I’m not really sure how someone who steals a child’s
bike can sleep at night. But that’s exactly what happened
to Alexandra Funari, a 10-year-old student at View Ridge
Elementary School. Last Thursday, her mother, Bonnie Flacco, came
home to find someone had ripped off Alexandra’s bicycle from right
beside their home off East 31st Street.
“It made me cry,” Alexandra said. “I really liked my bike.”
Flacco said that several kids’ bikes have gone missing in the
neighborhood recently, something she too finds unconscionable.
“It’s sad that someone would go around the neighborhood and
steal children’s toys,” she said.
Bike theft is all too common in Kitsap County and across the
country. In Bremerton alone, 69 bikes have been reported stolen
between Jan. 1, 2013 and today. Bremerton Police Chief Steve
Strachan said the best thing you can do, other than make sure the
bike is locked up, is get the serial number off of it for safe
keeping and take a picture. And, if it is stolen, be sure to report
it to police.
“We recover a bicycles fairly frequently,” Strachan
said. “We have a really hard time getting them back to people if
they don’t report it.”
Alexandra’s bike, unfortunately, remains missing. But
there is a silver lining.
Bremerton resident Joanne Jogerst saw a post from
Flacco on a Facebook page. She knew a man named Thom Kalmbach,
a Renton resident who grew up in Bremerton — and that he might have
a bike. Kalmbach contacted me and said his 13-year-old daughter had
indeed outgrown her bike and he was willing to part ways with it. I
arranged a meeting at Evergreen-Rotary Park this afternoon for the
parties to meet.
Alexandra had no idea.
“I hear someone borrowed your bike,” Kalmbach said as he
approached. “And they didn’t give it back.”
“Stole it,” Alexandra replied.
Then, Kalmbach wheeled over a white and purple bike with thick
mountain bike tires. Alexandra’s eyes lit up.
She quickly got on the saddle and began riding it around the
Evergreen-Rotary Park boat launch parking lot.
“I love it,” she said.
Flacco said they’ll make sure to get a lock to deter thieves in
the future.
Alexandra Funari, 10,
celebrates after she rode her new bike at Evergreen-Rotary Park in
Bremerton on Wednesday. To her right is her mom, Bonnie Flacco.
LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUNAlexandra with her new bike. In
the center is Tom Kalmbach of Renton, who gave her the bike, and
Joanne Jogerst who contacted Tom. LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP
SUN
This job is never boring, let
me tell you. LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN
Today marks my 10 year anniversary at the
Kitsap Sun. It’s a milestone that I’ve been thinking
about a lot lately. I’ve witnessed a dramatic transformation
in journalism this past decade. Not all has been positive: the
newsroom staff is half the size it was when I got here, reflecting
an era of massive media consolidation. (That’s
the nice way to put it). But I am also part of a new
era, where the most creative and industrious minds will prevail in
an age where anyone can publish a story.
I wanted to take you back through this decade, for a
trip through the stories that fascinated me most. Many of
these, you will notice, are from my first seven years on the job,
when I was the Sun’s crime and justice reporter. But Bremerton, as
home to the Sun and those I’ve covered, has always played an
integral role.
Enjoy!
1. After 62 years, death comes six hours
apart
Amazing stories that are told on the obituary page
nearly everyday. So I was especially curious when my editor, Kim
Rubenstein, came to me with a rather unique one: A couple whose
obituary ran together, in the same article.
I phoned the family, wondering if they would be
interested in telling their parents’ story. It’s a phone call that
never gets easier, having to call someone coming to terms with
death, but it’s a call I feel is a newspaper’s obligation. In doing
so, I’ve always tried to explain I’d like to give the community a
chance to know the person they were in life, and if not, they were
free to hang up on me. Everyone grieves differently but some people
view the opportunity as cathartic.
In this case, the family was thrilled and invited me
to their home in Kingston.
I learned of a
very special love story — a couple through 62 years of marriage
did everything together. Everything. Even getting the mail.
It’s a story that not only touched me emotionally, but
apparently others as well. Few stories I’ve ever done attracted
broader attention. I got calls, emails and letters from all over
the country, and was even interviewed by the Seattle P-I about
doing it.
2. The CIA is doing what in Washington
state?
Undercover police officers have their identities
concealed for a reason: they are often conducting sensitive, and
sometimes high risk, investigations that warrant it.
But what about when police chiefs, who use their
government issued vehicles mainly for the purpose of driving to and
from work, start using those undercover license plates?
But nothing could prepare me, months after the
initial story, for a call from Austin Jenkins, NPR reporter in
Olympia, who’d been hearing testimony in the State Legislature
about these license plates and changes to the program.
I teamed up with Jenkins and we went to Olympia to
interview the DOL. Amazingly, Gov. Jay Inslee and Gov. Chris
Gregoire before him, didn’t even know about the program.
