PATRIOT
BEER RUN: KITSAPweek A quick row One man, the sea across the water ...and a keg of beer to Seattle
BREMERTON
A u g . 2 9 — S e p t . 4 , 2 014
Lots of savings in Kitsap’s largest Classified section
LIFE AND CULTURE
IN THIS EDITION
Slippery Pig brewer rows from Poulsbo to Seattle to deliver a keg of beer. — page 2
Kingston Pie in the Park sets record — page 13
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014 | Vol. 17, No. 28 | WWW.BREMERTONPATRIOT.COM | 50¢
IN THE PATRIOT
Pages 16-23
Affordable white wines for fall — page 14
65,000 circulation every Friday in the Bainbridge Island Review | Bremerton Patriot | Central Kitsap Reporter | North Kitsap Herald | Port Orchard Independent
Playground lets everybody play BY KEVAN MOORE KMOORE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
BUSINESS Chamber CEO Mike Strube takes new job — Page 3
FEATURES Is a soapbox derby making a comeback? — Page 6
BIZ PROFILE Eclectic has a little something for everyone — Page 11
OPINION Columnist takes a closer look at ferry system — Page 4
Gabe Uhtoff is nonverbal and faces fine motor skills challenges, but his body language and beaming smile this past Sunday at Bremerton’s Beyond Accessible Playground said it all: the new playground is truly a place where all may play. Whether he was cruising down a roller slide or sharing some time with his Cougar Valley Elementary classmate Michael Czarnik on an upscale teeter-totter, it was clear that Gabe was having a blast. The playground at Evergreen Rotary Park includes a two-sided communication panel with various pictures representing different activities, something that Gabe and other kids with special needs are used to seeing at home and in school. At one point on Sunday afternoon, Gabe pointed to one of the panels indicating he wanted to sit in the grass. Other choices could have allowed him to spin, swing, roll, see-saw, get a drink and more. But, for whatever reason, at that moment in the blazing sun, Gabe just wanted to chill for a bit in the soft, artificial grass. But Gabe’s mom,
Kevan Moore / staff photo
Trenidy Hedrick holds her son James at Harrison Medical Center in Silverdale.
Kevan Moore / staff photo
Cougar Valley Elementary classmates Michael Czarnik, left, and Gabe Uhtoff have a blast together aboard an upscale teeter-totter at Bremerton’s Beyond Accessible Playground on Sunday. Rebekah Uhtoff, who along with April Mills and others involved with Bremerton Beyond Accessible Play have spent years making the playground a reality, didn’t take too many breaks on Sunday. She was too busy showing off all of the amenities of the new playground and accepting thank-you’s from just about everyone that came out for the soft-opening. “It truly takes villages upon villages upon villages to raise children with special needs,” Rebekah said. “We’ve taken down
all the physical barriers by taking down the old playground, now we need to take down all of the social ones. We want to get to the point where people won’t blink when they see a child in a wheelchair or one that is on crutches.” “Doublewide” ramps on the elevated play structure are wide enough for a wheelchair and then some. Ledges, water fountains, and other structures are also designed with wheelchairs in mind. “These things will save my back and give kids
Baby comes shortly after mom was sent home
the independence they so desperately crave,” Rebekah said. Even the park benches on the perimeter of the play area, are designed with enough room for a wheelchair to fit right next to them. “This is one of the things I’ve really been looking forward to, is sitting on a park bench like all the other moms and dads while my child plays with his brother,” Rebekah said. Uhtoff and others are hoping that new playground will allow all
Trenidy Hedrick doesn’t think that her son should have been born in the passenger seat of a three-door Saturn while a state trooper stood by on the side of State Route 3 near the Newberry Hill exit in Silverdale. Hedrick is sitting on a hospital bed in room 9 of the maternity ward at Harrison Medical Center in Silverdale on Tuesday afternoon. She’s wearing jeans and a striped shirt while holding her beautiful baby boy in her arms. Hedrick’s boyfriend is asleep on a nearby couch. Hedrick’s son, James Joseph, was born at 3:20 a.m. on Monday, and weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and measured 19 inches long. James came into this world short-
SEE PLAYGROUND, A9
SEE BABY, A9
BY KEVAN MOORE KMOORE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Port renames its industrial manufacturing center BY KEVAN MOORE KMOORE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
The South Kitsap Industrial Area, which for years has commonly been known by its acronym, SKIA, has a new name. Port of Bremerton commissioners on Tuesday unanimously
approved re-naming the area the Puget Sound Industrial Center — Bremerton. Port Commissioner Axel Strakeljahn is credited with coming up with the idea of re-naming the area and the new name itself. “How do we gain
regional identity so that when we go to market, whether it be nationally or internationally, our customers and businesses that we communicate with can identify with us?” Strakeljahn said. “And, that’s where ‘Puget Sound’ came from. And, of course,
we are a manufacturing industrial center, the only one on the west side of Puget Sound, and thus the name ‘industrial center’ was kept and maintained for that specific purpose. And then we wanted to have the local identity kept in there
for Bremerton. That’s really how the name came up.” Last week, the Bremerton City Council threw its full support behind the new name. Mayor Patty Lent noted that the industrial area was annexed into the city through a series
of expansions that began in 2008. “Since that time, the city has worked to develop plans for the growth of this regionally designated manufacturing industrial center,” Lent said. “Key to the implementation SEE PORT, A9
The Bremerton Patriot: Top local stories, every Friday in print. Breaking news daily on BremertonPatriot.com and on Facebook