Review Bainbridge Island
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2013 | Vol. 113, No. 32 | www.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.com | 75¢
Historic boat sinks at Eagle Harbor Marina Rainfall, absentee owner may be to blame for loss BY BRIAN KELLY AND LUCIANO MARANO Bainbridge Island Review
A piece of Northwest history sank to the bottom of Eagle Harbor when the historic wooden tugboat “Chickamauga,” slipped beneath the waters while in its slip at the Eagle Harbor Marina early Wednesday, Oct. 2. Nobody was on board the nearly century-old boat when it sank. But a widespread pollution spill was avoided by the quick response of the Bainbridge Island Fire Department, who acted as first responders following initial reports of fuel and oil leaking from the sinking vessel. The fire department has a trailer of oil-spill response materials located behind Station 21 through a cooperative venture with the Department of Ecology. Assistant Chief Luke Carpenter of the Bainbridge Island Fire Department said three firefighters were able to extend 300 feet of an oil-spill boom around the 70-foot-long tugboat very soon after it sank. Absorbent pads were also placed in the water inside the boom to help soak up the diesel and lube oil mixture. “Today we had the resources, luckily enough,” Carpenter said. Maneuvering the boom into place was a bit tricky, given that sections of the boom come in 100-foot pieces that are 2-feet high. “It’s like trying to wrestle with a snake,” Carpenter said.
BY CECILIA GARZA Bainbridge Island Review
Luciano Marano | Bainbridge Island Review
Pads to soak up the fuel and oil float near the wheelhouse of the tugboat “Chickamauga” after it sank Wednesday in Eagle Harbor Marina. The fire department was notified Diving & Salvage, Inc., a Seattle-based that the tugboat was sinking at approxicontractor that specializes in containing chemical spills, arrived mately 9:30 a.m. on the scene at approxiEmergency respond“It’s like trying to ers could see fuel mately 11 a.m., followed starting to come from wrestle with a snake.” shortly by representatives the vessel as they put from the Department of Assistant Chief Luke Carpenter the boom in place. Ecology. Bainbridge Island Fire Department The exact amount “We’ve got it conof fuel on board the tained,” said Coast Guard boat, built in 1915, is Petty Officer 3rd Class not known. Carpenter estimated that Scott Wingfield. “The local fire departbetween 10 to 15 gallons of oil had ment did a great job.” leaked from the vessel as it sank. Harbormaster Doug Crow, who disCoast Guard officials from the Sector covered the vessel sinking earlier that Puget Sound Incident Management Team and a dive team from Global turn to boat | A18
Tugboat ‘Chickamauga’ was on state’s Heritage Register, had long and storied past in timber times BY BRIAN KELLY
Bainbridge Island Review
The old tugboat that sank Tuesday in Eagle Harbor had a rich historical past in the waters of Puget Sound. The hull of the nearly 100-year old “Chickamauga” disappeared beneath the waters of the harbor early Tuesday, with the top half of the vessel still visible at its mooring spot at the Eagle Harbor Marina. Karl House, a researcher with the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society,
City OKs interim rules for pot shops, collective gardens
said the tugboat was the first American-designed and built diesel-powered tugboat in the United States. Built in 1915, the vessel was placed on the Washington Heritage Register for its significant historic value. It was built as ships were making the transition from steam to diesel engines and, at the time of its construction, diesel engines were still in their infancy and had only been patented 17 years before the turn to timber times | A18
Photo courtesy of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society
The tug ‘Chickamauga’ during its early working days.
The Bainbridge Island City Council decided Wednesday to impose a temporary moratorium on marijuana grow operations and approve interim regulations on retailers, processors and medical marijuana “collective gardens.” The interim regulations limits processors, retailers and medical marijuana “collective gardens” to business industrial zones. Under the interim rules, such marijuana businesses could be located at the Day Road industrial park. Rolling Bay, the other area on the island earlier identified as a possible location, would not be “A large number of considered as a location citizens will be upset until the permanent ordinance is discussed. with us for doing a Council members moratorium.” noted, however, the Councilwoman Kirsten Hytopolous interim ordinance does Bainbridge Island little to address questions concerning marijuana grow operations other than they would be allowed anywhere crop agriculture is permitted. “I can’t imagine supporting an ordinance that allows some unknown smacking of parcels all over; that’s a long-term process,” said Councilwoman Kirsten Hytopolous. “I also think, however, that a large number of citizens will be upset with us for doing a moratorium on the retail operations,” she added. Interim rules and a temporary moratorium on grow operations will allow city staff to permit marijuana-related licenses with minimal negative impact on the community. The rules will act as placeholders for six months while the council considers more comprehensive regulations. In a permanent zoning ordinance, the city will examine impacts experienced by other communities such as the degradation of a neighborhood due to shuttered up homes; offensive odors; night time traffic and loitering; environmental damage; illegal structural modifications; conversion of a residence into a processing facility; and criminal issues, such as burglaries at medical marijuana facilities. Despite zoning concerns, one citzen came from Seattle to discuss the potential of opening a local medical marijuana business. Andrew Kohl of Organic Greens currently owns and manages a delivery business that distributes medicinal marijuana to patients from Belfair to Bainbridge. Just two weeks ago, he applied to open a safe access location on the island for his patients. Kohl said he was told by city staff to wait until this week’s council meeting when council members would discuss the interim regulations prompted by Initiative 502, the ballot measure passed last November that legalized recreational marijuana under Washington state law. Kohl explained that 30 percent of his patients come from Kitsap County and Bainbridge Island. turn to interim | A11