Later, the DOL would backpedal and say that they had
no authority to release information about those “federal agencies”
that have the licenses. But it was a fascinating discovery, an
amazing story to work on and I am glad
we were able to help bring the program to transparency.
Wikipedia photo.
3. The Pentagon’s calling, and they’re not
happy
Ever wonder what it’s like to have The Pentagon angry
with a story you did? Well, let me tell you.
You may recall the story of Naval Base Kitsap’s
highest enlisted man
being convicted in a sting not dissimilar from To Catch a
Predator. He served his time, but I had wondered what kind
of discipline he faced from the Navy, and that became the subject
of a story months later.
Through a public records request, I got hold of a
Navy document that reported he’d received an honorable
discharge from the Navy — something a former Navy JAG told me was
unheard of following a sex crime conviction.
We ran the story.
The following Monday, The Pentagon called.
“Your story is wrong,” I was told repeatedly. “Are
you going to correct it?”
“How is it wrong?” I asked.
I couldn’t get an answer because those records were
private, I was told.
“So how can I correct it?” I wondered.
Round and round we went, for what felt like an
eternity. Newsroom meetings were held. I freely admit it does not
feel good when the Pentagon is not happy with you.
Eventually, others at The Pentagon and the local base
released information that showed the man had received an “other
than honorable” discharge. To this day, I am uncertain why I
saw reports that contradicted each other.
Photo by Meegan M.
Reid.
4. Burglary victim becomes the
suspect
Imagine coming home from a trip to find your home has
been burglarized, and yet
you’re the one getting hauled off to jail. That was the
situation Luke Groves faced in 2009. A felon, he’d broken into a
school in Shelton at 18, and now, at 37, police found his wife’s
guns in their Hewitt Avenue home.
Prosecutors, who charged him with felon in possession
of a firearm, had offered him no jail time in exchange for his
guilty plea. But Groves took the case to trial,
was convicted, and could’ve faced years in prison over it.
The case was one that former Kitsap County Prosecutor
Russ Hauge and I had butted heads about. He felt we’d cast the
prosecutor’s office as the bad guy in a case which they could not
just “look the other way” on a weapons charge.
I followed the trial from start to finish, including
Hauge himself handling the sentencing — something I can’t
recall on an other occasion in my seven years covering the court
system here. Hauge told the judge that Groves should ultimately get
credit for time served for the crime, and Groves was released.
The story started with a scanner call for a DOA (dead
on arrival) near the road in Olhava. I inquired with the police
sergeant, who told me that the death was actually a pretty
interesting story — certainly not something I expected to hear. I
headed north, parked, and followed a little trail into the woods
where I found “The Shiloh,” Christensen’s home among Western Red
Cedars.
It was a “meticulously organized world,” I wrote. “A
campsite with finely raked dirt, a sturdy green shed and a tent
filled with bins of scrupulously folded clean laundry and cases of
Steel Reserve beer.”
In the subsequent days, I learned all about his quiet
life and
penned this story. Most satisfying to me was that Christensen’s
family had lost touch with him. Without the story, which thanks to
the Internet made its way across the country, his family would’ve
never found him. He got the dignified burial he deserved.
Nametags of those who went
through Kitsap Recovery Center who later died or went to
prison.
6. Heroin’s ugly grip on Kitsap, the
nation
I’ve probably put more energy into covering the
opiate epidemic than any other single topic in my decade at the
Sun.
I’ve received a lot of “jail mail” over the years,
and while there’s usually an interesting story, it is, shall we
say, not always one I would pursue in print.
When the letters started coming from Robert “Doug”
Pierce in 2010, I was skeptical. He was convinced that Kitsap
County had miscalculated his “good time” or time off for good
behavior, and that he was serving too long a sentence from his
current cell, at Coyote Ridge in Connell.
Now I will tell you I am a journalist and not a
mathematician. But the basic gist was that jail officials here were
calculating his good time by simply dividing his time served by
three, rather than tacking on an additional to his overall
sentence. The result was he would serve 35 extra days.
A criminal past can often haunts someone for the rest
of his or her life. That was certainly true for Ed Gonda, a man who
moved his family to Bainbridge Island and had heard it was a “laid
back, forgiving kind of place.”
His crime was a sexual relationship with a
15-year-old girl. He admitted to it, did time for it, paid more
than $10,000 in treatment for it — and had lived a clean life for
15 years, to include starting his own family.
But under Washington state law, he had to register as
a sex offender, though he was not a pedophile. And somehow, after
making friends at a local church and at his daughter’s school, word
got out.
“The news traveled fast, and people who they thought
they knew well acted swiftly,”
I wrote. “His daughter could no longer play with friends down
the street, he said. The church pews around them were vacant on
Sundays. They more or less stopped going out anywhere on the
island.”
“We’re treated like we’re diseased,” his wife told
me.
It was the start of a
three part series I knew would be controversial, but I felt was
important. We want to protect all people in society, especially
children. But is there ever a point when we’ve gone too far and it
has infringed on the rights of those who have already done their
time?
