All stories can be found at the Kitsap Sun website and the police blotter is on this blog.
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Feb. 13, 2015 front page
Bainbridge Island Police blotter, Sept. 3
The following items were taken from Bainbridge police reports by reporter Ethan Fowler. For more blotter, visit bainbridgeislander.com and click on Bainbridge blog link on the right side of the screen.
Crime log stats from Aug. 24 to Aug. 30: 6 traffic accidents, 4 found property, 2 criminal trespass in the second degree, 2 miscellaneous, 2 driving while license revoked/suspended in the second degree, 2 residential burglary, 2 theft in the third degree, 2 warrant arrest by outside agency, 2 malicious mischiefs in the third degree, 2 warrant misdemeanor, 1 domestic verbal, 1 identity theft, 1 mental investigation, 1 suspicious persons/situations, 1 felony warrant, 1 load/cover not securely fastened, 1 theft in the second degree, 1 violation of the uniform controlled substance act for amphetamine/methamphetamine, 1 theft in the first degree other than firearms and 1 driving while license revoked/suspended.
Aug. 31
Fail to transfer title within 15 days: A 22-year-old man was cited for failure to transfer the title of a car after its May 2013 sale and for expired tabs. The man was driving southbound on state Route 305 at Seabold Road at 10:15 a.m. The man told the officer that he was a small business owner and that money was tight.
Driving while license suspended/revoked in the third degree: A 20-year-old Poulsbo woman was pulled over at 9:30 a.m. as she drove on state Route 305 at Seabold Road. Previously the woman had been cited in a collision and was to appear in court Oct. 6, but she didn’t realize at first she had been cited and the ticket went to collections. The woman then said she was not comfortable paying collections over the phone and had no idea her license was suspended as result. The officer told the woman she could not drive.
Aug. 30
Malicious mischief in the third degree: A woman living on the 10000 block of Pinyon Avenue reported that someone pulled off her mailbox and threw it, but the suspect made no attempt to get it and there was no damage to the box. The woman estimated it would cost $50 to repair the mailbox’s damage. The woman was unsure why anyone would want to damage her property.
Aug. 29
Found property: A city employee found a white metal ring with several small clear stones in the bushes on Winslow Way. The employee discovered the item while he was cleaning the vegetation on Winslow Way near Madison Avenue.
Aug. 25
Animal cruelty: A 64-year-old woman living in the 10000 block of Sunrise Drive reported that her cat came home severely injured. A vet exam determined the injuries were from a pellet wound, likely done by the suspect intentionally. The surgery cost $2,200 to repair the shoulder of the cat, who survived and is recovering at home. When the woman posted photos of the cat and the incident around the Sunrise and Lafayette neighborhood on Aug. 29, someone had taken excrement and smeared the posters with it. The woman said her cat roamed to the south of her house and didn’t have a collar or tags. The officer suggested the woman get a collar and tag for the cat to help prevent people from thinking it was feral. The woman, who already reported it to the Humane Society, posted the incident on Facebook sites for Bainbridge Island and a reward of $500 was posted and it was soon increased to $1,000. The officer forwarded the incident report to the Kitsap Animal Rescue for information.
UPDATE: Bainbridge High principal to take reins of California school
“This has been one of the most challenging and difficult decisions that I’ve had to make in my professional career,” says Jake Haley, who could officially become Costa Mesa High School’s new principal on Tuesday.
***Story updated 11 p.m. May 13 to reflect Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s Board of Education voting 7-0 on Tuesday night for Jake Haley to be Costa Mesa High School’s new principal.
Being closer to family who live in California will likely take Bainbridge High School Principal Jake Haley back to the Golden State, where he worked from 2005 to 2010.
Haley was named officially the new principal of Costa Mesa High School after the Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s Board of Education voted 7-0 for his hiring at Tuesday’s meeting. Haley will start July 1.
Haley would replace Phil D’Agostino, who left in March to become the district’s director of student services, the Daily Pilot website reported.
“His background is in educational leadership, mathematics, special education and athletics,” the Newport-Mesa Unified School District news release stated of Haley. “He expresses a passion and commitment to instructional leadership, a desire to meet the individual needs of students and staff, and, exhibits the ability to build relationships balanced with a sense of humor.”
Costa Mesa High School ranked 131st in California and 650th nationally in U.S. News & World Report’s best high school rankings in its recently released 8th annual list of more than 19,400 public high schools in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Costa Mesa, a seventh through 12th grade school, has a total enrollment of 1,693 students.
