Special Sections - Year in Review 2018

2018

PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

YEAR IN REVIEW

A look back at some of the people, events and stories that made headlines in Clallam County and Jefferson County A special supplement produced by Peninsula Daily News

2

ON THE COVER:

Two blind-folded mountain goats dangle from a helicopter in Olympic National Park during relocation efforts on Sept. 13, 2018. Olympic National Park and several other agencies are working to move about 700 mountain goats to the North Cascades.

See the story on Page 4.

Photo by Jesse Major, Peninsula Daily News

121 East Railroad Ave., Port Angeles WA 98362 360-452-2364

CLALLAM COUNTY pages 5-10 JEFFERSON COUNTY pages 11-15

912276817

TERRY R. WARD, regional publisher STEVE PERRY, general manager LEAH LEACH, executive editor MICHAEL FOSTER, managing editor ERAN KENNEDY, advertising director LAURA FOSTER AND BRENDA HANRAHAN, special sections editors

ESTABLISHED 1931

ESTABLISHED 1916

ESTABLISHED 1908

385-2335 360-374-3311

Sequim

681-2390 Port Angeles

452-2345

1

A sprightly little market unlike any you’ve seen!

717 S Race Street Port Angeles

dba Lincoln Welding 4130 Tumwater Truck Route Port Angeles

457-6122

Serving the Logging & Industrial Community for

73 Years

SPORTSMEN MOTEL 2909 Hwy. 101 E. Port Angeles

Free WiFi • Guest Laundry

457-6196

www.sportsmenmotel.com

Happy New Year!

69 Years

912277818

82 Years

Lincoln Industrial Corporation, Inc.

912277820

88 Years

ESTABLISHED 1950

ESTABLISHED 1946

912277831

494 S. Forks Ave. Forks WA

912278371

103 Years

52 mph near Forks and 36 mph in Port Angeles on the morning of Dec. 20. It said a 72 mph gust was reported on Hurricane Ridge and a 117 mph gust was reported from Mount Baker. It reported winds of 75 mph 65 miles offshore west of La Push.

WINDSTORMS: Three wind The Dec. 14 storm caused at least storms in one week plunged some on the North Olympic Peninsula $400,000 in damages, according to early estimates. into darkness twice and taxed the No injuries or deaths were reported, resources of public utility work crews. according to the Clallam County SherA severe windstorm coming from an iff’s Office. unusual direction ripped through ClalThe National Weather Service said a lam County on Friday, Dec. 14, putting “mountain wave” flowing off the north 90 percent of the county in darkness slopes of the Olympic Mountains caused while affecting East Jefferson County a spike in temperatures and gusts of 60 only mildly. to 65 mph in the Port Angeles area that “This is unprecedented,” said Nicole morning and early afternoon.

Clark, PUD spokesperson. “We haven’t The rare occurrence of strong winds had anything like this in over a decade.” flowing off the Olympics toppled trees That windstorm did not extend into across the county, causing widespread East Jefferson County that day, but high damage, knocking out power for all of winds the evening of Monday, Dec. 17, knocked out power to some 1,000 Jefferson Clallam County and triggering a state of emergency in Port Angeles.

County Public Utility District customers.

Power was restored to most of Clallam Another storm Thursday, Dec. 20, caused more than 10,000 outages on the County from Blyn to Port Angeles after the approximately eight-hour countyPeninsula — about equally divided wide outage that left few bright lights between the two counties. except from the Jamestown S’Klallam It took two days to restore power to and Lower Elwha Klallam tribes’ food, all electrical customers.

The National Weather Service recorded fuel and gaming businesses, thanks to peak gusts of 53 mph near Port Townsend, their massive emergency generators.

ESTABLISHED 1937

Port Townsend

Your Peninsula.

Your Newspaper.

Here are the most notable stories of 2018 that affected Clallam and Jefferson counties, as selected by Peninsula Daily News staff.

McPhee’s Grocery

912278368

912276797

Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Ludlow Port Townsend Port Hadlock www.kitsapbank.com Trusted and Local Since 1908

111 Years

BOTH COUNTIES pages 2-5

is a special supplement produced and published by Peninsula Daily News 305 W. First St. Port Angeles, WA 98362 peninsuladailynews.com 360-452-2345

Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce

125 Years

Top stories of 2018 for Clallam and Jefferson counties

CONTENTS

2018 YEAR IN REVIEW

ESTABLISHED 1894

2018 Year in review

Peninsula Daily news

sunDay, January 6, 2019

2018 Year in Review

3

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Peninsula Daily News

‘Unhealthy’ air quality; school walk-out/CONTINUED

2

3

NATIONAL SCHOOL WALKOUT: Hundreds of students in Clallam and Jefferson counties walked out of school March 14 in a nationwide protest over congressional inaction on

ESTABLISHED 1952

Creating the Magic of Live Theater!

Students at Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Townsend and Chimacum high schools and at North Olympic Peninsula middle schools denounced gun

SUN-THURS 6AM TO 10 PM FRI & SAT 6AM TO 11PM

SUSAN

SUNNYDELL SHOOTING GROUNDS 292 Dryke Road Sequim, WA 98382 JENNIFER

sunnydellshootinggrounds.com

4

HIKER DEATHS: The family of Jacob Gray finally had closure when his remains were found high in the Olympic Mountains in August.

Gray, a 22-year-old from Santa Cruz, Calif., left Port Townsend alone on his bicycle April 5, 2017, towing a trailer full of camping gear. His bike, trailer and gear were found about 6.5 miles up Sol Duc Hot Springs Road the following day.

