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.
Zana Gearllach, 10, met
Seahawks wide receiver Steve Largent in 1988. The 35-year-old
Seabeck resident is now attending Super Bowl XLVIII in New Jersey.
Submitted photo
Seahawks
superfan Zana Gearllach was 10-year-old when she met her NFL hero,
wide receiver Steve Largent.
It was 1988, the year Largent was nominated for Walter
Payton Man of the Year and the same year he smiled back at fans
from Wheaties boxes.
Gearllach arrived with her mother and grandmother at
Seattle’s Sea-Tac Airport for a welcome-home party as the Seahawks
returned from an away game.
Gearllach waited with a half-empty Wheaties boxes in
hand for Largent to sign, but he never came through the
airport.
Gearllach said she had hoped to see Largent, but
wasn’t sad she didn’t meet him.
While waiting at the airport she spoke with reporters,
and the next day Gearllach and her mother were surprised to
hear from Seattle media about a heartbroken little girl who missed
her chance to meet Largent.
As the story circulated through multiple publications
and TV stations, Gearllach’s mother turned away reporters, not
wanting to make the Seahawks look bad, she said.
Eventually the team called, wanting the young Seahawks
fan to meet with Largent.
One of Kitsap Fire Watch’s
signs is catching attention along Silverdale Way north of Newberry
Hill Road. The group disagrees with Central Kitsap Fire and
Rescue’s decision to reduce the minimum number of firefighters
needed per shift. Photo by Rachel Anne Seymour / Kitsap
Sun
Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue is under scrutiny from
a self-described grassroots organization.
Kitsap Fire
Watch, started by Ronny Smith as well as several union and
community members, emerged online, followed by eye-catching yellow
signs near Chico. Smith is vice president of IAFF Local 2819.
The group is voicing concerns about Kitsap County’s
fire districts, specifically CK Fire and
Rescue.
KFW has about a dozen administrators for its website,
according to Smith, who said the group members are not trying to be
anonymous. The site does not list any administrators, organizers or
members, and posts are not credited.
Smith is checking with KFW contributors to see if they
would like to be publicly named. Some members might not have
expected to be placed in the public light, Smith said.
Each station is covered by three 24/7 shifts.
Twenty-five firefighters are assigned to each shift.
The minimum number of firefighters needed districtwide
per shift was reduced from 19 to 17. Based on how staffing is
prioritized throughout the district stations, if fewer than 19
firefighters are available per shift, Station 64 in Chico will not
be staffed with career firefighters. Volunteers will remain
assigned to the station when available, according to CK Fire.
On Jan. 8, Station 64 was not staffed with career
volunteers, relying on volunteers.
“Station 64 is still staffed with volunteers at this
time and responding to calls,” Ileana LiMarzi said Thursday.
LiMarzi is the CK Fire public information officer.
The district will continue to respond to calls in
Station 64’s response area, according to a fact sheet released by the district.
Smith argues that volunteers often work day jobs and
are not available to staff stations 24/7.
No firefighters were laid off as a result of the
reduction, which the district said was necessary to reduce
increasing overtime costs.
In 2013, the district spent $886,730 on overtime,
$177,261 more than budgeted. In 2011, the district spent $625,113
on overtime.
Smith took issue with how quickly the reduction took
place and without public discussion at the meeting. Smith and many
residents learned about the potential reduction for the first time
when they read the Nov. 12 agenda Friday before the meeting.
“The community in Chico wasn’t allowed input,” Smith
said.
He attended the Nov. 14 meeting, which was a “packed
house” and had standing room only.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion on how quickly
or not the decision happened,” said David Fergus, CK fire
commission chair.
Fergus had “quite a few conversations” with people in
and outside the fire department about the decision, and feels the
best decision was made, he said.
After public comments were not allowed on the
reduction vote, Smith wanted to provide another avenue for
community members to speak out. KFW was formed.
Smith and KFW also take issue with the fact the
reduction idea was not shared publicly before being placed on the
board’s agenda item.
At the end of last summer, the district finalized its
strategic plan, but staff reductions were never mentioned,
according to Smith. Every part of the district had a say in the
plan, including the union and Fire Chief Scott Weninger, Smith
added.
Since the KFW signs have appeared in the community,
residents have started to talk and ask the fire commissioners about
the situation.
Commissioner Dick West said he has been
approached.
During the Jan. 13 meeting he said he was “appalled”
by the signs as well as the “blogs.”
