A year full of social strife, tragedies and political wrangling on the local, state and national scene were overshadowed by a single topic.
Despite its name, the 2019 novel coronavirus will be forever be linked to the plague it wrought on 2020. As we look back at the year that was in Sequim and Clallam County, it’s hard to find many stories past mid-March that COVID-19 didn’t alter significantly.
Here’s a quick look back at the year that was:
January
Sequim City Council members reversed a December 2019 decision and give the go-ahead for Lavender Meadows, a 38.3-acre, 217-unit manufactured home subdivision at the intersection of North Sequim Avenue and Port Williams Road. It was later marketed as a 55-and-older community.
YMCA of Sequim director Kurt Turner worked his last day at the facility on Jan. 10; he accepted a job as a multi-branch executive director for YMCAs just north of Austin, Texas.
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe officially filed its application to build a 16,800-square-foot medication-assisted treatment (MAT) facility on Jan. 10.
Sequim city councilors on Jan. 13 elected William Armacost, a longtime local hair salon owner, as mayor.
Health officers Dr. Allison Unthank (Clallam) and Dr. Tom Locke (Jefferson) declared influenza B in “outbreak mode” on the Olympic Peninsula — a sign of struggles to come later in the year.
Eric Lewis, Olympic Medical Center’s chief executive officer, announced to staff on Jan. 21 he’d be leaving the position after 13 years as CEO and 21 years overall with the organization. Lewis initially eyed retirement, postponing that plan in early April to help OMC handle the COVID-19 outbreak. In May, he accepted a chief financial officer role with the Washington State Hospital Association.
Sequim School District’s board of directors removed the “interim” from Dr. Rob Clark’s title and selected him the district’s top administrator. Clark would have a tumultuous year ahead, first with school closures and re-openings throughout much of the calendar year and an unspecified complaint and subsequent investigation that has him on paid leave since late October.
Dave Miller in January resigned as unit director at the Sequim Boys & Girls Club; his interim, Tessa Jackson, was selected to succeed Miller, first as an interim director and then as director outright in mid-September.
February
Joey Anthony Maillet on Feb. 4 pleaded guilty to two counts of firearm theft in connection with the theft of 26 handguns from FREDS Guns in an April 2019 incident.
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe on Feb. 6 got Clallam County approval for the first phase of an oyster farm within the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge.
On Feb. 7, Christopher Almaral, 27, of Ellensburg was sentenced in Kittitas Superior Court to more than 33 years (407 months) in prison for the murder of former Sequim resident Stephanie Curtis, then 34. She was found shot on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018, alongside State Route 821, four miles south of Ellensburg. Court records report Almaral pleaded guilty on Dec. 3, 2019.
Sequim City Manager Charlie Bush on Feb. 10 announced he’d leave the city’s top administrator position in April. It was an unrequited resignation: Bush delayed his departure on March 23 as the community began to battle the 2019 novel coronavirus and has stayed on since.
A body is found in Olympic National Park on Feb. 14, later identified as Dioneth Lopez of Renton. The incident led to the arrest of Alejandro Jesse Aguilera-Rojas, who was charged with second-degree murder.
Hugh Haffner, a longtime Clallam County Public Utility District commissioner, died on Feb. 15 at age 72.
Sequim High saw in February a number of strong finishes to its 2019-2020 winter sports seasons — a district playoff berth in girls basketball, a school record for swimmer Kaleb Needoba (200 free), plus state berths for wrestler Isaiah Cowan, gymnasts Lesea Pfeffer, Danica Pierson and Emma and Gracie Sharp, and bowlers Madison McKeown and Corrine Klinger — but it would be the last action local prep stars would see for the remainder of 2020, thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak.
On Feb. 25, Deon Kapetan was selected the 2019 Sequim Citizen of the Year; other finalists include Robin Bookter and Captain-Crystal Stout.
A 19-year-old Sequim man, Timothy Lytle Gaskill, was sentenced on Feb. 27 to 108 months in prison for his attempted assault of a pregnant woman in August 2019.
March
Citing safety concerns, dozens of Sequim- and Olympic Peninsula-area community groups began canceling events. In the coming days and weeks, events such as the Soroptimist Garden Gala Show, Tour De Dungeness bicycle races, First Friday Art Walk, Olympic Peninsula Humane Society’s Meowgaritas and Mutts, Olympic Birdfest, Clallam County Master Gardeners’ plant sale and garden tour and the Clallam County Home and Lifestyle Show. By year’s end, the vast majority of community events had been either canceled or moved online.
Lindsey Coffman on March 7 was named the 2020 Irrigation Festival queen; princesses Alicia Pairadee and Olivia Preston and prince Logan Laxson round out this year’s court.
