Cody Wright from Milford, Utah, got a mouth full of mud and a zero score after falling off Strawberry Delight in the Saddle Bronc Riding competition Wednesday night at the Kitsap County Stampede. The fair runs through Sunday.
Inside
A Section Editorial Robert Meadows Scene & Heard Sports Legal Notices Mary Colborn Obituaries
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INDEPENDENT PORT ORCHARD
NJROTC hosting fundraiser for marksmanship team • A4
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By CHRIS CHANCELLOR Senior Reporter
during Tuesday night’s primary election, as the perceived front-runners came in third and were disqualified in their respective races. Republican Tim Matthes drew the most votes in the South Kitsap commissioner’s race, followed by Democrat Charlotte Garrido. Monty Mahan, who was the first to declare for the seat and earned the endorsement of local mayors, came in third (See related story, page A3).
SEE UPSETS, PAGE A2
Grand re-opening Jan. 16 for new Harper Pier A3
JEANETTE DALTON
and pension rates along with inflation as issues. In addition to the money saved on custodians, Patton said the district will dip into its reserve fund for $1.72 million. She said that’s not all bad because the district saved more than it anticipated in its last fiscal year, which ends Aug. 31. Patton said they also will save through not filling other vacant positions in the district, and through cutting expenses on supplies. The board unanimously adopted the budget. Patton warned in previous meetings that the “hard decisions” likely won’t end
TIM MATTHES
4DIPPM EJTUSJDU MPPLT UP CBMBODF JUT CPPLT
▼ Custodians won’t be replaced, $1.72 million will be taken from reserve fund.
By CHRIS CHANCELLOR
Dannie Oliveaux / Staff Photo
A man dives backward into the Olalla Bay during the annual Olalla Polar Bear Jump on New Year’s Day. The event attracted hundreds of participants — of all ages — along with a large group of onlookers. Temperatures were in around 40 at noon at the official start.
Editor
An investigation is underway into the death a male inmate in the Kitsap County Jail, according to the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office. KCSO reported that corrections officers found the inmate in his cell about 7:10 a.m. Jan. 2 and he was pronounced dead at the scene by South Kitsap Fire and Rescue emergency medical personal. The Kitsap County Coroner’s Office identified the man as Timothy
Lawrence Prince, 35, from Central Kitsap. Prince was being detained in a pre-trial status. He had been arrested and booked into jail on Sept. 22, for escape from community custody by Washington State Department of Corrections, KCSO reported. A probable cause charge of harassment was filed at the time of his booking from an earlier investigation conducted by Bremerton police. An additional charge of custodial assault was filed
BRUCE DANIELSON
By DANNIE OLIVEAUX
Dec. 16 after Prince resisted a change in custody movement within the jail and assaulted a corrections supervisor. Total bail for all charges was $200,000. KCSO reported that Prince’s death is an apparent suicide. Since this incident occurred while the inmate was in the custody of KCSO, the investigation is being conducted by an outside agency — Port Orchard Police Department — per
South Kitsap’s Source for News & Information Since 1890
SEE INMATE, A7
CHARLOTTE GARRIDO
Investigation underway in inmate’s death at county jail
SEE SCHOOL, PAGE A2
activities she reported as stemming from Keehn’s attempts to operate a business out of her home. Weaver said following an April 11 hearing with the city’s Hearing Examiner, certain conditions were placed on Keehn’s permit to mitigate Cronan’s concerns before she would be allowed to operate her business. “(Keehn) has addressed all but one of those conditions, with the last being the letter from the (Kitsap County) Health Department,” Weaver said, explaining that Keehn’s current sewer facilities are
SEE NEIGHBORS, PAGE A2
SEE LAWSUIT, A7
Inside Kitsap Week!
Staff Writer
chasing it last spring. City Development Director James Weaver confirmed that Keehn received a conditional-use permit to operate a onechair hair salon out of her home, which he described as “pretty innocuous” and something that doesn’t typically reach “the level of intensive use,” as far as impacts on the neighborhood are concerned. However, since November of 2007, Cronan has filed multiple complaints with the city regarding traffic, noise and other
Derek Sparks’ lawsuit against the South Kitsap School District and former superintendent Dave LaRose will proceed after a motion for summary judgment was denied in U.S. District Court. Judge Ronald Leighton on Dec. 16 denied the defendants’ motion. On March 18, Leighton granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss Sparks’ wrongful-termination claim. But he denied the defendants’ attempts to take the same action with Sparks’ 11 remaining claims, which include racial discrimination and retaliation. Sparks, who was hired as the fifth football coach in as many years in June at Seattle’s Sparks Garfield High School, worked as a career counselor from 2009-11 within SKSD. He also served as a football and track assistant coach at South Kitsap High School. The only conclusion that both parties seem to agree upon is that SKSD’s board of directors voted not to renew Sparks’ contract. “With so much in dispute there is no point to recite it all in a ‘summary’ proceeding,” Leighton wrote Dec. 16. “Suffice it to say, this case was destined for trial and the time and effort to mount the summary judgment motion would have been better spent on trial preparation.” No trial date has been set. According to court documents, SKSD officials did not renew Sparks’ contract because of “abuse of sick leave, abuse of professional leave, and lying to human resources about the uses of sick leave and professional leaves.” Sparks, who is African-American, claims that decision was racially motivated. It is not his first legal action against an academic institution; he sued a California preparatory school before coming north to play football at Washington State University. With regard to SKSD, Sparks said all of his sick and professional leave was authorized by his supervisor, Thomas Mosby, the director of career and technical education until he left in 2013 to run Highline School District’s Puget Sound Skills Center. Mosby denied to investigators that he approved the absences. Sparks also alleged that he was subjected to disparate treatment because of his race. He said a trio of SKHS staff members — teachers Jim Fairweather and Dave Neighbors and career center coordinator Sandy Elton — made racially insensitive remarks on separate occasions. All three have denied the allegations. According to court documents, Sparks said he also resigned his position with the school’s football program because he no longer could tolerate other coaches on the staff “who were
Pullout Poster
Jesse Beals/Staff Photo
shot in three of her home’s windows. Cronan, who lives on the 200 block of Flower Meadows Street in Port Orchard, said she believed the attack was part of an ongoing dispute with Keehn, whom she alleges has been running a hair salon out of her home without a business license and in defiance of a city “stop-work” order. Keehn, 30, said she filed for permission from the city of Port Orchard to operate a hair salon out of her home on the 2300 block of Flower Avenue soon after pur-
Plaintiff alleges 2011 firing was based on racial discrimination
GO HAWKS!
The South Kitsap School District is a little closer to closing its $2.9 million deficit for the upcoming school year. Terri Patton, assistant superintendent for business and support services, said at Wednesday’s school board meeting that the district won’t replace five full-time custodians who left the district after the last school year. She said that will save the district $250,000. Patton said the deficit stems from unforeseen circumstances when the district presented its last levy to voters in 2004. She cited escalating teacher salaries
Both sides report feeling harassed in rift over home business.
Neighbor denies pellet gun shooting
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By JUSTINE FREDERIKSEN
Staff Writer
Tensions between two Port Orchard neighbors that erupted after one attempted to open a home business last year led both women to head down to the Kitsap County Courthouse Monday and file restraining orders against each other. Shelia Cronan, 49, said she filed a restraining order against Amber Keehn after returning home from a camping trip Aug. 17 and discovering pellets had been
Sparks’ lawsuit against SKSD will proceed
TAKING A COLD DIP
Canton resigns as SK’s head football coach A8