COVERING PUGET SOUND NAVAL NEWS FOR BREMERTON | BANGOR | KEYPORT
NAVY NEWS Kitsap
VOLUME 1, NO. 19 | 5 AUGUST 2011
www.kitsapnavynews.com
PSNS cyclists concerned about commute By TOM JAMES
tjames@kitsapnavynews.com
The state Department of Transportation will begin road work later this month on State Route 3, between Gorst and Bremerton, narrowing the lanes, lowering the speed limit, and for the first time in the department’s history providing unique “shadow vehicles” to protect cyclists during peak hours. Despite the use of the shadow vehicles, cycling advocates were worried about the safety of the project, during which no shoulders would be available for cyclists, some of whom commute along SR-3 to Puget Sound Naval Ship
SEE COMMUTE | PAGE 7
THIS EDITION
Almost over
Kitsap resident Michael Martinez is considering re-enlisting into the armed services, even after being discharged under the now-repealed Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy. TOM JAMES/STAFF PHOTO
Service members await the end of ‘Don’t Ask’ By TOM JAMES
tjames@kitsapnavynews
Anyone who works for the government knows what it means to wait. For ships to come in, for chow time, for the creaking bureaucracy to dispense everything from paychecks to uniforms to shore leave. For some Kitsap sailors, however, one long wait will come to an end in about a month, with the Sept. 20 repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The policy, fully named Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue, Don’t Harass, was
passed amid controversy in 1993 by former President Bill Clinton. Under it, gays, lesbians and bisexuals were supposed to be allowed to serve in the military, so long as they kept their sexuality secret. In reality, nearly 14,000 service members were discharged, often dishonorably, under the policy during its 18 years as law, and while it provided some protection compared to the military policy it replaced, many say it was mostly used as a political tool for settling scores and satisfying bigots. Chris Mallgren is the domestic partner of a Navy E-4, currently deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis. Domestic partnership is a legal status allowed in Washington affording the same state rights as marriage, but not the same federal rights, a category into which all military benefits fall. “It comes down to a matter of principle,”
said Mallgren. “This is no different than not allowing blacks to go to a white school, or women not being allowed into the workforce, or not being allowed to vote.” Equality, said Mallgren, is an absolute. A congressional bill to repeal DADT was passed in 2010. The bill stated that the policy would remain in place until 60 days after the president, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and the secretary of defense all certified that the repeal would not affect military readiness. Those officials signed off on the repeal July 22. What is ending Technically, DADT prohibited investigations from being initiated without clearly articulable evidence of disallowed behaviors. Before the policy, military and department of defense guidelines prohibited
SEE ALMOST | PAGE 7
Navy Surgeon General, deal with spice ................pg. 2 First fish, then a dog, Sarah Smiley ....................pg. 4 Male spouses find ahrd fit in Navy life .................pg. 6 Hesperia largely missed hysteria of WW II pg. 14