Clallam County Watchdog

About Clallam County Watchdog

Holding County Leaders Accountable www.ccwatchdog.com (https://www.ccwatchdog.com/s/clallam-county-watchdog-podcast?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Jeff Tozzer

Category

news · news

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

24 May 2025

Latest episode

21 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

413 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Oct 2026

   $800K Shortfalls, $350K-Per-Unit Housing, Tribal-Only Cash, and a Bunny Break for County Leaders

   Serenity House is covering nearly $800,000 in shortfalls while chasing roughly $12 million for a 36-unit low-barrier permanent supportive housing project in Sequim. Meanwhile, state tax dollars fund tribal-only homeownership, Peninsula Behavioral Health’s North View mirrors Seattle’s housing-first model, and commissioners budget association dues that include a sponsored “Bunny Break.” Tonight’s public meeting is the place to ask why working families wait while the system expands. Serenity House’s Timing Problem Serenity House is covering nearly $800,000 in shelter and supportive-housing shortfalls while seeking $12 million to replace Sequim’s 17-unit Sunbelt Apartments with a 36-unit low-barrier complex, according to myclallamcounty.com (https://www.myclallamcounty.com/2026/10/09/serenity-house-faces-nearly-800000-in-funding-shortfalls/). Supportive housing ran about $382,000 short last year, and shelter operations need roughly $395,000 more annually—costs driven largely by staffing for about 130 people a night, which the agency says it cannot safely cut. Is this the time to expand? The organization is growing even as funding falls short, a pattern that mirrors Clallam County’s own habit of adding projects while running deficits. Tax Dollars, Tribal Households Only The Washington Department of Commerce has extended the 2026 Capital Programs Tribal Homeownership Funding Cycle; applications are due by 3 p.m. November 16. Eligible applicants are federally recognized tribes, community-based tribal organizations, and tribal housing authorities. The money supports new construction, purchase and rehabilitation, affordability subsidies, and down-payment assistance specifically for low-income tribal households. These are your state tax dollars restricted by race. Imagine the political reaction if an identical program were limited to white households. Housing First, Treatment Later (If Ever) Peninsula Behavioral Health’s North View complex in Port Angeles follows the Seattle model: permanent supportive housing first, treatment sometime later—if ever. Independent journalist Jonathan Choe spent time with a resident of a comparable Downtown Emergency Service Center facility in Seattle. The roughly 5-minute video shows the man stopping at the front desk for free drug paraphernalia, heading out to meet a dealer, scoring, and returning to a decent studio to get high. The account shows no job requirement, no treatment mandate, and minimal case-management contact. North View itself is a 36-unit, roughly $12.75 million project (more than $350,000 per unit) with county contributions, rooftop terraces, harbor views, quartz counters, dishwashers, a dog-washing sink, and EV charging. It is described as low-barrier and not exclusively dry. The pattern is familiar: convenience for ongoing use, permanence for the placement, and limited pressure toward recovery. Why Advertise When the Lists Are Long? If subsidized housing has waiting lists, why does the Peninsula Housing Authority advertise openings? Public housing and Section 8 lists have historically been long. Advertising capacity while thousands of local households remain on waitlists for assistance raises the obvious question of priorities and messaging. Canada’s “Compassion” Lesson Read the October 12 New York Post piece (https://nypost.com/2026/10/12/opinion/compassionate-drug-policy-isnt-woke-canada-shows-us-why/) on “compassionate” drug policy and Canada. Federal prisons are distributing paper straws for “safer snorting,” foil for smoking, and test kits. British Columbia’s decriminalization pilot ended with high unregulated drug death rates; judges have stayed trafficking convictions on “compassion” grounds; and safe-supply programs continue. The parallels to Clallam County’s low-barrier housing, harm-reduction distribution, and tolerance of ongoing use are straightforward. Compassion that enables use while streets and families pay the cost is not compassion. The full article (https://nypost.com/2026/10/12/opinion/compassionate-drug-policy-isnt-woke-canada-shows-us-why/) is worth the time. Dues, Leadership Roles, and the Bunny Break Clallam County is cash-strapped, yet commissioners are budgeting $40,000 for Washington State Association of Counties dues for 