Claudia Sanchez
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General info
Kitsap County is generally considered to be a Democratic area. In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 54.89% of the vote to Republican John McCain's 42.63%.[11]
On mainland Kitsap County, politics are dominated by working-class Bremerton, which casts moderate margins for Democratic candidates. However, population shifts have resulted in Bremerton playing less of a role in politics, and unincorporated Kitsap County is a mix of battleground areas and staunchly Republican areas. Non-Bremerton parts of incorporated mainland Kitsap County vary, with Silverdale being marginally Republican, Poulsbo somewhat Democratic, and Port Orchard having been an exact tie in the 2004 election.
Democrats normally carry the Indian reservations of the area by wide margins; the area around Little Boston (part of the S'Klallam Indian Reservation) regularly gives Democratic candidates landslides of 10-to-1. The heavily white Port Madison Indian Reservation (across from Bainbridge Island) also gives Democrats victories of upwards of 2-to-1.
Democratic legislative electoral control of Kitsap County is partly due to Bainbridge Island, which casts a significant number of votes and is almost 3-to-1 Democratic. Bainbridge Island's growth and Democratic trend offsets population losses of Bremerton, generally resulting in the county as a whole being stable but very close.
The Kitsap County Auditor Website has detailed election results from 1998 to the present. County area political trends can be tracked by analyzing the election precinct data.
Register to Vote
Want to run for Office and get Elected?
List of Elected Officials by District
Districts and Maps
Request an Early or Email Ballot
Voters may request email ballot on a one-time basis. Military and overseas voters may request email ballots on an ongoing-basis.
Future Election Dates
A list of future election dates and deadlines to submit measures.
Ballot Drop Locations
Maps and address to all ballot drops in Kitsap County.
Voting Tips and Reminders
Important reminders that will help you be an informed voter!
Federal Branches of Government
Executive Branch
Legislative Branch
Judicial Branch
State of Washington Branches of Government
The Washington State Constitution describes the branches of Washington State Government. Like all states, Washington has three branches modeled after the federal government: executive, legislative, and judicial.
- Laws and Agency Rules
- Washington State Constitution
- Washington State Government Organization Chart (pdf)
Executive
Includes the Governor and other elected state officials. These individuals implement the laws passed by the Legislature. The Governor has the power to appoint members of the Judicial branch. Further, bills passed by the Legislature are sent to the Governor to be signed or vetoed.
Legislative Branch
Composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives and enacts bills into laws. The Senate has 49 elected members corresponding to the number of legislative districts in the state. The House has 98 elected members, two for each district.
Senate
Angel, Jan Republican District 26 Kitsap (P), Pierce (P) Rolfes, Christine Democrat District 23 Kitsap (P) House of Representatives
Appleton, Sherry Democrat District 23 Position 1 Represents part of Kitsap County, including Bainbridge Island, Poulsbo, Kingston, Silverdale, Winslow and East Bremerton.
Hansen, Drew Democrat District 23 Position 2 Kitsap (P) Represents part of Kitsap County, including Bainbridge Island, Poulsbo, Kingston, Silverdale, Winslow and East Bremerton.
Young, Jesse Republican District 26 Position 1 Kitsap (P), Pierce (P) Represents part of Pierce and Kitsap Counties including part of Bremerton, Port Orchard, and Gig Harbor.
MacEwen, Drew Republican District 35 Position 2 Kitsap (P), Mason, Thurston (P) Represents Mason County and part of Kitsap and Thurston Counties including Shelton, Grapeview and Belfair.
Haigh, Kathy Democrat District 35 Position 1 Kitsap (P), Mason, Thurston (P) Represents Mason County and part of Kitsap and Thurston Counties including Shelton, Grapeview and Belfair.
Judicial Branch
Composed of the state courts: Trial court (Municipal, District and Superior), Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court. State courts make rulings on the constitutionality and legality surrounding the implementation of a law, as passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor.
