Water brought out the best (and ‘not so best’) in islanders throughout the year.

Water, water, everywhere.

If 2006 had a theme on Bainbridge Island, it was elemental. Often thought of as our most precious resource, water was everywhere, sometimes showing up in uncomfortable abundance.

The year began with an effort to wrest control of the Eagle Harbor waterfront from the state, saw relief efforts directed to storm ravaged communities in the South, added legal battles over access to another harbor still, and ended with the skies opening up for a deluge of near biblical proportions – with a little wind thrown in for good measure.

This was 2006 on Bainbridge Island.

January

A citizen activist group calling itself Reclaim Our Waterfront forms, with a stated goal of ousting Washington State Ferries maintenance facility from the Winslow waterfront. The group would like to see the property put to higher commercial and community use.

Bainbridge High School students begin voluntary testing under the “TeenScreen” program, which purports to ferret out depression and other issues. School officials and the local newspaper are soon inundated with angry letters – not from Bainbridge parents, but rather from folks around the country unconnected with the district – denouncing the program as psychobabble and hoodoo. The letters are linked to a national religious sect’s campaign to discredit psychiatry; sadly, no letters are signed “Tom and Katie.”

A city hearing examiner blocks city plans to open Kallgren Road through to Day Road East. The controversy presages more battles between the city and neighbors over roadway connections and bike/ped improvements.

The Yeomalt Cabin restoration project takes root – or rather, fells trees for the cause. Woodsman Dave Ullin and others harvest trees on a Fletcher Bay property; the logs are later stripped of bark and left to dry, for use replacing rotted logs in the Depression-era cabin’s walls.

While all is rosy at Yeomalt, the long history of disputes over tiny T’Chookwap Park on Port Madison flares up again as the city proposes to sell the parcel to pay for open space elsewhere. The little-used park is said to be redundant, after the city purchases waterfront park land and a public dock around the corner.

Empathetic islanders adopt Vermillion Parish, La., in the heart of Cajun country, for relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The Louisiana township is among the many Gulf Coast communities ravaged by surging waves and blasting winds several months earlier, struggling with staggering ruin and a meandering federal cleanup.

The Bainbridge Island City Council pledges “reform” in 2006. Among their goals: shorter, more efficient meetings.

Steve Martin’s witty play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” opens at Bainbridge Performing Arts under the direction of Kate Carruthers, signaling a move toward more sophisticated, adult-oriented theatre on the island’s community stage. The run sells out.

The city administration says it can’t complete slated projects without additional staffing. Meanwhile, Mayor Darlene Kordonowy and the City Council find themselves at odds over priorities for downtown planning.

Bainbridge High School science teacher Charles Patrick Murphy is jailed on child pornography charges, after illicit images are found on his home and school computers. He is immediately fired by the district, and later pleads guilty to the charges.

Island astronomers announce a plan to bring the stars indoors, establishing a “portable planetarium” at the Ritchie Observatory in Battle Point Park.

The Seattle Seahawks soar to the Super Bowl and spark a frenzy of fandom around Puget Sound. One Bainbridge Island man, a long-time season ticket holder, wins tickets to the big game but decides not to go. Instead, retired optometrist Franklin Chu auctions off his tickets for $5,000 and gives the money to hurricane relief efforts.

You can lead students to the lunchroom, but can you make them choose greens over pizza? Parents, nutritionists and school officials look at ways to improve the healthfulness of the school lunch menu. Days later, a bread pudding bake-off by the Island Gallery raises money for Helpline.

Mike McGavick, retired insurance executive and candidate for U.S. Senate, makes a whistlestop in Kitsap County as the campaign gets under way. But McGavick looks past Bainbridge Island, a gesture that island voters will return several times over come November.

February

Development du jour: New condominiums and retail spaces are planned at Madison Avenue Villa, just north of Wyatt Way.

The City Council approves funding to hire more city staff to complete outstanding projects, but only about half of the limited-term positions are filled. Meanwhile, a year-long exodus by engineers and other City Hall employees continues.

Everything old is new again, as the Bargain Boutique gets a facelift and higher-end fare. As it has since 1968, the popular Winslow second-hand store raises funds for the Children’s Hospital.

On the eve of the Seattle Seahawks’ first-ever Super Bowl appearance, 60 mph winds swoop down on the Puget Sound region and knock out power and cable service. Numerous Bainbridge roadways are blocked by fallen trees and downed lines, sending anxious fans hither and yon in search of functioning televisions. “There will be a billion people watching the game,” one Sunrise Drive resident comments, “but 15,000 on Bainbridge won’t see it.”