3010 E HWY 101 K E I T H PORT ANGELES

ESTABLISHED 1960

Davis Sand & Gravel 870 Evans Road, Sequim

360-683-5680

59 Years

60

OPEN 7 Days!

YEARS 1959-2018

K AT H Y

FRANKIE

Have a Happy & Prosperous New Year!

BRIAN

DONNA

RON

SARA

KAREN

457-8622

812025462

64 Years

912276783

912276816

912277806

65

Years

DEBBIE

360-683-5631

Serving the Peninsula since 1954

His remains were found in August near Hoh Lake.

He was believed to have died of natural causes.

Jeremiah Adams, a 24-year-old Navy sailor, also died while hiking.

BARB

S

524 E. First St. Port Angeles

they read the names of the 13 Columbine victims and held a moment of silence.

Stevens Middle School in Port Angeles and eighthgrade students in Joyce also protested.

Local students also attended a May rally against gun violence in Seattle.

GLEN

ESTABLISHED 1955

452-9264

1235 E. Lauridsen Blvd. www.pacommunityplayers.com

67 Years

gun violence at schools.

The demonstrations were in response to the mass shooting Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

ESTABLISHED 1954

Port Angeles Community Players

360-452-6551

in British Columbia that drifted south to create a layer of haze over Port Angeles on Monday, Aug. 13, 2018.

violence in 17-minute ceremonies — one minute for each person killed in Parkland, Fla. Another walk-out was conducted April 20 on the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado in 1999.

Peninsula students were supported by parents, teachers and administrators in their walkouts.

Some 300 students gathered on the Port Townsend High School campus baseball field.

More than half the student body — about 200 students — stood silently in the rain for 17 minutes at Blue Heron Middle School.

More than 100 students walked out in Chimacum.

Port Angeles High School students marched from their campus to the steps of the Clallam County Courthouse, where

912277826

RED SUN: The sun was red in a smokey sky in August on the North Olympic Peninsula as hundreds of wildfires in British Columbia and large wildland fires in Eastern Washington raged.

Air quality climbed into the “very unhealthy” range all across the North Olympic Peninsula, according to the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency. The amount of smoke vacillated over a couple of weeks, as hospitals and clinics reported a rise in patients with respiratory complaints and many wore face masks to attempt to protect their lungs from the pollution.

Climate change was a factor contributing to the bad air quality, as well as the hot and dry conditions, said Fran McNair, executive director of the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency.

“We’ve got to realize this KEITH THORPE | PENINSULA DAILY NEWS is our future,” she said.

The sun sets through a layer of smoke from wildfires

4

2018 Year in review

Peninsula Daily news

sunDay, January 6, 2019

Hiker deaths; goats moved out of park/CONTINUED Adams left for a hike May 4 but failed to meet with friends from another hike when they met May 5.

On May 12, a group of about six hikers found Adams’ body in a ravine roughly six miles down the Gray Wolf Trail in Olympic National Forest.

He is believed to have died during a fall.

Also in August, an unidentified 29-year-old Iowa woman suffered a fatal cardiac arrest while backpacking with family on the Sol Duc River Trail above Deer Lake in Olympic National Park.

She was airlifted out of the park.

ESTABLISHED 1960

Community Minded & Environmentally Progressive!

NTI Engineering & Land Surveying 717 S. Peabody St. Port Angeles

(360)452-8491

ESTABLISHED 1971

119 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim

Thanks to all our loyal customers

Sequim

683-8003

Serving the North Olympic Peninsula Since 1974

48 Years

SEQUIM GAZETTE 360-683-3311

48 Years

Forks Elks Lodge #2524

360•374•2524 Providing Charity in the West End since 1975

44 Years

912279435

45 Years

2372 Highway 101 E, Port Angeles, WA 98362 360-457-4101 www.mobuiltrv.com “Best Wishes To All Our Valued Customers” “Happy RVing”

ESTABLISHED 1975

912278369

45 Years

Serving Sequim since 1971

147 W. Washington St. Sequim WA. 912276780

47 Years

912277813

47 Years

912277812

47 Years

360-457-1139

683-9719 912278359

Fruit & Veggies Natural Groceries Deli • Supplements Butcher Shop Farm Store

ATTORNEYS AT LAW

Residential Commercial Remodel

261461 Hwy 101

www.shipleycenter.org

ESTABLISHED 1974

JOHNSON RUTZ & TASSIE

Construction, Inc.

(360) 683-6806 921 E Hammond St. Sequim, Washington

ESTABLISHED 1974

ESTABLISHED 1972 have a

Ked-Ter

48 Years

Shipley Center

912277832

in business

Happy New Year!!

ESTABLISHED 1971

912277808

52 Years

ESTABLISHED 1971

360-457-3211 • 1-800-953-3211 FAX 360-457-6566 1325 E. 1st St. • Port Angeles

683-6338

CUSTOM DRAPERIES & UPHOLSTERY work done in our own workrooms FREE ESTIMATES

JESSE MAJOR | PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

A mountain goat dangles from a helicopter in Olympic National Park during relocation efforts on Thursday, Sept. 13, 2018.

912277833

54 Years ESTABLISHED 1972

ESTABLISHED 1972

6

GOATS RELOCATED: Blindfolded and sedated mountain goats hanging in slings below helicopters flew over the Olympic Mountains this fall and the park began relocating the problematic goats.

