from Montesano Today
by Tom Fredriksen
Grays Harbor, WA — The autopsy over the recent attempt by the Port of Grays Harbor, and it’s attempt to ram both coal and oil trains into our county, is beginning. With the recent ruling that both the Port and related agencies must begin the permit process….properly…..the questions many of us have been asking for two years may begin to be answered.
Back Room Deals
The stonewalling and keeping as much of the process in the dark as possible – almost worked. When I personally started to look at the situation and take pictures of local infrastructure, I was met with a threat of arrest for daring to try and take a look at it. That is what concerns me.
This entire process, start to finish was designed about taking care of the right people, not to benefit the harbor or county as a whole. The Port would have done well, the rest of us….not so much, considering the consequences of the increased traffic and lowered property values.
The twenty five to fifty jobs would have gone to relatives and friends of the right people, the right people in positions of power properly greased…as it always is here in Grays Harbor. Again, it almost worked.
The problem for the right people today is the mass communication available. Individual opinion and information now travels across the county at lightening speed. It is very difficult to keep things in the dark anymore.
Here in Montesano we are embroiled in a similar situation where over forty acres of Chehalis river waterfront property was sold in the dark to a wealthy developer …the public shut out of the process–for the grand sum of $23,000. More will be coming on this shortly. The right people taken care of.
The above are just two recent examples of what can happen when the right people decide to feather their nests at the expense of all of us.
WILD OLYMPICS
Up until about a year or so ago I was one of those guys holding up the STOP WILD OLYMPICS signs. “Those whacked out tree hugging liberals are at it again…” I was saying. I believed it. I suppose I should also say that I still believe there are some whacked out liberals pushing the agenda. But that is another posting.
My own seeds of doubt began to creep in after observing the actions of our Port Commissioners and their vassals along with a few local Montesano City Council members, who with the stroke of a pen…in the dark……tried to give away our land and way of life…..taking care of the right people.
If such a small group of people can give away our prime waterfront, and as was the case of the port…our health and safety over oil trains…..what is to stop a similar smoke filled back room of the right people from doing the same to the entire Olympic Peninsula. In my opinion….they have no shame and I wouldn’t put it past them.
I’m not ready to put out a WILD OLYMPICS sign yet, but I’m not saying I wouldn’t either. Before we can even begin to address the problems of unemployment and where we want the county to go in the future, we have to begin to address the real problem standing in the way of all of us–
