“A roundabout was approved by the city council Wednesday, settling the future of one of Winslow’s busiest intersections.By a 6-1 vote, the council OK’d construction of a 105-foot diameter, single-lane circle at High School Road and Madison Avenue, rather than a traffic light that had been proposed earlier. “
“Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.Americans may pay the sentiment lip service, but Scott Russell Sanders believes that the Stephen Foster lyrics do not resonate as they might with the people he calls this nation of restless movers.Novelist/essayist Sanders, whose down-to-earth demeanor belies a distinguished resume, stresses the importance of staying put when he lectures on The Character of Community March 16 at the Playhouse. “
“Walter C. Walt Woodward, Jr., age 91, award-winning journalist who with his late wife Mildred edited and published the Bainbridge Review during the years before and after World War II, died March 13 on Bainbridge Island. Two memorial services are set for March 24, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church and at Woodward Middle School. Times for those services have not been set; information will appear in the Saturday Review. “
“Now entering the roundabout of public opinion are four vehicles, one coming from each direction:Driver 1: The World Traveler – Has seen and/or driven roundabouts in Europe and elsewhere; thinks they’re swell once people understand them. Comment: If the French can live with roundabouts, so can you clowns in your SUVs…Hey! Nice Citroën! (A variant of this group vehemently disagrees, believing that nothing the French might do could possibly be worth copying; also avoids films with subtitles.) “
“The city council will take another shot at curtailing development near island wetlands, after a recent ordinance was declared void.One of three boards that administers the state’s Growth Management Act struck down the wetlands ordinance in February, citing the city’s failure to provide proper notice of the change. “
“Walter C. Walt Woodward, Jr., age 91, award-winning journalist who with his late wife Mildred edited and published the Bainbridge Review during the years before and after World War II, died March 13 on Bainbridge Island.Two memorial services are set for March 24, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church and at Woodward Middle School. Times for those services have not been set; information will appear in the Saturday Review. “
“Rep. Phil Rockefeller’s ambitious proposal to more than triple the portion of the gas tax dedicated to the ferry system sank without a hearing. But the Bainbridge Island Democrat believes that with the idea sown, his proposal may return in some other form.This was a way of making a statement about the need to recapitalize the ferry system, Rockefeller said Friday, and to stake a claim on any new revenue source that might emerge. “
“Just one word: Plastics.Those four words from the 1967 film The Graduate, define a generation of alienated youth.The Graduate and three other films that influenced an era – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Rebel Without a Cause and The Truman Show – were selected by islanders in an online poll for the humanities inquiry Classic American Film Festival, March 12-15. Although all of the films can be rented and viewed on videotape, John Ellis, one of several islanders noted for polling eloquence, makes the case for the big screen.In seeing film as film, Ellis said, you are seeing an image that has kissed the celluloid, the negative run through the camera on the set. When that’s projected, you have a direct relationship you don’t get with video. New York Times Film critic Richard T. Jameson, who will discuss movie influence on American culture before The Truman Show screening, agrees with Ellis. Jameson points out that Rebel Without a Cause, an early rendition of disaffected youth and the first Cinemascope film – movies shown on dollar bill-shaped screens – contains scenes that literally cannot be viewed as video. In what Jameson characterizes as one of the most compelling sequences filmed in the 1950s, James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo are questioned by police simultaneously, in a split screen effect.When you see the movie, Jameson said, the scene is so dynamic it looks like the film is almost tearing itself apart, but as video it’s just about incoherent. “
“More than 180 marijuana plants, some 4-5-feet in height, were seized in a raid on a south Bainbridge home Friday morning.A 44-year-old male resident was arrested, shutting down what police called a highly sophisticated growing operation.It’s a major, major bust, Bainbridge Police Chief Bill Cooper said.The raid concluded a three-year investigation by the WestNet drug-enforcement team. “
Jazz vocalist Toby Schneider was auctioned off last week. Whoever bought her for the fundraiser – as well as the audience for this weekend’s March 11 concert – will hear jazz informed by Schneider’s 37-year commitment to the idiom.
“At two Bainbridge schools this month, students travel to foreign countries right in the classroom. In a five-week program planned by parents, Island School students are studying all aspects of Japanese culture. And at Sakai Intermediate School, Theresa Cosgrove’s German language students celebrate Fasching – the German holiday that combines elements of mardi gras with Halloween – while other Parent Teacher Organization-sponsored language clubs offer a range of programs.We have cultural studies every spring to make sure these students are exposed to something beyond Bainbridge, Island School director Kelly Scribner said. “
“The good news: You’ll still be able to enjoy a beer or a glass of wine aboard the ferry.The bad news: We’re not sure there’s still going to be a ferry, as Thursday’s day of reckoning came and went for legislative bills hoping to clear committee and get a hearing before the full chambers.By our count, no fewer than 21 pieces of ferry-related legislation were introduced as the session got under way in January. Most had little or nothing to do with ferry funding, dealing instead with such non-issues as banning alcohol sales aboard the boats; allowing private vendors to sell ferry tickets; compensating ferry and highway workers who are assaulted by motorists; allowing ferry terminal workers to send to the back of the queue any motorists who block driveways or try to cut in line (don’t they already do that?) “
“Besting Tim Eyman in court has been a mixed blessing for attorney Tom Ahearne.On the plus side, judicial voiding of two anti-tax initiatives has helped stave off potentially calamitous cutbacks in city services.On the minus side, Ahearne says, initative sponsor Eyman may have learned how to write legislation that will withstand constitutional scrutiny.I’ve looked at Eyman’s new initiative, and I really can’t see any constitutional problems with it, said Ahearne, who led the court challenges against I-695 and I-722 for Bainbridge Island and other Washington cities and counties. I think that measure will have to be defeated on the merits by the voters. “