West said he had planned to resign, vacating his
position this summer, but decided to wait and see if talks and
communication improve.
West dissented from voting on the staffing
reduction.
The district is continuing “business as usual,”
according LiMarzi.
In the meantime, Smith is hoping community members
will step up to take over KFW.
“I want to let it go and let people who aren’t
associated with the fire department take it,” he said. “We have our
own political goals as a union, but the community needs a
voice.”
Friends, family and interested community members have
started contacting the group and providing input, Smith said.
According to Smith, the group’s current goals are to
provide community input and gather community interest. “Right now
the group wants the commissioners to rethink their priorities,” he
said.
According to Smith, the reduction affects response
times and the safety of the firefighters. Although firefighters
have sick leave, Smith is concerned they will go to work
regardless, worried that staffing numbers will be too low without
them.
“They have created a culture where guys are going to
come in, because they don’t want the station to close,” Smith
said.
Pleas to foster better communication between the
district and the union are rising.
“It sickens me what’s going on,” Steve Davison said.
Davison, a CK Fire and Rescue Volunteer, spoke publicly at the end
of the Jan. 13 CK fire commissioner meeting.
Davison said blame could be placed on both parties and
suggested a communications summit be held.
“We need to bury our differences,” Davison said. “We need to get
along and serve the public, because that’s what we are here to do —
serve the public.”
It appears Silverdale is restoring its tradition of hosting art
walks. The newest variation — the Silverdale ArtWalk — is scheduled
for the first Thursday of the month — yes that means tomorrow.
There used to be a monthly art walk that was spearheaded by
Maria Mackovjak, owner of Old Town Custom Framing and Gallery, and
other Old Town business owners that helped build the Old Town Art
Walk . Mackovjak has since moved her business from Old Town and it
seems the art walk sort of fell off the radar.
Its revival is slated for tomorrow with the showing of
“Rockitdog”, a 7-foot tall sculpture that will be on display in the
lobby of the Oxford Inn and Suites. The event runs from 5:30 to 8
p.m. and refreshments will be served. Anyone and everyone is
invited to attend.
The sculpture at the center of the walk is the work of Karsten
Boysen from Port Orchard. Boysen’s sculpture, described as a
“brilliant yellow” made from “River Run” steel, will be surrounded
by other pieces of art from local artists Lisa Stirrett, Debbie
Drake, Lori Balter, Rebecca Westeren, Joan Wells, Darell Severson,
Cathy Kelley and Elizabeth Haney, according to a press release sent
by Boysen.
Boysen was one of 17 featured artists recently sponsored by Vigo
Industries, Gunderson, Esco and other port companies to attend a
Port of Portland Seaport Celebration. His work is displayed in
Alaska and Washington through different communities “1 percent for
the arts” campaigns, and his work is the center of many prominent
private collections. Boysen is a former art instructor for the
University of Washington and the University of Alasaka- Juneau and
was a Washington State Arts Commission artist in residence at the
Seward Park Art Studio in Seattle.
The new Silverdale ArtWalk is sponsored by the Lisa Stirrett
Gallery, Oxford Inn and Suites and Reid Real Estate on Silverdale
Way.
Next month’s First Thursday Silverdale ArtWalk will have a
breast cancer awareness theme because of October being breast
cancer awareness month. More than 25 artists will be featured and
will highlight a Harrison Medical Center fundraiser scheduled for
Oct. 3.
Last week I set out to learn how the recent approval in Pierce
County of an ordinance protecting shooting ranges might affect the
work being done in Kitsap on a similar topic. What resulted was a
different story entirely. I
learned the county hopes to have an expert come in to talk to its
committee tasked with updating the shooting range ordinance. The
expert will talk about sound and how it travels, and conduct sound
studies at the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club, Poulsbo Sportmans
Club and Bremerton Trap and Skeet Club.
The story that ran Sunday, Aug. 18, focused on the noise and not
the action taken by the Pierce County Council. But while talking
with committee members for that story I asked how the decision in
our neighboring county might affect the work they’re doing.
It’s also a question that’s been posed by readers. Why didn’t
Kitsap do what Pierce County did? I haven’t read the Pierce County
ordinance, but I read both stories written by The News Tribune,
which covered the vote. (Those stories can be read here and here.)
