Letters to the editor - Aug. 1

The Olympian • Published August 01, 2008

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Now for the restof the story

I too hope that the creation of a new law and justice council will be successful. That is not to say the old justice council could not have been effective had it not been for ex-County Commissioner Judy Wilson.

The county prosecutor, chiefs of police and the sheriff of this county agreed on what needed to be done to fight crime and provide housing for prisoners. We regularly met to coordinate efforts to deal with gangs, domestic violence and held discussions on how to improve communications, long before the old committee was formed.

When the commissioners held a meeting at the L&I building to inform elected officials and law enforcement on their plan to build a new juvenile detention center, I asked Commissioner Wilson whether we, law enforcement, were on her fast train to build a juvenile justice center. Her response was, "You are not on my train at all chief — next question!"

It was this type of attitude that resulted in not building a regional jail, but did lead to numerous studies, committees, hiring of consultants and purchases of properties all of which wasted millions of dollars and as of today has not improved the jail conditions of this county and ultimately led to the council being disbanded. The vote was unanimous to disband!

Good luck and please listen to your in-house experts; remember not everyone has to agree with each other and most important, listen to the community.

Glenn Dunnam, former Yelm police chief, Olympia

We're flirtingwith a calamity

Just one year ago, I was delighted to read an Olympian editorial captioned, "Olympia needs downtown plan." First among the proffered recommendations was that the city "develop a downtown master plan with specific areas to redevelop and a timetable for doing so."

It is sadly ironic that The Olympian enthusiastically promotes plopping down over-scaled condos on what is arguably the most precious site in our capital city — the absolute antithesis of intelligent urban planning.