Proclamations and Encampments Grow at Steady Rate
Celebrating symbolism while real problems remain untouched
Welcome to Social Media Saturday, a new CC Watchdog roundup highlighting what residents, officials, and scanners are revealing online — often faster and more honestly than public meetings. This week’s snapshot contrasts elected leaders’ fixation on proclamations with the visible deterioration of public spaces, ongoing encampments, and a justice system that cycles repeat offenders through in a matter of hours.
Sequim
It has been six months since CC Watchdog began reporting on Seal Street Park in downtown Sequim. Six months later, the park remains occupied by vagrants, shopping carts, and makeshift camps — a condition residents regularly document on social media and quietly avoid in real life.
Just one block north, inside City Hall, the Sequim City Council had a far more productive year.
In 2025 alone, the council issued 24 proclamations, including:
Honoring Councilor Kathy Downer
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
National Human Trafficking Prevention Month
Black History Month
Boy Scout Troop 90
Teacher Appreciation Week
Police Week / Peace Officers Memorial Day
Arbor Day
Bike Month
International Dark Sky Week
Juneteenth
Missing and Murdered Indigenous People
Pride Month
World Migratory Bird Day
Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society
Overdose Awareness Day
Constitution Week
Resilience Awareness Month
Sister City – Shiso City
Indigenous Peoples Day
Veterans Day
Native American Heritage Month
Emily Westcott Proclamation
Honoring Councilor Vicki Lowe
That’s a proclamation roughly every two weeks — impressive output, if symbolism were the metric residents cared about most.
Port Angeles
In Port Angeles, social media and police scanner chatter tell a less ceremonial story.
An estimated 135 people are now living in encampments along Tumwater Creek, an area that recently underweodnt a multi-million-dollar salmon restoration project intended to protect treaty rights.
A question repeatedly raised online — and never answered publicly — is simple:
Where does the human waste of 135 people go when they live alongside a creek?
A previous CC Watchdog article on Backman reported that he has a long and violent history. In 2013, “Washington’s Most Wanted” featured him as a fugitive. At that time, he was on probation for robbery in Kitsap County and wanted for failing to report. Port Angeles police also had probable cause to arrest him for assault after a series of violent threats toward a former girlfriend.
Good Governance Daily Proverb
Evidence only matters when it is shared, localized, and measured against outcomes the public can see; otherwise, “ample evidence” becomes a belief, not governance.
The commissioners did not answer the last question about frequent instances in which public commenters are disregarded. Here is today's email:
Dear Commissioners,
Encampments along Tumwater Creek keep growing, some on county land, and we’re being told there are about 135 people living there without proper sanitation or services. What’s the actual plan to deal with this, with timelines we can understand, and why does it feel like more time is going into targeting law-abiding citizens than fixing these problems?
All three commissioners can be reached by contacting the Clerk of the Board at: loni.gores@clallamcountywa.gov