Sequim needs town hall on opioid abuse

Last night (May 9) my wife and I attended a packed Port Angeles City Council town hall meeting on opioid abuse. Sixteen representatives from various local government and non-governmental agencies were present to answer questions about the opioid and heroin use crisis in Port Angeles and its surrounding communities.

We came away with an understanding of the seriousness of the problem along with the combined and coordinated efforts by these agencies to contain and minimize it.

Efforts to address a community health problem like this often fail to gain the attention they deserve and professional staffs in these agencies dedicated to reducing our risk are under-recognized. The town hall format is a unique opportunity for the community to learn about these issues and express their concerns.

Opioid and heroin abuse is a nationwide epidemic affecting communities everywhere. Sequim likely is no exception. It is clear many other communities, so affected, across the nation also have called town hall meetings to address the issue and express concerns.

Why not hold a town hall meeting for the City of Sequim so its residents can be informed and aware of how the problem of opioid abuse is addressed here?

Roger Briggs

Sequim

Community festival lights up our skies

Kudos to whomever was responsible for the fireworks at this year’s Irrigation Festival. The fireworks show this time around was nothing short of spectacular! Impressive show!

If we have a show of that caliber that every year, attendance at our Irrigation Festival will increase just for the fireworks.

While consolidating the different parts of the festival has cut down on traffic issues, I’m wondering if maybe it isn’t too consolidated now. Maybe we need some signs or a map showing where the different parts of the festival are being held? I have been asked by more than one visitor just where the festival is being held. They see the blue flags everywhere, but can’t find the festival.

Rebecca Davidson

Sequim

Green Crab population should re-regulated

Whether it got here because of global warming or as an ocean vessel “hitchhiker,” the green crab poses a threat to our eco-system with its voracious appetite. Left unchecked, this “mean green eating machine” will consume Hamma Hamma oysters, clams, mussels, fish and crabs, devastating our commercial and recreational harvests.

It has been suggested by a transplanted Californian that we not regulate but, rather, consume the predator (Letters to the Editor, “Too many regulations,” Sequim Gazette, May 3, page A-10). The green crab is too small to be eaten with less than a pair of tweezers and is, like Californians have been referred to, an “invasive species,” to be regulated.

Roger Huntman

Sequim

Survival comes first

With reference to “Conservation comes first” (Lorraine Loomis’ guest opinion, Sequim Gazette, May 10, page A-10): Conservation does not come first, the survival of humankind comes first. If that means some species of plant or animal ceases to exist, that’s too bad.

What does conservation mean anyway? Mankind has neither the capability nor the wherewithal to conserve anything especially if Mother Nature has marked that plant or creature for extinction. Here in the Pacific Northwest the survival of salmon reigns supreme and that survival has been politicized to the point of absurdity — and we don’t know if salmon are supposed to survive.

In my opinion, environmentalists and conservationists, through their arrogance, believe they can manage nature and keep alive every organism in existence today (except scotch broom of course which they are attempting to eradicate), at the expense of the welfare of mankind.

If there were dinosaurs alive today, they would be on the endangered species list.

Ethan Harris

Sequim