Kris Halterman hosts a weekly radio program on KGMI called Saturday Morning Live.
On March 2nd, 2013, Ms. Halterman's program included a segment with local farmer and county Planning Commissioner Ben Elenbaas and his wife Jessica. I heard this exchange on that program on the matter of Slaughterhouses in the County...
Halterman: When this [slaughterhouse ordinance] first came up in the County Council...
it seemed like it was sort of going to be a slam dunk...
then... somebody threw a big fat timber in the road...
and I know, Jessica [Mrs. Elenbaas] you wanted to talk about that...
there seems to be just a couple of...
entities that are really hammering this
and creating what could be a very viable opportunity
and limiting it to the point where it probably wouldn't happen anyway
even if they approve it..
Ben Elenbaas: It seems like... as this came through...
Planning staff seemed to support it...
I know it had some support through the Planning Commission. And then...
it came in front of the Council and it started to change...
support seemed to dwindle and it seemed...
to Jessica and I that...
there was somewhat of a misunderstanding of what is the size and scale of Whatcom County agriculture, so...
[crosstalk]
Halterman: ...but... they're [County Council] trying to accommodate this now
because they're under the threat of a lawsuit from Futurewise and Friends of Whatcom County...
am I correct?
Ben Elenbaas: ...it seems to be that way...
[crosstalk]
Halterman: ...Let's be straight here... you know... that's what I'm here for...
I want to tell people the truth...
if the County is... you know...
bending over because somebody's threatening a suit on a perfectly legal procedure and enterprise... let's admit what it is...
and... scene.
I shall begin by calling Bravo Sierra on Ms. Halterman on "they're under the threat of a lawsuit from Futurewise and Friends of Whatcom County... am I correct?"
If, by "correct", you mean "not bothering to check your facts before you accuse someone of threatening a lawsuit", then sure... you are correct.
But if, by "correct", you mean "having full command of the facts", then... no... not so much with the correct.
While I do believe that Friends of Whatcom may have made some comments that could be interpreted as a threat of legal action, it is simply inaccurate to toss Futurewise into this just because that organization is such a convenient lightning rod in local politics.
Futurewise is not, to the best of my knowledge, a participant in the opposition to the pending slaughterhouse ordinance. And my knowledge of Futurewise actitivity is based on bothering to ask the director of Futurewise Whatcom... Kate Blystone... if Futurewise has taken any such action. She told me they have not. Which is the same thing that she would have told Ms. Halterman had Ms. Halterman bothered to ask.
In fact, Futurewise Whatcom officially supports slaughterhouses as an accessory or conditional use in the ag zone. Another fact that Ms. Halterman would have known, had she bothered to try and find it.
Futurewise gets plenty of criticism for positions and actions they are actually taking. They do not need to be criticized for things they aren't doing... let alone for positions that they have not taken.
Moving on to Ben Elenbaas... I call Bravo Sierra on "Planning staff seemed to support it... I know it had some support through the Planning Commission. And then... it came in front of the Council and it started to change..."
Commissioner Elenbaas makes it sound like the Planning Department presented a proposal on slaughterhouses and that this original proposal enjoyed some general consensus with both the Planning Department and the Planning Commission... the Commission made perhaps a few modest changes... and then the Council came and made substantive changes.
Bravo Sierra.
Actually, it was the Planning Commission that made substantial changes to what began as a relatively moderate proposal on slaughterhouses in the ag zone for the purpose of allowing one guy to open a slaughterhouse to support his restaurant.
Then the Planning Commission went all "property rights Braveheart" and aggressively expanded the scope and impact of the proposal and then sent this moist (and hastily digested) haggis fart of a proposed ordinance to the Council.
 |
| "They may take our lives... but they will never take... our HAGGIS!!! |
It was then that members of the public saw the language... and it was then that several members of the public attended the public hearing before the Council and raised significant concerns about the hot mess that the Planning Commission made of this entire issue.
I further call Bravo Sierra down on Ms. Halterman on "I want to tell people the truth...
if the County is... you know... bending over because somebody's threatening a suit on a perfectly legal procedure and enterprise... let's admit what it is..."
Let's begin with that whole desire to tell people the truth.
I'm all for that.
However, in order to present the truth, one must first have command of the facts... and as we have already established... Ms. Halterman's command of the facts is somewhat less than firm. A sincere belief is a poor proxy for an actual fact, and it is important to be able to tell the difference.
On the matter of a so-called "perfectly legal procedure and enterprise"... the fact remains (and to the degree it is a fact, it is also true) that... right now... establishing a slaughterhouse on zoned ag-land is not a perfectly legal procedure. It is currently prohibited, and prohibited explicitly.
This is not some sort of weird-ass stance taken by Whatcom County. It's not as if everywhere else it is fine to build slaughterhouses on ag-land as a matter of routine, and that in Whatcom County we have some sort of stick up our ass about the matter.
Let's admit what slaughterhouses are...
...they are things that stink all to be damned.
Even if they are relatively small... even in the 21st Century... even with all of the technological advances in animal husbandry that the ag industry and the ag community can bring to bear.
If you build a slaughterhouse on your property, you will be affecting the value of neighboring property. And you will not be affecting your neighbor for the better, either. The presence of a slaughterhouse has a consistent history of causing property values in the area to plummet.
Because slaughterhouses stink all to be damned. Even in Whatcom County.
Finally, I find Ms. Halterman and Commissioner Elenbaas to have demonstrated poor judgment in presenting their sincere and deeply held beliefs as if they were facts into a hot microphone which was broadcasting these sincerely held and factually unsupported beliefs all over the County live.
The public declaration that Futurewise made a threat to sue the County on the slaughterhouse ordinance may not be According to Hoyle slander, but it does seem to qualify for a standing invitation to the Slander, Libel and Defamation Annual Family Picnic and Spud Gun Competition.
'Nerd Out.
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