By Rachel Pritchett
rpritchett@kitsapsun.com
BREMERTON

The chief of Kitsap Mental Health Services probably didn’t get the answer he wanted this morning when he took his case for a tax increase to the Kitsap County Board of Health.

Joe Roszak was seeking a commitment from the health board and the three county commissioners who are on the board to go forward with a proposed tenth-of-a-percent tax increase to fund mental-health services, which he said are wholly inadequate to meet sharply growing need.

Kitsap County Commissioner Josh Brown, after hearing some frightening statistics on how many people are not receiving the help they need, told Roszak that everything depends on the outcome of Initiative 1033, the tax-limiting initiative.

If it passes, it will “completely change” the way the county does business, Brown said. And budget cuts already faced by the county have thrown it into “a state of crisis management.”

That said, Brown suggested a citizens’ work group to look at the tax, then see how the funding landscape shapes up later.

Health board member Darlene Kordonowy told Roszak she believes that if residents knew the tax increase would allow for more local control of mental-health funds, they would support it.

Washington Department of Health Secretary Mary Selecky, at the board meeting this morning, said the future of adequate mental-health funding depends on local funding, because more cuts are in the works at the state level.

Commissioners would be the ones to set the proposed tax increase in motion, and it could go to a vote of the people or not, depending on what they decide.

About 14 counties in Washington have approved the tax, set in motion by the 2005 passage of state Senate Bill 5763.

All that doesn’t help the alliance of mental-health agencies trying to fill the funding gap caused by sudden increased demand for services in this recession.

According to Roszak:
As many as 2,730 young people in Kitsap County who need mental-health services aren’t getting it.
As many as 12,891 adults are not able to get the care they need.
The problem of the lack of geropsych beds for mentally ill elderly people has not been solved.
Only about 32 percent of the 3,154 Kitsap residents who are chemically dependent are receiving help.

The consequences are “quite tragic” for families and individuals fighting mental illness, he said. The people who aren’t getting help are ending up in jail or the hospitals or public-health clinics.

Stay tuned on this issue. It came down to timing this morning, when calling for endorsement of a tax increase just before voters weigh in on I-1033 received no more than a sympathetic ear.

“We can’t look to the state, we can’t look to the feds. No one has anything,” Roszak said.

Rachel Pritchett
rpritchett@kitsapsun.com
475-3783

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Bloggers,

Dr. Scott Lindquist, director of the Kitsap County Health District, said this morning that health-care workers now have received H1N1 vaccinations, and now the focus here in Kitsap County moves to the next priority group, which is persons under age 24 and persons with underlying health conditions.

Lindquist said available vaccinations are being doled out through health-care providers rather than through mass clinics, a method he believes is more efficient.

But it’s the seasonal flu that’s got Lindquist concerned, and he’s wondering whether Kitsap County will have enough weapons to fight it when it peaks in January.

“My biggest concern is seasonal flu supply of vaccine,” he said, adding he’s wondering whether there will be a vaccine shortage.

Rachel Pritchett
475-3783

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Dow now at 9,771, down 17 points

NEW YORK (AP) — Investors sidestepped some of their doubts about the economy and bought energy, industrial and materials stocks as commodity prices rose.
Stocks ended back-and-forth trading mostly higher Tuesday as a spike in the price of gold and corporate dealmaking extended an advance from Monday. The gains in commodity prices helped stocks pare early losses.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 18 points, while broader indexes rose.
Investors drew some comfort from billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s decision to pay $100 a share for Burlington Northern Santa Fe in a deal valuing the railroad at $34 billion. Meanwhile, tool maker Stanley Works struck a deal to acquire Black & Decker Corp. for $3.46 billion in stock.
Commodities rose broadly and gold jumped to a new high after India’s central bank bought $6.7 billion worth of gold from the International Monetary Fund.
Even with the gains in commodities, traders remained on edge about unemployment and the overall strength of an economic recovery.
Health care products maker Johnson & Johnson said it would cut up to 7 percent of its global work force and streamline its business structure to save up to $900 million next year.
Financial stocks fell after the Royal Bank of Scotland got a $41 billion infusion from the U.K. government.
Traders have been uneasy in recent weeks, wary about whether the economic recovery can maintain the same pace once government stimulus measures are removed. That uncertainty has led to wild swings in the market. The Dow has risen or fallen more than 100 points in six of the last eight trading days, the most volatility since March.
Analysts said a break in the advance could ease worries that the market has run too far.
“This is a much-needed healthy pause and reassessment. It ran so far,” said David Darst, chief investment strategist for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in New York.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow fell 17.53, or 0.2 percent, to 9,771.91, after being down as much as 86 points. The Dow rose 77 points Monday following reports of improvements in manufacturing and housing.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.53, or 0.2 percent, to 1,045.41. The Nasdaq composite index rose 8.12, or 0.4 percent, to 2,057.32.

