SEQUIM GAZETTE
Expo program EEx m a memberr and directoryy iinside n todayy
Wednesday, March 28, 2012 • A-1
Baby’s business
Coming next week
Adrian’s opens on Fifth.
B&G teens seek to paint the town
A-7
SEQUIM GAZETTE Wednesday, March 28, 2012
www
com
75 CENTS
Sequim’s Hometown Newspaper
Vol. 39, Number 13
OMC commissioners told to ‘stay the course’ Union contract is fair, board supporters say by MARK ST.J. COUHIG Sequim Gazette
For the past 16 months members of the Olympic Medical Center Board of Commissioners have been taking it on the chin, with regular criticisms issued by
the 350-plus hospital workers who are represented by Service Employees International Union 1199 NW (SEIU) and by union supporters in the community. The protests kicked up a notch in early February after the board declared an impasse
in negotiations and voted to approve a new three-year contract with the union. Last week the commissioners enjoyed a bit of turnabout as during their Wednesday, March 21, meeting nearly a dozen speakers took the opportunity to express their support for the board and to encourage them to “stay the course.” Supporters included other union workers within the
hospital, hospital physicians and several from within the business community. Sarah Garrett, an applications analyst in patient access services at OMC and a member of United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), told the board that “Not all nurses belong to that union. Many don’t.”
See OMC, page A-4
BURNING UP THE BOX
Superintendent candidate Kelly Shea speaks with community members and school board directors at a public meeting on March 19. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell
Sequim taps Shea for superintendent Spokane native has ties to area by MICHAEL DASHIELL Sequim Gazette
Fourteen men and women in the Clallam County Fire District 3 Volunteer Recruit Academy participated in a St. Patrick’s Day live fire training exercise at the former Fairview School site east of Port Angeles. Each student took turns leading a team into a specially constructed training device to fight a real fire, said Patrick Young, public information officer with District 3. Young said the Live Fire Training Simulator, also called a burn box, uses wooden pallets that are burned to create the kind of flames, temperature and smoke that the students would face in a real structural fire. Interest cards for becoming a volunteer firefighter are available at district headquarters, 323 N. Fifth Ave., in Sequim. Photo by Patrick Young
Children started March 9 fatal fire Investigators call incident accidental by AMANDA WINTERS Sequim Gazette
A house fire that killed a 2-year-old boy March 9 was accidental and caused by children playing with fire, investigators determined. Investigators from Clallam County Fire District 3 and the Clallam County Sheriff ’s Office concluded their investigation of the Blue Ice Terrace fire in Diamond Point, after conducting a detailed search of the structure and interviewing family members. The investigation focused
on the wood stove located in the living room area of the home, said Patrick Young, public information officer with Fire District 3. The fire was reported at 11:03 a.m. March 9 and the first arriving fire department units reported the structure was fully involved with fire showing from all openings, Young said. Initial 9-1-1 calls reported the 2-year-old child, Evan Bellis, as missing and presumed to be inside the home. Several hours later, after bringing in a large piece of equipment to remove the caved-in roof of the manufactured home, Clallam County Sheriff ’s deputies located the
See FIRE, page A-5
FEST’S FLOAT, UNVEILED
Obituaries ....................... A-6 Opinions/Letters ............ A-8 Real Estate ..................... D-1
See SUPER, page A-4
City sets new goals, forum for biomass Sequim Gazette staff
It’s all smiles and waves as Sequim Irrigation Festival’s royalty get their first look at (and practice upon) this year’s festival float. Royalty include, from left, Princess Amanda Dronenberg, Princess Arianna Flores, Queen Abigail Berry and Princess Natalie Stevenson. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell
INDEX Business ......................... A-7 Classifieds ...................... D-1 Crossword ....................... C-5
Kelly Shea hadn’t spent much time on the Olympic Peninsula in the past three decades. Now — at least for the foreseeable future — he and his family can call it home. The Sequim School Board of Directors on Friday unanimously voted to offer Shea the position of superintendent, the top administrative position in the district. On Monday night the board approved a contract that will pay Shea about $130,000 annually, Sequim School board president Sarah Bedinger said. The contract is for three years but is renewed each year at the board’s discretion. Shea, executive director of Human Services with the Mead School District in Spokane, succeeds Bill Bentley, Sequim schools superintendent for the past five years. Bentley steps down from the role at the end of June. “I’m not really a team player, but he makes me want to be on a team with
him,” Bedinger said, moments after announcing the board’s selection Friday afternoon. “There are t h i n g s yo u c a n’ t t e a c h (and) so many things have to be done. How KUEHL do you set the culture to move forward? You can’t do that without the right leader.” S c h o o l board direct o r s p i cke d Shea from a finalist group of four, each MATTHES of whom made daylong campus visits last week. Other candidates included: Robert Kuehl, assistant superintendent with the Tumwater S ch o o l D i s trict; Mellody MAXWELL Matthes, assistant superintendent with the Tukwila School District; and Robert Maxwell, executive director of Special Programs with the Bethel School District. “What stood out about Kelly,” board director
Schools ........................... B-5 Sports/Recreation ......... B-1
Strait Scenes ................. C-1 Weather .......................... A-2
This Week’s Forecast: See page A-2 for local weather. Check for updated weather reports at www.sequimgazette.com
City of Sequim councilors recently formed a subcommittee to create a Sequim forum on the addition of a wood-burning cogeneration plant being built at the Nippon Paper Industries’ paper mill in Port Angeles. The city has received complaints about the new plant and how it might affect Sequim’s air quality. The Port Angeles City Council invited the Sequim council to participate in their upcoming discussion on the
See CITY, page A-3