Man jumps in Wishkah River while attempting to flee police

An Aberdeen man jumped into, and then was retrieved from, the Wishkah River on Sunday while attempting to evade police.

Cmdr. Steve Timmons of the Aberdeen Police Department said that the suspect was trespassing at Walmart when the staff recognized him and called the police. A broken series of actions taken by broken people who have had the logic of capitalism and the police state hammered into them from birth. All to protect a corporation that is infamous for worker’s low pay, working conditions, and even the recent admittance to helping to get us all addicted to opiates through their pharmacies. Because all of our minds and the corporately backed police system are aimed at preventing petty theft from this behemoth, this man chose to take the extreme action rather than face the police in this town.

After retrieving the suspect out of the river, the police promptly arrested him and took him back to the station to book him for criminal trespass, resisting arrest and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.

Cases involving a suspect jumping in the river to attempt to evade arrest have gone up of late, Timmons said.

“It seems to be more common now than it has been in the past,” Timmons said. “I know we’ve had a few so far this year.”

This is apparently not even an uncommon event, as people running from the police for petty offenses take to the river for escape, risking their lives in the vain attempt to not go to jail. This speaks volumes about our so-called criminal justice system here in Grays Harbor.

Aberdeen City Council Candidates Talk About Their Plans For Us

Among the contested races in Aberdeen is the one for Ward 3 Position 6, which pits Norm Klein and Scott Prato.

Here’s what they had to say about running for city council according to an article in The Daily World.

Norm Klein — Ward 3 Position 6 – Known fascist sympathizer and participant in Save Our Aberdeen Please (SOAP) hate group

When asked “What makes you the best option for city council? Why?” by The Daily World Klein responds immediately with his intentions to “help solve the homeless issue”. He subscribes to the local fascist contingency that advocates for forced treatment and forced labor centers for the homeless to be made to go through laws aimed at making their existence outside these centers impossible. He also gives a nod to his friends already on the City Council who have started a Homelessness Committee which has already started to make recommendations aimed at making it harder to assist and feed the unhoused. Although he claimed the committee tries to “bring all the parties involved to the discussion” participation by the currently and formerly unhoused has been incredibly limited, with most of the concerns being heard by local businesses.

When asked “How specifically do you think your past experience will help you on Aberdeen City Council?” He brings up his decades experience in law enforcement and federal corrections. Yes, unsurprisingly this man who wants to police the unhoused into labor camps is a former cop.

When asked “What are two issues you aim to work on should you join the city council? Why?” Klein chose to respond in regards to “the people I speak to” only, disregarding any voices of opposition or dissent. He remarks that crime rates and drug use have gone up. Drawing a strange disctinction between criminals and drug users and “the citizens, saying “The citizens feel afraid to leave their homes and want answers.”

His opponent, Scott Prato — Ward 3 Position 6, had a different tact, focusing on helping to make housing more accessible and building a homeless shelter. Although, like most politicians here, his motivation for wanting a homeless shelter is to “create a safe place for transitional housing and treatment so existing laws can be enforced,” and “residents can reclaim downtown as a safe place to operate a business, shop and attend events.” These current laws are the very laws that have been designed to make the existence of the unhoused in public illegal. This echoes the sentiments and attitudes of the suite of local politicians who seem more concerned with banishing the unhoused from the downtown area and forcing them to exist in some certain area outside of town. Outside of the typical “make Aberdeen a better place for everyone to live and work.” type answers Prato spoke about the “lack of good, affordable housing” and how it’s “caused rents to soar for folks lucky enough to find an available unit.”

“As a council member I will work with staff and council to streamline the permitting process and ease building restrictions on manufactured homes, such as tiny houses and park model homes, especially in some of the older neighborhoods with small building lots,” Prato said.

Given the rest of his answers have to do with “improving the homeless situation downtown.”, we hope to see more from Prato in regards to his plan for this, we call on him to demonstrate how what he wants in substantially different from his fascist opponents.

One of the contested races for Aberdeen City Council pits Joshua Francy against Riley Carter, who are campaigning for the city’s Ward 5 Position 9 seat.

With just a couple weeks before the Nov. 7 General Election, here’s what the candidates had to say about their qualifications.

Joshua Francy — Ward 5 Position 9 was asked the same slew of questions and gave a typical set of responses including how long he has lived here, his qualifications for office (he has sat on the council for four years), and touted his accomplishments doing volunteer clean ups around the area. On this he said, “I have spent a decade doing clean-ups in our local watershed as well as voluntarily cleaning up litter from around town,” Francy said. “I have coordinated over 300 clean-ups in our area and thanks to getting a lot of help over the years we have removed tons of garbage, a literal ton of recycling and over a thousand hypodermic needles from our local area, as well as participating in local clean-ups with the Conservation District and Stream Team.”

