With each issue of the South Whidbey Record that carries articles regarding the County vs, Emerson issue, it is becoming obvious the matter is well orchestrated by Island County leadership, and other persons. The journalistic thrust is scripted by persons well versed in county regulations, and is aided by the regimes effort to destroy the Emersons by means fair or foul.

Is the recent pay raise for one of the named parties in the lawsuit a form of payback for services rendered? With recent budget woes due to mismanagement and lack of foresight by the commissioners, are pay raises justifiable? Are the fines being levied against the Emersons a way of extracting monies to “balance the budget”? Has the county made any effort to mediate this matter of non-permitted work by the Emersons? Obviously not!

If Kelly Emerson were a Democrat the whole matter would have been glossed over, but she had the temerity to challenge the status quo. Now she faces the vicious, smarmy “get even” behavior of the county leadership. I recall one of the current commissioners was embroiled in a dispute when she was an employee. After her dismissal she ran for the office she now holds.

A reader must ask the question “Is there a vendetta in motion?” With Judge Hancocks ruling that “any county employee can go onto private property while performing their job,” it opens the floodgates for the “Enforcer” (Smacks of Nazi Germany), to find a regulation John Doe is violating, and then throw the book at him.

Mr. and Mrs. Private Property owner, watch out! You may be next in the county’s gun sights to be fined or harassed? You sell products at the farmers market? You are running a commercial operation. Your roadside stand where you sell a few flowers, did you get a permit? The petty regulations Island County has on the books, are a means of “extortion” dressed up as “fees, or fines”! After all, “we must balance the budget in every way we can!”

Beware the Enforcer!

Robert Turner
Clinton