Rayonier: “Give Us Your Tax Dollars And Stay Off Our Property”

Starting today and continuing through next Monday, four specially-trained dogs will be sniffing along the Port Angeles waterfront, trying to find Native American remains. City Archaeologist Derek Beery said, “The dogs are trained specifically to smell the residue that's left when a human being decomposes.” The dogs are being supplied by Canine Forensics.

This survey will lead to an archaeological management plan for Port Angeles and local property owners. The search will cover 872 acres between Ediz Hook and the western edge of the Rayonier property.

There’s a reason the search stops at the western edge of the Rayonier property and doesn’t include the property itself: Rayonier is not allowing the dogs or any archaeologists onto their property.

Rayonier officials were not available for comment.

Streamkeepers Looking For Volunteers

The Clallam County Community Development Department needs volunteers to help with storm tracking, stream sampling and for cooking meals. This is to help Streamkeepers of Clallam County in their development of a countywide stormwater plan.

If you want to work outdoors, you can collect stormwater samples from rushing overflowing rivers. If you’d rather work inside, you could process these samples for nutrients, sediment and bacteria. Or you could do data entry and statistical analysis of the samples. Or you could cook for the other volunteers.

For more information, call Streamkeepers of Cllallam County at 360-417-2281; or check out their website.

PenPly Gets $85,000 Grant

Clallam County approved an $85,000 grant from its Opportunity Fund. This will enable the Port of Port Angeles to upgrade the facilities of Peninsula Plywood.

It still isn’t known when the mill will begin hiring. The company is legally bound to hire sixty people before the end of the year.

PenPly (formerly KPly) is expected to ultimately create as many as 175 jobs.

Should Improper Votes Be Counted?

Today’s PDN had a letter entitled “Discard Some Votes.”

As you know, a certain local political race is very close, and some “questionable” votes might end up making a difference in the final outcome. This letter states in part:

“Forgive me for being old school, but I learned at an early age that the voting process was one that is not to be taken lightly and not without the thoughtfulness, care and solemnity befitting the privileges bestowed upon our country’s citizenry. The voters who failed to take that care in their voting need to learn the natural consequences of their actions. If they failed to ensure their votes by improper voting procedures, their votes should not count — plain and simple…Let the final count of all initially legal and correctly completed votes reflect the true election outcome.”

So, what do you think? Should voters get a do-over, or a Hail Mary — whatever you want to call it — if they forgot to sign (or improperly signed) their ballots?

Amy Goodman in Port Angeles

Friday, November 27th (the day after Thanksgiving) at 12:15 p.m., Amy Goodman will be coming to Port Angeles. She’s one of the founders of Democracy Now! and her column appears in the PDN every Thursday (underneath Cal Thomas’ column).

She’ll be doing a book-signing at the Raymond Carver Room of the Port Angeles Public Library. Port Book and News is sponsoring the event.

Her political views might not be your cup of tea, but in any case, we’ll be having a famous person right here in River City.

Click here for more information. The PDN says her book-signing starts at 12:15, and the Port Book and News site says 12:30. Better to play it safe and show up by 12:15.

Port Angeles “Invisible” to Canadians

Today’s PDN talks about the disparity in tourism between Victoria and Port Angeles. Port Angeles obviously doesn’t compare with Victoria in terms of tourist attractions.

But the article was still surprising. Out of the 200 Canadians taking part in the survey, 92 said they’ve been to the Olympic Peninsula. Of those 92 people, only 16 of them said they’d heard of Port Angeles. WTF?

They presumably arrived at the Peninsula via the Port Angeles ferry terminal. (They could’ve crossed at a different border and then driven here, but that’s a lot less likely.) And yet most of those people were so uninterested or so unobservant, they don’t remember anything about Port Angeles, not even its name.

Houston we have a problem.

Kent Myers has had several meetings with Victoria’s mayor, city manager and various business leaders about improving tourist travel between the two cities. He said: “They just do not have a general understanding of Port Angeles, who we are and what we have to offer.”

What say you?

Lyre’s Club Closing

The Lyre’s Club will be closing this weekend. Owner Stephanie Anthony said tomorrow night could be the club’s last night. If there’s still some liquor left over after tomorrow, she might keep the club open until Saturday; Sunday at the latest.

She said “When the recession word got out there, you could see the sales drop.”

Now I wish I’d gone there more often. I do hope she’s wrong in her prediction that “I don't see Port Angeles turning around for two years.”

Port Angeles St. Vincent de Paul Closing

After twenty-one years in business, St. Vincent de Paul thrift store will be closing on December 31st. They've been at 112 East 8th St.

That location will be taken over by Peninsula Mental Health. They might turn the location into a crisis center or health clinic.

Store manager Barb Townsend said sales have been in decline for the past six years.

Tim Eyman: “Do As I Say, Not As I Do”

It’s a moot point now, since I-1033 has been defeated. But in last Sunday’s Seattle paper, Danny Westneat points out something interesting about Tim Eyman. (Item #13 in his column.)

Tim Eyman borrowed $250,000 when he was pushing for I-1033. That’s how much it cost him to hire all those paid signature-gatherers to get his “grass roots revolt” onto the ballot. And Eyman still hasn’t paid back that money.

I guess it’s more fun to preach about thrift and personal responsibility than to actually practice it.

About some of the local races: I had always thought local issues cut across party lines; that they couldn’t be defined in terms of liberal vs. conservative or Republican vs. Democrat. And until Larry Williams’ letter in the PDN last week, I didn’t know there were two distinct groups vying for “control” of Port Angeles.

Thankfully, he warned us about the four city council candidates who were just outside agitators who hate Port Angeles; and he steered us toward the four Good Candidates.

Similarly, the government affairs committee chairman of the Port Angeles Association of Realtors (who’s also the chairman of the Clallam County Republican Party) has been openly pushing for two of the city council candidates.

We probably won’t know the final election results until Friday; maybe later than that. But today's partial/ “probable” results indicate that two of Larry Williams’ candidates will be heading to the city council, and two won’t. One of the P.A. Association of Realtors’ candidates is likely to go to City Hall, and the other one isn’t.

If there really are two opposite camps fighting over Port Angeles, it looks like neither side won.

EdenScapes Now Supporting Local Non-Profit Groups

When you make a purchase from EdenScapes — in person or online — five percent of your sale can be donated to the local non-profit organization of your choice.

So far, the local groups participating are: Olympic Theater Arts, Port Angeles Food Bank, Peninsula Dream Machines (they donate to Food Bank, Olycap, and P.A. High. School Autoshop) and Sequim Senior Services (Sequim Senior Activity Center).

Click here for more information.

EdenScapes is located at 404 Shore Road, Port Angeles (almost to Sequim).