After reading the articles, it appears the measure was approved
to protect the five gun ranges in Pierce County’s unincorporated
area from potential noise and nuisance complaints and lawsuits. The
TNT article cites the lawsuit between Kitsap County and the Kitsap
Rifle and Revolver Club as an example. That lawsuit included noise
complaints, but also safety concerns and land use allegations that
the range expanded its operations without a county permit.
Kitsap’s Department of Community Development Director Larry
Keeton said the Pierce County measure is a replica of legislation
proposed in Olympia . Proposed in 2011, House Bill 1508 passed out
of the house in February 2012 but hasn’t gained enough traction to
get final approval. (Read a summary of the bill’s history at
washingtonvotes.org.)
“One thing to be aware of in Pierce County, unlike Kitsap
County, is their ranges don’t have the same issues necessarily that
we do,” Keeton said.
He cited the Paul Bunyan Rifle and Sportsman’s Club,
located near Graham, noting the club made a large financial
investment by installing baffles to help reduce sound leaving the
range and stray bullets.
After the Pierce County decision, Marcus Carter, KRRC executive
officer, sent an email to the county requesting the information
about the approval be circulated among the members of the shooting
range ordinance update committee. Carter says he never received a
response and hasn’t seen the information circulated via email like
he asked.
“We’re following what happening in Pierce County,” he said of
KRRC. “If the same thing had been enacted in Kitsap County it would
have prevented the county from suing us.”
It’s doubtful Carter’s assertion that passing similar policy in
Kitsap would have prevented the lawsuit because the suit filed
against KRRC covered more issue than just noise concerns by
neighbors.
Doug O’Connor, President of the Poulsbo Sportsman Club, thinks
Pierce County’s action “preempted state law in the reverse order,”
he said. “They’re doing more than what the state law proposes.”
Reviewing the ordinance at the committee level will “put another
wrinkle into the deliberations, good, bad or indifferent,” he said.
O’Connor, along with Carter and a representative from Bremerton
Trap and Skeet sit on the committee with three county commissioner
appointed representatives.
Committee chairman and Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office Patrol
Chief Gary Simpson has asked the county’s legal team to look into
obtaining a copy of the policy approved in Pierce County. The
document will be brought to the committee for discussion, Simpson
said.
“We know it’s there, we know it’s something that’s different,”
he said. “It’s something we’re going to want to investigate and
look at how it is applicable to our discussions.”
You can click here to read the Pierce
County ordinance — the bottom of the document list is where you’ll
find the final document.
It was also brought to my attention that Kitsap County deputy
prosecuting attorney Neil Wachter submitted comments to the Pierce
County Council before members voted. Watcher clearly states in his
comments to Pierce County that he’s offering comments as a private
citizen and not in his legal capacity as counsel for Kitsap. He
also lays out his expertise and involvement in the lawsuit against
KRRC in his email, offering full disclosure.
“My comments made in the arena in Pierce County are strictly of
those as a private citizen,” Wachter told me. He said it would have
been irresponsible for him not to say something because of his
legal experience and knowledge of the subject matter.
Whenever a new building goes in on a busy road in Silverdale,
people start talking about what business is moving to the area.
That’s the case with the latest building that is nearing
completion at 3150 NW Bucklin Hill Road, not far from the road’s
intersection with Silverdale Way and across the street from Taco
Time and Hop Jack’s.
A quick search of county records shows the tax statements go to
Barber Investments Bucklin LLC with a Redmond PO Box. I found a
similar name, Barber Development LLC, on permit data tied to the
property and looked it up to find owner Andy Barber who has a
business address in Kirkland.
I called Barber a few weeks ago to see what businesses he had
lined up to fill the building and he asked me to email him my
questions. We got off the phone and I sent him the email. I’m still
waiting for his response.
Impatient and wanting to answer people’s questions (more than a
few of you have “Facebooked”, emailed and called about the
property), I started looking through the county’s records to see
what I could find out about the property.
So far the only business on record is Little Caesar’s Pizza,
which applied for a commercial tenant improvement permit and a
commercial concurrency certificate from the county. Both were
approved July 15.
Barber applied to the county a year ago in August for a site
development activity permit to build on the 0.77-acre lot that is
zoned regional commercial. Specific businesses were not named at
the time of the permit, but Barber indicated the 6,760-square-foot
building would be equipped to handle general retail, office space
and/or restaurant uses, according to the application. Forty parking
spaces will go in behind the building and a rain garden to handle
the stormwater run off.
If I hear back from Barber that he has other tenants lined up
I’ll write an update, but until then hopefully this helps answers
some of the questions.