2027. Commissioner Mark Ozias is WSAC president; Mike French sits on the legislative steering committee. At the upcoming County Leaders Conference, organizers are promoting a “Bunny Break”: a sponsored bunny area where county leaders can step away from sessions for fluffy, de-stressing interaction. The contrast between local fiscal pressure and association perks is hard to miss. Pet Costumes vs. Luxury Homeless Units The Peninsula Daily News recently ran a cartoon noting that Americans spend roughly $950 million on pet Halloween costumes while people remain homeless. Locally, taxpayers are funding permanent supportive housing at $350,000-plus per unit, with costs climbing toward $500,000 in some projects. One public example is Ashley Gregory (https://www.ccwatchdog.com/p/special-a-glimpse-at-who-gets-to) (formerly Scott Warren Gregory), a North View resident with a documented criminal history including assault and domestic-abuse complaints. Public posts show a “wake and bake” beach routine, free bus rides, art-therapy classes, Harm Reduction Center supplies, and Medicaid-supported facial feminization surgery—all while living in a new harbor-view unit. The homelessness industrial complex absorbs more money without ending the problem. Residents can dress their dogs without guilt; the system will never have enough of your money. Casino Cash and Political Reach A 2003 Seattle Times article (https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/20031117/tribes17m/tribes-becoming-political-players-with-casino-cash) documented Washington tribes becoming political players through casino revenue—raising campaign contributions, lobbying, and influence on gaming and other issues. Ron Allen of the Tribe (operator of 7 Cedars Casino) was quoted on learning to play the political game. "Campaign contributions is only a part of it," said Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and a former president of the National Congress of American Indians. "Over time, we have become more astute at playing the political game." The pattern has continued: 7 Cedars and Jamestown entities have made substantial contributions to political committees and candidates, including local races. The archive piece is worth reading for the early trajectory; the local parallel is the ongoing combination of sovereign economic activity and political spending that shapes county and state outcomes. Repeat Offender, Local Bill Micah Lacunza was booked and released in Clallam County after the February 15, 2026, head-on collision east of Sequim on Highway 101. Driving a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado westbound, he crossed the centerline (https://www.sequimgazette.com/2026/02/16/lynwood-man-dies-in-collision-east-of-sequim-on-sunday-night/) and struck a Toyota FJ Cruiser; Skylor Richford died at the scene, and Mathilde Richford was airlifted. Investigators believed impairment by drugs and/or alcohol was involved. Lacunza was later placed on the Washington State Patrol Most Wanted list with a $500,000 bail warrant for vehicular homicide, evaded capture in Tacoma, and was arrested in Seattle (https://pnwdaily.com/2026/10/07/micah-lacunza-arrested-clallam-county-crash/) on October 5 after a citizen tip. He faces extradition and additional charges. Twelve years earlier, a Sheridan Press (https://www.thesheridanpress.com/news/local/lacunza-arrested-in-connection-with-friday-chase-crash/article_8a66c7e2-6c44-5389-803d-f4ab745baba7.html) report showed the same pattern: Lacunza (then 27) was arrested in Sheridan, Wyoming, for stealing a vehicle and attempting to evade officers in a chase-and-crash incident. Washington State Patrol says Lacunza will be returned to Clallam County to face the vehicular homicide charge, plus several other unrelated charges. Another case for local taxpayers to fund from start to finish. “Some of the people on death row today might not be there if the courts had not been so lenient on them when they were first offenders.” — Thomas Sowell Tonight’s Meeting The Clallam County Board of Commissioners holds a special Budget Town Hall and Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) meeting tonight, Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 5 p.m. at the Guy Cole Event Center, 202 N. Blake Avenue, Sequim. Topics include the Administrator Recommended Budget, the six-year TIP, and a question-and-answer session. Virtual options are available here (https://clallamcowa.portal.civicclerk.com/event/5242/files/agenda/7496). Award for “Most Creative Campaign Sign Placement” Goes to… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.ccwatchdog.com (https://www.ccwatchdog.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   20 Oct 2026

   Forks Didn’t Get the Welding Classes. Jamestown Got the Hydroseeder. French Still Calls It 900 Jobs.

