I’m on vacation until June 5, so I won’t be around to approve your comments. Feel free to leave them, though. Stay in touch with the Bremerton news by visiting the main Kitsap Sun Web site.

On May 21, a Saturday, fellow Kitsap Sun reporter Christopher Dunagan and I went to Seattle to attend the Society of Professional Journalists awards ceremony. We took the Bremerton run over and the Bainbridge boat back, but not by choice. It’s something I guess Bremertonians who’ve been here a while have learned to live with, the fact that the Washington State Ferries Bremerton schedule forces you to leave events early, go elsewhere or stay in Seattle longer than you want to.

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In preparing the story about the city preparing to offer free wireless Internet access, I decided to walk around town to see if I could find anyone on a laptop. I found Carlos Jara before I got to the end of the block. I then strolled down to Fraiche Cup and didn’t find anyone wired.

A day later Jennifer Kreifels, co-owner of the business, returned my request for a call. Fraiche offers wireless access, but Kreifels agrees with Jara that offering wireless downtown will be good for business, because it will bring more people.

Some of the big projects — East Park, West Hills, Westpark — get the bulk of attention, but the smaller ones do just as much to enhance smaller neighborhoods. Christopher Dunagan wrote a story about a 3.7-acre property that is getting some money to find out what it will take to clean it up.

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It’s Armed Forces Day Saturday, and Bremerton’s parade appears to be the biggest in the country.

Aside from the parade, there will boat and soapbox derby races, a pancake breakfast and a barbecue, and a concert.

What’s the over/under on the number of trombones in the parade?

Oh, and weather reports suggest it might rain.

If you ride the ferry much at all, you’ve noticed the boxes that look like turnstyles at the Colman Dock. They look like turnstyles because they are turnstyles, at least they will be.

The boxes are part of the ferry system’s planned migration to an electronic ticketing system. It was supposed to be in place by last fall, but apparently there were some technical difficulties, as they say. Once it actually is in place you’ll be able to buy your tickets online, at electronic kiosks, terminals, stores, or by phone. You’ll take whatever you’re buying and scan it at the turnstyle and you’ll be on your way. They’ll test the program up north before rolling it out here.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike (or if you prefer, Mike!) McGavick addressed a lunch crowd Thursday in Bremerton. A few locals of note were there. Cecil McConnell of the Bremerton City Council grabbed a yard sign. Central Kitsap candidate for county commissioner Jack Hamilton was there too, as you can see in the picture.

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The Navy Yard City residents successfully fought off a company that attempted to put a crematorium within the neighborhood. Folks said they didn’t want school kids experiencing the smell of death.

The events of Tuesday proved, however, that it’s tough to predict when death will come to a neighborhood unannounced.

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The plans that came out of the Bremerton Housing Authority’s weeklong design charette process were affected by comments from community members.

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Bremerton City Councilman Brad Gehring has been one of the chief proponents of a four-year degree possibilities for Kitsap County. Outside the Roxy Seahawks rally in early February he and I discussed his views that such a venture would help further Bremerton’s redevelopment. Colleges, he said, help attract employers offering family-wage jobs. I thought it an interesting discussion and told him I’d talk to our education reporter, Chad Lewis, about it.

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