Grace City Church Pastor, Jail Chaplain Calls For Supporters to Assemble to Oppose Syringe Services Program
One attendee at the joint county commissioners meeting on Aug. 15 called it 'an interrogation' rather than an information-gathering session
On August 15, Grace City Church pastor and Chelan County Regional Jail Chaplain Chris Neuberger took to Facebook to call for supporters to attend a joint Chelan Douglas Board of County Commissioners meeting that was billed as an “information-gathering session” but turned into “an interrogation,” according to Deb Miller, who attended virtually
The topic was a syringe services program (SSP) the YWCA NCW and Thriving Together NCW are planning to put into place using funds provided by Thriving Together, Amerigroup and Carelon.
A crowd of more than 30 packed into the small hearing room at 400 Douglas Street in Wenatchee where the commissioners meet. Some attendees shouted down speakers who had been summoned by the two-county board to explain what an SSP is and why their organizations are looking into launching the pilot program.
The executive directors of YWCA NCW and Thriving Together NCW, Rachel Todd and John Schapman, spoke first. They explained what roles their organizations play in the community and how harm reduction tools, like Narcan, Recovery Coach Programs, and SSPs, are important and successful public health strategies.
But Douglas County Commissioner Kyle Steinburg was having none of it. He played to his audience while asserting that small rural towns like East Wenatchee and Wenatchee will become dens of iniquity with needles strewn about, like Seattle and Portland, if an SSP is implemented in the region.
“I think a lot of people here today, as well as myself, are really concerned with the needle exchange,” he said. “So I want to make a statement in the form of a question, and then follow that up with a question.”
He then made a reference to the 1989 baseball film “Field of Dreams” and quoted the most famous line: “If you build it, they will come.”
He warned of creating an “environment that is welcoming to outside addicts” and said if we provide SSP services “at some point it’s going to be overwhelming and we’re going to be worse off than we are today.”
Okanogan County has been providing SSP services since 2006. According to their website, they have “exchanged thousands of needles” since that program started. In Grant County, Thriving Together NCW already operates an SSP in partnership with the Grant County Health District. Schapman said officials in both those counties say those programs have been successful, and do not link any increases in crime or homelessness to them.
“I would encourage us to look at the rural counties that are operating SSP programs and not necessarily look at the large cities,” he said. “I’m not advocating that we ever become like Seattle.”
Todd said there is an “overwhelming amount of research and data and studies” that show SSPs do not lead to an increase in crime, homelessness, and addiction in communities. In fact, they help combat those things, she said.
At that point she was heckled and could not continue speaking until board chairman and Chelan County Commissioner Kevin Overbay asked the crowd to let her finish.
You can watch and listen to that entire portion of the meeting below.
What everyone could agree on is that urban communities and rural communities are different, and understudied in terms of official data collection.
And that was the point chairman Overbay made before asking Dr. Julie Rickard, a psychologist and the founder of the Suicide Prevention Coalition in NCW, why we should be concerned with implementing an SSP while there’s other infrastructure regarding recovery and public health that also need to be put in place.
“Because it’s happening already,” she said. “What’s already happening is these people, the very people you’re not wanting to serve are already in our jails or they’re already taking up bed space in the ER.”
Whether the six commissioners sign off on this pilot program doesn’t actually matter, since it will not be implemented using any city, county or state funds. The $150,000 needed to put it into place have been pledged by Thriving Together NCW, Amerigroup and Carelon. The program would be managed by the YWCA, which receives funds for its homeless shelter from Federal dollars doled out by the county commissioners.
And Steinburg warned that they might turn off that tap if Todd and her organization proceed with implementing an SSP in the area.
“I don’t want to seem punitive when it comes around to funding cycles for other things, but I wanted you to have all the information on your plate when you make a decision whether to do this or not,” he said.
Both Todd and Rickard took the comment as a threat, as did Deb Miller, who attended the meeting virtually. She said she was upset with what seemed like an “interrogation” that left her and others wondering if they just attended a hearing or an informational-gathering session.
“With an overflowing room full of project opposing voices taking up space in the chambers, I am upset with the apparent power differential I witnessed virtually. At one point it even seemed there was an assumption among the joint commission that permission is required by them for this project, which it is not. I was deeply concerned to also hear a veiled threat to pull future county funding for other programs at the project lead organization if this project proceeds,” she wrote.