   Commissioner Mike French sold Clallam County voters a five-year plan to put 900 people into family-wage jobs. The number has already been cut to 603. The coordinator calls even that target extremely ambitious, and the public scoreboard shows roughly 21 people who finished training and later reported a job or higher pay. Meanwhile, a $733,000 mobile welding trailer sits delayed by safety problems, Jamestown gets equipment for a new enterprise, and the fine print shows real growth in government and NGO payrolls. The Campaign Promise That Shrank The pillar of Mike French’s campaign (https://www.electmikefrench.com/platform) for reelection as county commissioner is the federal $35.6 million Recompete grant. He launched with a goal to bring roughly 900 jobs to the North Olympic Peninsula over five years. Danny Steiger’s June 2025 write-up (https://www.clallamcountysolutions.com/p/recompete-and-rebuild-how-the-olympic) of the program mentioned the 900-job goal eight times. That number was recently reduced (https://www.ccwatchdog.com/p/two-new-government-jobs-one-trainee?utm_source=publication-search) to 603. The Recompete coordinator has called the new target “extremely ambitious.” Through March, the reported figure for people who completed training and then landed a job or raised their income was 21. Jobs That Were Never Jobs Clallamity Jen dug into the reporting in her article “Recompete Rebranded (https://clallamityjen.substack.com/p/rebranding-recompete-jobs?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=6404501&post_id=218303043&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1013wj&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email)” and found the original framing never matched the fine print. The program's measurable goal was never “jobs” in the ordinary sense. It was “enrolled individuals.” That is a massive difference from the language French, as chair of the Recompete coalition, used when he told voters (https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/e/2PACX-1vS1_1CMtSpLlERi7eUKksDoG-o90w_tibE-eRbfqUebMKXkcLe1pxfZsOTik2CkHbG8WOtX2T0zBKo6/pub) the grant would transition 900 North Olympic Peninsula residents into full-time family-wage jobs. The gap is not a mystery. Year-one county figures showed strong enrollment (208 people) and far weaker placement numbers. Some of the “jobs created” numbers include positions funded by the grant itself to run the program. The money did not shrink when the target did. The Welding Trailer That Didn’t Arrive The latest local example is the mobile welding program. Peninsula College used Recompete dollars to buy a custom 53-foot trailer with eight welding booths (reported cost about $733,000) plus a companion classroom. It was supposed to bring training to the West End this fall so students in Forks and surrounding areas would not have to drive to Port Angeles. The Forks Forum reported that testing turned up problems and safety concerns. President Suzy Ames said the college is putting safety first and hopes to offer the course in winter quarter instead. The trailer is delayed, not canceled. Residents are left asking the obvious questions: who designed and built a welding unit with flammable fuel on board that then failed safety checks, and who pays for the repairs? A recent job posting (https://worksource.my.site.com/worksourcewa/job-search/job-details?jobId=a0gcs00000JO6SjAAL) for a welding instructor at the college fits the pattern. Recompete money creates or sustains government and institutional positions. That is not the same as private-sector job growth for the people the grant was sold to help. The Jefferson EDC’s Fantasy Numbers The attached scope of work for EDC Team Jefferson under the Recompete Pilot Program shows how ambitious—and how detached from ordinary local reality—the targets are. Over five years, the plan calls for training 25 business advisors (five per year). Those advisors are then supposed to advise 952 start-up businesses, help form 286 of them that will pay the founder a living wage, and advise another 1,768 microenterprise and growth-stage businesses. The document projects $41.55 million in profit increases and 329 living-wage jobs created through reinvestment of those profits. Living wage is defined as $26 per hour plus