“They worked side by side for 35 years, but never collaborated. Now Images of Bainbridge Island marks the debut of Gerald and Rosemarie Dowell as a fine arts team. I made a decision early on to stay away from Gerald’s medium and he did the same with me, Rosemarie says. Gerald adds, It’s a ‘turf’ thing. The Dowells may complete each other’s sentences, but each retains a distinct artistic identity. In Images of Bainbridge Island, the sensibilities are complementary, as Rosemarie renders close detail of landscape with pen and ink, while Gerald uses the luminosity of watercolor to capture broad vistas. “
“Saying that tax-limitation Initiative 722 has all the constitutional defects of Initiative 695 and then some, the city of Bainbridge Island filed suit this week to nullify the Tim Eyman-sponsored measure.He’s put better window-dressing on 722, said Thomas Ahearne, the attorney representing the city. But substantively, it has the same problems.Ahearne, a Bainbridge Island resident and partner in the Seattle firm of Foster, Pepper & Sheffelman, also represented the city in its successful challenge to I-695, which replaced the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax with a flat $30 license-tab fee and required a popular vote to raise taxes. “
“Two cops and three computers.That’s the essence of the new budget items sought by Bainbridge Police for next year.We’re doing alright, Chief Bill Cooper said, assessing the department. We’ve got a good facility now, good equipment, good support. Life is pretty good.Authorized to have 21 commissioned officers this year, the department is currently down to 19 because of turnover. Two desired candidates have been identified, Cooper said, but academy time and other training will keep them off the beat for months.For 2001, citing an increase in calls for service and internal reorganization, Cooper would like three more officers as well. The preliminary budget from the mayor’s office would give him two.One would be a full-time traffic enforcement officer, to deal with ongoing citizen complaints of speeding drivers on local roadways. The position would be a permanent day-shift assignment, with duties including radar enforcement in problem areas as well as accident investigation.The second would be a deputy chief, to handle administrative duties including overseeing day-to-day department operations; personnel and financial issues; and fleet and equipment management. “
“A California company’s financial failure will cost several hundred Bainbridge Island customers the high-speed Internet connections they get through their television cable.ISP Channel has notified customers that it will no longer guarantee service after Dec. 1, and will shut down operations entirely by the end of the year. “
“The ground was at times hard to see, covered as it was with crisp fallen leaves. But with each step, the crunch of fresh gravel underneath reassured one that the path was true.These trails are wonderful, said Deborah Cheadle, pausing from her daily stroll to admire the work. They’re so beautiful, for one thing.The new pathways – two miles long, and growing – come with the development by Kelly Samson of several large parcels purchased from Port Blakely Tree Farms.North of Blakely Harbor, on property abutting the Eagledale neighborhood, a circuitous trail network is now open for public use, with temporary signs going up this week. “
“Tom Kelly is on his way to becoming a household name on houses.Kelly, a Bainbridge Island resident, recently closed an agreement to nationally syndicate his KIRO-AM radio program on real estate issues – meaning that The Real Estate Show With Tom Kelly will be airing in some 79 major U.S. markets as of Nov. 26.It’s another move toward establishing Kelly, who already syndicates a weekly newspaper column and reaches untold masses through his partnership in an Bainbridge-based Internet venture – not to mention several television guest appearances and public speaking engagements – as a pre-eminent media authority on real estate.I’m a lucky guy, said Kelly, an island resident since 1989. I get to do what I love, I get to help people, and I get to live here and work here. “
“Some South Bainbridge residents have lined up in opposition to a neighbor who wants to build a floating dock stretching more than 100 feet into Blakely Harbor.The neighbor, Seaborn Road resident Kim Bottles, has applied to the city for a permit to build a floating dock – a 100-foot-long, T-shaped structure – to accommodate a boat used for the daily commute to his job in Seattle. The 30-day comment period on the application closed Nov. 9, throwing the plan into the laps of planning commission members. No hearing date has been scheduled. “
“New staff, programs and equipment purchases could boost next year’s city budget by $853,000.Proposals including an assistant police chief and three new public works crew members, new computers and other equipment are outlined in the mayor’s draft budget proposal, now available at city hall.It’s a budget that has an ambitious set of goals, said Mayor Dwight Sutton, saying he believes it balances work left unfinished this year and new demands of the public and city council.If approved, the programs would boost next year’s operations spending to $14.13 million, up from $12.9 million in 2000. “
“Bainbridge candidates went 4-for-6 at the plate Tuesday, with the number seven hitter still at bat.Voters returned Jay Inslee to Congress and Phil Rockefeller to the state House of Representatives, and likely placed two other islanders on the county’s new board of freeholders.And Bainbridge may maintain its 20-year monopoly on the Washington secretary of state post, with Sunrise resident Don Bonker locked in a close race to succeed the island’s favorite son, Ralph Munro. Bonker and Sam Reed, Thurston County auditor, await further absentee returns, with Bonker picking up a 4,000-vote lead Friday out of 1.6 million votes cast.Two other Bainbridge candidates, David Harrison and Dan Murphy, appeared to have failed in their bids for Olympia, pending further absentee counts next week. The results: “
“In the words of a popular T-shirt: Spawn ‘Til You Die.Local salmon are anxious to do just that, biding their time until late-autumn rains show up to swell the flow of six Bainbridge Island streams, so they can spread a little coho mojo.We’re just waiting for enough water for them to get upstream and do their thing, biologist Wayne Daley told us this week, with frisky fish now jumping in Fletcher Bay and other locations. “
“Equipment believed to have been stolen from area construction sites was seized in the arrest of a transient near High School Road Thursday morning.The suspect, a male believed to be in his mid-20s and listing no address, was arrested without incident at a rude campsite in a wooded area between Kitsap Bank and Lumbermen’s Building Center.He was taken to Kitsap County Jail on suspicion of burglary pending formal arraignment, according to Bainbridge Police reports.Officers found that the campsite was served by power, with a sturdy light and a radio connected by heavy-duty extension cords to an outlet in a pumphouse 100 yards away across the woods. The pumphouse door, which had been padlocked by the property owner, was found forced open. “
“The city of Bainbridge Island will sue to overturn Initiative 722, the Son of 695, passed by Washington voters Tuesday. And it will be in good company, as the cities of Seattle, Burien, Carnation and Pasco have launched their own legal challenges to the tax-cutting measure.I certainly feel confident, Mayor Dwight Sutton said Thursday, a day after the city council unanimously approved a legal challenge.We’re convinced that its constitutionality is highly suspect. “
“Two of the three legislative incumbents from the 23rd legislative district were enjoying comfortable leads in early absentee ballot returns on Tuesday night. The third had a slimmer margin to hold onto.Betti Sheldon, State Senator from the 23rd District and Phil Rockefeller, State Representative from the 23rd District were celebrating leads of more than 10 percent against their opposition in early returns.Beverly Woods, the Poulsbo Republican who was appointed to Karen Schmidt’s legislative seat, was leading Bainbridge Island Democrat David Harrison by three percent in early returns. “
