Peninsular Thinking A conversation about Bremerton, Port Orchard, Poulsbo, Silverdale, Bainbridge Island, Kingston, Manchester, Seabeck, Southworth, Suquamish, Belfair, Keyport, Olalla, Bangor, Hansville, Indianola, Port Gamble, Allyn, Port Ludlow, Gig Harbor and every once in a while something about the good folks who don't have the good fortune to live here.
The Greater Kingston Economic Development Council is asking for
the public’s input in figuring out Kingston’s future.
The 12-question
surveywill
be used to help the group figure out how to serve the interests of
visitor and residents of the area better. The survey ends Oct.
15.
The group, which was formed earlier this year, is working on how
best to market the rural community, GKEDC chairman Jerry Kirschner
said.
“We’re looking at tourism and retail support for businesses in
core area in Kingston,” he said. “We’re not interested in big box
stores, but supporting entrepreneurs in community.”
Another survey administered a few weeks ago asked for public
input on two Port of Kingston properties. That survey produced 90
responses and revealed green space and open space were the top
priorities for the two properties, according to Kori Henry,
the port’s executive director until Oct. 9. She’ll become the
public information officer for the North Kitsap School District at
that time.
POULSBO — Poulsbo Inn and Suites sales manager Courtney Cutrona
was a little skeptical while listening to a scruffy, older German
claim he was on a worldwide bike tour with his two Alaskan
malamutes.
Randolph Westphal said he stopped in Poulsbo last week as part
of his sixth bike tour to inspire others to not give up in the face
of challenges. It’s a story he’s lived through, he told Poulsbo Inn
staff, after nearly dying from skin cancer in 1987. He’s had 28
surgeries to remove the cancer and today, bikes around the world
sharing his story.
In-between his tales, Cutrona was able to slip away and do a
quick internet search on the 55 year old, who is from Frankfurt,
Germany.
The information she found confirmed Westphal’s story.
“Sometimes we get some people with interesting stories, but this
kind of struck me as different,” she said.
Cutrona and the general manager of Poulsbo Inn decided to let the
bicyclist stay at the hotel Tuesday night for free.
Westphal said he relies on the generosity of strangers to help him
and his dogs while on his bike tours. (And finding Subway locations
because the sandwiches are cheap, he added.) He plans to log almost
25,000 miles on this trip.
The Canadian
media has detailed Westphal’s tour, which started in May. The
Peninsula
Daily News wrote about another tour in 2008.
He started traveling around the world on his bike to inspire
others to “never give up,” he said. He uses a cart to bring his
traveling companions — two Alaskan malamutes — along for the ride.
He sometimes does motivational speeches along the way.
Westphal said he’s never heard of the area until last
week. His stay in Kitsap was brief — he left for Seattle the
next day and made plans to hit Oregon after that.
“He’s an exuberant guy,” Cutrona said the day after Westphal
left. “It was an interesting interaction.. He deserved some sort of
recognition for what he’s doing.”
Juliua Stroup with Zsa
Zsa and Bell shortly after the two dogs were found in
Poulsbo
PORT ORCHARD — Juliua Stroup has been reuniting lost dogs with
their owners for only two months, but she’s already lost count of
the number of reunions she’s done.
There was Brewster, a dog from Gig Harbor missing since June 15.
Stroup found him in Port Orchard Friday. A chihuahua-mix found
in Belfair that was reunited with its East Bremerton owner last
week. A Port Orchard bulldog at the animal shelter Stroup
delivered to its owner.
But if she were to see the dogs once again, she’d remember each
story.
“When I’m done with one, I just move on to the next,” said the
50-year-old Port Orchard resident.
Stroup keeps track of lost dogs in the county by spending 8 to
10 hours everyday working toward rescue efforts. That means
spending hours on the internet, comparing found postings to lost
dog ads to match dog and owner.
Her efforts are being honored Sunday by PAWS of Bainbridge
Island and North Kitsap at the annual dog-celebration event,
WagFest.
A retired information technology specialist at Keyport, Stroup
said she got involved in reuniting dogs and their owners in early
July after noticing an increase in the number lost pet ads after
the 4th of July holiday.
“I was just going to help a little, but then I got pulled in,”
Stroup recalled during a phone interview from her Port Orchard
home.
Stroup was recently involved in a reunion between two Boxer dogs
and their Port Ludlow owners.
