Jeff, as usual, another great roundup that simply states the facts. In aggregate, what this says to me is simply that there are two divergent views on how government should be run. The current prevailing "progressive" view in Clallam and Jefferson counties, as in Olympia, believes that more and bigger government, funded by increased taxes - primarily on property owners not named JKT - and deficit spending will solve society's ills, both perceived and actual. The minority view is that what is needed is smaller, more responsive government and more individual responsibility for one's own life and actions. I'm still searching the history books to find a case where a nanny state succeeded over time.
That sums up the situation. I am sick of criminals and feel no sympathy for them. Reform has failed and the only answer is to insert criminal beasts into cages where they belong.
The problem started when people who saw a way to suck up more tax dollars convinced enough decision makers that there was a better way, and that brought on reduced sentences, all the touchy feely stuff being foisted on us. The truth is a segment of society will always be a criminal element and the most we can do is keep a lid on their mayhem by incarcerating them.
This subject is very interesting. BTY I complain a lot about Sequim but this is the safest place in which I have ever lived. Both I and Jeff would agree desire improvement. I think the thrust of Jeff's post was some evil fisherman has used a lure that is attracting a criminal element.
Never has, never will...you can't keep adding wheel weights to one side of a tire assembly and achieve balance...in short order, it will destroy the machine it's attached to and then be left in the wreckage after the crash.
No humanoid system has ever lasted long in the bigger time-scale.
We just aren't long-lived enough to gain any real wisdom and we procreate unconsciously, like yeast or bacteria, until we run out of food or die from disease or poisoning, or omnicide!
The German philosopher A. Schopenhauer believed than an invisible "will" controls desire and the thought process. C. Jung called it the unconscious mind. Most organisms are designed to attempt reproduction even though it often ends in death. The happiness of the individual is no concern to the holy "will" IMO.
There's a Clallam County jail frequent flier currently in custody on DOC warrants who is a suspect in the recent felony level burglarization of our home. The revolving door available to repeat offenders is a disgrace. The state's sentencing guidelines for judges that creates this easy exit for criminals is in the hands of a committee selected by the governor. This group needs to be ousted and replaced by folks who've been victimized, but first we a need law and order governor and AG.
FREEDUMB DEFINED: FREE meals, (FREE PIZZA!!!) FREE housing, FREE bus rides, FREE healthcare, FREE paraphernalia w/ instructions (I don't even want to read How To Boof)
These ideas seem utopian to me because my view regarding human nature is a very skeptical one. “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man.” — Mark Twain
I’ve been canvassing my neighbors for petition signatures and was pleasantly surprised that everyone I reached out to agreed to sign. I was a little disappointed that folks didn’t reach out themselves, but I get it. I waited for the petition to be drafted before I did anything myself. This got me thinking that…
As much as I want to do it, representing our citizens as a commissioner really is a full-time job. I already have one of those but I know we must have at least 3 qualified watchdogs on this team. It’s a living wage job, and one that doesn’t and shouldn’t be supplemented by bullshit board positions as it honestly seems like it would take 40 hours a week to do conscientiously.
Eve, the three hamsters (Commissioners) are all on multiple NGO and non-profit boards and committees. I believe if you eliminate the non-required legal boards, etc., you would have time for a 6 figure w/ benefits BoCC position. It doesn't hurt to look at it more closely.
Agree. Honestly, as high as the salary is, I feel it is justified IF (big if) a commissioner actually spends 100% of 40/50 hrs a week representing their community, not dipping their paws in multiple pots.
Needed to pick up some RX at Wal Mart and drove by Ron Allen's home on the way there. In the front of his residence - A campaign sign for Ann Henninger.
The well oiled/greased Steamroller Machine keeps rolling on every day including Saturday and Sunday. Seemingly like money, it never sleeps, it keeps working 24/7. As long as the Machine has people in the position of wielding power on Boards et cetera they will continue to roll on. One can choose to get steam rolled or get on the steam roller or run for an office to oppose the steamroller. Did you know that Congresswoman Emily Randall will be in Sequim on 9/22 to meet with the Sequim City Council?
My appreciation for informing us. There is an elemental, basic, bare bones reality in the arrest of illegal immigrants. It is simple the fact that they are illegal. To those wanting to support illegal immigrants, CHANGE THE LAWS. Charity is not the business of Government. The absence of anti-theft enforcement is a charity program supporting and promoting thieves. Consider Fred Meyer the canary in your mine shaft with the necessity of exercising your second amendment rights drawing closer. There is no fair, equitable or logical defense for different rights for different lineages in a land of equal rights. The abused and abusers that manifested in Treaties are history. Whatever the price of a National guilty conscience might be, it is paid. We went to war with with Japan, Germany and Italy and won. I am not ware of any associated treaties affording those nations rights above ours. Constantly providing hand outs in their innumerable forms only serves to convince the recipients that they need hand outs. Equal gaming rights for all, equal resource harvesting rights for all, equal treatment of all sovereign nations or how about equal rights for all citizens ?
I was hungry so left the SCC meeting last night a bit early as the last item on the agenda arose: Commissioner comments. One Commissioner turned to the Sequim Police Dep't person in attendance and asked if the SPD had prepared a plan to deal with ICE agents if they came to town.
Thank you for attending the meeting, Geoff. Do you know which Commissioner? I want to ask him/her why SCC supports criminals and Cartels over us citizens?
A plan ? ICE is enforcing our laws and Sequim Police should have a plan, if ICE appears ? I suppose a plan of how best to assist ICE is a plan, but I suspect our Commissioner wants a plan of interference. Hence, a fool.
Really well stated. I am getting tired of feeling guilt/blame for the decisions made decades ago. We need to get a clean slate and quit passing
all the intended grief on to future generations. I want off this merry-go-round and I don’t want my daughter to ride it too! Enough has historically been done, by all involved.
