All well and good to ban the homeless from camping on county lands, but there is a donut hole right here in the middle of Centralia.
The land bordered by the Lewis Street boat launch, the Skookumchuck River, the Interstate 5 freeway and Centralia itself is all Department of Fish and Wildlife Fish land, right in the middle of this town.
This would be a great park, a continuation of Fort Borst Park. It has trails and is bicycle accessible. This summer, a motor home from Oregon and large tents appeared with guard dogs and a generator, and some very unfriendly people who were more likely to be doing prostitution and drug dealing, leaving at least two truck loads of trash behind.
If this city is serious about stopping crime, wouldn't it make sense to close the donut hole, and let the Centralia police keep order on that land?
Or do the officials in charge want to study and task force the whole mess to death, leaving themselves open to suspicion of being on the take?
It's our land, not the trashy bums’. Help make our land safe for berry picking, fishing and seeing deer, possums, squirrels, blue herons and otters.
Close the donut hole now.
Jon Coulter
Centralia
