So... what happens when some kid drowns at Klineline this Summer?

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So, in reviewing our local cancer on the community, this tidbit rears it's ugly head:

Jeers: To the recession (again), which in this case has caused the closure of the water playground at Salmon Creek Regional Park and the end of summer lifeguards at Klineline Pond. With record cold and above-average rain, it’s hard to envision wanting a cool-down. But on Clark County’s hottest days the park and its pond become an urban oasis for the $3 cost of the parking fee. However, the parks department had to absorb a $1.6 million budget cut due to lower tax revenue, and the lifeguards and the “sprayground” — where the water had to be tested and chlorinated — were a place to find the money. Tough economic times require sacrifices such as this; we hope that when the recovery kicks in the services can be restored.

So, Clark County: when a kid or kids die there this summer because you made the call to keep lifeguards out of this "attractive nuisance," what are you going to do then, eh?

Just sayin'. At least one person will drown there that otherwise would have been alive because of your failure to properly manage our money.
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In case you're wondering what the Clark County Health Department is up to, here's how YOUR taxpayer dollars are being wasted.

Look this over. I'm sure you'll be as sickened as I am.

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Center for Social and Environmental Justice

"Mobilizing for Community Health, Well-Being and Equity"

March 27, 8:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Download a full schedule of the day's events

With major sponsorship from:
Clark County Public Health
Coalition for a Livable Future

Co-sponsors:

• Cowlitz Tribal Health Clinic
• NAACP Vancouver
• OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon
• Portland Central American Solidarity Committee

With thanks to the YWCA Clark County

Opening with a 9 a.m. plenary panel on:

"The State of Equity in the greater Vancouver/Portland Metropolitan area":

• Marcus Mundy, Executive Director, Urban League of Portland
• Sharon Pesut, Executive Director, Community Choices
• Dianne Riley, Equity Agenda Coordinator, Coalition for a Livable Future
• Clay Mosher, Associate Prof. of Sociology, WSU Vancouver Center for Social and Environmental Justice

With a lunch plenary panel:

• Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, Majority Whip, Washington State Legislature
• Rosalund Jenkins, Executive Director of the Washington State Commission on African American Affairs
• David Rogers, Executive Director, Partnership for Safety and Justice

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Inequalities and Disparities in the Criminal Justice System

With Panels on:

Prison Reform and Re-entry

• David Rogers, Executive Director, Partnership for Safety and Justice
• Ari Kohn, Program Director, Post-Prison Education Program
  
• Clay Mosher, Assoc. Prof. of Sociology, WSU Vancouver Center for Social and Environmental Justice
  

Racial Profiling

• Margo Bryant, President, Vancouver NAACP
• Alex Perez, Chief of Police, Longview Police Department
• Clay Mosher, Assoc. Prof. of Sociology, WSU Vancouver Center for Social and Environmental Justice
  
• Chair, Thabiti Lewis, Assoc. Prof. of English, WSU Vancouver Center for Social and Environmental Justice

Targeting and Detention of Immigrants

• Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, Majority Whip, Washington State Legislature
• J. Allejandro Villacorta, Immigration Attorney
• Shizuko Hashimoto, Co-Coordinator, Portland Central American Solidarity Committee
• Chair, Jorge Lizarraga, Diversity Fellow, Washington State University Vancouver

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Initiatives for Developing Cultural Competence

With panels on:

Unlearning White Privilege

• Facilitator Rekah Strong, Diversity Coordinator, Clark County (An interactive workshop; pre-registration required)

Strategies for Overcoming Achievement Gaps in K-12

• Rosalund Jenkins, Executive Director, Washington State Commission on African American Affairs
  
• Uriel Iniguez, Executive Director, Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs
  
• Sally Brownfield, Indian Education Office, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction
  
• Armando Laguardia, Assoc. Prof. of Education, WSU Vancouver Center for Social and Environmental Justice

Implementing Equity Strategies in County and City Governments

• Matias Valenzuela, Ph.D., Lead Staff, Equity and Social Justice Initiative, Public Health - Seattle and King County
• Rekah Strong, Diversity Coordinator, Clark County
  

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Economic Justice Issues

With panels on:

