By PAUL BALCERAK
Staff writer
Jon Pearson is one of those retired guys who makes every non-retired person look like they’re not doing enough. After a career with Overall Laundry Service, he jumped on board a bus for the Bremerton School District and 10 years later he’s still behind the wheel.
He has found time to serve on the Central Kitsap Community Council for seven years, serving as president for the last two. He’s currently a member of the transportation subcommittee and also is on the parks subcommittee.
Wanting more out of life, he jumped on Central Kitsap School District’s community finance subcommittee last year and has sat in on a few other subcommittees as a part of that.
Somehow, he also finds time to truck around the country in his RV.
We sat down with Pearson recently to discuss busses, RVs, Silverdale and, on a brief tangent, Star Wars.
Question: How did you end up being a school bus driver?
Answer: It’s one of those funny things that, when I retired, I said, “Well, that sounds like something that would be interesting to do.” I went to CK and I went to Bremerton and Bremerton called me back and said, “Hey, we’d like to interview you,” and I said, “Hey, this is a good way (to make money) for part-time work and everything.” I’ve been there 10 years and I really like it, working with the kids like that.
Q: What’s it like driving a bus?
A: The high school kids are real non-challenging. They’re very nice kids, a lot of them are from low income, and I enjoy them. I have a very mixed bus — I have Asians, I have African Americans, I have Caucasians — and they all get along. It’s very interesting. My middle school kids, they’re still working. It’s interesting — when they’re fifth-graders they’re halfway-decent kids. When they turn into sixth-graders (they start to misbehave more often). I’ll bet you, two to one, they settle down once they’re in ninth grade, 10th grade.
Q: What are some of the “challenges” you mentioned of driving a school bus?
A: Of course, outside traffic (laughs). Some of the challenges of driving a school bus is just trying to maintain control with the kids. You see some of the kids and you really want to be able to help them, but that’s a really difficult thing. You try to be as nice as possible … but when you’re trying to control them, sometimes it does get really noisy … and sometimes some of the kids just do things that they’re not supposed to do.
Q: How often do people pass your bus when the little stop sign is out and the red lights are flashing?
A: About four or five times a week.
Q: What do you do when that happens?
A: What you’re supposed to do is, if at all possible, you get their license plate number. You try to see the person as they’re driving by and you try and see the make and model of the car — try it sometime. I’ve been lucky. This year I’ve got one student who’s got a photographic memory. I can collaborate with him. He’s a fifth-grader. I’ll collaborate with him, I will not take his word for it, but if we’re close (at identifying a car, I’ll use the information). So what you do is you go back to the office, you write all this down — there’s a form we fill out — then this form, once it’s filled out, goes to the supervisor, then goes to the local police or law enforcement. Then the local law enforcement determines (what needs to be done). Sometimes they’ll get a visit, sometimes they’ll send a letter. In some states, that’s good for a ticket, but not in this state. The only time they’ll get a ticket is if (a police officer) sees it.
Q: Currently, what are the main goals for the CKCC?
A: One of the main goals has always been communication between the commissioner’s office and the public. It’s amazing how many people do call members of the CKCC. Some of our members pushed really hard for the Waaga Way (interchange). We’ve pushed really hard for some of the lights for pedestrians in the area and to alleviate traffic problems. The other is working hard on some of the parks. We’re still pushing hard on the Newberry Hill park, which is the big (Department of Natural Resources) property at the top of the hill. We’re working really hard with Seabeck on this community center thing (the proposed community center, which would be housed in the old Seabeck Elementary) and the community campus — for some of us that has got to be the biggest thing.
Q: What’s your opinion of how the Waaga Way interchange has turned out?
A: It’s amazing that there are so many complaints about it, but it’s working quite well. The only major accident that they’ve had on it was during the ice by some lady who was going too fast for conditions anyway.
Q: Is it discouraging that attendance at the CKCC meetings is so sparse?
A: Yes it is, in a way, but when you start going to meetings around the area it’s not. I’ve been to the commissioner’s meeting when there’s been 10 people there. … What’s discouraging is that people aren’t actually involved in the research part of something. So when it comes up to crunch time, decision time, they’re saying, “Why didn’t we know about this? Why weren’t we informed?” That’s discouraging.
Q: Do you think more people would attend if Silverdale was incorporated, if it were its own city?
A: Probably at first. You can go to Bremerton city council meetings; how many people are there? I’ve been to a couple and the place was maybe half or less full and one of the times was a very contentious thing that was going on. Hopefully, they would be there, yes.
Q: Do you think Silverdale will ever incorporate?
A: I think that sometime it will, I really do. It’s not that the interest isn’t there now, it’s that the driving force isn’t there now. There are several people who are very interested in it; there are a number of people who are interested in it, but they’re from outside Silverdale. I think it’s gonna come.
Q: If that happened, would you consider a run for mayor of the city? You are president of the CKCC, after all.
A: No. That’s not me. I like where I am and I’m getting to an age where that’s enough.
Q: How long have you lived in Silverdale?
A: 20 years. I moved here from Tacoma.
Q: Do you have any family or kids?
A: I’ve got one son who lives over by the Fairgrounds. I’ve got one son who lives in Storm Lake, Iowa. He went to college in Storm Lake and met a local girl and stayed. Both of them are pretty successful. The one here works for the IRS — he and his wife both do, they work in Seattle at the federal building — and then the other one is the technical manager for a communications network.
Q: You have a step-daughter, too, who does some interesting work, right?
A: Collette, yes. She owns Ish, downtown (in Bremerton). It’s an interesting little shop, it’s all vintage clothing. She also does costuming, dressing and makeup for a number of different commercials and things like that. She did costumes for “Where the Heart Is,” she worked on the pageant scene in “Miss Congeniality.” She went to Guam to work on a movie there. They paid her way down, she was there I don’t know how long, she did the movie and I’m not even sure if the movie even ever came out. It was supposed to be a series of eight, they were going to have her for all eight.
Q: What do you like to do with your free time?
A: I do a lot of RV-ing. I have a trailer and we go out as often as possible. The trip to California (recently) was a good trip, even though I got sick. I’m planning on about a three or four-week trip in early summer to New Mexico and back. I’m not sure, I’ll probably retire next year and my retirement present to myself will probably be two to three months to the East Coast and that’s where my dad’s family is all from.
Q: So gas prices haven’t put too much of a dent in your hobby budget, then?
A: I’m on an RV forum and when you look at it and start up and figure it out, it doesn’t mean that much. When you start looking at the price per gallon as per miles driven, if you’re doing trips, then you’re getting way down into pennies. I realize pennies add up, I’m not the wealthiest person in the world, but when you look at something other than the actual dollars per gallon, when you’re looking at the miles traveled (it’s more tolerable).
Q: What’s your favorite movie?
A: Probably “Star Wars.” I like watching those just for entertainment.
Q: What “Star Wars” character do you think most resembles you? You drive a bus, so that pretty much makes you Han, right?
A: Yeah, I guess it does. My favorite character is Jar-Jar Binks. He’s the big, tall goofy guy. I think it’s so funny watching him walk — you can’t walk that way! It’s not that I want to be like him, but he’s like my favorite one.
Q: Pleats or no pleats?
A: Most of my pants are no pleats.