Yes, I have ridden in the back
of a cop car. MEEGAN M. REID / KITSAP SUN
9. Bremerton’s plunging violent crime
rate
Let’s face it: Bremerton has a gotten a bad rap over
the years, following the demise in the 1980s of its retail downtown
core. An increasing violent crime rate followed, and in many ways
the reputation was earned.
When I was hired in 2005, the city had the highest
per capita violent crime rate. During my interview, which was just
weeks after two murders blocks from the Kitsap Sun’s office, I was
asked how I would take on the story. Aggressively, I said.
I spent a lot of time in a patrol car — every
shift including graveyard — and was introduced to
Bremerton’s seedy underbelly before meeting any other part. It
was a scary place: I saw lots of people high on meth, fights
between police and drunkards, violent domestic abusers whose
victims would try to shield their attackers from the cops.
And I wrote extensively about it.
If you live in Bremerton, you know that each time we
do have a tragic, violent episode — even if far outside city limits
— it reinforces the stereotype.
But followers of this blog know better. There are
many positive signs of a community improving: Increasing ferry
traffic. Volunteers embracing parks. Home improvements being made.
Developments downtown.
We’ll see how long it takes for the rest of the world
to notice.
10. Walking the story in
Bremerton
Any reporter will tell you that we spend a lot more
time with the story than what ends up in the paper. But what about
those people who want to know more, who
are curious for every last detail?
Bremerton Police served a search warrant at
this home on the 1300 block of Rainier Avenue this
morning.
Two people have been arrested on drug charges, as
officers with Bremerton’s Special Operations Group combed the
property looking for evidence. A total of six people were found
inside; each could face charges.
As often happens with these investigations, it
started with neighborhood complaints, according to Bremerton Police
Sgt. Billy Renfro. There was traffic going in and out at all hours.
Renfro described it as a flop house.
The Special Operations Group, after developing
information that earned a judge’s signature for a warrant,
decided it was time to move in.
“It was dirtying up the entire neighborhood,”
Detective Steven Forbragd said.
Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan said the search
warrant was “part of our ongoing commitment to working with
residents to build strong, safe neighborhoods.”
“We hope this sends a message to anyone who wants to
break the law and degrade the quality of life in our community,” he
said. “It isn’t quick and we need to ensure due process, but we
will continue to work hard on these issues.”
Michelle Greisheimer was sworn in at last night’s City
Council meeting as Bremerton’s newest police officer. As a
woman, she is a rarity in the department of about 60 officers.
She is one of only two fully commissioned officers, meaning her
hiring doubled the ranks.
“I’m ashamed to say it’s true,” said Bremerton Police Chief
Steve Strachan, who has trumpeted the need to bring in officers
that reflect the community they serve since he started here two
years ago.
The chief and Mayor Patty Lent also
included $24,000 in the city’s budget this year to hire cadets
to perform clerical tasks at the department. They must be enrolled
in a postsecondary educational program like Olympic College, but
the idea — aside from the administrative help — is that it would be
a “new way of recruiting and hiring nontraditional candidates for
law enforcement.”
Greisheimer, an Ohio native, worked for Seattle police for eight
years — working at the Capitol Hill and Pioneer Square precincts —
before moving to Chandler, Arizona, where she stayed for seven.
Prior to her career in law enforcement, she had joined the army
and was stationed in Puerto Rico and Georgia before deploying to
Kuwait, Strachan said.
She married Christine, her partner of 10 years,
when same-sex marriage was recognized in Arizona last year. The
couple consider the Pacific Northwest home and jumped at the chance
to relocate here with their young sons.
How important is it to you that Bremerton police hire
women officers? Or, for that matter, people of differing
backgrounds?
If you’ve been up to Pendergast Regional Park in the
evening lately, you know the parking lot is quite
dark. That’s because a driver lost control there
recently and plowed into the electrical cabinet that controls the
lights at the popular soccer and sports
complex.
The Bremerton City Council took the unusual measure
Wednesday night of voting to spend up to $75,000 to fix the
cabinet as soon as possible. Why it was a bit peculiar was because
the Council meeting is what is known as a “study session,” a
roundtable discussion that goes over City agenda items the week
prior to the more formal, televised meeting where they’re usually
voted on. Study sessions typically do not offer time for public
comment.
Chal Martin, the city’s public works director, asked the Council
to make the emergency approval given that there’s not really an
option — the cabinet must be fixed. And, for public safety, the
sooner, the better. The Council agreed in a unanimous vote.
So what happened? Bremerton police tell me that a Belfair woman,
20, was speeding in the parking lot the afternoon of Jan. 28 when
she lost control of her car, striking the electrical cabinet. It’s
unclear whether a ticket was issued but the officer told me that
it’s most likely one was.
The Council was also assured the City would be demanding the
work be covered by the woman (or rather, through her
insurance).
What Pendergast’s parking lot
looks like at night right now. Photo by Councilwoman Leslie
Daugs.
