Port parking:

to be free or not to be

The Port of Kingston is giving its parking stalls a pedicure.

And with new paint covering where once “two-hour parking” paint used to be, rumors are flying the port is doing away with its free parking.

Port Manager, Mike Bookey assures at this time the port is not.

Port employees, including business manager Scott Coulter, were out painting the stalls in mid-August, sprucing up fading lines.

But the paint has another purpose.

“We are looking at getting an electronic pay box,” said Coulter.

The automated machine, which the port expects to acquire in the fall, would replace the cash boxes for the paid-parking areas and accept debit and credit cards.

According to Bookey, doing away with free parking is a subject the port has looked into previously. They’ve discussed turning the roughly 20 two-hour parking stalls to hourly paid parking for 30 cents an hour but at this point the idea hasn’t gone anywhere. Any decision regarding turning the parking to all-paid would have to be decided by the Port Commissioners.

“We talked about it because people abuse it and leave their car down there all day,” Bookey said. “We are trying to get rid of the cheaters.” Bookey said. An automated machine for the designated paid parking stalls would make it easier on the staff and customers.

Those wishing to leave their car for prolonged periods can use their card and the computer will keep track of the time. Bookey mentioned the possibility of raising the paid prices, which are currently $4 for 12 hours or $8 for all day though no decisions have been made yet.

Man pleads not guilty in Kingston man’s murder

Two men charged in the murder of Richard Hugh Jones Jr., 74, of Kingston, made their first appearance Aug. 4 in the Kitsap County Courthouse.

David Robert Adams, 23, of Bremerton pled not guilty for first-degree, premeditated murder. Jesus Castro De Juan, the 29-year-old suspected accomplice of Adams, was taken to Western State Hospital for mental evaluation.

He did not appear in Kitsap County Superior Court for his scheduled arraignment before the judge, due to the court-ordered mental check-up.

In De Juan’s absence, courts charged him for rendering criminal assistance, first degree, and possession of stolen property, second degree. The first-degree murder charge was dropped.

De Juan will stay at Western State until an evaluation is completed. This could take anywhere between a few weeks to a few months, said Kitsap County Sheriff spokesman Scott Wilson.

When De Juan is deemed competent, he will be formally arraigned.

Jones let Adams live with him at his home on Resource Ridge Drive NW in Kingston for several weeks, said Wilson in a statement.

Adams and De Juan were arrested about 10:30 p.m. Aug. 1 at a Greyhound terminal in Tacoma. The men were returning from California at the request of deputies.

Court documents state the two used Jones’ credit cards that weekend to finance their trip to California. The two attempted to purchase a plane ticket to Guam but the Internet travel agency denied the purchase. Adams allegedly told deputies he and De Juan started planning Jones’s death July 26, the day Jones was murdered.

According to the report, one of the reasons Adams gave was ‘greed.’ Adams stated Jones said he would leave them a substantial amount of money when he died.

The document states Adams invited Jones to box that night, when he returned home, in an upstairs padded boxing area. After wrestling for approximately 30 minutes, Adams allegedly put Jones in a chokehold and strangled him, later asking De Juan to stab him to “make sure he was dead.”

Kitsap County sheriff deputies found the body hidden in a bedroom closet July 26, with items shoved against the door. Neighbors called police to check on Jones because they hadn’t seen him for several days.

Port Gamble dock permit

revoked due to herring grounds

Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife revoked its previous hydraulic project approval permit required for building a dock in Port Gamble.

The 160-foot dock – proposed by town owner Olympic Property Group (OPG) – is an ongoing source of controversy between the company and the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, which sought the WDFW appeal. Friends of Port Gamble Bay has also thrown its support behind the tribe.

Without an HPA permit, dock construction cannot proceed, said Greg Huekel, assistant director for WDFW habitat program.

Huekel said the decision was based on new information presented back in November 2007, when the tribe appealed the permit, showing Port Gamble Bay is the central spawning site for its herring stock — the second largest herring stock in Washington, he said.

WDFW managers revoked the HPA permit after determining OPG intended to allow moorage at the dock, creating a marina. To prevent negative impacts on fish habitat, the Washington Administrative Code prohibits constructing marinas on or over herring spawning beds.

“As long as there are herring spawning grounds there, an HPA permit will not be granted,” Huekel said.

Norwegian Point Park grows

The Kitsap County Board of Commissioners recently approved the purchase of 1.5 acres of wetlands to complete acquisitions for Norwegian Point Park in Hansville. The land, on the southwest corner of the park, was purchased for $197,000 from Alliance Properties of Kitsap. The purchase not only makes residents happy, it also completes a necessary grant from the Department of Natural Resources in 2004.

Norwegian Point Park now contains 540 feet of no-bank waterfront on the Puget Sound and three acres of sandy beaches adjacent to tidal lands leased to the county by the Department of Natural Resources, said office specialist Terri Lyman in a press release.

Now that the purchase of the land is complete, plans for the acreage can get underway, including the meandering of Finn Creek to help alleviate seasonal flooding, native plantings and a bird-viewing area.

The master plan for the park is on the agenda for approval by county commissioners’ at their Sept. 8 meeting. The park at their includes a former fishing resort and buildings currently undergoing historical analysis. Arvilla Ohlde, parks and recreation project manager, said the buildings defined as historic include the boathouse, three gabled cabins, the deck and pier. The three flat-topped buildings, restaurant and an addition to the boathouse do not meet standards for the historic register, she said, adding demolition of the flat-top buildings is already underway.

Ohlde said the goal is to have the historical analysis, options of what to do with the historic buildings and recommendations available at the Oct. 22 parks meeting at the Greater Hansville Community Center at Buck Lake.