Christmas service
Bethany Lutheran Church of Bainbridge Island is inviting the public to attend an old style Christmas Eve service but in a different style setting.
Due to COVID-19 gathering restrictions, the service will be drive-in style at both 4 and 7 p.m. services.
The one-hour service of course will include the Christmas story and caroling.
The church is located at the corner of High School and Finch roads.
Residential burglary
Edith Louise Williams, 56, of Seabeck is set for trial in Kitsap County Superior Court Feb. 16, 2021 in connection with a residential burglary in Bainbridge Island last month. If convicted, Williams faces up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
Court papers say:
A BI man returned to his home on Madison Avenue and found items missing: A Fender and Takamine nylon acoustic guitars, a wooden oval-shaped stand-up mirror, two ornamental wooden boxes and vintage sake’ bottles. The next afternoon, when he was home, a woman and man showed up at his home. He hid and called 9-1-1. She came inside, while her friend changed the tire on a boat trailer outside.
Police came and questioned the suspects. The woman, Williams, said she had been talking to the trustee of the estate, as the family had died in a tsunami in Japan. She bought the boat from the trustee for $150. She later admitted she met the so-called trustee on Craigslist. She reportedly admitted to the residential burglary the previous day, sobbed and apologized. She ended up pleading not guilty.
School grant
The Bainbridge Schools Foundation has awarded the school district a $15,449 grant to fund substitute teacher recruitment and training.
“One of the many challenges that face the schools in this aberrant year is having a committed substitute teacher pool,” superintendent Peter Bang-Knudsen said, adding he appreciates the foundations continued support for students and staff.
He continued saying the foundation grant will play a critical role in supporting the return of students to in-person learning. “Having adequate staffing levels is imperative to reopening our schools,” Bang-Knudsen said.
The foundation is an independent nonprofit that exists to bridge the education funding gap. It funds many BISD programs from new teacher support to academic intervention to STEM. For details, go to www.bain bridgeschoolsfoundation.org
New pastor
After 18 years at Bainbridge First Baptist Church, pastor Dan Wymer is retiring and being replaced by pastor Jon Johnson Jan. 1, 2021.
“I covet the opportunity to join a loving, biblically sound, local body where there is a deep desire to love God, each other, and to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ,” Johnson says in a church news release.
Wymer has been a pastor for 45 years, starting at a church in Port Orchard in the 1970s. He was called to BI when his father, pastor Ken Wymer, retired.
Since Johnson has been in Poulsbo. He spent 26 years as a law enforcement pastor. He is involved with the nonprofit ministry “Caring for the Heart, Washington,” a faith-based ministry that provides Biblical counseling to individuals and couples struggling and desiring to come to freedom and healing in Christ.
The church, located at 8810 Madison Ave. NE, will welcome pastor Johnson Jan. 3. Masks and social distancing are required for all services, 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Assault charge
Devin Decker, 21 of Poulsbo was arrested Dec. 10 in connection with an assault on a Suquamish resident.
Documents from Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office say it happened Dec. 8, when Decker, his brother Dalton and Xavier Redbird allegedly assaulted and robbed a Suquamish resident. The victim and his girlfriend identified the three men and shared a video with deputies that had been posted to social media by one of the suspects bragging about the assault.
Deputies began searching for the suspects, finding Devin Decker at his parents home in Poulsbo. He was arrested on suspicion of first degree robbery. Decker told deputies that he had seen his brother Dalton and Redbird get into a fight with the victim.
The mother of the victim’s girlfriend also aided deputies in their search for Dalton and Redbird, by sending two videos, reportedly shared to social media by Redbird. The video allegedly shows some of the items stolen from the victim as well as other items such as a handgun, brass knuckles, a wad of cash, marijuana buds and plastic baggies with a white substance. The mother also suggested a location where the two remaining suspects could be found in Suquamish, but as of Dec. 10 Dalton and Redbird were still at large.
Scientist dies
Sen-itiroh Hakomori, who owned a home on Bainbridge Island and worked some with the Japanese-American community here, has died at the age of 91 at his home on Mercer Island. He spent seven decades as a scientist, much of it in cancer research, and was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
Holiday garbage
What do you do with all the garbage you have Christmas Day? On Bainbridge Island, you hang on to it an extra day. The BI transfer station is closed on Christmas and New Year’s. Curbside service is delayed one day on BI.