The dogs had escaped from the Viking Kennels in Poulsbo while
David and Maisie Wheatley and their family went on vacation in
July.
The problem was made worse when Viking Kennels staff revealed
the dogs, Zsa Zsa and Bell, had been missing about a week before
the family returned.
Stroup and a team of volunteers went into rescue mode, scouring
the internet and making phone calls and visiting area animal
shelters on a daily basis.
It also was the first time Stroup herself physically walked and
searched an area for a missing dog, despite still recovering from
hip surgery at the time.
Zsa Zsa was found 11 days later while Bell was found 21 days
later.
Callers noticed Zsa Zsa darting in and out of traffic near
Gunderson and Stottlemeyer Roads and Bell was found hiding in a
wooded area near Lincoln and Widme Roads. Other than dehydration
and a few cuts and scraps, the two dogs were in good shape, Stroup
said.
She calls Zsa Zsa and Bell her godchildren now.
The best part of reuniting owners with their dogs is being part
of the emotional reunion, Stroup said.
Reunited dogs with their owners is just one of the ways Stroup
gives back to her community.
After leaving her job at Keyport a few years ago, Stroup started
collecting wood from various sources to give to the poor.
The 50 year old also volunteers for equine non-profits around
the county, using her trailer to transport horses from one location
to another.
“People need to know you don’t need to do something really huge
to help,” she said. “You just have to be a bit inconvenienced. You
don’t have o have a lot of money, but just put in the effort.”
She’ll be attending Sunday’s Wagfest with the Wheatleys and her
four-legged godchildren.
Photo: Maisie Wheatley of Port Ludlow with Zsa
Zsa
Could a new school be in North Kitsap School District’s
future?
That answer will likely depend on unbuilt, but approved,
homes that’s on the books for the city of Poulsbo.
NKSD officials and city leaders discussed what the effect
of these proposed neighborhoods would be on school capacity and
boundary lines during a joint meeting last week.
About 18 subdivisions are proposed for the Poulsbo area, Mayor
Becky Erickson recently said. Most of the developments have been
approved, while others are waiting for approval.
Some of those developments are sizable. In the case of Mountain
Aire near Noll Road, Erickson said, the city went through final
approval status last week for 150 units in that particular
neighborhood.
These neighborhoods aren’t going to be built tomorrow, Erickson
said, they’re going to take many years to develop.
It would bring about 1,800 more homes to the area, she said.
Poulsbo currently has a population of 9,500; the new developments
could bring in an approximately 4,500 more to the area.
North Kitsap School District Board President Dan Weedin said
information from Poulsbo will come in handy in the district’s
long-range planning.
Board member Tom Anderson said a few years ago the district was
looking at building a school, before the economy tank.
District superintendent Patty Page said it takes at least three
years to build a school, from start to finish.
Below is a map detailing where the proposed neighborhoods would
go.
The first installment of a two-day traffic-calming series looked
at a $57,000 traffic study completed by Kirkland’s Transpo
Group.
There were two traffic engineering terms — 85th percentile speed
and collision rates — in Sunday’s story that deserve further explanation
because, as Jon Pascal from Transpo Group, put it, “those are
engineering terms (that) are hard to describe.”
The first term, 85th percentile speed, refers to the number of
drivers who traveled at or below the recorded speeds, Pascal
said.
It’s one of the ways traffic engineers determine what the average
traveling speeds of drivers are. The 85th percentile model presumes
that the remaining percentage of travelers will always speed
excessively, regardless of road engineering.
On Hood Canal Drive, the study said, “The 85th percentile speed
ranges between 42 to 46 mph prior to speed tables and 35 to 46 mph
after the tables were installed.”
What this means is that 85 percent of travelers on Hood Canal
drove at 42 to 46 mph or below before the tables were installed,
Pascal said. The speed range was given to account for the three
speed study locations placed on Hood Canal Drive for the study. So
hypothetically, of the 85 percent of drivers, a number of them
could have been going under the 42 to 46 mph speed range. The same
logic would be applied to the 85th percentile speed for the
35 to 46 mph speed range after table installation.
Collision rates presented in the study were also perplexing.
Engineers came up with numbers such as 0.3, 0.7 and 1.7
collisions by dividing the number of annual collisions by the
number of years the study looked at, which in this case was three
years before the tables were installed and three years after
installation.