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DETROIT (AP) — GM reported its first monthly gain in U.S. sales in almost two years while Toyota and Ford also improved, a sign the auto industry it starting to crawl back from a yearlong slump.
Demand for new cars and crossovers in October fueled better results for General Motors Co. and Detroit rival Ford Motor Co. GM’s sales rose 4.7 percent from October 2008, while Ford notched a 3-percent gain. Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp. said its sales edged up less than a percent. Less rosy news came from Chrysler Group LLC, whose sales fell 30 percent, though they improved from September.
Automakers had said October would be a test of the strength of the auto market after the volatile effects of the government’s Cash for Clunkers program. The industry staggered through a tough September, hurt by the collapse of demand following the clunker rebates that fueled a sales surge over the summer.
The mood was in contrast to a year ago, when consumers were frightened away from showrooms by the early effects of the financial meltdown and credit freeze.
Ford’s top economist Emily Kolinski Morris said October sales signal a real underlying demand for new vehicles after the distorting effects of the clunkers program. The economy, she said, is “in transition from recession to recovery.”
“We expect consumers to remain cautious as the recovery continues,” she told analysts and reporters during a conference call.
This October, Ford got a boost from new product launches and gained U.S. market share for the 12th time in 13 months as its critically acclaimed vehicles continue to grab buyers from rivals. Ford has also benefited from consumer goodwill because it didn’t take government bailout money or go into bankruptcy, as General Motors Chrysler did.
More than 80 percent of Ford’s sales last month came from 2010 models, which also helped the company lower its incentives.
That was in line with the industry, which spent less to give car buyers big rebates. Automakers focused on clearing out old inventory and on selling 2010 models, which are not discounted as heavily.
Fuel-efficient models like the Ford Fusion sedan and Escape small sport utility vehicle sold well, with both notching sales jumps of around 25 percent. Ford’s overall car sales rose 11 percent over last October, while crossovers climbed 23 percent.
New 2010 models like the Taurus and Lincoln MKT crossover also flew off dealer lots.
Ford’s truck sales, by contrast, fell 10 percent.
Chrysler, the maker of the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram truck brands sold 65,803 vehicles last month, up 6 percent from September. That was when its sales slumped because dealerships could offer few popular models. The automaker, which is announcing a new product strategy on Wednesday, is aiming to show steady improvement from month to month.
Looking to boost November sales, Chrysler will offer a slew of new incentive programs this week. The carmaker will offer 0 percent financing for up to 48 months on all its vehicles, and a no-cost maintenance and service program on its Jeep and Chrysler brands. Buyers also can opt for $2,500 off their purchase if they don’t take the no-interest financing. The deals begin Wednesday and run until Nov. 30.
Automakers spent less money on consumer incentives over all in October compared with last year and September, according to Edmunds.com. The auto research Web site said 2010 models, which require fewer discounts than older model-year vehicles, made up a larger portion of vehicles sold in October.
Ford spent the least on incentives among the Detroit Three automakers, according to Edmunds. Ford spent $2,909 per vehicle. That’s down one-fourth from October last year and 6 percent from September.
Still, it spent more on incentives than the industry average of $2,468, with Japanese automakers like Honda and Toyota spending significantly less.
Susan Docherty, GM’s new sales chief, acknowledged that it led the industry in spending on rebates, low-interest financing and other incentives in October. Edmunds estimates GM spent $4,277 per vehicle sold versus the industry average.
The company spent more as it phases out the Pontiac and Saturn brands, and because it had a high number of 2009 models left in its inventory, Docherty said. GM, she said, plans to reduce incentives as it sells down older models and ships more newly launched vehicles, though she declined to say when.
“It didn’t happen overnight and we’re not going to fix it overnight,” Docherty said.
Hyundai, based in South Korea, said its sales jumped 49 percent to 31,005 vehicles. Japanese automaker Subaru said its October auto sales surged 41 percent, helped by strong sales in its Outback and Forester models.