Bob Barnes, Olympic High School principal, started work as a
teacher 42 years ago. For the last 13 years he has been principal
at Olympic High School. He is retiring at the end of the year. We
will have a story on him on Tuesday.
To get an idea of what 42 years in education means, or how the
world and education have changed in that time, watch comedian Pete
Holmes talk about not knowing, and how beautiful that was.
Scott Robinson looks
incredible in this big … coat.Scott Robinson and
girlfriend, Rachel Harmon, look incredible in the same big …
coat.
For $337.50 you can attend the four-day Sasquatch! Festival
2013 this weekend.
It’s the annual music event at The Gorge and at that price it’s
no wonder there is a dress code. Scott Robinson and Rachel Harmon,
pictured in the big furry coat, plan to look stellar, and the big
furry coat is proof.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis is part of the line-up for Sasquatch!,
and this $15 beauty from the Goodwill in Silverdale fits the
definition of a “come up.” But I have a hunch Robinson would have
worn this thrift-shop beauty no matter who was performing.
I stopped the Bainbridge Island couple outside Goodwill in
Silverdale, because I found the coat to be absolutely cowbell. I
was jealous. This is just the kind of clothing I want to wear in
public to embarrass my wife.
Don’t come at these guys with paint, either. The coat is a fake,
all acrylic. “No animals were harmed in dressing for Sasquatch!”
said Robinson. Besides, over four days of camping and watching
musicians, that coat will likely be used as a sleeping bag, napkin
and maybe even a vomit target. And if it’s raining, it could double
as a sled. Something tells me that coat won’t be making the trip
home.
No worries, though. If you want one, Robinson said there was
another one inside the store. I’m sure it’s not my size. I’m
working on that, though, so you better hurry.
We had a gorgeous day today, didn’t we! And it looks like the
rest of the week will be even better, until the weekend.
Since we would be silly to take gorgeous days for granted, I
thought I’d show evidence here of one that we had recently so that
it’s on our permanent record.
When I went to cover the people who ran and walked to show
resolve a day after the Boston Marathon bombings, I also took some
footage that didn’t make it onto the video. It remained on the
cutting room floor, if you will. (You know what kind of people say
“if you will?” The same people who still use “cutting room
floor.”)
So I put together a 25-second video for you to enjoy when the
skies outside are gray. This Saturday, for example.
Meili Cady
Meili Cady, a 2004 Klahowya Secondary School honors grad, left
Kitsap not long after high school aiming to find a break in
Hollywood. In late August she made it into Rolling Stone magazine,
but not in a way her friends from here would have predicted.
Cady was a homecoming princess, ASB co-president and honors
student. She said she was voted by her classmates “Most likely to
be famous.” Seems they got that one right.
She is under house arrest now and did real jail time for her
part in a drug trafficking operation.
It isn’t as bad as all that. Start with the Rolling Stone piece and it
seems clear that Cady’s path to prison came from trusting a
committed manipulator, reportedly an heiress within the Samsung
family, for far too long, caring for her friend even they were both
arrested in Columbus, Ohio. Seriously, this is a compelling story
about a woman, Lisette Lee, who had an amazing ability to turn
friends and acquaintances into puppets. Cady, who didn’t want to
believe the worst about her friend in the face of all evidence,
reflects now on the price she paid by trusting so much.
“It ends up being a fatal flaw to trust someone so blindly,” she
said. “It ended up tainting me and hurting the people I love. It
was really awful to be so wrong about something I thought was so
sacred.”
She told me that Monday during a 90-minute conversation we had
by phone.
She has remained in Los Angeles, living the
aspiring actress life, which means she’s working as a
waitress as she considers her future, all the while wearing an
ankle monitor that lets law enforcement know where she is all the
time.
Cady blogs about her day-to-day life in an engaging blog titled
House
Arrest Girl. She tells of the monotony of staying home
all the time, of friends who visit and of a creepy neighbor who
took too much delight in watching her as she chatted with a friend
outside. If you go far enough into the archives, you’ll find this
description of her relationship with her ankle bracelet:
“They say that the true nature of a relationship cannot be
holistically assessed until it has survived a full year of seasons.
