People Moving to a New Community and Then Complaining About It

This particular controversy is happening in Port Townsend, but it could happen in Port Angeles just as easily.

For that matter it’s been happening in Sequim — people moving to a rural area and then complaining about the elk. People who move to this area from California — or Seattle for that matter — have a reputation for complaining because there aren't enough ethnic restaurants, there isn't enough nightlife, the stores aren't chic enough, etc. So why did they move here?

Port Townsend residents have a valid reason to be concerned about the health hazards created by the Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill. But most of the complaints seem to be coming from newer Port Townsend residents and/or retirees who won't be affected if the mill closes.

Long-term residents are probably concerned about health hazards too, but they also realize that the paper mill has been the economic backbone of Port Townsend. It has given countless Port Townsend workers the ability — as a certain U.S. president would say — to “put food on their families.”

As one Port Townsend resident said: “If the mill goes down, you will be able to walk down Water Street and see a lot of stores closed.”

What To Do About That Pesky Elk Herd

The online poll in today’s PDN is: Should the Sequim elk herd be thinned (culled) or moved?

As of this writing, 26.6% said “thinned,” 8.6% said “moved,” 6.3% said “both” and 55% said “neither.” Presumably most of the people who want the herd “thinned” are California refugees who thought they wanted to get away from suburbia, but later realized they wanted to bring the suburbs with them.

So far this year, eleven elk have been “harvested.” If you went into a gun shop and asked where the harvesting rifles are, I guess they'd know what you were talking about.

The elk problem will probably rear its head in Brinnon too, since that luxury resort near Brinnon was approved yesterday. There's an elk herd in that area, which probably won't fare well when the new improved Brinnon gets stricken with an epidemic of Affluenza.

Elk Are Dangerous

That's the title of a letter to the editor in today's Peninsula Daily News. Referring to the horse that got gored by an elk a few days ago, the writer said: "Someday, it may not be this year, but someday, an elk is going to kill a human being. All of the elk in the world are not worth the loss of one human life."

He goes on to say that we need to get the elk herd out of here, "either by moving them or by some other means."

And this person lives in Sequim of all places. He's entitled to his opinion obviously, but why does he live in an area famous for its local elk herd? The elk were in Sequim a long time before it started turning into North Silverdale.

This person could always move to Seattle, or even Port Townsend or downtown Port Angeles, and he'd never have to come into contact with any of those icky animals.