Clallam County has recreated the Wild West—not with gunmen, but through selective enforcement and policies that reward lawlessness while punishing responsibility. Using real cases from Sequim neighborhoods and public land in Port Angeles, Jake Seegers shows how squatters and illegal structures are tolerated in the name of “compassion,” while tax-paying property owners face relentless regulation. This Sundays With Seegers piece confronts the county’s double standard and asks who is truly being protected when officials refuse to enforce their own laws.
Olympic Outlaws
During the mid-to-late 1800s, large portions of the American West were ruled by lawlessness. In many frontier towns, there was no functioning government, no reliable courts, and no effective policing. In that vacuum, criminals seized property, enforced power through violence, and ruled by fear.
Today, the Wild West is alive and well in Clallam County.
But the outlaws are no longer roving gunmen. They are policies, bureaucracies, and the elected officials who protect the lawless to the detriment of the lawful.
Businesses and property owners now live under constant threat of losing what is theirs — not through violence, but through burdensome taxation, endless regulation, and the steady transfer of authority to self-serving NGOs. State, county, and city leaders cloak these policies in the language of compassion while refusing to enforce their own laws on public property or defend the rights of law-abiding citizens.
Dreams Shattered
Fifteen years ago, a working couple finally purchased their dream home in Sequim. He drove a truck. She cared for the elderly. They lived frugally and saved carefully. With a $250,000 budget, the home she loved almost seemed out of reach — yet their offer was unexpectedly accepted because of the sellers’ divorce court order. The working couple believed they had found their piece of paradise.
About eight years ago, that dream began to collapse.
Their elderly neighbor allowed a young tenant to move in. The tenant soon attracted additional occupants. Trash accumulated, junk vehicles appeared, and midnight disturbances echoed throughout the neighborhood.
According to the neighborhood, the sheriff’s office was called repeatedly to report illegal dumping, noise disturbances, and accumulating vehicles.
Then, in December 2024, the neighbor passed away.
The young tenant immediately claimed ownership. Others moved in. RVs arrived. The house, already in poor condition, deteriorated further.
There is no will. No probate has been filed. The title remains in the deceased’s name. HUD holds the reverse mortgage and will not take possession until foreclosure, which could be six months or more away.
According to a HUD specialist, county officials claim that because no current owner exists, code enforcement cannot act.
“I have received communication from the Clallam County Commissioners who informed [me] their code enforcement has tools at their disposal, but it only applies to homeowners. And, since HUD is not on the title yet, we can’t legally remove the squatters.” — HUD specialist
Meanwhile, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office has responded to over 100 calls at the property, mostly since 2017. According to Sheriff King, CCSO has handled assaults, disturbances, weapons discharges, threats, harassment, noise complaints, warrant arrests, stolen property recoveries, and suspicious circumstances. Arrests occur — and the same people return.
In an email response, Sheriff King stated:
“If [HUD] were to foreclose on the property, and re-list for sale, everyone would be evicted. CCSO has been there a lot and we know that drug use is a theme.”
Meanwhile, the tight-knit Sequim neighborhood feels helpless and abandoned by the very system they finance with their property tax dollars — a system that is failing to protect the dreams they worked so hard to build.
Public Land Outlaws
The absence of clearly identifiable ownership is just one of several situations in which county and city officials decline to initiate code enforcement.
In the modern Wild West of Clallam County, trespassers on county, city, and port land are routinely allowed to break the law, disrupt neighborhoods, degrade property values, and pollute the environment — actions that would quickly trigger fines, penalties, or even foreclosure if committed by tax-paying property owners.
One such example sits on a steep bluff in Port Angeles between Country Aire and the residences above.
The structure was first discovered and reported to the Port Angeles Police Department (PAPD) by the local cleanup nonprofit 4PA on September 30, 2025.
Three weeks later, in the absence of enforcement, the structure continued to grow.
Nearly four months after the initial report, the hazardous, unpermitted structure remains in place. Despite at least two PAPD notices to vacate—both ignored—the occupants have neither been removed nor cited. Instead, construction activity has intensified.
Walls, a pitched roof, Styrofoam insulation, and a front door have been added.
Neighbors endure early-morning hammering and power-tool noise as occupants openly boast that they work when no one is watching.
The growing weight of these additions is supported by cedar branches, one of which is precariously propped up with a car jack.
