North Kitsap Herald, May 08, 2015

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HERALD NORTH K ITSAP

GET READY FOR KITSAPweek M a y 8 -14 , 2 015

VIKING FEST Special prefest features on A8-9 and in Kitsap Week

Friday, May 8, 2015 | Vol. 114, No. 19 | NorthKitsapHerald.com | 50¢

LIFE AND CULTURE

Know your Norse

■ Lots of savings in Kitsap’s largest Classified section. — Pages 10-15 ■ Plan your week (and your weekend). — Kitsap Calendar, pages 4-6

Test your knowledge of Poulsbo and the cultural ties that bind BY RICHARD WALKER Kitsap Week

D

id Vikings wear horned helmets? (Answer: No.) Is lutefisk really a “gelatinous fishlike dish that tastes of soap and gives off an odor that would gag a goat”? (Answer: No. All kidding aside, Garrison Keillor, lutefisk tastes like cod, which it is.) Does any of this really matter? Depends on who you ask. “We want people to come here and get an academic understanding of Nordic heritage in general, but we’re not going to ruin anybody’s fun,” said Sara Keats, marketing director of the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard, which hosts a Viking Fest celebration. (She noted that she was speaking for herself, and not the museum.) “If the kitsch gets them interested in digging deeper [into Nordic history], then I count that as a win for engagement.” See HERITAGE, Page 2

65,000 circulation every Friday in the Bainbridge Island Review | Bremerton Patriot | Central Kitsap Reporter | North Kitsap Herald | Port Orchard Independent

Grant goal: Mental health help, not jail Officials hope to hire a behavioral health specialist By MICHELLE BEAHM

mbeahm@northkitsapherald.com

POULSBO — Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson estimates that about 40 percent of people in Kitsap County

Jail have mental health issues. The problem is, the county doesn’t have many tools to get them the help they need to stay out of jail. “We know they’re there,” Erickson said, “we know there’s a problem. But our only real tool is the pre-trial diversion contracts, but nobody … helps people comply with them.

“The behavioral health specialist would help them stay on their pathway to get help.”

— Mayor Becky Erickson

“There’s no help.” That’s why Erickson and other public officials — including a prosecutor and a judge — have applied for a county grant to hire a

behavioral health specialist to help people with mental health issues get the help they need. Currently, the county offers pre-trial diversion

contracts, which are agreements between the defendant, prosecutor and judge that the defendant will seek certain treatments and behave appropriately and get the help they may need in order to avoid jail time. But Erickson said that though there are people who check to make sure the requirements are being met, there’s no one

And the work begins

Village Green Foundation board member Jo Ann Cratty acknowledges applause on behalf of her organization at the groundbreaking for the Village Green community center/senior center/branch library, May 3 in Kingston. To her right is Suquamish Tribe Chairman Leonard Forsman. At the microphone is fellow board member Clint Boxman.

Village Green Community Center will be ‘a place for inspiration’ By MICHELLE BEAHM

mbeahm@northkitsapherald.com

K

INGSTON — Residents gathered May 3 at the Village Green to see the start of the community center/library project. Some in attendance had been working for this day for more than a decade, weaving a complex web of support that involved numerous donors and

Michelle Beahm / Herald

state, county and local agencies. “We have clung to the promise that this day will arrive,” Metropolitan Parks District Commissioner Bobbie Moore said. Construction has finally started on the community

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center, which, in less than a year, will be home to a senior center, a Boys & Girls Club, and a new Kitsap Regional Library branch. Clint Boxman of the Village Green Foundation board of directors said the

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center started with a vision for “a major park and a better community center.” Since 2001, there have been many fundraisers, surveys and public meetings to support the idea, he said. Since its inception, a

park has been built on the Village Green property, and officials such as Appleton, Sen. Christine Rolfes, County Commissioner Rob Gelder and Rep. Derek Kilmer have championed the See VILLAGE, Page A7

connected to the municipal court to actively help those people with the process. “Once these contracts are in place, this person has to complete these steps,” Erickson said. “Oftentimes, people with mental health concerns have trouble doing that. “The behavioral health specialist would help them See HEALTH, Page A3

Great Give: $1.1 million in one day HERALD STAFF

POULSBO — More than 5,700 donations totaling more than $1,017,000 were made on May 5 to 230 nonprofits in the Kitsap Great Give, a day of giving organized by the Kitsap Community Foundation and its presenting sponsor, United Way of Kitsap County. “When we add in the funds donated by the event sponsors ($129,000), the total See GIVE, Page A3

INSIDE “Building Community” honors, inspires. — A10-11 ■

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