REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND
MAT CLASSIC: Spartans go up against the best in the state. A18
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2013 | Vol. 113, No. 8 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢
BEYOND HER YEARS
BHS student takes environmental issues head on the podium and asked supporters of the ban to The night when stand up. Chiara D’Angelo More than arrived at the Alabamahalf the room Coushatta reservation stood. in Livingston, Texas Councilafter a full day of woman Sarah traveling, she walked Blossom would upon what she would later say that come to recognize as if it weren’t for any other night at the D’Angelo reachTar Sands Blockade ing out and encampment: campmeeting with fires coupled with guiher over coffee, tars and conversation Blossom may centered around the have never voted state of the environyes on the initiament. tive. Flying first to D’Angelo Houston then takcame across the ing a Megabus to opportunity to Livingston, she travgo to Texas this eled from Bainbridge past year when Island to the southern Jones, a BHS half of Texas. ’09 alumnus, On her final leg visited the island of the trip, fellow from Oregon Bainbridge Islander where he curBen Jones borrowed rently works for a car to pick her and Cascadia Forest four others up from Defenders. At the Livingston bus Kol Shalom station. Synagogue, Debra D’Angelo photo It was the first week Jones hosted a of January and the It started with her poet’s love for the Puget Sound, but over the past few years teach-in and funddiverse group of protes- Chiara D’Angelo’s singular passion has evolved into a greater livelihood for raiser for the Tar tors gathered on the environmental justice and protecting the earth. Sands Blockade. reservation just outside D’Angelo of Houston to carry walked up to him out a series of actions I think it’s the whole idea of giving your kid immediately after against the construcpermission to think and be extreme and to join the presentation tion of the Keystone XL and introduced pipeline—a pipeline that adults in their endeavors.” herself by saying promises to carry crude — Debra D’Angelo she was going to oil underground from join him in Texas Alberta tar sands across for the Blockade the U.S. to the Gulf of youngest at 17. actions. Mexico. “I wasn’t planning on going, And just as she said she would, the There had been countless protests but then I decided I have to,” she next time she saw him was in Texas. and actions across Canada and the explained. She used her grandfather’s frequent U.S. leading up to D’Angelo’s trip to Just like it didn’t stop her from travflier miles to make it there. Houston. And on the same week, in eling across the country, her age has On the first full day, D’Angelo and solidarity with each other there were yet to stop her from standing up for the other protestors participated in a actions also planned in various spots what she has spent the last two years round dance to show solidarity with around the country including Boston; lobbying for — environmental justice. the Idle No More movement. Idle Detroit; Ames, Iowa; and Portland, Some may recognize the BHS No More is a campaign being led by Maine. senior from the plastic bag ban camOut of the 100 or so protesters in paign and the city council meeting Houston, however, D’Angelo was the last March when D’Angelo stood at SEE STUDENT, A29 BY CECILIA GARZA Bainbridge Island Review
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Arbitrator rules against city in suspension of police officer Says city lacked convincing evidence in ‘stalking’ case
Related story Bainbridge Island spends more than $15,000 in challenge to police discipline. See Page A30.
BY BRIAN KELLY Bainbridge Island Review
The city of Bainbridge Island was wrong to suspend a police officer who was accused of stalking a councilwoman, an arbitrator called in to settle the long-simmering dispute has ruled. Janet L. Gaunt issued her arbitration opinion Feb. 14 on the city’s discipline of Bainbridge Police Officer Scott Weiss. Gaunt said city officials did not have “just cause” to suspend Weiss for 160 hours, and said the city should pay Weiss any lost wages or benefits that stemmed from the suspension. Weiss, the former president of Bainbridge Island’s police union and a full-time officer for the city since 1991, had been criticized for following Kim Brackett after the councilwoman left a special budget meeting in October 2010 and went to another council member’s home for tea. Weiss was on duty at the time of the incident, and he later posted online comments using another name on newspaper websites about Brackett meeting with then-councilman Bill Knobloch after the council session. Brackett told others that she was alarmed someone had followed her after the meeting.
Weiss was investigated by the Washington State Patrol for “intimidating a public servant” and “stalking,” and the investigation found that Weiss had not committed any crimes. After a second administrative investigation by the State Patrol, Jon Felhman, the police chief for Bainbridge Island at the time, said Weiss had violated police department rules and its general orders manual. Weiss was put on administrative leave and was told he was facing discipline for surveilling a city council member for personal reasons while on duty. At his disciplinary hearing, Weiss said he never had Brackett under surveillance, but had driven down Knobloch’s street within an hour of the close of the council meeting while on a routine patrol. He also admitted writing an online post the next day that said Brackett “went straight to Bill Knobloch’s house after the council meeting no doubt to commiserate and plan the attack to try & sway or undo the council decisions.” Weiss agreed to apologize to Brackett over the incident — he later gave her a written apology — SEE ARBITRATOR, A30