A Month of Records, Rulings, and Reckonings: Reviewing Our July Coverage

July was a busy month for The Olympic Herald. It began with a school district demanding 90 business days to release the records behind a censure, and it ended with a state Supreme Court ruling that a public university owed a duty of care to a student who died pledging a fraternity. 

In between: a new website, a lawsuit, a federal sentencing, and the launch of our first public records tool.

Here is what our reporting covered, and where it goes next.

The Port Angeles censure fight moves to court

On July 1, we reported that the Port Angeles School District was seeking a 90-business-day delay before releasing the records its own board had cited in June's censure of Director Nancy Hamilton. 

After we published an opinion piece on July 7 giving the district what we called one last chance to follow the law, the district produced the Hamilton letter on July 8, our stated deadline, as the first installment of responsive records.

The dispute then escalated. On July 15, Hamilton sued the district, alleging retaliation, prior restraint, and Open Public Meetings Act violations.

By July 28, a Tacoma firm had appeared to defend the district, and a corrected complaint placed the censure resolution and the letter itself into the court file.

On July 23, the board declined to approve the minutes of its June 18 censure meeting, and that public record was delayed to August. The board also held its first regular meeting since the lawsuit, with a 2026-27 budget hearing to follow.

Separately, an independent arbitrator ruled on July 13 that the district failed to bargain with its office professionals' union before cutting secretarial hours.

Quillayute Valley closes the Larson case, hears new testimony

On July 14, the Quillayute Valley School District paid $765,834.77 to close the Larson case, resolving the federal judgment against it.

The board then met repeatedly behind closed doors, including an 80-minute executive session that ended with no action taken and a midday special meeting for closed-door talks on litigation and job applicants.

On July 29, the board heard new firsthand testimony from a district graduate, now a QVSD coach, who said she had experienced coach Weekes's massages herself.

Judge Ferguson-Brown, from courtroom to campaign records

Our July 16 investigation examined Kitsap County Judge Cadine Ferguson-Brown, and a companion piece documented that state regulators warned her over campaign disclosures in 2023 and that her next campaign failed to disclose again, according to Public Disclosure Commission records.

One night after our investigation was published, public comments on the "Judge Ferguson-Brown" Facebook page began to disappear.

We filed two public records requests on July 21 seeking the paper trail behind that silencing.

On July 27, Judge Ferguson-Brown sentenced a Poulsbo man, James David Manzanares, to 34 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The search warrant log fight continues

Our petition seeking years of Clallam County Superior Court search warrant logs, filed July 6 after the court's blanket denial, was denied by Judge Barnhart on July 20.

The court has refused to release its own logs. We reported both the filing and the denial, and that fight is not over.

Our records work on the Clallam County bench also continued: on July 1, newly released records from the Governor's Office shed light on the 2019 appointment of Judge Brent Basden, who remains under formal investigation by the Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct.

And in federal court, a judge denied Jonathan E. Karns' motion for pretrial release to inpatient drug treatment, ordering him held pending trial.

Courts, sentences, and the state's highest bench

July's court coverage ranged across the region. A Kitsap County man was sentenced to five years in the casino fentanyl case.

A 69-year-old man whose scheme to float methamphetamine across the Strait of Juan de Fuca left duffel bags of drugs on Clallam County beaches was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

Johnny Talbert was extradited to North Carolina as Clallam County closed its fugitive case.

The rape trial of former Sequim police officer Christian Whitaker was delayed to November, and the trial of Carl King was postponed after he retained private counsel.

Court records also showed how a convicted rapist won unconditional release from McNeil Island civil commitment.

At the state level, the Washington Supreme Court ruled that WSU owed a legal duty to protect Sam Martinez, the 19-year-old freshman who died pledging a fraternity, and ruled unanimously that judges granting a mental health sentencing alternative may also waive mandatory weapon enhancements.

Days earlier, a Clallam County judge rejected an agreed mental health sentence and sent a man to prison for 23 months.

Appeals courts reversed a no-contact order conviction in Kitsap County, found a Clallam County defense lawyer "plainly deficient" while upholding the conviction, and handed the Department of Revenue a $10.9 million win in a title insurance tax fight.

Educator discipline, tracked statewide

Our educator accountability reporting continued: the state permanently revoked three Washington education certificates after sex offense convictions, revoked the credential of a former Peninsula teacher convicted of child molestation, suspended the certificate of a tutor who worked inside Shelton High School, and suspended a former Tumwater teacher's certificate after years of intoxication concerns.

On the finance side, the State Auditor flagged a "material weakness" in the North Kitsap School District's handling of federal Title I funds, finding nearly $800,000 in payroll charged to the program without required documentation.

Beyond the courtroom

July also brought hard news from the coast and the community. A multi-agency search for a missing 22-year-old Port Angeles man ended in tragedy near Ediz Hook, the Cape Flattery search for two missing men ended without finding them, and a Silver Alert for a 75-year-old Port Angeles man was canceled after he was located safe.

A new website, and a new tool

Our rebuilt website went live July 13. On July 27, we launched our first free public records tool, answering a simple question: who's paying for the campaigns on your ballot?

The tracker pulls live from the state's own records, at no cost to readers.

What's next

July also marked our six-month milestone. 

Tonight, we will be releasing a second free tool built on the same premise as the campaign finance tracker. Where that tool follows money into elections, this one follows money into Olympia itself, year-round.

And next week, we will have an update on the launch of our first weekly printed edition, on track to reach Clallam County later this month.

None of this coverage happens for free. Behind every story are purchased court records, hours in courtrooms and meetings, and the costs of building and hosting free public tools. 

The Olympic Herald is 100% reader-supported. 

If July's reporting mattered to you, a subscription or contribution funds August's. And if you're not able to give, sharing our work with a neighbor helps just as much.