benefits, or roughly $63,000 a year. These numbers are wildly unrealistic for a rural two-county area. The plan expects a handful of newly trained advisors to work with thousands of businesses, dig into their financials, and somehow generate tens of millions in extra profits that then create hundreds of living-wage jobs. It already assumes some of those advisors will quit or stop reporting. On top of that, it calls for hundreds more business meetings, a list of new training programs, and a pile of referrals. When they can’t get real wage data, the document says they’ll just estimate it. The plan treats job creation in Jefferson County through this advising model as a primary path. Earlier reporting noted (https://www.ccwatchdog.com/p/two-new-government-jobs-one-trainee?utm_source=publication-search) that one tribal component involved hiring two people to produce one job outcome. Now Recompete language is being written into the 20-year comprehensive plan. When the federal money ends in a few years, local taxpayers will bear the ongoing costs. What remains is largely a jobs program for government employees, special interests, and NGO personnel. Who Actually Got Something At least Jamestown received a tangible asset. Its subaward explicitly funds the purchase of a hydroseeder and mini excavator so a tribally owned enterprise can expand into hydro-seeding as a new line of business, then hire and train a handful of workers. Jamestown gets its hydroseeder. Local private hydroseeding businesses pay for their own equipment. And the college has a delayed trailer that still isn’t delivering the advertised West End classes. The Words on French’s Website French’s campaign materials claim he “chaired a regional coalition of Counties, Cities, Tribes, economic development organizations and educational institutions that successfully acquired $35.6 million in federal funding.” Acquired is the wrong word. The federal Economic Development Administration granted the money after a competitive application process. “ Acquired" and "granted" are not synonyms; one implies earning or obtaining through effort that creates ownership, while the other is a gift of public funds under conditions. French has described himself as an advocate of conservative budgeting. The practical test is whether the county pays down debt before giving itself another raise. Recompete is not conservative budgeting. It is a large infusion of federal money that primarily expands institutional capacity, funds wraparound services and administration, buys equipment for selected partners, and counts enrollment and process activity while the original job numbers shrink. “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand.” — Milton Friedman The Record Voters Can Examine The grant was never going to be a pure private-sector job machine. The documents show capacity-building for tribes and partners, barrier-removal hubs, and institutional training. That is what the money is doing. French made the 900-job promise the centerpiece of his record and his reelection argument. So far, the results—reduced targets, low placement numbers, delayed equipment, and continued expansion of government and NGO roles—are the record voters can examine. Stay Engaged Today 10:00 a.m. Weekly Board of Commissioners meeting featuring the monthly Q&A “Citizens’ Forum.” Details here (https://clallamcowa.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4868/files/agenda/7547). 1:30 p.m. Board of Health meeting. Will they admit the current harm “expansion” approach is failing? Will the Board hold Health Officer Allison Berry accountable for her violent and extreme political statements? Details here (https://clallamcowa.portal.civicclerk.com/event/297/files/agenda/7550). 6:00 p.m. City of Port Angeles regular meeting featuring a presentation on Candelaria (potential buyer of the old McKinley Mill) and the reintroduction of “net ecological gain (https://www.ccwatchdog.com/p/port-angeles-big-shift?utm_source=publication-search),” which divided the council last December. Details here (https://cityofpa.us/DocumentCenter/View/19388/10202026-CC-Agenda). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.ccwatchdog.com (https://www.ccwatchdog.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   19 Oct 2026

