Reporter Central Kitsap
KITSAP WEEK Musical tribute to the Beatles at the Admiral in Bremerton In this edition
FRIDAY, MAY 30, 2014 | Vol. 29, No. 34 | WWW.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM | 50¢
Family sticks to Memorial Day tradition BY LESLIE KELLY LKELLY@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Karen Smith and Norma Vane spent Memorial Day the same way they have for years — getting their hands dirty. The two sisters, who grew up in Seabeck, were at Forest Lawn Cemetery early Monday to trim up around the grave markers of family members who have passed. “We have them scattered around in this area,” said Vane. “Our mother, and father, our brother and two sets of grandparents. We just come out for the day and make sure we tend to each grave.” With them was their cousin, Evelyn Hagen, of Lynden, who was busy creating bouquets for each grave from the flowers they’d brought from their garden. “Actually, these flowers are from my mother’s yard,” said Smith, who now cares for the family homestead in Seabeck. Smith and Vane’s mother Laura (Hagen) Westeren lived to be 101 and just passed away two years come this August, the sister said. “Our mother came with us to the cemetery to do this every year up until she passed,” said Vane. “When she got too old to walk, she’d sit in the car and watch us work.” Each of them had garden tools and they were busy scraping the grass and weeds away from the head-
BY LESLIE KELLY LKELLY@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
logging community, according to a written history of Seabeck. In 1856 Marshall Blinn sailed into the bay
Raises for management level employees in the Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue District were approved Monday by the CKF&R board of commissioners. Four of the five fire commissioners approved the raises, with Commissioner Dick West voting no. Raises range from 5 to 10 percent and were proposed last month by Fire Chief Scott Weninger. Included are the positions of deputy chief, the division chief, the finance manager, the human resources manager, the internet technology manager and the volunteer/support manager. Weninger cited that management employees had not had a pay raise, or any cost of living raises since 2009. West, while voting no, said he didn’t oppose the raises, just the way they were being paid for. The current year’s increase will be paid with district contingency funds. “I’m in favor of the (wage) resolution and what it does,” West said. “Just not the funding mechanism being used.” Raises approved Monday are: 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. Raises will become effective July 1 and will cost the district $18,279 this calendar year. That’s because the resolution passed included wording that prohibits raises to management employees within their first year
SEE SEABECK, A9
SEE FIRE DISTRICT, A9
Leslie Kelly/staff photo
Karen Smith and Norma Vane spend part of Memorial Day at Bremerton’s Forest Lawn Cemetery tending to the graves of their mother, father, a brother and two sets of grandparents. stones where they sat. While many celebrate Memorial Day by attending services to honor fallen veterans, the sisters have come
to see Memorial Day as a time to also remember those loved ones of their own who have gone before them. Like their mother.
“She was something,” said Vane. “She had a great sense of humor,” SEE MEMORIAL DAY, A9
Seabeck Conference Center marks 100 years BY LESLIE KELLY LKELLY@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
The first guest to ever stay at what is now the Seabeck Conference Center checked in on June 11, 1915. That means that beginning in June, Seabeck Conference Center will be celebrating its centennial year. And, according to conference center executive director Chuck Kraining, special events are in the making. “This year starts our hundredth year of service to the community and we plan on celebrating for the entire year, up until we check in our first guest of the next hundred years,” Kraining said. To mark the beginning of the 100th year, a public open house and barbecue will be from 3 to 6 p.m. on June 14 at the conference center. The event will be an old-fashioned ice cream social, with hot dogs and hamburgers, Pepsi and popcorn. There
Fire district managers set to get pay raises
will be some historic cars and even a 1915 Model-T pickup that was used to take travelers to and fro, and haul goods to Seabeck. It is owned by Dick Joseph and was recently restored by Vern Christopher. The Navy’s Northwest jazz band will play, as will a local recording artist, Tom Rawson, and bagpiper Tyron Heade. For the kids, there will be a bounce house. For the adults, board members, staff and volunteers will escort visitors on tours of the buildings and grounds, telling them about the history of the center. It’s a chance for those who don’t know about the Seabeck Conference Center to come and share in its history, Kraining said. “We’ve just opened our new building, the Juniper,” he said. “It was updated through a capital campaign that has just finished its first phase.” The Juniper is next door to the
Leslie Kelly/staff photo
Vern Christopher and Fred Just stand in front of a restored Model-T pickup. main building, which when it was built in 1857, was called the “Meeting House.” What is now the conference center, was once an old mill town and