Reporter Central Kitsap
Play ball! BlueJackets win their home-opener Page 10
FRIDAY, June 14, 2013 | Vol. 28, No. 37 | www.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.com | 50¢
Father’s Day court of honor slated By WES MORROW
wmorrow@soundpublishing.com
Boy Scout Troop 1539 is set to hold a court of honor this Sunday, June 16 — but it’s no ordinary court of honor. Traditionally, when a Scout graduates to the coveted rank of Eagle Scout his achievement is celebrated in this special ceremony. This Sunday, however, Troop 1539 will celebrate the Eagle status of not just one, but seven young men. Phillip Kelly, Mitch Bartholemew, Austin Peterson, Alex Hurst, Zachary Roundy, Andrew Cudlipp and Hank Ahrens will all be recognized for their achievement at the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall on Central Valley Road from 4 to 6 p.m. “It’s kind of inertia,” said troop leader Tom Bougan. “The troop (1539) has had a total of just about 60 Eagle Scouts in their history.” The troop grew dramatically five or six years ago, Bougan said. So now those boys, many of whom started together, are beginning to graduate.
This Sunday is also set aside for another celebration — June 16 is Fathers’ Day. Bougan said it wasn’t planned that way on purpose. It was mainly done to accommodate families coming into town for graduation. But for those like Hank’s father, George Ahrens, spending Fathers’ Day at his son’s court of honor symbolizes the pinnacle of all their time spent together in the Scouts. When his son joined the Cub Scouts at around 6 or 7 years old, George got involved right along with him. He speaks of his and his son’s experience in scouting as an adventure that the two of them shared together. “We started with the Tigers and worked ourselves up through the Cub Scout program,” George said. When Hank moved up from the Cub Scouts to the Boy Scouts around the age of 10, George went with him. “I worked with most of the boys, became an assistant Scout Master so I could have some of the fun the boys were having,” George said. One of his favorite memories from his
Contributed Photo
Hank Ahrens stands with his father, George, after summiting Mt. St. Helens. Hank recently achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. In the smaller photo at right, the group from Troop 1539 poses for a photo. years in the Scouts with his son came just after they moved up to the Boy Scouts. They were snowshoeing into Ref lection Lake at the base of Mt. Rainier in November with
some of the other young scouts who had also just crossed over. The visibility was bad when they made camp — the mountain obscured by bad weather, but over-
night the weather cleared up. “The reward was, first of all, knowing they could (make the hike),” George said, “but, second of all, waking up the next
morning.” George spent what he estimates to be four or four-and-a-half years as an assistant Scout Master. See SCOUTS, A13
One-year closure of Bucklin Hill Road approved at county
Facilities district doles out $647,500 for various projects
lkelly@soundpublishing.com
By KEVAN MOORE
By Leslie Kelly
The closure of NW Bucklin Hill Road between Blaine Avenue NW and Mickelberry Road NW for about a year in order to construct a new bridge over Clear Creek was approved Monday by Kitsap County Commissioners. The closure, instead of
keeping one lane open throughout the construction, is expected to save the county up to $2 million. Commissioners approved a resolution that allows for the street to be closed to car and pedestrian traffic from April 2014 to December 2015. But Tina Nelson, senior planner for the county, said the reality is that the road will
most likely be closed from June 2014 to June of 2015. “The designs are not yet completed and we haven’t put the project out to bid,” she said. “So we left a wide window (of time) in the resolution. But most likely the actual construction will take about a year.” The $16.5 million project will see a new bridge built across Clear Creek on
Bucklin Hill Road and will include enhancements of the Bucklin Hill Estuary. According to County Engineer Jonathan Brand, the project team looked at closing the road to onelane traffic during the project but found that traffic flow would not be helped and having traffic in the See BUCKLIN HILL, A13
kmoore@soundpublishing.com
Kitsap Public Facilities District board members awarded $647,500 Monday night for projects in Bremerton, Silverdale and Poulsbo. The evening’s big winner was the city of Bremerton, which was awarded
$400,000 to expand the Kitsap Conference Center in the downtown Harborside District. The board also awarded $70,000 for improvements to Lobe Field in Silverdale and $30,000 to cover the cost of a newly installed press box at Gordon Field. See PROJECTS, A13