Francy mentioned his involvement with the River Street encampment from years ago and how it gave him “first-hand experience with the mess that can arise if there isn’t a place for people without a home to go and get help getting into housing.”. Having worked directly at camp for years the local mutual aid network Chehalis River Mutual Aid Network, and their Food Not Bombs volunteers tell us about how these campers watch as all day every day a steady stream of housed individuals drive through their camp and dump their stuff there to avoid having to pay for the dump. This is far and away the largest source of trash down there and without this influx of garbage campers would be able to handle keeping their location clean.

When asked, “What are two issues you aim to work on should you join the city council?” Francy responded that his main issues are improving the health of the residents and the town’s sanitation. To do this he advocated for the installation of the infamous Portland Loo, a 250,000 dollar public restroom that Portland, OR had designed and installed in their town years ago and which members of the unhoused community there say are not worth the money and are often locked anyway. Hopefully Francy can imagine a better solution to this issue than the expensive Portland Loo.

Riley Carter — Ward 5 Position 9 did not respond to the multiple requests by The Daily World so instead they published what he wrote in his submission to the Voter’s Guide.What follows is rambling screed about quasi-libertarian politics mixed with conservative fear mongering talking points about “safety and security” and “cleaning our streets”. This rhetoric mimics the fascist friends he has cozied up to since moving to the area. When asked how his past experience would help him on City Council he replied that he had no elected experience but was excited to bring his real world experiences in everything from the military to construction, plumbing, roofing, HVAC and propane services to the job of City Council member. He even mentions the Facebook hate group “HEY TWEEKERS OF ABERDEEN I WANT MY SHIT BACK!!!!” which he started as a form of community service, describing the group which has posted numerous hateful things about the unhoused in its short life as a “community watch group”.

His dedication to stoking right wing fears based in hatred of “the other” is apparent both in his submission to the Voter’s Guide, but also to those antifascist who have been studying him since he arrived here and started acting like the poor people who live here are taking over “his town”. He has been influential in creating a culture of fear of those who look like they might be unhoused, leading to at least a few incidents of outright harassment of innocent unhoused people whom were assumed to be criminals. The increase of harassment of the unhoused, both on the streets of town, and especially at the Chehalis River Bridge camp has increased in tandem with this group’s hateful posts.

In what was a razor-thin margin during the primaries, Aberdeen City Council’s Ward 6 could have the most interesting General Election race throughout Grays Harbor County. Sydney Renae Newbill received two more votes than her competitor Bessie Jones in August’s primary election.

Here’s what they had to say with just a couple weeks before the Nov. 7 General Election.

Sydney Renae Newbill — Ward 6 Position 12 was energetic and her can-do attitude came through each answer. She seems to think her experiences starting a, event planning business and co-founding Grays Harbor Young Professionals will give her the ability to lead this City. When asked what two issues she would focus on she came up with three, and stressed the interrelated nature of them all.

“Our core three struggles are housing, business development and substance abuse disorder. If we do not take action for housing, we are unable to assist those who are unhoused. If we do not assist those without a home, we are unable to create a better environment in the Downtown Business District. If we do not provide a better support to those with substance abuse disorders, the businesses in our city will not feel supported either. They all must be addressed. There is no addressing one of these struggles without addressing the other. None of (this) can be done without repairing our sense of connection and community, but that is an entirely different conversation.”

Unfortunately the term she is looking for is substance use disorder and calling it substance abuse disorder is a common mistake by those without the necessary experience in using the proper language around these things. She came across as the smoothest and most savvy political figure of this race by far, if elected it will of course be interesting to see how her policies play out. We don’t exactly expect her to take a position against the gentrification efforts currently underway, being a business owner is always going to be a conflict of interest in these matters. Unfortunately some of the most harmful impacts of the war on the poor can be traced back to those with the best of intentions.

Bessie Jones — Ward 6 Position 12, fascist aligned and supported.

Jones did not respond in time to this week’s questions despite multiple efforts by The Daily World.

They used her answers from a previous interview in July. She previously served on the Hoquiam Council from 2007-2009. After moving back here in 2019 she said she knew right away she wanted to be in the decision-making process, so instead of working to open up that process to the community at large, she decided it best to simply try and gain access to that limited pool of decision-makers. Her answers are as typically politic as her motivations. Jones pointed out numerous issues she wants to focus on — public safety, fiscal responsibility/budget, homelessness, clean-up efforts and revitalizing downtown Aberdeen.

These are all euphemisms that mean the eradication of the unhoused and the gentrification of the community. She stressed getting to the core of “the problem” and kept her rhetoric relatively PC compared to some of the  other conservatives and fascists on the council now. Never-the-less she has garnered support from those fascist factions locally and thus it is likely that she supports their agenda in regards to the poor and unhoused. Revitalization was the keyword for her, meaning the same criminalization and forced treatment all the others seem to want regardless of political persuasion.

