Port Townsend Free Press

THE $100 HAMBURGER photo by Kara Kellogg Pilots fly from other airports and stop in for a delicious hamburger at the Spruce Goose cafe located at the Jefferson County International Airport.  The burger and fries may come to only $15, but when it's all said and done with fuel costs and other expenses, that's one delicious $100 hamburger!  Yum and fly right!

Moon Over Port Townsend by Scott Hogenson The Battle of the Sexes has reached new depths of confusion. Not a day passes without some person being accused by some other person of some form of unseemly behavior, invariably linked to sex or something like sex. Some cases are very serious, like the rape charges against Bill Cosby and former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Others may involve retaliation against an accuser, as was alleged by a staff member of California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, who is accused of firing a male aide for refusing to play spin the bottle with her.  Most of what we read about involves people in positions of power exploiting those with no real means of fighting back. This power dynamic makes such harassment far more pernicious, but it can also distract us from other misconduct that does not involve famous, powerful people. Some complaints ring true and terrible while others suggest false outrage. In some instances, what used to b

ABOUT IPA, AND INTRODUCING OUR FIRST COLUMNIST We rate everything from Port Townsend Brewing as quaffable, top-notch suds.   That is our considered position on local beer and we’re sticking to it.   So much for a beer tasting review.  This is really about the last group of dancers in the Rhody Festival Parade.  I was told they call themselves The IPA.   Not India Pale Ale.   No, they are “ The Intergalactic P**sy Alliance. ” You’d know how to fill in the missing letters if you had seen them.   A group of women in very short skirts, some not reaching their thighs so that their underwear was out in the open.   Their dance was nothing more than the thrusting of pelvises at the crowd.   They were nondiscriminatory:   men, women and children alike got the treatment. The woman gyrating directly in front of me wore lacy undies and franticly pushed her pubic area at nearby onlookers.   Little was left to the imagination.   She appeared determined to make sure we

CHERRY STREET "AFFORDABLE" HOUSING TO COST MORE THAN $2 MILLION $401 per square foot......$167,196 per bedroom......$250,794 per apartment......and counting...... The City of Port Townsend is financing some of the most expensive residential construction in Jefferson County in the name of “affordable” housing.   Costs have grown far above early estimates and now a hidden subsidy has pushed the projected price of the Cherry Street project over $2 million.   The mid-Twentieth Century building was purchased in Victoria, B.C., barged across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, hauled through a city that had stopped traffic and taken down utility lines, and settled on stacks of wood on May 10, 2017.  This is what it looks like more than a year later.  It remains unoccupied and without a foundation. Here are some views inside: Cherry Street living area (from Homeward Bound FB page) Cherry Street kitchen (from Homeward Bound FB page) Cherry Stre

INTRODUCING THE PORT TOWNSEND FREE PRESS What is it?      More than a blog.   The PT Free Press will be a source for original reporting, investigation, and commentary. Any opinion pieces will be labeled “Editorial” or “Commentary.”   Reporting will rely heavily on documents and images when available.   No “unnamed sources” will ever be mentioned on this site.   Whenever possible, stories will link to sources upon which statements of fact are based.   Our local newspapers are stretched far too thin to cover all the news that matters to the people of Jefferson County.   Often decisions of the Port Townsend City Council and the Jefferson County Commission are not covered at all, and then, rarely in depth.   Our local newspapers are not staffed and funded to provide investigative reporting that takes time to develop. We live in a diverse community.   Yet not all our stories are being told.   Many important issues go unreported because there are just n