The Shore Aquatic Center Board (Mike French, Randy Johnson, Mark Hodgson, LaTrisha Suggs, Greg Shields) did not respond to questions about the potential liability of distributing vouchers which allow homeless drug addicts to shower with families and children. Here is today's email sent to the county commissioners and Viola Ware, the Executive Director of OlyCAP.
Dear Commissioners and Director Ware,
If OlyCAP Executive Director Viola Ware is approving payroll and other expenditures associated with the program, how can she also say she cannot explain where the funding is going? Taxpayers deserve a clear accounting of how the $118,000 is being spent.
From the outside, the program appears to function largely as a jobs program for OlyCAP while serving very few participants. Can the Board provide a detailed breakdown of how these funds have actually been allocated?
OlyCAP has adopted a policy of not engaging with the public, despite the fact that county taxpayers fund these programs. Why is a county-funded contractor permitted to refuse to answer questions from members of the public?
Finally, how does the Board address the appearance of a conflict of interest when a county commissioner serves on OlyCAP's board while the county awards funding to that organization, and OlyCAP's executive director also serves in county leadership roles related to these programs? What safeguards are in place to ensure independent oversight?
Thank you for your time. I would appreciate a response to each of these questions.
Nice work, Patriot's Jeff Tozzer and Jake Seegers~!
I believe that most would agree that if our taxpayer funds are being spent, that the public has an absolute right to know everything about where and how those monies are spent, as well as the justification for spending the money in the first place, and a full disclosure of the results. This would not only be consistent with good & legitimate business practices in general, but I would expect that it should be mandatory when the taxpayers are being forced into paying for anything~! That policy would at least be respectful, considering that all too often the taxpayers are given no vote or say at all in these matters. Anything less creates opportunities for abuses of public funds and suspicion that the funds are being mismanaged and potentially stolen to be used against the best interests of the general public. It is just a simple matter of proper and transparent accounting that I would expect already exists with regard to all other required bookkeeping responsibilities of the church and other NGOs that may be involved, so the fact that these questions should even exist is alarming. I am not exactly sure where or when this highly questionably and suspicious "convenient excuse" came from, that just because the taxpayer funds left the hands of "the government" the funds suddenly magically disappear from the public view for some bizarre reason, however there is old well-established president that actually supports quite the opposite reality! Most Americans are unaware that there is no two-year foreign language requirement to be admitted into college as they have been told all of their lives, and this has always been because the vast majority of colleges in the US accept taxpayer funding in one way or another, which prohibits any colleges that do so from excluding anyone from enrollment based upon a lack of previous foreign language classes. I suspect that in order for someone to be admitted into the St. Andrew's so called "Safe Parking Program", that they are not required to attend any religious services and/or be a member of the St. Andrew's church, which would also be a violation of the law (The American Constitution) regarding the use of American taxpayer funds. As the government corporations here in our community are constantly spending our taxpayer finds on questionable things that many in the community find to be against their wishes and best interests, especially as these same government corporations CONSTANTLY demand more & more taxpayer funding, it would be a simple commonsense decision to establish a transparent accounting process that also validated the expense in these cases~! Enough with the "sleight of hand" accounting and "trust me" BS~!
Selling chocolate eggs and polliwog chocolates is a side hustle. This is a full-blown government contract disguised as local charity. 118 grand buys a lot of chocolate eggs and polliwog chocolates.
The Sequim Safe Parking Program was designed as a temporary, transitional stepping stone rather than a permanent housing solution. That's such a laughable description when I recall Milton Friedman's famous assertion, "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program." His phrase was popularized in his 1984 book Tyranny of the Status Quo. He argued that because bureaucracies and beneficiaries develop strong vested interests in their survival, even failed or obsolete interventions become nearly impossible to eliminate.
I forgot to mention that the church explained there's a 3-month limit to participating in the program, which can be extended another 3 months if requested. Not very much about this seems temporary.
They still have not answered the ? Of who is a member at the church and on the council. How did they pick this church? Was there a bid process? How much did it cost to make this a safe parking lot? When they get caught in their little scams they try to cover up and no transparency. Surprised? NOT.
If you divide $118,000 by $125 - which I am sure the county could negotiate as a room rate at a decent hotel somewhere in the county - that equates to 944 nights, where these "needy" people could sleep in a room with a bathroom, and not a vehicle that has to be supervised. So, does this program really make any sense? And what caught my attention was the "mission creep" of "the church may seek additional funding in the future to build roofs over sanitation stations and to pay for guests’ vehicle repairs." So now the taxpayer has to repair a participant's vehicle? What a boondoggle ....
