Volunteers descended on the Jefferson County Fairgrounds late last week to clean up the site after the removal of a homeless encampment that took over the property after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic more than a year ago.

Still, some holdouts remained, and officials said they have already been served with eviction notices to vacate the premises.

In a parking lot next to the fairgrounds arena, 14 cars were lined up across from the bleachers last Friday.  A small green tractor with a loader bucket dumped loads of discarded items into a very full dumpster. Volunteers from the community and surrounding neighborhood, along with Olympic Community Action Program employees, stacked, raked, hauled, stuffed and tossed items left behind from the encampment’s move to the county's new homeless camping area on Mill Road.

According to Cherish Cronmiller, executive director of OlyCAP, who was onsite last Friday, there were three to four families yet to go, and one resident who refused to leave.

Among those on the way out was Harry Peacock, with his pickup and a small trailer heaped high with a final load of his and his girlfriend Ashley Lay’s belongings.

Their dog, Bebo, waited patiently in the bed of the truck. A plastic T-rex dinosaur stood from a wooden post on the trailer’s tailgate.

DISGRUNTLED

Some weren't pleased with the new open-air shelter, which initially lacked electricity and running water but was still without power Sunday.

“They sugar-coated everything,” Lay said. “It feels like we’re in prison.”

Lay and Peacock had taken up OlyCAP on an offer to move their camper.

When they arrived at the new shelter site, however, the interior of the camper was a disaster. Peacock felt the driver had be reckless moving the pull-behind trailer, stating that dressers he had screwed to the wall of the camper were “ripped” off. The couple spent the first night at their new home in the cab of their small pickup truck.

It was not a good first day at the shelter for other reasons; an encounter between Peacock and another man working at the site escalated, and the police were called.

“The cops know who I am,” Peacock said, insisting that they know he is a respectful man, and recounted that the officer had said the same thing.

Peacock was given a warning to drive more slowly at the shelter property.

A volunteer approached, and asked if the couple wanted trash bags. Peacock said yes; the woman laid a few over the side of the truck bed.

Robin Pangborn, the OlyCAP shelter manager for the Mill Road site, walked up and asked if they needed any assistance. Peacock immediately raised his voice and started making accusations.

“You’re throwing [stuff] away that I didn’t want thrown away,” he said. “My [stuff] didn’t get over there safely.”

Peacock claimed he was told he would have “weeks” to remove his personal items from the fairgrounds.

According to an agreement between the fairgrounds and OlyCAP, however, all residents were told to vacate entirety by Oct. 1 or risk being trespassed as squatters.

The couple said the new shelter’s rules were restrictive, and they were disgruntled about not having power, running water, or showers when they arrived.

Peacock said he would probably demolish the camper and they would head out on the road with their truck and the same small trailer that sat packed with belongings. 

THE BIGGER PICTURE

“Some of these folks, this is their life,” Cronmiller said, her golden retriever “Penny” straining at her leash.

She noted that many of the fairgrounds residents have been housed before with OlyCAP. The impacts of trauma, substance abuse, and mental illness are certainly impactful, adding that the people lagging behind at the fairgrounds are some of the most troubled.

“Some of these people I think have gone crazy,” said fairgrounds neighbor Hendrik Taatgen. “I really feel for them.”

He added that the county, in particular County Commissioner Greg Brotherton, and OlyCAP have gone above and beyond for the fairgrounds campers.

“No other counties are doing anything,” he said.

Taatgen said that his wife has had encounters with a fairgrounds camper who receives constant complaints for his behavior and has multiple restraining orders, but in general Taatgen felt most sympathetic for the neighborhood next to the fairgrounds.

Until a panel fence was erected months after the homeless camp was established, campers at the fairgrounds were parked a stone’s throw from nearby homes, and Taatgen feels they got the worst of it.

A FINAL NOTICE

As of Sunday, Oct. 3, Cronmiller posted an update on social media sharing the current situation at the fairgrounds. At the time, three to four families remained on-site.

“They believe they have a legal right to remain,” she wrote. “They have avoided our staff. They refuse to engage. My understanding is that the [fairgrounds] has started trespass process.”

Another cleanup was scheduled to take place Monday, Cronmiller added.

Sue McIntire, a trustee and treasurer for the fairgrounds, said fairgrounds staff and volunteers have been part of the cleanup effort. They provided a tractor and operator, and the on-site dumpster.

McIntire said earlier in the week that the fairgrounds had handed out a “a couple of seven-day notices” to stragglers, one on Friday, and two on Monday.

After that grace period, those who remain will be trespassed. 

Including the Peter’s Place residents in Port Hadlock, the open air shelter, tentatively called Caswell-Brown Village, is currently capped at 40 occupants.