The former Unocal gas station property on Winslow Way was one of four Kitsap County properties added to the state’s Hazardous Sites List this week.

Sitting at Winslow Way’s intersection with the highway, the 1-acre property has for several years been hemmed by a fence decorated with murals and banners.

The property hosted a gas station from 1957 until 1989. It is currently joint-owned by the city of Bainbridge Island and Kitsap Transit. Three underground storage tanks — with one or more leaking — were removed in 1991.

The site could impact the stream in Winslow Ravine, which borders the property to the west.

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This week, a mysterious barefooted teen lit an intersection ablaze and pummeled a witness’ car with gravel before disappearing into the woods.

Police mounted a late night search of the area, going door-to-door and checking the feet of sleepy teenagers. The search was called off after officers found only innocence-proving clean feet.

Also this week, a man wakes up to find his truck’s gas flavored with strawberry Nesquik, and a gas-thieving boater takes a victory lap for the benefit of landlubber police officers.

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You’ve read plenty about controversial artificial turf fields on this blog and in the Islander, but the debate is also taking place in other parts of the county.

Read freelance science reporter Edie Lau’s story about plastic pitches on Bainbridge and in other parts of Kitsap by clicking here.

A Vashon Island environmental research group thinks Bainbridge has a good shot at energy independence.

But Kitsap Sun readers apparently don’t.

My story about Institute of Environmental Research and Education director Rita Schenck’s appearance at the Bainbridge Environmental Conference sparked quite a discussion at the Sun’s Web site this weekend. You can check out the story below or by clicking here, where you can weigh in about Bainbridge’s chances of saving and making enough energy to achieve self-sufficiency.

To learn more about IERE, visit its Web site here.

For the IERE’s energy plan for Vashon, go here and click on “Energy Independent Communities” to download the report.

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