Bellingham woman reportedly breaks into law office to avoid staying at homeless shelter
A transient woman suspected of breaking into a Lettered Streets neighborhood law office Wednesday morning reportedly told Bellingham Police she wanted to go to jail so she didn’t have to stay at the Base Camp homeless shelter anymore.
Tracy Ann Martin, 53, was booked into Whatcom County Jail Feb. 3 on suspicion of second-degree malicious mischief and second-degree burglary, and jail records show she is being held in lieu of $2,500 bail.
Officers were called at approximately 7:10 a.m. Feb. 3 to a law office in the 1400 block of F Street for the report of an audible alarm, according to Whatcom County Superior Court documents.
Officers arrived to find the front door of the office smashed and Martin inside throwing items and breaking things, documents state. Both the front and back rear glass doors had been broken out, along with several windows, and several framed pictures had been pulled from the wall and smashed on the floor, the report stated.
Damages were estimated to “surely be several thousand dollars,” court documents state.
Martin was taken into custody without incident, according to documents, and told officers she wanted to go to jail so she didn’t have to stay at Base Camp, a shelter operated downtown by Lighthouse Mission Ministries.
“Reasons are varied for why people can’t or won’t stay at Base Camp,” Lighthouse Mission Executive Director Hans Erchinger-Davis told The Bellingham Herald in an email. “Everything from our basic rules not allowing for criminal activity, to people preferring the solitude of a tent, or people maybe having conflict with a fellow guest.
“We encourage this individual to return and resolve whatever brought about her exit.”
In recent weeks, the city of Bellingham has urged those who formerly resided in a tent encampment outside City Hall, known as Camp 210, to utilize Base Camp and an overflow shelter at the former Drop-In Center on West Holly Street. The city said it also supports the tiny home villages operated by HomesNow and that it is in the process of developing additional tiny home facilities with a “qualified operator.”
But BOP Mutual Aid (Bellingham Occupied Protest), which has been advocating for the former Camp 210 residents, said in a statement posted last week to their Facebook page that while there is space at Base Camp, that is not an adequate alternative for some of the people residing at Camp 210. The shelter’s capacity is not large enough to house everyone who was staying at Camp 210, and some campers have been kicked out in the past or have had traumatic or disrespectful experiences and don’t feel safe to return, the statement said.
Camp 210 formed in November as some homeless in the area and their advocates protested a lack of shelter in the area.
On Jan. 26, the city of Bellingham notified the Camp 210 residents that they needed to leave the area near City Hall and the Bellingham Public Library by 4 p.m. Jan. 29. But the city moved to clear the camp a day early on Jan. 28 over concerns of agitators arriving to protest their efforts.
Many of the residents at the former Camp 210 moved to a parking lot near Frank Geri Softball Fields in the Civic Athletic Complex, but the city of Bellingham on Tuesday, Feb. 2, again told campers they must move by 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 4.
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 12:31 PM.
