The show, in its second season, will air its finale tonight at
10 p.m. on the SyFy Channel. The Horse & Cow Bar and Grill, 536 Fourth
Street, will host a viewing party tonight as it airs for the
first time.
I’ve been working my way through all the episodes, and can tell
you that this bloody and campy zombie apocalypse romp is quite
entertaining. The show is based around a character named Murphy,
played by actor Keith Allan. He’s the first known half-man,
half-zombie, and his colleagues will stop at nothing to get him to
a lab to see if he can help find a cure for the zombie virus.
While on a tour of businesses in eastern Washington in
early August, Dino
Davis spotted an opportunity. The Bremerton City
Councilman was listening to an executive producer of the SyFy show
“Z Nation,” who mentioned
that the show was in need of a Navy ship for filming.
“I raised my hand and I said I know a guy,” Davis
said.
Not even two months later and the show is here in Bremerton. On
Wednesday, members of the production company The Asylum, which makes the show,
will set up on the USS
Turner Joy Museum; filming will commence Thursday, according
to John Hanson, president of the Bremerton Historic Ships
Association.
A sign went up at the Bremerton Marina to alert boaters and
onlookers that “strange noises including gun fire, screaming and
shouting,” will be part of production.
“In addition, the characters will be in full make-up and dressed
as Zombies,” it reads, adding that a Zodiac boat will be in the
water Friday as part of filming.
Davis said he’s pleased that the film crew has chosen Bremerton
as its backdrop. He was on a tour of Eastern Washington businesses
put on by the Puget Sound Regional
Council and the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, one that included
stops in Spokane, where The Asylum is based and is taking advantage
of the state’s
film incentive.
You can feel fall coming. The weather’s
cooling, the colors are starting to change and summer will soon
end. But before it does, I wanted to reflect on three stories that
just flat made me feel good this summer in Bremerton. They’re the
kinds of stories that give you hope for humanity.
They found Tiffany
I remember physically cringing when I saw the sight of the
crumpled Motel 6 in West Bremerton, the
victim of a massive gas explosion. We braced for the news of
loss of life. But somehow, in what can only be described as a
miracle, there was not. Larry Jennings, the Cascade Natural Gas
technician who was closest to the explosion,
continues to recover at Harborview Medical Center.
In the days after, the lone casualty appeared to be Tiffany, a
black lab and chow mix that could be seen in surveillance video
running from the Motel 6 as it exploded. But Tiffany’s owners,
who’d recently moved here, never gave up hope. Dozens of people
took on the task of posting flyers around town, creating a Facebook
page, and combing the area looking for her. Nine days after the
explosion,
she was found drinking from the Port Washington Narrows.
What touched me the most about this story was after the fact,
when complete strangers came together on a Sunday at Lions Park.
Everyone got a chance to meet Tiffany (pictured). It was a
wonderful story of community coming together, and then celebrating
that cohesion.
The mailman of Manette
I’d heard a lot about Norm the mailman before Monday, when I got
to tag along with him as he delivered on his 11-mile route. But I
was awestruck by just how beloved he is in the community he
serves.
On each block, a few homes, if not more, were in on “Norm
Day,” an impromptu celebration of his close to 30 years
delivering mail in Manette. From simple cards to bottles of wine,
he was showered in praise throughout the day. It was fascinating to
watch a neighborhood band together for someone like that.
Only here’s the thing: after walking with him much of the way, I
can say with confidence he completely deserved it. Norm is
more than a mailman. He helps people on his route each and every
day, as
I wrote about him in Tuesday’s paper.
Putting joy in Turner
Joy
Photos by Mike
Stitt.
Since becoming the executive director of the USS Turner Joy
Museum last year, Jack James
has been a man on a mission. The retired Navy Seal, who’s led
tasks like removing explosives from beaches in Iraq, is known for
thinking outside the box.
Earlier in the year, he came up with a crazy idea to swim from
the Turner Joy to the Boat Shed, crossing the Port Washington
Narrows — one of the swiftest currents in Puget Sound. It sounded
just crazy enough that I thought I’d like to join him. When else do
you get a chance to swim from west to East Bremerton?