During the first round of goat wrangling, the park was able to move 98 goats to the North Cascades.

912277838

www.nti4u.com

912276773

912277814

59 Years

ing the four-day operation.

The investigation involved the State Patrol, Clallam County and Jefferson County sheriff’s offices, Port Angeles and Sequim police and the Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team.

ESTABLISHED 1967

ESTABLISHED 1965

Compost & Organic Produce U-cut Christmas Trees

Steve & Ann Johnson 360-457-5950 225 Gehrke Road • Port Angeles

5

NET NANNY: Ten potential sexual predators were taken off the streets in the online “Net Nanny” sting in March, law enforcement officials said.

The 10 men were arrested at a State Patrol-rented house in Port Hadlock or on their way to the house for what they expected would be sex with children, authorities said.

Agents used classified advertising websites such as Craigslist and Backpage and other social media sites to look for child predators.

The Net Nanny probe found that 40 to 65 more men had contact with undercover officers dur-

2018 Year in review

Goat orphans transferred; shutdowns/CONTINUED Six orphans were transferred to Northwest Trek Wildlife Park and six adults died during capture.

The goats, introduced to the Olympic Peninsula in the 1920s, have impacted the fragile alpine and sub-alpine ecosystem.

Aggressive goats had been reported for several years in both the park and Olympic National Forest. A goat killed Bob Boardman of Port Angeles in October 2010.

1

ESTABLISHED 1977

The partial shutdown did not affect some 75 percent of the government, which already had been funded through next September; however, the National Park Service was among those the shutdown did affect.

Also included were the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, the State Department, the Interior Department, the Departure of Agriculture and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

ESTABLISHED 1978

Angeles Concrete

1369 CAYS ROAD SEQUIM 681-5429 4410 S. AIRPORT ROAD PORT ANGELES 457-0443

J&J Construction of Port Angeles, Inc.

Residential and Commercial Construction & Remodeling

360-457-1809

2

HOMELESSNESS: Homelessness in Clallam County was widely discussed as Serenity House temporarily closed its shelters due to lack of funding and elected and appointed officials began making efforts to learn more about what could be done to address the issue.

ESTABLISHED 1980

State Farm Insurance

Christina Wagner D.V.M. Andi R. Thomson, D.V.M. Andrea Goldy D.V.M.

Caring for your best friend since 1980!

39 Years

Happy New Year!

210 E. 7th Street

457-4567

40 Years

160 DelGuzzi Drive Port Angeles (360) 452-7686

812024658

41 Years

Ray Gruver

912276819

Proudly Serving the North Olympic Peninsula Since 1978

SUICIDE BARRIERS: Suicide barriers were erected on the two 100-foot-tall Eighth Street bridges in Port Angeles after four people had jumped from the spans in nine months ending in March and eight had leaped since February 2009, when the rebuilt bridges were opened.

Completion of the fence project was celebrated at a community gathering Sept. 28 at the bridges.

The city replaced 4-foot, 6-inch railings with fences of 8 feet, 8 inches to 10 feet, 7 inches that are spiked at the top.

After city leaders twice rejected higher barriers as too expensive, they approved the $771,000 project, which included $124,000 in community funding.

The total was supplemented by $100,000

from the John David Crow family and $350,000 in state funding secured with help from the city’s 24th District state legislators.

The Nov. 7, 2017 suicide death of 15-year-old Ashley Wishart of Port Angeles from the South Valley Street bridge focused the community’s attention on the need for protective barriers. The death of Mark A. Pozzie, 68, of Port Angeles, on March 12 from the same span was the last suicide from the bridges.

Countywide, suicides in Clallam County were on track in 2018 to exceed the 2017 total of 23.

ESTABLISHED 1979

9122736809

912276799

42 Years

KEITH THORPE | PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

A lone hiker walks up Olympic Hot Springs Road in Olympic National Park on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018. The park was closed as a result of a federal government shutdown.

5

Top Clallam County stories of 2018

Here are the Top 10 stories of 2018 that affected specifically Clallam County, as selected by Peninsula Daily News staff.

7

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS: Olympic National Park was open to visitors but offered no services during 2018’s third U.S. government shutdown, which began Saturday, Dec. 22, and continued into the new year.

Two of the shutdowns were over immigration policy disputes between President Donald Trump and Congress.

The first shutdown of the year was Saturday-Monday, Jan. 20-22, when many federal employees were furloughed, although most Homeland Security employees stayed at work.

Funding for the government was stalled over disputes concerning the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy and funding for a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

A second funding gap occurred on Friday, Feb. 9, for nine hours overnight.

A partial federal government shutdown began Dec. 22, when Trump refused to sign an agreement that would have funded several agencies through Feb. 8, 2019, because it lacked $5 billion for a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

Happy New Year!

sunDay, January 6, 2019

Peninsula Daily news

6

2018 Year in review

Peninsula Daily news

sunDay, January 6, 2019

Homelessness impact; Navy pier operation/CONTINUED Serenity House of Clallam County closed its night-by-night, family and single adult clean and sober recovery shelters over the summer due to lack of funding, but with help from a group of churches that pooled together funding, the night-bynight and family shelters were reopened.

In December, Amy Miller and Shenna Younger challenged the city of Port Angeles to spend a night on the streets, a challenge that was also extended to the city of Sequim and Clallam County.

Their goal was to have people who influence policy to be able to speak from experience when discussing homelessness.

