Daily Archives: April 6, 2009

Rowdy eagles sink Bainbridge boathouse

eagleattack

Two rambunctious eagles were blamed for the collapse and sinking of a boathouse at the Point Munroe lagoon on Saturday.

Point Monroe resident Diane Walker watched as the “squabbling eagles crashed into the roof” of the boathouse just before 10 a.m.

“Both eagles recovered and flew away, but shortly thereafter the boathouse collapsed, effectively blocking the channel for all boaters,” said Walker, a freelance photographer for the Kitsap Sun. Ever with her camera at the ready, Walker snapped the above pre- and post-eagle attack photos.

Walker said more than half of the point’s 50 homes on the point moor their boats in the lagoon.

A Bainbridge police report notes that the boathouse was on a Lafayette Drive property that is for sale and unoccupied. Police notified the property owner that he is responsible for removing the sunken boathouse and for ensuring that it does not pose a hazard for other property owners or impede water vessel navigation.

The shed was very old, the property owner told police, and had been roped-off as a safety precaution.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Inslee requests $2.25 million in earmarks for Bainbridge-based efforts

U.S. Rep Jay Inslee (D-Bainbridge Island) has requested $2.25 million worth of assistance for Bainbridge-based projects in the 2010 federal budget.

The earmarks would help build another phase of the Japanese-American internment memorial and assist a Bainbridge-based company design a method to combat E.coli contamination in meat.

Below are the earmark descriptions from Inslee’s Web site:

Continue reading →

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Marshall: The two-footed Bainbridge experience

marshallbanner

Bainbridge Islander columnist Becky Fox Marshall writes this week about the new perspective that can be had by strolling through familiar places. Read her column below…

If you were to look up the word “inertia” in the dictionary, you would see my picture, followed by the definition as provided by physics: The tendency of a body to resist acceleration… of a body at rest to remain at rest.

And resist acceleration I did, at least for the last few years. Until the immovable object I had become met an irresistible force and the paradox of my paradigm was blown to bits. In other words, my doctor warned me I was eight weeks and one blood test from an official diagnosis of type II diabetes.

So I got up and and started walking.

Three months later I’m hooked. My blood work is all in the optimal range. But beyond dodging the diabetes bullet, I have benefited through the discovery of an entire world out there.

Continue reading →

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

After five years in limbo, city’s affordable housing ordinance hits a wall

A combination of layoffs and budget cuts have stalled the city’s nearly five-year effort to redraft its affordable housing ordinance.

The city Planning Department is recommending that the ordinance, which had recently cleared the Planning Commission and was headed to the City Council, be put on ice until money and staff are available.

Affordable housing advocates expressed disappointment but little surprise.

Read the full story by clicking here.

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post

Scales suspends campaign for mayor

Former city councilman Bob Scales has suspended his mayoral campaign to focus his attention on the debate over whether Bainbridge should change its form of government.

Scales said he has been kept out of public discussions about next month’s change-of-government election because he is a candidate for mayor and supports retaining the mayor-led form of government.

“The council-manager campaign has refused to engage anyone with another point-of-view,” Scales said. “I’ve said ‘let’s not present one side of the story. Let’s mix it up.’”

If supporters of a manager-led government won’t include him as a candidate, maybe they’ll include him if he suspends his campaign, Scales said.

Linda Owens, manager of the Vote Council-Manager campaign, disputes Scales’ claim that her group is unwilling to debate him.

“If someone wants to organize a public event (through) a civic organization, we’d be there,” she said.

Continue reading →

Post to Twitter Tweet This Post