REPORTER CENTRAL KITSAP
KITSAP WEEKLY KATHLEEN SUTTON FUND: “We will help any woman who comes to us.”
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2015 | Vol. 31, No. 50 | WWW.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM | 50¢
IN THIS EDITION
Community rallies behind coach
NEWS KCSO promotes VanGesen to lieutenant
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OPINION My weekend at Miss America Pageant
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NEWS Kitsap Veterans Stand Down Sept. 26
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Peter O’Cain / staff photo
Bremerton High School assistant football coach Joe Kennedy speaks to players and community members at the 50-yard line of Bremerton Memorial Stadium. BY PETER O’CAIN POCAIN@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
BREMERTON — After nearly a week embroiled in controversy, Joe Kennedy approached a lectern before the Bremerton School Board on Sept. 17. Wet from rain and wearing a pair of black Nike football cleats, the assistant football coach at Bremerton High School stood before the board with his hands tucked in the pockets of his blue Bremerton Knights Football sweatshirt. He’d spent the week the subject of national headlines and thousands of outraged Internet comments after the
Bremerton School District launched an investigation on Sept. 15 into his postgame ritual of leading members of both teams in prayer at the 50-yard line. The investigation concluded Sept. 17. The district ultimately decided not to fire Kennedy, as was speculated, although he can no longer lead or join students in prayer. “I’d really just like to say I appreciate the school, the Bremerton School District for working through all of this time together,” Kennedy said before an unusually crowded school board meeting.“My personal faith is my personal faith and I really love these guys.” The controversy began following Bremerton’s 7-0 loss to Klahowya Sept.
11, when someone told Kennedy he would be fired if he continued to lead the students in prayer. Kennedy repeated the message over Facebook and then his story went viral. On the “Support Joe Kennedy” Facebook page, over 2,000 people said they would attend Bremerton’s Sept. 18 game against Olympic High School. It’s still unclear who told him he could be fired. Kennedy said he understands why the district came to its decision. “They needed to find out what we could and could not do to protect our kids, protect the school people and all the employees in our community,” Kennedy said.
The game against Olympic was anticlimactic for Bremerton fans as the Knights were blanked 33-0. After the teams exchanged handshakes, Kennedy once again stood at the 50-yard line. He looked uncomfortable. Maybe it was his team’s blowout loss. Maybe it was fatigue from a week under the spotlight. Maybe it was the swarm of reporters hovering a few feet away. Maybe it was all of the above. Soon, players from both teams joined him, as did dozens of supporters from the stands. The players kneeled close to him. Kennedy held a BremerSEE KENNEDY, A9
Rural buffer prevents Silverdale from being annexed, county says BY CHRIS TUCKER CTUCKER@CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM
SPORTS Oly stops Bremerton 33-0
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SILVERDALE –The rural Barker Creek area in between Silverdale and Central Kitsap Urban Growth Area – or UGA – means that Silverdale won’t be annexed by Bremerton. Angie Silva, a senior policy analyst at Kitsap County, gave a brief overview of the annexation process to members of the Central Kitsap Community Council in Silverdale Sept. 17. There are several unincorporated UGAs including East Bremerton, West Bremerton, Gorst, Puget Sound Indus-
trial Center, Central Kitsap, Kingston and Silverdale. Because of the rural strip of land along Barker Creek in between the Central Kitsap UGA and the Silverdale UGA, the boundaries of the two UGAs do not touch one another. “There’s no city adjacent to these UGAs,” Silva said, referring to Kingston and Silverdale, both of which are surrounded by rural land. “We call them stand-alone.” “And before I talked about how to annex it has to be an urban area … same thing with Silverdale. There’s no additional urban area touching Silver-
dale. We have the Barker Creek corridor which is rural between the Central Kitsap UGA.” “Right now as it stands today it’s a stand-alone UGA,” Silva said of Silverdale, which is unincorporated. “So the fear of being annexed by Bremerton is …” asked CKCC member Rob MacDermid. “… not there,” Silva said. Silva said the county provides services such as the court system, assessor, auditor, treasurer and more. “When annexation or incorporation happens typically those urban services like roads, like permitting, stormwater,
sewer, get transferred to the city,” Silva said of the process in general. “We also want to encourage proactive conversation with cities about annexation plans … This ensures smooth transition of local services.” Silva said that taxes and level of service could be higher, lower or the same during an annexation process, depending on the specific proposal. “Some people are satisfied with county services which is why they don’t want to do an annexation. And some folks believe certain areas have a separate community identity than the city proposing annexation.”
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