Dungeness Levee Trail of evidence

Now we know who's behind the anonymous group

This week Commissioner Mark Ozias supported the Trail Advisory Committee (TAC) in passing a motion that requests the commissioners halt the surfacing of Towne Road.  The committee hopes to completely redesign the county road for equestrians, pedestrians, cyclists, and e-trikes. They also want to incorporate the views of the Dungeness Levee Trail Advocates (DLTA) in the redesign process.

The committee was compelled by DLTA’s petition which has been circulated on college campuses and has signatures from several states.  How will the Trail Committee incorporate a group that has gone to such lengths to hide who its leaders are?  The history of DLTA is murky but its existence can be traced back to early last year.

In January of 2023, Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe's Habitat Restoration Manager emailed a resident who wanted information about walking on the River's Edge Levee (adjacent to the Towne Road Levee).  The manager replied that walking was permitted on that levee, but he said that the pedestrian experience on the Towne Road Levee would “decline markedly” once it reopened to traffic.  He advised, “You might need a popular movement.  Save Our Levee!  Clallam County's newest park, Levee Park!"

Two days after that suggestion, a county employee found flyers in the area promoting the levee as a trail, not a road.  The following month, Commissioner Ozias (whose top campaign donor is the Jamestown Tribe) canceled the completion of Towne Road because two petitions totaling 98 signatures had been received calling for its closure.  Last fall the Jamestown Tribe sent a letter to the commissioners requesting that Towne Road remain closed for at least three more years.

In January of this year, a group officially emerged called "Dungeness Levee Trail Advocates."  DLTA created a website raising false alarms that a trail was being converted into a road.  The truth was that people had been walking on the unfinished Towne Road because the old Dungeness Levee Trail, which had run along the river for 58 years a quarter mile to the west, had been demolished by the Jamestown Tribe. 

The website also stated, "that small pro-road group harrassed [sic], bullied, and intimated [sic] members of the community, the DCD, and BOC. They used tactics of aggression, intimidation, and mistruths and have been relentless in their road pursuit."

DLTA held its first rally at Nash's barn on Towne Road in late February.  While some people were identified as organizing the event, no one claimed an official role in leading the organization.  Those who supported the reopening of the road, and wanted to attend the meeting to gain clarity of DLTA's wishes, were told "they would not be safe" if they attended.  The rally labeled Towne Road proponents as "bullies" and set a goal of recruiting State Representative Steve Tharinger as an ally to convert the public road into a trail.

A second DLTA rally was held at Nash's barn on March 10th.  This meeting featured Commissioner Mike French who told rallygoers that bringing 50 people to the commissioners' meetings would be the scale necessary to motivate commissioners to reconsider the resolution they passed committing to Option #2, a trail/road hybrid.

A DLTA mailer, which again claimed that a trail was being converted into a road, arrived in selected areas of Sequim around March 22nd.  For the first time, a post office box in Carlsborg was associated with the organization but leaders were not identified.  On March 26th, a DLTA pamphlet was included in the Val-Pac coupon packet that arrived countywide.

All of that happened before March 29th, which according to state documents, is the effective date that the charitable nonprofit corporation called the Dungeness Levee Trail Advocates was formed.  DLTA's stated purpose said, "We are a dedicated group that urgently seek to safeguard the Dungeness River floodplain and the adjacent Dungeness River Levee Trail in Sequim, WA.  We advocate for the preservation of the trail, floodplain and wetlands in the Lower Dungeness River."

The recent news that the Trail Advisory Committee, encouraged by Commissioner Ozias, believes that a county road should become a trail, has baffled many.  One Watchdog subscriber commented,

"Why is it amenable for the supporters of opening Towne Road to compromise with Option 2 (trail/road), but the DLTA group cannot accept the same compromise? What kind of people are that unyielding and feel that entitled?"

Now we know who is that unyielding and feels that entitled:

Jamie Porter, a Port Angeles resident, recently penned a letter to the editor that said, "This project directly benefits less than 200 people. Which equates to more than $135,000 per person."  Porter's math suggests that completing Towne Road will cost $27,000,000 but the county engineer estimates the road can be completed for only $2,400,000, which is well under the available and allocated funding.

Rae “Daneille” Heselbach, also a Port Angeles resident, gave public testimony at the courthouse that told of terrified children waiting for the school bus when traffic was allowed on Towne Road pre-closure.  One landowner on Towne Road (who has asked not to be named) claimed on social media that the closure has improved every resident’s life on Towne Road. The question was raised if the quality of life had improved for a family who had lost their home and pets to a fire north of the road closure (the responding fire trucks had to detour five miles after finding Towne Road gated and locked). Heselbach replied, "There are many times in life when tragedy happens, but we move on and beauty unfolds."

Two charter members of DLTA have asked that their names not be used.  They are landowners on Towne Road who allowed Commissioner Ozias to install a political campaign billboard in their field. They have previously operated at a 300-guest wedding venue on their Towne Road property and were also promised three electric, automatic, taxpayer-funded gates (costing approximately $125,000) by Commissioner Ozias.  The installation of these gates would effectively convert Towne Road into their $20M tax-funded private driveway.  

Dave Kelm, according to property records, lives on an area of Towne Road that has seen a drastic reduction in traffic since the closure.  Kelm has been an active public commenter at commissioner meetings and has raised concerns that the democratic process has been compromised.  He contests that county government has lacked transparency when including his neighborhood in decisions regarding Towne Road's fate and he is currently advocating for speed bumps on the levee surface.

Margaret Walthall, according to property records, also lives in an area off Towne Road that has experienced reduced traffic due to the closure.  She has been a vocal proponent of closing Towne Road for years however, her arguments that began with complaints about speeding and litter have recently evolved into concerns about the environment.

Charles Main lives off Woodcock Road, according to property records, but he seems to be distancing himself from the organization he helped found.  When asked if he was a charter member of the mysterious group, he said, "I'm aware of such a group, though I wouldn't characterize it as 'anonymous"... I obviously am in sympathy with the Dungeness Levee Trail Advocates."

Clallam County Watchdog is an advocate for transparency.  That is an expectation of our county leaders, and it is an expectation of the organizations that aim to influence county decisions.  If a group is actively interfering with the completion of a public works project, if a party is attempting to sever a historical route that has linked two communities for over a century, and if a "charitable nonprofit corporation" is interfering with a rural community's emergency response times and is closing a tsunami evacuation route, we have the right to know who they are.

If the Trail Advisory Committee succeeds in halting the completion of Towne Road, and if the committee invites DLTA to have a seat at the table, we have the right to know who those members of our community are and what views they embrace when guiding countywide policy.

The trail committee should also incorporate a member whose homeowner's insurance rate will double due to the road closure.  The committee should have a member with a medical condition who lives in Dungeness and is reliant upon first responders reaching their home when every minute counts during an emergency.  The committee should also include a member who has to incorporate a 5-mile detour into their daily commute.

Most of all, the committee should include every taxpayer in the county who funded and will continue to fund Towne Road, open or closed. The county’s trail committee has dismissed the multiple-decades-long process that was required by the Washington Department of Ecology grant and the Department of Transportation (upon whose land the public road right-of-way crosses). It is the taxpayers who will use their voices to remind the committee of the promise three elected Clallam County Commissioners made to finish the road.

Until then, would the charitable nonprofit corporation called “Dungeness Levee Trail Advocates” please remove their political sign from the taxpayer-funded gate that prohibits county residents from using the public road they are paying for?

Update: DLTA is now requesting tax-deductible donations for “trail improvements.” It is unknown how the organization plans to pay for maintenance of a county right-of-way that is a road.