Judicial elections 2014-
Kitsap County Superior Court
- Jeanette Dalton
- Jennifer Forbes
- Bill Houser
- Kevin Hull
- Anna M. Laurie
- Leila Mills
- Sally Olsen
- Jay B. Roof[1]
- Court Docket
- Daily Calendar - Mon Tues Wed Thu Fri
Kitsap County District Court
County Government
Board of County Commissioners
Olympic Workforce Development Council
Bids for County Work contracts
Tribal Government
- Washington State Tribal Directory
- Tribal Government Resources
- Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
- Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
Municipal Government
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Bremerton
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Bainbridge Island
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Port Orchard
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Poulsbo
Municipal courts
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Kitsap County is located in the state of Washington. As of the 2010 census, its population was 251,133.[1] Its county seat is Port Orchard,[2] and its largest city is Bremerton.
Kitsap County was formed out of King County, Washington, and Jefferson County, Washington on January 16, 1857 and is named for Chief Kitsap of the Suquamish tribe. Originally named Slaughter County, it was soon renamed.[3]
The United States Navy is the largest employer in the county, with installations at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Keyport, and Naval Base Kitsap (which comprises former NSB Bangor, and NS Bremerton).
Kitsap County is connected to the eastern shore of Puget Sound by Washington State Ferries routes, including the Seattle-Bremerton Ferry, Southworth to West Seattle via Vashon Island, Bainbridge Island to Downtown Seattle, and from Kingston to Edmonds, Washington.
Kitsap County is included in the Seattle metropolitan area.
History
Kitsap County was organized in 1857.[4]
Demographics
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 566 square miles (1,470 km2), of which 395 square miles (1,020 km2) is land and 171 square miles (440 km2) (30.2%) is water.[5] It is the third-smallest county in Washington by total area In addition to occupying most of the Kitsap Peninsula, Kitsap County includes both Bainbridge Island and Blake Island. According to Puget Sound Partnership, Kitsap county has over 250 miles (400 km) of saltwater shoreline. The highest point in Kitsap County and on the Kitsap Peninsula is Gold Mountain with a peak elevation of 1,761 ft (537 m). The portion of the county north of Silverdale is often referred to as North Kitsap, and the portion south of Bremerton as South Kitsap.
Adjacent counties
- Island County, Washington - northeast
- Snohomish County, Washington - east
- King County, Washington - east/southeast
- Pierce County, Washington - south/southeast
- Mason County, Washington - southwest
- Jefferson County, Washington - northwest
Â
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Notable people
- Tarn Adams, programmer and game designer, creator of Dwarf Fortress and other games
- Nathan Adrian, Swimmer and Olympic Gold Medalist
- James Kelsey, sculptor
- Debbie Macomber, best-selling romance novelist
- Gregg Olsen, best-selling mystery/crime novelist
- Delilah Rene, American radio personality, author and songwriter
- Bree Schaaf, Bobsledder and 2010 Winter Olympics competitor
- Marvin Williams, NBA player for the Atlanta Hawks
References
- ^Â "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
- ^Â "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Retrieved 2011-06-07.
- ^ "Milestones for Washington State History — Part 2: 1851 to 1900". HistoryLink.org. March 6, 2003.
- ^Â Columbia-Lippincott Gazeteer, p. 957
- ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. 2011-02-12. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
- ^Â "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
- ^Â "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
- ^Â "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
- ^Â "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
- ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
- ^Â "General Election Official Final". Kitsap County Auditor
- ^Â http://www.kitsapgov.com/boc/bauer/bauer.htm
- ^http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/dec/31/kitsaps-145new-electeds-sworn-in-amid-familiar/
- ^ "IncorporatedPlaces and Minor Civil Divisions: Washington". Population Census. United States Census Bureau. 2013-09-25. Retrieved 2013-09-25.
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Evidently God likes sparrows a lot.
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The Great Leap Forward was a plan to restructure China’s economy, and develop the nation.
One of the very first steps, was called the Four Pests campaign.
It was a plan to eradicate mosquitos, flies, rats, and sparrows.
The first ones make sense, but why sparrows?
Apparently sparrows ate “too much fruit and grain,” and therefore needed to be exterminated.
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It didnÂ’t make a whole lot of sense, but the campaign went through. The citizens of China were all encouraged to kill as many sparrows as they could.
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To do this, they all got drums, pots, pans, or anything else that made a loud noise, and would use them to make a racket where the sparrows lived. Too scared to land, the sparrows would fly around until they dropped out of the sky from exhaustion.
They would also destroy bird nests, smash their eggs, and even just shoot them out of the sky. There would be rewards for whoever could shoot the most sparrows in a day.
