Kingston • Eglon • Hansville • Indianola • Little Boston • Port Gamble
COMMUNITY NEWS KingstonCommunityNews.com
Vol. 29 No. 3 •
March 2012
Buddy, can you spare some time? In Kingston, maintenance of local parks is falling to volunteers By RICHARD WALKER
EDITOR
KINGSTON — Between 1988 and 2002, Kitsap County invested
$920,000 in acquiring the Kingston Skate Park. Today, it can’t afford to pick up the park’s trash. Ditto at other county parks in
Kingston. County Commissioner Rob Gelder said Kingston Cooperative Preschool has volunteered to empty the trash at Kola Kole Park and place it in the Community Center dumpster. The North Kitsap Little League will cut the grass at Kola Kole Park through June, using “an old
mower” the county will store by the sheriff ’s office. Gelder and parks officials met with Kingston Port Commissioner Walt Elliott and others Feb. 16 to discuss the use of volunteers in maintaining the county’s parks in Kingston. The problem, according to Gelder: Diminished resources.
The county parks department owns 6,119 acres of parks, of which 833 are maintained, on a budget of $3.3 million — down from $4 million in 2008. AmeriCorps volunteers maintained four Kingston parks in 2011, but Parks Supervisor Dori Leckner was unable to renew that See PARKS, Page 3
Kingston Food Bank needs help Donations are down, and it will have to move in a year
From hatchery to home 225,000 coho moved to fish pen to mature. Next step: Port Gamble Bay By MEGAN STEPHENSON
P
STAFF WRITER
ORT GAMBLE S’KLALLAM — It was an important annual event with little fanfare. The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife released more than 200,000 juvenile coho salmon into Port Gamble Bay Monday and Tuesday. Because the wild population of salmon isn’t “sufficient to satisfy fishing pens,” according to tribe habitat biologist Hans Daubenberger, the tribe and the state bring in the salmon for commercial, sport and sustenance fishing, with the assistance of the Northwest Indian Fisheries
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife transfers 225,000 juvenile salmon to fish pens in Port Gamble Bay, where they will mature before being released into the wild. Megan Stephenson / Kingston Community News Commission. The salmon will grow a bit more while in the tribe’s fish pens before being released in June.
This is the 25th year of the tribe’s fish pen program.
By MEGAN STEPHENSON STAFF WRITER
KINGSTON — In times like these, our communities need all the help they can get. Which is why Barb Fulton wants to remind everyone the Kingston Food Bank is at your disposal. The area’s first food bank is, however, hitting a rough patch. After the busy holiday season, they are down in donations — and have been informed their building will be torn down in a year. “I gotta keep going. There’s a need here and I’m not going to give up,” Fulton said. Her parents, Ray and Vi Weaver, began the Kingston Food Bank in their home 55 years ago. In fact, Ray built the food bank’s current location himself, as an ambulance building next to the fire station (now Firehouse Theater and Oak Table Cafe). “It’s never been out of our family’s hands,” Fulton said. She previously drove a school bus for 32 years, when a multiple sclerosis diagnosis compelled her to retire. After Vi passed away two years ago, Fulton took over the organization. Fulton said she remembers when she was young, sometimes hunters from Port Gamble S’Klallam would “lay a deer on our back porch ... [That] was their way of paying back.” The food bank serves about 100 families a month, where they get one basket of food per month with canned goods, cereal, rice, beans, and other staples. Clients are able to come back as often as they need to pick up fresh fruit and vegetables, and peruse the tables with clothes, pet food and toys, even a few household items like a Mr. Coffee.
See SALMON, Page 2
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