The pity money grab needs to stop. Either be a sovereign nation, that only relies on its people, or join the rest of us in the country, that honor the rules of 🇺🇸 the United States of America.
Thank you. My preference for the JKT and like brethren would be that they be my friends and neighbors. Not friends and neighbors with special benefits and rights.
The Treaty of Point No Point, which representatives of their ancestors signed promised to be friendly and commit no depredations on the property of citizens of the territory. So much for their promises.
I agree whole heartedly that the current tax system with the tribe is unfair. But I think the fight would be more fair if both fighters could float freely. No weights on anyone. I want to be treated equal with the tribe. I want my equity.
We have tons of rules, more laws than anyone can keep track of, and a set of ethics based on guilt. Many years ago we had some guys set up a framework for all to follow. They called it the Constitution. But somewhere it was thrown out and disregarded. Bring it back, make all live by it.
Can't make anybody do anything without being a police state...which in spite of good and necessary intentions, to clean up the cities, is still a potent national police force...these things don't remain benign, historically...a necessary evil often becomes an entrenched evil because of 'fallen' human nature.
I want 'the government' to reduce crime...the only way to stop it us just to kill all the criminals as they pop up...but that's not likely...more likely that the dissenters who stand for law and order will be imprisoned and killed off...just sayin', historically speaking...could be different...anything is possible. Hope for the best...prepare for the worst..say la vie!😎
LOL Just as paper wraps rock and scissors cut paper a gun beats a fist. Perhaps if Richard Madeo had used one against the career criminal who murdered him our county would not be providing three hots and a cot for the useless human who should have been behind bars a decade ago.
In many cases there is a genetic component. The lack of empathy can be formed by experience but often it is DNA and we see examples at a very young age. Reproduction should not be a human right. It is controlled in the animal kingdom to provide a superior species. The human kingdom practices reverse evolution.
Governmental power dictates the rules and ethics IMO. Since Satan was mentioned the concept of Hell should be mentioned in more bible classes. My young mind was filled with impure thoughts though why blame Satan? I never desired to have impure thoughts but they just occurred about the same time that females began to wear stiletto heels.
Jeff Tozzer could have chosen a life composed of balance and peace but he desired battle and I admire his spirit ( thymos). Hegal believed that most males struggle for recognition. "One never dives into the water to save a drowning man more eagerly than when there are others present who dare not take the risk.” Neitzsche
Need a time out. It’s important to have the information, but taking care of yourself is job #1. Sometimes I hop off the info train until I feel ready to ride again. So take some “me” time. That’s what my daughter called it when she skipped school!
There is a LOT more to the former Dungeness Golf Course development. The No. 1 green used to float on water, literally, with Matriotti Creek running through the property. The same creek that a fish passage was built on Highway 101 to accommodate spawning salmon, a couple of miles upstream, in Carlsborg.
The Dungeness Golf Course is the name prior to the Jamestown Tribe purchasing the property, and expanding facilities. So, yes, to was prior to the current owners. I worked for the golf course in the 1976 as a Greens Keeper. We excavated the perimeter of No.1 green and curtain drained, which worked, I presume. If one does a visual topographic survey of the entire area, it is apparent where the wetlands lie, primarily in the driving range, which was a swamp in the winter and spring months. I retrieved 1000's of golf balls while walking the area due to not being able to operate equipment on the marsh. I lived at Dungeness Estates, less than a mile away, from 1975 to 1981. I also set irrigation pipe in crops, and drove a pea combine, harvesting pea crops from Agnew to all the way to West Sequim Bay in 1970. I know the Sequim-Dungeness Valley quite well, having lived and witnessed the changes since that time, and being native to Clallam County.
OH, JKT's favorite activity...filling and draining...terra-forming their specialty...amazing what can be accomplished when you get to make your own rules and then frustrate those who want to follow good and proper rules...great business move...not so much sociologically! Satan's minions.😎
Denise, in those meetings, your only hope is Tachylalia
Extremely rapid speech. You'll have to speak VERY LOUDLY too, because there seems to be a certain degree of hearing impairment....if you have a manicurist next to you, I know of one Commissioner who will look your way.
LOL Next to the manicurist Jeff should have a video biographer and a Youtube channel. As a content creator he could create a large national following and expose the failures of our local government.
Well, Jennifer, it was like all the other meetings: Hamsters on a hamster wheel. They congratulated each other on attending their board meetings and reported on them; they sat and listened to public comment and made scowling faces at anyone who didn't agree with their brilliance. But they did answer some questions some commenters had, which was positive until Jeff asked for French to clarify a statement he made regarding dishwashers for the new apartments for "homeless". French was defensive and rude, indicating Jeff had asked the right question. Jeff can tell it better, but what a way to show French's hand!
County policy adds insult to injury. By handing out free syringes, pipes, and “harm reduction kits,” taxpayers are effectively supplying the tools for illegal drug use <-- to then also give out Narcan so they can do it again. It is about making money from them till they die :( But there will be new ones to drain life from since getting the actual drugs off the street is a non issue.
Well maybe we should stop one hand out, the Narcan. That seems cruel, but when you do illegal drugs, you spin the wheel and take your chances. Sorry no known regulations for illegal, uncontrolled drugs. It touches on survival of the fittest.
Brains wired to know better, most start out that way.
I repeatedly contend that the Tribe is really an NGO, operating under special care of a subset of the Commissioners! A most unfortunate outcome of this Tribe/NGO is that it crowds out business and non-tribe commerce! This impacted free and nin-Tribal commerce is fundamentally necessary for Clallam to survive.