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The campaign was enormously successful. They drove the sparrows perilously close to extinction. Now those pesky birds wouldnÂ’t eat the grain or fruit. Success!
Or maybe not.
As the Chinese soon found out, sparrows eat a lot of locusts. They are virtually their only predator. With all the sparrows gone, nothing was keeping the locusts in check. So what happened to the locust population?
It exploded. It got insanely, obscenely, ridiculously massive.
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And what do locusts eat?
Grains, fruit, plants, and basically anything remotely edible.
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Massive locust swarms moved across China and destroyed any and all food they came upon. There were so many, the swarms would routinely block out the sun. For years, the locusts destroyed huge amounts of food.
This caused the largest famine in human history. Over 30 million people starved to death. It was one of the biggest humanitarian disasters of the 20th century.
And all because the Chinese government decided to kill this guy.
That, is the costliest mistake in history.
ÂÂ
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by Associated Press, Updated at 12:55PM, May 7, 2018
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (Photo credit: JASON REDMOND/AFP/Getty Images)
Microsoft is launching a $25 million initiative to use artificial intelligence to build better technology for people with disabilities.
CEO Satya Nadella announced the new “AI for Accessibility” effort as he kicked off Microsoft’s annual conference for software developers. The Build conference in Seattle is meant to foster enthusiasm for the company’s latest ventures in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, internet-connected devices and virtual reality.
Microsoft competes with Amazon and Google to offer internet-connected services to businesses and organizations.
The conference and the new initiative offer Microsoft an opportunity to emphasize its philosophy of building AI for social good. The focus could help counter some of the privacy and ethical concerns that have risen over AI and other fast-developing technology, including the potential that software formulas can perpetuate or even amplify gender and racial biases.
In unusually serious terms for a tech conference keynote, Nadella name-checked the dystopian fiction of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, declared that “privacy is a human right” and warned of the dangers of building new technology without ethical principles in mind.
Related Story
Bill Gates dedicates $158 million to American poverty issues“We should be asking not only what computers can do, but what computers should do,” Nadella said. “That time has come.”
The five-year accessibility initiative will include seed grants for startups, nonprofit organizations and academic researchers, as well as deeper investments and expertise from Microsoft researchers.
Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company hopes to empower people by accelerating the development of AI tools that provide them with more opportunities for independence and employment.
“It may be an accessibility need relating to vision or deafness or to something like autism or dyslexia,” Smith said in an interview. “There are about a billion people on the planet who have some kind of disability, either permanent or temporary.”
Those people already have “huge potential,” he said, but “technology can help them accomplish even more.”
Related Story
Distracted by technology? Microsoft tries to helpMicrosoft has already experimented with its own accessibility tools, such as a “Seeing AI” free smartphone app using computer vision and narration to help people navigate if they’re blind or have low vision. Nadella introduced the app at a previous Build conference. Microsoft’s translation tool also provides deaf users with real-time captioning of conversations.
“People with disabilities are often overlooked when it comes to technology advances, but Microsoft sees this as a key area to address concerns over the technology and compete against Google, Amazon and IBM,” said Nick McQuire, an analyst at CCS Insight.
Smith acknowledged that other firms, especially Apple and Google, have also spent years doing important work on accessibility. He said Microsoft’s accessibility fund builds on the model of the company’s AI for Earth initiative, which launched last year to jumpstart projects combating climate change and other environmental problems.
The idea, Smith said, is to get more startups excited about building tools for people with disabilities — both for the social good and for their large market potential.
Other announcements at the Build conference include partnerships with drone company DJI and chipmaker Qualcomm. More than 6,000 people are registered to attend, most of them developers who build apps for Microsoft’s products.
Facebook had its F8 developers’ gathering last week. Google’s I/O conference begins Tuesday. Apple’s takes place in early June.
This is the second consecutive year that Microsoft has held its conference in Seattle, not far from its Redmond, Washington, headquarters.
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What was at issue with the Speaker and, no doubt, with millions who would side with him that day, was not the chaplain’s being in politics, but rather, his seeming to take a stand that would alienate many. Was the chaplain betraying his calling? He could cite chapter and verse in the Bible, in Catholic social theology, and in the Jesuit tradition for backing. He could also try to show how pursuing the assurance that “benefits” of tax plans would be “balanced and shared” by all citizens was in place. How to assure that is, of course, a complex matter, but his prayer was not laying out a legislative program. That is something legislators on all sides have to deal with.
