REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND
Friday, October 10, 2014 | Vol. 114, No. 40 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢
Park board will keep teen center in budget BY CECILIA GARZA Bainbridge Island Review
The Bainbridge Island Teen Center will live to see another year. In a board meeting late last week, the Bainbridge Island Metropolitan Park & Recreation District decided it couldn’t justify cutting what has become an island staple for Bainbridge youth from next year’s budget. “This is a real emotional topic, it is for everybody and for the alumni,” said Terry Lande, executive director of the district. Facing tight finances, the district had previously planned to cut the $40,000 cost of the center from next year’s budget and instead allocate $10,000 for teen outreach. The cut would have meant closing the doors to the center, which is located next door to Bainbridge High School, and eliminating several staff positions. It would have also meant removing a key gathering space for both students involved in after-school activities and students who have nowhere else to socialize. “We don’t get the number of participants that we did 5, 10, 15 years ago,” said Shannon Buxton, the program manager for the center. “That being said, I think it is still a part of a lot of kids’ lives, and a pretty big part of a few. So numbers go down, but those numbers have names.” The loss of the center, Buxton added, would not only upset alumni and families, but the youth involved would feel betrayed. “There are a handful that we see every single day for hours at a time,” Buxton said. “For whatever reason those kids don’t feel that TURN TO TEEN | A17
City nixes idea of joint police/fire facility BY CECILIA GARZA Bainbridge Island Review
The Bainbridge Island City Council decided Tuesday not to join the police and fire departments under one roof. City officials have been talking with the Bainbridge Island Fire Department for more than a year about the possibility of a joint facility that would house both a new headquarters station for the fire department and a new police station to replace the city department’s outdated digs on Winslow Way. Mayor Anne Blair said the idea was just too complex. “We want to do it in a partnership way, but when one has a landlord relationship and a tenancy relationship that complicates it when we have a government structure — two elected advising, two electing taxing authorities,” Blair said.
Illustration courtesy of Mackenzie, Inc. | City of Bainbridge Island
An artist’s rendering of a combined Bainbridge Island police/fire facility. Fire Commissioner Scott Isenman, chairman of the board for the Bainbridge Island Fire Department, said Wednesday the city’s decision marked a missed opportunity. “Surprise, no. Disappointment? I think it’s a lost opportunity to save what I consider a significant amount of money for the taxpay-
ers,” Isenman said. In addition to the savings that would have been realized from a combined facility, he noted, there would also be annual savings from having combined and reduced maintenance bills for the joint facility for both the city and TURN TO CITY | A21
Luciano Marano | Bainbridge Island Review
A group of rowers brave the polluted waters of Eagle Harbor to practice on Thursday.
Beach closed again after sewer spill BY BRIAN KELLY
Bainbridge Island Review
Water testing near the mouth of Ravine Creek following a sewage spill that started at 920 Hildebrand Lane on Sunday has revealed “very high concentrations of bacteria,” the city of Bainbridge Island reported Tuesday. The water sample in Eagle Harbor was collected Monday,
and city officials said more samples were being taken Tuesday to confirm the results of the previous test. Because the possibility exists that the 15,000-gallon spill could be the source of the high bacteria, the Kitsap Public Health District has set up a closure zone around the mouth of Ravine Creek in Eagle Harbor. Officials are asking Bainbridge Island residents and
visitors to stay at least 200 feet away from the stream mouth until further notice. The closure zone is based on the concentration of the bacteria in the stream water sample, the estimated stream flow, and other factors, officials said. In addition to the Eagle Harbor closure zone, the “no contact” TURN TO SPILL | A21
INSIDE: Leaders of the pack: A18
Police use stun gun on 72-year-old woman CHIEF SAYS INCIDENT IS UNDER INTERNAL REVIEW BY CECILIA GARZA Bainbridge Island Review
A confrontation between a 72-year-old woman and Bainbridge Island police that ended with an officer trying to use a stun gun on the woman is under review. The Bainbridge Island Police Department issued a statement Tuesday and said Police Officer Mo Stich was assaulted during the Saturday, Oct. 4 incident. Karen Summers Hellmuth was arrested Saturday, Oct. 4 after she allegedly entered a neighbor’s property in a dispute over landscaping. Hellmuth allegedly told her neighbor that the homeowner was planting trees that would kill her trees. Police contacted Hellmuth, who police say has a history of mental illness, at her home after the incident Saturday. Court documents claim Hellmuth then became combative and assaulted an officer. In a statement of probable cause, Stich said police went to the neighborhood in the 6100 block of Lynwood Center Road twice on Saturday. During the first visit, the neighbor told police that Hellmuth had come onto her property and screamed profanities at the residents about the trees they had planted. An officer did not find Hellmuth during the first visit. Within an hour, police were called back to the neighborhood after her neighbors could again hear Hellmuth screaming. Stich said she found Hellmuth talking to herself outside her trailer. After the officer introduced herself, Stich said Hellmuth became “agitated and aggressive” but was warned about trespassing on her neighbor’s property. “When I warned her not to trespass onto the neighbor’s property, Hellmuth jumped up and got into my face,” Stich said in the statement of probable cause. “I drew my Taser and pushed her way TURN TO POLICE | A17