Sunday
Sounders give chase
Don’t put away the rain gear quite yet C10
Team has younger roster but question marks B1
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS March 6, 2016 | $1.50
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Report: Air generally good here
Selling at 78 speed
Specialists expect data to show little pollution saturation study in one county at a time.
BY CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
CHARLIE BERMANT/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Richard Williams of Port Angeles, right, was one of more than 250 people looking for vinyl bargains at the inaugural Port Townsend Record Show on Saturday at the American Legion Hal in Port Townsend.
Murder case’s appeal spurs prosecutor hiring represent the county during Michael J. Pierce’s appeal of his November 2014 murder conviction. Jeremy Morris, a Port Orchard private practice attorney who previously directed the Kitsap County prosecuting attorney’s BY CHARLIE BERMANT appellate division, will be responPENINSULA DAILY NEWS sible for filing briefs and making necessary court appearances PORT TOWNSEND — Jef- during the appeal, which is to ferson County is expected to hire take place before the state Court a special deputy prosecutor to of Appeals Division II in Tacoma.
Pierce looking to overturn 2014 conviction
Currently, the only scheduled event for the case is an April 5 due date for the prosecutor’s brief. After that, the appeals attorney will have 30 days to respond. The approval of Morris’ $12,000 contract is part of the consent agenda for the Jefferson County Board of Commissioners’ meeting at 9 a.m. Monday at the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St. TURN
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PIERCE/A7
PORT TOWNSEND — The data collected from a yearlong air quality test in Jefferson County has yet to be analyzed but is expected to conclude that the local atmosphere does not contain a significant amount of pollution. “It was not our intent to measure the areas with the worst pollution,” said Odelle Hadley, a senior air monitoring specialist working for the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency (ORCAA), which conducted the tests. “We wanted to take a reading of the entire region, taking into account wind speed and direction, to determine an average.” Hadley said the air quality on the North Olympic Peninsula “is generally really good.” Hadley said continuous monitoring of local ambient air helps the agency promote clean air through its jurisdiction, which includes Jefferson, Clallam, Thurston, Mason, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties.
To present results Hadley will present the results of the Jefferson County Saturation Study at 2:30 p.m. March 26 at the Cotton Building, 607 Water St. The free event will begin with Hadley’s presentation, followed by a question-and-answer period. Due to costs, ORCAA runs the
Clallam County study The Clallam County Saturation Study was concluded in 2014 and the Jefferson County study concluded in 2015. The equipment is now deployed in Thurston County. The tests measure particulate matter in terms of milligrams per cubic feet of the atmosphere, with the number reflecting the weight of the particulate were it to be removed from the air. The dangerous level is an annual average of 12.5 milligrams per cubic foot, or a 24-hour average exceeding 35 milligrams per cubic foot. The combined annual average from the four Jefferson County stations was 5.8 milligrams per cubic foot. The test took place between May 2014 and May 2015, with the data collected at four Port Townsend-area locations. ORCAA has installed a permanent air quality monitor at Blue Heron Middle School that was not part of the study — although during the test, an additional monitor was installed there. The other three locations were Jefferson County Mental Health, the East Jefferson Fire-Rescue station on Jacob Miller Road and in Chimacum. TURN
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AIR/A7
Cuts, patients squeezing health agencies Psychiatric bed shortage causing financial problems for provider BY ROB OLLIKAINEN PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — A combination of Medicaid cuts, expanded health care access and a statewide shortage of psychiatric beds is causing financial anxiety for the largest mental health services provider on the North Olympic Peninsula. Peninsula Behavioral Health (PBH), which serves about 3,000 Clallam County residents in the Port Angeles and Sequim areas, has received more than $1 million
in unanticipated hospital bills since July 1, agency officials said. The private, not-for-profit mental health and chemical dependency treatment organization has an annual operating budget of about $7 million. “Statewide, there’s a huge upswing in the number of hospitalizations, and that’s been true here as well,” said Wendy Sisk, PBH clinical director. “We haven’t hit the level that some communities have in terms
of the upswing, but it’s a problem statewide that we’re seeing increases in psychiatric hospitalizations.” PBH Development Coordinator Rebekah Miller said other agencies in the region are facing the same challenges as PBH. “It’s statewide,” Miller said. “The state has shifted all of the risk to the community mental health centers.”
Jefferson Healthcare Jefferson Healthcare is working on a plan to create a mental health service facility at the hospital in Port Townsend. The hospital received a $1.5
million grant from the state Department of Commerce for such a facility. Jefferson Mental Health Services will play a significant role in the development Sisk of the new service at the Port Townsend hospital, Adam Marquis, executive director of Jefferson Mental Health Services, and Jefferson Healthcare CEO Mike Glenn have said. Directors of Port Townsend’s Jefferson Mental Health Services and Forks’ West End Outreach
Services were not immediately available for comment Friday.
Increased access Previously undiagnosed mental health conditions are now being identified as more people have access to health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act, Sisk said. PBH has added 800 new clients since health care expansion, yet Medicaid slashed its funding by 16 percent last July. “We’re looking at another 7 percent [cut] coming in April, even though our costs are going through the roof,” Sisk said. TURN
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FUNDING/A7
INSIDE TODAY’S PENINSULA DAILY NEWS 100th year, 55th issue — 5 sections, 58 pages
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