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NEW YORK (AP) — An early rally in stocks is losing steam as a retreat in financial shares pulls the broader market lower.
Stocks rose in the early going after strong reports on manufacturing and housing but were fluctuating by the early afternoon. The Dow Jones industrial average was up about 1 point, after rising as much as 146 points in morning trading.
The market has been extremely volatile in recent days as investors try to determine whether the bets they’ve been placing on a rebound in the economy over the past several months are still sound.
Investors are starting to worry that the pace of the economic recovery they have been counting on will be hard to maintain. The government reported 3.5 percent growth in third-quarter GDP last week but much of that growth came from government spending. Likewise many companies are reporting stronger than expected earnings, but in many cases the gains came from cost-cutting instead of higher sales.
The seesaw trade on Monday came after the Institute for Supply Management reported that manufacturing activity grew in October at the fastest pace since April 2006. The ISM index clocked in at 55.7, much better than the 53 economists had expected. It was the third month in a row the index came in above 50, which indicates growth.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales increased for the eighth straight month in September. The index rose 6.1 percent from August to 110.1. It was the highest reading since December 2006 and more than 21 percent above a year ago. Economists had expected the index would be level at 103.8.
Stocks had posted their biggest losses in four months on Friday after rising sharply a day earlier on the stronger-than-expected GDP figures. Friday’s losses helped send the Standard & Poor’s 500 index into the red for October, breaking a seven-month streak of gains.
Even with the S&P 500’s 2 percent loss in October, the index is still up 53.2 percent since hitting a 12-year low in March.
“The question is, is the trend changing?” said Jim Dunigan, managing executive of investments at PNC Wealth Management. “We’ve been in an up trend here.”
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.06, or 0.01 percent, to 9,713.79. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.65, or 0.3 percent, at 1,033.54, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 13.54, or 0.7 percent, to 2,031.57.
About two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 963.6 million shares, compared with 803.9 million shares at the same time on Friday.
Trading is likely to be volatile again this week as investors sift through a flood of economic data, including the government’s monthly employment report on Friday. The Federal Reserve will also weigh in on the economy after the conclusion of a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday.
Bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.41 percent from 3.39 percent late Friday.
The dollar reversed an early slide and moved slightly higher against other major currencies. Oil prices added 2 cents to $77.02, while gold rose $13 to $1,054 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 7.43, or 1.3 percent, to 555.34.
Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average dropped 2.3 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.6 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.9 percent, Germany’s DAX index added 0.2 percent, and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.8 percent.

