Grange hosts first pancake breakfast of new year

The Sequim Prairie Grange, 290 Macleay Road, hosts a pancake breakfast from 7:30 a.m.-noon on Sunday, Jan. 14.

The menu includes all-you-can eat pancakes, an egg, a slice of ham, coffee and orange juice. Cost is $8 for adults, $4 for children 10 years old and younger. Each additional egg or slice of ham costs $0.50.

Wreath pick-up volunteers sought

Volunteers are needed to help pick up and recycle wreathes used at Wreaths Across America Day events in December.

Event organizers are seeking extra hands this week, to help gather the 2,412 wreaths placed locally at Sequim View Cemetery and Mount Angeles Memorial Park (Port Angeles) and bring them to Lazy J Tree Farm, 225 Gehrke Road, where they need to be taken apart to be recycled.

Volunteers are needed to gather wreaths at Sequim View Cemetery, 1505 Sequim-Dungeness Way, at 2 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 12, and at Mount Angeles Memorial Park, 45 Monroe Road, at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 13, with recycling for both locations at 10 a.m. on Jan. 13.

The Michael Trebert Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution host a potluck lunch following the recycling.

The event saw 4,225 participating locations across the country, and locally at 11 cemeteries on the North Olympic Peninsula, from Gardiner to Forks.

The national 2024 Wreaths Across America Day is Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024.

Learn about human trafficking, smuggling

Special Agent Laura Marroquin of Homeland Security will provide community education and insight in human trafficking and human smuggling at the Peninsula College’s first Studium Generale of winter quarter, set for 12:35 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 11, in the Little Theater at the college, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.

The seminar, hosted by the college and Soroptimist clubs of Clallam County, is free and the public is invited to attend. The presentation is also available on Zoom at pencol-edu.zoom.us/j/84080265098 (meeting ID 840 8026 5098).

Marroquin is currently assigned to the Assistant Special Agent in Charge in the Blaine (Wa.) office in the Human Trafficking and Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. She began working in Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) in 2009 and worked in a multitude of investigations involving human trafficking and human smuggling, child exploitation, terrorism investigations, narcotics smuggling, counterproliferation, money laundering and intellectual property rights violations.

For more information, email Studium Generale Coordinator Kate Reavey at kreavey@pencol.edu or call Danetta Rutten at 360-460-1722.

Safety is topic of SBYC meeting

Chris Turner, Battalion Chief with Clallam County Fire District 3, will talk about safety practices, both on land and sea, including marine fire prevention and management for the Sequim Bay Yacht Club’s general meeting, starting at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 10, in the Hendricks public meeting room at John Wayne Marina, 2577 W. Sequim Bay Road. The public is invited.

CCD native plant sale ends soon

Clallam Conservation District’s annual Native Plant Sale is coming to an end on at midnight on Friday, Jan. 12. Plants are sold in bundles of five, 10 and 25 depending on species, with prices ranging from $24-$39 per bundle. Most plants are 1- to 2-year-old bare-root seedlings ranging in size from 8 inches to 2 feet; however, some specialty species are available as plugs, which are young plants in small seedling pots.

Place orders on the Conservation District website at clallamcd.org/native-plants. Plants will be available for pick-up on March 2 at Lazy J Tree Farm, 225 Gehrke Road, between Sequim and Port Angeles.

Species are selling out quickly, but the following are still available through their sale. Conifer tree bare-root seedlings include Sitka spruce, western hemlock, and western white pine. Deciduous tree bare-root seedlings include big leaf maple, Pacific crabapple, and red alder. Deciduous shrub bare-root seedlings include blue elderberry, Nootka rose, osoberry, Pacific ninebark, red elderberry, red flowering currant, and twinberry. Ferns include deer fern and sword fern, both sold as plugs.

Genealogy group to host DNA lecturer

The Clallam County Genealogical Society kicks off its 2024 Speaker Series with Beth Swarz, who presents “Centi What; Morgan Who … Working with DNA Results” at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 13, at the society’s Research Center, 403 E. Eighth St., and on Zoom. There is no cost to attend.

Swarz has specialized in helping solve unknown parent/family connections through DNA and creating, building and researching family trees.

Swarz is the president of Moreno Valley Genealogical Society, a member of the International Society of Genetic Genealogy, National Genealogical Society, and Family Search Center Staff, and is involved in several other genealogical-oriented groups.

To get Zoom meeting number and codes, email the society at askus@clallamcogs.org or call 360-417-5000.

The Research Center is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, and noon-4 p.m. on Saturdays.

Discovery Bay closes to some shellfish harvesting

Discovery Bay is now closed for recreational harvest of butter and varnish clams only, Clallam County health officials said last week.

Closed to all species means clams (including geoduck), oysters, mussels and other invertebrates such as the moon snail. All areas are closed for the sport harvest of scallops. The closure do not apply to shrimp.

Shellfish harvesting on Sequim Bay and on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, from Cape Flattery to the Jefferson County line, is also closed to butter and varnish clams only.

Closed to all species are Pacific Ocean beaches (seasonal).

For more information about this closure, call the Marine Biotoxin Hotline at 800-562-5632, or visit the Department of Health’s Marine Biotoxin website at doh.wa.gov/shellfishsafety.htm.

Drop-in technology services at library

Sequim and Clallam Bay branches in the North Olympic Library System (NOLS) provide one-on-one assistance to help access free eBooks, eAudiobooks, digital magazines, streaming music and movies, and more.

Both branches have designated times for Drop-In Tech Help, when any individual can bring in their portable device for assistance using NOLS online resources.

Drop-In Tech Help is available from 9:30-11 a.m. in Sequim and 1:30-2:30 p.m. in Clallam Bay on the first Friday of every month

“You might have a new smartphone and need help installing the Libby reading app. Or maybe you’d like library staff to show you how to stream music or watch a movie using Hoopla on your laptop,” librarian Corrina Desmarais said. “Even if you’ve never been to the library before, we can quickly sign you up for a free library card and get you started enjoying new content on your device.”

For more information, visit nols.org/dropin-tech, call 360-417-8500 or email to discover@nols.org.

‘New Year, Renewed You’ workshop set

Individuals who have made a New Year’s resolution and would like help getting started or staying motivated are encouraged to attend “New Year, Renewed You,” a free workshop hosted by the North Olympic Library System this week.

Life coach Sabrina Caverly leads the workshop from 6-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 11, at Olympic Theatre Arts Center, 414 N. Sequim Ave.; no registration is needed.

The workshop, organizers say, will help attendees identify and implement new habits and show how to better care for one’s self. Caverly will help attendees create personalized, meaningful and achievable plans.

This workshop is supported in part by Friends of Sequim Library.

For more information, visit nols.org/renewed-you, call 360-683-1161 or email to discover@nols.org.

Logic, accuracy tests scheduled

The Clallam County Elections Division will perform the county’s official Logic and Accuracy Test of its ballot tabulation system at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 12, in the Election Center at the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Room 072, Port Angeles.

Clallam County Elections conducts logic and accuracy testing, a standard pre-election procedure, to ensure the accessible voting units and tabulation (hardware and software) functions properly and are accurately programmed for each election.

The testing is open to the public, with limited in-person observation space available. County officials will be livestreaming the testing for those who would like to observe virtually. To view the livestream, visit clallamcountywa.gov/elections.

Photo courtesy of North Olympic Library System / Life coach Sabrina Caverly leads “New Year, Renewed You,” a free workshop set fo Thursday, Jan. 11, at Olympic Theatre Arts Center, 414 N. Sequim Ave.