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County commissioners
want court to determine Citizen Review Online Clallam County, WA - Aug. 1, 2001 - In our last issue, we reported that an initiative to repeal the Critical Areas Code - Initiative No. 6 - has received more than sufficient signatures to go on the ballot in November. When the signatures were presented to the Clallam County Commissioners by Patty Rosand on behalf of county auditor Cathleen McKeown, she read a statement that the auditor's office had counted and validated the signatures. The next step in the process was to be a public hearing, which the county commissioners were to set within the next Bob Forde, one of the representatives of a group of private citizens commonly known as the "committee to repeal the Critical Areas Code" was served with court papers to defend the initiative to repeal the Clallam County Critical Areas Code, which successfully obtained sufficient signatures to go on the ballot in November. See related story. Two county commissioners have asked that the court intervene, and wants the court to state that the initiative power of the people is ineffective against the county ordinance. Close to 4,000 citizens signed the petition to place the initiative to repeal the ordinance on the ballot. Angry citizens spoke before the commissioners at a meeting two weeks ago when Commissioner Steve Tharinger decided he wanted to turn the matter over to the courts. "The commissioners' action was a blatant disregard of the Home Rule Charter," said Forde. Physician and activist John Bennett from Sequim called the board's action "I hold this board in contempt...and will work diligently to remove them from office." The furor resonates across the county as the action of two of the three-member board of commissioners went against the instructions of Deputy Chief Civil Prosecutor Chris Melly, who when asked, recommended that the board proceed with the next called-for step in the county charter, which was a public hearing. The apparent side-stepping action of the two county commissioners to send the measure to the superior court for a declaratory judgment does not stay the election, per the county code. What it does do is eat up the clock until mid or late September - perhaps even October - to effectively prevent the measure from being voted on by the citizenry. In an interview, Forde said that he would have to stand "pro se" in front of the court, due to lack of funds to hire an attorney. He stated "anyone who wants to contribute to a legal defense fund can do so by sending a check to P. O. Box 3457, Sequim, WA 98382." Forde's phone number is (360) 681-6955 at work; (360) 681-3023 at home.
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