Clallam County Watchdog

As Washington heads into another election season, Clallam County Auditor candidate and guest columnist Virginia Shogren argues that the state's election system is on a collision course with the proposed federal SAVE Act, which would require proof of citizenship and voter identification for federal elections. In the first installment of a new series, Shogren questions whether Washington is enforcin...

A new $37 million bridge in Jefferson County is being celebrated as a triumph of climate resilience, salmon restoration, and tribal leadership. But behind the ribbon cuttings and ceremonial blessings are larger questions taxpayers should be asking. Why was a Clallam County tribe leading a major infrastructure project in another county? Why is a bridge paid for with public funds decorated with the...

When Clallam County’s controversial Conservation District parcel fee came up for a vote, Commissioner Mike French cast the lone dissenting vote and portrayed himself as standing up for struggling rural residents. But public records, meeting footage, and even French’s own campaign statements tell a different story. Long before the fee reached the commissioners’ desk, French was one of the Conservat...

A recent letter to the editor by League of Women Voters activist Ann Soule blames oil companies, the President, Congress, the Supreme Court, and nearly everyone else for high gasoline prices. What her letter never mentions is Washington State's own role in creating some of the highest fuel costs in America. The omissions raise an uncomfortable question: when activists support policies that directl...

In this special edition of Sundays with Seegers , what begins as Jake Seegers interviewing local businesswoman Johanna Bartee quickly takes an unexpected turn. Bartee, a lifelong Clallam County resident who returned home after nearly two decades away, flips the script and puts the candidate in the hot seat. The result is one of the most personal and revealing conversations yet about the District 3...

A simple email exchange between a Clallam County resident and Habitat for Humanity reflects a growing frustration across the county: taxpayers fund projects, commissioners celebrate the spending, and nonprofits ask for more money, but when citizens ask basic questions about results or accountability, the answers become vague. From stalled housing projects to nonprofit financial failures, the same...

For years, Port Angeles residents reported the same man wandering into traffic, trespassing, exposing himself, and generating constant police and medical responses. No one realized the familiar figure from the local street scene was allegedly a fugitive tied to a nationally publicized 2008 double murder cold case once featured on America’s Most Wanted. Now sitting in the Clallam County Jail, Johnn...

A young mother stood before the Clallam County Commissioners earlier this month and spoke candidly about the fear of homelessness. She said rising housing costs and the removal of affordable housing options are pushing families to the brink. “This will only kill people,” she warned. Sitting in the room listening were Commissioner Mike French and OlyCAP Housing Director Viola Ware . French sits on...

For one afternoon earlier this month, Veterans Memorial Park in Port Angeles was clean, peaceful, and worthy of the sacrifices it was built to honor during the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office annual Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony. But within days, the park returned to open drug use, camping, and disorder. This Memorial Day, many are asking whether we truly honor veterans if the memorials built...

In this week’s Sundays With Seegers , county commissioner candidate Jake Seegers sits down with longtime logger, tree faller, and social media personality Mitch Zenobi — a towering local voice some inside county leadership have reportedly nicknamed “the angry logger.” Standing nearly seven feet tall and backed by tens of thousands of followers online, Zenobi has become one of the county’s most out...

At Tuesday’s Board of Health meeting, Clallam County Health Officer Dr. Allison Berry sharply criticized opponents of harm reduction, suggested fear about public safety is being amplified for political purposes, and made the explosive statement that she hopes critics are not implying that drug users “deserve to get AIDS and die.” Meanwhile, residents continue asking for measurable outcomes after y...

Anti-Jake Seegers activism is escalating beyond policy disagreements and campaign signs. After stickers labeling Seegers a “carpetbagger” and “out of town real estate investor” appeared at the end of his family’s private driveway — where his children discovered them during a bike ride — questions are now being raised about how far local political hostility is willing to go, and whether some activi...

A debate over tourism promotion funding exposed a growing frustration in Clallam County: local hotels and vacation rentals are required to collect lodging taxes that fund tourism campaigns, while one of the region’s largest hospitality empires benefits from those campaigns without paying into the system. What Is LTAC? Tourism promotion in Clallam County is funded largely through the Lodging Tax Ad...