Haley’s roots run deep on Bainbridge Island. He entered Wilkes Elementary as a kindergartener and attended BISD schools until he graduated from high school in 1993. He was Bainbridge High’s student body vice president his junior year and student body president the following year.
After earning an undergraduate degree from Whitworth University, Haley was hired as a BHS math teacher in 1997, a position he kept through the 2005 school year. During those years, he also served as the Spartans’ assistant football and assistant boys basketball coach.
“This has been one of the most challenging and difficult decisions that I’ve had to make in my professional career,” said Haley, who will continue to work as the BHS principal through the end of the school year. “For 28 years, Bainbridge has been my home as I’ve evolved as a student, teacher, coach and principal. I will deeply miss the students and staff of Bainbridge High School who have enriched my life in countless ways.”
Haley left Bainbridge in 2005 to become the head football coach for El Toro High School in Lake Forest, Calif. He guided the Chargers to a pair of 5-6 records his first two seasons, a 6-6 mark in 2007 and a 2-8 campaign in 2008, according to MaxPreps.com.
He then was hired as an associate principal for Laguna Hills High School in Orange County, where he worked during the 2009-10 school year. Haley returned to Bainbridge in 2010 when he was hired as Bainbridge High’s associate principal. Last July, he was named the school’s new principal.
U.S. News & World Report ranked Bainbridge the sixth best high school in Washington and 276th best nationally. Last year, BHS was ranked seventh in the state and 274th nationally.
“Jake is an outstanding educator who has made significant contributions to our district as a student leader, teacher and administrator,” Bainbridge Superintendent Faith Chapel said. “He will be greatly missed by everyone who has worked with him.”
Chapel said the Bainbridge Island School District will start making decisions on replacing Haley in the next few days and will announce those plans through the district’s Listserv email service.
Citizens’ Police Academy 4: Municipal Court process
Sara L. McCulloch worked for 13 years at the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in Seattle before being appointed Bainbridge Island’s Municipal Court judge in November.
This is the fourth of nine entries about reporter Ethan Fowler’s participation in the Bainbridge Island Police Department’s Citizens’ Police Academy.
Despite being on the job only three months, Sara L. McCulloch came across knowledgeable, confident and friendly when Bainbridge Island’s Municipal Court judge spent more than an hour talking about her job to Citizens’ Police Academy participants March 18.
McCulloch worked for 13 years at the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in Seattle before she was appointed to the part-time position for a four-year term in November. She sees about 20-35 cases on the Mondays and Tuesdays the court is in session.
McCulloch described the court as a “People’s Court” because of the variety of misdemeanor criminal cases brought before her. Driving under the influence, assault, domestic violence offenses, hit and run, malicious mischief, theft, trespass, reckless driving and use of drug paraphernalia are some of the criminal charges under the Municipal Court’s jurisdiction. The court also provides anti-harassment and sexual assault protection orders, as well as search and arrest warrants.
Despite the wide range of cases handled, court administrator Telma Hauth – who recently celebrated her 20th year in that position – said the Municipal Court constitutes only 1 percent of the city’s budget.
“Factually speaking, most of the people that come in here … aren’t a person of means,” McCulloch said. “A fair share of the people are in the 20s or 30s, but we see people of all ages here still trying to find their way.”
She said the Municipal Court largely has a “focus on rehabilitation,” where with a felony at the Superior Court level the “focus is incarceration.” McCulloch said her court provides a lot of treatment opportunities and options for people who frequently appear before her.
When I asked about why some court cases can drag on for years and cost millions, she said working as a prosecutor helped her to “really see the value of the process.”
“It’s about fairness and doing the right thing and making sure people are being treated right,” said McCulloch, who also performs weddings for a fee. “You can’t just say you want quicker justice. These people have constitutional rights and it does take time for justice.”
McCulloch also distributed handouts about Washington’s court system and a sample of the mountain of paperwork involved in a DUI conviction to Citizens’ Police Academy participants. She later donned her black court robe to present a mock DUI hearing with academy participants portraying attorneys and the driver, while court security officer Guy Roche and Hauth played themselves.
Roche then talked about his job and role with the court. He said that “things usually calm down” when people see him. He said that the lower level offenders who wear ankle bracelets for home monitoring are “really quite compliant.”
