The Island School’s library holds a story both bitter and sweet.
The library, which will be renamed in a dedication ceremony Thursday, commemorates fourth-grade student Victoria Louise Somers, who died last December.
The only child of Alan and Susan Somers, Victoria survived a successful series of operations to correct a heart defect, only to die unexpectedly at age 9 following a seemingly minor illness.
For most of the folks present at Thursday’s update on the south-end sewer saga, the news was good. Kitsap County Sewer District 7, which operates the Fort Ward treatment plant, does have the capacity to accommodate the four south-end neighborhoods that have asked for sewers.
Costs can be allocated in such a way that those who don’t want to hook up now can defer the vast majority of their expenses until later. The costs of roughly $30,000 per home are feasible. And the city council seems willing to move ahead.
But for the folks from Emerald Heights, the news was a disaster.
South-end neighborhoods that want sewer service have gotten a close look at the price tag – almost $30,000 per home.
And while waterfront residents want to push ahead as soon as possible, the more modest inland neighborhood that started the whole process may find the costs prohibitive.
“The sum is outrageous and unaffordable,” said Kirsten Hytopoulos of Emerald Heights. “I’m very concerned we won’t be able to do it.”
The new Bainbridge-Seattle ferry schedule, changed for the first time in 13 years, takes effect Sunday.
And while weekday commuters will have the option of a 4:45 a.m. sailing to Seattle, they’ll have to get to the terminal on their own, without help from Kitsap Transit.
“We couldn’t arrange our schedules to meet that (early) boat,” said John Clauson if Kitsap Transit. “It would put us into a three-shift mode, and it would be very expensive to hire the additional people.”
The girls volleyball team enters this weekend’s Highline invitational with a 3-1 record for the season in non-league play.
The team’s last match against Cleveland was an impressive romp, with BHS taking three straight at 15-0, 15-0, and 15-3. In the first set, Kristina Purdom served all 15 points.
Last November, in one of the closest meets in recent memory, Bainbridge girls swim team was edged out by Bellevue for the state 3A swim title, 227-232,
This year, the team’s focus is finding those elusive five points.
“I’d love to find them,” Colby said. “We have high expectations in the pool. Our goal is to be in the top three at state. That’s the goal every year.”
The Parent and Child Center has them rolling on the floor.
Now in its sixth year, the Helpline House program in Commodore Center promotes parent-child interaction at the kid level.
The parents who drop into the center are usually glad to get down with the wee ones.
“We really like to encourage that parent-child contact,” new director Jennifer Canning said. “This is an environment that allows parents to play with kids.”
The converted classroom on the north side of the building is cheerful and bright.
Areas for reading, tables for art, and clusters of couches and comfy chairs for parents to socialize divide the space.
Roused to action by February’s “wake-up call,” Bainbridge Park District supporters heading into Tuesday’s election took their message to the voters:
If you want island parks to stay open, vote for the levy.
Islanders responded at the polls, voting overwhelmingly to support district parks and programs going through 2004.
If Juris Zommers hadn’t had has his radio tuned to KING-FM eight years ago, his life would be less cluttered today.
His office wouldn’t be piled high with the original manuscripts and recordings he has inherited – the life’s work of composer Margaret Buechner.
Although the two never met face-to-face, their abiding friendship began when Zommers responded to the radio broadcast of a love duet from her ballet “Elizabeth” played on the classical station.
“The emotional impact was intense,” Zommers said. “I loved the piece so much, I stayed in the office for two hours, listening to it over and over. I wrote to the publisher. They wrote back, saying, ‘the composer would like to hear these comments from you directly.’”
Kitsap voters haven’t been treated in years to a close, countywide election like the one that played out this week between Barbara Stephenson and Paulette Alvarado.
At press time Friday afternoon, Stephenson clung to a lead of just 54 votes out of 45,000 counted.
Stephenson held 22,243 votes (49.5 percent) and Alvarado 22,189 (49.4 percent), with the balance going to unspecified write-ins. A recount is almost assured.
When Washington voters cast their general-election ballots in November, they will pick up where lawmakers left off at the close of the 2002 legislative session.
In Referendum 51, voters across Washington will ratify or reject the $7.7 billion state transportation improvement package that the legislature sent them last spring.
Supporters say the plan would relieve the state’s worst traffic choke points, provide safety improvements and rejuvenate the state’s aging ferry fleet over a 10-year period.
Locally, it would mean foot-ferry service from Kingston to downtown Seattle, which could mean fewer cars from northern portions of Kitsap County driving across Bainbridge to the Winslow ferry terminal.
If the mark of long-term improvement is rising expectations, then the Bainbridge High School football program is on the right track.
Consider how recently the Spartans would have been happy with a victory, any victory.
In that light, it’s a giant step forward that Friday’s opening-night 19-7 win over Squalicum was greeted with considerable self-criticism, rather than jubilation.
“I’m happy with the win,” coach Andy Grimm said, “but if we were playing in Metro League competition, we wouldn’t be ready, and the kids know that.”
Trees are a curious commodity.
We islanders find them priceless – our gold
standard, it seems, is green – but we invariably wish that our neighbors had even more of them than we have ourselves. We hold them to be beyond mere monetary value, yet they bring out the economic determinist in us all.