Adam Smith would not be happy to watch the "free hand" model of market exchange neutered by rapacious governments. Off topic but shouldn't supply and demand affect interest rates and not a federal reserve bank? Trillions in world currency are affected by a small board of governors interested in the "dual mandate". Even without taxes currency manipulation can become more expensive. Most citizens and corporations choose government security over laissez faire capitalism. Every time we reach Ayn Rand's utopia entrepreneurs like Jay Gould and Jim Fisk ruin the bliss for everyone.
Hi Jeff…we were chatting about your consistent attention to the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s exemption from taxes on land purchases in Clallam County this morning. My husband asked me, “why doesn’t Jeff advocate for removal of the Tribes’s tax exemption or something similar?” Essentially the Tribe is simply following through on an advantage they hold (as would we if we had it), and, while it’s true that the more they purchase the more taxes those of us that are not exempt have to pay, working on changing their tax exemption either County wide or at the federal level as needed, is the answer. Continuing to barrage your readers with the Tribe’s land purchasing actions is not the answer. A new angle for action to change is the answer. So how about coming up with what you want to see and then getting citizens’ comments and then support for change. I don’t think the Commissioners will come up with change without the “what specifically should change, what is the process needed to get the change and who do you need to support and make the change happen”. Your thoughts? Hope
I believe that change begins at home. The closer we are to our own front doors, the more power we have to make a difference.
We manage our household budgets. We care for our properties. We support our neighbors—whether it’s walking a sick friend’s dog or picking up trash on our street. These small acts matter. In a county as close-knit as ours, they add up quickly.
When it comes to state and federal issues, it’s easy to feel like our voices get lost. But locally? We’ve shown that persistence pays off.
For years, we’ve been urging the county to respond to the BIA—to recognize the impact of removing property from the tax rolls. That’s still a goal within reach. And look at what we’ve already accomplished together:
Our commissioners now host monthly town halls.
The Seal Street Park encampment is finally on track to be cleaned up.
Habitat for Humanity had to follow a fair bidding process.
Towne Road is now open to the rightful owners—the people who paid for it.
We’ve already made a big difference. And we’re not done yet.
Perhaps Jeff we could advocate for people to put our properties into trusts like the tribe and not have to pay county taxes? Huh? Why not? As my husband and I were working hard outside today, ages 70, I thought about how we could hire someone else to do this crap! Then I thought ya know there are a lot of older people who don’t have funds to do a lot of things any more especially older people like a large percentage in Clallam County because this is where they come thinking it’s such a desirable place to live. More and more becomes less and less & NOTHING IS GETTING BETTER FOR THE TAX BASE, old or young. I thought about what could really help people for $200,000 a year for 5-10 years, that’s 1-2 MILLION dollars. I’m only talking about a $5 fee, just think about how much we pay in property taxes and what we’re actually getting for ALL THAT MONEY! So Commissioner’s when you think about helping all the people try saying “NAY” if you really want to help people.
Why hasn’t there been a fee charged to panhandlers to panhandle? The fees would go toward other needed services. Why do panhandlers get a free pass because they are more down trodden than someone else, they look like they live in poverty? Why shouldn’t they be responsible like all individuals should & contribute like everyone else has to?
Speaking for myself only… The reason to keep harping on the tribe tax exemptions are because that is the only thing we have hope of changing. No way in hell will property tax exemptions be a thing in this state in our lifetime. However, if we can halt The removal of these properties from the tax rolls that would have a significant impact on our budget both as a county and as individuals having to make up for these short falls.
Our commissioners are responsible for the budget, and also responsible for letting the BIA know that removal of these properties from the tax rules does have an effect on it. Unfortunately, they have abdicated both of these responsibilities
It's also the responsibility of whoever owns the land(parcels) of selling to the tribe to begin with. I can find many ways NOT to sell my property to the tribe.
Its not just the tax break the bocc is giving away but opportunity to do what others may not. Zoning and other regs do not apply to them if the bocc remains silent to the BIA reuest.The only good thing about a gas station or hotel next to your home in a single family residential zone is your tax value may fall. .
SCC is revamping the Sequim Municipal Code. Apparently code changes come about because of laws that are passed by the state legislature. EG ADU units. For all I know that may be why Westbrook was put under moratorium - perhaps that development now violates state law? just a thought.
That’s precisely what these articles are, specifics. Acreage, costs, tax impacts the record commissioners won’t lay out on their own. Citizens can’t even start a conversation about change without that groundwork.
It’s not a barrage, it’s to keep the patter visible. Without a record citizens wouldn’t even know where to start if they decided change is needed.
Ifyou’re talking federal reform that’s a very big hill to climb, not something the commissioners can’t do directly. However before that comes public awareness.
One estimate I heard for just the passage of the Sequim School District levy was at least $1,000 increase on our tax bill. Add in what (no tax increases) Gov. Ferguson signed into law and what will our tax bill look like in 2026? And then take into account all new lands falling under tribal exclusion.
This County is a mess. Secracy, backroom dealing, outright lying by elected officials seems to be the norm. Hidden agendas, hidden.power structures, fleecing of the public is apparent. And NGOs whose purposes are flimsy at best and often.outright lies to make them seem good while designed to accomplish hidden goals. Where is the County prosecutor who is supposed to be watching out for the public's interests. Is he part of the mob that runs our County government?
Do I misunderstand? 9/20 is a petition signing event...but the signed petitions, if mailed, should already have been posted on the 18th? So is Jeff S. going to hand deliver them? What is the final date for the county to actually, officially, have them in-hand?
"Petitions must now be postmarked by Thursday, September 18.
A Sequim-area drive-through signing event is set for Saturday, September 20 (details coming soon)."
Just want to prevent any miscommunication or misunderstanding. Thanks for all your hard work
- Yes, mail those petitions by Sept. 18th so they have a few days to get to Jake Seegers' house.
- The drive-through will be Saturday, the 20th. Folks can drop off the petitions they didn't mail.
- Jake will hand-deliver all petitions to the Commissioners on Tuesday, Sept. 23 at the 10:00 meeting (the new date that the Commissioners are reviewing the CCD request for a parcel fee).
