Kingston • Eglon • Hansville • Indianola • Little Boston • Port Gamble
COMMUNITY NEWS Vol. 32 No. 8 • August
KingstonCommunityNews.com
Construction begins soon on Point Hotel By RICHARD WALKER
rwalker@soundpublishing.com
LITTLE BOSTON — You’ll sit in the outdoor gathering area and you’ll notice
that the stained concrete floor will have a design resembling a Coast Salish spindle whorl. You’ll enjoy some quiet time or, perhaps, a salmon or clambake. Maybe you’ll go on a walk among the tall cedars and firs that share the adjacent forest with 12-foot totem poles. You can take a shuttle to nearby cultural sites or other places of interest, or participate in an activity alongside one of the nation’s most noted horticultural-
ists. Afterward, your evening plans might include a fine dinner and live entertainment. This is the vision of those planning The Point Hotel, a four-story, 94-room hotel to be built next to The Point Casino and Event Center. And, as seen in other Native American hotel-casino resorts, this economic venture is not just about gaming. “Millennials are not as into pushing a button on a slot machine,” said Leo Culloo,
2015
general manager of The Point Casino. He said casino-hotel guests in Nevada spend more on food and entertainment than they do on gaming. While spending on gaming still outpaces food and entertainment at Native American casino-hotels in Washington state, Culloo said the desire for a broader experience is influencing the diversification here. See THE POINT, Page 3
Port Gamble Bay cleanup underway Man charged in Indianola fatality By MICHELLE BEAHM
mbeahm@soundpublishing.com
Members of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Canoe Family dance to invite healing to the land during a blessing ceremony July 23 at the former Port Gamble mill site. Front and center is Kelly Sullivan, executive director of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe. Michelle Beahm / Staff photo STAFF REPORT
P
ORT GAMBLE — Representatives of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe and Pope Resources gathered July 23 at the old mill site to bless the work to come: the removal of some 6,000 creosoted pilings, as well as overwater structures and wood waste, the remnants of more than 140 years of industrial activity. The project is expected to take two years and cost about $20 million, to be paid by Pope Resources.
According to state Ecology officials, it is the largest piling removal project to date in the region. “It will open up a vibrant future for this bay,” Pope CEO Tom Ringo said of the cleanup. “We are bringing healing to an ailing ecosystem.” He added, “This place needs healing and blessing. This project needs blessing.” And S’Klallam representatives, standing on ancestral ground, offered blessing songs and prayers. “I believe that today is
a day of rejoicing,” said S’Klallam elder Gene Jones, a Shaker minister. Much has been done to improve the health of Port Gamble Bay since the mill closed in the 1990s: Pope Resources’ cleanup to date of the former mill site. The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s removal of debris from its shoreline. The removal of the Point Julia pier. The North Kitsap Forest & Bay project’s acquisition of 1.5 mile of shoreline, now maintained as Port Gamble Heritage Park. The final cleanup is no less comprehensive. By the time this project is completed, 6,000 creosote-coated pilings, overwater structures and 70,000 cubic yards of wood waste and contaminated sediments will have been removed. Wood waste located
close to shore will have been dredged and remaining areas contaminated by wood waste capped with clean material. Eelgrass, which provides shelter for herring and crab, will have been transplanted in the cleaned areas. Water quality will be monitored for 10 years. Port Gamble Bay is one of seven priority bays identified for cleanup under the Puget Sound Initiative. Ecology officials say chemicals from pilings and wood waste have created a hostile environment for shellfish and finfish that call the bay home — and for the people who depend on them as part of their diet and economy. The bay is also prime spawning habitat for Pacific herring, an important forage fish for salmon; Ecology is working to determine if the herring stocks here are See CLEANUP, Page 21
INDIANOLA — John C. McGinty Jr. pleaded not guilty July 15 to a hit-and-run in which an Indianola man died. McGinty was allegedly driving the car that struck and killed Jordan Dale Adams-Wickham, 23, around 3 a.m. July 4 in the 20500 block of Nachant Drive NE in Indianola. McGinty was arrested July 7 based on an anonymous tip to detectives. At his preliminary hearing in District Court July 8, Judge Marilyn Paja set McGinty’s bail at $350,000. He was arraigned July 15. A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 19, which will determine the admissibility of evidence, including testimony. According to a press release issued by the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, McGinty, of Spokane, was in town visiting family for the holiday weekend. A tipster who pointed detectives to McGinty alleged that McGinty’s girlfriend, identified as Tiffany Denise Denning, was in the car when the accident occurred. Allen said Denning has not been charged, but she could be if the investigation proves she was actively involved. According to the statement of probable cause, written by sheriff’s investigator Darren Andersson, Denning told sheriff’s detectives she was a passenger in the car McGinty was driving and that both of them were intoxicated. She said she didn’t remember being in an accident, but later saw the damage to the car and heard about the fatality on Facebook, and “prayed it wasn’t them that hit him,” according to the statement. The document states that when McGinty was questioned, he initially claimed he was not the driver. When an investigator told him about Denning’s statement, McGinty said that while driving, he saw someone lying in the road on his back, in McGinty’s lane of travel. McGinty said he tried to swerve around the person, “but clipped whatever was in the road,” according to the statement. See FATAL, Page 6
IN THIS EDITION PAT BENNETT FORMAN NAMED KIWANIAN OF THE YEAR — Page 12
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