Between the mandatory "consulting fees," the endless oversight, and the budget lines for program management, it's amazing there is any money left over for a couple of portable toilets. It is truly inspiring to see a house of worship master the art of bureaucratic grant writing, inside networking, and bypassing the separation of church and state all at once. STAH-FER!
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The Rule and the Test
The Establishment Clause: This constitutional rule prohibits the government from establishing a religion or preferring one religion over another. It forms the legal basis for the "separation of church and state.
"The Lemon Test: For decades, courts used this specific legal test to determine if a government contract with a church was constitutional. To be legal, the government funding must have a secular (non-religious) purpose, cannot primarily advance or inhibit religion, and must not result in "excessive government entanglement" with religion.
How It Applies Here
In the case of safe parking programs, municipalities argue they are bypassing this rule legally because they are strictly buying a secular service (homeless sheltering and security) rather than funding religious activities. However, critics argue that giving six-figure taxpayer grants to a church still violates the spirit of the law and creates an unconstitutional partnership between government and religious institutions.
The Constitutional Violation: A Funded Merger of Church and State
The use of public tax dollars to fund the safe parking operation at Trinity United Methodist Church constitutes an unconstitutional entanglement of government and religion, directly violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The constitutional wall between church and state is breached in three distinct ways:
Direct Funding of Religious Infrastructure: While defenders claim the church receives zero dollars, Clallam County tax revenue directly finances the infrastructure—including security, sanitation, and paid staff shifts—necessary to make the church’s own chosen ministry function. Without the state bankrolling the daily operational overhead, the church's program collapses. The government is effectively subsidizing the community footprint and outreach capacity of a religious institution.
Excessive Government Entanglement: The state cannot fund church programs without monitoring how public dollars are spent. Because county-funded staff (via agencies like OlyCAP) are deployed to church property daily, the state is forced into an ongoing, daily operational partnership with a house of worship. This continuous oversight and co-management of church grounds create the exact "excessive entanglement" that the constitution explicitly forbids.
Political Insider Entanglement: The separation of church and state exists to prevent religious factions from gaining unfair access to government power and funds. When church insiders like Jim Stoffer hold dual roles within the church community and municipal homelessness task forces, the process is compromised. It creates a closed loop where church members influence public policy to steer taxpayer resources back to their own congregation's project, obliterating objective secular governance.
By funding the labor and infrastructure required to operate a religious site, the county has moved from secular public service into active state sponsorship of a church-managed program.
When will someone shout, "White Christian Nationalists?"
"According to Ware, the program is managed by Trinity United Methodist Church"
Crickets, because like being the wrong kind of Alphabet person the progressives need to divide the country into in order to survive this is the OK religion.
Regarding Sundays with Seegers: it can be a very difficult discussion between a believer and a nonbeliever.
Thank you for standing up as a Christian and maintaining your partnership with the lord. Churches scare people bc they think they will talk in tongues and someone will brings a venomous snake to the alter. The Bible just gives you stories of how adversity was overcome. It’s the antiquity version of Ms manners. When you open your heart you will know where you should be. Raising children without God on your side during these current events would be impossible.
This article sold me, AGAIN, on why I'm voting for Jake.
Financial accountability.
In this case it's clear that Mike French is protecting the underhanded scheme he personally supports via public money by refusing to require NGO'S receiving that money to be as transparent with it as a government entity would be required to be. How is it that the voters tolerate this?
For citizens that , for what ever reason don’t trust or feel misled by churches, the pay to park really could be the only straw or the last one.
The safe parking program feels a bit heavy in the themployee hours dept(with benefits) Looking back to originally discussing such a program, I thought the church would “donate” at best one individual to over see it. The overnight fee is high, and initially having all the paperwork, etc just turned people off! There is nothing that compares to being judged
.by a group of “Christians”
And I didn’t understand why it was charging so much.
You either want a fund raising scheme going on, a little side hustle for Sunday AM coffee breaks or you truly believe in treating neighbors as ourselves. Never a mention of any church staff that has worked with this population.
Thats a hunk of cash Church for Profit is my big red Flag.
Mine was when the pastor asked everyone to stay 40 minutes longer as we had a guest speaker. Out comes the projector with bright schh lides with numbers you will see in your own acct soon by taking the step today and move money into an area née ding
supplies, meds etc. so it was this churches sponsoring and feeding children in a different nation. Once my brain shut down I missed how it would be part of our working portfolio. That was our last Sunday that church. At least the sales pitch was by a member of the church But I still didn’t get the incentive to move saved dollars to an improvised village and make back 12-15 percent annually.
The Shore Aquatic Center Board (Mike French, Randy Johnson, Mark Hodgson, LaTrisha Suggs, Greg Shields) did not respond to questions about the potential liability of distributing vouchers which allow homeless drug addicts to shower with families and children. Here is today's email sent to the county commissioners and Viola Ware, the Executive Director of OlyCAP.