Here’s a slice of what the police
officers of Bremerton have been up to lately.
Stolen car, 2500 Fir Avenue: A woman reported that
her car was stolen the morning of Jan. 23 after she’d started it to
warm it up. The car is a Honda Accord. Police documented the theft
but the report did not say whether they’d found the car yet.
Hospital outburst, 2500 Cherry Avenue: While an
officer was working an unrelated detail at Harrison Medical Center
Jan. 23, a patient in the emergency room “became violent” and began
to fight with staff. The officer assisted the hospital staff in
getting the man under control.
Vehicle prowl, 3200 Pine Road: A woman reported to
police that her car alarm went off the morning of Jan. 23 and she
went outside to investigate. She’d found a thief had cut into her
car’s convertible top and gotten inside, taking some change, a
“cheap” camera and an inexpensive pair of sunglasses. Police have
no suspects.
Assault, 100 Bloomington: A man reported early Jan.
24 that he’d been punched in the face by a man he’d been letting
stay at his place. He’d let the man stay there because he was
“(hiding) from the police” but after the argument and assault, the
guest had fled. Police are investigating.
Vehicle prowl, 4500 The Cedars: A man said that he
witnessed someone get into his father’s SUV early Jan. 24, so he
went to confront the apparent prowler. The prowler ran but the man
was able to grab onto his backpack, pulling it off. The suspect got
away but police took the backpack as evidence.
Break-in, 4800 Driftwood Street: A man allegedly
forced his way into a woman’s apartment. He was not allowed to
contact her by court order, but forced a door open. He demanded to
use her phone but she would not let him. He was arrested and
jailed.
Unhappy customer, 4200 Wheaton Way: Officers were
called to a mobile phone store Jan. 28 for an unhappy customer, who
was yelling at store employees. He was subsequently trespassed form
the business.
Car found, 600 Broadway Avenue: An officer Jan. 28
spotted a a car stolen from a local auto dealership. The officer
found a man inside, who was arrested for possessing a stolen
vehicle.
Another car found, 1600 Wheaton Way: You may have
seen the story we ran about the Port Orchard man arrested after a
brief chase in a stolen car in Manette Jan. 30.
Find the whole story here.
Assaultive shoplifter, 900 Callow Avenue: A man was
arrested after twice stealing alcohol from Safeway. On the second
time — the first wasn’t reported — police ran after him and caught
him. He was in “severe mental distress” and fought officers,
injuring one (the extent of injuries wasn’t disclosed in reports).
The man was treated at Harrison Medical Center until fit to be
booked into the jail.
Bar scuffle, 2900 Perry Avenue: A man was kicked out
of a bar after causing a “disturbance” there, according to reports.
Police were called just after midnight Jan. 31 to McClouds, where
security staff explained an intoxicated man had taken a swing at a
staff member. The man was taken to the ground and placed in
handcuffs. He complained he was treated “roughly.” No arrests were
made but the man was trespassed from the bar for 30 days.
Attempted liquor theft, 2900 Wheaton Way: A man
trespassed from Albertson’s for stealing liquor attempted to do it
again on Jan. 31, police said. He filled a shopping cart up with
booze and, when noticed he was being watched, fled the store.
Police caught up to him and he was jailed for burglary.
Squatters house, 100 South Wycoff: Officers searched
a home at 113 S. Wycoff Jan. 31 after a door was reported swinging
one. The house, categorized as abandoned, had sleeping bags and
other evidence that it was not so abandoned after all. Officers
sent their report to the community resource unit to followup with
the home’s owner.
It only looked suspicious, North Wycoff at 19th
Street: Officers were called Jan. 31 to a home where a man was
doing yard work at almost 7 p.m. When police contacted him, he said
he has permission to do yard work at the home. Police confirmed
that with the home’s owner.
Burglary, 3500 11th Street: Officers went to
Evergreen Health and Rehabilitation for a report of a burglary. A
person had watched a man crawl inside a window. Sure enough, police
found a suspect in the attic, where he’d been cutting up copper and
other wiring. He even had a voltage tester to see if the wiring had
electrical current, police said. He was arrested and jailed.
Stolen car found, 900 Washington Avenue: A woman
reported that she was at a party Feb. 1 when she discovered her
keys were gone. She went outside and her car was gone. Early on
Feb. 2, the car was found near Evergreen-Rotary Park. It had been
rummaged through but otherwise was fine, reports said.
Here’s a few nuggets from Bremerton Police Chief Steve
Strachan’s weekly update:
“Officer Kent Mayfield handled a complex call last
Saturday night. He observed a vehicle in the area of Naval Avenue
and 11th Street with a blown-out tire. He followed the car as it
traveled on the metal rim. Officer Mayfield stopped the car and
could see it had substantial front-end damage. At about the same
time, dispatch put out a call of a hit and run collision at 6th
Street near Pennsylvania Avenue. Other officers got to that
location, and spoke to the driver of a taxi who had been struck
head-on, causing his airbags to deploy, before the suspect vehicle
drove away at high speed. The driver described the suspect vehicle…
surprise, surprise; it perfectly matched the car Officer Mayfield
had stopped. The paint transfer between the cars even matched. The
driver was arrested for DUI and Hit and Run. Great heads up work by
Officer Mayfield!
