Today's program covers the gamut of community safety by looking at how the enforcement of law needs to be administered to be effective 'and' the safety of living in rural areas when our public lands are managed to keep them healthy and available as a valued, renewable resource.

Part 1: Host Kris Halterman interviews Bellingham City Councilmember, Gene Knutson, on the proposal to establish an "unarmed" 911 Task Force. Exactly why is the Bellingham City Council considering this and what changes would it bring to the safety of Bellingham residents and businesses?

From the Bellingham Herald article dated September 20, 2020

Councilmember Michael Lilliquist said at Monday’s meeting that the community is sending the wrong people to help with behavioral health calls and this program will address that problem. Lilliquist said the program ties into the work being done over the past several years to decriminalize behavioral health issues but is also a more immediate response to calls to re-imagine and redirect resources related to community safety.

Part 2: Host Kris Halterman will interview Sue Kuehl Pederson, candidate for Public Lands Commissioner. Over the past decade or more, Washington State has experienced a number of wildfires that have caused severe economic and personal losses of life and property to its residents. What would Ms. Kuehl Pederson change if elected to the office of PLC?

From the website "Citizens for Sue" 

Sue has sought to understand the true relationship between her beloved salmon and our extensive hydropower system, and she believes they can successfully coexist. More broadly, Kuehl Pederson said, “In Washington we deserve good resource management and a keen understanding of the balance needed between the natural world and humanity.”