3

NAVY DOCK: The second submarine escort complex in the United States began operation at Coast Guard Air Station-Sector Field Office Port Angeles on Ediz Hook.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Maritime Force Protection Unit facility was on Sept. 12.

The Transit Protection System, budgeted to cost $25.6 million, includes a 425foot pier, an armory and an alert-forces building with sleeping quarters for up to 50 submarine escort vessel personnel.

Vessels docked at the pier, and staffed

by Coast Guard crew, escort ballistic-missile-bearing Trident submarines based at Naval Base Kitsap at Bangor through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and to the Pacific Ocean.

Sensitive eelgrass beds were relocated and a rock jetty removed for the project, the final cost of which was not determined JESSE MAJOR | PENINSULA DAILY NEWS when the dock was dedicated. Nearby Cooke Aquaculture salmon pens also must From left, Mike Hollingsworth, Amy Miller and Shenna Younger walk toward the Salvation Army in Port Angeles on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018. be removed by June 30, 2019.

ESTABLISHED 1984

ESTABLISHED 1984

ESTABLISHED 1981

ESTABLISHED 1985

SPA SHOP

PROPERTIES BY

Where Quality & Customer Service are #1

330 E. 1 st St., Ste 1

LANDMARK, INC.

Pellet Heat Company

802 E. Washington Sequim 683-7261

Thanks to all our loyal customers.

Port Hadlock, WA 98339 1-360-385-1771

452-6549 1-800-462-8593 114 E. Front Happy New Year!

33 Years

104 E. First St. • Port Angeles

(360)452-6367

33 Years

711763994

34 Years

since 1986

Port Book And News Thanks for voting us #1 Best Place to Buy Books!

Doing property management 912277809

35 Years

Port Angeles 452-1326

912278376

35 Years

230-C E. 1st St. Port Angeles

912276779

Have a Happy New Year!

912277821

38 Years

www.spashop.com 360.457.4406 1.800.869.7177

24 hr hotline: 1-800-750-1771

912277816

Happy New Year!

901 Ness Corner Rd.

ESTABLISHED 1986

ESTABLISHED 1986

2018 Year in review

7

sunDay, January 6, 2019

Peninsula Daily news

Navy dock; OMC federal lawsuit/CONTINUED advised and unlawful payment reduction to the outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) that threatens access to care and hospitals’ and health systems’ ability to continue to meet the needs of their patients, especially those with the OLYMPIC MEDICAL CENTER: most complex needs and those in vulneraOlympic Medical Center — which ble communities,” the AHA and AAMC said in a statement. had recently slashed $1.7 million In November, the federal Centers for from its 2019 budget — was a named Medicare and Medicaid Services plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed Dec. 4 announced it would move forward with 60 over cuts to Medicare reimbursements at percent cuts to Medicare reimbursements off-site clinics. at off-site clinics, despite the more than The lawsuit, filed by the American 1,700 letters and comments from Clallam Hospital Association (AHA) and AssociaCounty residents arguing against the tion of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) in U.S. District Court in Washing- measure. There were about 3,000 comments total. ton, D.C., against the U.S. Department of Reimbursement to OMC will be cut by Health and Human Services, cites an “illThe Transit Protection System was established after the USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer, was attacked in 2000 by suicide bombers in a small boat, killing 17 sailors in the Yemeni Port of Aden.

4

ESTABLISHED 1986

ESTABLISHED 1986

ALL METAL RECYCLING 452-1621

Happy New Year!

124 S. Albert, Port Angeles

Clallam

®

1520 E. Front St., Port Angeles

452-4320

A special thank you to our loyal customers. Have a happy and prosperous 2019!

RANDY ALDERSON

334 Benson Road, Port Angeles, WA 98363

(360) 417-3564

www.camaraderiecellars.com

360.452.5990

27 Years

Celebrating 26 years of Great Winemaking!

Sharing the Best Things in Life

27 Years

912277817

28 Years

Free Estimates Custom Painting & Color Matching Collision Repair & Insurance Work 1935 Edgewood Drive Port Angeles

912278351

683-4285

360-452-7222

ESTABLISHED 1992

912278360

29 Years

WATER CONDITIONING & BOTTLED WATER

A Village Concepts Retirement Community www.villageconcepts.com 1430 Park View Lane, Port Angeles

1-888-548-6609

ALDERSON’S AUTO BODY & PAINT

912278356

29 Years

Best wishes for the New Year

31 Years ESTABLISHED 1992

Thanks to all our Loyal Customers!

Happy New Year!

912276778

Monday - Saturday 10-6 Sunday 12-5

457-1210

29 years Best Assisted LivingCo.

912278374

(360)457-0794

912276795

29 Years

Cars • Boats • Trains Planes • RC and Supplies...

260 Monroe Road Port Angeles www.drennanford.com

® 1st Place

Drennan & Ford Funeral Home and Crematory

138 W. Railroad • Port Angeles

912276808

271 S. 7th Ave. #26 Sequim • 681-0820

835 E. 2nd St. Port Angeles 452-5820

ESTABLISHED 1991

ESTABLISHED 1990

Mon.- Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Sales & Service you can count on Since 1990!

Reetz

Insurance Services, Inc.

31 Years

ESTABLISHED 1990

ESTABLISHED 1988

912279444

ESTABLISHED 1990

ESTABLISHED 1990

32 Years

5

Your Independent Agency wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all our friends and customers through the years.

912278353

33 Years

452-7902

912278372

912277837

33 Years

452-4222 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

that began Nov. 15 and ended with an agreement on Sunday, Nov. 18. Classes resumed Nov. 19.