“Going to Hell in a Handbasket”, …describes a situation headed for disaster inescapably or precipitately. [Wikipedia]. Thanks Jeff. Please, I need a boost of positivity, Clallam County and its people making a difference. Please. Ten good reasons we love our County and why we want to remain.
Too much power, too concentrated, is dangerous for anybody.
I can't stand 'committees', way too many m's and t's and e's!🤪
But some kind of committees, BASED ON... High Moral and Ethical grounds, is the only way out.
We can't let loud mouth, anything goes, liberal communist, Godless fanatics decide for the rest of us...but that is what has happened!
I want to believe in a 'moral majority but I don't know?
Do we have one?
We are all vulnerable to the corrupt influences in this world, most of us just don't have to choose that deeply because we aren't put into tempting situations like the kommissars and others, in 'authority' and 'officialdom'.
We don't need to be religious in the perverted sense that many self-righteous seem to be but we MUST accept that we NEED Higher Values to guide us, because we just aren't that wise.
The Higher Values are universal but they have been marginalized and even ridiculed as being unsophisticated or primitive somehow.
How do we come together and put those values into practice without ego tripping us up?
I saw a definition of Right and Wrong recently. It said: "Anything that Harms another is Wrong...everything else is Right."..so if it is claimed 'good' for some (transgenderism) but harms others (being forced to go along, or ridiculed for not going along) then it's WRONG! Forcing another to go along with any ammoral or immoral agenda is WRONG because it causes harm to another.
It is 'harmful' to medically alter an innocent being with hormones and surgery..it harms the very organism it is purported to help!
I haven't played out the whole counter argument that we are 'harming' beings by NOT transgendering them, but that argument (insane) is there.
This IS NOT about queerness or any form of homosexuality, which has always been with us, this is about doing HARM, for whatever reason... or lack of reason! This is just one extreme example of 'how do we come together and manage to do well by everyone possible'.
FIRST DO NO HARM! ...DO UNTO OTHERS!...
'They' have 'flipped the script'...it's time to bring it back to Higher Ground!😎
In the end we have to find our own reasons, for anything, but I hear you, Ken...it's a cognitive dissonance moment when we become aware of how far down the 'road to Rome' we are on...while quietly and ignorantly living our 'free' lives!
Everything we hold dear, especially the relative freedoms we have had and grown used to, is/are being eroded quickly.
We enjoy getting out and walking the dogs and short day-hikes but even that is becoming more crowded, and more 'sharing' of space and less personal freedoms is the reality of the day.
Find your peace and joy where you can...we all need that!😎
Thanks for the map link. That is interesting. Please create a database for each property with sales date, trust transfer date, home/acreage details, sales price, and last annual property taxes paid. I'd really like to know how much has been given up. It looks like the recent winery sale would remove ~$4700/year if went into trust. As I have said before, the basic "net present value" calculation of an annual $4700 payment growing at 3% in perpetuity using a 5% discount rate is $235,000. I would be fine if that were paid today as a trust transfer fee.
Jeff, as usual, another great roundup that simply states the facts. In aggregate, what this says to me is simply that there are two divergent views on how government should be run. The current prevailing "progressive" view in Clallam and Jefferson counties, as in Olympia, believes that more and bigger government, funded by increased taxes - primarily on property owners not named JKT - and deficit spending will solve society's ills, both perceived and actual. The minority view is that what is needed is smaller, more responsive government and more individual responsibility for one's own life and actions. I'm still searching the history books to find a case where a nanny state succeeded over time.
That sums up the situation. I am sick of criminals and feel no sympathy for them. Reform has failed and the only answer is to insert criminal beasts into cages where they belong.
The problem started when people who saw a way to suck up more tax dollars convinced enough decision makers that there was a better way, and that brought on reduced sentences, all the touchy feely stuff being foisted on us. The truth is a segment of society will always be a criminal element and the most we can do is keep a lid on their mayhem by incarcerating them.
True….
This subject is very interesting. BTY I complain a lot about Sequim but this is the safest place in which I have ever lived. Both I and Jeff would agree desire improvement. I think the thrust of Jeff's post was some evil fisherman has used a lure that is attracting a criminal element.
Never has, never will...you can't keep adding wheel weights to one side of a tire assembly and achieve balance...in short order, it will destroy the machine it's attached to and then be left in the wreckage after the crash.
No humanoid system has ever lasted long in the bigger time-scale.
We just aren't long-lived enough to gain any real wisdom and we procreate unconsciously, like yeast or bacteria, until we run out of food or die from disease or poisoning, or omnicide!
We are not our bodies, thank God!😎
The German philosopher A. Schopenhauer believed than an invisible "will" controls desire and the thought process. C. Jung called it the unconscious mind. Most organisms are designed to attempt reproduction even though it often ends in death. The happiness of the individual is no concern to the holy "will" IMO.
There's a Clallam County jail frequent flier currently in custody on DOC warrants who is a suspect in the recent felony level burglarization of our home. The revolving door available to repeat offenders is a disgrace. The state's sentencing guidelines for judges that creates this easy exit for criminals is in the hands of a committee selected by the governor. This group needs to be ousted and replaced by folks who've been victimized, but first we a need law and order governor and AG.
Pray and act!😎
Is it me, or are our leaders playing games?
...”Jamestown’s Growing Footprint”… 1% CLUB
...“Theft rising, businesses closing”… JEOPARDY
...“Firefighters or felons? The Border Patrol arrest”… WHAT’S MY LINE?
