“Bainbridge’s beachfront homes don’t look very pretty from under water.At least, not from the perspective of endangered Chinook salmon. Their habitat and food sources have been decimated, along shorelines damaged by bulkheads and contaminated with toxic chemicals seeping off lawns.We’re degrading the near-shore habitat, said Bainbridge City Councilman Michael Pollock, a science and policy analyst for the U.S. Department of Commerce. This could mean problems for many shoreline dwellers, because the federal government will soon require implementation of new measures aimed at rescuing the Chinook from extinction.”
“Waterfront Park lost two of its most timeworn landmarks Monday, and nobody is complaining.Dozens of spectators passed by the park’s edge throughout the afternoon and gawked as a 140-foot floating crane drifted within feet of the shoreline, eventually hoisting two derelict, algae- and barnacle-covered boats high into the air and onto a barge.”
“So, your cable TV rates are going up again, you’re mad as heck and you’re not going to take it anymore. Who ya gonna call? The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission? Sorry, but local cable television operators answer to no one. Their rates can soar and their service stink, and you have no avenue of redress. What little oversight there is rests with the distant Federal Communications Commission in Washington D.C., neutered by the shears of deregulation and inherently indifferent to local complaints.”
“When fortune smiles our way, we’ll always be the first to greet her with an accommodating lap.So we were certainly delighted this week to learn of the fortuitous purchase by the city of a marvelous shoreline area and tide flat on Eagle Harbor’s colloquially known head of the bay. We hope it won’t be the last open space purchase you read about in these pages over the coming year, a sentiment – helloooo, Lady Luck – shared by Mayor Dwight Sutton.”
“Welcome to Court TV.Northland Cable Television is threatening to sue the city, hoping to overturn a 6 percent utility excise tax that went into effect last month.It’s not right, it’s not fair, and we’ll fight it, said Marit Saltrones, manager of Northland’s Bainbridge Island office.Our customers should not have to make up revenue lost to the car tab initiative (I-695). It’s ludicrous.”
“Sometimes, buying a swamp makes good sense.That’s certainly true if you don’t plan to build – and the city doesn’t, after making a significant open-space purchase this week.Oh, it’s awesome, said fisheries biologist Wayne Daley, treading the marshy ground at the head of Eagle Harbor Friday afternoon. Awesome.”
“It’s increasingly likely that Ralph F. Leonard won’t slip through the cracks of the civil and criminal justice systems a second time.So say county officials, despite the fact that 13 felony charges, including attempted murder, against the 62 year-old Leonard were dropped last Friday in Kitsap County Superior Court.”
“What they’d really like is a phone system – preferably with voice-mail capability.But cash and checks will do just fine, as a fund-raising drive for the Marge Williams Center gets under way next week.“I’m convinced we will do it,” said Ed Kushner, who chairs the campaign to raise $420,000 in private donations for renovation of the Winslow Way West building. “I know we will do it.””
“What’s in a name?Plenty, when it comes to naming Bainbridge Island’s new swimming pool.The park district is considering selling the right to name its soon-to-be-constructed aquatic facility to any community-minded philanthropist willing to make up part, if not all, of its current $350,000 budget shortfall.”
“We’re already looking forward to April, and our first trip of the new baseball season to that ballpark across the water. You know, that ballpark. The one named after some company or other. Yes, we’re fully cognizant of its formal title. But you can count us among the throwbacks who just can’t get used to that name. We’d rather have seen the awesome facility dubbed, say, King Street Grounds, or some other moniker that suggests a regional or geographic identity, rather than just becoming another billboard for corporate largesse.”
“It is generally assumed that when a competitor goes under, the survivor does a little jig on the newly turned earth. In market capitalism – essentially Darwinism expressed as a spreadsheet – one’s passing means a windfall for someone else’s bottom line.Be that as it may, where news and information are concerned, competition is always a good thing. That’s why we’re saddened to hear that Northland Cable Television no longer feels it can afford to subsidize its news operation.”
“The answer: None.The question: How many contested elections did Sam Camasi win on his way to a 15-year career as a Bainbridge Island fire department commissioner?It’s strange, but true. Camasi, an electrical contractor, ran and lost two years before being appointed to replace Jack Schaeffer in 1984. Less than a year later, he lost to challenger Lisa Oncken in a 62 percent landslide.But less than a year after that, he was reappointed to the board when Oncken abruptly resigned. He won an unopposed election in 1993 in his bid for a fresh six-year term, but lost again attempting to stretch his service tenure to 2006 in last November’s election.”
“The cable will soon be cut on the island’s televised news-and-sports broadcasts.Northland Cable Television, which produced the five-minute segments airing during CNN Headline News broadcasts from its High School Road headquarters since 1993, will tape its last show Jan. 28.”