Barbara Chandler-Young, a client advocate for the YWCA of Kitsap County in its domestic violence program, spoke after Roche. She said that protection orders “really work” for some people and for others they don’t.
“I don’t take issuing orders lightly,” McCulloch said. “People who have more to lose … tend to be more responsive.”
After the meeting ended, McCulloch asked me to please remind drivers to always have four things up-to-date in their car or on them when they drive: a valid driver’s license, signed registration, proof of insurance and license tabs.
“All of this is a citation that could cost you a lot of money,” McCulloch said if an officer pulls you over and you’re missing one of those items.
Birding on Bloedel: Common Ravens often heard near reserve
“A Year of Birding in Bloedel” is a column that runs every Friday in the Bainbridge Islander. The project is planned to continue in 52 parts through 2014 to help readers find and identify birds in the island’s garden sanctuary. Beginning with this entry on the bald eagle, each column will also be published here on the Bainbridge Conversation blog each Friday.
The author, Ted Anderson, is a retired professor of biology, having taught at McKendree University (Ill.) for 32 years and for the University of Michigan’s summer biological station for 20 years, where he frequently taught the biology of birds.
Anderson is also the author of “Biology of the Ubiquitous House Sparrow, from Genes to Populations” (2006), and “The Life of David Lack, Father of Evolutionary Ecology” (2013). Ted and his wife Carol have been members of Bloedel Reserve for 7 years. They live in Kingston.
The Common Raven weighs nearly three times as much as its close relative, the Northwestern Crow.
The Common Raven is the largest passerine bird, the order that includes all of the songbirds. In bird parlance the use of the term “Common” in the name usually refers to the fact that the species is found in both the New World and the Old World, a fact that is true for the Common Raven.
The Common Raven is a denizen of mature forests and tundra, and has a broad North American distribution that includes much of Canada, Alaska and the western states. It is a year-round resident throughout its range.
The raven is the subject of numerous legends and beliefs in the cultures of many Eurasian and North American peoples. In Greek mythology, the raven is associated with the god Apollo and with prophesy, no doubt due to the widespread appreciation of the raven’s intelligence.
In many cultures the raven is associated with death, a belief reflected in Poe’s “quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore.’” Closer to home, the native peoples of the coastal Pacific Northwest have a rich tradition of raven mythology.
Raven is often considered the creator of the world, but is also identified as the “trickster,” a role played by the coyote in the native cultures of the Southwest (reflected in “Wily Coyote” of cartoon fame). The Quileute of the Olympic Peninsula have a traditional story, “Raven and Eagle,” in which Eagle turns the tables on the trickster, deceiving him with tragic consequences.
Although the Common Raven weighs nearly three times as much as its close relative, the Northwestern Crow, it is most easily distinguished from the latter by its vocalizations. The raven sounds like a hoarse crow. I have most frequently heard ravens calling in the vicinity of the entrance to Bloedel.
Last week, my wife and I observed a Common Raven soaring and calling over the large meadow south of the Gatehouse. Ravens, which are primarily scavengers, often soar in search of food, while crows, as we all know, fly “as the crow flies.”
Patriotism abounds at decommissioning ceremony for former military housing
Jim Walkowski, right, talks about former Government Way housing resident Tony Watson, a U.S. Navy underwater diver who was on the 1985 hijacked TWA airplane of Flight 847, during the March 20 Government Way decommissioning ceremony. From left, Bainbridge Mayor Anne Blair, Kathryn Keve, Jon Quitslund, Greg Lotakis, Karen Vargas and Fred Scheffler listen to Walkowski.
Tom Vargas said giving a proper closure to a subdivision that served as government housing was one of the best things about participating last Thursday in the decommissioning of a Bainbridge street formerly known as Government Way from 1957 to 2007.
Tom, and his wife Karen, lived on the street for 10 years starting in 1992. Tom donated an American flag that was used on the USS Alabama submarine at Bangor. The flag was used during Thursday’s ceremony to conclude the event.
Karen, along with Kathryn Keve and others, worked hard to collect the names of former residents, other stories and historical facts that were tied to the 16-house street. Karen retired from the Army.
Tom served on the USS Alabama with frequent Government Way visitor Brian Moss, who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terroristic attacks while working at the Pentagon. The two friends enjoyed barbecuing together.
“It’s pretty cool,” Tom said after the decommissioning ceremony. “A lot of stuff gets closed and not a big deal is made and you come back a year later and it’s gone. This gives me closure because this was the majority of where I lived during my (military) career.”
