Leader headlines remind us that the Navy and the need for public poop facilities will not, cannot, be denied.

The Navy came to town to make nice, justifying their need to practice covert invasions along the Salish Sea coastlines and fly ear-splitting war machines over the Olympic Peninsula. Some who are loyal and patriotic give their support.

However, some are skeptical, given that the U.S. military controls over 55,000,000 acres of land on the North American continent and around the world. Some question why all this war play. We and our fellow creatures would stand a better chance at survival if the State Department came here to practice international diplomacy skills.

As for showering and toileting facilities and who should be allowed to have access and where: This is worthy of a community confab with all the responsible agencies present; Jefferson Transit, city, county and port all collect taxes. We, dear people, are their constituents and patrons, and we have needs. For public health and comfort reasons, we all benefit from conveniently located rest stops, essential public investment. However, given the history, the port’s potty solution to pave and light Kah Tai Nature Park is an insult.

All places that allow public access must, because we are intelligent and civilized, provide well-maintained restrooms (not port-a-potties), including some with showering facilities. We take pride in our recreational and tourist culture providing infrastructure for the bikes, the cars, the dogs, the boats and their humans – except for toilets.

By the way, $1 million a mile for roads is one of those memes. The city and county do cooperate in using chip seal on residential roads, seven times less expensive than asphalt.

Whatever! Cars get needed infrastructure.

We humans, though ….

JULIE JAMAN

Port Townsend