On March 20, the North Olympic Land Trust and Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe partnered to conserve, purchased 104 acres of farmland and habitat — named “River’s Edge” — adjacent to the Dungeness River and Dungeness Valley Creamery.
Jason Bradley Hutt of Sequim was sentenced on March 26 to more than three years in prison for hunting violations in one of the largest poaching cases in state history.
Sequim School District officials in March put meals on wheels, distributing support to families with youngsters in need with prepackaged meal distribution via bus routes throughout the region.
April
On April 2, Peninsula College officials announced classes were moving to an online/virtual format.
Gov. Jay Inslee on April 6 closed all Washington state schools to in-person instruction for the remained of the academic year — impacting about 1.2 million students, 80,000 of them high school seniors.
Ted Miller, a Sequim City Council member for more than 10 years, died of a stroke on April 10, at age 74. The retired CIA analyst and attorney was serving his third term on the council.
Organizers of the Sequim Irrigation Festival decided in mid-April to move annual events to September and October, seeking to keep the longest-running festival in Washington state going.
About 200 local high school seniors garnered support through a new “Sequim High School Adopt a Senior 2020” Facebook page co-founded by Christine Bekkevar, a 2007 SHS grad, on April 20.
Sequim city councilors selected two new members — Sarah Kincaid and Michael Pence — on April 27, replacing Miller and Jennifer States.
Organizers of the annual Olympic Peninsula Air Affair and Fly-In announced on April 30 the 2020 event is cancelled.
Neil Smith, founder of Dungeness Community Church and lead pastor for three decades, died on April 30 at age 73.
May
Gov. Jay Inslee OKs the reopening of golf courses (with a number of health restrictions) as well as a partial reopening of parks for day use across Washington.
The City of Sequim and Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce partnered to distribute $250,000 to local business owners with the Small Business Rapid Relief Program.
Sequim lavender farmers eyed opening for July but organizers of a number of annual Lavender Weekend events — Art Jam, Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Show, Olympic Driftwood Sculptors Art Show and the Lavender Festival’s Street Fair — announced cancellations.
Sequim School Board directors on May 11 approved staffing cuts equivalent to 11 full-time staffers, as district leaders anticipated a significant drop in funding for the 2020-2021 school year.
A May 14 fatal shooting at a house near Sequim left three people dead: brother and sister James Faber Jr. and Samantha Faber, along with their acquaintance Jacob M. Hunter. Five others at the scene, two of them children, were not hurt in the shootings, law enforcement officials said. Hunter was later identified as the attacker.
City of Sequim officials announced on May 15 city staff had approved the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s MAT facility. Save Our Sequim and Jon Gibson filed an injunction to stop the processing of the tribe’s application.
In mid-May, Noah Glaude was selected executive director for the North Olympic Library System by NOLS’ board of trustees. Formerly the library system’s assistant director, Glaude succeeded Margaret Jakubcin.
Organizers of the Clallam County Fair announced on May 29 the annual community event would not take place in 2020 — the first time since 1946 (World War II) the county has suspended the fair activities, and second time in its 101-year history it was cancelled because of a disease outbreak (1918, influenza).
June
Organizers on June 1 cancelled the 2020 Dungeness Crab and Seafood Festival.
Hospital board commissioners named Darryl Wolfe the interim Olympic Medical Center CEO, succeeding Eric Lewis; Wolfe saw his interim title removed on July 29.
Showing support for locals and a national movement, hundreds of citizens took to Sequim downtown streets in peaceful protests to bring attention to the Black Lives Matter movement on June 3 and 4. A follow-up protest and gathering on June 12 swelled to about 400, joining other demonstrations across the state and nation. Less than two weeks later, Sequim city councilors approved a resolution condemning racism and discrimination.
Sequim Prairie Grange members adjusted to the health restrictions posed by COVID-19 with a drive-thru ice cream social on June 7.
Leaders of local soccer, baseball and softball leagues announced in early June the cancellation of their spring seasons.
Sequim School district leaders on June 15 detailed plans for opening Dungeness Virtual School, an online school set to open in the 2020-2021 academic year.
Sequim High School’s commencement ceremony on June 21 celebrated the school’s 171 graduating seniors in a unique event held at the Security Services Northwest property east of downtown Sequim. Olympic Peninsula Academy hosted a graduation for its six students in an outside ceremony on June 12.
Clallam County Superior Court judge Brent Basden denied injunction efforts to block the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s MAT clinic proposal on June 24.
July
Workers in mid-July broke ground on the $3.5 million expansion of the Dungeness River Audubon Center, the final phase of a three-year effort to add 5,000 square feet of educational and meeting spaces. The project is expected to be complete in the fall of 2021.
