The Jefferson County commissioners proved again their mastery of considering closing the barn door after the cows leave.
Despite knowing for months about local opposition to aerial pesticide spraying by Pope Resources and the positive actions taken by neighboring counties to ban it, the commissioners have only now decided to send a letter to ask various agencies about future alternatives and for testing protocols, which already exist.
This “what can we do, it’s someone else’s responsibility” attitude ignores the fact that Jefferson County could have banned the spraying and demanded alternatives before it occurred.
The commissioners had lots of “we hear you loud and clear” comments, but no explanation why they took no action when this mess could have been avoided.
This is not leadership.
It is avoiding accountability and failing to protect county citizens.
Commissioner Kate Dean was correct in saying that in the future, people would ask “what the hell were we doing?”
Commissioner Dean, the future is now and people are already asking that about you and your colleagues.
The answer, sadly appears to be “not much.”
Steve Ramsey,
Port Ludlow