...“From Missouri to Clallam County”… LET’S MAKE A DEAL
...“The Tempest still haunts Port Angeles”… LOVE IT OR LIST IT
...“The $5 fee that funds “Diversity””… THE PRICE IS RIGHT
...“Four years later: Housing still unaffordable”… WHEEL OF FORTUNE
...“Open meetings-or closed doors?”... FAMILY FEUD
...“Habitat and the equity question”… I’VE GOT A SECRET
...“Chamber clarifies”… NAME THAT TUNE
FREEDUMB DEFINED: FREE meals, (FREE PIZZA!!!) FREE housing, FREE bus rides, FREE healthcare, FREE paraphernalia w/ instructions (I don't even want to read How To Boof)
Boof. It has something to do with bums’ bums.
This joke, Jennifer's game show comments... You guys are on FIRE today!!!
Don, would the instructions be in words or pictorials? or both?
"See Jane's Bums' Bum"
We'll have public demo's soon...at the transit centers!😱🤣
Robert, will there be FREE PIZZA and POPCORN?!!!!!!
MORE...OF EVERYTHING...FOR EVERYBODY!... IT'S FREEEEEE!🤣
These ideas seem utopian to me because my view regarding human nature is a very skeptical one. “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man.” — Mark Twain
FREEDUMB!!!!🤣😱😵💫😇
You got it, Jennifer! So very clever. I live your wit!
LOVE!
It's definitely a 'game'...a dark one!😱
EXCELLENT!😊
I’ve been canvassing my neighbors for petition signatures and was pleasantly surprised that everyone I reached out to agreed to sign. I was a little disappointed that folks didn’t reach out themselves, but I get it. I waited for the petition to be drafted before I did anything myself. This got me thinking that…
As much as I want to do it, representing our citizens as a commissioner really is a full-time job. I already have one of those but I know we must have at least 3 qualified watchdogs on this team. It’s a living wage job, and one that doesn’t and shouldn’t be supplemented by bullshit board positions as it honestly seems like it would take 40 hours a week to do conscientiously.
Eve, the three hamsters (Commissioners) are all on multiple NGO and non-profit boards and committees. I believe if you eliminate the non-required legal boards, etc., you would have time for a 6 figure w/ benefits BoCC position. It doesn't hurt to look at it more closely.
Agree. Honestly, as high as the salary is, I feel it is justified IF (big if) a commissioner actually spends 100% of 40/50 hrs a week representing their community, not dipping their paws in multiple pots.
They use the NGO and other boards to feather their resumes and get support for their campaigns.
Needed to pick up some RX at Wal Mart and drove by Ron Allen's home on the way there. In the front of his residence - A campaign sign for Ann Henninger.
Yeah, I saw that also, she needs to resign and pull out of the race and leave town.
Kind of like what Shakespeare said, "oh what a tangled web small town politics weave.
They are too busy for us cause their time is taken up with more impotent things….
Thank you for your time and effort!
The well oiled/greased Steamroller Machine keeps rolling on every day including Saturday and Sunday. Seemingly like money, it never sleeps, it keeps working 24/7. As long as the Machine has people in the position of wielding power on Boards et cetera they will continue to roll on. One can choose to get steam rolled or get on the steam roller or run for an office to oppose the steamroller. Did you know that Congresswoman Emily Randall will be in Sequim on 9/22 to meet with the Sequim City Council?
My appreciation for informing us. There is an elemental, basic, bare bones reality in the arrest of illegal immigrants. It is simple the fact that they are illegal. To those wanting to support illegal immigrants, CHANGE THE LAWS. Charity is not the business of Government. The absence of anti-theft enforcement is a charity program supporting and promoting thieves. Consider Fred Meyer the canary in your mine shaft with the necessity of exercising your second amendment rights drawing closer. There is no fair, equitable or logical defense for different rights for different lineages in a land of equal rights. The abused and abusers that manifested in Treaties are history. Whatever the price of a National guilty conscience might be, it is paid. We went to war with with Japan, Germany and Italy and won. I am not ware of any associated treaties affording those nations rights above ours. Constantly providing hand outs in their innumerable forms only serves to convince the recipients that they need hand outs. Equal gaming rights for all, equal resource harvesting rights for all, equal treatment of all sovereign nations or how about equal rights for all citizens ?
I was hungry so left the SCC meeting last night a bit early as the last item on the agenda arose: Commissioner comments. One Commissioner turned to the Sequim Police Dep't person in attendance and asked if the SPD had prepared a plan to deal with ICE agents if they came to town.
Thank you for attending the meeting, Geoff. Do you know which Commissioner? I want to ask him/her why SCC supports criminals and Cartels over us citizens?
A plan ? ICE is enforcing our laws and Sequim Police should have a plan, if ICE appears ? I suppose a plan of how best to assist ICE is a plan, but I suspect our Commissioner wants a plan of interference. Hence, a fool.
Really well stated. I am getting tired of feeling guilt/blame for the decisions made decades ago. We need to get a clean slate and quit passing
all the intended grief on to future generations. I want off this merry-go-round and I don’t want my daughter to ride it too! Enough has historically been done, by all involved.
The pity money grab needs to stop. Either be a sovereign nation, that only relies on its people, or join the rest of us in the country, that honor the rules of 🇺🇸 the United States of America.
Thank you. My preference for the JKT and like brethren would be that they be my friends and neighbors. Not friends and neighbors with special benefits and rights.
The Treaty of Point No Point, which representatives of their ancestors signed promised to be friendly and commit no depredations on the property of citizens of the territory. So much for their promises.
See Towne Road dike breach for the best example before Ozias penned a letter to save their asses.
The local tribes were not conquered or abused. There was no “Trail of Tears” for them.
I agree whole heartedly that the current tax system with the tribe is unfair. But I think the fight would be more fair if both fighters could float freely. No weights on anyone. I want to be treated equal with the tribe. I want my equity.
'Free floating' means no rules, no ethics...which is what we have!
We NEED moral and ethical frameworks, like how MOST of us actually live, but satan has his net cast wide and it's closing fast!
