The Letter, the Proclamation, and the Double Standards
A reminder for Monday’s city council meeting and a look at ceremonial proclamations
This Week’s City Council Meeting:
Date: Monday, March 23, 2026
Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Council Chambers on first floor in the Sequim Civic Center, 152 W. Cedar Street
Learn how to participate during a meeting, and how to attend in person, online, or on the phone, at the City of Sequim website.
Click here for the event details.
Click here for the agenda.
Click here for the interactive agenda packet.
Agenda Highlights:
Item 8G of the Consent Agenda is the letter of support for The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Land Transfer Act of 2026.
On March 20, 2026, Clallam County Watchdog did an in-depth report in the article The Dungeness Spit: From Co-Management to Ownership.
Tomorrow, Monday the 23rd, is the opportunity to be heard at the city council meeting.
Written comments can be sent to clerk@sequimwa.gov.
To learn how to participate during a meeting, and how to attend in person, online, or on the phone, visit the City of Sequim website.
Items 5A and 5B under ‘Ceremonial’ are two proclamations.
5A is for the Sequim Bay Yacht Club 50th Anniversary
5B is for Child Abuse Prevention Month:
Double Standards Speak Louder than Proclamations:
Three sections of the Child Abuse Prevention Month proclamation state:
WHEREAS, children are our nation’s most vulnerable members as well as our nation’s most valuable resources, helping to shape the future of Sequim
WHEREAS, childhood trauma, including abuse and neglect, is a serious problem affecting every community in the U.S., and finding solutions requires input and action from everyone;
WHEREAS, prevention is possible because of the partnerships created between families, prevention advocates, child welfare professionals, education, health, community, and faith-based organizations, businesses, law enforcement agencies, and local, state, and national governments
On February 2, 2026, the Clallam County Watchdog shared a comment from a local reader in the article “Hold Onto the Base so You Don’t Lose It!”:
I live in downtown Sequim. The first picture in the article is one of two carts being moved throughout town by a man who is completely unstable. We have him on our outdoor camera multiple times yelling obscenities, blocking sidewalks, and pantomiming stabbing himself. On Sunday 1/18, I took a picture of where he settled himself on the corner on 5th and Fir St blocking a power box and the sidewalk. He remained there for two days. My husband called Sequim PD three times with our concern being that our son would be walking to school in the morning along with many other kids right past this man. He was told they will not respond as he is not blocking the sidewalk and we should just tell our son to take a different route to school. So, it appears that the stance of Sequim PD is they will prioritize the actions of unstable, drug addled vagrants before the safety of children.
The encampment was across from Peninsula Behavioral Health’s Sequim location, half a block from the Boys & Girls Club, and a block from the Elementary School.
Twelve days later, on February 14, 2026, in the Clallam County Watchdog article Indecent Exposure Is a Crime. Indecent Leadership Is a Choice, the identity of the man at 5th and Fir Street who was blocking the sidewalk was revealed: John E. Marshall.
On February 4, 2026, John was arrested for indecent exposure. A witness reported seeing John urinating in the bushes with his genitals exposed while in the parking lot of the Dollar Tree in Sequim. According to the police report, a baggie containing suspected methamphetamine was found. Read more of the details on CC Watchdog.
Now in March, within two months of John E. Marshall’s arrest and the concerned parents reporting him for blocking a public sidewalk where children walk, the City of Sequim is boldly stating in a child abuse prevention proclamation that “children are our nation’s most vulnerable members,” and that “prevention is possible because of the partnerships created between…law enforcement agencies, and local…governments.”
If children truly are the nation’s most vulnerable members, how is it that the Sequim Police allow a drug addict with a documented history of instability to camp out on a public sidewalk where vulnerable children walk to school, within a block from an elementary school and the Boys & Girls Club?
If finding solutions to childhood trauma, including abuse and neglect, requires action from everyone, does that mean the Sequim Police and the City of Sequim are required to take action when concerned parents make a report of a threat to their child’s safety on a public sidewalk?
Is it an acceptable solution to tell parents that their child should take a different route to school?
If the Sequim Police and the City of Sequim dismiss a parent’s concern about their child’s safety on a public sidewalk, could that create childhood trauma by neglecting to keep the public sidewalks safe for children when walking to school?
Does childhood abuse and neglect occur only in a home, or can it occur on public sidewalks where safety for children is neglected by local police and government?
If the City of Sequim is not living up to the words they write in their proclamation for Child Abuse Prevention Month, are their words just as meaningless in everything else they write, including the letter of support for The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe Land Transfer Act of 2026?
Nicely done, CJ. The side by side reveals the real city council. All show, no substance. We know their pride in their proclamations is meaningless because of their proclamation against ICE. ICE corridinates with other agencies to find missing and exploited children bought and sold in our own country. Their hypocrisy is pathological.
Exceellent connection. Well done!