I was a sixth-grader in Sequim in 1952 when Jake Hall, chief of the S’Klallam tribe, spoke to my class.
The tribe, Mr. Hall said, was threatened with exile to the south end of Hood Canal, so painfully they pooled every penny and bought a few acres on the beach and named it Jamestown.
I am grateful the S’Klallams stayed in the county that bears their name.
It enriches our community that we share this healing space with them.
Today, Elaine Grinnell expresses that spirit when she tells S’Klallam legends.
Tribal chair, Ron Allen, speaks with that spirit in urging construction of the opioid Healing Campus.
Right now, he and the tribe are leading the COVID-19 vaccination effort to heal us all.
Vicki Lowe has healing spirit: executive director of the American Indian Health Commission for Washington, Sequim High graduate, lifelong Clallam resident.
She helped push an anti-racist resolution through the Sequim City Council last year.
Lowe was a candidate to fill a vacancy on the council. Sequim Mayor William Armacost would have made history by nominating Lowe as the first S’Klallam descendent to serve on the council.
It would have proved that the anti-racist resolution was not empty words.
Armacost praised the QAnon cult, members of which stormed the U.S. Capitol.
Armacost and his minions fired Sequim City Manager Charlie Bush, who served the people tirelessly.
Armacost should resign.
Tim Wheeler
Sequim
Tim Wheeler is acting chair of Voices for Health & Healing