What began as a simple request for help in 2023 quietly evolved into a shower voucher pipeline tied to Clallam County’s Harm Reduction Health Center, all with little public awareness, no clear board approval, and almost no meaningful oversight. Now, instead of shutting the program down after public backlash, the Shore Pool board is expanding it, rebranding it, and pushing forward anyway. A Shower...

After a teenage driver nearly killed a pedestrian near the Tumwater encampment, County Commissioner candidate Jake Seegers confronts the hard questions local leaders have avoided for years: How did Port Angeles allow dangerous encampments, rampant drug activity, and environmental destruction to flourish beside public roadways and salmon streams — and who will finally stop it? This in-depth article...

For years, the public has been told that tribal control automatically means better environmental stewardship. But court records, treaty disputes, commercial export operations, and decades of intertribal lawsuits tell a far more complicated story. From oyster farms inside wildlife refuges to fights over fishing territories, shellfish allocations, and commercial harvests headed overseas, the reality...

Futurewise and its GreenLink partners want to daylight lower Valley Creek and turn parts of Port Angeles into a new creek-and-trails corridor. Supporters call it environmental restoration. Critics see a costly vision that could require property acquisition, impact industrial land near the waterfront, and eventually burden taxpayers with another park the city struggles to maintain. The Port of Port...

Indivisible Sequim says it’s worried about a “mole” leaking screenshots to CC Watchdog. But the bigger story may be the man at the center of it all: Jim Stoffer. Long before moderating progressive Facebook groups and lecturing others about “safety,” Stoffer was embroiled in Coast Guard protest controversies involving accusations of unreliable testimony, suppression of demonstrators, and allegation...

Commissioner Mike French recently called himself “pretty close to a free speech absolutist.” That may surprise residents who remember public comments being cut short, monthly Q&A forums canceled, and one critic suddenly losing Zoom video access after challenging the county’s story on the Dungeness Reservoir. The bigger problem? That critic, John Worthington, keeps turning out to be right. “I am pr...

What happens when someone who spent years deep in addiction finally turns their life around—and starts speaking out about the very policies they believe are making the crisis worse? In this powerful Sundays With Seegers podcast-only episode, County Commissioner candidate Jake Seegers sits down with Port Angeles community advocate and entrepreneur David Rogers for one of the most candid conversatio...

The Jamestown Corporation’s newsletters used to be publicly available online. Now they’re much harder to find. But when the county’s second-largest and fastest-growing employer quietly outlines its plans, projects, partnerships, political relationships, land ambitions, and economic advantages, the public should probably pay attention. This review of the Tribe’s May 2026 newsletter raises serious q...

A second deposition tied to the turmoil inside the Sequim School District has surfaced, and this time the picture is harder to dismiss. First obtained and reported by the Olympic Herald , the sworn testimony adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that what happened inside the district was not isolated. Complaints appearing in sequence. Information circulating before it should. Individuals o...

A man with a violent, multi-state criminal history is arrested a second time in Clallam County. As patterns mount, officials continue to question whether out-of-area offenders are really coming here at all. Meanwhile, taxpayers are left footing the bill. Gerard Robert Fleetwood, 42, was arrested Friday in Clallam County and charged with interference with a healthcare facility, resisting arrest, un...

Clallam County canceled public meetings despite having a quorum available. At the same time, one commissioner is tied to a Maui conference funded through taxpayer-backed associations, while internal emails reveal extraordinary access, praise, and coordination with powerful interests. The contrast raises a fundamental question: when it comes to time, attention, and influence—who comes first? The co...

In this Sundays With Seegers , Clallam County Commissioner candidate Jake Seegers lays out a clear case for restoring Olympic Hot Springs Road—and invites the community to take action. With tourism revenue declining, access restricted for over a decade, and no clear federal timeline, this is a grassroots effort to unite residents, support local businesses, and demand accountability. The petition s...