REPORTER CENTRAL KITSAP
Latin pop, skillet cooking and beating the Beatthe winter blues winter blues Inside Kitsap Week
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EDGAR CRUZ PERFORMS
Performs Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at Bremerton Performing Arts Center, 1500 13th St., Bremerton. Individual tickets $30, season subscription is $50. Info: www.kitsapconcerts.org. Cruz will perform classical, jazz, Latin, pop guitar pieces. Cruz performs more than 200 concerts a year and has performed throughout the U.S., Europe and South America.
COOKING UP BIG TASTE IN A SKILLET Following up their successful “Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook” (2004), Sharon Kramis and Julie Kramis Hearne bring a whole world of spices, herbs and preparations to their new cookbook, “Cast Iron Skillet Big Flavors.” Meet the Seattle-based motherdaughter team and learn how they do it. Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. at the Poulsbo Library, 700 NE Lincoln Road. Free.
Shorter days and cloudy skies can leave you feeling down-in-the-dumps Story, page 2
A section of the Bainbridge Island Review | Bremerton Patriot | Central Kitsap Reporter | North Kitsap Herald | Port Orchard Independent
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2011 | Vol. 27, No. 9 WWW.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM | 50¢
Veterans lobby for Bremerton veterans’ court Veterans and Kitsap defense attorneys join forces to advocate for former troops that find trouble with the law BY JJ SWANSON JSWANSON@CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM
GROWING FOOD FOR URBAN HUNGER
As the community heads into winter months, local farmers and food bank directors urge people to learn how to grow food year round to feed their families BY JJ SWANSON JSWANSON@CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM
“We’ve really lost our ability as a people to be selfsufficient and feed ourselves. Every time I see a national disaster I feel that,” said Patti Peterson, executive director of the Bremerton Foodline. Peterson is one of many Kitsap food workers who advocates educating people on how to plant and produce their own food. She believes that farming is not limited to those with acres of land. It can happen in containers and pots, front lawns, roofs and raised beds in alleys. “It’s so important that people learn how to grow food that’s nutritious, especially the underprivileged in urban areas,” said Peterson. Bremerton Foodline regularly hands out produce to those who seek it. They
have a program of ‘produce rescue’ from grocery stores like Safeway, Albertsons, or Central Market where volunteers separate bruised fruits and vegetables still fit for donation. However, the winter months limit the hand outs available, and grocery stores can only do so much. According to Peterson, carts of produce brought in by volunteers are emptied in the first 20 minutes following opening. She said that relying on donations is only a small part of the equation. It is time for people to see the resources around them, she said. “What is really a crime, I see homes with apple trees, apples all around them, fallen to the ground with maggots growing in them, and these were all sources of food gone to waste,” said Peterson.
Greg Skinner/staff photos
Above, Glenn Huff waters transplanted mustard greens planted on the roof of his Bremerton home. Above the last of Huff ’s snap peas survived recent frosts and await picking. Peterson and a number of Central Kitsap farmers feel that the answer is educating city dwellers and low income families on how to grow for themselves, harvest, and even preserve their crops and cure meats for the hard winter months. It is old frontier logic applied to urban hunger. Glenn Huff and Jean Schanen, founders of Start Now Gardens in Bremerton, grow enough food on their city lot to feed their whole family and many friends. They grow kale in the alley,
vegetables and fruit in beds in the front yard, on the roof, and on the carport. “This is how we feed ourselves, and raise some food for others as well, but mainly, this is how we make the point that lawns are pretty much a wasteful relic of the value system that preceded global warming. This is a time of massive readjustment in how we live our lives,” wrote Schanen. Start Now Gardens is extremely devoted to bring SEE HUNGER, A8
“Back then you could be out at a bar and take a swing at someone, and it was no big deal. It’s a different world now. You do that and your career is over. Can you get a job at PSNS with assault charges? No way, you’re done,” said Joel Courreges. Courreges, a Vietnam veteran and director of the Bremerton Disabled American Veterans chapter, remembered what it was like to be a young veteran returning from combat and trying to fit back into the civilian world. “The world looks in and sees an old man, but the man looking out is still an 18-year-old soldier,” said Tom Gilles, the chapter coordinator. The two veterans are sensitive to the anger, difficulties, and ensuing legal nightmares that soldiers can face when returning from deployment. They feel that it is more important than ever for Bremerton to establish a veterans court to deal with these criminal issues. “Knowing what we know now about post-traumatic stress and behavior, we have a chance to help these guys coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. The numbers aren’t in yet. Who knows how many of them are getting into trouble and could use our help for a second chance,” said Courreges. Jay Behrens, case manager of the Department of Veterans affairs said that post-traumatic stress disorder, common in vets, factors in crime involvement. And, the effects are not limited to those who have seen combat. “These guys see unimaginable things even in times of peace, training accidents, military sexual crimes, amputations,” said Behrens. Courreges is soliciting the help of Kitsap defense attorneys and superior court judges to organize the court in Bremerton. But a veterans court will require substantial human and financial resources from the state and county.
‘REHABILITATE RATHER THAN INCARCERATE’ Veterans’ court follows the spirit of problem-solving established by drug courts and seen in their results. “These types of courts were born out of judicial frustration. The legal system is moving towards prevention, we weren’t able to prevent the first incident, but we can work to prevent the next. We’re trying to stop the revolving door of recidivism,” said Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Jay B. Roof. Roof, who is working with Disabled American SEE VETERANS, A8