McKinstry trial delayed again
The trial of Garrett J.
McKinstry, the 22-year-old man charged with the stabbing death of his father, Ordway Elementary Counselor Jeffrey McKinstry, was rescheduled for September after he was found mentally unfit to stand trial last week.
Garrett McKinstry was examined by doctors at Western State Hospital in Tacoma, and will undergo therapy at the hospital to regain competency before returning to court, said Kevin Hull, deputy prosecuting attorney for Kitsap County.
McKinstry has been held in Kitsap County Jail since October when his father was found stabbed to death at their Kingston home. He faces a first-degree murder charge.
An initial mental evaluation at Western State Hospital in December found McKinstry to be competent, and his trial was slated for late April, Hull said.
But McKinstry became uncooperative, according to Hull, refusing to appear for his hearing and then being held in contempt of court. That prompted doctors to request that McKinstry be sent to Western State two weeks ago for reevaluation. Hull said that to be competent, McKinstry must be cognizant of his situation, and capable of aiding in his defense.
“Based on what (the doctors) observed, they didn’t feel that was the case,” Hull said.
McKinstry will likely remain at Western State Hospital for a 90-day period to recover competency, said McKinstry’s defense attorney David LaCrosse.
“It’s a more therapeutic environment than jail is,” LaCrosse said.
If McKinstry’s mental condition improves, he could be called to court sooner than 90 days, but he can also remain an inpatient indefinitely if competency is not regained.
“It is a long process,” Hull said. “But for a homicide case with mental health aspects to it, it really isn’t unusual.”
– Tad Sooter
Curtain’s up on BPA season
BPA has billed its newly announced lineup as “a possessed king, an unlikely princess, a British romp, a perplexing painting, and lots and lots of memories.”
The 2008-2009 mainstage season will start with toil and trouble aplenty in the mid-October production of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”
“I love this show, and I’ve been waiting to do this show for a long time,” said show director and BPA Artistic Director Steven Fogell.
Nonetheless, he added, it’ll be the last Shakespeare BPA takes on for awhile, after a bard-heavy season this year.
There will be princesses, though, with a hip holiday production of “Once Upon a Mattress.” The musical branded Carol Burnett into America’s comedic consciousness, and was later updated with Sarah Jessica Parker as poor, sciatically challenged Princess Winifred.
February will bring the crowd-pleasing meta-farce “Noises Off,” about the back- and on-stage antics of an inept acting troupe and their disastrous theatrical production.
With April comes Kate-Carruthers-helmed “Art,” in which Serge pays a fortune for a plain white canvas. Is he a visionary, or a sucker? The provocative play, by Yasmina Reza, won the 1998 Tony Award.
Closing out the mainstage season will be Andrew Lloyd Weber’s legendary “Cats,” one of the longest-running Broadway musicals of all time. And while Fogell acknowledged that for a time, staging the extravaganza might have veered into over-exposure, enough time has passed since the musical opened and closed that a new generation of audience members are ready for it, as is a new generation of local performers.
“We’ve really gained our strength in singers and dancers,” he said. “I would never have approached it years ago…it’s one of those shows that if you don’t have the voice, or you don’t have the moves, you don’t get near it.”
Ongoing and community efforts will include the BPA Theatre School; the EDGE! Improv; a new medieval musical by Paul Lewis titled, “Hail and Reign;” a “Night in Cuba” to follow up last year’s “A Night in Buenos Aires;” and a short run of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in June, possibly with some celebrity participation.
The Bainbridge Symphony Orchestra will also embark on a new season under the baton of David Upham, with performances in November, March and May.
For more information about BPA shows, visit www.bainbridgeperformingarts.org.
– Lindsay Latimore
Agencies talk about creosote
A consortium of federal and state agencies and tribes will hold a public meeting Thursday from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at City Hall, to discuss their plan to restore natural resources damaged by the Wyckoff creosote plant.
Representatives of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service along with the Washington State Department of Ecology, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Suquamish Tribe and the Muckleshoot Tribe are acting as federally designated Natural Resource Trustees to coordinate restoration surrounding the Wyckoff Superfund site on Eagle Harbor.
Natural Resource Trustees are mandated to restore resources damaged by the release of hazardous materials.
At the meeting, the trustees will explain the restoration planning process and discuss the role that the public plays in the process.
Potential restoration project ideas will be discussed as will the process for submitting additional project ideas.
For more information contact John Kern at (206) 526-6029 or john.kern@noaa.gov.
Summer fares start Thursday
Ready your wallet.
Washington State Ferries’ summer fares take effect tomorrow.
Vehicle fares will jump from $11.55 to $14.45. Peak prices will continue until Oct. 11.
Prices for walk-on and bicycle fares will remain the same, as will the cost of multi-ride passes.
Fares are the same as they were last summer because WSF is in the midst of a multi-year fare freeze.