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By Rachel Pritchett
rpritchett@kitsapsun.com
BREMERTON
The Coffee Oasis, after 12 years of helping young people who face addiction, homelessness and despair, is getting a higher profile.
Known to most as the cozy coffeehouse tucked along Burwell Street across from the shipyard, Coffee Oasis is opening a second location in Port Orchard.
It hopes to open a third in Poulsbo in a year.
Contributing to its higher profile is its coffee drive-through at Sixth Street and Veneta Avenue, which opened earlier this year.
And Kitsap County has just designated Coffee Oasis as the only severe-weather shelter so far in Bremerton this winter.
Not bad for the nonprofit that began serving just four kids from Bremerton High School and has since provided social services in a Christian setting to hundreds of people 25 and younger.
“It just came together wonderfully,” said Dave Frederick of the purchase of the Port Orchard site.
Frederick is the executive director of the Coffee Oasis and founder with his wife, Cindy.
The couple had gotten to know the plight of teens through their work as foster parents and through his work as a local pastor and police chaplain.
The Coffee Oasis in Port Orchard is at what many know as the Solid Rock Café, at 1140 Bethel Road. That, too, was a Christian gathering place for youth.
Coffee Oasis is beginning its effort in Port Orchard with a free meal to homeless youth at 2 p.m. on Sundays. A recent feeding attracted about 15 people who’d come for chili and cornbread. Working with local churches, Coffee Oasis wants to offer the meal every Sunday.
That’s only the start.
Its leaders also plan to offer all the services in Port Orchard that it does in Bremerton.
In Bremerton, many young people have called the Coffee Oasis their Friday-night place to be. There, they can listen to live music, play pool and get a meal, all in a safe environment.
They can also get a shower and clothes. And there’s counseling, help with school and finding temporary housing, Bible studies and even a Sunday church service.
On the outside, young Coffee Oasis representatives, many of them former addicts and homeless people themselves, are doing outreach by connecting with teens at Kitsap Mall, parks and bus-transfer stations. They are visiting troubled young people in jail.
The nonprofit has 20 paid staff and about 24 volunteers. A new $85,200 grant allowed it to hire three more people. That grant is anticipated to be cut to $50,700 by 2011, but Frederick believes the group can make up the difference from other sources.
“The hopelessness of the kids is so overwhelming. It’s like a tsunami,” said Daniel Frederick, who does much of the outreach and is the son of the director.
Common problems are coping with broken families, addictions to alcohol and drugs, not finishing school and an inability to get along with authorities, he said.
“I’d say they’re hard on the outside, but soft on the inside,” said Erica Steele, director of case management.
The business side of Coffee Oasis, which sells coffee and offers breakfast and lunch or catering, also helps support kids’ journeys out of trouble.
“That’s why we exist; to see those kids change,” Dave Frederick said.
The Coffee Oasis recently signed a contract with the Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management to act as a severe-weather shelter this winter. There will also be a shelter in Port Orchard, at the Spirit of Truth Fellowship.
In November, Coffee Oasis is hosting a couple special events in conjunction with National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. From 6:30 to 8 p.m. Nov. 6, Coffee Oasis on Burwell will host a public celebration of its opening of the Port Orchard Coffee Oasis. On Nov. 14, four indie-rock bands will converge at the same location for a public event to raise funds for the severe-weather shelter. That goes from
7 to 10 p.m.
Coffee Oasis leaders are accepting volunteers. Frederick can be reached at (360) 377-5560.

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PHOENIX (AP) — Hidden data embedded in electronic public records must be disclosed under Arizona’s public records law, the state Supreme Court said Thursday in a groundbreaking ruling that attracted interest from media and government organizations.
The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision, which overturned lower court rulings, is believed to be the first by a state supreme court on whether a public records law applies to so-called “metadata.”
“This is at the cutting edge — it’s the law trying to catch up with technology,” said David R. Merkel, a lawyer for a municipalities group that urged the justices to rule that metadata doesn’t have to be disclosed.
Metadata can show how and when a document was created or revised and by whom. The information isn’t visible when a document is printed on paper nor does it appear on screen in normal settings.
The Arizona ruling came in a case involving a demoted Phoenix police officer’s request for data embedded in notes written by a supervisor. The officer got a printed copy but said he wanted the metadata to see whether the supervisor backdated the notes to before the demotion.
“It would be illogical, and contrary to the policy of openness underlying the public records law, to conclude that public entities can withhold information embedded in an electronic document, such as the date of creation, while they would be required to produce the same information if it were written manually on a paper public records,” Justice Scott Bales wrote.
Disclosing metadata shouldn’t be overly burdensome on public entities, Bales wrote.
Arizona’s law generally requires governmental entities to release public records, but they don’t have to create them to meet a request.
A Washington state appellate court ruled last year that metadata in e-mail received by a city’s deputy mayor was a public record. Unlike Arizona’s law, the Washington law specifically says the data is subject to disclosure. That case is pending before the Washington Supreme Court.
The League of Arizona Cities and Towns and other governmental entities filed briefs citing burdens of complying with requests for metadata and urging the justices to uphold a Court of Appeals ruling.
Meanwhile, media organizations, including The Associated Press, cited the media’s watchdog role and asked the court to rule that the public records law applies to metadata.
The Arizona decision likely will have a “persuasive effect” on other states’ courts, said Dan Barr, an attorney who filed a brief on behalf of the Society of Professional Journalists and other media organizations.
“If there’s metadata in there, that’s public record,” he said.
The ruling also means requested electronic records must be provided in that form rather than paper printouts, which makes them difficult and costly to search, Barr said.
The opinion said some metadata, like other public records, could be withheld for privacy or other reasons.