The district’s more than 100 paraeducators went on strike and teachers refused to cross picket lines in support of the paraeducators demands for pay raises.

At a bargaining session on Oct. 30, the district had offered the paraeducators a 3.5 percent pay increase, and the association countered with a demand of 22 percent, citing money from the state Legislature for salary increases. The district received the funds to fulfill the state Supreme Court’s mandate to fully fund basic education under its McCleary decision.

PORT ANGELES SCHOOL School officials argued the district was STRIKE: Port Angeles schools were shut down for two days when cash-strapped due to a shortage of levy teachers backed paraeducators in a strike funding.

ESTABLISHED 1988

ESTABLISHED 1987

1210 E. Front Street Port Angeles

about $1.7 million in 2019 and another $1.7 million in 2020, officials said. The move does not affect the other two hospitals on the North Olympic Peninsula: Forks Community Hospital and Jefferson Healthcare.

CEO Eric Lewis has said that the last thing to be cut would be staff but that the hospital would slow down in hiring new employees.

Lewis said the goal will be to maintain all current services OMC provides, but that it will need to slow down on its goals, including the expansion of the Sequim campus and cancer center.

8

2018 Year in Review

Peninsula Daily News

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Paraeducators agreement; marina concerns/CONTINUED The two sides reached an agreement of an increase of about 15 percent as of Aug. 31 through August 2021 — or about 5 percent per year.

The job action by the Paraeducators Association, a local of the Washington Education Association, was the first strike in Washington state by a paraeducators group affiliated with the WEA, said WEA and National Education Association officials.

6

JOHN WAYNE MARINA: An October 2017 inquiry from Bend, Ore. marina developer Ron Cole to the Port of Port Angeles about buying the port-owned John Wayne Marina in Sequim Bay ended with port commissioners Dec. 11 approving a plan to consider leasing the public facility, valued at $7.7 million.

During the intervening 14 months, commissioners rejected plans to sell it and decided against funding $22 million in float, breakwater and piling improvements, needed by 2035, with a levy.

They also were at loggerheads with city of Sequim officials who said the marina, located in the city limits, cannot be privately operated under restrictions in the city shoreline master program.

The port appealed the administrative determination, prompting the city to hire a hearing examiner to adjudicate the challenge.

Listening sessions July 2 in Forks, Port Angeles and Sequim showed the public did not want to fund a levy and wanted to keep the marina open to the public. The port withdrew the appeal later in July.

Requirements for a request for information on lease proposals that will be issued

ESTABLISHED 1994

452-5534

ESTABLISHED 1995

S

FOREIGN & AMERICAN

2357 E. Hwy. 101 Port Angeles

452-4890

AN INDEPENDENT LIVING RESIDENCE

Serving the community for 23 years!

Happy New Year!

360-681-3800 TDD 711

&

Quileute tribal member Ramona Jean Ward, 46, was sentenced June 4 to the maximum 26½ years for homicide by abuse in the Nov. 1, 2016 death of baby Isaac Ward Martinez, the son of her daughter Michelle Ward’s cousin.

7 Cedars Casino

120 S. Albert Port Angeles, WA 98362

452-7991

ESTABLISHED 1995

Custom Computer Sales & Service 1940 E. 1st St. Ste. 154 Port Angeles

452-7880 Party ♣ Game ♦ Shop ♠ Dine ♦ Dance

24 Years

Fast, Friendly Service Since 1995

24 Years

912276782

It’s all fun and games!

912276815

24 Years

912277805

24 Years

Strait Alignment Brakes

Serving the North Olympic Peninsula Since 1995 912277829

912276814

912277811

251 S. Fifth Ave., Sequim suncrestvillage@gres.com

Thank you for your loyalty. We wish you peace & happiness throughout the year.

25 Years

AN INDEPENDENT LIVING RESIDENCE WWW . SUNCRESTSRLIVING . COM

KEITH THORPE | PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

ESTABLISHED 1995

ESTABLISHED 1995

UNCREST VILLAGE

Auto Repair

Zen meditation in the Diamond Sangha lineage

25 Years

7

TALE OF TWO MURDER next year will be considered in January or CASES: Two Clallam County February by port commissioners, who will murder cases — one involving the review conceptual models for a lease after death of a 20-year-old woman and the Dec. 1, 2019. The city of Sequim and Jamestown S’Klallam tribe have expressed other of a 2½-year-old boy — took opposite routes. an interest in submitting a proposal.

ESTABLISHED 1994

NO Sangha

Practicing Zen in Port Angeles for

Boats sit on placid water at John Wayne Marina in Sequim on Friday, July 27, 2018.

2018 Year in Review

9

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Peninsula Daily News

Murder cases; harassment suit settled/CONTINUED Michelle Ann Ward, 29, pleaded guilty to seconddegree criminal mistreatR. Ward mentdomestic violence and solicitation to deliver a controlled substance, oxycodone, to her mother.

Ross Michelle Ward was required Oct. 10 to undergo inpatient drug and alcohol treatment as part of a plea deal to testify against her mother.

Tommy L. Ross Jr., 60, had first- and seconddegree murder charges dismissed Oct. 23 by Clallam

County Superior Court Judge Brian Coughenour, who said Ross’ speedy trial rights had been violated in a case in which Ross was first charged in 1978.

Ross was charged with murder in the April 24, 1978 strangling death of Janet Bowcutt, 20, of Port Angeles, who was found dead in her apartment bedroom with her 6-month-old son on the bed.