The Seahawks lose. Inspiring equal dismay hereabouts, so too does the Spartan gymnastics team, which loses the Metro League title for the first time four years. The Spartans are edged by West Seattle by 1.25 points.

The park district pledges $50,000 for Yeomalt Cabin restoration, toward a total project cost of $200,000. Coin banks in the shape of the cabin appear on retail counters island-wide, as a citizen-led fund drive moves forward.

A truckload of furniture, household appliances and other items donated by Bainbridge residents arrives in Abbeville, La., where it is welcomed in a township devastated by Katrina.

The family that satays together: Minh Tran, son of the founders of the highly popular Sawadty Thai Cuisine, opens his own establishment at Lynwood Center. Sawant Thai Kitchen. No reservations? No luck.

The new property tax bills go out, and island homeowners will pay an average of 7.7 percent more than the previous year. Assessor Jim Avery offers his annual reminder that escalating taxes aren’t tied to upward-spiraling property values. The jump is attributed to a 35 percent climb in the park district’s levy base, and voter approval of a six-year levy “lid lift” to pay for new fire trucks.

Development du jour: Architect Cihan Anisoglu announces plans for a 10-office complex on Wyatt Way east of Madison. The design includes a courtyard with a central fountain.

Longtime Bainbridge Municipal Court judge Steve Holman is named to the District Court bench. The city administration begins the search for his successor on the bench.

Island architects and community volunteers Kathy Bergum and Kenneth Hartz are killed in a tragic highway crash near Cle Elum. The couple lose their lives when an oncoming driver, who also is killed, veers across the center line and collides with their car head-on.

A 21-4 campaign isn’t enough, and the Spartan girls basketball team is bumped from district tournament play, one game away from state. Two of the losses were to Chief Sealth, which wins its second straight state title but is stripped of both trophies for recruiting violations.

March

Island contractor Bill Nelson begins extensive renovation of the historic Olson mansion on the hillside overlooking Lynwood Center. The building had housed a series of posh eateries over the years, but the structure itself had fallen into disrepair. Less popular with the neighbors are plans for Blossom Hill, an 80-home planned community on the same hillside, also a project of Nelson and architect Charlie Wenzlau.

Also under way is renovation of the historic transmitter building at Battle Point Park. The massive concrete monolith, once a hub for the U.S. Navy’s wartime communications network with the South Pacific, will become a youth gymnastics space and community hall. Fund-raising is ongoing, as are efforts to keep water out of the building.

Everyone talks about the weather, but only Sakai Intermediate School does something about it: the school gets a new meteorological station.

The Bainbridge chapter of Women in Black mark their fourth year standing in silent defiance of the war in Iraq. The war continues unabated.

Washington State Ferries announces that a renovated maintenance facility will include a 140-space waterfront parking lot. One vehicle space will be provided for every single worker at the facility, despite the yard’s proximity to a major bus-and-ferry transit hub across the street.

Best-selling author and world travel guru Rick Steves comes to Bainbridge Island with tips for a different sort of trip – the marijuana activist extols the pleasures of the pipe.

Not to belabor the metaphor, but Congressman Jay Inslee touts new, cleaner-burning fuels at a Biodiversity Forum in Seattle. Lampooning President Bush’s proclaimed commitment to break the nation’s addiction to oil, Inslee says, “That’s like expecting Cheech and Chong to break their addiction to marijuana.”

Yes, and yes: Island voters overwhelming approve a $45 million construction bond and $6.1 million tech levy. The bond will pay for construction of new classroom, commons area, library and administrative offices at Bainbridge High School, while the levy will upgrade badly outdated computer and technology systems district-wide. The bond earns 71 percent support, while the levy – scaled back from a measure that failed miserably just a year earlier – nets 65 percent.

The city unveils a state-of-the-art “decant” facility to process muck from storm drains at the Vincent Road recycling center.

The new Best Western Suites turns back the sheets and fluffs the pillows on High School Road. With 51 rooms, it becomes the island’s largest lodging establishment, er, overnight.

Three teenage boys are arrested for breaking in to Commodore school, stealing electronic items and vandalizing the building. In a possible first for the island, police say, both the juvenile suspects and their parents are “forthcoming” about the youths’ involvement in the crimes.

A ferry fare hike kicks in, to the dismay of cross-sound commuters. Car-and-driver fares climb to $11.25 each way, while walk-ons must fork out $6.50 to get back to the island. At the same time, city officials and the City Council calls for formal environmental review of a planned $40 million upgrade to the Washington State Ferries maintenance yard on Eagle Harbor. WSF officials say they are “surprised and disappointed” by the city’s cold reception.

Finally, on a warmer note, the American Cancer Society announces plans to bring the Relay For Life to Bainbridge Island over the summer. An organizational meeting brings out many volunteers.