After a conflict like last week’s, thoughtful citizens look for a better way. Some say “abolish the chaplaincy,” and all will be balanced and shared. Or: “remove religious discourse and contention from the political scene.” Or: “remove religion.” The founders did well by not proposing a neat solution for how to deal with religion or religions, but establishing where religious institutions are subordinated to the political in political doings. Subordinated, yes, though they are “ordinated”—they have their ever-shifting places in our inescapable political order.
Somehow the padre and his fellow Catholic, Speaker Ryan, eventually came to terms such that the delicate discourses and contentions in that political order can continue to make their respective contributions to the common good, potentially even in “shared” and “balanced” ways.
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@Jose Antonio had a big following on Facebook for awhile ... until Facebook restricted everyone's posts to be seen by less than 5% of ones "followers". Now he still reaches a few people in the Spanish speaking world.
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This is for the game of Baccarat.
I used it for over a month before suffering a loss of my bankroll. But it was all the house money in end anyway.
Play the dominant side of the shoe!!!
Switch sides on last bet or start over
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Do NOT try this on Roulette
$5-10-20-40-80-160 (315)
$10 -20-40-80-160-320 (630)
$15-30-60-120-240-480 (945)
$20-40-80-160-320- 640(1260)
$25-50-100-200-400-800 (1575) see comment below
$50-100-200-400-800-1600 (3150) $500 table max at some casinos so try not to play this one except in catch up emergencies (very dangerous by the way)
$100-200-400-800-1600-3200 (6300) see comment above
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Government is just another word for what we all decide to do together.
Health is a human right. Ask Norway, Finland and other Scandinavian countries how bad socialism is..... THEY LOVE IT!!!
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This could be "proof" of hellfire
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St. Angelo prophesied that St. Francis would receive the stigmata. St. Francis, on his part, praised Angelo for his impending martyrdom.
Convert. Carmelite. Priest. Hermit. Mystic. Reformer. Thaumaturge. Missionary. Firebrand. Martyr.
What else does a man need to do to become a saint? Like a husband who constantly pulls out all the stops in giving his wife presents, St. Angelo, also known as St. Angelo of Jerusalem, has the raised the standards for Catholics much too high.
With a name like “Angelo” you would think he was Patron Saint of Broken Legs and yet, no. He’s actually the Patron Saint of Converts and Those Who Don’t Beat Around the Bush.
HeÂ’s also patron saint of Palermo, Sicily.
No jokes, please. After all, heÂ’s a holy man.
St. Angelo of Jerusalem even healed seven lepers. By the time he reached my age, he had already been dead 10 years.
Personally, I’m well behind on the whole miraculous healing thing so there’s little chance of anyone confusing me with St. Angelo. That, plus he was born in Jerusalem?as you can tell by his name?and I live in New York City?two totally different places. And those Christians who have been on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land know it’s much easier to get a good bagel with lox and a schmeer in New York City than it is in Jerusalem. (No hate mail, please. I’m just telling the truth. If the Israelis aren’t open to criticism, they’ll never learn how to make a good bagel.)
Also known as Angelus, Angelo and his twin brother John were Jews born in 1185. Their parents were Jesse and Maria. The twins converted shortly after their mother did. Maria had apparently received a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary who welcomed her to the Church. Unfortunately, theyÂ’re parents died when the boys were young. Patriarch Nicodemus oversaw their education until the twins turned 18, at which point they joined the Carmelite novitiate at St. Anne Convent near JerusalemÂ’s Golden Gate.
In 1210, the two were ordained priests. Whereas John chose the aesthetic life at Mount Carmel, Angelo traveled and preached in Palestine where many dozens of cures were attributed to his intercession. Realizing that his miracles were distracting him from his prayer and the sanctifying life, he withdrew to a hermitage in the desert near Mount Carmel. However, his reputation of miracles followed him there also.Â
In 1218, he received a vision in which Jesus asked him to preach in Italy which was rife with heretics at the time specifically the Albigensians, the Bogomils and the Patarini. The Albigensians were sort of a 13th-century gnostic, New Age/sexual revolution cult that thought the universe was created by an evil god and abortion was the highest duty and act of love possible.Â
Sound familiar?