Officials with the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association announced on July 21 a modified schedule for state high school sports, a four-season plan that moved football, girls soccer and volleyball into early spring. The plan had by year’s end been modified again, further pushing sports planned for the fall (cross country, girls swim/dive, boys tennis) and winter sports into early 2021.
Peninsula College officials announced its sports seasons will also be delayed, postponing soccer until spring 2021.
For the fourth and reportedly final time over two years, unwanted mountain goats were in late July taken by helicopter and then trucked from Olympic National Park to their new home in the North Cascades Mountain Range.
August
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe officials and leaders celebrated the opening of the 7 Cedars Hotel on Aug. 4.
Sequim city councilor Troy Tenneson resigned his council seat on Aug. 21, citing a family emergency.
Ed Ebling of Sequim on Aug. 23 won the top prize in the Olympic Peninsula’s annual Duck Derby: a 2020 Toyota Yaris.
Sequim Mayor William Armacost drew criticism across the region with comments encouraging listeners of an Aug. 27 “Coffee With The Mayor” program on KSQM to learn more about QAnon — a controversial theory that alleges certain public figures are secretly involved in child trafficking and civil unrest. On Sept. 9, Armacost and Sequim City Manager Charlie Bush distribute a joint press release noting that the sessions are not the setting for elected officials to offer their personal opinions.
Sequim saw another surge of Black Lives Matter protests on Aug. 29.
Diamond Point residents John Johnson and Dave Richardson joined the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in late August.
September
A group of Sequim High School alumni in mid-September stepped up their efforts to see the high school sports stadium named for Myron Teterud, a longtime SHS sports and activities supporter who resides at Sequim Health & Rehabilitation.
Organizers of the annual Reach and Row for Hospice event, a fundraiser that donates tens of thousands of dollars for Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County, cancelled the event for 2020 in mid-September.
Don Kendall, a longtime philanthropist for the Sequim Boys & Girls Club and former PepsiCo CEO, died on Sept. 19 at age 99.
October
Sequim hosted a mostly virtual Irrigation Festival on Oct. 10, with a Grand Parade and Innovative Arts and Crafts Fair held online.
Captain-Crystal Stout was named Ms. Senior United State at an Oct. 8 contest in Las Vegas, Nev.
Two Sequim School District administrators — superintendent Dr. Rob Clark and Sequim High School principal Shawn Langston — were placed on leave after separate complains are filed with the district. Clark was placed on leave Oct. 22, Langston the following day. Langston was later reinstated to his position just before the close of 2020, while district leaders look to resolve Clark’s investigation in early January 2021.
On Oct. 26, Sequim city councilors selected Keith Larkin as the city’s newest councilor, replacing Troy Tennseson.
November
Jane Pryne, former Port Angeles School District superintendent, was named acting superintendent in Sequim on Nov. 2, filling in for Dr. Rob Clark who was placed on leave in late October.
A majority of incumbents grabbed early leads and held on for victories in local and statewide races in the Nov. 3 general election, including state senator Kevin Van De Wege and state representatives Mike Chapman and Steve Tharinger, congressman Derek Kilmer and Gov. Jay Inslee, all Democrats.
Clallam County made national news for correctly picking the presidential winner for the seventh consecutive election since 1980 — the longest streak in the nation.
Two Sequim sisters were struck in a crosswalk near St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church on Nov. 14. Lorraine (Reandeau) Anderson, 89, died four days later.
Gov. Jay Inslee reinstated a number of COVID-19 restrictions, in particular aimed at restaurants and fitness centers, to help stem a spike in cases.
Sequim School District leaders in November approved two levy proposals for a February 2021 ballot: a four-year, $15 million capital projects levy to address various projects across the district, along with a four-year, $29.7 million replacement educational programs and operations (EP&O) levy
The Sequim Food Bank saw a huge turnout for its Family Holiday Meal Program, distributing food to about 900 families on Nov. 20.
Justin J. Thompson Petersen, a 23-year-old Sequim man, died on Nov. 22 from injuries sustained in a crash in Carlsborg nine days earlier.
Sequim school students returned to remote learning on Nov. 25. District leaders had been gradually bringing back elementary grade level students for in-person instruction in previous weeks but a rise in COVID-19 cases coupled with a dearth of available substitute teachers and other staff forced the shift back to virtual learning, administrators said.
December
JCPenney officials announced on Dec. 10 its Sequim store will close in the spring of 2021, following a liquidation sale.
Peninsula College saw its basketball seasons delayed and cancellation of 2020-2021 championship tournaments after officials with the Northwest Athletic Conference made the changes at its Dec. 11 board meeting.