In the end we can only live OUR best life and ride the storm!😎
We have tons of rules, more laws than anyone can keep track of, and a set of ethics based on guilt. Many years ago we had some guys set up a framework for all to follow. They called it the Constitution. But somewhere it was thrown out and disregarded. Bring it back, make all live by it.
Can't make anybody do anything without being a police state...which in spite of good and necessary intentions, to clean up the cities, is still a potent national police force...these things don't remain benign, historically...a necessary evil often becomes an entrenched evil because of 'fallen' human nature.
I want 'the government' to reduce crime...the only way to stop it us just to kill all the criminals as they pop up...but that's not likely...more likely that the dissenters who stand for law and order will be imprisoned and killed off...just sayin', historically speaking...could be different...anything is possible. Hope for the best...prepare for the worst..say la vie!😎
LOL Just as paper wraps rock and scissors cut paper a gun beats a fist. Perhaps if Richard Madeo had used one against the career criminal who murdered him our county would not be providing three hots and a cot for the useless human who should have been behind bars a decade ago.
In many cases there is a genetic component. The lack of empathy can be formed by experience but often it is DNA and we see examples at a very young age. Reproduction should not be a human right. It is controlled in the animal kingdom to provide a superior species. The human kingdom practices reverse evolution.
Governmental power dictates the rules and ethics IMO. Since Satan was mentioned the concept of Hell should be mentioned in more bible classes. My young mind was filled with impure thoughts though why blame Satan? I never desired to have impure thoughts but they just occurred about the same time that females began to wear stiletto heels.
I thought power chose the rules.
You mean like we all could put our properties into a trust and not pay any county taxes? That one is just for a start….
Thanks Jeff.
Great words today!
I had lots to say, then accidentally hit delete.
So I will sit in silence today.
LOL
😇
I get overwhelmed with all the nefarious activity going on, so sometimes I just can't 😩
We're all there with you Kate...facing evil ain't easy...clearing out any residual in us, is all we can do sometimes.
Jung said we have to 'integrate' our 'shadow' in order to have balance and peace...tall order for little humans but worth a shot!😊
Jeff Tozzer could have chosen a life composed of balance and peace but he desired battle and I admire his spirit ( thymos). Hegal believed that most males struggle for recognition. "One never dives into the water to save a drowning man more eagerly than when there are others present who dare not take the risk.” Neitzsche
Need a time out. It’s important to have the information, but taking care of yourself is job #1. Sometimes I hop off the info train until I feel ready to ride again. So take some “me” time. That’s what my daughter called it when she skipped school!
To: Kate Jacobs
That is very interesting. I admire the metaphors and euphemisms.
When I was in high school many decades ago I skipped high school to change sprinklers on farms because I didn't make money attending high school.
Did your daughter have a decent GPA?
I'd be curious to see how the Winery property is developed. Most of it is wetland.
They filled in wetlands at the golf course to expand the driving range...need I say more?
There is a LOT more to the former Dungeness Golf Course development. The No. 1 green used to float on water, literally, with Matriotti Creek running through the property. The same creek that a fish passage was built on Highway 101 to accommodate spawning salmon, a couple of miles upstream, in Carlsborg.
Matriotti Creek.
It runs in the middle of our property.
It is beautiful.
Yet i can not do anything within a 60 foot buffer on each side of the creek.
I enter into a “volunteer” variance to kiss county ass.
You can bet I will be calling *CCD to come fix my “riparian” creek area!!
Every day, all day!!$$$$$😉😉
Enter “Capital” projects & the “Tribal Indulgence” projects.
They don’t care about the fish.
They don’t care about the trees.
They don’t care about the water.( of course some do )
Squaller living arrangements all along the Hood canal.
Front yards used as “Junkyards” & “Trash”.
Evil has our County Commissioner’s by the balls.
Nefarious as %¥#!
Hello Commissioners-👋🏼
Now know my face and where my heart stands.
😇
I had no idea. So it must have been the original builders who put the No. 1 green there before the tribe bought it?
The Dungeness Golf Course is the name prior to the Jamestown Tribe purchasing the property, and expanding facilities. So, yes, to was prior to the current owners. I worked for the golf course in the 1976 as a Greens Keeper. We excavated the perimeter of No.1 green and curtain drained, which worked, I presume. If one does a visual topographic survey of the entire area, it is apparent where the wetlands lie, primarily in the driving range, which was a swamp in the winter and spring months. I retrieved 1000's of golf balls while walking the area due to not being able to operate equipment on the marsh. I lived at Dungeness Estates, less than a mile away, from 1975 to 1981. I also set irrigation pipe in crops, and drove a pea combine, harvesting pea crops from Agnew to all the way to West Sequim Bay in 1970. I know the Sequim-Dungeness Valley quite well, having lived and witnessed the changes since that time, and being native to Clallam County.
OH, JKT's favorite activity...filling and draining...terra-forming their specialty...amazing what can be accomplished when you get to make your own rules and then frustrate those who want to follow good and proper rules...great business move...not so much sociologically! Satan's minions.😎
Another Riparian fix and bird sanctuary no doubt.
Teresa, that forced me to put a shot of whiskey in my morning coffee. I didn't even think of that one!
😁
Great round up before today's BoCC meeting, Jeff! It's just how do I comment on so much in only three minutes?
Denise, in those meetings, your only hope is Tachylalia
Extremely rapid speech. You'll have to speak VERY LOUDLY too, because there seems to be a certain degree of hearing impairment....if you have a manicurist next to you, I know of one Commissioner who will look your way.
LOL Next to the manicurist Jeff should have a video biographer and a Youtube channel. As a content creator he could create a large national following and expose the failures of our local government.
