“Morale around the Bainbridge Island Fire Department stinks.Exactly why – now that depends on who you ask.Firefighters cite what they see as a meddling and intransigent board of commissioners – arrogant and dismissive of the views of career staff and volunteers alike in hiring procedures, equipment purchases and other hot-button issues.”
“Continued pressures from growth, the imminent disappearance of island farmlands, unmitigated highway traffic spurred on by poor regional planning – the next city council will face issues that go to the very heart of Bainbridge Island living.Four races, three of them opposed, will determine the direction of island planning and policy-making well into the next millennium.”
“One person’s rustic is another’s dilapidated.Somewhere in between sits a small cabin on Walden Lane, a leftover from a bygone Bainbridge now looking for a new home and perhaps new residents.“We thought, ‘one last chance,’” said Walden resident Lara Lant, who’s offering the cabin – free of charge – to anyone who wants to cart it away.No takers? It burns.”
“A man convicted in a string of north Bainbridge home burglaries this summer received the highest possible sentence – nearly 10 years in a state prison – in Kitsap County Superior Court Monday.James Gerard Rode, 33, acknowledged and apologized for his crimes before visiting Judge Teri Sheldon handed down the nine-year, eight-month sentence.“He appreciated the impacts his burglaries have had on other people,” Tim Kelly, Rode’s attorney, said.”
“Five years ago, two Bainbridge women pulled together a group of teen-age girls to ask them about their lives.Those sessions grew into the Daughters/Sisters Project, now a model for mentoring teens that has spawned a network of similar groups nationwide.”
“The former parade ground at Fort Ward has survived two world wars, three developers and four decades of benign neglect.There’s a chance, however, that by month’s end it may not survive the latest builder’s bulldozer blade.Neighbors who back a plan to convert the five-acre site into a park surrounded by partially-subsidized duplex housing face an Oct. 31 deadline to see their dreams start down the road to reality.”
“As downtown roadwork wraps up, so will the tenure of Winslow merchants’ leading advocate.Citing the need to spend more time with her family, Team Winslow Director Wendy Johnson will bid the organization farewell Nov. 12.”
“Bainbridge Island taxpayers allowed the park district to spend $4.5 million dollars of their money to build a new swimming pool facility.District officials estimated this week, however, that the addition to the Ray Williamson Memorial Pool will cost more than $5.44 million.”
“A high school student can’t be on the debate team because he can’t afford the overnight trips and is embarrassed to ask for money. A fifth-grader goes home to an empty house every afternoon because her mother works off-island to support them. It doesn’t matter that mom can’t afford after school fees for sports or dance lessons, because the student has no transportation to and from home, anyway.A new mom wants to work part-time, but can’t find child care for her three-month-old son.How can Bainbridge Island help these community members?Developing a comprehensive system of social services to take care of islanders’ needs is the goal of the Human Services Element (HSE) draft going before the Bainbridge Island Planning Commission Oct. 14, for inclusion in the island’s Comprehensive Plan.”
Gazzam Lake Park is many things to many people.Some see it as a site for a Sunday nature walk next to a sedate body of water. Others see it as an offbeat locale for off-the-beaten path activities like horse riding and mountain biking. Still others see it as the perfect place for children to perch on a swing or play in a ball game.The one thing nobody sees in this 318-acre preserve on southwest Bainbridge Island is a battlefield.
“Nearly 70,000 absentee ballots – a record for Kitsap County – will be mailed today by the county auditor for the general election Nov. 2.Also in the mail for voters is a voters pamphlet prepared by the auditor’s elections department.”
“Ralls Clotfelter believes Bainbridge residents would support a second bridge to the island and a new ferry terminal at Blakely Harbor, if only they understood why it was so important to everyone in Kitsap County.There’s no punchline here. Or maybe you just heard it.Clotfelter, a longtime Central Kitsap resident who uses the Bainbridge ferry commuting to his Seattle manufacturing business, said a reasoned discussion about future growth impacts countywide will help islanders see that a new bridge and ferry terminal is in their best interests.”
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