KITSAP — Kitsap traffic needs to calm down. A pedestrian was hit and killed by a car in a hit-and-run on Wheaton Way on the morning of Nov. 16. The driver fled. Officials announced an official search days later and found the suspect. The victim was identified in the local newspaper. Two weeks later, on a Sunday afternoon, a driver came ripping down Perry Avenue at reported speeds of more than 60 miles an hour, apparently lost control and smashed into a telephone pole on the other side of the road near the intersection of Perry and 11th Avenue. The small-sized sedan completely serrated the telephone pole and subsequently caught fire in the single car accident. The driver was pulled from the burning vehicle by local passers-by before the fire department arrived and was last reported in critical condition. The cause of the accident has not been determined. The telephone pole has been replaced. A week after that, a 40-year-old man was killed in a head on collision near Kingston on Highway 104 when he driver of a commercial box truck crossed the center line, determined by the highway patrol as the cause of the accident. Traffic accidents typically increase this time of year due to weather and time changes. Good time to slow down and pay extra attention on the roads.
BREMERTON — This town made national news again last month as our Typewriter Guy Paul Lundy, owner/proprietor of the Bremerton Typewriter Company (formerly Bremerton Office Machine Co.) was featured in the New York Times’ ‘Great Read’ in an profile titled ‘How To Fix A Typewriter & Your Life.’ The piece detailed Paul’s life-changing decision to segue from working as a facilities maintenance manager on a path to retirement to typewriter repair shop owner, and how he saved the now-nationally-renowned 1940s-era Bremerton institution by quitting his job and following his passion. Spoiler from last month’s ‘What Is News:’ the undisclosed new rock-and-roll mural adorning a downtown Bremerton alleyway is on the backside of the new home of the Bremerton Typewriter Company on Quincy Square. And in other ‘Kitsap News In The New York Times:’ A Great Peninsula Conservancy project called The Listen Up Collaborative was featured in the NYT’s ’50 States, 50 Fixes’ series about people, groups and organizations that are fixing environmental problems. Listen Up’s seven-organization partnership funded by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology uses acoustic bird monitoring to manage fire and climate resilience and enhance habitat for bird conservation in Western Washington. More on that project at greatpeninsula.org and birds.cornell.edu. More on the typewriter shop at typespec.com.
IN LAST, LAST MONTH’S NEWS — After an unsuccessful attempt at re-floating the wooden-hulled historic Army tugboat, the Dominion, which sank at the dock in the Bremerton marina in September, the Department of Ecology decided the best course of action was to dismantle the vessel in place. Crews removed the debris by barge and transported the hazardous materials to a facility in Oregon and the recyclable metal to a facility in Seattle. The response effort wrapped up midway through last month with no further threat of pollution from the vessel. As many as 100-120 people were working on site during the most active days of the response. The Department’s costs in responding to the incident reached $287,000 as of Nov 15, though the department’s communications manager said the final total will not be available for a few more months. The responsible party is liable for the full amount of the DOE’s response, and that responsible party will be determined by a DOE investigation. More on the incident and response at ecology.wa.gov.
IN OTHER NEWS — The old, Old Town Pub building—a historic community stable and gathering space, which had functioned as a pub since the 1950s and had been condemned and vacant for eight years—was torn down in Silverdale last month. The owner of the property, the Silverdale Port Commission, is exploring options for the site near the Dyes Inlet shore in Old Town Silverdale. MEANWHILE… The South Kitsap Helpline officially opened doors at its new space on Mile Hill in Port Orchard after purchasing the building (most recently occupied by Everybody’s American Cookhouse) earlier in February with plans to expand and serve a growing South Kitsap population. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for January 14. PLUS… The Suquamish Tribe agency Port Madison Enterprises announced more than $100,000 in collective donations to local food banks all across Kitsap. AND… A recent LA-to-Kitsap-transplant session musician wrote in to let us know the Canadian luthier Jean Larrivée of Larrivée guitars will be at the new Winslow-centric Bainbridge Music Shop Daymakerfrom 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec 6.