Dear Commissioners and Director Ware,
If OlyCAP Executive Director Viola Ware is approving payroll and other expenditures associated with the program, how can she also say she cannot explain where the funding is going? Taxpayers deserve a clear accounting of how the $118,000 is being spent.
From the outside, the program appears to function largely as a jobs program for OlyCAP while serving very few participants. Can the Board provide a detailed breakdown of how these funds have actually been allocated?
OlyCAP has adopted a policy of not engaging with the public, despite the fact that county taxpayers fund these programs. Why is a county-funded contractor permitted to refuse to answer questions from members of the public?
Finally, how does the Board address the appearance of a conflict of interest when a county commissioner serves on OlyCAP's board while the county awards funding to that organization, and OlyCAP's executive director also serves in county leadership roles related to these programs? What safeguards are in place to ensure independent oversight?
Thank you for your time. I would appreciate a response to each of these questions.
Nice work, Patriot's Jeff Tozzer and Jake Seegers~!
I believe that most would agree that if our taxpayer funds are being spent, that the public has an absolute right to know everything about where and how those monies are spent, as well as the justification for spending the money in the first place, and a full disclosure of the results. This would not only be consistent with good & legitimate business practices in general, but I would expect that it should be mandatory when the taxpayers are being forced into paying for anything~! That policy would at least be respectful, considering that all too often the taxpayers are given no vote or say at all in these matters. Anything less creates opportunities for abuses of public funds and suspicion that the funds are being mismanaged and potentially stolen to be used against the best interests of the general public. It is just a simple matter of proper and transparent accounting that I would expect already exists with regard to all other required bookkeeping responsibilities of the church and other NGOs that may be involved, so the fact that these questions should even exist is alarming. I am not exactly sure where or when this highly questionably and suspicious "convenient excuse" came from, that just because the taxpayer funds left the hands of "the government" the funds suddenly magically disappear from the public view for some bizarre reason, however there is old well-established president that actually supports quite the opposite reality! Most Americans are unaware that there is no two-year foreign language requirement to be admitted into college as they have been told all of their lives, and this has always been because the vast majority of colleges in the US accept taxpayer funding in one way or another, which prohibits any colleges that do so from excluding anyone from enrollment based upon a lack of previous foreign language classes. I suspect that in order for someone to be admitted into the St. Andrew's so called "Safe Parking Program", that they are not required to attend any religious services and/or be a member of the St. Andrew's church, which would also be a violation of the law (The American Constitution) regarding the use of American taxpayer funds. As the government corporations here in our community are constantly spending our taxpayer finds on questionable things that many in the community find to be against their wishes and best interests, especially as these same government corporations CONSTANTLY demand more & more taxpayer funding, it would be a simple commonsense decision to establish a transparent accounting process that also validated the expense in these cases~! Enough with the "sleight of hand" accounting and "trust me" BS~!
Sincerely, Mike
Well there is nothing that can bring the respect of a church, faster than when they have a side-hustle.
Good morning, Patriot Susan C Bonallo~!
I LOVE your use of the term "side-hustle" here!
Most appropriate ;-)
Sincerely, Mike
Selling chocolate eggs and polliwog chocolates is a side hustle. This is a full-blown government contract disguised as local charity. 118 grand buys a lot of chocolate eggs and polliwog chocolates.
Stah-fer!
HolyCAP.
The Sequim Safe Parking Program was designed as a temporary, transitional stepping stone rather than a permanent housing solution. That's such a laughable description when I recall Milton Friedman's famous assertion, "Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program." His phrase was popularized in his 1984 book Tyranny of the Status Quo. He argued that because bureaucracies and beneficiaries develop strong vested interests in their survival, even failed or obsolete interventions become nearly impossible to eliminate.
I forgot to mention that the church explained there's a 3-month limit to participating in the program, which can be extended another 3 months if requested. Not very much about this seems temporary.
They still have not answered the ? Of who is a member at the church and on the council. How did they pick this church? Was there a bid process? How much did it cost to make this a safe parking lot? When they get caught in their little scams they try to cover up and no transparency. Surprised? NOT.
If you divide $118,000 by $125 - which I am sure the county could negotiate as a room rate at a decent hotel somewhere in the county - that equates to 944 nights, where these "needy" people could sleep in a room with a bathroom, and not a vehicle that has to be supervised. So, does this program really make any sense? And what caught my attention was the "mission creep" of "the church may seek additional funding in the future to build roofs over sanitation stations and to pay for guests’ vehicle repairs." So now the taxpayer has to repair a participant's vehicle? What a boondoggle ....
