Bluegrass in Olalla
Local bed & breakfast is a destination location
‘New energy’ plays at the festival
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Both sides report feeling harassed in rift over home business.
Neighbor denies pellet gun shooting
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By JUSTINE FREDERIKSEN
Staff Writer
Independent
Tensions between two Port Orchard neighbors that erupted after one attempted to open a home business last year led both women to head down to the Kitsap County Courthouse Monday and file restraining orders against each other. Shelia Cronan, 49, said she filed a restraining order against Amber Keehn after returning home from a camping trip Aug. 17 and discovering pellets had been
Port Orchard
FRIDAY, August 17, 2012 n Vol. 121, No. 33 n www.portorchardindependent.com n 50¢
shot in three of her home’s windows. Cronan, who lives on the 200 block of Flower Meadows Street in Port Orchard, said she believed the attack was part of an ongoing dispute with Keehn, whom she alleges has been running a hair salon out of her home without a business license and in defiance of a city “stop-work” order. Keehn, 30, said she filed for permission from the city of Port Orchard to operate a hair salon out of her home on the 2300 block of Flower Avenue soon after pur-
Senior Reporter
Events from 11a.m. to 2p.m.
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From technology to disc golf, children will have plenty of entertainment to choose from during South Kitsap School District’s annual “Back to School Celebration” held Saturday at the high school’s track. School district spokeswoman Lisa Kirkemo said more than 4,500 people attended the event last year. District officials expect as many to participate in the event this year. Kirkemo said it is open to families with students enrolled in SKSD. “The focus is to celebrate the opening of school and to provide people with the opportunity to connect with various organizations,” she said. Kirkemo said donations have been “tighter,” which means there will not be as many free school supplies to distribute as in previous years. She said district officials will distribute one supply packet to each child. Youths also must be present to receive supplies. CHARLOTTE GARRIDO
BRUCE DANIELSON
renewable energy use with a goal of 10 percent by 2020. Kitsap County received $2.2 million in Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant funds from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2009 in effort to reduce energy demand, save taxpayer dollars used for county operations, lower home utility bills, promote a green economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Much of it has been spent to retrofit county buildings for energy efficiency. Olsen said she was shocked to see how much of the cold she produced when electricity escaped the doors of the freezers making ice for her milk cooling operation. She said the grant to help with improvements in her milk processing is welcome aid for her farm. “It’s good for local business and it’s good for energy efficiency,” Salamack said. After two years, the county has reported a 2 percent reduction in electricity and and natural gas usage and a 54 percent reduction in propane use.
TIM MATTHES
JEANETTE DALTON
Greg Skinner/staff photo
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▼ Matthes, Garrido advance in SK commissioner race; Dalton, Danielson in judicial contest.
By CHARLIE BERMANT
Staff Writer
Vendors will provide free school supplies and more to SKSD students during day-long event By CHRIS CHANCELLOR
Karen Olson of Blackjack Valley Farms checks a milking machine connected to Mrs. Piggy, a Guernsey milk cow, Wednesday morning. Olson’s farm recently won a Kitsap Food Chain rebate grant to install a new energy efficient refrigerated milk tank.
in Bremerton and Monica’s Waterfront Bakery in Silverdale. “[We’re] really excited to see that number of applicants,” Salamack said. The monies will be awarded after the Kitsap County Conservation District verifies the work has been done. Two examples of projects made possible by the federal grants include the Blackjack Valley Farms project in Port Orchard and Pheasant Field Farm in Central Kitsap. Pheasant Field Farms will replace its refrigeration too. Combined, the two farm projects’ cost is $18,000, which will initially be paid for by the farms. Once approved, the county will rebate about $14,000. The annual energy savings for the two farms is estimated to be 7,600 kWh, or $755 combined. The county estimates that the investment will take 24 years to repay itself. The program is part of the county’s Energy Efficiency & Conservation Plan which was adopted last year. The goal is to reduce countywide energy use by 30 percent by 2020, with the energy year 2009 as a baseline. The program also seeks to encourage
No shortage of activities planned for ‘Back to School Celebration’
Expectations were turned on their head in two Kitsap County political contests during Tuesday night’s primary election, as the perceived front-runners came in third and were disqualified in their respective races. Republican Tim Matthes drew the most votes in the South Kitsap commissioner’s race, followed by Democrat Charlotte Garrido. Monty Mahan, who was the first to declare for the seat and earned the endorsement of local mayors, came in third (See related story, page A3).
