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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, November 30, 2012 n Vol. 121, No. 47 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-
By CHRIS CHANCELLOR Senior Reporter
Jesse Beals/Staff Photo
Festival features chimes, lights and Medal of Honor
CHARLOTTE GARRIDO
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TIM MATTHES
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▼ Matthes, Garrido advance in SK commissioner race; Dalton, Danielson in judicial contest.
By CHARLIE BERMANT
Staff Writer
Festival of Chimes and Lights chairwoman Cindy Lucarelli said she was introduced to Crandall, who lives in Manchester, at the Cedar Cove Days opening ceremony in August 2009 and “was filled in with his heroic deeds during Vietnam.” When the theme for this year’s festival, “A Hometown Christmas,” was developed, Lucarelli said she immediately thought about Crandall for the lighting, which occurs at 6 p.m. “It was based on wanting to honor the troops,” she said. “Bruce came to mind then. If he was available, I thought it would be wonderful to honor him.” Activities run throughout the day, including the Jingle Bell Run/Walk, which begins with a 1-kilometer run at 1 p.m. at Port Orchard City Hall. The 5-kilometer run/walk follows 30 minutes later.
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).
BRUCE DANIELSON
See CHARTER, A5
Sing the Anthem
JEANETTE DALTON
After a hard-fought battle, the charter schools measure, Initiative 1240, has squeaked through in Washington state 50.8 percent to 49.2. Charter schools legislation has appeared on Washington state ballots four times since 1996, three times as initiatives and once as a referendum. All three times in the past it was denied by voters. This time, however, the measure was able to pull enough votes for a narrow victory. Kathryn Simpson, South Kitsap school board president, said the board was generally against the initiative, but never developed an official stance. “It’s the matter of the particular language of this initiative,” Simpson said. Simpson said she felt I-1240 has redeeming qualities concerning things like exemp-
tions for charter schools, but she believes charter schools shouldn’t be the only ones. “If it’s good enough for the charter school goose then it aught to be good for the public school gander,” Simpson said. The majority of voters in Kitsap County voted in favor of the initiative, 52.1 to 47.9 percent. “I think that many voters across the state, and not just in Kitsap County, have a misperception that public education is failing in Washington state,” Simpson said. The passing of I-1240 makes Washington the 42nd state to implement legislation allowing for the creation of charter schools. Exactly what effect 1240 will have on the more than 1 million students in Washington remains unclear.
SEE UPSETS, PAGE A2
Staff Writer
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By Wes Morrow
Custodians won’t be replaced, $1.72 million will be taken from reserve fund.
School district considers charter schools initiative
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By CHRIS CHANCELLOR
Staff Writer
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
in 1969 from the University of Nebraska and a master’s in public administration in 1977 from Golden Gate University. After he retired from the Army in ’77, Crandall became the city manager of Dunsmuir, Calif., for three years. He then spent 13 years in the Public Works Department, including the final four as its manager, in Mesa, Ariz. In 1994, Crandall was inducted into the Air Force’s “Gathering of Eagles,” which is an organization established to recognize pioneers of aviation and heroic fliers. Ten years later, he was inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame. Crandall also served as an aviation consultant for a movie about the Ia Drang Valley battle. That flick, which is based on the book “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young,” was released in 2002.
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
Retired U.S. Army officer and Medal of Honor recipient Bruce Crandall will light the tree at Saturday’s Festival of Chimes and Lights. Crandall, 79, who was traveling to South Korea and was not available for an interview this week, was raised in Olympia, where he became a high-school All-American baseball player. He attended the University of Washington before he was drafted into the Army in 1953. According to the Army’s Medal of Honor profile on Crandall, he led the first major division operation by landing in Vietnam’s Ia Drang Valley, where he was credited with evacuating about 70 wounded comrades with his wing man and fellow Medal of Honor recipient Maj. Ed Freeman on Nov. 14, 1965. About two months later, during “Operation Masher,” Crandall, while under intense enemy fire, twice dropped his Huey helicopter through the jungle to rescue a dozen wounded soldiers. Crandall received the Aviation & Space Writers Helicopter Heroism Award for 1966 for that. Crandall later earned his bachelor’s degree in education 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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A Section Editorial Robert Meadows Scene & Heard Sports Legal Notices Mary Colborn Obituaries
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Dennis Box/staff photo
Katrina Mendoza, Kalin Cook Saucier and Kaitlyn-Gehring Aumen sing the national anthem with the South Kitsap choir at the opening of the South Kitsap High and Bremerton High basketball game.
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