You can read Miller’s full letter here.
At the end of the meeting the commissioners opened it up for public comment and a few notable rightwing activists were in attendance to make their voices heard including John Smith, controversial pastor of the Evergreen Baptist Church and columnist for the Cashmere Daily Record, retired general Dick Black, GCC member and father of Wenatchee School Board member Katherine Thomas, and Covid-19 conspiracy theorist and Chelan Douglas Health District Board member Bill Sullivan.
You can watch the entire public comment section of the meeting below.
I reached out to the commissioners with questions after I watched the meeting, which I sent to Chelan County Public Information Officer Jill FitzSimmons.
DB: “During the meeting comments were made to the effect that if the NCW YWCA, which receives public funding to combat homelessness, was to administrate a needle exchange program then commissioners might vote to pull that organization's funding. Is the commissioners' plan to punish the homeless population if the YWCA takes on a needle exchange program? Do the commissioners understand that not everyone who is unhoused is an addict? If the commissioners were to follow through on that threat, do they have an organization in mind that might be able to fill the YWCA's shoes?”
JF: “I believe you are referring to comments made by a Douglas County commissioner. Chelan County commissioners, who oversee the homeless housing grant program for the two counties, made no such comments.”
Since FitzSimmons doesn’t speak for the Douglas County Commissioners and there seems to be no counterpart for her at Douglas County, I sent all six commissioners that question pus another specifically for Commissioner Steinburg:
“Can you point to any data or research study that correlates the launch of a needle exchange program to an increase in the homeless population, number of known addicts or crime rates in any US city? You mentioned the film “Field of Dreams” and said “if you build it they will come” but do you have any proof these programs actually attract addicts, criminals, the homeless, etc., etc., etc.?,” I wrote the day after the meeting.
As of Aug. 20 I have received no response from Steinburg, or any other commissioner.
Why Is The GCC Connection Ignored?
It’s unclear why Pastor Neuberger’s call to assemble local rightwing activists to attend the meeting and overwhelm the proceedings with the encouragement and direction of Commissioner Steinburg didn’t make it into any other local media coverage, but it’s not a surprise.
After I mentioned GCC after Pastor Carey McPherson organized a similar ambush of a Wenatchee School Board meeting on my show on NCWlife, I was told by station manager Eric Grandstrom that GCC is totally off limits and if I covered anything related to them that, “I could lose my job.” He and then news director Cal FitzSimmons (Jill’s husband) seemed genuinely afraid of what any further mention of GCC on my show could bring. This only fanned the flame of my curiosity regarding the organization and its influence in the community.
The only thing regarding GCC any local media outlet seems to be able to cover is the ongoing saga of a noise complaint, which for some reason arrests the attention of just about every outlet in town.
Look For An Upcoming Supporting Subscriber Post Soon
The Chelan Douglas County rightwing social scene has been particularly active this week, and I didn’t have the space here for a recap of another interesting story that was completely ignored by the local media establishment.
That was the fact that Christian Nationalist leader and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was in Wenatchee to speak at a $150-a-plate dinner at the Wenatchee Convention Center this week.
There were some surprising, and some not-so-surprising, guests in the room and I will highlight that event in an upcoming exclusive post soon, so look for that in your inbox.
And it just keeps building. Infiltrate the school boards, commissioners, other public officers. Intimidate, inhibit free speech. Hate to break it to you Commissioner Steinburg but we already have a den of iniquity here with needles strewn about. We have a significant cartel drug trade here. The YWCA should definitely consider his comment about funding a direct threat! This coming from the commissioner who "patroled" Wenatchee during the Black Lives Matter protest armed with an AK-47. I can see him for exactly who he is...
I truly hope the YWCA et all proceeds with their plan to distribute clean needles and dispose of used. I believe the primary purpose is to stop the spread of disease. Is that not a good thing?
People need to wake up and stand up! Otherwise the extreme right, white nationalist "christians" will take over and make ALL the decisons for the rest of us!
And somebody needs to run against Kyle Steinburg and make some noise about our local media not covering ALL the news of interest!
I’m just too livid right now to think straight.