Housing Justice and Equity Initiatives

• Craig Lyons, Vancouver Council for the Homeless

An Interactive Poverty Simulation

• Facilitator Holly Berry, faculty OSU Extension, Family and Community Health (pre-registration required)

Health Care Reform: Organizing Initiatives and Policy Perspectives

• Paul Hochfeld, M.D., Physicians for a National Health Plan
  
• Rachel Berkson, co-chair of the Healthy Washington Coalition, Associate Director, Washington Community Action Network

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Transportation/Access Issues: Organizing Initiatives and Policy Perspectives

With panels on:

Building a Portland/SW Washington Bus Riders Union

• Francisca Porchas, Organizer, the Los Angeles Bus Riders Union
  
• Shannon Olive, Community Organizer, Organizing People/Activating Leaders (OPAL)

The Impact of Transportation Gaps on Health Care Access in Clark And Cowlitz Counties

• Steve Kutz, MPH, RN, Manager Cowlitz Tribal Health Clinic
  
• Axel Swanson, Cowlitz County Commissioner, Member, Regional Transportation Planning Organization

The Columbia River Crossing

• Facilitor, Jeri Williams, Environmental Justice Advocate
• Michael McCulloch, AIA, Architect, Urban Designer and Founding Member,
  PDXplore
• Mara Gross, Policy Director, Coalition for a Livable Future

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Maybe it's Art Curtis who should be in hot water: Second trial over $150 water heater gets under way

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In law, there's a concept known as, among other things, "prosecutorial discretion."

The term "prosecutorial discretion" refers to the fact that under American law, government prosecuting attorneys have nearly absolute and unreviewable power to choose whether or not to bring criminal charges, and what charges to bring, in cases where the evidence would justify charges. This authority provides the essential underpinning to the prevailing practice of plea bargaining, and guarantees that American prosecutors are among the most powerful of public officials. It also provides a significant opportunity for leniency and mercy in a system that is frequently marked by broad and harsh criminal laws, and, increasingly in the last decades of the twentieth century, by legislative limitations on judges' sentencing discretion.

Read more:

Now, the article in the paper indicates that, when asked about this monstrous waste of money during the first trial, our esteemed county prosecutor, Art Curtis, didn't bother to reply.

The first trial generated a lot of heat. Trials cost about $1,500 to $2,000 a day. During the first trial, jury forewoman Dr. Courtney Lower wrote Prosecutor Art Curtis an April 19 letter asking him to justify why "this case is an appropriate use of taxpayer money."

More than 95 percent of felony defendants agree to plead guilty. Of 2,300 cases filed annually, only 89 cases last year went to trial in Superior Court.

Curtis did not respond to a request for comment this spring and was out of the office this week.

With "judgement" like this, its pretty clear that Curtis has been mailing it in for years, anyway, and we would, perhaps, be better served if he'd just go away. Permanently.

If this is how Curtis is going to waste our money, maybe the county commissioners should cut the $4 million out of HIS budget... he's obviously got it to waste.
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Earth to Clark County Commissioners: Get the permit debacle fixed... NOW.

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You people are kidding... right?

You think that jacking these permit costs up are going to increase revenue?

Not likely.

People will not ignore the stupendously stupid increase in fees, now borne on the backs of the little guy; and either not build, or build without a permit.

Commissioner Steve "I'm getting the $100,000 'Barnett Owns Me for $100,000' Tattoo on my Butt" Stuart's explanation was typically asinine.

"The cost to process permits didn't cover the cost to the county for engineering and design approvals and inspections, so every permit was losing more money," said Commissioner Steve Stuart.

That, of course, in no way justifies the benchmark of this story; that a $4500 car port not requiring electrical, plumbing or mechanical inspection would have a permit fee of over 20% of the project cost while a 1500 square foot house project requires a permit fee of 2% or less... while requiring at least an electrical and plumbing inspection.

If (and it's a HUGE "if") the costs to review a car port were not met by the previous $334 fee, then the problem is not with the amount collected, but the amount of money it takes to operate the department in charge of reviewing these plans... and subsidizing the costs to review the plans for a house ain't that way.

It is NOT the purpose of the citizenry to support government in a style to which they've grown accustomed: essentially tripling the fees on the little guy while not even doubling those fees on those most able to pay is a recipe for disaster.

The simplest approach here is to call Mr. Snell is and tell him HE has to find a way to get this done with reasonable steps that make sense or you'll fire him and find someone who will.

