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
Inserts: Fred Meyer, RiteAid, Office Depot, Best Buy, Staples, Wal-Mart, Valassis
A4 A4 A5 A6 A7 A7 A8
Printed with recycled paper and environmentally friendly soybean oil-based ink.
INDEPENDENT PORT ORCHARD
FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2015 ✮ VOL. 124, NO. 6 ✮ WWW.PORTORCHARDINDEPENDENT.COM ✮ 50¢
Waldbillig said during the morning hours of March 8, Haggen will be officially open in Port Orchard. The pharmacy will remain open throughout the conversion process. “Thursday is the last official day as Safeway,” said Waldbillig, who has been store manager for nine months. “We don’t have a 100 percent timeline, but between Thursday evening and Sunday morning we’ll have all the signs changed.” Waldbillig, a 15-year Safeway
Foundation proposes Sports Memorial Garden at SKHS A13
CHARLOTTE GARRIDO
South Kitsap’s Source for News & Information Since 1890
TIM MATTHES
SEE MILLER, A22
New skate shop opens in downtown Port Orchard A8
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).
Editor
It’s been a year of attending community functions, festivals, parades and dressing up in fancy dresses for Fathoms Queen Devenn Miller. But this weekend, the 18-year-old South Kitsap High School senior will end her year-long resign as Fathoms queen and crown her successor at the annual Fathoms o’ Fun Scholarship Pageant March 7 at Christian Life Center, 1780 Mitchell Ave.
“It has been really amazing,” Miller said. “We have done a lot of fun thing and I have learned a lot of things. It has been really a great experience.” Miller said she learned about responsibility and public speaking. “It has really changed me,” she said. “I would have never been able to stand up and tell anyone anything. And know I fell more confident in myself and in what I am
BRUCE DANIELSON
By DANNIE OLIVEAUX
Daylight Saving Time (DST) begins at 2 a.m. March 8 and will end at 2 a.m. Nov. 1. Remember to set you clock ahead one hour. Most states — except Arizona and Hawaii — observe DST, which the federal government doesn’t mandate to states. DST also is practiced in most European countries. The U.S. passed a law standardizing the daylight saving time start and end dates in 1918.
JEANETTE DALTON
Miller grows while handling Fathoms queen responsibilities
SEE UPSETS, PAGE A2
4DIPPM EJTUSJDU MPPLT UP CBMBODF JUT CPPLT
Photo by DeFord Photography
▼ Custodians won’t be replaced, $1.72 million will be taken from reserve fund.
Fathoms Queen Devenn Miller has spent the past year participating in parades, festivals and attending many community events.
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
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 COUNCIL, A24
Courtesy Photo
A new Haggen sign will be hung on the old Port Orchard Safeway store this week.
By CHRIS CHANCELLOR
Editor
The Port Orchard City Council voted 5-1 to update fees and free policies for the Developments of Community Development (DCD) and Public Works during the Feb. 24 meeting. Councilman Jerry Childs was the lone opposing vote. Jeff Cartwright was absent from the meeting. During a public hearing, no one spoke on the issue. Development Director Nick Bond said the resolution moved the city to the most recent August 2014 Building Valuation Table by the International Code Council (ICC). In April, the council approved a resolution that updated the DCD and Public Works permit, application and review fees for the first time since 2006. During the past year, city staff has identified the need for some clarification regarding certain fees, according to Bond. Bond noted that the ICC updates building valuation tables twice annually to provide accurate estimates of construction values for building permit fees and plan review calculations. Some changes include a $100 installation fee for prefabricated carports, a $135 free for solar panel installations, residing permits that are based on bid price, calculation of fees for door and window replacements based on bid price, reduce the SEPA appeal and other appeal fees from $500 to $450, add exemption ($100) and variance ($1,275 plus hearing examiner fee) fee for View Protection Overlay District regulations, and set fees for development agreements at the city’s actual cost with a $1,000 deposit required to start the process. “The adjustments will keep our estimates consistent with current building evaluation data,” Bond said. “We are using 2010 data and prices for things have changed since 2010. This will help us keep up with changing costs.”
ENDING HER REIGN
Daylight Saving Time begins March 8
Staff Writer
By DANNIE OLIVEAUX
SEE HAGGEN, A22
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
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
Council approves updating building permits, applications and review fees
veteran, feels the change is good for the South Kitsap community. “I think it great. There is nothing like it in Port Orchard,” he said. “It brings an entity to the area that we have never had with new dynamics of fresh and local products.” He said the store will work with local vendors and merchants. “It’s bringing a local-based company and bring them into
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-
Store manager Nick Waldbillig is excited about the new changes coming to Port Orchard Safeway. Since Thursday at 6 p.m., work has begun to convert Safeway to Haggen — a Bellingham-based retail grocery company.
Neighbor denies pellet gun shooting
Editor
Both sides report feeling harassed in rift over home business.
By DANNIE OLIVEAUX
▼
Store manager, staff excited about dynamic changes
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
Conversion under way of Safeway to Haggen