For instance, on Twin Spits Road, the study said there were 0.3
collisions per year from 2007 to 2010. So, within that three year
period, there was about one collision a year after the tables were
installed. On Hood Canal Drive, there was about 2 collisions per
year from 2004 to 2007 ( 0.7 collisions annually) and about five
collisions from 2007 to 2010 (1.7 collisions annually.)
Pascal said Transpo Group engineers rounded the numbers for the
sake of table presentation.
A Poulsbo-based production company run by Kelvin Hughes took
some aerial shots of the Viking Fest Parade and road race that
happened last weekend. Things get pretty intimate around 2:20.
Check out the parade video below.
KINGSTON — The Kingston Food Bank will need a new home by April
22.
The move was inevitable, according to Barb Fulton, who took over
the family-run foodbank after her mom, Vi Weaver died two years
ago.
“I’ve known all along it was going to be temporary but I had hoped
temporary was going to be just a bit longer,” she said. “We just
got settled and here we go again.”
The foodbank has been using an office in the Windermere building on
Lindvog Road since December, when Kitsap County officials asked the
foodbank to vacate from its former building on First Street due to
safety concerns. The non-profit and Windermere agreed that if a
paying tenant interested in the space emerged, the Kingston Food
Bank will have to relocate.
Fulton learned of the news Monday. She’s been asking building
owners in the downtown Kingston area if they’d consider housing the
non-profit rent-free.
There hasn’t been any offers so far, Fulton said.
Ideally she’d like to find a location in the downtown area, since
most of the foodbank’s clients are walkers, she said.
If Fulton doesn’t find another location by April 22, she’ll pack
the donated goods into the foodbank’s van and her 22-foot motor
home and temporarily park in the area to serve her clients.
To stay updated on Kingston Food Bank news, go to its Facebook page.
SUQUAMISH — A few Suquamish tribal members hope their
participation in an upcoming rally sheds light on the recent clash
between First Nations and its Canadian government.
The grassroots movement called Idle No More, which started in
October, is over Canada’s recent passage of Bill C-45, a 400-page
piece of legislation that contains 64 regulations. It’s also known
as the Jobs and Growth Act, 2012.
First Nation members say the bill not only violates longstanding
water and environmental treaties between Canada and its indigenous
tribes, but also criticized the Canadian government for excluding
tribal voice in the process.
The movement has attracted international media attention,
especially in the case of Attawapiskat First Nation Chief Theresa
Spence, who has been on a hunger strike since early December until
a meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and First Nations
leaders occurs.
The collective Idle No More efforts and sentiments resonate
loudly for some Suquamish tribal members. Some relate the Idle No
More movement to the Civil Rights movement that aimed to eradicate
racial discrimination, among other injustices.
If longstanding treaties are broken in Canada, other governments
might copy it, Gyasi Ross, a Suquamish and Blackfoot tribal member,
said of the Idle No More movement.
“Decisions Canada (is) making now, I have a feeling would affect
US tribes,” Ross said.
Rallies, flash mobs and demonstrations have been popping up
across the US in recent weeks in support of the movement.
Ross plans to participate in a rally Saturday near Pike Place
Market in Seattle that supports the cause. This is the second rally
he’s participated in recent weeks; the first one packed Westlake
Mall, and an online video produced by Ross and a few of his friends
has since received more than 35,000 views.
“We better get involved in the discussion because it affects
both sides. We see land as a complete whole. When we see something
that affects upstream, it also affects downstream,” he said.
Suquamish tribal elder Marilyn Wandrey will give the opening
remarks at the rally on Saturday.
The 72-year-old said she knows many tribal members affected by
Canada’s recent bill change through annual canoe journeys along the
Canadian border.
“These are our friends and relatives that are part of us,”
Wandrey said. “I know what hard work it’s going to take to bring
everyone to the table and pray that all goes well with them. It’s
going to have an impact on lots of First Nation families and
generations to come.”
James Old Coyote, a Sto:lo and Hidatsa tribal member who lives
in Squamish, hopes his attendance at Saturday’s rally will shed
light on the movement.
Like Ross, he’s concerned about what sort of precedent Canada’s
recent law passage could mean for tribes elsewhere.
“It’s not just a native issue. You see a bunch of Indians get
all radical and fight the government… but it’s a much bigger
picture. It’s our earth and we live in it. If the government up
there has the ability to eliminate those treaties that were signed…
is that going to be a trend happening down the states?” he
said.