   Berry and French’s Harm Reduction Leaves a Body Count on Highway 101

   This summer, a Clallam County Sheriff’s deputy followed a frantic man into the dark along the south side of Highway 101 in the “Baker Dip” in east Port Angeles. “Come here and look,” the man said. “Right here.” Two people were down. Neither was breathing. Paramedics arrived, confirmed no pulses, and began CPR while more sirens closed in. One of the men, John Michael Adkins, 54, was later taken to Harborview Medical Center and died. The other, Jamie C. Trudeau, 61, was transported with a weak pulse after Narcan. Both had been found next to bicycles on a walkway protected by concrete barriers, amid a construction site. Drug paraphernalia—plastic “tooter” straws and burnt tin foil used to smoke controlled substances—was recovered at the scene and booked into safekeeping. The Scene on Highway 101 This is the actual cost of the harm-reduction expansion Dr. Allison Berry has championed and that Board of Health Chair Commissioner Mike French has defended. French recently told a Rotary group (https://www.ccwatchdog.com/p/french-told-rotary-the-quiet-part) that the county expanded harm reduction a few years ago largely in response to the Jamestown MAT Clinic opening, framing the free supplies as a way “to create a connection with active drug users so that you can leverage that connection to get them to go to treatment.” He said the desire was treatment. The result on a stretch of highway many residents drive every day was two men who had collapsed together, unresponsive, one of them dead, with the tools of their addiction nearby. What the County’s Own Numbers Show The county’s own numbers undermine the claim that drug users are being “connected” to services. In a recent Kiwanis debate with Jake Seegers, French acknowledged that many people see “syringe exchange programs” as enabling. Seegers answered with the board of health’s own data: of roughly 12,000 encounters last year, only 27 were referred to services. That is a referral rate, not confirmed entry into treatment. Seegers noted that it isn’t a syringe “exchange” program at all — people can obtain hundreds of syringes at a time along with boofing kits, pipes, lighters, and foil for fentanyl — all taxpayer-funded and unrestricted. “We don’t have a syringe exchange program anymore,” Seegers said. No Pathway to Treatment John Adkins and Jamie Trudeau never found the pathway French described. The Lieutenant’s supplemental report concluded both men had overdosed on an unknown controlled substance, likely an opiate, and collapsed at roughly the same time, with no obvious signs of foul play. Responders identified Adkins from items in his belongings; Trudeau had a red backpack and a bicycle on him. Their clothes were cut for CPR. Perishable goods were field-destroyed. First responders performed CPR in the dark, requested additional fire resources, and later collected the paraphernalia. Those same responders then went home after watching two lives flirt with death on the sidewalk. It’s just another day on the job in a county that gives addicts the tools that trap them in their addiction. Silence from Local Media and Officials Local media has not treated this as news residents should know. The Peninsula Daily News has not been contacted by the county to report two overdoses—one fatal—on a high-traffic stretch of Highway 101. How many of these overdoses are being covered up and ignored? Here’s what the front page featured the day after the incident: Getting the public ready for another EMS levy. The Resources and the Trauma As voters consider EMS levies and commissioners discuss a criminal-justice tax to hire more law enforcement, the video of this response is worth watching. It shows the resources—deputies, medics, fire—devoted to people the county first equipped with drug use supplies and then abandoned to the consequences of using street drugs. Warning: the body-worn camera footage is hard to watch because you are watching a life end. The officer arrives, finds both men unresponsive, calls it in, and the paramedics begin compressions while bystanders describe discovering them. Blood is visible near one man’s face from the fall onto the curb. There is no heartbeat. More units arrive. Watch it, and you’ll witness a life ending. The Choice Before the County Clallam County cannot claim to be a first-world community or a compassionate society while it supplies the tools of self-destruction and then measures success by the number of free kits distributed rather than the number of people who stop using them. French’s defense of the expansion as a treatment bridge has not produced the promised results. Berry’s tenure has expanded the program. Seegers has offered the alternative: stop funding unlimited paraphernalia with taxpayer money, stop pretending 27 referrals out of 12,000 encounters is a success, and focus on recovery rather than managing an open-air decline that ends on the side of a highway. At least one man is dead. The policy that enabled the conditions of his final night remains in place. Residents can decide whether that is the outcome they want their tax dollars and their Board of Health to keep producing. “You cannot be truly compassionate while you are helping someone destroy themselves.” — Common formulation in addiction-recovery circles Tell Them This Death Was Preventable Tomorrow is the monthly Board of Health meeting. Come and tell the BOH—which includes the three commissioners and Dr. Allison Berry—that harm reduction isn’t working. Tell them about this death. It could have been prevented, but instead this county enabled it. The October 20, 2026 Board of Health meeting is your chance to force the question into the open. It runs 1:30–3:30 p.m. in the Clallam County Courthouse Board of Commissioners Meeting Room 160, 223 E. 4th Street, Port Angeles. You can attend in person or join virtually (https://clallamcowa.portal.civicclerk.com/event/297/files/agenda/7550) and comment online. Show up. Speak. Demand better. Thank you to CCWD reader Leia for the tip that made this story possible. Stay Engaged This Week Tuesday Note: Darren Littell is unable to attend. Viet Nguyen, President of 5G Americas (https://www.5gamericas.org/bio/viet-nguyen/), will advocate for repealing the Millionaire’s Tax. Tuesday The weekly commissioners’ meeting that begins at 10:00 a.m. will feature the monthly “Citizens’ Forum,” your only chance to engage with the commissioners in a two-way dialogue. You can attend in person or virtually (https://clallamcowa.portal.civicclerk.com/event/4868/files/agenda/7547). Tuesday The monthly Board of Health meeting, with all three commissioners and Health Officer Allison Berry, will begin at 1:30 p.m. in the commissioners’ boardroom. Public comment is allowed in person or virtually (https://clallamcowa.portal.civicclerk.com/event/297/files/agenda/7550). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.ccwatchdog.com (https://www.ccwatchdog.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

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Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

3.1 / 5

7 ratings

Spotify

3.9 / 5

7 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 51 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

89

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

30

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