HERALD NORTH K ITSAP
VELKOMMEN TIL POULSBO! Viking Fest begins today. Stories and schedules on pages A21-23
Friday, May 18, 2012 | Vol. 111, No. 20 | WWW.NORTHKITSAPHERALD.COM | 50¢
‘I am now glad that we came’
Urban trails plan adopted But concerns over possibility of future land takings continue By MEGAN STEPHENSON mstephenson@northkitsapherald.com
POULSBO — Poulsbo now has an urban trails plan on the books. The City Council Wednesday approved the Urban Paths of Poulsbo plan, which identifies established and possible trails that could link the city to a regional trails network. While city officials say trails will not be developed on private land without the landowner’s permission, some residents are still concerned their land could be taken for trail development. The city conceded to some residents’ concerns. The new planning map removed the majority of conceptual trails — those possible future trails on the planning map that crossed private property. However, some continued to speak out against having any lines, conceptual or otherwise, on any land but public rights of way. They also spoke out against trails that cross See PATHS, Page A9
Thina Høstmark joined her husband, Adolf, in Poulsbo in 1889. Her first letter home to Norway provided interesting Holm Anders Hostmark details about life in the growing seaside village.
A letter home by an early immigrant gives a glimpse of life in 1880s Poulsbo, and what it took to get here
T
he first Norwegian to settle in what became Poulsbo was Ole Stubb in 1875. Other non-Native settlers had moved in earlier, drawn by the area’s resources and climate, as well as land made available by the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855. But Stubb, who came here after stints in Michigan and South Dakota, was the forerunner of a Norwegian wave that would begin in 1883. Among them was Adolf
44th ANNUAL VIKING FEST Shuttle bus map . — Page A19. ■ Viking Fest schedule and updated information. — Page A21. ■ A Norwegian’s take on Little Norway. — Page A22. ■
Høstmark, who established a store at what is now the corner of Jensen and Front streets (the building still stands and is the home of Thor’s Needle & Hammer tattoo studio). What was life like in this area in the 1880s? What did it take to get here from places like Birkevold and Ferdefjord, Norway? In a July 16, 1889 letter home, Thina Høstmark, Adolf ’s wife, writes in detail about the ship voyage from Norway to New York, the train trip from New
York to Tacoma, and her impressions upon arriving here. The letter was translated and contributed by Holm Anders Hostmark of Pine Mountain Club, Calif., Thina and Adolf ’s great-great-grandson. In the letter, she expresses amazement at the size of the “Thuja’s plants,” likely red cedars. She tells of arriving in Tacoma and meeting people from Staughton, a Wisconsin city with a large Norwegian immigrant population at the time of this letter. Here is the letter from Thina Høstmark to her sister in-law, Caroline Høstmark of Birkevold, Kleive, Norway. ■
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Dear Caroline, I have been here for 10 days now but we have been so busy figuring things out and organizing our new See HOSTMARK, Page A2
Private investigator interviewing witnesses to Feb. 8 police shooting By RICHARD WALKER rwalker@northkitsapherald.com
POULSBO — A private investigator is interviewing witnesses to the Feb. 8 police shooting of a Poulsbo man at the Les Schwab Tire Center on Viking Avenue. The investigator was hired by John Cross, a Port Orchard attorney retained by the in-laws of Joseph Matthew Henninger, the man killed by police. The inlaws dispute some of the findings in the Kitsap County Sheriff ’s Department investigation report. Prosecuting Attorney Russell D. Hauge determined May 10 that the shooting was justified. The report can be viewed here. FREE APP “We are interested in what witScan this code nesses have to say,” said Cross, a lawyer specializing in criminal to receive local law. news on your Henninger, 24, was in “obvious See HENNINGER, Page A15
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