We all know Jack’s a hard worker. But what was so inspirational
to me was his determination. Right before plunging into the water
Sept. 12, I complained about the currents and the possibility of
getting stung by a jelly fish.
“Look,” he told me. “All that other stuff, it’s just noise. See
the Boat Shed over there? That’s the goal — do not think about
anything else.
“Focus on the mission.”
And I did.
I’m excited for Bremerton to see what James comes up with
next.
Nearly four years ago, Bill “Travis”
Poplin and Jeri Schueler went on their first date aboard the
USS Turner Joy‘s haunted
ship at Halloween.
Last weekend, they returned there to exchange
vows.
About 135 of their friends and family crowded the
stern of the ship last Saturday in a Jimmy Buffet-themed wedding,
complete with Hawaiian leis. It was entirely appropriate for the
Port Orchard couple — Poplin, a retired tin can sailor and Schueler the
office manager at Hillside Elementary on Joint Base Lewis McCord.
They both love the museum ship and encouraged their guests to tour
it as part of the festivities.
“It was excellent,” Poplin said of the wedding,
adding that the couple encouraged guests to donate to its
foundation in lieu of gifts.
Schueler called it “perfect,” with hot temperatures
.
The bride and
groom.
“It looks like we were in Hawaii, maybe even on the
Missouri,” she said.
Some friends helped ferry people across Sinclair
Inlet for a reception at Port Orchard
Yacht Club following the ceremony.
Their first date aboard the ship’s haunted environs
nearly four years ago was followed by dinner at Anthony’s.
“I figured I’d scare her to death and so she wouldn’t
eat as much,” Poplin joked of his plan.
He proposed to his bride-to-be at Christmas this past
year, getting down on one knee in front of her family. After she
said yes, it was time to start planning for the big day.
His first thought was Vegas. She liked the idea of
doing something more family inclusive. Then, it hit her: Poplin,
having retired from the Navy, was a big fan of ships, so why not
reach out to the place where they had their first date? She
recalled seeing a military retirement ceremony on the Turner Joy
and so she called and asked: “Do you guys do weddings?”
The ship was happy to oblige.
Both felt the ship was a beautiful setting, though
some of the attendees gave the couple some gentle ribbing on one
aspect.
“It wasn’t the first marriage for either one of us,”
Poplin said. “And people would say to us ‘you got married on a
destroyer.’”
Special thanks to Poplin and Schueler for providing
the photos.
This photo set off a small
firestorm when it was removed from the USS Turner Joy earlier this
year.
Officials from Bremerton tourist attraction
Turner Joy are back on
the same page after a photo removed
from a wall display earlier this year threatened to split them
apart.
The photo was with
others about sailors relaxing in The Philippines during the Vietnam
War, in which the destroyer
took part. Four sailors were pictured drinking in a bar in
street clothes with young Filipino women. The gals, showing lots of
leg and one in a bikini top, sit beside the men or on their laps.
The photo had hung in the destroyer for years.
In March, a visitor complained that it was offensive.
The Bremerton Historical Ships Association leadership ordered it
taken down.
A museum volunteer took a picture of the picture and
posted it with an explanation of what had happened on an Internet
site. That set off up a debate between appropriateness and
preserving history. Museum director Steve Boerner said he received
160 emails the first morning, and that a lot of Vietnam veterans
were upset. He was afraid the backlash could cost business at one
of the regions top tourist stops. John Gerten, museum curator for
12 years, was also concerned.
John Hanson, president of the Bremerton Historic
Ships Association, said removing the picture wasn’t a big deal. The
museum was just updating its displays.
“Our executive board looked at the picture and
decided it didn’t fit anymore in 2014,” he said. “Pictures of
prostitutes don’t belong in a museum for young families. Today it’s
young families that want just see a Navy ship. That picture didn’t
fit with our image.”
Hanson said the museum received just six emails
expressing dissatisfaction with taking the picture down.
As quickly as the rift developed, it healed, with
everybody agreeing the picture wasn’t appropriate and that nobody
wanted to do anything that would disparage the museum.
The USS Turner Joy, left, on a
recent sunny day. The ship is one of Bremerton’s top tourist
attractions.