SEE UPSETS, PAGE A2
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Custodians won’t be replaced, $1.72 million will be taken from reserve fund.
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and pension rates along with inflation as issues. In addition to the money saved on custodians, Patton said the district will dip into its reserve fund for $1.72 million. She said that’s not all bad because the district saved more than it anticipated in its last fiscal year, which ends Aug. 31. Patton said they also will save through not filling other vacant positions in the district, and through cutting expenses on supplies. The board unanimously adopted the budget. Patton warned in previous meetings that the “hard decisions” likely won’t end
SEE SCHOOL, PAGE A2
activities she reported as stemming from Keehn’s attempts to operate a business out of her home. Weaver said following an April 11 hearing with the city’s Hearing Examiner, certain conditions were placed on Keehn’s permit to mitigate Cronan’s concerns before she would be allowed to operate her business. “(Keehn) has addressed all but one of those conditions, with the last being the letter from the (Kitsap County) Health Department,” Weaver said, explaining that Keehn’s current sewer facilities are
SEE NEIGHBORS, PAGE A2
Every day Karen Olsen milks her small mixed herd Holstien and Gurney cows at her South Kitsap farm. To keep her raw milk product the best and freshest for Kitsap County and other local markets, she works hard to cool the milk from 98 degrees to 45 degrees in 20 minutes. Olsen gets it done at her Blackjack Valley Farm the old-fashioned way, milk cans set into bins of water loaded with ice. She acts at the “agitator” stering the milk for even cooling. “You want to get the milk as cold as you can as fast as you can,” she said. Kitsap County is not a big producer agriculturally, but the Kitsap Food Chain program seeks to cut energy costs and the carbon footprint to grow and delivering local food to local markets. In effort to make Kitsap County’s “food chain” more energy effecent and affordable the Board of Kitsap County Commissioners Monday approved a series of grants to local food producers. Blackjack Valley Farms seeks to reduce its energy costs for its small dairy to daily cool 333 pounds of milk with ice using a mixture of residential and commercial equipment. A new 40-gallon cooling tank designed specifically for milk is expected to save money and time, said Kitsap County Resources Conservation manager Autumn Salamack. A total of $47,708 in of federal stimulus grants were awarded to eight local companies out of the nine requesting rebates for energy efficient upgrades. The local program assessed 11 companies, of which nine moved forward with recommended upgrades and eight were awarded rebates for projects. Local companies receiving energy audits included Minder Meats
By CHRIS CHANCELLOR
Editor
Staff Writer
By GREG SKINNER
The South Kitsap School District is a little closer to closing its $2.9 million deficit for the upcoming school year. Terri Patton, assistant superintendent for business and support services, said at Wednesday’s school board meeting that the district won’t replace five full-time custodians who left the district after the last school year. She said that will save the district $250,000. Patton said the deficit stems from unforeseen circumstances when the district presented its last levy to voters in 2004. She cited escalating teacher salaries
Energy conservation grants awarded to local farms and others
Jesse Beals/Staff Photo
County helps local producers with ‘food chain’ efficiencies chasing it last spring. City Development Director James Weaver confirmed that Keehn received a conditional-use permit to operate a onechair hair salon out of her home, which he described as “pretty innocuous” and something that doesn’t typically reach “the level of intensive use,” as far as impacts on the neighborhood are concerned. However, since November of 2007, Cronan has filed multiple complaints with the city regarding traffic, noise and other
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Cody Wright from Milford, Utah, got a mouth full of mud and a zero score after falling off Strawberry Delight in the Saddle Bronc Riding competition Wednesday night at the Kitsap County Stampede. The fair runs through Sunday.
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“We want to spread it out to as many people as possible,” Kirkemo said. More than 60 vendors are expected to participate in the event to offer services ranging from immunizations to haircuts. There also will be bus rides, which Kirkemo said are aimed to help youths get accommodated to them before school opens Sept. 5. Kirkemo said each SKSD school also will feature a representative to field questions from students and parents. In addition, Kirkemo said there will be entertainment for students of all ages. Some new additions this year include Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education Coalition, which will have a presentation on underwater robots. There also will be a dunk tank. There is no charge for admission or any of the activities at the Back to School Celebration.
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