News Briefs | Around the Island, Dec. 20
Published 4:47 pm Friday, December 19, 2008
Festival of lights, latkes
On Sunday evening, two Jewish congregations will together light up the first night of Chanukkah.
Congregation Kol Shalom and Chavurat Shir Hayam will ring in the eight-day festival of lights with a menorah lighting, dreidels, arts and crafts, folk dancing and DJ’d Israeli and klezmer music, along with perhaps the most important element.
“There’s, food because any Jewish holiday or any Jewish occasion must have food,” said organizer Erin Cyger of CKS.
One of the centerpieces of the evening’s celebration will be a “latke-off,” a competition to see who’s brought the best potato pancakes, a traditional Chanukkah treat. Awards go to the most creative and the crunchiest, among other accolades.
“Very fierce and stiff competition. People take their latkes very seriously,” said organizer Dinah Manoff Mortell, who’s helping to helm the event on the Shir Hayam end.
At some point during the evening will come the lighting of an outdoor driftwood menorah, donated by a congregant from CKS.
So brave the cold and light up the darkness. The celebration runs from 5-8 p.m. at CKS, 9010 Miller Road. All are welcome.
Bring your own menorah and candles and bring a potluck dish; see www.kolshalom.net for or www.shirhayam.org for potluck dishes according to alphabetic order of names. Mortell suggests arrival on the early end, for the best fun.
“It sounds like a good time, as long as the roads are okay,” she said.
Parkland team named
The Bainbridge Metropolitan Park and Recreation District Board Thursday selected a team of citizens to help it plan future parkland purchases.
The seven-member Parkland Acquisition Committee will advise the park board on how best to spend revenue generated by the district’s recently passed levy lid-lift. Members will serve three-year terms. In order to stagger vacancies, some members of the first committee will begin with shorter terms.
Frank Stowell and Bart Freedman have been selected for three-year terms. Deb DeVlieger, Katherine Van Slyke and Cyndy Holtz will serve two-year terms. Bill Touchette and Christa Little will serve one-year terms. The seven will be joined on the committee by park board members Lee Cross and Ken DeWitt.
Cross and DeWitt interviewed 16 islanders before making recommendations to the full board. Cross said choosing a just seven members was difficult.
“Every person we interviewed brought something different, and something possibly useful to the committee,” she said.
The committee will be seated in January. The property tax lid-lift is expected to generate $1.2 million annually, largely for acquisition and development of parkland.
The park district will begin receiving the funds later in the spring.
State parks face closure
Fay Bainbridge and Fort Ward state parks are among Gov. Christine Gregoire’s 13 proposed park closures unveiled Thursday in her tentative 2009 budget, part of $3.5 billion in cuts.
The two parks would be sorely missed since they are the primary public access for islanders to Puget Sound waters.
Fay Bainbridge is a popular 17-acre marine camping park on the north end of the island, while Fort Ward, a 137-acre marine park overlooking Rich Passage, includes one of the island’s two (Waterfront Park is the other) boat-launch areas.
Another Western Washington favorite that may be closed is Old Fort Townsend State Park, a 367-acre marine camping facility on Port Towsend Bay.
Blood center needs donors
Recent winter weather has taken its toll on Puget Sound Blood Center’s blood donation project.
The group has already been forced to cancel 15 blood drives due to weather, on top of the normal drop in donations during the busy holdiay season.
With more harsh weather on the way, the Blood Center is urging Kitsap County residents to come to its center in Silverdale.
The Silverdale center is located at 3230 NW Randall Way, and can be reached at (360) 337-1985. Appointments can also be made by calling (800) 398-7888. Walk-ins are also welcome. For center hours and see www.psbc.org.
