REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND
FRIDAY, September 12, 2014 | Vol. 114, No. 37 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢
INSIDE: Spartans win second game: A16
Father grabs 3-year-old daughter as she falls from cliff BY BRIAN KELLY
Bainbridge Island Review
A 34-year-old Bainbridge Island man was called a hero Sunday after he grabbed his 3-year-old daughter as she went over a cliff and the man apparently shielded her fall with his body as they hit a retaining wall on the beach 60 feet below. Bainbridge police and firefighters — and emergency responders from Poulsbo, Central Kitsap and Navy Region Northwest — converged at the scene near the western end of Hidden Cove Road just after the accident about 2 p.m. Sunday. Authorities said Jonathan Borovsky saw his daughter was about to go over the side of the bluff, but grabbed her and went over the side with her. Both were hurt in the fall. The man was taken from the beach, put in a police boat from Poulsbo, and taken a short distance up the Bainbridge coast to a waiting medic unit.
Borovsky was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center shortly after 3 p.m. The child’s injuries appeared less severe. She was seen in a child’s car seat being carried by EMTs to a gravel roadway near the accident scene, and then placed in the back of a waiting Bainbridge Island ambulance. The child’s mother joined her in the back of the ambulance. They were also taken to Harborview Medical Center via the Bainbridge ferry. “We were very, very fortunate,” said Bainbridge Police Officer Trevor Ziemba. Ziemba credited the man with taking the brunt of the fall. “The hero of it all looks like it’s the dad,” he said. Ziemba said the man got there just in time. “The little girl started going toward the cliff and he saw her,” Ziemba said. Both went over the side of the cliff, which was described as being
Brian Kelly | Bainbridge Island Review
Emergency responders get ready to take a man and his 3-year-old daughter to Harborview Medical Center Sunday after the girl went over the side of a cliff near Hidden Cove Road. brush-covered near the top, but clear with a straight 18-foot drop at the bottom. Though high-angle, rope-rescue experts were called in, authorities decided the injured man did not need to be taken back up the cliff.
“We didn’t need the technical rescue assets that we had already called for,” said Bainbridge Island Assistant Fire Chief Jared Moravec. “We were able to find a quicker alternative to get him out.” Instead, responders decided to
Bainbridge High grieves loss of much-loved teacher Mike Anderson dies in tragic drowning accident BY BRIAN KELLY AND CECILIA GARZA Bainbridge Island Review
Staff and students at Bainbridge High School were shocked and saddened by the sudden and tragic death of Mike Anderson in a drowning accident late Sunday in Tiger Lake in north Mason County. Anderson was the head coach for the Spartans co-ed tennis team, an economics teacher at Bainbridge High and the career and technical education director at the school. “We really are still in disbelief,” said BHS Principal Mary Alice O’Neill. “The staff — we’re just shocked and so sad. It’s a huge loss,” O’Neill said. Anderson died while swimming in Tiger Lake, a popular recreation destination about 10 miles south of Bremerton, on Sept. 7. Detective William Adam of the Mason County Sheriff’s Office said deputies arrived at Tiger Lake at about 6:10 p.m. Sunday after receiving two 911 calls about a woman screaming for help and a swimmer in distress. Deputies responded with a medic and fire unit.
Luciano Marano | Bainbridge Island Review
Bainbridge High teacher and longtime tennis Coach Mike Anderson gathers with his Spartan tennis team before a practice session last season. “Upon arrival, they were able to see out on the water somebody being given CPR on [a] motorboat,” Adam said. Recreational boaters had pulled Anderson out of the water, but were unable to restart the boat to get him to shore, Adam explained. Since emergency responders did not have a boat in the Tiger Lake area,
Anderson was transferred to another passing recreational boat before he was brought to medics waiting on the shoreline. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. Staff at Bainbridge High were told of Anderson’s death before school started for the day. An announcement was made to students later in the morning. Counselors were made available to staff, students and families, and O’Neill said some students had already come by to talk to counselors. A counselor also met with the tennis team after school Monday. Anderson, 60, was a longtime educator and taught for the past 19 years at Bainbridge High. He was the head coach for the Spartans co-ed tennis team, an economics teacher at BHS and the career and technical education director at the school. According to Bainbridge High, Anderson started his career as an educator in 1978 in the Sunnyside School District and came to the Bainbridge Island School District in 1994. “It’s a very, very sad day,” said District Superintendent Faith Chapel. TURN TO TEACHER | A19
put him into a police boat and then take him to a nearby property that had easy access to the water. Ziemba was soaked up to nearly his waistline after taking part in the rescue. Ziemba helped with the transition from the land to the boat, and he was quick to point out that the firefighters at the scene were the ones who deserved all the praise for the rapid response and rescue. The man and toddler who went over the cliff did not live at the property where the incident occurred, police said, but instead were neighbors over for a visit. A spokeswoman at Harborview Medical Center said Jonathan Borovsky’s condition has improved since he was brought in Sunday. According to the spokeswoman, Borovksy was taken out of the hospital’s intensive care unit earlier this week and is in satisfactory condition. His daughter has been released from the hospital.
Council OKs new rules to help save trees Changes come after loss of forest BY CECILIA GARZA Bainbridge Island Review
In the shadow of last month’s clear-cutting of a forest near High School Road, the Bainbridge Island City Council accepted several recommended changes last week to the city’s landscaping and tree regulations. The changes have been a long time coming. A tree ordinance ad hoc committee has met 11 times since January to compile recommendations. More revisions are planned, but the tree ordinance ad hoc committee’s first chapter of recommended changes
will put more emphasis on preservation of trees in the mixed-use town center/ High School Road zoning district. “The overarching goal that the community kept in mind was how to maintain an increase of trees and tree canopy in these areas while recognizing the desire for compact, urban development, which currently is kind of our growth strategy in our comprehensive plan,” said city planner Jennifer Sutton. To encourage the planting of even more trees, the committee asked the council to consider starting a Street Tree Program that would fund planting new trees around the downtown TURN TO TREES | A19