While several past and present county officials paid tribute to retiring County Auditor Karen Flynn at a reception on Monday, two of the three hopefuls paid tribute to the person they’re hoping to succeed.
Chief Deputy Auditor Walt Washington and Poulsbo attorney Sara Lingafelter were among the visitors who offered Flynn, who leaves office on March 28, their best wishes.
Kitsap County government has changed immeasurably over in the past decade.
The board of commissioners has turned over completely, along with most of the senior staff and elected officials. There is a new building, and several new departments.
But the single constant factor is the presence of Vivian Henderson at nearly all of the commissioners’ public meetings and work sessions.
A local property rights group has proposed the creation of a citizen committee to investigate whether Kitsap County should remain part of the Puget Sound Regional Council, but so far the county commissioners aren’t receptive to the idea.
When the topic came up at a Wednes-day work session this week, North Kitsap Commissioner Steve Bauer said, “I’m not sure this would be cost-effective, or it is something that we want to do.”
The Port Orchard Police Department hosted a community meeting this week to inform the public of the residency of a Level 3 sex offender, said Sgt. Jason Glantz.
John P. Cozzie, 28, has registered to live in the 1000 block of Bethel Avenue in South Kitsap. He is described as a white male, 6-1, 145 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi is developing a strong Kitsap County presence, having made four campaign stops here in the past two months and planning to maintain a high local visibility for the remainder of the election season.
During her four years as mayor of Port Orchard, Kim Abel quickly learned that much of the changes she hoped to enact simply could not be accomplished at a city level.
The Port of Bremerton Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on Thursday to take another month to consider its options before possibly petitioning the City of Bremerton to annex the South Kitsap Industrial Area.
The bids came in and the Port Orchard City Council backed away, opting to head back to the drawing board on the city’s long-planned undergrounding project.
The last-minute discovery of a problem with the steel welding on a Washington State ferry serving the San Juan Islands has delayed boat swaps that would have affected both the Triangle and Bremerton routes, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Ferries Division.
Previously, the ferry system had planned to loan the Tillikum from the Southworth-Vashon-Fauntleroy route to the Bremerton-Seattle route while the 124-car Kitsap went into dry dock for a “week of scheduled maintenance.”
For 20 years, death called and Pastor Melvin Byrd answered.
As a chaplain for South Kitsap Fire and Rescue, Byrd spent at least one week a month of the past two decades waiting for the phone to ring, knowing that at any moment he could have another date with tragedy.
A South Kitsap pastor pleaded guilty last month to raping and molesting at least four girls who attended the church he ran out of his home in South Colby, according to court documents.
Robbin Leeroy Harper, 60, a longtime pastor with The Church in South Colby, pleaded guilty to eight counts that include first-degree child rape, first-degree child molestation, and fourth-degree assault.
As state lawmakers prepared this week to wrap up their latest legislative session, one longtime Democrat announced that she is wrapping up her 12-year career in the 26th District.
“I believe it is time to turn my full attention to my family,” said Rep. Pat Lantz, D-Gig Harbor, explaining that she plans to focus on her husband, three children and five grandchildren. “It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the people … (but I) will not seek a seventh term.”
Amid piles of furniture, power tools and pieces of wood, Mike Gold is working to remodel the inside of what was once a bar with a reputation for trouble.
Gold and his business partner, Eric Houg, are opening The Slip 45 Sports Bar and Shipwreck Lounge at the location of the Mako’s Bar and Grill, which held the attention of the Police Department for its reputation of fighting and drug activity.
Everyone will pay a dollar more to cross the Tacoma Narrows Bridge come July if recommendations from the span’s Citizen Advisory Committee are implemented, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
After completing what Reema Griffith, executive director of the Washington State Transportation Commission, called an “aggressive” meeting schedule, the CAC decided to recommend raising the toll prices to $2.75 for those with transponders, and to $4 for those without.
The longest serving judge on the Kitsap County Superior Court bench has announced his retirement, and that he will not seek a fifth elected term.
“My wife is now retired and we’re looking toward spending some time together,” Judge Leonard Costello said on Monday. “I’ve been here 28 years and it’s time to move on.”
Michael Pratt, director of wildlife services at the West Sound Wildlife Shelter on Bainbridge Island, answered the call of Manchester resident Keith Morris Tuesday, who saw an eagle on the side of the road, flopping around in a ditch with a limp wing.
Morris and another driver began calling Animal Control and the Department of Fish and Wildlife until someone could come out and help the injured bird two hours later.
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The Port of Bremerton Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to “pause” progress on its Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) project until a third-party review can be completed on both its business plan and financial scheme.
“I am absolutely bombarded with inquiries from people in calls, e-mails and in public regarding SEED,” Chair Cheryl Kincer said during the board’s study session devoted to the project. “It is so obvious that not everyone has all the answers to their questions.”
With oversight from Councilman Fred Chang, the city of Port Orchard is looking to revamp its Web site and greatly expand the site’s offerings.
A little-known but widely appreciated program sponsored by Olympic College exists to provide consulting services for local small businesses, offering advice and coaching to increase the chances of success and profitability.
“A large corporation can afford to hire a management consultant at thousands of dollars a day,” said Rand Reidrich, who directs the local Small Business Development Center. “We want to make the same options available to ‘mom-and-pop’ businesses that could never afford these services.”
An overcrowded table of students sat in the center of a noisy common space during the lunch hour at John Sedgwick Junior High on Friday.
Atypical of many teens during their lunch hour, this group was carefully attentive and spoke clearly and articulately with their guests.