In this issue
A piping good time
Shadowline’s big burgers A-12 Wednesday, July 21, 2021
A-3
SEQUIM GAZETTE www
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Vol. 48, Number 29
Clallam County officials back mental health court creation BY PAUL GOTTLIEB Olympic Peninsula News Group
Clallam County officials are moving forward with establishing the 16th mental health court in the state of Washington by Dec. 31. Backed by a courthouse hearing room full of mental health, city, law enforcement and military veteran officials, Dave Neupert and Mark Nichols won over county commissioners on July 19 on a long developing proposal for establishing a panel to route non-violent Port Angeles District Court 1 offenders with mental health diagnoses into treatment instead of jail.
See MENTAL HEALTH, A-13
Hailee Williams of Puyallup enjoys the smell of drying lavender at B&B Family Farm Friday afternoon. She said she’s been coming to Sequim for lavender festivities for the past 15 years. “Wouldn’t skip it for anything,” she said. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell
Perseverance in purple Some farmers see record sales from Sequim Lavender Weekend BY MATTHEW NASH Sequim Gazette
“This is our first time on the Olympic Peninsula,” said one Seattle couple at Fleurish Lavender of Lost Mountain. “We make an annual pilgrimage to Sequim usually as a group of girls,” an Everett woman at Lavender Connection said. “It feels like France,” said one Lacey couple, while standing atop fields overlooking rows of lavender at Graysmarsh Farm. For new and veteran lavendergoers and farmers, a sense of normalcy returned for most people at Sequim’s lavender farms following strict state guidelines for events during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. While concerns for the virus still loom, farmers found many
A&E A-2, A-8, A-9 Community Briefs A-5 Gardening A-7 Business A-11, A-12 Milestones A-10 Police blotter A-2 Opinion A-14 Obituaries A-16 Sports A-17 Classifieds B-1 Crossword Section B
weather outlook: THURSDAY, JULY 22
▲65 ▼50 FRIDAY, JULY 23
▲69 ▼53 SATURDAY, JULY 24
▲69 ▼53
Hafiz Huda of Seattle gets some u-pick lavender at Purple Haze Organic Lavender Farm on Six-year-old Maddox Morrison of Sequim races through the lavender Friday. Sequim Gazette photo by for a photo by his mom Colleen at Victor’s Rain Shadow Lavender Farm on July 16. Colleen said it was their first time at the farm and Michael Dashiell they came to hear music and enjoy the lavender. Sequim Gazette visitors ventured to the area for photo by Matthew Nash
the Sequim Lavender Weekend July 16-18 with a generally positive vibe. “People seemed happier (than in 2020),” said Jeanette Bockelie, co-owner of Kitty B’s Lavender Farm. “They were happy to be here.”
Scott Nagel, spokesperson for Victor’s Lavender Farm and Victor’s Rain Shadow Lavender Farm, said the farms’ crowds returned to 2019 levels, possibly greater. “Sequim Lavender Weekend
Officials with Clallam County Fire District 3 say a fire on July 13 started in the engine compartment of an ambulance at Olympic Ambulance but why it started remains under investigation. Photo courtesy of Clallam County Fire District 3
Olympic Ambulance fire cause unknown BY MATTHEW NASH Sequim Gazette
celebrating all of the farms is a very strong brand,” he said. “I drove around to most of the farms and saw excellent attendance wherever I went.”
Olympic Ambulance representatives say there’s been no disruption in services after a fire burned two ambulances and a carport last week. Around 2 a.m. July 13, a fire started in the front of an ambulance’s engine compartment about seven minutes after it parked, Clallam County Fire District 3 officials reported. Its cause remains unclear more than a week later, they said.
See LAVENDER, A-10
See FIRE, A-6
Community raises funds to save swans, bury power lines PUD: Kirner Road project expected to finish in August
Clallam County man in 70s dies of COVID-19
BY MICHAEL DASHIELL
BY ZACH JABLONSKI
Sequim Gazette
Olympic Peninsula News Group
By almost any measurable, the trumpeter swan is impressive. The heaviest and longest native bird of North America, it dons grey plumage in its youth before emerging stark white after about a year. The swans make their way to the SequimDungeness area each November. At Kirner Pond, about a mile west of the Woodcock/Sequim-Dungeness Way intersection, trumpeter swans roost on the water for safety — “so the coyotes don’t get them,” said Bob Phreaner, conservation co-chair
A Clallam County man in his 70s has died from COVID-19 after he had been hospitalized due to complications from the virus, a health official said. The man, who had diabetes, died Sunday, said Dr. Allison Berry, Clallam County health officer. His death is the 17th attributed to the virus in the county and the 21st across the North Olympic Peninsula since the pandemic began in March 2020.
Trumpeter swans enjoy an evening on Kirner Pond. Photo by Bob Phreaner
for the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Since December 2014, at least Society. eight trumpeter swans have died and Instead, swans are struggling with uncounted others have been injured a different danger: power lines. See Swans, A-13
See COVID, A-6