Among those steps could be either a sliding scale so that the fees for a project like a $4,500 car port would not be a half of the fee for $150,000 house... or breaking out an office for small projects such as car ports and or room additions that would have a completely different staff, inspector, costs and requirements outside those expected now.

Yes, I recognize that this would require an "expansion of government." But the current system, which will cause many, if not most of these small projects to be put off indefinitely, is stupidity.

SOMETHING must be done... because this is insanity.

Kudos to the Columbian for getting the word out.

Commissioners? It's time to act. Rife with unintended consequences, this issue must be readdressed and Snell must be held accountable.

Et tu, Brutus? A blast from the past - Williams: Mielke will lose.

Self-proclaimed Republican and utterly clueless Commissioner candidate Craig Williams gave the world the benefit of his political ignorance with this moronic email to the Columbian the day after Mr. Willams, with all of his "I know what I'm doing and Mielke doesn't" garbage, achieved a fabulous 4.73% of the vote (next to last out of an eight-candidate field) in the August 19th primary.

Politics Blog

Williams: Mielke will lose
Thursday, August 21 11:53 a.m.

The day after Tom Mielke ended fellow Republican Craig Williams's first race for county commissioner, Williams said Mielke has an "'anti-everything' message" that isn't likely to win in November.

"Tom had a lot of signs and name recognition, but he had nothing new to offer the voters and it showed," Williams wrote in an e-mail Wednesday. "Tom's message is an old one that carried only enough weight to inch him out of this primary. It will not likely carry him to a general election victory."

Mielke, 66, finished second in the primary with 23 percent of the vote. Williams, 43, finished sixth with 5 percent.

Williams, an energy trader, put more than $6,000 of his own money into the race. A religious conservative, he called on men to "increase their respect for womanhood" and on his party to increase its respect for environmental regulation.

"Every so often, conservatism needs to be redefined," Williams said Wednesday. "You know, the Ron Paul phenomenon in our country and in our county was another part of that."

Williams added that he hopes Mielke will win.

County Commissioner Marc Boldt, another Mielke backer, said Williams is mistaken about the future of conservatism.

"I doubt that he'll get a Christmas card from the Republican Party," added Boldt, 53.

michael.andersen@columbian.com
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"Inch him out of the primary?" Mr. Williams, Tom received almost twice as much in the vote then his nearest competition. How is that "inching out?"

"You know, the Ron Paul phenomenon in our country and in our county was another part of that."

What "phenomenon" was that? All that money... and how well did Paul do?

The Mielke - Brokaw race for Clark County Commissioner.

This race has it all.

A razor-thin lead. Political corruption of the worst kind by the megacasino developer has he tries to buy yet another county commissioner.

One candidate essentially unqualified by service, temperament, education or experience to be a county commissioner, a wholly-owned subsidiary of David Barnett... a local version, come to think of it, of Barack Obama. (Well, except for his education, maybe... since he hasn't released his transcripts) with every advantage: massive democrat support from the local daily newspaper who wrote an endorsement of her that showed such hatred and vitriol against Mielke that I thought the paper was going to burn in a flash.

Entirely financed by casino interests while she protests that "Truth is I have not taken a position supporting the casino."

It takes a peculiar brand of political ignorance to trumpet the fact that you lack the courage to take a position on one of the major issues confronting this county. The big question? WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE A POSITION?

Reading comprehension is also a problem. Brokaw writes: "I've advocated having an agreement in place with the Cowlitz Tribe in case the federal government approves the proposal."

Guess what? by writing that, YOU TAKE A POSITION. And the position you take is SUPPORT OF THE CASINO.

Sheesh.

And then, she lied about her position on tolls for the unwanted, unneeded and collassaly wasteful I-5 Bridge replacement. She wrote: "As for tolls, I haven't agreed to anything save for considering them as a possible funding component down the road."

OK, here's a bulletin. THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY TO BUILD THIS BRIDGE WITHOUT TOLLS. This woman must think we're stupid.

To support this bridge and the light rail the downtown mafia wants is to support tolls.

In Ms. Brokaw's world, up is down and down is up. And I earnestly hope that Mielke's lead of 190 votes holds up. The last thing we need is a delusional county commissioner.