Between the mandatory "consulting fees," the endless oversight, and the budget lines for program management, it's amazing there is any money left over for a couple of portable toilets. It is truly inspiring to see a house of worship master the art of bureaucratic grant writing, inside networking, and bypassing the separation of church and state all at once. STAH-FER!
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The Rule and the Test
The Establishment Clause: This constitutional rule prohibits the government from establishing a religion or preferring one religion over another. It forms the legal basis for the "separation of church and state.
"The Lemon Test: For decades, courts used this specific legal test to determine if a government contract with a church was constitutional. To be legal, the government funding must have a secular (non-religious) purpose, cannot primarily advance or inhibit religion, and must not result in "excessive government entanglement" with religion.
How It Applies Here
In the case of safe parking programs, municipalities argue they are bypassing this rule legally because they are strictly buying a secular service (homeless sheltering and security) rather than funding religious activities. However, critics argue that giving six-figure taxpayer grants to a church still violates the spirit of the law and creates an unconstitutional partnership between government and religious institutions.
The Constitutional Violation: A Funded Merger of Church and State
The use of public tax dollars to fund the safe parking operation at Trinity United Methodist Church constitutes an unconstitutional entanglement of government and religion, directly violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The constitutional wall between church and state is breached in three distinct ways:
Direct Funding of Religious Infrastructure: While defenders claim the church receives zero dollars, Clallam County tax revenue directly finances the infrastructure—including security, sanitation, and paid staff shifts—necessary to make the church’s own chosen ministry function. Without the state bankrolling the daily operational overhead, the church's program collapses. The government is effectively subsidizing the community footprint and outreach capacity of a religious institution.
Excessive Government Entanglement: The state cannot fund church programs without monitoring how public dollars are spent. Because county-funded staff (via agencies like OlyCAP) are deployed to church property daily, the state is forced into an ongoing, daily operational partnership with a house of worship. This continuous oversight and co-management of church grounds create the exact "excessive entanglement" that the constitution explicitly forbids.
Political Insider Entanglement: The separation of church and state exists to prevent religious factions from gaining unfair access to government power and funds. When church insiders like Jim Stoffer hold dual roles within the church community and municipal homelessness task forces, the process is compromised. It creates a closed loop where church members influence public policy to steer taxpayer resources back to their own congregation's project, obliterating objective secular governance.
By funding the labor and infrastructure required to operate a religious site, the county has moved from secular public service into active state sponsorship of a church-managed program.
When will someone shout, "White Christian Nationalists?"
"According to Ware, the program is managed by Trinity United Methodist Church"
Crickets, because like being the wrong kind of Alphabet person the progressives need to divide the country into in order to survive this is the OK religion.
Pfft.
Regarding Sundays with Seegers: it can be a very difficult discussion between a believer and a nonbeliever.
Thank you for standing up as a Christian and maintaining your partnership with the lord. Churches scare people bc they think they will talk in tongues and someone will brings a venomous snake to the alter. The Bible just gives you stories of how adversity was overcome. It’s the antiquity version of Ms manners. When you open your heart you will know where you should be. Raising children without God on your side during these current events would be impossible.
This article sold me, AGAIN, on why I'm voting for Jake.
Financial accountability.
In this case it's clear that Mike French is protecting the underhanded scheme he personally supports via public money by refusing to require NGO'S receiving that money to be as transparent with it as a government entity would be required to be. How is it that the voters tolerate this?
Vote the Wedge. Vote for Jake Seegers.
For citizens that , for what ever reason don’t trust or feel misled by churches, the pay to park really could be the only straw or the last one.
The safe parking program feels a bit heavy in the themployee hours dept(with benefits) Looking back to originally discussing such a program, I thought the church would “donate” at best one individual to over see it. The overnight fee is high, and initially having all the paperwork, etc just turned people off! There is nothing that compares to being judged
.by a group of “Christians”
And I didn’t understand why it was charging so much.
You either want a fund raising scheme going on, a little side hustle for Sunday AM coffee breaks or you truly believe in treating neighbors as ourselves. Never a mention of any church staff that has worked with this population.
Thats a hunk of cash Church for Profit is my big red Flag.
Mine was when the pastor asked everyone to stay 40 minutes longer as we had a guest speaker. Out comes the projector with bright schh lides with numbers you will see in your own acct soon by taking the step today and move money into an area née ding
supplies, meds etc. so it was this churches sponsoring and feeding children in a different nation. Once my brain shut down I missed how it would be part of our working portfolio. That was our last Sunday that church. At least the sales pitch was by a member of the church But I still didn’t get the incentive to move saved dollars to an improvised village and make back 12-15 percent annually.