The Bogomils, also known as the Bulgars, were also gnostics but more similar to Jehovah’s Witnesses in that they believed the Catholic Church was “evil incarnate” and refused to use the cross as a symbol representing Christianity.
The Patariniheld every wacky opinion in common with the Albigensians and Bogomils as well as resurrecting the ancient Donatist heresy, which held that only a priest in a state of grace could administer the sacraments.Â
In addition, the Patariniwere working against the Crusaders by financially assisting Muslim rulers and leaking battle plans to them.
Again, sound familiar?
In his vision, Angelo was alsotold to ask Pope Honorius III to approve a new rule for the Carmelites which was posthumously granted in 1226.
Angelo was a busy man. He had things to do and nothing short of martyrdom was going to stop him. Technically even martyrdom didnÂ’t stop him.
On April 1, 1219, Angelo set off on a Genoese ship stopping briefly at Messina, Sicily and then headed out to Civitavecchia and then onward to Rome to meet with the pope.Â
Angelo preached in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran where he met both Sts. Francis of Assisi and Dominic, who congratulated him for his excellent preaching.Â
He prophesied that St. Francis would receive the stigmata. St. Francis, on his part, praised Angelo for his impending martyrdom.
Angelo returned to Palermo where he was a guest of the Basilians priests for over a month. This is where he healed the seven lepers I alluded to early. He then healed the Archbishop of Palermo Bernardo de Castanea for good measure. He directed his attentions to the Jewish community in Sicily converting 200 souls to Christ.
He then moved on to Licata in southern Sicily where his reputation as a miracle worker still dogged him.Â
It was in Licata where St. Angelo turned his steady, unwavering attention to a local Albigensian warlord/knight pervert named Berenger or Berengarius who was involved in an incestuous relationship with his sister. As I mentioned early, the Albigensians were a sex cult that held that no limits are acceptable.
Angelo, knowing exactly when to shut up and refusingto do so, made it clear in public exactly what Berenger was doing with his sister. The girl approached the saint asking for forgiveness and asked for his assistance in leaving her brotherÂ’s thrall. Berenger was furious because those who lead sinful lives hate to be told they shouldnÂ’t be doing what theyÂ’re doing.Â
On May 1, 1220, the knight went with several of his henchmen to attack Angelo in front of Sts. Phillip & James Church in Licata where he was preaching to the gathered crowd. Berenger stepped up to the unarmed friar running him through five times with his sword?the same number of ChristÂ’s wounds. The saint died of his wounds on May 5, which became his feast day.Â
While dying, he prayed incessantly to God asking Him to forgive his attacker and begging his defenders to not seek revenge for his murder. He was buried in the church in which he was attacked.Â
Pope Pius II canonized Angelo as a martyr in 1459.
In 1486, his relics were translated from a simple wooden casket to a silver urn. His relics were once again transferred to an even nicer reliquary on his feast day, May 5, 1623. The Sicilians, still upset that their island was the site of AngeloÂ’s martyrdom, built Santa Maria del Carmine, a much nicer church, 40 years later and had the saintÂ’s relics moved in Aug. 15, 1662. The church is now his major shrine and a site of pilgrimage which sees many tens of thousands of pilgrims every year even to this day.
The end of a bubonic plague outbreak in Palermo in 1656 was attributed to AngeloÂ’s intercession. HeÂ’s been the patron saint of the good people of Palermo ever since. Apparently, all is forgiven.
Like I said, Angelo is a busy man/saint. HeÂ’s still got saint stuff to do.
St. Angelo’s actions proves Christ’s own words, “To those who are given much, much more will be given. (Luke 12:48)
Frankly, Angelo is making the rest of us slackers look bad.Â
http://www.ncregister.com/blog/astagnaro/st.-angelo-of-jerusalem-a-saint-you-should-know-about
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From KNKX
Washington Shuts Down Care Provider For Disabled Adults, Now Families Face Tough Decisions
By Austin Jenkins • Apr 26, 2018
Originally published on April 27, 2018 6:43 pm
In an unprecedented move, the state of Washington is shutting down a major provider of in-home care for developmentally disabled adults in King, Spokane and Yakima counties because of repeated serious violations of care standards.