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A merger planned by the troubled Everett-based bank fell through earlier this year, but Patrick Fahey, Frontier CEO, remains optimistic the bank will be successful in raising new capital.

You can read its announcement of its third-quarter results at www.frontierbank.com.

Frontier Bank is active in Kitsap County.

Rachel Pritchett

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Today, the average price for a gallon of unleaded was $2.81 in Kitsap, up six cents from a week ago, says the AAA. Rachel Pritchett

The Associated Press
Oil prices rose sharply Thursday on new signs that the U.S. economy has rebounded, though crude levels globally continue to grow and there are few signs that actual demand for it has increased significantly.
The dollar fell once again, a factor throughout the year as crude hovers around $80 per barrel and a big reason why motorists have watched gasoline prices rise steadily for more than two weeks.
The average retail price for a gallon of gasoline is now less than a penny below highs reached during the U.S. driving season.
Benchmark crude for December delivery rose $2.41 to settle at $79.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The Commerce Department said Thursday that the economy grew at a 3.5 percent pace in the third quarter, the best showing in two years, fueled by government-supported spending on cars and homes. The report delivered the strongest signal yet that the economy entered a new, though fragile, phase of recovery and that the worst recession since the 1930s has ended.
“Any sort of encouragement with the economy is potentially bullish for oil,” said oil trader and analyst Stephen Schork.
At the same time, global oil companies have reported that crude production grew during the quarter and American Electric Power, one of the nation’s biggest utilities, said Thursday that electricity demand from industrial customers remains weak, but is showing signs of picking up.
Since last week, crude has retreated from $82 a barrel, the high for 2009, as the U.S. dollar gained back some of its losses from recent months.
Oil is largely bought and sold in dollars, which allows investors holding currencies like the euro or yen to buy more crude when the dollar falls.
When crude began rising in the middle of the month, gasoline prices that averaged less than $2.50 per gallon at the time began to tag along.
Pump prices rose for the 16th straight day Thursday, climbing 0.8 cents to $2.691 a gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. That is 21.4 cents higher than a month ago and 10.2 cents higher than a year ago.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil rose 5.73 cents to settle at $2.0542 a gallon. Gasoline for November delivery added 3.26 cents to settle at $2.019 a gallon. Natural gas for December delivery gave up less than a penny to settle at $5.062 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, Brent crude for December delivery rose $2.18 to settle at $78.04 on the ICE Futures exchange.

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Now teasing the 10,000 mark at 9,952, up 190 points.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose sharply Thursday morning after the government said the economy grew at a stronger than expected pace during the third quarter.
Investors have spent the past couple of months hunting for clues of just how much the economy has recovered. Thursday’s gross domestic product reading gave them the surest sign yet that the economy is on the upswing.
The Commerce Department said the economy grew at an annual pace of 3.5 percent in the third quarter, faster than the 3.3 percent increase predicted by economists polled by Thomson Reuters.
The growth was the best in two years and stops four consecutive quarters of declines that had pushed the economy into its worst recession since the Great Depression.
Growth was bolstered by government stimulus programs, including the popular Cash for Clunkers auto program and tax credits for first-time home buyers.
In early morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 66.27, or 0.7 percent, to 9,828.96. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 8.99, or 0.9 percent, to 1,051.62, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 20.20, or 1 percent, to 2,079.81.
Mitch Schlesinger, a managing partner at FBB Capital Partners in Bethesda, Md., said that because of government support, fourth-quarter GDP should provide a better picture of how much the economy has recovered.
“Some of the artificial goosing of the numbers will come out and we’ll get a better picture,” Schlesinger said. He added that the economy is likely to grow in the fourth quarter, but probably not at as fast a pace as the third quarter.
In the interim, however, investors will welcome the better-than-expected third quarter report, he said.
Investors were also pleased by the Labor Department’s report that people receiving unemployment benefits on an ongoing basis dropped sharply by 148,000 to 5.8 million, below economists’ expectations.
Workers filing first-time claims for unemployment dipped 1,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 530,000 last week. Economists expected a larger decline to 521,000.
Stocks are rebounding after being pummeled for the third straight day on Wednesday. A disappointing report on sales of new homes helped ignite worries about the pace of a recovery.

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