“Phoebe Smith doesn’t have time to think about slowing down. At 91, when some might be content to take it easy, Smith recently added to her already impressive resume by producing a musical variety show. “It was very special,” Smith said of the intergenerational show, “Together,” which ran for two days in late November. “It had a cast of 100. Some days I wasn’t sure I could bring it all together.””
“Welcome to the Bainbridge Review, first edition of the 21st Century, Third Millennium.Or do we still have one more year of the 20th Century, Second Millennium?We finally understand, at least we think so.Here we were, all set to observe the dawn of a new era, and it turns out that like most everyone else, we’re a year ahead of ourselves. Heck, it’s not even the turn of the century yet.”
“Officials say Bainbridge Island is as braced as it can possibly be for potential problems as the year, decade, century and millennium draw to a close.They qualified their statements, however, by saying that come midnight Friday, as the calendar rolls over from 1999 to 2000, it’s all on the line. The lines, that is, as in the kind that used to carry telephone and electrical power to the island.”
“The end, which for the record came at 11:10 p.m. PST on Dec. 22, was startling and abrupt.Not the end of the world – apparently, that comes next week – but rather the adoption of the 2000 city budget at Wednesday’s council meeting.After an hour or so of generally bland discussion, a haggard council unanimously OK’d a $12.88 million operations budget for the coming year, concluding a marathon month of meetings and wholesale number-crunching.“Hm!” exclaimed Mayor Dwight Sutton, visibly surprised at the brevity of the proceedings. “Okay!””
“After nearly 20 years in the Christmas tree farming business, George Gregg is ready to pull up his roots.In the past 12 months, he’s been forced to say goodbye to his life’s most constant companions – his wife, Joy, died of emphysema in January, and his faithful 14-year-old Labrador dog, Nick, died in September.Now, Gregg is getting ready to say goodbye to his 11-acre Gregg Christmas Tree Farm near Island Center as the current season draws to a close.”
“Do we hear sleighbells?We hope your stockings are hung by the chimney with all due care, and that you’ve been very, very good over the past year. We’re confident that most of you have been. So come Christmas morn, will you find a candy cane or just a lump of coal? Looking back over the year’s headlines, here are our humble suggestions to Santa Claus as he makes his rounds on Bainbridge Island.”
“It was a nice day to be in the water, provided nature gave you fins or a shell.But for divers Betsy Peabody and Joth Davis, in pursuit of the rare Olympia oyster, conditions Thursday were rather less welcoming.”
“It was a Catch-22 that would have confounded even the late Joseph Heller’s Yossarian:“We can’t prosecute you, Mr. Leonard, because you’re too paranoid to stand trial; but we can’t keep you in a mental institution because…well, we’re not saying, but here’s the door – out you go.”But this suggests that the strange case of Eagle Harbor liveaboard Ralph F. Leonard plays as farce. It does not.”
“Bainbridge Police had spent the past several weeks pondering several possible ways to recapture Ralph F. Leonard, newly accused of a police officer’s attempted murder last year.The last thing anyone expected was that Leonard, whose violent past and paranoia toward police was well documented over the past year, would come to them.”
“Where’s the fire?Next time it’s at your house, be glad someone cares. And on an island where runaway home prices are a constant threat to the viability of our largely volunteer fire brigade, we’re always glad to see the department take strides for the good.Last week, with the formal hiring of longtime volunteers Jim Dow, Sequoia Jones and David Bailey, as paid firefighters, it happened.”
“The cities of Bainbridge Island and Bremerton are teaming up for a legal challenge to Initiative 695.The suit, expected to be filed in Thurston County Superior Court today, was announced by officials from both cities Monday.“This suit reflects the underlying feelings and philosophy of Bainbridge Island citizens,” said Dwight Sutton, Bainbridge mayor. “It was a poorly crafted initiative, and it will mean economic disaster for all of us.””
“It’s not as hot as last year. Not quite. But Bainbridge Island’s real estate market still has local agents pleased with 1999 sales.“There’s a fair number of smiling faces,” said longtime island broker Ed Kushner of Windermere Real Estate. “It’s been a good year.” Eleven-month figures compiled by Kushner show 412 island home sales so far this year. At this time last year, 430 sales had closed, en route to a single-year Bainbridge record of 483.”
Two days at the mediation table have left the Bainbridge Island School District still holding the bag for an estimated $5.4 million in repairs to Woodward Middle School – half the building’s original construction cost.Formal mediation sessions Sept. 29 and Nov. 8 failed to determine who is responsible for poor construction that led to extensive water damage at the school – or who will pay how much to fix it – according to school board president Bruce Weiland.