Check out a video Ross and his friends created during the flash
mob in downtown Seattle.
Community support for Ian Gunnell, a 6-year-old Vinland
Elementary first-grader who was diagnosed with a rare form of
cancer in September, and his family continues, recently hitting the
halfway mark of a $100,000 fundraiser campaign.
The campaign reached $53,161 earlier this week
The Poulsbo family appreciates all of the support, especially
Ian.
The Children’s Hospital patient attends school at the hospital
on days he feels well.
During one recent class, he spoke about the support he was
receiving from the community, said his mom, Tanya Gunnell.
“Even Ian realizes that the conditions we have now—that he’s
comfortable and taken care of—are largely due to kids donating
coins and people giving a little here and there,” she said. “He
realizes that it’s the community making his life easier.”
Donations have been pouring in from businesses and community
members from North Kitsap and beyond to help the Gunnells pay for
Ian’s medical treatment and additional living costs. Ian, his
10-year-old sister and mom have had to move into a Seattle
apartment to be closer to Children’s Hospital in case of a medical
emergency. His two older siblings still live in Poulsbo, while
Chris Gunnell divides his time between Seattle and Poulsbo.
Gunnell estimates the family will use an additional $5,000 a
month under this new living arrangement that they will need to
maintain until summer 2013.
Added to the family’s money worries, Chris Gunnell learned
shortly after his son’s diagnosis he’s getting laid off from his
job in March.
The 6-year-old is under a treatment plan that includes a
six-month period of intense chemotherapy followed by a three-year
follow-up plan.
The average cost of one round of chemotherapy is $150,000; and
several rounds of chemotherapy are often required for success.
Ian was diagnosed with blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell
neoplasm in early September. It’s a cancer that’s typically found
in older adults, there are less than 30 documented cases of this
form of leukemia in children younger than 18, according to a
scientific journal focused on blood diseases.
Nearly three months since his diagnosis, the Gunnells say the
6-year-old has his good and bad days.
“He’s in good spirits when he’s not sick. When he comes out of
(being sick) it’s obvious,” Chris Gunnell said.
Ian is currently recovering from a two-week cold that delayed
chemotherapy, and left him emaciated and weak, Gunnell said.
The family relies on community support to get them through
challenging times, Tanya Gunnell said.
“I hear all these amazing stories (of) people going out of their
way, and using their talents to enrich our lives, which is amazing.
We (have) rocky times with Ian, so it’s nice to fill that with love
and support and be bolster by that,” she said.
Contributed photo
Family friend Melisa Holmes submitted upcoming community
fundraiser events for Ian Gunnell.
PFM Refreshment Stand at Julefest
Saturday, 4-6 p.m.,
Poulsbo Waterfront Park, 18809 Front St. NE, Poulsbo, warm
drinks and candy will be offered for $1/item donation to Ian’s
fight.
Gateway Fellowship
18901 8th Ave. NE, Poulsbo
Dec. 7, 6 p.m.
Ian’s Carol: An Interfaith Jubilee of Hope and Voices
Concert benefiting Ian. Suggested donation of $15 per ticket or
$50 per family. For more information e-mail Cheri Starnes at
cls2366@gmail.com.
Mor Mor Bistro & Bar
18820 Front St. NE, Poulsbo.
Dec. 9, 5:30 p.m.
A festive evening of music by Ranger & the Re-Arrangers
(www.rangerswings.com), drinks, a silent
auction, gifts, appetizers and raffle items. Cost is $20 to
attend, if you buy your tickets in advance. Call (360) 697-3449 for
more info
The Crocodile Back Bar
2200 Second Ave., Seattle,
Dec. 9, 7 p.m.
Music by Vigilante Santos with support by The Ames.
Open to all ages. Suggested door donation $15.
Kitsap Mall
10315 Silverdale Way NW, Silverdale.
Dec. 14, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Gift-wrapping for suggested donations.
North Kitsap High School
1780 NE Hostmark St., Poulsbo
Dec. 14, game times at 5:30 and 7 p.m.,
Door donations will be accepted with a half-time free throw
challenge.
North Kitsap High School
1780 NE Hostmark St., Poulsbo
Dec. 21, game time 7 p.m.
Dance following NK boys basketball game. Door donations will be
accepted with a $5 dance entrance fee.
