REPORTER CENTRAL KITSAP
KITSAP WEEK: Hydroplane racing great Chip Hanauer and his Winter Rendezvous return to Kitsap
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2016 | Vol. 32, No. 17 | WWW.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM | 50¢
IN THIS EDITION NEWS Pedestrian killed in car crash
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Economic growth likely to last years, economist says Economist bullish on economy during Kitsap Economic Development Alliance meeting speech BY CHRIS TUCKER
CTUCKER@CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM
BREMERTON — Economist John Mitchell is bullish on the local, state and national economy. Mitchell said that the economy as of January 2016, was
extraordinary and exciting, with unemployment at 5 percent and the inflation rate less than 1 percent. “Not bad at all,” he said. Mitchell spoke at the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance’s annual economic forecast meeting at the Kitsap
Conference Center in Bremerton Jan. 28. Mitchell said a crude way to estimate how long an expansion might last was based on the lag between the end of a recession (June 2009) and the first increase in prime interest rate (December 2015). By that
BY CHRIS TUCKER
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CTUCKER@CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM
OPINION Mixed feelings about online shopping
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NEWS New science standards
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Richard Walker / staff photo
Ross J. Burchell of Olympic is off to a fast start in the Boys 13-14 200-Yard Butterfly during the 2016 PN Winter Challenge Swim Meet Jan. 31. He won the event with a time of 2:13.09. Olympic Aquatic Club won first place in 41 of 115 events at the meet, which was held Jan. 30-31 at North Kitsap Community Pool. Swimmers from the Bangor Trident Swim Team, Cascade Swim Club, Fife Area Swim Team, the Poulsbo Piranha Swim Team and Olympic competed.
Dance is 17-year-old choreographer’s life BY MICHELLE BEAHM MBEAHM@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
BREMERTON — As a 17-year-old high school senior, Michelle Asencio works hard to maintain straight A’s, is in four advanced placement classes, plays music in the high school marching band, take pilates classes every Friday and participates in hours of dance class five
almost as pervasive because of minimum wage increases and labor shortages at entry level positions.” Mitchell said the Federal Reserve’s “Beige book” had a fairly cheery message. SEE ECONOMY, A5
Stabbing suspect charged with murder, bail set at $1 million
SPEEDY SWIMMER
NEWS $100,000 for OC nursing scholarships
measure, he said, the current economic expansion could last until 2021. Mitchell said a tighter labor market would put “more upward pressure on wages. Availability of skilled labor is going to be a big deal … Wage pressure for low skilled were
days a week. Asencio has been dancing for about 13 years, and on Feb. 20 and 21, the public will have their first opportunity to see a piece Asencio choreographed in the Peninsula Dance Theatre’s Choreography Showcase. “I got my inspiration when I got a bad grade,” SEE DANCE, A6
CENTRAL KITSAP — A Bremerton man was charged with murder in the second degree after he allegedly stabbed another man Jan. 29. Sheriff ’s patrol deputies responded to a residence in the Camelot Mobile Home Park, 5307 State Highway 303 NE, in Central Kitsap, concerning a 911 call made at 4:22 p.m. regarding a possible stabbing. Patrol deputies arrived on-scene at 4:29 p.m. Emergency first aid was provided by Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue. Sheriff’s detectives confirmed that Travis Lee Fish, 27, was found deceased inside the premises of the mobile home. Detectives identified Dustin Robert Cupp, 31, of Bremerton, as a primary suspect. According to the KCSO statement of probable cause, Fish’s mother said she saw two males fighting with her son outside her trailer. The two males fled, and the moth-
er helped Fish into her residence. A bloody knife was found at the scene. Deputies detained B r i a n E . Robert Cupp Wiscarson, one of the two men allegedly involved. Wiscarson said that Cupp believed Lee was a “snitch” and that Cupp went to Lee’s residence to kill him, possibly as a means to gain credibility with criminal associates. Wiscarson said he saw Cupp hit Fish in the chest. Security footage in the area did not capture the assault, but it did show Wiscarson and Cupp running away in different directions. Cupp did not immediately turn himself into law enforcement nor did he call 911 to report the assault. Cupp was taken into custody at 10:05 p.m. that day, without incident, at a private residence in SEE STABBING, A6
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