Bainbridge Island briefs
Published 1:30 am Thursday, August 26, 2021
School traffic
Bainbridge Island School District reopens its schools Sept. 1 and predicts an increase in traffic during students’ morning arrivals and afternoon dismissals.
“While we are excited to bring students back to our schools full-time, we recognize the impact our schools have on the local traffic,” said Dane Fenwick, BISD director of Facilities & Operations. “We ask for the community’s patience as we work through traffic challenges.”
To help mitigate congestion, BISD is: Encouraging students to walk or ride bikes, extending the morning arrival window by five minutes, coordinating with police to send community NIXEL alerts during the first part of September and creating site-specific routes to help expedite student dropoff and pickup times in an efficient manner.
Island residents are encouraged to be aware of peak times and select alternative routes. Here are some reminders of school-related traffic laws: When a school bus stop paddle is activated, motorists and cyclists in both directions must stop, and between the hours of 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. speed limits in school zones are 20 mph.
Pedestrians must obey traffic signals and signs, must use sidewalks when available or walk facing traffic if they are not; vehicles must stop at intersections to allow pedestrians to cross, even in an unmarked crosswalk; otherwise every pedestrian must yield the right of way to all vehicles on the roadway.
COVID testing
The Bainbridge Island School District has a COVID-19 testing site available for staff and students.
The site is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. After the school year is underway, the site will be open weekdays from 6:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. The site is closed on holidays and school breaks.
The site is located behind the district office, 8489 Madison Ave. N, between Ordway Elementary and the aquatic center. There is no out-of-pocket cost.
Open House
An Open House will take place at Bainbridge High School Sept. 4 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Bainbridge Schools Foundation event will feature food, music, ice cream and more. The majority of the event will take place outdoors, but inside access will be available for those who wish to view the new spaces. Masks are required indoors.
For details go to www. bainbridgeschoolsfoundation.org
Woman turns 100
A Bainbridge Island resident for almost 40 years, Ann Dorothy Gibbs is turning 100 Aug. 28.
A party is planned for her at Bailey Manor Aug. 27. She also is having a party with family and a longtime friend at the home of Dr. Terry Resnik and her daughter Nancy Gibbs. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 1921 to Col. G.W. Marriott, Ann was the youngest of five. During World War II she had to quit high school and support the war and her family with her older brothers serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force. She helped procure ships for the war.
She married Lt. Richard B. Gibbs of Burnaby, B.C. The family moved from Vancouver, Deep Cove and White Rock, B.C., then to Toronto before moving to Roseburg, Ore., where she became active in Camp Fire Girls while raising the family. Ann then moved to Edmonds. After divorcing in 1967 she worked at the University of Washington being invited into Mortar Board while progressing with her baccalaureate credits. She has been active in the Children’s Orthopedic Hospital Guild for years. She retired in 1967 to raise her granddaughter, Adrianne (Gibbs) Vasey. Ann was a proficient gardener and loved traveling the world.
Book published
Longtime Bainbridge Island resident Barry Andrews will have his new book published next month.
It is called, “American Sage: The Spiritual Teachings of Ralph Waldo Emerson.”
Andrews explores Emerson’s writings, including his journals and letters, and the 19th Century religious and intellectual crosscurrents that shaped the transcendentalist’s worldview, revealing that the teachings remain timeless and modern, universal and uniquely American.
Andrews, a retired Unitarian minister, has spent years studying Emerson.
The 232-page paperback work is being published by University of Massachusetts Press.
COVID boosters
COVID-19 boosters were available last weekend at the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center for some high-risk individuals.
The city, in partnership with Bainbridge Prepares, BI Fire Department and BI Community Pharmacy, offered third doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for people who met the CDC and state definition of immunocompromised. Those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are not currently eligible for a booster.
Additional clinics could take place in coming weeks and months.
Road work
Drivers should expect possible delays on several Bainbridge Island streets with the start of the city’s annual street maintenance project.
The project is anticipated to run through early September. Drivers in the areas of work can expect single-lane traffic with flagging between approximately 7:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. Local access will be maintained with access for emergency vehicles and delivery trucks.
Learn more at www. bainbridgewa.gov/270.
Picnic returns
The Moritani Community Picnic returns on Labor Day.
Pack a snack and bring a blanket. The picnic will be from 4-6 p.m. Sept. 6 at the Moritani Preserve in Winslow.
Enjoy the sounds of Bainbridge Island’s own Buckshot String Band, presented by the BI Parks Foundation with BI Metro Parks & Recreation.
For details go to www.biparks foundation.org/picnic
Quilt festival
The 9th Annual Bainbridge Island Modern Quilt Guild Fall Festival will take place Sept. 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
This non-juried show is free and open to the public and will feature the artistry of quiltmakers from all over the Kitsap peninsula. Organizers expect to hang 200-plus works of textile art from scaffolding on the Green and along Winslow Way.
Last year, in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 400 visitors enjoyed the show.
Festival chair Kathy Dwyer said, “It is great fun to see the delight and surprise on the faces of attendees who are often awed and inspired by the beautiful art they see hanging in the show.”
For details contact Kathy Ruwe at kjruwe60@gmail.com or 650-483-4525 or visit www.BainbridgeQuiltFestival.com
Dam protest
A protest was scheduled to take place Aug. 21 at the ferry terminal in Bainbridge Island.
The protest concerned the effort to remove four dams on the lower Snake River.
Organizers say U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, along with Gov. Jay Inslee, have yet to support the plan that would save salmon and orca.
Nearly 600 tribes nationwide support the plan to save fish and whales by removing the four lower Snake River dams, replacing that power and the transportation of the grain with other means so that farmers and communities are taken care of.
Jobless mixed
During the week of Aug. 8-14, there were 5,528 initial regular unemployment claims, up 2% from the prior week.
Total claims filed by Washingtonians for all unemployment benefit categories numbered 285,450, down 7% from the prior week.
• Initial regular claims applications are 75% below weekly new claims applications for the same period last year during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The four-week moving average for regular initial claims was 5,105, an increase of 103 from the previous week. During the same time in 2019, it was 5,163.
• Layoffs in construction and manufacturing contributed to an increase of 108 regular initial claims over the previous week.
• There was a decrease in the combined total of initial claims and continued or ongoing claims for all benefits—which include regular unemployment insurance, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.
• Federal pandemic benefits programs, including PUA and PEUC as well as the additional $300 per week, are set to expire the week ending Sept. 4. Learn more at esd.wa.gov/covid-19.
In the week ending Aug. 14, ESD paid out over $170 million for 211,397 individual claims. Since the crisis began in March 2020, ESD has paid more than $20.7 billion in benefits to over 1.1 million Washingtonians.
