By RICHARD WALKER
rwalker@soundpublishing.com
Efforts by volunteers to help Bremerton police patrol the city.
New tools that help residents eradicate graffiti.
The potential impacts and viability of passenger-only ferry service between Bremerton and Seattle.
These are some of the topics raised over lunch by this newspaper’s Community Advisory Board on May 9, in the Bremerton Patriot and Central Kitsap Reporter office at 645 Fourth St.
It was a lively discussion about many things that are good about Bremerton — and ongoing issues that continue to challenge the city.
Advisory board members are concerned that, despite the economic progress Bremerton has made in the last 20 years, many people still have no roof over their heads at night. They are concerned that, despite the efforts Bremerton has made to improve its image, you can still find syringes in public places. They are concerned that, as Bremerton continues to roll down the tracks toward economic vibrancy, not everyone will be on the train.
There is much to love about Bremerton: downtown’s renaissance, the Navy, museums and art galleries and theaters that enrich our lives and feed our souls, nonprofits and volunteers that form a safety net to help those among us who have hit a bad stretch and need a hand up.
Bremerton’s residents — they’re the city’s strength. They may not always agree, but their ideas and their efforts have helped make today’s Bremerton. And they will chart the city’s future.
Among those caring people are our Community Advisory Board members. Their ideas and viewpoints are vital to us as the Patriot becomes a catalyst for change in Bremerton (ditto for the Reporter in Central Kitsap). If you’d like to join the board, email me at rwalker@soundpublishing.com. It’s that simple. We meet at noon on the second Monday of the month, at the Patriot and Reporter office. We’ll have lunch ready for you.
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Colleen Smidt wrote about everything Bremerton in her aptly named Bremerton Patriot column, “Everything Bremerton.” I’m glad to announce her column is returning. She is active in the community and formerly chaired the city parks and recreation commission. Her columns explored issues and provided a slice-of-life look at the city, in an engaging and sometimes humorous way. Look for her column soon.
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Our new publisher, Terry R. Ward, was born in Oklahoma, got his start in the newspaper business there, and worked as a newspaper executive in Indiana before joining Sound Publishing and moving west.
Before he discovered he had ink in in his veins, he dreamed of becoming a marine biologist because of a class he took in junior high school — in Bremerton.
Ward, 44, attended seventh and eighth grades in Bremerton when his brother was stationed in the Navy here. He returns to the area with very fond memories. His fondest: going out on a boat on Sinclair Inlet with his marine biology class (he also remembers dining on fried squid, which he liked).
He’s impressed by what he sees in the city today. And he believes the Bremerton Patriot has a vital role as the city continues to evolve. Call him at 360-394-5832 or email tward@soundpublishing.com. He’d like to meet you. He’s also available to speak at service club meetings.
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“Stepping off of the elevator to the fifth floor at 245 4th St. in Bremerton is like stepping into another time, when the musical click-clack of typewriters echoed down office hallways,” Richard Oxley wrote in our Kitsap Weekly section in 2014 about typewriter repairman Robert Montgomery.
“The aesthetic tile floor and wood moldings here aren’t often part of modern construction. One might even expect to see the silhouette of Sam Spade behind one of the frosted glass doors.
“It is here where Robert Montgomery goes to work each day, at the age of 93, to fix typewriters.”
Ah, we will miss you Mr. Montgomery. Congratulations and Godspeed in retirement. And thank you.
As time goes on, Mr. Montgomery will be viewed more and more as a visionary than as someone whose skills were rooted in the past. Those Royals and Underwoods he kept in fine repair are works of art — and more.
I paraphrase media futurist Richard Watson when I write this about Mr. Montgomery’s craft: Typewriters, like newspapers and books, are superb examples of industrial design, which, if invented today, would be greeted as a miracle innovation. They don’t need power, there’s no screen glare, they don’t crash and they can be repaired rather than replaced.
I’m on my umpteenth Mac. But an Eisenhower-era Underwood I inherited still works just fine, thank you.
Something to ponder and appreciate.
Have a great weekend. Stop by and chat on Monday. I’ll have the coffee on.
— Richard Walker is managing editor of the Bremerton Patriot and Central Kitsap Reporter. Contact him at rwalker@soundpublishing.com.