On April 4, the Department of Social and Health Services sent the provider, SL Start & Associates, a decertification letter based on a “history of serious … non-compliance with the law and regulations.”
The letter cited two years of deficiencies that included failing to report alleged abuse of clients and failing to get appropriate and timely medical care for a client who later died.
“These serious deficiencies have jeopardized clients’ health, safety and welfare and support decertification of your agency,” the letter from the director of DSHS Residential Care Services said.
SL Start was one of the larger providers of in-home care to adults with developmental disabilities. A DSHS official said he couldn’t recall a supported living program that served as many clients under a single license being decertified.
But it’s what DSHS did after the decertification that’s causing alarm among some families and disability advocates: the agency is moving most of SL Start’s clients to its sister company, Aacres Washington.
‘We Are Alarmed’
Beverly Davis said she only recently learned of SL Start’s long history of deficiencies. Her 45-year-old son Christopher Davis was one of the company’s clients. Now she’s even more upset that the state is transferring him to Aacres.
Sitting at her dining room table in her north Spokane home, Davis described her son as “happy-go-lucky.” He’s severely developmentally disabled and non-verbal, but she said he still finds ways to communicate.
“He squeals, he enjoys life,” Davis said.
But Davis said her son has also endured a lot over the years, including neglect by caregivers, serious health problems and several disruptive moves as care providers went out of business, were decertified or said they couldn’t handle his behavior.
Most recently, SL Start provided Christopher Davis with round-the-clock care in his own apartment. But his mother said she noticed problems with that care when she would visit him or he would come to stay with her on weekends.
“He’s not getting his meds all the time, his hygiene is horrible,” she said.
In March, following a routine dentist appointment, Christopher Davis’s dental hygienist sent SL Start a letter warning that his periodontal health had degraded in the previous six months and was now in a “necrotizing state.”
“How long do we just stand there and watch our loved ones being treated like this,” Beverly Davis said.
Once SL Start was decertified, Davis faced a dilemma: give SL Start’s sister company a second chance or put her son through another disruptive move to a new care provider.
“It’s kind of like they back us into the corner,” Davis said.
Last week, the advocacy group Disability Rights Washington sent a letter to DSHS Secretary Cheryl Strange that said it has “grave concerns about an unqualified provider continuing to deliver services to (Washington Developmental Disabilities Administration) clients.” The letter also alleged that clients and families “are being grossly misled.”
“We are alarmed to the point that we’re going out and doing our own monitoring and making sure that people know how to advocate for themselves, because we are afraid that our state has put them in a vulnerable position and we want to empower them,” said Susan Kas, the Disability Rights Washington lawyer who wrote the letter.
Also concerning to Disability Rights Washington was an April 5 letter SL Start sent to its clients and their families that described the move to Aacres as a merger and made no mention of its decertification. Instead, the letter emphasized clients would experience a seamless transition. “There is absolutely no change to staff, homes, or scheduled support to you or your loved one,” the letter read.
DSHS recently concluded that SL Start violated state rules by failing to notify its clients of the decertification in that letter. SL Start said it plans to appeal that finding.
Scramble To Avoid Disruption
After SL Start lost its certification, Washington's Developmental Disabilities Administration said it had just two weeks to transition the more than 200 clients. The goal was to avoid an interruption of care and keep as many of them as possible in their homes. That's why the decision was made to move the clients to Aacres.
SL Start and Aacres are both owned by the same company—Spokane-based Embassy Management. According to business filings in Washington and Delaware and news reports, Embassy Management is a subsidiary of U.S. Community Behavioral, which in turn is owned by Bregal Partners, a New York private equity firm.
Don Clintsman, the deputy assistant secretary of the Developmental Disabilities Administration, said he understood the concern about moving clients to a sister organization, but said the two entities are different.
“The expertise that Embassy has shown and that Aacres has shown in running a supported living program give us confidence the SL Start residents will get the right service,” Clintsman said.
He added that for at least the next three months DDA will conduct monthly in-home inspections of at least 15 percent of the former SL Start clients’ residences to ensure they are getting adequate care.
A small number of clients in Yakima County are being transferred to a provider that is not owned by Embassy Management because Aacres doesn’t have a license to operate there.
