Reporter Central Kitsap
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FRIDAY, MARCH 21, 2014 | Vol. 29, No. 25 | WWW.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM | 50¢
Gun range starts petition to counter CK Safe and Quiet BY KEVAN MOORE KMOORE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Supporters of the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club have started their own petition drive to encourage Kitsap County not to adopt a new gun range ordinance. The new petition drive follows on the heels of some 300 signatures collected by CK Safe and Quiet that were delivered Feb. 24 to county commissioners in support of a new ordinance. “Just what we’ve seen here at the range is more than 100 signatures in just three days,” said KRCC range master Marcus Carter on Tuesday afternoon. “I would like to think that, at the low end of it, it is gonna be 3,000 signatures. We’ve done that before where we’ve gotten 4,000 sig-
natures in support of the Carter notes that the gun club. We’re anxious county has already spent to show, and we don’t hundreds of thousands of know how much weight dollars prosecuting himit will carry, that the vast self and the gun club. He says that majority of the idea this comm u n i t y that bullets does sup- “We’re anxious to are leaving port the show, and we don’t the range gun club.” simply is know how much In the not true weight it will carry, petition, and that a supporters that the vast majority p r o p o s a l of the gun of this community in the new club call on does support the gun o r d i n a n c e the county club.” to limit the to emuamount of late Pierce noise at the County and adopt a simi- range to 86 decibels is lar gun range protection absurd. ordinance that would “A piano is about 85 discourage frivolous decibels,” he said. “There nuisance lawsuits. The isn’t any place, in any petition also calls on the county, in the country for county to honor a pair of that matter, that they can letters of understanding, identify that has enacted from 1993 and 2009, that that kind of a restriction protect the activities of on a firing range.” the gun range. Kitsap County won a
Kevan Moore/staff photo
Marcus Carter is a range master at the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club. He and several other supporters of the club are circulating a petition encouraging the county not to adopt a new ordinance. lawsuit in 2012 against the club which alleged it didn’t follow development regulation and ulti-
mately resulted in the club closing for a time. However, a subsequent ruling allowed the club to
continue operation until the appeal is decided.
ber. The union opposed the new position due to proposed budget cuts that would decrease line firefighter staffing. The c ompl ai nt also states that Chief Weninger has discriminated, retaliated and interfered with protected union activities performed by union vice president Ronny Smith. Actions taken by Weninger and other administrators to suspend Smith for his part in releasing information about two calls and possibly different outcomes to those calls had Station 64 been destaffed on that day, are viewed by the union as retaliatory, the complaint states. It also points out that another individual involved in the release of information was not suspended as was Smith. The complaint said that the normal course of
notification through the proper chain of command wasn’t followed in Smith’s case and that he was not given proper notice that an investigation was underway. “Weninger’s allegation that Smith disseminated a HIPPA (Health Insurance Patient Privacy Act) protected report was simply a pretext to harass and intimidate Smith for engaging in protected activities,” the complaint states. Weninger began the investigation into the information that was posted by Smith based on his belief that the release of the information violated patient confidentiality and the federal HIPPA law, according to Weninger. The union’s complaint states that Chief Weninger had his staff monitor news agencies and the Kitsap
Fire Watch website and Facebook page for anything that could be traced to posts, or release of information, by Smith. It states that Fergus said that “management needs to be vigilant in monitoring both of these sites.” Additionally, the union said that when Weninger created a position of administrative lieutenant without bargaining the position with the union, but later was prohibited from implementing the position, Weninger intentionally disparaged Smith to the union members by saying that the union was to blame that no one was promoted to the position. On Tuesday, Weninger said he could not comment on the pending complaint because it is viewed as potential liti-
SEE GUN RANGE, A9
Firefighters’ union files unfair labor complaint BY LESLIE KELLY LKELLY@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
The International Association of Fire Fighters Local 2819 has filed an unfair labor practices complaint against Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue Chief Scott Weninger and CK Fire District Board Chairman Dave Fergus. The complaint was filed last Thursday with the Washington State Public Employment Relations Commission. A spokesman for the office confirmed Tuesday that it had been received but the complaint had not yet been reviewed by the unfair labor practice manager. The union, which is represented by Poulsbo attor ne y Michael Duchman, contends that the district’s actions to reduce the minimum number of firefighters on duty at any given
time was made without the consent of the union and hence, violated the collective bargaining provisions. District officials said they could not comment on the complaint because of potential litigation. In the complaint, Duchman said despite the union’s request for information related to the issue and its request to meet and bargain any staffing reductions, Chief Weninger “unilaterally implemented the policy to periodically de-staff Engine 64 and Aid 64 (Chico Station 64) on Jan. 1.” The complaint further states: “A consequence of the periodic de-staffing Engine 64 is that fire engine response times have been increased substantially enough to cause a decrease in firefighter safety.” Also mentioned in
the complaint is that the reduction in staff meant some members of the union were assigned to be roving, which is seen as a reduction in benefits. “Even if it were true that the district had the right to unilaterally implement the periodic de-staffing of Engine 64 and Aid 64, which it did not, the district had still committed an unfair labor practice because against union objections, Weninger implemented the staffing reduction before bargaining over the effects that such decision had on mandatory subjects of bargaining,” the complaint said. The complaint also calls into question the decision by Weninger and the board to create and fund an IT position when that work has historically been done by a union mem-
SEE LABOR COMPLAINT, A9