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Port Orchard
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
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SEE BALLOTS, A27
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▼ Matthes, Garrido advance in SK commissioner race; Dalton, Danielson in judicial contest.
By CHARLIE BERMANT
and others,” Devine said. Election results will be posted by 8:15 p.m. on election night at www.kitsapgov.com/aud/ elections.htm. According to the Election Division, there are 153,684 registered voters eiligible to vote in the Nov. 5 general election. Mail-in ballots for next week’s general election must be turned in or postmarked on Nov. 5, according to the Kitsap County Election Division. A ballot deposit box is located at the Auditor-Elections Division, 6119 Division St., Staff Writer
JEANETTE DALTON
Port Orchard resident hits 100-year mark
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).
Kitsap County voters began returning their mail-in ballots before the Nov. 5 deadline and are inline with projections. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, 31,103 ballots or 20 percent have been returned to the county’s Election Division. More than 7,200 ballots
SEE UPSETS, PAGE A2
came in Tuesday. “Ballot returns for the first week were right in line with projections,” said Shawn Devine, Election Division communications coordinator. “We received 18,688 ballots from Oct. 21-25, which is 11.23-percent turnout.” The Election Division reported that 4,868 ballots came in on Oct. 25 and 4,787 on Oct. 26. Devine said the Election Division, which falls under the Auditor’s Office, is anticipating a 50 percent turnout countywide. “Turnout will likely be higher in districts with closely contested races like the 26th Legislative District, Port Orchard city council
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Custodians won’t be replaced, $1.72 million will be taken from reserve fund.
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By CHRIS CHANCELLOR
“Renovation Celebration” will begin at 10 a.m. today at the Port Orchard Library with a ribbon cutting and a short ceremony thanking donors, along with guided tours and children’s activities. Guided tours of the building are set at 10:35 a.m. and 1 p.m. Toddler story time is set for 10:45 a.m. and preschool story time will be 11:45 a.m. The Science Club, for school-age children, will meet at 4:30 p.m. and the library will close at 6 p.m. Wilson said following the reopening, the library will return to its regularly scheduled library programming from book groups to classes for your preschoolers and toddlers. The library closed Aug. 31 for the renovation, which included replacing carpet, moving and redesigning the staff area and combining the circulation and reference desks into one single-service desk. The estimated cost of the renovation was about $130,000.
Staff Writer
Staff report
Editor
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
Library reopens today at 10 a.m.
By DANNIE OLIVEAUX
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
Before you go to bed Saturday night, remember to set your clocks back an hour as Daylight Saving Time (DST) ends at 2 a.m. Sunday morning. The concept of DST emerged in the late 1800s and was first implemented in parts of Europe during World War I. DST came to the United States in 1918 and was made mandatory nationwide during World War II. The government made DST optional for each state. Arizona and Hawaii do not set their clocks forward or back. Daylight Saving Time was extended by a month in 2007 by the Energy Policy Act. From 1987 to 2006, the start and end dates were the first Sunday in April and the last Saturday in October.
Election Division reports 18 percent of ballots returned as of Oct. 29
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
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
Daylight Savings Time ends Nov. 3
Tuesday is deadline for ballots Jesse Beals/Staff Photo
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-
SOUTH KITSAP’S SOURCE FOR LOCAL NEWS AND INFORMATION SINCE 1890
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.
Inside
A Section Editorial Robert Meadows Scene & Heard Sports Legal Notices Mary Colborn Obituaries
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INSIDE Residents voice concerns about school bus noise A3 BUSINESS Mother and son form Crossfit NXNW A9 SPORTS Corey Bell helps Wolves run past Stadium A29
By DANNIE OLIVEAUX Editor
A
rthur Alfred Mikkola has seen plenty of changes during his lifetime, especially during the past 100 years. Mikkola celebrated his 100th birthday on Oct. 29 with a party at the Ridgemont Apartments in Port Orchard. “Everything has changed,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of changes. I remember when there wasn’t a lot of cars yet.” Mikkola, a second-generation Finnish American, was born in 1913, in Melbourne, Fla., to John and Maria Mikkola, who immigrated to New York City in 1910. Mikkola’s father moved the family to the Seattle area in 1916 because of the logging industry. “Logging paid better up here than in Florida, so that is why my father came up her,e” Mikkola said. In 1919, after moving around, the family settled in Bainbridge Island. He said his father bought one of the first cars in Bainbridge Island — a 1924 Model T. “There wasn’t any ferries at the time, so we had to bring it over on a barge from Seattle,” Mikkola recalled. “There were no ferries and they didn’t start operating until 1925 or 1926.” While on Bainbridge Island, he attend schools at Rolling Bay and Lincoln in Winslow. In 1928, Mikkola was a freshman at the original all-island public high school, built the same year. SEE MIKKOLA, A27
Dannie Oliveaux/Staff Photo
Arthur Alfred Mikkola (seated) is pictured with his grandson, Matt Crawford; daughter, Marilyn Crawford, and great-granddaughter, Madeline Cooper.
South Kitsap’s Source for News & Information Since 1890