REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND
Friday, November 21, 2014 | Vol. 114, No. 46 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢
Newspaper celebrates prestigious media award
INSIDE: Spartans great at state, A10
Transient charged with stealing mayor’s Mercedes
Dog dies in accidental house fire
Review named one of the top non-dailies in North America BY REVIEW STAFF
The Bainbridge Island Review was named one of the best newspapers for its size in the United States and Canada in the 2014 Newspaper of the Year competition by the Local Media Association. The Review won second place in the extremely competitive contest in the category of non-daily newspapers up to 10,000 in circulation. The award was announced by the LMA Wednesday. “We are very proud of our Bainbridge team for winning this prestigious award. It is an honor to be chosen from so many tremendous publications across North America and Canada,” said Bainbridge Review Publisher Lori Maxim. The LMA is a media industry organization of newspapers, radio and television stations, directories and pure play companies and is built on a foundation of more than 2,400 traditional media outlets. The 2014 Newspaper of the Year competition was judged by the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Judges praised the Review for its news content, front page design, reader appeal, advertising and photography. The judges said the newspaper boasts a “great layout, clear organization, attractive typography and layout” as also noted its “strong coverage with good diversity” and “great photography.” The Gaylord Herald Times, a Gaylord, Michigan newspaper published by Schurz Communications, won first place in the category of non-daily newspapers up to TURN TO AWARD | A7
Mountain Dew bottle leads to arrest BY BRIAN KELLY
Bainbridge Island Review
Brian Kelly | Bainbridge Island Review
A Bainbridge firefighter walks past the burning home on the island’s north end after emergency workers responded Sunday to a two-alarm fire.
Two-alarm blaze claims waterfront home BY BRIAN KELLY
Bainbridge Island Review
A waterfront home on Bainbridge Island was destroyed in an early morning fire and one of the homeowners was injured when he ran back into his burning home to find the family’s dog. The man was not seriously burned, fire officials said. Bainbridge Island Fire Marshal Luke Carpenter said firefighters were finally able to enter the one-story home late Sunday, and discovered the dog had been killed in the fire. “Yesterday afternoon we were able to go in through a window and found the dog under the bed,” Carpenter said Monday. The fire was reported at 9:32 a.m. Nov. 16 after the homeowners heard an explosion in their basement. “What we initially got [called to] was a house on fire after a propane explo-
Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Fire Department
Flames were through the roof when emergency responders arrived at the north end home. sion,” Carpenter said. Investigators said Tuesday the blaze was likely caused by the exhaust from a generator that set the wood siding of the house on fire. The flames spread from the wood siding of the house into the basement, where officials said flammable and combustible materials were being stored. The homeowner had started a gas-powered gen-
erator after power went out in the area Sunday morning. The man and woman who live in the house reported hearing an explosion in the basement, and the woman called 911. Carpenter said there were “lots of secondary explosions.” Multiple neighbors also called 911. Carpenter said both occupants got out safely,
but the man was burned on the back of his head when he went back inside the burning home to look for the family’s dog and something burning struck him from behind. Carpenter said the man’s burns were minor, and he was taken to Harrison Medical Center for treatment. The home was located at least a quarter mile south of Sivertson Road NE on a narrow gravel driveway, and firefighters stretched long lines of hoses to tenders waiting on Sivertson Road to get water on the flames. The first-in engine, Engine 84, came from North Kitsap Fire & Rescue, Carpenter said. Bainbridge firefighters were not first on the scene because they responded from the Madison Avenue station; Bainbridge’s station on Phelps Road is not TURN TO BLAZE | A7
A 31-year-old transient man was charged with a felony in Kitsap County District Court for stealing the car of the mayor of Bainbridge Island from his Point Monroe driveway last March. Adam Carter was charged with second degree taking a motor vehicle without permission in court Oct. 3. Authorities said a half-empty bottle of Mountain Dew that was left in the stolen car led to Carter’s arrest. According to court papers, Carter stole a 2000 Mercedes SL500 from the driveway of then-Mayor Steve Bonkowski’s home on Point Monroe Drive on March 1. Bonkowski — who at the time was serving as the city’s council-appointed mayor — told police he had not given permission for anyone to take his car. The stolen Mercedes was later found in a parking lot in Port Orchard. Police found a half-empty bottle of Mountain Dew on the floor next to the front passenger seat. The soda bottle was sent to the state crime lab, and investigators discovered in April that the lab results matched a previous case from 2008 that involved Carter as a suspect. Police obtained a search warrant to get a DNA sample from Carter — who was by then an inmate at the Airway Heights Corrections Center near Spokane — in June. During that prison visit, TURN TO CHARGED | A7