Bainbridge Mayor Anne Blair said the ceremony was “nicely done all the way around.”
“Home is where our stories begin and this was a day of stories and it will continue to be,” Blair said.
Ross Smaaladen, a construction worker with PHC, thought the ceremony was “awesome” and appreciated learning some of the interesting history of the homes and residents. PHC employees are dismantling the 16 rambler style homes on the street to make way for the new 5-acre second phase of the Grow Community. The new development literally will be situated on what is now John Adams Lane and will feature 3 acres of open space that will be mixed with fields, orchards and light forest groves.
“We’re helping to build the next stage of history for the community and it’s great to be a part of it,” said Seppi Gorecki, another PHC construction worker.
Six of Bremerton High School’s Navy Junior ROTC members also participated in the decommissioning and conducted the flag-folding ceremony. Michael Shiflet was the cadet that presented the flag to American Legion Post 172 Commander Fred Scheffler at the event’s conclusion.
U.S. Army recruiter Sgt. Clarence Jennings drove from Silverdale to also attend the ceremony.
“I’m honored they asked us to do this and that’s what we do – leadership in the community,” said Sr. Chief Anthony Jones of Bremerton High’s Navy JROTC.
Greg Lotakis, project manager for Asani Developments on the Grow Community project, said he was appreciative of everyone who made the street’s decommissioning event possible.
“Karen and Kathryn are amazing,” Lotakis said. “Community organizers never get enough credit and they said, ‘This is what we want to do.’ And we said, ‘Absolutely,’ and they got it done. It’s a nice close to it.”
Lotakis said trails and a community center will be included in the new Grow development, which will also acknowledge the history of street and its residents with signs.
Members of Bremerton High School’s Navy JROTC unit present American Legion Post 172 Commander Fred Scheffler with an American flag that once was previously used on the USS Alabama submarine at Bangor to conclude the Government Way decommissioning ceremony.
Brandon Keller of PHC Construction, right, goes over the designs for new 5-acre second phase of the Grow Community with real estate agent Keith Hauschulz after Thursday’s Government Way decommissioning ceremony.
Coast Guard retires cutter named for Bainbridge Island
U.S. Coast Guard cutter Bainbridge Island, which was retired Tuesday.
After 22 years of service mostly on the East Coast, the U.S. Coast Guard said goodbye to the 110-foot patrol boat Bainbridge Island during a farewell ceremony Tuesday in Bayonne, N.J.
The boat is being decommissioned and replaced by the cutter Sitkinak, which was stationed in Miami Beach.
The Bainbridge Island was the 43rd “Island Class” patrol boat to join the Coast Guard fleet and indeed is named after Bainbridge Island. In explaining the origins of the boat’s name, the Coast Guard describes the island on its website as follows: “Bainbridge Island, Washington, combines the historic charm of lumber mills, strawberry fields, and WWII military bases with rural, pastoral ambiance, setting the island apart from the bustle of the big city next door.”
The cutter had an interesting history, according to news release written Petty Officer 1st Class Gail Dale:
— Now Capt. Katherine Favery Tiongson was the first minority woman to serve as a boat’s commanding officer in 1991.
— In 1999, it was part of the search for John F. Kennedy Jr.’s plane after it went missing and later discovered to have crashed into Long Island Sound.
— It supported Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 for a six-month deployment by providing security for ships crossing the Mediterranean Sea between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal.
— The boat helped in the search of EgyptAir 900, which crashed in the Atlanta Ocean, just south of Nantucket Island, on Halloween 2003. The disaster took the lives of all 217 people aboard.
— Lastly, the Bainbridge Island assisted in search and rescue after Hurricane Sandy made landfall in southern New Jersey in 2012.
“What I will remember most about Bainbridge Island is the resiliency of the crew,” said Lt. Conor Sullivan, current commanding officer of the boat, in the news release. “Half of my current crew members rode out Hurricane Sandy as their belongings were damaged or lost in the storm.”
Birding on Bloedel: Look, and listen, for the Song Sparrow
“A Year of Birding in Bloedel” is a column that runs every Friday in the Bainbridge Islander. The project is planned to continue in 52 parts through 2014 to help readers find and identify birds in the island’s garden sanctuary. Each column will also be published here on the Bainbridge Conversation blog each Friday.