I’ve been with my ankle bracelet now for more than seven months. He
came to live with me the day we met. Fast, I know, but we were
connected. We spent Christmas together, and we were skin-close at
the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. He even comes into my
work and insists on grocery shopping with me every week (awww). We
don’t go out much. We are homebodies– but we do sleep together
every night, even when I’m not happy with him before we get into
bed. We are still inseparable, even at this very moment. But, I’ve
got to be honest with you… I cannot wait to leave this bastard and
never see him again come November.”
At some point later this year I hope to tell her story in
greater detail, but I highly recommend you begin your understanding
by reading the Rolling Stone piece. In the meantime I can tell you
that she has no plans to let this whole affair ruin her life. She
does wonder how the ordeal will affect her ability to be in a
committed, romantic relationship the next time that opportunity
arises. And she feels for how this might have affected her parents,
who she calls her heroes. The blog has helped.
“Yes, this happened but this doesn’t define me,” Cady said. “I
don’t want to be shamed by this circumstance. I want to grow from
it.”
As of Monday she has 58 days left on house arrest.
First on the scene was off-duty firefighter Lt. Steve Murray, on
his way home.
“I saw a car accident on the side of the road …”
Murray called 911 then checked Mendes and the young man who was
driving. The two were lodged in the crumpled car and had to be
extricated by Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue crews that followed
shortly.
Mendes, then 26, was unconscious. EMTs began care to stabilize
her for an airlift to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, which
receives many traumatic injuries from Kitsap County.
In all 19 first responders (all from CKFR except Murray) aided
the two victims, all but certainly saving their lives.
Francie Mendes, Kattie’s mom, wanted to show her gratitude, and
her sister Cheri Searles quickly got on board. Searles is a member
of the Kitsap Quilters
Guild.
“I said cookies. She said, ‘No, we’re going to make quilts,'”
Francie Mendes said of her older sister’s idea.
The two had made quilts for the
Lakewood Police Department after four of its officers were
gunned down in a Tacoma coffee shop in 2009.
Nineteen quilts seemed a daunting task, Francie said, but they
took it one at a time. Each quilt was different. Each has a special
message sewn into the corner.
“That’s all we did for six months was work on those quilts. We
did nothing else,” Francie said.
Some of the material was donated.
On Tuesday, the sisters presented the quilts at a meeting of the
CKFR board of commissioners in Silverdale.
“We are so thankful for all of you here and what you did on that
night of October 29 that forever changed our lives,” Francie
said.
Kattie is recovering slowly, her mother told the men and women
who arrived on the scene. But her memory, speech and fine motor
skills remain impaired. She has no memory of the accident, and her
short-term memory is poor — though she can remember long-term
information, like phone numbers from when her dad was in the Navy
and they lived in different places every few years. Through hard
work and therapy, Kattie is almost ready to go back to work with
Verizon Wireless.
“We know you see so much bad and ugly, we just want to make you
happy,” Francie said.
Not all the firefighter/EMTs were able to make it to the
ceremony. But those who did got warm hugs from the two sisters as
they accepted their gifts.
“Thank you from my niece,” Searles said, as she embraced
Murray.
“Thank you so much,” she said to Firefighter Kara Putnam.
Putnam’s unit arrived after Mendes already had been transported
from the scene. She helped give aid to the young man, who also is
recovering from serious injuries.
“It’s pretty overwhelming,” Putnam said after the brief,
informal ceremony. “It’s incredibly kind of them. When we first
heard they were doing this … you get chills.”
Putnam said the quilt she chose would coordinate with her
bedroom at home, but she has other plans.
“I’ll probably keep this at the station on my dorm bed,” she
said.
“It was a labor of love. They really enjoyed what they did,”
said Andy Mendes, Kattie’s father.
He was a firefighter on naval aircraft carriers, so he could
relate to the daily demands on the group being honored.
“It’s nice to be able to meet these people and be able to show
them how much we appreciate what they did,” Andy Mendes said.
Added Cheri’s husband Russ, “Too few tell them thank you.”
The quilting marathon was a bonding experience for the two
sisters, both from Poulsbo.
“As sisters, we laughed, we cried,” Francie Mendes said.
“Everything here has been prayed over, not just for the people who
are receiving the quilts, but for their families.”
… and for everyone who comes under their care.
“We never argue,” said Francie, with a wink at her elder
sister.
To which Cheri replied, “That’s because I’m always right.
…. In the photo below by Kitsap Sun photographer Meegan Reid,
Francie Mendes hugs firefighter Lt. Steve Murray of North Kitsap
Fire & Rescue. Francie’s sister Cheri Searles is in the
background.