Denise, would love to hear about Boof's, I meant BoCC's meeting if you have the chance : )
Well, Jennifer, it was like all the other meetings: Hamsters on a hamster wheel. They congratulated each other on attending their board meetings and reported on them; they sat and listened to public comment and made scowling faces at anyone who didn't agree with their brilliance. But they did answer some questions some commenters had, which was positive until Jeff asked for French to clarify a statement he made regarding dishwashers for the new apartments for "homeless". French was defensive and rude, indicating Jeff had asked the right question. Jeff can tell it better, but what a way to show French's hand!
Tomorrow's article. And to think I woke up today saying, "I don't have anything to write about" :)
LOL!
Jeff, can't wait. Can you have it out at 4AM, that's when most of us "old bones" wake up. I'm not lying!
For you, Jennifer? Absolutely!
Thank you Denise, I really do appreciate your feedback : )
I doubt French has any fingernails left, toenails next.
Eric, eww, now I have a visual!
County policy adds insult to injury. By handing out free syringes, pipes, and “harm reduction kits,” taxpayers are effectively supplying the tools for illegal drug use <-- to then also give out Narcan so they can do it again. It is about making money from them till they die :( But there will be new ones to drain life from since getting the actual drugs off the street is a non issue.
Well maybe we should stop one hand out, the Narcan. That seems cruel, but when you do illegal drugs, you spin the wheel and take your chances. Sorry no known regulations for illegal, uncontrolled drugs. It touches on survival of the fittest.
Brains wired to know better, most start out that way.
Harm reduction, what a cute little title, don’t run with scissors and don’t inject illicit substances.
I repeatedly contend that the Tribe is really an NGO, operating under special care of a subset of the Commissioners! A most unfortunate outcome of this Tribe/NGO is that it crowds out business and non-tribe commerce! This impacted free and nin-Tribal commerce is fundamentally necessary for Clallam to survive.
Our 'FREE-MARKET' in action!
The only trouble is, it's a 'FEE MARKET' for the rest of us!😱
Adam Smith would not be happy to watch the "free hand" model of market exchange neutered by rapacious governments. Off topic but shouldn't supply and demand affect interest rates and not a federal reserve bank? Trillions in world currency are affected by a small board of governors interested in the "dual mandate". Even without taxes currency manipulation can become more expensive. Most citizens and corporations choose government security over laissez faire capitalism. Every time we reach Ayn Rand's utopia entrepreneurs like Jay Gould and Jim Fisk ruin the bliss for everyone.
Hi Jeff…we were chatting about your consistent attention to the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s exemption from taxes on land purchases in Clallam County this morning. My husband asked me, “why doesn’t Jeff advocate for removal of the Tribes’s tax exemption or something similar?” Essentially the Tribe is simply following through on an advantage they hold (as would we if we had it), and, while it’s true that the more they purchase the more taxes those of us that are not exempt have to pay, working on changing their tax exemption either County wide or at the federal level as needed, is the answer. Continuing to barrage your readers with the Tribe’s land purchasing actions is not the answer. A new angle for action to change is the answer. So how about coming up with what you want to see and then getting citizens’ comments and then support for change. I don’t think the Commissioners will come up with change without the “what specifically should change, what is the process needed to get the change and who do you need to support and make the change happen”. Your thoughts? Hope
I believe that change begins at home. The closer we are to our own front doors, the more power we have to make a difference.
We manage our household budgets. We care for our properties. We support our neighbors—whether it’s walking a sick friend’s dog or picking up trash on our street. These small acts matter. In a county as close-knit as ours, they add up quickly.
When it comes to state and federal issues, it’s easy to feel like our voices get lost. But locally? We’ve shown that persistence pays off.
For years, we’ve been urging the county to respond to the BIA—to recognize the impact of removing property from the tax rolls. That’s still a goal within reach. And look at what we’ve already accomplished together:
Our commissioners now host monthly town halls.
The Seal Street Park encampment is finally on track to be cleaned up.
Habitat for Humanity had to follow a fair bidding process.
Towne Road is now open to the rightful owners—the people who paid for it.
We’ve already made a big difference. And we’re not done yet.
Perhaps Jeff we could advocate for people to put our properties into trusts like the tribe and not have to pay county taxes? Huh? Why not? As my husband and I were working hard outside today, ages 70, I thought about how we could hire someone else to do this crap! Then I thought ya know there are a lot of older people who don’t have funds to do a lot of things any more especially older people like a large percentage in Clallam County because this is where they come thinking it’s such a desirable place to live. More and more becomes less and less & NOTHING IS GETTING BETTER FOR THE TAX BASE, old or young. I thought about what could really help people for $200,000 a year for 5-10 years, that’s 1-2 MILLION dollars. I’m only talking about a $5 fee, just think about how much we pay in property taxes and what we’re actually getting for ALL THAT MONEY! So Commissioner’s when you think about helping all the people try saying “NAY” if you really want to help people.
Why hasn’t there been a fee charged to panhandlers to panhandle? The fees would go toward other needed services. Why do panhandlers get a free pass because they are more down trodden than someone else, they look like they live in poverty? Why shouldn’t they be responsible like all individuals should & contribute like everyone else has to?
Speaking for myself only… The reason to keep harping on the tribe tax exemptions are because that is the only thing we have hope of changing. No way in hell will property tax exemptions be a thing in this state in our lifetime. However, if we can halt The removal of these properties from the tax rolls that would have a significant impact on our budget both as a county and as individuals having to make up for these short falls.
Our commissioners are responsible for the budget, and also responsible for letting the BIA know that removal of these properties from the tax rules does have an effect on it. Unfortunately, they have abdicated both of these responsibilities
Therefore, the commissioners should be held accountable, and the conflicts of interest exposed.
It's also the responsibility of whoever owns the land(parcels) of selling to the tribe to begin with. I can find many ways NOT to sell my property to the tribe.