Decertification Called A ‘Surprise’
In a lengthy interview Wednesday, Kendra Ellis, the executive director of Aacres who also served in that same role for SL Start, said the decertification came as a surprise. Ellis said SL Start had been working with state regulators since last October to address deficiencies and was implementing a “plan of correction.”
But in March, while SL Start was under a second 90-day provisional certification, two clients died after being taken to the hospital for illnesses.
In one of those cases, a visiting state inspector encountered a client in respiratory distress and directed staff to call 911, according to state officials. In the other case, investigators found that caregivers delayed getting medical attention for a client who “exhibited signs and symptoms of a life threatening illness.”
The statement of deficiencies issued by DSHS and obtained by the Northwest News Network found that SL Start failed to properly train staff and noted this was a repeat violation.
Soon after, the state notified SL Start that it would be decertified to care for adults.
Ellis said she was “blindsided,” but the company decided not to appeal and instead continue to serve clients through Aacres while working on the turnaround plan that was already underway.
“We’ve taken ownership for our deficiencies, identified steps that we need to take to improve our systems, identified additional training that’s needed, oversight in the homes,” said Ellis, who noted the company has recently hired a chief clinical officer, director of nursing and chief quality officer.
Ellis attributed some of SL Start’s deficiencies to a statewide shortage of trained caregivers and the fact the company worked with individuals with complex needs.
“It’s opened us up for increased chances for citation, for things to go wrong, greater chance of deficiency,” Ellis said.
As clients make the transition to Aacres, Ellis said, she wants families to have confidence in the company’s ability to provide care, but she notes they also have the option to find another agency.
In Spokane, that’s something Beverly Davis said she’s already decided to do—even though it means her son will have to move again. She’s recently found a woman who’s agreed to take care of him.
“I’m going to place Chris in her care and hope and pray that it’s going to be better than what he’s had,” Davis said.
SL Start is still licensed in Washington to care for children with developmental disabilities. State records show DSHS has paid SL Start more than $26 million since July 1, 2017.
SL Start also has operations in Oregon. A spokeswoman with the Oregon Department of Human Services there said there are no complaints or actions pending against SL Start or Embassy Management.
Emily Schwing contributed to this story.
https://www.documentcloud.org/public/search/projectid%3A 38386-sl-start
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Song 2:3, "Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. In his shade I took great delight and sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my taste."
Song 4:16, "Awake, O north wind, and come, wind of the south; make my garden breathe out fragrance. Let its spices be wafted abroad. May my beloved come into his garden and eat its choice fruits!"
Notice in Song 2:3 that it says, "...and his fruit was sweet to my taste." Obviously this involves very intimate experience. Tasting one another can have a wide variety of applications. It appears that this is a veiled way of alluding to oral sex. Furthermore, if we look at Song 7:8 we read, "I said, I will climb the palm tree. I will take hold of its fruit stalks. Oh, may your breasts be like clusters of the vine." Apparently, fondling of the breasts is meant here. If such enjoyment of the body is intended, and since tasting (which involves the mouth) is part of that expression, it would seem safe to say that oral sex is permissible. -
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This is assuming that it is not also offered to anyone else that you are close to.
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su crítica sin ambajes contra la corrupción ante la plana mayor de los polÃticos peruanos, marcó su segundo dÃa en Perú
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A graffiti artist may believe that what he does is art.
Society disagrees and prosecutes them accordingly.
I have news for you.
Society considers you all "SOLICITORS". Usually unwelcome at that.
It doesn't matter what YOU think you are ... in the end it matter what everyone ELSE THINKS YOU ARE.
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I would say actions speak louder than words.
The Catholic Church runs hospitals, food banks, shelters that assist the entire world and have been doing so for over a thousand years.
The JW's make a big deal about sending water to people in Houston who have lost thier homes..... and by that I mean THEIR OWN PEOPLE.....
Talk to me when you guys are actually working to help humanity in general instead of focusing on everyone's eternal damnation.
Jesus fed the hungry and took care of the sick.... EVEN IF THEY WERE CHRISTIANS.
Jehovah's Witnesses are told not to donate to charities and give all money to make watchtowers that have been calling for Armageddon since 1879.
Try actually LIVING as a Christian and then come talk to me about whether or not you can be called so.
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