Reporter Central Kitsap
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FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2014 | Vol. 29, No. 32 | WWW.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM | 50¢
It’s a special day on the farm for ‘Corey’s kids’ BY SERAINE PAGE
SPAGE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Everybody is the same. That’s what the founders of Corey’s Day on the Farm hope attendees feel about the two-day event hosted each and every year since 1968. The event is for special needs children who may not otherwise be able to participate in field trips or unique educational activities due to limitations through school. But the founders wanted to create a day just for those children to feel like they can do things like every-
one else. “We’ve had so many good, good memories,” said Coleta Corey, founder of the event, along with her husband, Nick Corey. “You look past the disability and look at the child.” The couple started the event officially the day after Mother’s Day as a way to honor other children who had special needs like the Coreys’ son, Danny. When they started, it was on their farm with three ponies. Since then, the event has grown and expanded to the Kitsap
Seraine Page/staff photo
Volunteers assist a little girl getting a ride during the event.
County Fairgrounds. With blue skies and fun times beckoning, the fairgrounds filled quickly on Monday and Tuesday morning with chaperones and parents escorting children of all ages around. From tiny tykes to teens, most heads were donned with cowboy hats and many wore bright “Corey’s Day on the Farm” t-shirts. Robert Silva brought his sons for the second year in a row to the event for the sunshine and experience that lights up his twin boys’ faces. “It’s fun,” said Silva. “They get to get out here and get to ride the horses and use the lasso and pet the animals.” Silva’s sons, Braeden and Jayce, 5, sat slurping snow cones while wearing cowboy hats and watching the animals at the petting zoo. Jayce said the event was “good” and he most enjoyed “riding the horsey.” The day trip is a way for special education students to get outside the classroom in a way that’s safe as well as education-
Seraine Page/staff photo
Braeden and Jayce Silva, both 5, pose in the sunshine during Corey’s Day on the Farm. Their dad brought the twins to the event, geared toward special needs children, for a good time. al. Horse rides, a petting zoo and snow cones were all part of the experience for children milling about the grounds. “It gives them a different look at things,” said Silva. “They don’t get to see a lot of this because we live in the city. It’s nice seeing the kids have a good time.” While it is not open to the public, it is open
to school students with special needs, Corey noted. Some come as far as Oregon to take part in the event that often helps “kids get some self esteem,” she said. The program was born out of an experience the couple had early on in Danny’s special needs classroom. After bringing puppies in for his fellow classmates to see,
it was obvious to the Coreys that the children had not been exposed to animals before. For the first year, 26 children visited the family’s farm to interact with animals in a supervised environment. For the couple, seeing children beam during the interactions became enough to
percent of the market value for each position, meaning that the district’s management staff would still be 5 percent below the going rate for these positions. Weninger said he was not proposing a raise for the facilities manager because his position had been recently combined with another position and at that time (2012) he was given a 10 percent raise. Commissioner Ralph Rogers said he had problems with giving the district’s IT manger a raise since the person in the position had only been with the district for two months. “At least let’s think about
waiting until he’s off probation,” Rogers said. Ronny Smith, vice president of Local IAFF 2819, the union representing firefighters and EMTs in the district, told commissioners that they should hold off on any management pay raises until 2015. “To do this (give raises) without any alternative (new) source of revenue is not right,” Smith said. “We need to dedicate ourselves to serving the residents of this district and making sure we can provide the best service possible before looking at administrative pay raises.” To that, commissioner Rogers asked if the union
would be willing to “bypass the four percent (raise) you’re trying to get?” The district is currently in contract negotiations with the union and union firefighters are working without a current contract. On the topic of the district’s financial situation, Chief Weninger told the board that he had planned to bring to them the results of an internal economic summit. But he said there was not a clear consensus among the group about what should be done to raise revenue and he hoped to have that for them later in the month.
SEE COREY’S DAY, A9
Fire district looking at raises for management BY LESLIE KELLY LKELLY@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Raises for management level employees in the Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue District, which would bring them more in line with comparable positions elsewhere in Kitsap County, were discussed Monday by the CKF&R board of commissioners. Raises ranging from 5 to 10 percent are being proposed by Fire Chief Scott Weninger for the deputy chief, the division chief, the finance manager, the human resources manager, the internet technology manager and the volunteer/support
manager. At Monday’s meeting, the board discussed the proposed raises, but delayed taking any action. The matter is expected to be on the commission’s next agenda later in the month. Weninger introduced the idea of pay raises for management-level staff last month, citing that management employees had not had a pay raise, or any cost of living raises since 2009. Monday he proposed the following raises: Deputy chief: $138,171, up 6.5 percent; Division chief: $130,843, up 5.6 percent; finance manager: $104,145, up 6.8 percent; HR
manager: $100,082, up 10.2 percent; maintenance manager: $92,700, same as now with no raise; IT manager, $96,386, up 8.6 percent; and volunteer manager: $69,500, up 7.1 percent. In total, including the increases in salaries and benefits, the cost to the district would be $47,713 annually. The proposed raises were based on surveys that the district had which showed salaries for comparable jobs in comparable fire districts and in other government agencies within Kitsap County, Weninger said. He said the salaries he was proposing were at just 95
SEE FIRE DISTRICT, A9