Law enforcement from across the North Olympic Peninsula will carry the Special Olympics torch today.
The Law Enforcement Torch Run precedes the start of the 2016 Special Olympics Washington Summer Games at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma. The games will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday and continue through Sunday.
National Park Service rangers will begin the Clallam County portion of the run at 7 a.m. at Laird’s Corner west of Port Angeles.
The Peninsula’s portion of the run will end with the handing off of the torch to the Port Gamble tribe at the Hood Canal Bridge at about 7 p.m.
Tribal members will take the torch across the canal by canoe.
On Thursday, Kitsap County law enforcement will take over.
Public walks
Although the public is welcome to participate on any leg of today’s journey, two special walking portions are scheduled, said Undersheriff Ron Cameron of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
At about 8:30 a.m., Clallam County Commissioner Mike Chapman plans to lead a group of walkers with the torch from Port Angeles City Pier to the Rayonier mill site, Cameron said.
Another walking portion is planned at about 1 p.m. in Sequim.
Sequim Police Chief Bill Dickinson will lead the group from Rhodefer and West Bay roads to Sindars Road on the east side of Sequim.
Course of run
After the run begins at Laird’s Corner, the Special Olympics torch will be handed off on Edgewood Drive to Clallam County Deputy Katie Arand and her husband, Port Angeles Police Detective Cpl. Dave Arand, who will carry it to Bean Road, where Lower Elwha Klallam tribal officers will take over.
They will run the torch to Marine Drive, where Port Angeles officers will take it and carry it to City Pier, and then pick it up again after the public walk to carry it to Four Season Ranch along the Olympic Discovery Trail.
From there, Clallam County sheriff’s deputies will take the torch to Railroad Bridge Park in Sequim and hand it over at about noon to Sequim Police Department officers.
After the public walk, State Patrol will carry the torch for a couple of miles before Jason Robbins of the Jamestown S’Klallam Fish & Game Enforcement carries it to the tribal center at Blyn.
From there, Clallam Bay Corrections Center marathoners will run the torch to the junction of U.S. Highway 101 and state Highway 104, Cameron said.
Border Patrol and Jefferson County law enforcement will carry it from there.
Final mile
Port Townsend Police Chief Mike Evans and Jefferson County Sheriff David Stanko will walk with the torch on the final mile to the Hood Canal Bridge.
Before that last mile, a barbecue for Special Olympics participants is planned at the South Point Fire Station at about 5 p.m., Stanko said.
Port Gamble tribal members will take the torch and carry it across the canal by canoe to give it to Kitsap County law enforcement.
The Kitsap Officers Supporting Special Olympics — made up of law enforcement officers, executive staffs and high school students — will carry the torch Thursday in a running-and-boating relay throughout Kitsap County and a portion of the Key Peninsula and across the Tacoma Narrows.
This relay is part of the nationwide Law Enforcement Torch Run to raise community awareness about the needs of Special Olympics.
The games’ opening ceremonies are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday in Hangar 1.
Special Olympics Washington expects some 2,000 Special Olympians will participate.
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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.