Ross had served two years in the Clallam County jail awaiting trial and, before that, 38 years in a Canadian prison for the strangling murder of a Victoria woman, which occurred within weeks of Bowcutt’s death.

The state Court of Appeals is expected to hear the appeal of Coughenour’s ruling by the Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in February.

8

HIGHER GROUND: The Quileute Tribe’s long-planned Move to Higher Ground gained significant momentum with the Sept. 25 announcement of a $44.1 million federal grant to move the tribal school to a new campus out of the storm and tsunami zone.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs grant will be used to build infrastructure, a stateof-the-art, 60,950square-foot school and athletic fields.

The new Quileute Tribal School campus is the first phase in the tribe’s multigenerational effort to move tribal facilities and housing to a 278-acre tract on the hill near the lower village.

Scientists predict that a magnitude-9.0 earthquake will again send a 40-foot tsunami crashing into low-lying coastal areas like La Push.

The last such event occurred on Jan. 26, 1700.

The new Quileute Tribal School will be large enough to support an enrollment of about 175. The current enrollment is 100.

Officials hope to open the new school in 2021.

9

LAWSUIT SETTLED: A sexual harassment suit filed in June 2017 against Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols was settled for $350,000 in December.

Former Clallam County

ESTABLISHED 1996

ESTABLISHED 1996

10

MAGNA FORCE CLOSES: The magnetic levitation company founded in Port Angeles in 1993 by inventor Karl “Jerry” Lamb had been closed, the Port of Port Angeles said in February.

James W. Paulsen Owner

• Veterinarian Recommended • 24-hour care • Lives on Site 912276804

23 Years

ESTABLISHED 1997

Olympic Acupuncture Pat Flood,M.S., EAMP Expert care, compassionately given.

Focusing on eliminating pain & improving wellness.

ESTABLISHED 1998

ESTABLISHED 1998

23 Years

NECESSITIES & TEMPTATIONS

217 N. Laurel Street

Good Health and Happiness to All in 2019! facebook

21 Years

22 Years

RV Park • Golf Course • Clubhouse 9 Hole Golf Course Clubhouse Pull Thurs Propane Group Discounts

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23

between $160,000 to $170,000 after legal fees.

The county will pay a $100,000 deductible for the risk pool lawyer, who had cost over $170,000. The risk pool will pay the remainder of the attorney’s fee as well as any additional legal fees.

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employee Tina Hendrickson — a family friend and admitted romantic interest — said Nichols Nichols sexually harassed her between April 2015 and April 2017, and that he denied her a raise in January 2017.

The county is in a statewide insurance risk pool that will pay the $350,000 to Hendrickson, who said she expects to realize

10

2018 Year in Review

Peninsula Daily News

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Magnetic technology company closes/CONTINUED In 1999, six years after Lamb founded the company in his garage with $1,200 in savings, Magna Force was awarded a $2.1 million marketing contract by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.

In 2002, Lamb demonstrated LEVX technology to then Gov. Gary Locke by levitating a Chevy Corvette a few millimeters above 40 feet of guide rails on the state Capitol grounds in Olympia.

In a 2003 interview, Lamb called LEVX technology “transportation for the 21st century.”

In October 2004, then-gubernatorial candidate Chris Gregoire rode the mag-lev system at the company’s port property during a campaign stop.

In 2004, Bellevue-based MagnaDrive Corp., which had exclusive rights to Lamb’s magnetic technology, was recognized by the accounting firm DeLoitte & Touche USA LLP as one of the nation’s fastest growing companies.

Lamb opened a new headquarters in downtown Port Angeles in 2011 in the former Bank of America building at 102 E. KEITH THORPE | PENINSULA DAILY NEWS Front St. “We have to have a place we can bring Concrete pilings that once supported a magnetic levitation demonstration track stand empty on Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018, the world to,” he said at the time. behind the vacated shops of Magna Force in the Port Angeles Business Park.

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Looking to become a part of our veterinary family? We are now accepting new patients, so please stop by or give us a call to join today!

2018 Year in Review

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Peninsula Daily News

Top Jefferson County stories of 2018

11

Commissioners asked for bids for both Here are the Top 10 stories of 2018 that affected specifically Jefferson start dates. Four bids were received for the project, all exceeding the estimate.

County, as selected by Peninsula The lowest bid was $282,119 over the Daily News staff.

budgeted $3.48 million. However, adding in soft costs and the unanticipated tariffs on Chinese steel, the total cost of the project ballooned to $4.67 million.

It became clear that the port could not afford to move forward and commissioners voted to put the project on hold.

In January, the Northwest Maritime Center proposed that the nonprofit manage the day-to-day operations at the Point Hudson campus through a 50-year master lease that would give control to the organization and give the port $3.5 million up front, $350,000 in annual lease payments, and a commitment of $1 million in capital improvements. This would give the port an infusion of cash and help pay for the jetty.

Executive Director Jake Beattie said he had not received a written counter proposal and pulled the offer in May. Part of the agreement was that the port would have had to commit to replacing the south jetty. Then-Executive Director Sam Gibboney said the port “may have insufficient resources to complete the south jetty.”

1

FAILING JETTIES: The jetties at Point Hudson in Port Townsend are failing and the Port of Port Townsend is struggling to find funding for replacements.

The focus in 2018 was largely on the south jetty, the one with the highest possibility of failure.

In December, a group of stakeholders asked commissioners if the jetties themselves could be considered for historic designation that would open up an opportunity for funding. Volunteers will continue to research the possibilities in 2019.

