PeninsulaNorthwest
PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014
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KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
Kenmore Air Flight 5141 takes off from William R. Fairchild International Airport in Port Angeles for the last time Nov. 14 after the airline opted to discontinue flights between Port Angeles and Seattle’s Boeing Field.
Meeting with Kenmore Air inconclusive Community leaders try to convince firm to reinstate its service to PA BY JAMES CASEY PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ANGELES — Clallam County officials who want to entice Kenmore Air to resume passenger service to William R. Fairchild International Airport still have their hopes up in the air. Kenmore Air was the only commercial passenger air service on the North Olympic Peninsula, flying passengers on Cessna Grand Caravans, which seated eight to nine people. A meeting Thursday reached no agreement besides a consensus that representatives of the county’s public and private agencies “need to get back together,” said Jennifer States, director of business development for the Port of Port Angeles, who attended the meeting. No new meeting has been scheduled.
Positive session Kenmore President Todd Banks said Saturday that last week’s session had been positive, if inconclusive. “The ball’s in their court,” he said. “I think we had a very good meeting. “We just need some more clarity.” Kenmore Air ceased serving Port Angeles on Nov. 14, citing low profits due to sagging ridership and climbing fuel costs, despite repeated campaigns to lure passengers to the service between Fairchild and Seattle’s Boeing Field. A bus shuttle carried pas-
sengers to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The bottom line, according to States, is attracting more riders to the carrier. Raising fares, she said, simply decrease ridership. “They have not gotten the number of passengers that they need,” she said. Even a marketing campaign funded through a $400,000 federal Small Community Air Services grant to market the service didn’t raise enough ridership.
‘Ticketing bank’
KEITH THORPE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
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MULTITUDE OF SKEINS
Becky Schaefer of the Sequim-based Rambling Rose, shows of a skein of yarn to Linnea Sweetman of Port Angeles during Saturday’s Christmas Fair at Vern Burton Community Center in Port Angeles. The event, which continues today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., showcases the wares of more than 40 vendors offering a wide variety of homemade crafts and goods.
Sequim asks for input on community plaza Monday Grass-and-paving square could front new civic center by summer BY JAMES CASEY PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
One idea community officials have considered is a “ticketing bank” of guaranteed fares to be shared among local agencies, but those costs must be competitive with other means of transportation if public employees are to pay them, States said. Besides States and Banks, Thursday’s meeting included Judith Morris, representing 6th District U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer; Clallam County Administrator Jim Jones; Nathan West, city planning director; Dan McKeen, city manager of Port Angeles; Bill Greenwood of the Clallam County Economic Development Council; Commissioner John Calhoun; airport manager Jerry Ludke; and Executive Director Ken O’Hollaren of the Port of Port Angeles.
city offices in space the city had formerly rented to the Head Start program and in a former medical office building on Fifth Avenue. “The project itself has been underway for about the past 15 years,” said City Manager Steve Burkett. Following voter approval, groundbreaking was held about a year ago, he said. If the original plan were built, the plaza would cost $1.1 million, Burkett said.
SEQUIM — Sequim’s new City Hall could have its own front yard by summer if council members approve construction of a new community plaza when they meet Monday. The city will host an open house on the proposal from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Sequim Transit Center, 190 W. Cedar St. A study session will begin at 5 p.m. During the meeting immediately afterward, the council will to decide what First three phases phases of the plaza project He said he will recomto approve. mend that the council approve its first three Under construction phases, which total about The grass-and-paving $530,000. plaza would grace the new Contractors could finish 33,000-square-foot civic the work as early as May or center under construction June, he said. at North Sequim Avenue The original plan calls and Cedar Street. for an irrigated grass and The center will gravel plaza, plantings and ________ include the Police Depart- a Native American totem Reporter James Casey can be ment, which has been pole. reached at 360-452-2345, ext. The options under con5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladaily housed in the Sequim Village Shopping Center, plus sideration Monday: news.com
■ Phase one, which would cost $300,000 and include colored pavers, concrete strips from Cedar Street to a Heritage Walk south of the plaza, raised planters, a circular pad for future art, street lamps, decorative lamps and two flag poles at a 9/11 memorial, plus plumbing for a future “water feature.”
Other phases ■ Phase two, which would add $80,000 for more pavers, more planters and concrete strips to a Heritage Walk on the north side of the plaza, plus trees there. ■ Phase three, which would add $150,000 to include two more decorative lamps, and colored pavers and concrete strips across the plaza. It would not include the fountain, which architects envision as water spouting vertically from ports in the plaza.
One roof
he center will include the Police Department, which has been housed in the Sequim Village Shopping Center, plus city offices in space the city had formerly rented to the Head Start program and in a former medical office building on Fifth Avenue.
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old building that has been torn down. Lydig Construction of Seattle is building the new civic center, designed by Integrus Architecture of Seattle, under an $11.85 million contract. Including land acquisition and other costs, the new facility is projected to cost just more than $16 million.
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The new City Hall will Reporter James Casey can be put one roof over the local reached at 360-452-2345, ext. government’s head, replac- 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladaily ing an overcrowded 40-year- news.com
Briefly . . . PC nursing orientation seminar set PORT ANGELES — Those considering becoming nurses can learn more about the profession at Peninsula College’s nursing orientation seminar Jan. 12. The seminar will be from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Pirate Union Building Conference Room (J-47) on the college’s Port Angeles campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd. No RSVP is required. All are welcome.
The presentation will cover general information about the profession of nursing, pre-requisites required for admission, the application process and life as a nursing student. A panel of current and former nursing students will help answer questions. Recorded attendance will add 10 points to an individual’s nursing application. Those who attended the first seminar in November can also attend this one, though additional points will not be awarded to their applications. For more information,
email Kathy Craven at kcraven@pencol.edu.
Charges filed SEATTLE — A man accused of crashing a minivan into a sporting goods store on purpose so he could steal guns, then trying to hide in the ceiling, has been charged with second-degree burglary, unlawful possession of a gun and malicious mischief. The Seattle Times reported that King County prosecutors said Friday that 43-year-old Ricky Arntsen caused at least $80,000 in damage to a Big 5 store in
Burien, south of Seattle. He crashed through a metal grate and glass doors early Tuesday. No employees were inside. He was arrested after a more than four-hour standoff. Arntsen is jailed on $750,000 bail. The state Corrections Department said he served 11 years on a manslaughter charge and has served additional sentences since his release in 2005. Charging papers say deputies found guns on the store floor near the minivan. A search of the van found nine rifles, eight shotguns
A MOST HEARTFELT THANK YOU
and ammunition.
town Seattle. Police say firefighters freed the man from the car, Car-train collision but he later died from his SEATTLE — Seattle police say a man who report- injuries. He was not immediately edly drove around a line of identified. cars stopped at a railroad BNSF Railway spokescrossing was fatally injured man Gus Melonas said rail in a collision with a northinvestigators say it appears bound train. a southbound train had just Detective Drew Fowler passed and the vehicle ran said witnesses told police into the side of the norththe man drove into oncombound grain train traveling ing lanes Friday evening and was crossing the tracks on adjacent tracks. The train was bound when the collision occurred. from North Dakota to Other cars had stopped Seattle. for the automatic railroad Peninsula Daily News gates and flashers at the crossing south of down- and The Associated Press
to the citizens of Clallam County for supporting the recent levy.
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