Friday, March 28, 2014 | North Kitsap Herald
NorthKitsapHerald.com
Coffee Oasis wants to expand to Kingston By KIPP ROBERTSON
krobertson@northkitsapherald.com
KINGSTON — When Scott Lindquist walks into the county’s juvenile detention center, the most common health concerns are mental health and drug and alcohol abuse. Lindquist, Kitsap Public Health District’s health officer, said the rate of youth considering suicide is about 20 percent. At-risk youth in Kitsap County is the reason the owner of Coffee Oasis would like to expand the non-profit to Kingston. The Coffee Oasis is a faith-based, nonprofit that operates a coffee house while also engaging at-risk youth with programs to help them become productive citizens, which includes job training. There are
Lawsuit
Continued from page A1 been provided.” A trial date has not been set; the case could involve as many as 54 witnesses, according to court records. Neal wrote to the court, “The defense has substantially complied with the Court’s order as quickly as possible given the large scope of the request,” and put some of the blame for delays on Boothe. The case was filed in March 2010; since then, Boothe has “self-imposed many absences from the Court schedule and let the case lie inactive for over a year,” Neal wrote. In addition, Boothe admitted during oral arguments “that the language he used to craft several of the discovery requests was ‘too broad,’ and struck several of his motions at that time.” In her March 10 decision, Dalton wrote that both attorneys failed to provide information to the other, contributing to the delays. One request by Neal to Boothe “went unanswered,” Dalton wrote. And Neal’s request for more time to respond to the discovery requests “should have been worked out between the parties before the deadline of Nov. 15 or brought to the court before that date. She added, “I also note that the discovery battles have been ongoing for a while, but the parties appeared willing to communicate better in the future following their pre-
three locations, including Poulsbo, Bremerton and Port Orchard. The first of three public hearings regarding the expansion of Coffee Oasis to Kingston was held in Kingston Middle School, March 20. A forum of speakers discussed at-risk youth, and homelessness in the county. Speakers included Lindquist, Kitsap County Sheriff’s Deputy Schon Montague, Kitsap Regional Coordinating Council Program Manager Kirsten Jewell, North Kitsap High School principal Judson Miller, and Coffee Oasis Outreach Professional Victoria Ahlfors. Kingston is historically underserved and there are no specific outreach programs, Jewell said. She said the first step should
sentations at the hearing in December. “Considering the history presented here, and the fact that both parties have contributed to the discovery problem, this court denies the request for sanctions.” Dotson accuses several NKF&R officers of frequently making genderbiased remarks and sexual comments about women, including a firefighter’s daughter. She seeks attorney’s fees, reimbursement of costs, and “such other and further relief as this Court deems just and equitable.” Dotson was a firefighter for NKF&R from January 1999 to July 2009 — first as a volunteer firefighter, and from November 2001 to July 2009 as a full-time firefighter/paramedic. She is now a physician’s assistant. She filed a claim with NKF&R in January 2010 and filed the lawsuit two months later. In the complaint, Dotson claims she was the subject or witness of harassing behavior in approximately 14 instances. NKF&R denied the allegations in a response filed in July 2010. According to court records, the case was stalled while Dotson sought employment and then attended school to become a physician’s assistant. Neal requested on Sept. 27 that the lawsuit be dropped; Dalton denied the request. “It’s clear to me the plaintiff intends to pursue her complaint,” she said at the time. In an earlier interview with the Herald, NKF&R
be identifying what kind of need there is for homeless. Jewell could not provide solid numbers on homeless in Kingston because the data is “always changing.” Some people may not want to be counted as homeless, while others without a home don’t consider themselves homeless. However, the most recent homeless count could provide a little insight into the need in Kingston. There were 157 homeless students attending school in the North Kitsap School District as of October 2013, according to district documents. That number is most likely higher, Jewell said. The district defines homeless as any student not living at home that is not considered their own.
Chief Dan Smith said he became aware of the allegations only after the claim was filed. “Once we became aware of those allegations, we did investigate it and brought in some additional training so our employees know that that kind of behavior, if it did happen, that that’s not tolerated,” he said. Smith said an outside investigator found “some of those alleged comments weren’t necessarily directed at [Dotson],” and that some of the alleged comments “were things she heard either second-, thirdor fourth-hand.” HR director Cindy Moran, whose husband is one of the accused, said in an earlier interview “we chose to counsel and educate” those accused in the complaint. She said they were advised that the department has a notolerance policy regarding sexual harassment. But no one was disciplined because “the investigation was inconclusive.” Moran said the department hired an outside educator to conduct training in sexual discrimination and harassment, and employees now participate in online training and are required to take and pass a test annually. Moran said the department has “always had a harassment policy in place.” Employees can address inappropriate behavior or comments with the offending co-worker “and if that’s not comfortable, take it to their supervisor.”
For example, a student could be sleeping on a friend’s couch, and be considered homeless. There are 782 homeless students throughout Kitsap County, according to Jewell. In the last homeless count in 2012-13, the county identified 2,819 households that reached out for help. Of those households, 757 were actually without a home, and 201 homeless people said they last lived in North Kitsap — a number that could be much higher, according to Jewell. The sheriff’s office has a different take on homeless youth. Based on the sheriff’s definition of homeless youth — someone under 18 not living in a home — there are none. The next forum is April 10, 6:30 p.m., at the middle school.
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