Reporter Central Kitsap
KNIGHTS WIN Bremerton girls take Sequim at home Tuesday Page 6
FRIDAY, January 11, 2013 | Vol. 28, No. 18 | www.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.com | 50¢
Lawsuit filed over Extreme K Mud Run Suit filed against Silverdale Chamber of Commerce, Royal Farms and Kitsap Mall By MEGAN STEPHENSON mstephenson@soundpublising.com
Wendy Davis, Poulsbo police sergeant and former deputy chief, filed a civil suit Dec. 19 with two other women, Jaclyn Brant and Germaine Szewezyk, claiming the organizers of the Extreme K Mud Run were “grossly negligent” in designing the course. Davis, Brant and Szewezyk filed against RDGB Royal Farms on Paulson Road in Poulsbo, Silverdale Chamber of Commerce and Kitsap Mall. The suit states the farm designed, managed, directed and maintained the course, and the chamber and Kitsap Mall were sponsors, promoters, beneficiaries, organizers, designers and/or
supervisors of the run. The Extreme K Mud Run was held Oct. 6 at Royal Farms. The three women each “suffered [severe] displaced left ankle and foot fractures” that required surgery. They are claiming they suffered physical and mental pain, disability, discomfort and anguish, loss of earnings and impairment of future earning capacity that will continue for an indefinite period of time. The suit claims one of the obstacles, a “vertical chute/slide” with a rocky mud puddle at the bottom — called “Gravity’s Revenge” — was dangerous. The obstacle consisted of a ravine covered in heavy black plastic that was kept wetted down by the run’s staff. “Participants were hastily instructed to ‘slide’ down the obstacle toward the bottom of the ravine. No other instructions or warnings were given,” the suit stated. “As plaintiffs impacted the rocks at the bottom of the slide at a high rate of speed, they each sustained the severe injuries …”
The suit also stated paramedics were called to bring up “numerous injured participants” from the bottom of the slide. “After repeated calls from medical [personnel] to close the hazardous obstacle, defendants agreed,” the suit stated. Davis, Brant and Szewezyk are seeking monetary damages to compensate them for their injuries. A message left for Kathleen Knuckey, executive director of the Silverdale Chamber of Commerce, has not been returned. Participants of the run signed a waiver, being warned of and assuming risks involved in the course. However, Davis’ attorney, James McCormick of the Tacoma-based law firm Messina Bulzomi Christensen, said the waiver will be “inapplicable or unenforceable in this case.” McCormick said he believes the court will apply the standard of gross negligence because of the seriousness of the injuries, and allow the lawsuit to See SUIT, A3
Chicken lays two eggs in one By WES MORROW wmorrow@soundpublishing.com
A Kitsap County woman got much more than she anticipated when she went to gather the eggs from her chickens last week. Janet Greenlaw was following her morning routine, checking on the chickens, when she noticed what she thought was a potato resting among the other eggs. What she thought was a potato turned out to be an egg, twice the size of the others, but that was just the start. Large eggs aren’t unheard of from nesting fowl like domesticated chickens. Sometimes an extra layer of shell coating might be applied, causing the egg to appear bigger. Sometimes eggs come out with multiple yolks in one shell. That’s what Greenlaw anticipated when she saw the abnormally large egg that morning. “I thought it would have two yolks, maybe even three yolks,” Greenlaw said. She said she was excited, as their chickens had never produced an egg with three yolks before.
Yet even that fell short of the actual outcome. When Greenlaw eventually cracked open the egg, there was only one yolk; however, sitting right next to the yolk, nested like a matryoshka doll, was another fully formed egg. Greenlaw cracked the inside egg open and found a yolk inside there as well. So the egg did, in fact, have two yolks, the second yolk just happened to be resting inside a whole other egg. Greenlaw posted a picture of the egg on Facebook and called her grandparents, who had been raising chickens for 80 years. They’d never heard of anything like it. By the time she got back to Facebook, a conversation had exploded around the surprising little egg. Tony Williams, professor of ornithology at Simon Fraser University, is an expert on avian reproduction. Williams said he had never heard of anything like this happening before. “That’s almost impossible to see how that’s happened,” Williams said. See EGGS, A2
Courtesy photo
Wendy Davis, Poulsbo police sergeant, fractured her ankle during the Extreme K Mud Run Oct. 6.
Lawmakers talk about upcoming legislative session By KEVAN MOORE kmoore@soundpublishing.com
The Port Orchard, Bremerton and Silverdale chambers of commerce held a legislative summit Tuesday night at the Baymont Inn in Bremerton in which area lawmakers were able to talk about the upcoming session in Olympia. State representatives Jan Angel, a Port Orchard Republican, Kathy Haigh, a Shelton Democrat, Drew McEwan, a Shelton Republican, Drew Hansen, a Bainbridge Island Democrat, and Larry Seaquist, a Gig Harbor Democrat were all in attendance. Representative Sherry Appleton, a Poulsbo Democrat, was unable to
make the event due to a scheduling conflict. Also on hand Tuesday night were state senators Christine Rolfes, a Bainbridge Island Democrat, and Tim Sheldon, a Democrat from Potlatch. The legislators did not field questions Tuesday, but instead spoke individually about the upcoming session. Unsurprisingly, the lawmakers, who spoke in alphabetical order, ended up running over the scheduled amount of speaking time. Here is a quick look at some of the highlights from the event: Angel spoke to the assembled business crowd about the importance of job creation and retention. See SESSION, A3