Mayor David Faber gives an update to the the City’s “Streetlet” program and fiscal priorities, including street repair. John Mauro explained funding acquired for the Discovery Road project. The outlook for Port Townsend’s Summer festival season is discussed by all.
(Airdate: April 20, 2022) Nan Evans and Erik Kingfisher of Jefferson Land Trust talk about climate resiliency on the north Olympic Peninsula. Longer, drier summers and warmer, wetter winters pose broad threats to the forests, farms, and wildlife habitats. Together Nan and Eric will explore whether current conservation efforts enough? Are these efforts strategically targeted to help benefit biological and human communities? How does science guide us in taking wise conservation actions for the future?
(Airdate: April 19, 2022) Our Town host Maryanne McNellis interviews Erin Reading, co-founder of the Port Townsend Psychedelic Society. She grew up in Washington state and has always been transfixed by our mountains. At the University of Washington she studied both philosophy & geology. It made sense to her – combining the theoretical and applied. She was on her way to a PhD when she had her first experience with psychedelics. It changed her life. Erin somehow fell in love with Chimacum and moved here. She found a community of like-minded people. She soon was the co-founder of the Port Townsend Psychedelic Society, which currently has over 600 subscribers to its newsletter. The group is working to decriminalize natural psychedelics such as mushrooms or peyote. The group ’s focus is on legalizing plants, not synthetic chemical compounds. It’s a nation-wide movement that has seen places such as Oakland CA, Ann Arbor MI, Washington DC and dozens of others move toward decriminalization. The Port Townsend City Council recently passed a resolution directing police and prosecutors to make psychedelics their lowest priority. According to Erin, that amounts to “de-facto decriminalization.”
The following is a summary of the presentation during the Public Health briefings at this week’s Board of County Commissioners meeting made by Jefferson and Clallam County Public Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry. Also Willie Bence, Director of Emergency Management, gave a report. The summary below was provided by and used with the permission of Jefferson County Government.
County Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry today reported local COVID-19 case rates are at 270/100,000 putting us in the higher risk zone where she strongly recommends masking indoors with a high quality mask. Our percent positivity is up to 8.5%. In Jefferson, there is an online form where people can submit a positive home test. Dr. Berry said that between 70-90% of cases reported are from home antigen tests. Here is a link to a site where you can securely report your test results: https://app.smartsheet.com/…/7146918f3f854cf6bfdfffc4f0…
The latest surge is being driven by the BA.2 variant that makes up about 75% of the positive tests in the County and the reduction in mitigation measures. People are going to stores, restaurants and school unmasked. “If we saw (hospitalizations rise) in other parts of the country, that might change our mitigations here….that’s really the trigger,” Dr. Berry said. “We’ve gotten our vaccines, we’ve gotten our boosters and so many of us had recent infection with COVID-19,” she continued. “And so between those two, we are hopeful that we can prevent severe disease.”
Influenza is on the rise in Jefferson. “Now is a really good time to get vaccinated,” Dr. Allison Berry explained. “It’s important to remember that while influenza is less dangerous than COVID-19, it still can be quite dangerous, especially people for people who are very young, for people who are elderly, or for people who have underlying chronic conditions.” Influenza vaccines are available from pharmacies, the local health office, and your physician. Dr. Berry said masking will help keep transmission of the flu in check.
County Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry addressed the need for the second booster shot. “There is an option for a second booster which is a fourth dose for anyone 50 and over in the United States,” she explained. “The data around that booster is that it is safe…It’s not clear yet that it’s needed though, because we are still seeing excellent protection from three doses.” She stressed that the most important thing to do to prevent risk of severe disease is to get vaccinated and get that first booster for a total of three doses for most. “If you are immunosuppressed, that fourth dose is really critical,” Dr. Berry continued. “If you’re taking immunosuppressive medications, if you have a genetic immunodeficiency, if you’re getting treated for cancer, or if you have had a cancer in the past, it’s been successfully treated. All of those, folks. Really good idea to get that fourth dose. Everyone else. It’s not clear yet how necessary it is. It’s certainly a reasonable option.” Fourth doses are available locally in our healthcare system, at pharmacies, and at Jefferson County Public Health.
Submit your Public Health questions to Dr. Allison Berry and Willie Bence by emailing [email protected]. Note: The weekly deadline for these to be submitted is on Fridays at noon, to be answered at the following Monday’s BOCC meeting.
(Airdate: April 18, 2022) This edition of Attention Please! is a two-part show on two quite different topics. The first segment features the AAUW’s Home and Kitchen Tour with Karena Wells and Jean Stasney of the American Association of University Women. In the second segment, PT Potential’s Roarke Jennings and Ronnie Crusta describe their vision for reducing the use of plastics in our area while at the same time recycling what we use. Hosted and produced by Phil Andrus.
On Monday, April 18 from 8 to 9pm on KPTZ, tune in for a special presentation from Bellingham musician and now podcast host Robert Sarazin Blake. Check out From the Kitchen Table, where Robert invites musical guests from near and far to join a live stream and share their music from their respective kitchen tables. In this episode, which was specially prepared for KPTZ, Kristin Andreassen joined The Kitchen Table from Nashville, Tennessee one Sunday in January, playing songs from her 2021 album, The Bright Siders. The Kitchen Table comes to KPTZ from producer Jeremy Meehan, and host Robert Sarazin Blake. Classic Jazz will return next week at its usual time.
On alternate Fridays during the noon hour, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker and co-host Siobhan Canty, President and CEO of Jefferson Community Foundation, meet to discuss new developments, new paradigms, and the new normal, as we roll into the months ahead. The Chimakum People, who lived in the Chimacum Creek watershed, had been widely considered extinct and written out of history. In fact, however, there are many Chimakum descendants.
We speak with one of those descendants, Naiomi Kreinke, who has a very special dream that is slowly becoming a reality – a community gathering place in the form of a traditional Longhouse. We also speak with two allies with the Chimakum – photographer, designer, and writer Kerry Tremain and photographer Brian Goodman, who were prime movers in creating a book and exhibit of portraits of contemporary Chimakum families and elders. Opportunities to view the exhibit are at Chimacum High School on April 23 and May 28 from Noon to 2pm.