The author, Ted Anderson, is a retired professor of biology, having taught at McKendree University (Ill.) for 32 years and for the University of Michigan’s summer biological station for 20 years, where he frequently taught the biology of birds.
Anderson is also the author of “Biology of the Ubiquitous House Sparrow, from Genes to Populations” (2006), and “The Life of David Lack, Father of Evolutionary Ecology” (2013). Ted and his wife Carol have been members of Bloedel Reserve for 7 years. They live in Kingston.
As both its common name, Song Sparrow, and scientific name, Melospiza melodia, imply, this species is indeed one of our most melodious songsters. It is a common year-round resident in the Pacific Northwest, and as our days begin to lengthen in late January male Song Sparrows start to declare their ownership of a territory by singing regularly, heralding the impending arrival of spring. The song typically begins with two or three introductory notes, followed by another series of notes at a different pitch, and ends with a trill. Each male has a repertoire of different songs based on this general theme.
The Song Sparrow has a broad range in North America, breeding throughout much of the continent from Alaska and northern Canada southward into Mexico. Like many widespread species it exhibits considerable variation in size and coloration over this extensive range. The birds of the Pacific Northwest are much darker than those elsewhere and demonstrate a general pattern in many organisms that is codified in Gloger’s Ecogeographic Rule. This rule states that animals in hot, dry environments are much paler than normal, while those in cool, moist environments are much darker. Among the possible adaptive reasons for this pattern is the fact that dark plumage absorbs more solar radiation assisting the individual in maintaining its internal body temperature in a cool environment, while light plumage reflects more solar radiation reducing heat intake in a hot environment.
Song Sparrows live near the near the ground, normally foraging for seeds and insects on the ground, and nesting either on the ground or in a low bush. They live in forest edge habitats particularly near water. At Bloedel look for Song Sparrows around the bird marsh, but they are also common elsewhere in the reserve. Look for the males on exposed, elevated perches when they are singing. They have dark brown/black backs, and light underparts streaked with brown — and a prominent spot, their “stick-pin,” in the middle of their chest.
Roethke died in a Bainbridge swimming pool on this day 50 years ago
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning poet Theodore Roethke died in a swimming pool on what is now Bloedel Reserve on August 1, 1963.
Oddly enough, the reserve is throwing a sellout garden party this evening. It’s doubtful Roethke’s name will receive official mention.
There’s nothing marking the spot where Roethke died of an apparent heart attack while visiting his friend, Prentice Bloedel, the son of a Northwest timber baron.
The pool was filled in after Roethke’s death and is now the reserve’s popular zen rock garden (above).
For more on Roethke, head over here.
Island runner shares photos from Boston
Flowers line a barricade on Boylston Street in Boston Tuesday, near the site of the Boston Marathon bombing. (Photo courtesy Luis Borges)
Bainbridge Island runner Luis Borges was competing in his fourth Boston Marathon when tragedy struck Monday.
He had finished the race and was walking back to his hotel when he heard the two explosions near the finish line. He described the aftermath to the Sun’s Steven Gardner Tuesday.
“It’s still a town in shock and it’s still a town trying to figure things out,” Borges said from his hotel room, a few blocks from the scene.
Borges was one of about 20 Kitsap-area runners registered for the race. He said he is determined to run a fifth Boston Marathon.
“I want to be here next year,” he said.
Borges shared some of his photos from the event. They show the lead up to the race and eerie street scenes following the bombing.
This is me at the finish line right next to the site where the first bomb went off. The bomb was placed on the left side of the street. This picture was taken on Saturday, two days before the marathon:
Friday preview: Bainbridge edition
Here’s the Friday preview: Bainbridge edition for Dec. 21. Feel free to give your events a plug in the comment section below. Above, an extreme high tide, caused by low atmospheric pressure, floods Manitou Beach Drive Monday. See more King Tide photos in this week’s Bainbridge Islander. (Photo submitted by Jason Gibson)
Weather: The
National Weather Service predicts more showers and
temperatures in the low 40s today through the weekend, with the
rain letting up Monday.
Sports: Spartans swimming hosts Lakeside today at 3:30 p.m.
Basketball plays at home against Eastside Catholic tonight. Boys tip off at 6:15 p.m., followed by the girls at 8 p.m. Wrestling travels to Port Angeles Saturday.
See a full Spartans schedule here and follow the Sun’s Prepzone on Facebook for updates.