Sunday afternoon Officer Spencer Berntsen and Sgt.
Randy Olson were checking a neighborhood in East Bremerton on a
report of a reckless driver. The vehicle was described as a white
minivan that had been backed into a rock wall and possibly hit a
fence. As they were checking, Sgt. Olson saw a white minivan
driving by and turned around to follow it. The minivan was drifting
over the shoulder and the centerline as Sgt. Olson prepared to stop
it on a downhill grade, but before he could activate his lights the
minivan drove onto the shoulder, over-corrected and went into the
oncoming lane and back. It straightened out long enough to
center-punch a smaller utility pole, when the airbag deployed and
the pole was severely split. Luckily, the pole somehow remained
upright and the wires attached. The driver tested a .24 alcohol
content and went to jail while the power company replaced the
pole.”
And finally, you can view the
departments “High 5” list and “Filthy 3” by
clicking here.
Combine that with inconclusive evidence they do much
to promote safety at intersections and a scandal that has embroiled
the company to which Bremerton pays $432,000 a year in operational
fees, and the cameras
may not last much longer. Mayor Patty Lent has signaled she’d
get rid of them if they become a cost for the city.
2. Bremerton’s rate of violent crime is
plummeting
I rode with Bremerton Police in every shift possible
the
first year I worked at the Kitsap Sun. I’d routinely witness
drunken fights, domestic assaults and even a Tasering (interesting
if sad story, ask me about it sometime).
That was 2005, the year Bremerton held the dubious
distinction of being no. 1 in violent crime per capita in the state
of Washington.
Spare a tire? The police shooting range west of
Gorst, within Bremerton’s watershed property,
has plenty of them. In fact, the city has spent in excess of
$12,000 removing them about 8,500 of them, and more may be
spent.
The police department thought they might need them
for training but at a certain point, Public Works Director Chal
Martin said they
had to go. How they got there was actually even investigated by
a separate police agency. Ultimately, no wrongdoing was
assigned.
4. It’s the water
Meanwhile in the Bremerton watershed, another
little brouhaha cascaded from the headwaters of the Union
River. The city built a dam in the 1950s and has used the water
above it as the bulk of the drinking water for around 1/3 of Kitsap
County’s residents.
Because the lake is remote — like 3,000 acres around
it remote — the state doesn’t require Bremerton to filter its water
supply (though the water is treated with chlorine and ultraviolet
light).
City officials are
adamant the land around it stay preserved. The city went so far
as to release photos this year of trespassers — poachers, hikers
and bikers — using the area.
Some wonder if the city
couldn’t lighten up a bit, and a countywide trail is being
contemplated for the total 8,000 acre parcel the city owns, where
the city also has a golf course and the police shooting range (and
by the way, anyone need some
extra tires?).
5. The towers were for the hoses
Why, when you see old fire stations do they have
towers that rise into the sky from their basic structures?
Turns out fire hoses used to be made of cotton, which
needed to be hung up to dry after fighting a fire. If they weren’t
dried properly, they’d mold. Today’s hoses are synthetic.
6. There’s redwoods in them there sewer
towers
Speaking of towers — a somewhat routine at the city’s
sewer treatment plant contains an
interesting tidbit.
Some giant filters made of redwood trees are being
retired out. While the new material is plastic , the redwoods, from
the 1980s, have broken down but may have a second life as beauty
bark (Or bark. Or mulch. Or whatever term you like).
Public works officials say the city will use it
around its properties, maybe even parks, if its
environmentally safe to do so.
7. Bye bye Maple Leaf, may your
sign be immortal
Yes, we said
goodbye to the Maple Leaf Tavern in 2014. The place was
unrivaled in its around 77 years tending bar in Kitsap County. But
the now fabled Lower Wheaton Way watering hole closed due to
nonpayment of $25,000 in taxes, in 2010. And city engineers saw it
as a chance to clear some needed room for the Lower Wheaton Way
project earlier this year, tearing it down for $18,000.
Breakfast at Sally’s author Richard LeMieux called
its slanted floor — you have to admit it had been worn down in
recent years — the feel of “one of those oblique fun houses with a
moving floor” that actually got more stable as you drank.
I get asked a lot about if its storied sign was
preserved. The answer: yes. It is in the capable hands of the
Kitsap Historical Society.
8. The ‘Mo-Sai’ Bank Building has the state’s
most complex Carillon system
A longtime curiosity of mine was satisfied when I was
learning about the bells on the roof of the Chase Bank building at
Fifth and Pacific this year. That odd facade on the building giving
it the look of a vertical beach? It’s called Mo-Sai, and the
architects used this rock peppering as a way to reflect the
Northwest’s rugged terrain. Huh.
