Patriot Bremerton
FRIDAY, MAY 11, 2012 | Vol. 14, No. 16 www.bremertonpatriot.com | 50¢
Vets come together at stand down
Kitsap Week Viking Fest! Vikings invade Poulsbo for their annual Norse festival Inside
kitsapweek week M a y 11 — 1 7, 2 0 1 2
Flip Over For
CLASSIFIEDS
& Real Estate
LIFE AND CULTURE
week’s
highlights
If you played baseball on Bainbridge Island, you’re invited to Baseball-a-rama May 19, 2-5 p.m.
BASEBALL-ARAMA AND THE MARINER MOOSE Creosote, Fort Ward, Pleasant Beach, Port Blakely, Port Madison, Moran School, Winslow School. Those names were emblazoned on uniforms of early Bainbridge baseball teams that practiced and played on dirt fields around the island. Today, many former members of teams from Bainbridge High School, men and women softball leagues, Little League and Babe Ruth League still live in the area. The Bainbridge Island Historical Museum is looking for current and former Bainbridge baseball players and fans to gather on the museum grounds for Baseball-a-rama, May 19 from 2-5 p.m. The Mariner Moose will pay a visit and there will be an opportunity to join him for a picture. If you ever played baseball on Bainbridge Island, you’re invited to participate in the event and reminisce about your years in the game. Rummage around in your attic and trunk and wear your old uniform. The event will feature free admission to the museum, food, vintage movies and photos, a raffle, prizes for the most current and former baseball team members, and pictures with the MariSee BASEBALL, Page 2
It’s time for ...
Get in touch with your inner Norwegian at Poulsbo’s annual celebration May 18-20 — Pages 2-3
A section of the Bainbridge Island Review | Bremerton Patriot | Central Kitsap Reporter | North Kitsap Herald | Port Orchard Independent
City, county crime rates rise in 2011 By KEVAN MOORE kmoore@soundpublishing.com
Greg Skinner/staff photo
Veterans line up at the Sheridan Community Center in Bremerton Saturday morning to enter the biannual Stand Down which provides access to services and benefits to those in need as well as a central gathering point for area veterans. By KEVAN MOORE kmoore@soundpublishing.com
More than 170 veterans poured into Bremerton’s Sheridan Community Center Saturday for a county-wide Stand Down for Veterans to hook up with free services ranging from legal aid to haircuts to mortgage assistance. Some veterans came to hang out with familiar faces and grab a bite for lunch, while others sought housing help or some new clothes. The stand down was put together by the Kitsap Area Veterans Alliance (KAVA), a grass roots organization made up of vets from around the county, which is chaired by Dean Hearing, one of the founding members of KAVA. Hearing said that stand downs are great opportunities to connect with vets who haven’t yet made their way into the system. “They may not join a service organization, but if they see a flier (for a stand down) at their church or somewhere else, they might come and see somebody
Greg Skinner staff photo
Veteran services officers from area agencies and organizations work to enroll veterans in the Veterans Administration healthcare system. here that can help them,” Hearing said. “You just might see a vet whose on the bus looking at the newspaper who sees an ad about the stand down who says, ‘Oh, I should go maybe get some help with this or that or even just connect
with another veteran.” Sometimes, Hearing said, vets that make their way to a stand down for the first time need the most help. See STAND DOWN, A10
The overall crime rates for both the City of Bremerton and Kitsap County were up slightly in 2011, according to a newly released report from the Washington Association of Sheriff’s and Police Chiefs. According to the report, the 2011 overall crime rate went up 5.3 percent in the city and it was up 3.8 percent in the county. The city’s violent crime rate was down 13.8 percent, but property crime saw a 6.4 percent increase. As an example of the property crime increase, motor vehicle thefts went from 109 in 2010 to 185 in 2011, a 69.7 percent increase. Forcible rapes in the city went from 52 in 2010 to 43 in 2011 (down 17.3 percent) and aggravated assaults went from 161 to 146 (down 9.3 percent). Robberies, meanwhile, saw a six-percent increase from 50 in 2010 to 53 in 2011. A call for comment to Bremerton Police Department Lt. Pete Fisher was not returned. At the county-wide level, the violent crime rate went down 30.8 percent in 2011. From 2010 to 2011, forcible rapes went from 95 to 65 (-31.6 percent), robberies dropped from 60 to 52 (-13.3 percent) and aggravated assaults decreased from 472 to 323 (-31.6 percent). Scott Wilson, a Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office Deputy and spokesman, said that the reasons for the increase in violence are difficult, if not impossible, to pin down precisely. “Figures like this can be deceiving. Part of the HOMELESS, A8 is problemSeewith statistics
everyone wants to tag on a reason why and we can only theorize,” Wilson said. “Without concrete, scientific evidence, we’re just speculating.” But Wilson said that the consumption of alcohol, especially by individuals between the ages of 18 and 21, certainly plays a role in fueling violence. “A lot of the violent crime we’ve dealt with in the past has been related to incidents involving alcohol,” Wilson said. The county’s property crime rate, meanwhile, increased by 6.4 percent in 2011. Burglaries were up 26.8 percent, from 1,035 to 1,312, and motor vehicle thefts were up 45.6 percent, from 206 to 300. “With regards to dramatic increases in property crime, it’s pretty much a forgone conclusion among law enforcement who are experiencing these trends that it’s directly related to the economy,” Wilson said. A down economy doesn’t just affect criminal behavior and tendencies, Wilson added, it also has an impact on policing itself. “Part of reason for property crime increases, and I hate to say this, is lack of police presence,” Wilson said. “Our resources are dwindling because of the economy. We don’t have those officers during the day and, more importantly, at night that are looking for suspicious activity so burglary attempts are going to be much higher. Criminals are of the mindset that, ‘I’m gonna take my chances because the cops just aren’t there.’ “ Wilson also noted that while county meth labs See CRIME, A8