It is truly not surprising to see this from the type of person who runs for political office, they seek power for a reason. They think they are the best and smartest person to lead all of us regular citizens who could never be trusted with decision-making power of our own. We call on all people of conscious to consider what they do outside of the electoral process that serves to resist the fascist creep, because it will not be stopped at the ballot box.

Aberdeen mayoral candidates discuss why they should win

With  the election day closing in, the two candidates remaining on the ballot for Aberdeen Mayor met local business leaders at a cozy luncheon last week to discuss their business policies, the only such forum held by the two this campaign season. It cost money to attend and was limited to the topic of business and economic development. This, plus the previous interviews with The Daily World, made up the only way anyone in town could get a feel for what these candidates want for this town. So, lets take a look at their statements and see what the difference is between these two.

Doug Orr

When asked “What makes you the best option for Aberdeen mayor? Why?” Orr answered that he brings “change” to the table. Without giving specifics he claimed to have 30 years of bringing “depressed” places out of their rut and getting them to be more economically healthy. He said he had been through 100 towns in which he has seen this transformation occur, an alarming claim if true. But, alas, without specifics all we can do is take him at his word. He decries the “same old politics” so let’s dissect his policies and see what really makes him so different. He attempted to head off the rumors of being a Republican in Democrat clothing by saying, “Why should I be mayor? Because I will never work for a political party,” Orr said. “I’ll only work for what’s best for the city and all of its residents.”

As for experience relevant to the job of Mayor he suggested his two year term at Grays Harbor College should suffice. He served as the student body president, won a bunch of awards, and helped build a trail and a boat. Now he is ready to lead this entire town into economic success in a mere four years. He seems to forget his derisive comments about this City and its residents during the winter of 2021, when the Cold Weather Shelter was located across from his art studio and home. All he could talk about was how much he believes in Aberdeen, even after having considered moving during the experience of having to live near poor people for a few months.

His two main issues are community pride (eyeroll) and “helping” the very mentally ill, addicted unhoused  people he threatened, harassed, and even assaulted during the stint next to the Cold Weather Shelter. The rest of his commitments were cosmetic updates to the downtown area, which likely includes removing the unhoused from the area where they live currently. If you’re sensing a pattern here, you’re right, and it will continue as we look at his competitor:

Debi Ann Pieraccini – Fascist, participant in SOAP hate group

She was also asked, “What makes you the best option for Aberdeen mayor? Why?” she responded with her experiences sitting on City Council and serving as the finance chair for the aforementioned Homeless Response Committee. She also touted her experience as a volunteer for the Aberdeen Police Department. She claimed to have entered her political career thinking she knew everything and was always right and has learned, as a full grown adult, that she needs to listen to other people and work together to accomplish goals. This is an alarming admission from someone charged with making life and death decisions for the citizens of this town. She is also a business owner, contributing to her push to gentrify the area and remove the unhoused from town.it’s easy to work across the table when the table is filled with fascists of blue and red.

For her “public safety” is the buzzword for eradicating the unhoused, choosing the fear mongering “scared public” angle to justify her demands for essentially a labor camp. “Our downtown and all public areas should be safe and clean for all.” she said. This is unfortunately what their supposed mythical solution for a permanent shelter is in reality, that and an excuse to enforce their anti-homeless legislation currently being held up by the fact that the homeless have no meaningful alternative to sleeping outside, given the lack of shelters.

Her big swing has been for forced treatment alongside a concentration camp for the poor. She frames this as getting services to people in a central location. She also has loads of impossible to fund cosmetic changes to make to the City’s downtown to help in the attempt to gentrify the area into a tourist trap, playing off of the legacy of local musician Kurt Cobain, although he hated it here.

Conclusion

So the thread that runs through all of these profiles is that of economic success at the expense of the poorest in town. We can hope that some of the lefter leaning candidates will oppose certain measures if they attempt to oppress those they claim to be serving, such as this “permanent shelter solution”being cooked up by the local fascists. We will not hold our breath though, as anarchists we do not trust the structure they are participating in to provide for the needs of the community, but rather to bend to the whims and desires of investors, real estate interests, and developers. None of this is new, and shouldn’t be a surprise. Yet it feels more important to point out now than ever, the politicians all want the same thing. They are hostile to the poor and working class inherently by their positions. Their power seeking can never liberate the masses, their reforms of today will be the oppressive structures of tomorrow. We need to be working to deconstruct this apparatus of control outside the ballot box, on our own terms. We must turn from being constituents of this system to being destituents of our own power. It is our imperative to become ungovernable, and time is running out.