levies the full amount of 75 cents/$1,000. In fact, SARC’s referendum, when passed, will be the lowest rate in the entire state at 12 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The Metro district currently proposed is for the maintenance and operation of SARC ONLY. It is intended that the ballot measure to establish the SARC Metropolitan Park District will state that the new commissioners will impose a tax levy rate of 12 cents per $1,000. The 12 cents per $1,000 being proposed is relatively small, equal to approximately $30 per year for the owner of a $300,000 home, to fund a wonderful communityowned asset that serves all segments of the community and enhances the quality of life here in Sequim and the surrounding Dungeness Valley. Melinda Griffith Sequim (Griffith is a SARC board director.)
Stop partisanship, build coalitions
Why can’t we build coalitions and consensus in Clallam County? Is there something in the water? Heaven knows the infrastructure for progress should be here. In addition to multiple layers of government, we have more than 125 nonprofit groups struggling to meet our needs. Do we really need that many organizations to provide cultural enrichment and to attack the problems of our children, our homeless, our unemployed, our handicapped, our elderly? Surely, we could be more effective if some of these well-intentioned groups came together, combined resources and focused their energy. The recent discussions between the SARC advocates and the City of Sequim are a compelling metaphor for what I see as the underlying weakness of agencies committed to quality of life in Clallam County.
See LETTERS, A-13
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING Denise Webb dwebb@sequimgazette.com Linda Clenard lclenard@soundpublishing.com 360-683-3311, 1550 CIRCULATION circulation@sequimgazette.com 6 months, $26 1 year, $36 2 years, $66 circulation@sequimgazette.com POSTMASTER: Send changes of address to: Sequim Gazette 147 W. Washington St., Sequim, WA 98382
LETTERS POLICY Your opinions on issues of community interest and your reaction to stories and editorials contained in your Sequim Gazette are important to us and to your fellow readers. Thus our rules relating to letters submitted for publication are relatively simple. • Letters are welcome. Letters exceeding 250 words may be shortened. We strive to publish all letters. • Letters are subject to editing for spelling and grammar; we contact the writer when substantial changes are required, sending the letter back to the writer for revisions. Personal attacks and unsubstantiated allegations are not printed. • All letters must have a valid signature, with a printed name, address and phone number for verification. Only the name and town/community are printed. • Deadline for letters to appear in the next publication is noon Friday. Because of the volume of letters, not all letters are published the week they are submitted. Time-sensitive letters have a priority. • Letters are published subject to legal limitations relating to defamation and factual representation. • To submit letters, deliver or mail to 147 W. Washington St., Sequim, WA 98382; fax to 360-683-6670 or e-mail editor@sequimgazette.com.
T wit Ho tro pro N pla tion hea an cos adj (CO W cau par wil me cha tax B Sta Jim sta ma tain stat T mu the tax $50 tive den goi obl wit B pro in g 135 The
O
Fro
A elec Mc mis of tion spo Seq boa and 1’s mis oth K nin sos en/
Le
Fro
M fail vide faci lear Mo Du SAR agr to-d sur to a fam T us t Feb