A picture worth 5,030 words

New theory about anonymous website

Watchdoggers have asked about the group that is behind the newly created “DLTA” website.  DLTA stands for “Dungeness Levee Trail Advocates” and their website, which calls for the permanent closure of Towne Road, has dedicated over 5,000 words and eight pages to covering every angle of the Towne Road Levee Setback Project without mentioning that the project was planned, designed, and funded to relocate a county road, not create a 38-foot-wide trail.  Their selective and disingenuous presentation of data suggests that a longstanding trail is at risk of being lost with the opening of a new road.  

The website’s “dedicated group” attempted to draw support to the commissioners’ meetings, but initial interest seems to have dwindled. Still, readers remain curious about the origins of the movement that was launched just days after December 26th, when commissioners committed to complete Towne Road by fall of 2024.

A routine search for the domain registration information of DLTA’s website shows that all identifying information has been “redacted for privacy”. It’s not impossible to scrub all identifying data from a domain, but it isn’t easy or common either.  Compare the DLTA’s website to CCwatchdog’s domain information:

CCwatchdog info on left, DLTA info on right.

With the group hidden behind a wall of anonymity, the past three weeks haven’t come closer to identifying the group that wishes to ban taxpayers from using the road they have paid for, but recently received documents help form a new theory.

When reviewing the “Towne Road timeline”, January 2023 began with Clallam County’s Chief Engineer announcing that the road was on pace to be completed by fall of that year.  Then, the following month, Commissioner Ozias halted Town Road’s completion offering a variety of reasons for his decision: petitions demanding that the road remain closed, the discovery of contaminated soil, and financial uncertainty. 

Weeks before Ozias unexpectedly pulled the plug on Towne Road, the below email came from Jamestown Tribe’s Habitat Restoration Manager, Randy Johnson (not to be confused with Clallam County Commissioner Randy Johnson).  The January 17th email was sent to a resident, Mr. Barker, who had asked about recreation opportunities on the Tribe’s adjoining levee.  The email was also sent to the Tribe’s Director of Natural Resources, Hansi Hals, and County Engineer Joe Donisi.  

The entire email is worth a read, and it hints at the stance that the Tribe would officially take in October 2023 to keep Towne Road closed to traffic.  Pay particular attention to the last paragraph.

Two days after the Tribe’s Habitat Restoration Manager suggested that the levee be turned into a park instead of a road, a county employee found flyers to that effect and contacted Commissioner Ozias and DCD Director Emery.

At the same time that the county announced Towne Road was due to be completed and a month before Commissioner Ozias canceled the project, the Tribe (who funded 53% of Ozias’ most recent campaign) floated the idea that a popular movement be started to prevent the road from reopening.  Nearly a year later, after the community convinced the commissioners to commit to finishing the road, a movement that the Tribe had initially suggested, was launched.  

The Tribe’s suggested name for the movement was, “Save Our Levee.”  DLTA’s website is www.SaveTheLeveeTrail.org.  

The website focuses almost entirely on countering experts’ stances on public safety and repackaging data gleaned from public surveys, but it also ventures away from Towne Road to applaud the contributions of one influential organization.

Theorizing that the Tribe leaned on Commissioner Ozias to halt the project, and then set up an anonymous website to promote their image and counter the community’s support to reopen Towne Road, who supplied the photographs? 

Bri Eberle’s post to a Facebook community group.

In a January 6th post to a Sequim Community Page on Facebook, local landowner Bri Eberle asked for photos of the “Dungeness River Levee Trail”, and she even shared three of her own photos.  A day after Eberle requested photos, this Instagram campaign was launched to save the “Dungeness River Levee Trail”:

“Dungeness River Levee Trail” launches on Instagram January 7th.

The following day, on January 8th, the DLTA website was launched.

One photo, used over three days, is the same on all three platforms. According to Bri Eberle, it is a picture she took herself.

Watchdoggers are beginning to notice that the same three players have thwarted Towne Road’s progress at every turn.  For nearly ten years, this determined trilogy has stood in the way of the county’s promise to its taxpayers — through the 2015 public comment period and secret meetings, throughout the aftermath of the 2022 unplanned but preventable breach of the old dike, and even during the September 2023 informational meeting at Carrie Blake Park — this trio of covert players, intent on defeating Towne Road, has remained the same:  

Commissioner Ozias, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, and the Eberles.