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KITSAP
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LIFE AND CULTURE
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One community, one book, in one month
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Habitat NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw will ‘raise the roof’ for local housing Sept. 23
‘The Big Burn’ BY ERIN JENNINGS Kitsap Week
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he Big Hump forest fire currently burning in the Olympic Mountains provides an uncanny backdrop for Kitsap Regional Library’s One Book, One Community event that kicks off on Saturday. “Forest fires weren’t really on our minds last winter when we picked the book,� committee member Althea Paulson said. “But now we have had record-breaking wildfires going on in the southern U.S. and we have our own Big Hump.� The book chosen for the community-wide reading event is “The Big Burn� by Pulitzer Prizewinning author Timothy Egan. The non-fiction book recounts the devastating forest fire of 1910 that took place in Montana, Idaho and Washington. The fire destroyed three million acres in a matter of days, and many lives were lost. The devastating fire subsequently solidified the U.S. Forest Service and how the government would handle future fires. The Kitsap Regional Library committee charged with selecting the book for One Book, One Community sifted through many choices before settling on the “The Big Burn.� (Previous year’s selections were “To Kill a Mockingbird�
Inside today Check out what’s going on around the region
Business
Sports
Self-service pet wash place opens
Backfield duo ignites SK attack
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INDEPENDENT PORT ORCHARD
FRIDAY, September 16, 2011 ■Vol. 120, No. 27 ■www.portorchardindependent.com ■50¢
Driver rescued from burning vehicle Man may have been passed out when his SUV crashed into a house, igniting a fire
City Council gives go-ahead to petition seeking to add area on Mile Hill Drive
By TIM KELLY Editor
A couple good Samaritans may have saved a man’s life Tuesday when they helped him get out of a burning sport utility vehicle that crashed into the front of a residence. James Dean was driving along Lund Avenue a little past noon when a Dodge Durango shot across the street in front of him and he “just missed it by about an inch.� Dean, 72, said the vehicle was southbound on Hoover Avenue when it blew past the stop sign, crossed Lund at high speed and crashed into the home, erupting in flames. He and Kim Moreno, another driver who witnessed the crash, stopped and rushed to the burning rig. “There were two or three guys standing at the side saying, ‘It’s gonna blow up, don’t go over there,’� Dean said. But he knew the driver would die in the fire if he was unconscious and unable to get out of the vehicle. “We think (the driver) was passed out, because we were yelling at him
Annexation push not slowed by UGA issue
By KAITLIN STROHSCHEIN Staff Writer
Tim Kelly/Staff photo
t .PSF QIPUPT POMJOF BU QPSUPSDIBSE JOEFOEFOU DPN when we ran up and he was not moving,� Moreno said. Dean couldn’t open the driver’s door, but he was able to open the back hatch. He climbed in and shook the driver, yelling that he had to get out.
Firefighters try to extinguish a blaze that erupted when a vehicle smashed into a residence and ruptured a gas line Tuesday on Lund Avenue. The man started to revive but was still groggy as Dean pulled out a pocket knife and was about to cut off the seat belt. But then the man snapped out of it and was able to scramble out the back of the vehicle, Dean said.
By the time South Kitsap Fire & Rescue crews arrived, the SUV was engulfed in flames. Firefighters tried to keep the blaze SEE CRASH, A3
Week 7 of boy’s hospital stay
Port Orchard’s City Council decided Tuesday to allow property owners to circulate an annexation petition, even though they may need to change the boundaries of the area to be annexed before the petitioners finish gathering signatures. The city received a petition in July to annex 313 parcels totaling 237 acres adjacent to Mile Hill Drive. The land is zoned for Urban High-Intensity Commercial/Mixed use and is valued at $85.8 million. The proposed annexation is within Port Orchard’s Urban Growth Area, which has been slated for annexation into the city since a 2006 update to the comprehensive plan. But the state’s Growth Management Hearings Board recently ruled that Kitsap County should re-evaluate and shrink the UGA for Port Orchard, as well as several other cities in the SEE ANNEXATION, A3
Auction will help family with medical bills from bike crash By TIM KELLY Editor
Courtesy photo
Seven-year-old Nolan Harness, shown holding pet ducks with his 10-year-old sister, Paich, has been hospitalized since July 28 when he suffered serious injuries in a bike crash caused by his cat.
Becki Harness had dinner in the oven when her 7-year-old son said he wanted to ride his bike for a little while. “So I went outside and sat on a bench, and in five minutes, this happened,� she says. What happened July 28 was the beginning of an ordeal for the South Kitsap family that’s not close to being over yet. Her son, Nolan, has been at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma since that
night, when he was seriously injured in a bike crash caused by a cat crossing his path. What’s happening Saturday is a fundraiser to help the family with the medical bills for Nolan’s treatment. Their friends organizing the event have dubbed it the “Auction for Hope,� which will also include food and entertainment and will be held from noon to 4 p.m. at the Tremont Center, 463 Tremont St. in Port Orchard. SEE WEEK 7, A5
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