Joe, but only if you have the luxury of that choice ; )
Its not just the tax break the bocc is giving away but opportunity to do what others may not. Zoning and other regs do not apply to them if the bocc remains silent to the BIA reuest.The only good thing about a gas station or hotel next to your home in a single family residential zone is your tax value may fall. .
SCC is revamping the Sequim Municipal Code. Apparently code changes come about because of laws that are passed by the state legislature. EG ADU units. For all I know that may be why Westbrook was put under moratorium - perhaps that development now violates state law? just a thought.
That’s precisely what these articles are, specifics. Acreage, costs, tax impacts the record commissioners won’t lay out on their own. Citizens can’t even start a conversation about change without that groundwork.
It’s not a barrage, it’s to keep the patter visible. Without a record citizens wouldn’t even know where to start if they decided change is needed.
Ifyou’re talking federal reform that’s a very big hill to climb, not something the commissioners can’t do directly. However before that comes public awareness.
One estimate I heard for just the passage of the Sequim School District levy was at least $1,000 increase on our tax bill. Add in what (no tax increases) Gov. Ferguson signed into law and what will our tax bill look like in 2026? And then take into account all new lands falling under tribal exclusion.
This County is a mess. Secracy, backroom dealing, outright lying by elected officials seems to be the norm. Hidden agendas, hidden.power structures, fleecing of the public is apparent. And NGOs whose purposes are flimsy at best and often.outright lies to make them seem good while designed to accomplish hidden goals. Where is the County prosecutor who is supposed to be watching out for the public's interests. Is he part of the mob that runs our County government?
Harold: Mark B. Nichols is our Prosecuting Attorney, apparently he doesn't read CCWD
Then again, I'm not sure who the County prosecutor is.
This is an important community action!
Do I misunderstand? 9/20 is a petition signing event...but the signed petitions, if mailed, should already have been posted on the 18th? So is Jeff S. going to hand deliver them? What is the final date for the county to actually, officially, have them in-hand?
"Petitions must now be postmarked by Thursday, September 18.
A Sequim-area drive-through signing event is set for Saturday, September 20 (details coming soon)."
Just want to prevent any miscommunication or misunderstanding. Thanks for all your hard work
Great questions!
- Yes, mail those petitions by Sept. 18th so they have a few days to get to Jake Seegers' house.
- The drive-through will be Saturday, the 20th. Folks can drop off the petitions they didn't mail.
- Jake will hand-deliver all petitions to the Commissioners on Tuesday, Sept. 23 at the 10:00 meeting (the new date that the Commissioners are reviewing the CCD request for a parcel fee).
Clear as mud?
Is it possible that the commissioners could push this fee a week early?
We will keep an eye out this Thursday or Friday when they publish next week's agenda. I like the way you think.
Well we know they can't be trusted. What a perfect scenario for the commissioners, to push this fee through with not one petition in front of them.
“Going to Hell in a Handbasket”, …describes a situation headed for disaster inescapably or precipitately. [Wikipedia]. Thanks Jeff. Please, I need a boost of positivity, Clallam County and its people making a difference. Please. Ten good reasons we love our County and why we want to remain.
It is not easy to find a man or woman of valor & integrity today- Yet they are among us 😀
Too much power, too concentrated, is dangerous for anybody.
I can't stand 'committees', way too many m's and t's and e's!🤪
But some kind of committees, BASED ON... High Moral and Ethical grounds, is the only way out.
We can't let loud mouth, anything goes, liberal communist, Godless fanatics decide for the rest of us...but that is what has happened!
I want to believe in a 'moral majority but I don't know?
Do we have one?
We are all vulnerable to the corrupt influences in this world, most of us just don't have to choose that deeply because we aren't put into tempting situations like the kommissars and others, in 'authority' and 'officialdom'.
We don't need to be religious in the perverted sense that many self-righteous seem to be but we MUST accept that we NEED Higher Values to guide us, because we just aren't that wise.
The Higher Values are universal but they have been marginalized and even ridiculed as being unsophisticated or primitive somehow.
How do we come together and put those values into practice without ego tripping us up?
I saw a definition of Right and Wrong recently. It said: "Anything that Harms another is Wrong...everything else is Right."..so if it is claimed 'good' for some (transgenderism) but harms others (being forced to go along, or ridiculed for not going along) then it's WRONG! Forcing another to go along with any ammoral or immoral agenda is WRONG because it causes harm to another.
It is 'harmful' to medically alter an innocent being with hormones and surgery..it harms the very organism it is purported to help!
I haven't played out the whole counter argument that we are 'harming' beings by NOT transgendering them, but that argument (insane) is there.
This IS NOT about queerness or any form of homosexuality, which has always been with us, this is about doing HARM, for whatever reason... or lack of reason! This is just one extreme example of 'how do we come together and manage to do well by everyone possible'.
FIRST DO NO HARM! ...DO UNTO OTHERS!...
'They' have 'flipped the script'...it's time to bring it back to Higher Ground!😎
In the end we have to find our own reasons, for anything, but I hear you, Ken...it's a cognitive dissonance moment when we become aware of how far down the 'road to Rome' we are on...while quietly and ignorantly living our 'free' lives!
Everything we hold dear, especially the relative freedoms we have had and grown used to, is/are being eroded quickly.
We enjoy getting out and walking the dogs and short day-hikes but even that is becoming more crowded, and more 'sharing' of space and less personal freedoms is the reality of the day.
Find your peace and joy where you can...we all need that!😎
Thanks for the map link. That is interesting. Please create a database for each property with sales date, trust transfer date, home/acreage details, sales price, and last annual property taxes paid. I'd really like to know how much has been given up. It looks like the recent winery sale would remove ~$4700/year if went into trust. As I have said before, the basic "net present value" calculation of an annual $4700 payment growing at 3% in perpetuity using a 5% discount rate is $235,000. I would be fine if that were paid today as a trust transfer fee.