PATRIOT BREMERTON
Turning 100 WSU Extension Service has a rich history Page 8
FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 2014 | Vol. 17, No. 17 WWW.BREMERTONPATRIOT.COM | 50¢
Art project brings school together BY SERAINE PAGE SPAGE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Under the warm sun, Peace Lutheran School students soaked up sunshine and the opportunity to work together on an art project during an annual All School Art Day event last week. Each year, the entire student body — pre-K through eighth grade — gathers to work on an art project. This year’s theme focused on culture and the backgrounds of three artists from different countries: Japan, Mexico and the United States. “It’s a big part of our curriculum,” said Principal Doug Eisele of the arts. “It’s been a lot of fun.” Leading up to the actual art project, the different grade levels studied the artists, and the culminating project took place on the front lawns of the school where students painted wood cutouts in the shape of people. The idea for the project also was to “retire” the wooden fish that currently decorate the chain link fence in front of the school, Eisele said. Last week, while lying on stretches of grassy lawn, the students melded together like the paint on the wooden cut-
outs they painted. The older ones guided the younger kids with patience, even as they piled paint outside of the sketched lines. That, after all, was the idea, Peace Lutheran School Art Teacher Patricia Huelle said. “It’s just to get the whole student body together on a community project,” said Huelle. Each group had one wooden cutout of various skin tones to represent the melting pot that makes up the school, said Huelle. “That in and of itself represents who we are as a student body,” she said. Sitting in circles around a life-size wood cutout person, older student leaders took votes on design ideas, including eye color and clothing. Third-grader Ella Smith said “spending time together” was the best part of the all-day art project. “I think it’s coming along good,” Smith said of her group’s painting of a blonde girl in a dress. Some groups painted specific details, like Nike swooshes, as part of the footwear. A few of the younger students were more interested in enjoying the sunshine, as a few sat on the grass picking small flowers instead of
City looks at three options for busy street BY KEVAN MOORE
KMOORE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Huelle started the event eight years ago with the idea of creating a community project to be given to the school campus or church
Folks will have a chance to weigh in on three options for reconfiguring Bremerton’s Washington Avenue between Sixth Street and the Manette Bridge during an open house scheduled to run from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 12, at the Norm Dicks Government Center. In a 5-1 vote, the city council recently approved spending $321,000 with Parametrix, a local engineering firm that regularly does business with the city, to come up with three different configurations. The ultimate goal is to widen sidewalks and make room for bicyclists, something that has been a goal of the city’s for several years and is outlined in a variety of long-range planning documents. The project is being funded through a $1.7 million state pedestrian and bicycle grant. The first option Parametrix will provide details on would reduce Washington Avenue from two lanes in both directions to just one lane in each direction. That configura-
SEE ART PROJECT, A9
SEE WASHINGTON, A9
Seraine Page/staff photo
Peace Lutheran students paint projects on the front lawns of the school. participating in painting. Within 30 minutes, the entire school—all 225 students — were finished with the cutouts, including flowers that would decorate the fence as well.
Cops can now stop arrests, not just make them BY KEVAN MOORE KMOORE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Kevan Moore/staff photo
Officer Robbie Davis shows off one of the Bremerton Police Department’s new Automated External Defibrillators.
It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3. And it’s only a matter of time before it saves someone’s life in Bremerton. Patrol officers from the Bremerton Police Department now have eight Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to take with them on the road in the event they come across someone in cardiac distress. “I’ve already offered pizza to the first officer that can get a save with one of these and we have a good friendly competition going on, particularly
with the fire department,” Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan recently told the city council. “If a person goes into full arrest in the City of Bremerton, there will be lots of people showing up as quickly as possible to their door, which is great. It’s the way it should be.” The AEDs were provided through a Washington State Department of Emergency Management grant made available through the Department of Homeland Security. All of the devices are portable and able to go in patrol cars for easy access, just like the first aid kits officers already carry.
“It’s pretty simple,” said Officer Robbie Davis, who helped set up the kits for officers to take to the streets. “You just turn it on and it tells you what to do. I mean, these are so simple that even I can use them.” The police headquarters on Burwell Street already has three AED stations, but now residents will be able to benefit from the lifesaving technology as well. “The chief wants everybody in the department to learn how to use these whether they have one in a car or not,” Davis said, noting that officers can pick them up at the station at the
start of a shift, just like they do with the rest of their equipment. “The fact is, (and Bremerton Fire Chief Al Duke) can tell you this, these really are lifesavers,” said Chief Strachan. “It’s just an amazing technology.” The devices come with a special key that lessens the voltage for children eight years or younger and those that weigh less than