Daily Archives: April 14, 2009

Port Orchard taking over police patrols on Bainbridge?

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Port Orchard Mayor Lary Coppola said he’d be willing to have his police replace the Bainbridge Island Police Department – as long as there’s a profit for P.O.

As police reporter Josh Farley noted in his blog, Coppola floated the idea at a recent Port Orchard planning meeting after hearing rumblings on B.I. that the city may cut its police department to save money.

“We wouldn’t do it unless we were going to make extra money,” Coppola said.

Coppola said P.O. Police Chief Al Townsend “seems to think we can do it.”

Port Orchard may import their police force via boat, which is a much quicker way of getting to BI than driving all the way up to North Kitsap to cross the bridge.

The notion of Bainbridge renting out Port Orchard cops hasn’t yet reached the stage of formal discussions, but Coppola said he plans to bring the issue up with Bainbridge Mayor Darlene Kordonowy in the near future.

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Living Library returns on Sunday

The Bainbridge Public Library is sponsoring a second “Living Library” event on Sunday.

Based on a program that’s been offered in over 25 countries, participants – or “readers” – chose from flesh-and-blood “books” representing groups that are often stereotyped, misunderstood or hold controversial viewpoints.

During October’s inaugural event, over 50 readers sat down conversations with an atheist, a quadriplegic, a female police officer, an Eagle Harbor liveaboard and over a dozen other living “books.” Several books from the October event will also be on hand on Sunday.

Some of the new books at the Sunday event, which will this time be held at the Bainbridge High School library, will include an epileptic, an anarchist, a cancer sufferer and a German who lived in Nazi Germany.

“The book and reader adjourn to a quiet area in the library for a one-on-one conversation of up to 30 minutes,” Bainbridge Public Library Branch Manager Rebecca Judd said. “During that time, there is an opportunity for quiet conversation, questions, stories and, hopefully, a sense of common ground.”

Sunday’s Living Library event is scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m. in the high school’s new 200 Building library. Call (206) 842-4162 for more information.

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City considers an island-wide fireworks ban

The city has crafted a draft ordinance that would ban all fireworks – except for pro-grade, permitted displays – on the island in time for the 2010 Fourth of July.

There’s a public hearing on the proposal this Thursday at City Hall.

While I was gathering information for a story on the proposed ban, which you can read here, Bainbridge Fire Marshall Jared Moravec mentioned a YouTube video that shows Bainbridge teens detonating homemade explosives Moravec said were likely built with legal fireworks and are the type used to blow apart a number of port-o-potties last summer.

In the video, the teens blow up buckets, toss firework grenades, launch homemade mortars and fire a hand-held 10-barrel roman candle. You can see the video below. There’s some swearing, so hide the kids.

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