It certainly is unique. But up on its roof are the
speakers that play
Bremerton’s Carillon system. Probably the most complete in the
Pacific Northwest. Yep, they’re real bells. And they played on a
snowy Christmas Eve, 1971,
for the first time.
The playground, inside Bremerton’s Evergreen-Rotary
Park, is almost always packed when the weather’s nice. Hard to
believe how quickly it came along — a testament to what the
community can do when it comes together.
10. Mudslides in Schley Canyon
Fish passable?
What about a mudslide? The state views Schley Canyon, that land
cavity that cuts Manette from the rest of East Bremerton (or does
it? The boundaries, to be fair, are unclear) as one fish could head
up, or fish passable. The city says the little crevasse’s just a
drainage and it doesn’t need to pay millions of dollars to replace
the 1927 culvert over it at Lower Wheaton Way.
But the canyon has had a slide once when rains get
too heavy. A geologist told me the canyon’s probably not a huge
slide hazard. But it’s something Mayor Patty Lent said recently
she’d like to
further examine to be sure.
Honorable mentions:
*Many are just convinced the apartments at
704 Chester Avenue are haunted. Even the skeptics have to agree
the building does have a long, and sometimes spooky history. It
served as the site of Harrison’s first hospital and was later
converted into apartments. Bremerton native and Washington State
Legislator Speaker of the House Frank Chopp’s low-income housing
nonprofit improved the complex in the early 2000s, but residents
there still say there’s still strange noises at odd hours.
A Bremerton cop who reluctantly accepted a
“believe in miracles” plaque on the beat hung it up in the squad
room as an “attempt to foster a sense of encouragement to my fellow
officers.” All that and more in this week’s edition of the
Bremerton police blotter.
Here’s my report from the line-up board at department
headquarters:
Welfare check, 1100 16th Street: Police were called
the night of Oct. 22 to Olympic College to check up on an allegedly
intoxicated male. They found a man who was “carrying bandages and
had all sorts of monitor connections on his chest and stomach.” The
man evidently had just gotten out of the hospital and was concerned
about someone who he said had just crashed a car in a ditch. Police
offered the man a ride back to the hospital. He agreed.
Theft and a warrant, 2900 Wheaton Way: Police went to
the Midway Inn the night of Oct. 22, where a man said he had about
$5,000 in cash stolen out of the Inn’s computer room. He said he
had all the money because he was moving to Reno, where a job was
waiting for him. Police reviewed the surveillance at the hotel but
it proved inconclusive. However, the man had an arrest warrant for
assault in Bremerton Municipal Court and so he was taken to the
Kitsap County jail. Police have no other leads as to what might
have happened to his cash.
Vehicle prowling, 100 Lilac Lane: A woman reported
that a man was inside her car on Lilac Lane just before 5 a.m. Oct.
23. Police converged on the area to only find one man, who was
“acting nervous,” was “panting heavily” and had soaked shoes, pants
and coat. The man initially gave police a false name but came clean
about it eventually. He had a felony warrant for probation
violation. He said he was prowling to help feed his wife, and that
the pair live below the Madrona Inn in a tent by the highway. She
came up to take possession of his stuff and he was taken to the
Kitsap County jail.
DUI, Wheaton Way at Sheridan Road: An officer stopped
a woman driving for malfunctioning brake lights early Oct. 24. The
officer smelled intoxicants coming from her person. She was found
to have a .15 blood-alcohol level. An open container of beer was
found inside her car. She was taken to the Kitsap County jail.
Welfare check: Police were called the night of Oct.
24 to check on elderly woman who’d been inside the Bremerton ferry
terminal for about eight hours. The woman also had a bag full of
Christmas presents with her. The woman seemed confused to police
but said she lives in a home where there’s construction going on.
She was friendly but seemed to have no one to pick her up. So the
officer gave her a ride home. For the gesture, the woman insisted
on giving the officer a gift. Despite the officer’s efforts to
refuse, he relented and took the gift, which was a plaque that
reads “Believe in Miracles.” “I hung it in the line-up room in an
attempt to foster a sense of encouragement to my fellow officers,”
the cop wrote in his report.
Burglary, 100 South Summit: Officers were called the
night of Oct. 24 for a burglary at someone’s attached garage. A
thief or thieves broke in through a sliding door and took a table
saw and some tools. Police have no suspects.
Hit and run, 11th Street at North Callow Avenue: A
man told police early Oct. 25 that he’d been driving on 11th Street
headed east when a car came through the red light on Callow and
struck his vehicle. The damage included a broken axle on the truck.
A headlight of the car that hit the truck fell off at the scene.
Police searched the area for the car but could not find it.