Port commissioners have spent months and hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultants’ fees for studies and plans, which ultimately led them to accept a steel “combi-wall” design. They applied for and received a state grant of over $1 million and were prepared to issue a $3.2 million municipal bond.

Some members of the community were outraged by the design decision, saying it did not fit the look and feel of the historic marina.

During a tense community meeting March 20, the community listened to options for time frames on when to proceed with construction. A summer start date would affect tourist season and interfere with the iconic Wooden Boat Festival.

A fall start date would be weather dependent and would have to include some wave protection for boats in the marina.

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2

SHOOTING RANGE LAW: After a year of hearings, public testimony and lawsuits, Jefferson County has a commercial shooting facility ordinance.

The Commercial Shooting Facilities Ordinance amends Title 8 of Jefferson County Code that specifically addresses health and safety.

JEANNIE MCMACKEN | PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

Jefferson County commissioners voted Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, to pass a harmonizing ordinance, ending the year-long debate on commercial shooting facilities in the county. Chair David Sullivan called the question as Commissioner Kate Dean, left, and Commissioner Kathleen Kler prepare to announce their vote. The ordinance passed 2-1 with Dean voting nay.

12

2018 Year in Review

Peninsula Daily News

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Shooting range law; Water Street upgrade/CONTINUED Title 18 of the Unified Development Code also was amended, meant to “harmonize” the language with Title 8, focusing on land use.

The Jefferson County commissioners imposed a year-long moratorium on permitting new commercial shooting ranges expiring Dec. 17, 2018. During the year, they set out to develop and approve an ordinance that would regulate and site facilities in the county.

The moratorium was enacted following Joe D’Amico’s proposal for a shooting and archery range on 40 acres near Tarboo Lake in Quilcene.

Changes also would affect the 700 members of the Jefferson County Sportsmen’s Association whose outdoor range is located on county property.

A nine-member review committee was given 120 days to draft and submit a proposed ordinance for existing and new commercial shooting facilities.

Oral testimony from an Oct. 1 public hearing was expunged from the record due to concerns about compliance with the state Open Public Meetings Act. A redo of the meeting was conducted at McCurdy Pavilion at Fort Worden that accommodated more people in a larger venue.

After reviewing citizen comments, commissioners voted Nov. 2 to approve the ordinance. Commissioner Kate Dean voted no.

The Planning Commission was tasked to review land use regulations for commercial shooting facilities. The commission held a public hearing and heard passionate testimony about

the effects a shooting range would have on health, business and the environment.

A draft ordinance’s language was rejected by the chief deputy prosecuting attorney who believed that 14th Amendment rights would have been violated.

Instead, he said land use code exists with the State Environmental Policy Act and conditional use permits.

A final vote was held Dec. 14, with the ordinance passing 2-1.

Dean voted no.

3

HOUSING AND HOMELESS: An interlocal agreement between the Jefferson County commissioners and the Port Townsend City JEANNIE MCMACKEN | PENINSULA DAILY NEWS Council established afford- Crews from Lakeside Industries work Thursday, June 28, 2018, to complete paving of able housing and housing the last section of Water Street while rollers compact the freshly applied asphalt. homeless programs. agreement provides guide- interim homeless shelter Land Trust as it works to The initial two-year service agreement to opercomplete its low-income lines and oversight for the housing project on Cherry expenditure of recording ate an emergency shelter fees and surcharges that in Port Townsend. It will be Street. The apartment comcould reach $49,000 for run by Olympic Commuplex was purchased and affordable housing probarged to its site in May nity Action Programs and 2017. A local contractor has will be in effect through grams and up to $300,000 been hired to begin work on April 30, 2020. for homeless housing, the building now that plans The city of Port including transitional and and permits are in place.

Townsend offered sixemergency housing.

The city approved an months of project manageThe interlocal agree$834,000 bond financing ment also authorized the ment assistance to Homepackage with a 40-year county to enter into an ward Bound Community term that folds in the original $250,000 loan from the city used to purchase and ESTABLISHED 2004 move the complex.

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WATER STREET: Port Townsend threw a party in July after the completion of the $2.7 million Water Street Enhancement Project.

Construction began Jan. 2 from the Port Townsend ferry landing and along Water Street to Taylor Street and was finished in early July.

2018 Year in Review

Sunday, January 6, 2019

Peninsula Daily News

13

Street enhancements; new school opens/CONTINUED

6

PORT PERSONNEL CHANGES: Jim Pavarnik, who had served the Port of Port Townsend as the former deputy director, was called back home in August to lead the port as interim executive director.

Pivarnik plans to hold the post for one year. He had been deputy director of the Port of Port Townsend for 15 years and left to become the executive director of the NEW SCHOOL: Salish Coast Elementary School opened in Port Port of Kingston.

Port of Port Townsend commissioners Townsend to the delight of 498 named Eric Toews, planning director and students on Sept. 11. in-house counsel, to serve as acting execuThe $28.1 million, 68,000-square-foot campus replaced Grant Street Elementary tive director, which he did for four days.

School. It houses students in kindergarten After Pivarnik was hired, Toews was prothrough fifth-grade. moted to deputy director.

The school features large glass winThe changes were precipitated by the resignation of Sam Gibboney from the dows to let in sunlight and solar heating. executive director position. She had School construction, which began in served in the position from June 27, 2016 June 2017, was delayed by an August strike of the International Union of Oper- to Aug. 15, 2018.

