The brouhaha currently occurring regarding separation of oversight of the county jail from the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) is somewhat laughable — a sort of modern day ‘tempest in a teapot.’ According to numbers reported in the latest issue of the Chinook Observer, only 1.7% of the total number of Pacific County voters who cast votes in the 2022 sheriff’s race bothered to show up for a number of town halls the sheriff organized throughout the county, which represented just 3% of his voters.

When 97% of an elected official’s own supporters (voters) aren’t riled up enough to get involved in a major decision like this one — just how bad (wrong) can it be? Numbers don’t lie in these situations. Especially the fact that Sheriff Garcia’s PCSO’s 2023-2024 budgets ranged a good $1 million per year more than his predecessor’s for the immediate previous years. What did we get for that extra $1 million/year for two years that haven’t yet been reported?

Brett Malin’s Guest Column in the Jan. 1 issue of the Observer said it best: “Jail decision wasn’t a conspiracy against sheriff.” It was clearly pointed out that the PCSO is not being defunded. And, the new Corrections Department’s operations will be overseen by our elected county commissioners. This is a process which has already occurred in several Washington counties and will continue to do so in years to come. I commend him for his excellent analysis of this somewhat complex issue.

MICHAEL SPENCER

Raymond