This is public land. No permits. No safety inspections. No accountability.
Why? Because enforcement might appear “uncompassionate.”
Yet the same officials enforce every code, fee, and regulation against tax-paying property owners — without hesitation.
The Double Standard
During an October 27th, 2025 Work Session, Commissioner Mike French stated:
“The basis of property rights is productive use… when people are harming the productive use of adjacent properties, we must use every legal tool available.”
That standard is not applied to squatters, illegal encampments, or unpermitted structures — nor to county, city, or port properties that violate the very codes imposed on everyone else.
Officials appear to fear litigation while ignoring the massive liability posed by the dangerous, unpermitted structures on the land they steward. Will it take a tragedy before county commissioners and the Port Angeles City Council have the courage to enforce their own codes?
Elected officials continue to promote failed policies that lead to this level of self-harm and environmental disaster. They allow hazardous construction by the lawless on public land while enforcing onerous building codes that the lawful cannot afford.
All three commissioners admit Washington’s new building codes make affordable housing nearly impossible — yet they refuse to draw a hard line with the state on behalf of citizens.
Commissioner Johnson calls defying state mandates “anarchy.”
What does Commissioner Randy Johnson call this?
How long will outlaws be allowed to thrive in the Wild West of Clallam County?
A Better Way
1. Remove the option of living outside on public land.
It is time for city and county officials to enforce their own ordinances on their own land. Unpermitted landfills, open trash piles, dumping in critical areas, improper disposal of human waste, unsafe and unpermitted structures, and ongoing illegal activity would never be tolerated on private property — and they should not be tolerated on taxpayer-owned property either. Public land must be held to the same standards as everyone else.
2. Harness the services property owners already pay for.
4PA is funded 100% by private donations. Yet Clallam County and the City of Port Angeles increasingly rely on 4PA as their unofficial, unpaid cleanup crew for public lands. Every dollar 4PA spends removing trash from areas the government refuses to enforce is a dollar diverted from its housing projects and long-term solutions.
Meanwhile, taxpayers are already paying for clean and healthy waterways.
In 2025, the commissioners mandated that Clallam property owners fund the Clallam Conservation District (CCD) at $200,000 per year, an agency that claims to protect water quality and restore riparian environments. If the public is required to pay for these services, then the public should also demand real outcomes — starting with immediate cleanup of the environmental disasters along Tumwater Creek.
3. End the cycle.
Clean up encampments, enforce the law, and maintain the land — instead of repeatedly cleaning the same sites after months of neglect and new abandonment.
4. Focus resources on the greatest need.
Before the Department of Community Development and the commissioners impose new ordinances on law-abiding property owners, they must first restore the dreams of the neighborhood in Sequim. Every available code-enforcement and law-enforcement tool should be used.
Ownership of the property may be unresolved, but the junk vehicles are not. What enforcement actions can be taken now to address derelict vehicles independent of land ownership?
What can you do?
1. Let the commissioners and city council know that you expect them to manage public land under the same ordinances that they demand of the citizens.
2. Write the commissioners and Director Emery to share how you believe the proposed RV/ADU/Vacation Rental ordinances should be modified to protect—and expand—property rights. Let them know where you stand on short-term rental limits and any further restrictions on property rights. Written public comment must be submitted before the January 20th Board of Commissioners meeting to be considered.
3. Attend the January 20th commissioner board meeting at 10 AM and submit public comment before the commissioners continue to deliberate on RV/ADU/Vacation Rental ordinances. Let them know how you feel about their double standard in enforcement.
All 3 commissioners can be reached by writing the Clerk of the Board at Loni.Gores@clallamcountywa.gov. The DCD Director can be reached by emailing Bruce.Emery@clallamcountywa.gov. The entire Port Angeles City Council can be reached by emailing council@cityofpa.us.
Two weeks ago, Jake Seegers asked readers if Clallam County should cap or further restrict short-term rentals. Of 86 votes:
55% said, “No. This violates property rights.”
30% said, “No. Incentives are more effective.”
14% said, “Yes. Short-term rentals = less rentals.”
1% said, “Only in specific areas.”
Editor’s Note: CC Watchdog editor Jeff Tozzer also serves as campaign manager for Jake Seegers during his run for Clallam County Commissioner, District 3. Learn more at www.JakeSeegers.com.