Her letter of resignation said that ating Engineers (IUOE) Local 302.

Grant Street Elementary School, which she had “acted as a change agent” and that the “tenure of a change agent can served Port Townsend students for 61 be limited.” years, was demolished last summer.

During her tenure, the port struggled The project was funded mostly by a $40.9 million bond that voters approved in with finding funds to replace the two fail2016. ing Point Hudson jetties, as well as for It replaced aging infrastructure, improved drainage, revamped sidewalks, replaced 80-year-old sewer lines, added streetscape improvements and prepared for the movement of utilities underground.

The PUD is scheduled to move power lines underground in March or April 2019.

5

ESTABLISHED 2005 Door-to-Door, SeaTac and more!

other infrastructure in need of repair or replacement, and faced issues with leases and financial problems.

In addition, relationships grew tense between the Port of Port Townsend and the Port Townsend Marine Trades Association. Gibboney said she was assaulted by a tenant and Port Townsend Marine Trades member at the Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle in November 2017.

She said she reported the incident to the port’s resources director and commissioners immediately and to the Seattle

Police Department in January. A report was filed with the Seattle police on Feb. 2

by Martha Gibboney who said that she and a port tenant were having a disagreement over fees and costs when he touched her inappropriately.

On Dec. 13, 2017 commissioners voted to evict the tenant form his moorage at the Boat Haven, but he left the port voluntarily and the eviction wasn’t executed.

He was not charged with a crime, and Gibboney said that man apologized for his actions.

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JEANNIE MCMACKEN | PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

Salish Coast Elementary School in Port Townsend held its first classes Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018. Along with students and parents, workers were on campus to continue construction.

14

sunDay, January 6, 2019

2018 Year in review

Peninsula Daily news

Port personnel changes; election results/CONTINUED Much of what was discussed in the campaign for sheriff centered around the morale of employees at the Sheriff’s Office and Stanko’s leadership.

Clallam County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney James Kennedy defeated Haas by a 19 percent margin. Kennedy worked for Haas in 2016 before he was hired by Clallam County.

Much of the race for prosecuting attorney centered around management of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

The election also signaled a win for a younger generation. Kennedy is 37 years old; Hass is 57.

Greg Brotherton, 46, of Quilcene, beat Jon Cooke, 60, for the District 3 Jefferson County commissioner seat. Mindy Walker, 42, won the District Court judge race against Noah Harrison, 44. Dan Toepper, 58, won the Jefferson County Public Utility District District 3 seat over Tom Brotherton, 73.

In July 2018, Gibboney attended a meeting sponsored by the marine trades association at the Northwest Maritime Center and saw a photo of the man on display with others in the marine trades. She said she felt it had been posted to escalate tensions.

Commissioners told the port attorney to draft a letter of rebuke to both the marine trades association and Northwest Maritime Center.

Greg Englin, the port’s director of operations and business development, resigned in October when he was chosen to replace Pivarnik in his old job at the Port of Kingston. Gibboney was also a finalist for the Kingston position.

7

ELECTIONS: Jefferson County now has new leadership in the Sheriff’s Office and Prosecuting Attorney’s Office after a contentious general election led to the ousting of Sheriff Dave Stanko and Michael Haas, the chief prosecutor.

HOOD CANAL SHOTS: A New Jefferson County Sheriff’s Detective Jersey man wanted for first-degree JEANNIE MCMACKEN | PENINSULA DAILY NEWS Sgt. Joe Nole, 62, handily defeated Stanko, murder took his life after shooting Greg Brotherton reacts to the announcement of his winning the Jefferson County 70, in the Nov. 6 general election by a 24 at two vehicles on the Hood Canal Bridge percent margin. on July 24. commissioner District 3 seat over Jon Cooke on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018.

8

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2018 Year in review

sunDay, January 6, 2019

Peninsula Daily news

15

Gunfire on bridge; Race to Alaska winners/CONTINUED Krishna Mahadevan-Prasad, 20, was wanted by the Renton Police Department in the killing of a 38-year-old Bellevue woman who was found dead in a Renton motel.

The three vehicles were stopped on state Highway 104 at the Hood Canal Bridge, which was closed for evening maintenance, when gunfire erupted at 3:42 a.m.

One man was wounded in the elbow.

Michael Brooks of Port Angeles and his two daughters were in another car that received gunshots but none were hurt.

9

BRINNON EXPLOSION: A family of five from Monroe were killed in explosion at a Brinnon vacation cabin on June 10.

Jenny and Jerry Drake, both 42, were at the cabin with their three children, ages 11, 8 and 2, when the blast hit.

The explosion and fire were under investigation but appeared to be accidental, law enforcement officials said.

10

RACE TO ALASKA: Team Sail Like A Girl, an eightwoman Bainbridge Island crew, won the fourth annual Race to Alaska in June, completing the race from Port Townsend to Victoria to Ketchikan, Alaska in six days, 13 hours and 17 minutes. The team won $10,000.

Second place went to Team Lagopus of North Vancouver, B.C., which won a set of steak knifes.

The 750-mile Race to Alaska is hosted by the Northwest Maritime Center of Port Townsend. The rules are simple — all watercraft must be powered without

JEANNIE MCMACKEN | PENINSULA DAILY NEWS

Members of team Sail Like A Girl from Bainbridge Island ready themselves to take on the Race to Alaska on Wednesday, June 13, 2018. The all-woman team won the fourth annual competition. motors and no support is provided along the way.

The first all-women crew to win the

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