May 21, 2023 Dena Jensen
In this post you will find the content of the meeting summaries of the Whatcom County Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force that are currently available so far for 2023. This is a period when the focus of the Task Force has more prominently centered on the intersection of their work with Whatcom County’s Justice Project.
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May 4, 2023 Dena Jensen
The quote on this post was part of a brief comment given by our current Whatcom County Executive near the end of a March 15, 2023 discussion about adopting public comment guidelines for the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force (IPRTF) a couple of months ago.
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May 1, 2023 Dena Jensen
Over the next few months, our community will have a more intensive opportunity to review and speak out about the process (and outcome of that process) by which Whatcom County Council has come to accept recommendations, and potentially propose funding, for a new jail along with mental and behavioral health services related to incarceration and reducing and preventing incarceration.
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April 24, 2023 Dena Jensen
Here’s something to be aware of. The current Whatcom County Undersheriff, Doug Chadwick, who also is one of the candidates running to replace Bill Elfo as Sheriff in the November 2023 election, indicated that he wants to ensure that the County will be able to double the size of a proposed new jail in the years ahead and favors building on a property that would accommodate the size of a horizontal design, i.e. the property purchased for a jail in Ferndale years ago.
Continue readingApril 20, 2023 Dena Jensen
April 20, 2023 Dena Jensen
On April 10, 2023, five out of seven members of the Bellingham City Council voted to approve an ordinance making it illegal to publicly use controlled substances in their city. Council Members took the action after amending the original ordinance which had been presented by Mayor Seth Fleetwood about a month earlier. Enforcement will guarantee that some people living outside will be exposed to increased scrutiny and pursuit by the Bellingham Police Department.
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April 14, 2023 Dena Jensen
I’ll try to give a rough overview of the Bellingham City Council Members’ discussion on Monday, April 10, 2023 in their Public Health, Safety, and Justice Committee meeting about potentially proceeding forward to approve their ordinance to make public use of controlled substances a crime. (I haven’t gotten a chance yet to listen to the brief review of community courts which was the second item on their agenda).
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April 13, 2023 Dena Jensen
For some folks who may have missed the public comment of the Executive Director for Northwest Youth Services, Jason McGill, at Monday’s 4/10/23 Bellingham City Council meeting, I am posting it here. It was the second to the last comment in a nearly two hour public comment session that night. It was fitting to have his comment and one from a student and renter who is on rental assistance from Northwest Youth Services close it out.
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April 3, 2023 Dena Jensen
In the email and graphic in this post there is a little more info related to Bellingham elected officials moving forward an ordinance to make public drug use illegal and considering related services. I sent the email to make sure elected officials had this information and to address some items from a response that one official had sent to a previous email about the ordinance which I had sent.
Continue readingMarch 31, 2023 Dena Jensen
On Monday night March 27, 2023, Bellingham City Council voted to advance (first and second reading) “An Ordinance Prohibiting the Use of Controlled Substances in Public Places” toward approval by a vote of 5-2. The earliest final vote on the ordinance will not be until the next regular Council meeting in two weeks on April 10, 2023. If approved on that date, the ordinance would go into effect two weeks later.
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March 27, 2023 Glenn Stewart
“First thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers!” When “Dick the Butcher” bellowed his famous declaration in Henry VI 400-years ago, Shakespeare was showcasing the fascist playbook. “Butcher” is apropos, as “Dick” was a terrible, brutish man; a murderer. His partner- in-crime is Jack Cade, who’s fixated on placing himself on King Henry’s throne by any means necessary. In these men, Shakespeare concocts the most cunning, anti-intellectual characters ever to appear in his, and possibly anyone else’s work.
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noisy waters northwest 
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