Criminal trespassing, 4300 Wheaton Way: Police
ultimately found six people inside the Old Lowes building, near
Wheaton Way at Riddell Road, late Oct. 25. Some of the suspects
claimed they were bored and it was during a power outage, so they
went with a friend who had a key to the building. Only after
officers surrounded the building and then went inside did the six
come out. They were all taken to the Kitsap County jail for
trespassing.
Road rage, 3400 Kitsap Way: A road rage incident
nearly turned violent the afternoon of Oct. 28 in the parking lot
of Papa Murphy’s. Two cars were headed east on Kitsap Way, with
one, driven by the suspect, swerving toward the alleged victim’s,
who then flipped the suspect the bird. The alleged victim heard a
“thud” on his car and then called 911. While the alleged victim
waited in the parking lot of Papa Murphy’s, the suspect came to the
lot, pulled a baseball bat and allegedly threatened the other
driver. Then the suspect left. Witnesses confirmed the threats and
the bat. Police drove to the suspect’s nearby home and arrested
him. He was taken to the Kitsap County jail.
Vehicle prowling, 600 Fourth Street: A man reported
that his truck was broken into Oct. 28 while parked in the SEEFlim
Theater parking lot. The man, who worked from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
came out to find what he thought was his locked truck unlocked and
numerous items missing, including two cell phones. Police have no
suspects.
DUI, 2900 Wheaton Way: Police stopped a driver on the
road for speeding shortly before 2 a.m. Oct. 31. The driver had a
strong smell of alcohol coming from her, officers said. She blew a
.14 blood-alcohol level, almost twice the legal limit. She said
she’d consumed three beers; officers were skeptical but she said
they were “strong beers. 2/11s.” She was booked into the Kitsap
County Jail.
Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan’s
weekly update included a few incidents worth noting as
well:
This Would Have Done George
Costanza Proud: We received information that a
suspect in a serious felony was at an address in West
Bremerton. He had five (5!) misdemeanor warrants and a felony
arrest warrant for Rape of a Child. Officers surrounded the
residence and knocked at the front door. The man opened the
back window and began his exit when he was confronted by Officer
Brandon Greenhill. The man then ran to the front door
and almost knocked over a pregnant woman trying to get out.
Officer John Bogen deployed his Taser at the man while he was
at the front door, and he made his first good decision of the day,
giving up and being taken into custody. He went to jail.
Dave’s NotHere
Man…: We have been looking for a man wanted on a Burglary
warrant all week, and Officer Jordan Ejde went to an address
seeking this ne’er-do-well. We had information the man had
been living at an empty house outside of our city. While
being assisted by Officer Jacob Switzer, Jordan observed a bike
leaned up against a shed. The officer knocked on the shed and
heard a male’s voice inside. The officer said he was “Greg”
and “had his $20 bucks.” The suspect opened the door and was
taken into custody. The man has 233 contacts and 29
separate booking photos. He is in jail thanks to some good police
work, and another strong message sent by our department.
Also, this week Officer Chris Faidley located a car
that had crashed into the steps of the Synagogue at 11th St and Veneta Ave. The driver had
suffered a seizure while driving, and fortunately had only minor
injuries. The damage to the building was also minor, but the
man’s vintage 1966 Mustang did not fare so well.
Strachan also has info about a new scam:
We sent out a message on our Twitter account this
week about a scam being perpetrated nationwide, in which people
receive calls from someone saying they are with the IRS, and
demanding payment for back taxes owed. We have reports of
several people in our city receiving this call, and unfortunately
one man sent $16,000 to the scammers. It is infuriating to
think that someone lost that much of their hard-earned money to
these criminals. Here is more information on the
scam: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Warns-of-Pervasive-Telephone-Scam
Here’s this week’s police
blotter. I have been remiss in getting these out in
the last couple months and I am to get back on track. Starting
now.
First off, you’ll see in this photo the new signs
that are accompanying the police department’s rollout of an
“alcohol
impact zone” from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. each day. Participating in
the zone, which starts Nov. 1, is voluntary at this point. We’ll
see how many retailers go along with it.
Secondly, here’s an item from Bremerton Police Chief
Steve Strachan’s weekly
update:
Last Saturday, Officer Frank Shaw pulled over a
suspected drunk driver, and the man was asked to do some field
sobriety tests. Following a less than stellar performance in the
one leg stand, the driver commented, “Come on, I can’t do that s–t
drunk.” Quickly realizing that this was probably not the right
thing to say, he corrected himself by saying, “I mean, I can’t do
that s–t whether I am drunk or sober!” Pretty good recovery…He was
ultimately arrested, blew a .16 alcohol content and was booked into
the jail.
Here’s more, from the reports board at the Burwell
Street station:
Here’s your weekly look at the Bremerton
police calls:
Theft from pay boxes, Burwell Street and Washington
Avenue: Police were called Aug. 22 for a man picking pay boxes
downtown. Officers found the man and discovered he had forceps and
$14 in his pocket. Witnesses confirmed the man was the suspect. He
was taken to jail.
