A move to district-only elections for some county offices may be losing traction, as those drafting a new Kitsap charter consider compromises or simply putting the issue to voters.
A straw poll Tuesday among freeholders working on the draft charter showed support for district-only elections for an expanded county council – an issue that has left the group bitterly divided – has eroded to as few as 10 members on the 21-person board.
At Bethany Lutheran, there is no clear line of demarcation between church and community.
Service is important to Bethany’s members, who include the city administrator, some of the pillars of Helpline House and three of the last five Kiwanis Citizens of the Year.
“This church has always had a very high proportion of people involved in the community,” said Senior Pastor Martin Dasler, citing that dedication as one factor that brought him to the church.
The involvement extends to the seven-acre church campus on the triangle formed by High School, Sportsman Club and Finch roads, where the congregation moved in the 1960s from its original location in Pleasant Beach.
“The site was donated to the church, and we believed it should be for the benefit of the entire community,” Dasler said. “So we have entered into a number of partnerships that involve the land.”
The Granite 13 freeholders have lost a few chips off the old bloc.
Readers will recall the 13 as those drafters of a proposed Kitsap County charter whose demand – non-negotiable, some maintained – has been that five county council members be elected only by voters in their geographic district in the general election. The group has held sway on that issue on the 21-member freeholder board.
Opponents of that proposal, including Bainbridge freeholders Andy Maron and George McKinney, favor the present arrangement – candidates must live in the geographic district they represent, and primary elections are limited to voters in that district, but in the general election, everyone in the county votes for all commission candidates.
Veterans of Initiative 728 school funding effort have united to form a new advocacy group, the League of Education Voters.
“We learned from I-728 that we win the battle but lose the war when the initiative funnels money to the schools, but Olympia cuts someplace else,” said Elaine VonRosenstiel, a former Bainbridge Island School Board member who helped draft I-728.
The Auction for the Arts promises to be the rockin’ event of the fall season.
The evening may be as wild a ride as a gallop on a hand-crafted rocking horse, as fine art, fine wine and adventures galore go on the auction block to benefit four island arts organizations.
“When four groups work together to put on the auction we can draw volunteers from every group,” auction co-chair Gail Temple said. “We all know we’re working toward the same end, to support teacher, students and artists in the community.”
The four organizations – Bainbridge Arts and Crafts, Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Council, Bainbridge Music and Arts and Bainbridge Performing Arts – have united for the benefit of all.
The unified funding model that brings different community groups together to raise funds, is an unusual one, organizers say; typically, each group runs a separate campaign to raise money.
“I think we’re very fortunate here to be able to collaborate on this kind of thing,” said Nancy Frey, Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities Council director. “It really speaks well for this arts community that we can.”
Steven Djordjevich needed a good idea for his Eagle Scout project. An observation by his mother offered inspiration.
“A lot of people don’t know who William Bainbridge was,” she told him. “Some of them think he discovered this island.”
Djordjevich realized that indeed, nothing on the island described Bainbridge or his accomplishments.
Until now. This Saturday at 11 a.m., Mayor Dwight Sutton will dedicate Djordjevich’s project, a 5,000-pound concrete, river rock and marble structure with a plaque summarizing Commodore Bainbridge’s distinguished career in the U.S. Navy.
Only a few weeks have passed since September 11, but already artist Richard Stine has tackled the difficult subject matter.
Stine swiftly reconfigured some works for a group show due to open at Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Oct. 6, “Four Walls and a Roof: The House as Image and Metaphor.”
“It’s about the people in power gobbling up the opportunity to make all these rules – I don’t want to move under the weight of someone else’s ideas of freedom,” Stine said. “We’ve got to seek out the terrorists. But we better be mindful of all the things civilizations have lost because of fear.”
At first blush, “shabby elegance” seems to be one of those oxymorons like “jumbo shrimp” – two concepts that can’t readily co-exist.
Sisters JoAnna Geraghty and Wendy Lavachek disagree, so much so that they are basing a business on the “shabby elegant” look.
“It looks like something you inherited from your grandmother,” said Lavachek, describing the furniture and accessories on display at Ethereal, the pair’s store in the basement of Sandy’s Barber Shop on Winslow Way.
Voters will decide next month whether to amend the state constitution to create “portable” judges that could relieve trial-court backlogs, particularly in the state’s larger counties.
Bainbridge Island Municipal Court Judge Stephen Holman, who was part of the judicial study group that recommended the change, says the amendment may not have a lot of impact in Kitsap County, but could be helpful across the water.
“There is a backlog problem, particularly with civil cases (in King County),” Holman said, noting that because of the speedy-trial guarantees in the state and federal constitutions, criminal cases take priority on a court’s trial calendar.
The question was, how can a “decant facility” fit into your neighborhood?
The answer: “No way – it can’t be done.”
What was billed as an informational meeting on a proposed disposal facility on city-owned property south of New Brooklyn Road and east of Sportsman Club turned into an angry protest, as residents of the Commodore developments to the south filled the city council chambers and vowed to block the project.
The Jazz Ambassadors promote musical good will and harmony wherever they go
They bring the message to Bainbridge Island in a “First Fridays” concert, Oct. 5 at Island Center Hall.
“I picked the name Jazz Ambassadors because I always have this idea that music is multicultural and multi-lingual,” band leader Dave Carson said. “If I go to Japan and say, ‘Let’s play B-flat blues,’ everyone understands what I mean.”
When Marge Williams Center tenants asked Joel Sackett if he had suggestions for art to fill the center’s conference room walls, the photographer replied, “I’m already making it.”
Sackett has been shooting islanders at home for a new exhibit, “Interior Bainbridge,” which he will show at Winslow Hardware for the November Arts Walk.
Renata Lac had always considered her autistic son’s future, but with Max a high school freshman, the need to plan became more pressing.
Lac decided to help Max – and other island residents with disabilities – by convening a first-ever Bainbridge Island Community Summit on Disability, slated for Oct. 13.
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