Driving under the influence, Riddell Road at Wheaton
Way: An officer watched Aug. 22 as a man sped down Wheaton Way
going 52 in a 30 mph zone. The officer felt the man was
intoxicated, with watery, droopy and bloodshot eyes. The man did
field sobriety tests and ultimately blew a .10 blood alcohol level,
above the .08 legal limit. He told the officer he could “beat” the
charge as he had with a ticket and a “DV” in the past. He was
jailed.
Possession of heroin, 2900 Perry Avenue: Officers
Aug. 22 found that a woman wanted for heroin possession had gone
into a bar’s bathroom. When she came out, she said she had “one
point” of heroin on her currently. In the car outside she was
riding in, officers found heroin and meth paraphernalia. She was
taken to the Kitsap County Jail.
Meth possession, 1500 Shorewood Drive: Police were
called for a man running through yards “acting as if someone is
chasing him,” on Aug. 22. When they caught up to the man he was
moving continuously, sweating profusely, was paranoid and had
trouble carrying on a conversation. Officers suspected he was high
on meth. Since he’d trespassed in someone’s yard, he was arrested.
Officers found meth in his pocket. He was jailed.
Driving under the influence, 1500 Warren Avenue:
Officers Aug. 23 stopped a driver for going 51 mph in a 30 mph
zone. Officers felt she had been drinking and following field
sobriety tests she blew a .12. She was taken to jail.
Driving under the influence, Veneta Avenue at 11th
Street: A driver apparently hit a tree in the area Aug. 24. When
police arrived, they noted the driver had an opened can of beer on
the passenger side floorboard. He denied drinking it. He appeared
very nervous and was “very fidgety” police said. Officers said he
blew a .09 blood alcohol level. He was jailed.
Egging, 1700 Marine Drive: A man reported Aug. 24 his
truck was egged sometime overnight. Police have no suspects.
Burglary, 1500 Snyder Avenue: A man reported Aug. 24
that sometime between Aug. 20 and the 24th his home had been
burglarized and the thieves took power tools, clothes and fishing
gear. It appeared the suspect or suspects came in through a window.
He mentioned he’d been gone from the house, as had his wife, who
was giving birth at the hospital. Police are investigating.
Assault, 600 Callow Avenue: A bartender reported she
was hit in the face Aug. 24 by a girlfriend of a man who was
bringing his own liquor into the bar. Police could not locate the
suspect.
Burglary, 5100 Auto Center Way: A store manager
called police Aug. 25 to say a back closet containing cleaning
supplies had been broken into sometime overnight. The manager
suspected someone in a nearby homeless camp as a possible suspect.
Police have no leads.
Vandalism, 400 Chester Avenue: A woman reported to
police Aug. 25 that her car’s rear passenger side window was broken
out. Police have no suspects.
Found credit cards, 2000 15th Street: A woman weeding
her flower garden found a stack of credit and debit cards and a
drivers license belonging to a Silverdale woman Aug. 25. Police
were able to contact the Silverdale woman, and get her stuff back
to her. She said her purse had been stolen in early July from a
tanning salon.
Homeless camp, 4300 Wheaton Way: An officer Aug. 25
went exploring behind the building that once housed Lowes in
Bremerton, discovering a broken lock on a fenced gate that led to
two “transient camps.” Two women were found camping and the officer
warned them they’d soon be trespassed. Couches, stoves, beds,
chairs, carpet and other items were found and the officer concluded
people had been staying in that area “for months.” A report was
forwarded to the city’s code enforcement officer and community
resource specialist.
Trespassing, 10th Street and Park Avenue: An officer
late Aug. 25 found a man lying on a mattress in Puget Sound
Energy’s property there. He had been trespassed four times before
and was taken to the jail this time.
Theft of license plate, 2000 Nipsic Avenue: A man who
returned home from vacation Aug. 25 noticed his rear license plate
had been removed and replaced with another. Police are still
investigating.
Possession of a stolen vehicle, Burwell Street and
Montgomery Avenue: An officer spotted a car that had been reported
stolen Aug. 26. He stopped it and the woman driving was arrested
for possessing the stolen car, though she said she had permission.
A woman riding in the car also had a warrant for her arrest for DUI
and drug possession. The two were taken to jail. Two men also
riding in the car were released.
Fraud, 4000 Wheaton Way: Moneytree employees reported
that a woman Aug. 26 had just tried to cash a check issued by a
local company. A Moneytree employee called the company to verify
they’d issued the check, but a company representative was adamant
they did not. When the suspect and a companion in the Moneytree
overheard the Moneytree employee say she would call police, the
pair fled. The suspect apparently then called the company and
apologized, saying if she didn’t try to cash the fraudulent check
“she’d be shot.” Moments later, police got word that a woman parked
in Fred Meyer, who worked at the company, had her car prowled. The
car was unlocked and the thieves took a briefcase filled with
documents related to the company inside as well as company checks.
Police are still looking for the suspect.
