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PENINSULA DAILY NEWS March 1, 2016 | 75¢
Port Townsend-Jefferson County’s Daily Newspaper
PT port leaders starting search
Preserve and protect
Officials to fill director position BY CHARLIE BERMANT PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
ARWYN RICE/PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
The U.S. Coast Guard is seeking bids for the operation and maintenance of the Point Wilson Lighthouse at Fort Worden. The lighthouse and associated buildings would be leased to an organization that can maintain the property in a historical context.
Coast Guard seeking bids for operating lighthouse Organization sought to maintain Point Wilson structures BY ARWYN RICE PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
maintained as an active navigational aid, said Petty Officer George Degener, spokesman for the Coast Guard District 13 in Seattle. “The Coast Guard is looking for a group to come in and maintain the structure. The organization can use it,” Degener said Monday.
Operational radar
PORT TOWNSEND — The U.S. Coast Guard is seeking bids for an organization to operate and maintain the 103-year-old Point Wilson Lighthouse complex at Fort Worden. Point Wilson Lighthouse and associated buildings are currently owned and maintained by the Coast Guard, but not
There is an operational modern navigational radar repeater tower on the property, last updated about 10 years ago, which would remain under Coast Guard control, he said. Degener said the organizations can use the buildings for purposes within the
historic designations, such as for a museum or historical re-enactment activities.
Lease period The lease period is indefinite: the organization will hold it for as long as it can properly maintain the property, as approved by the Coast Guard and the state Historic Preservation Office, he said. There has been a lighthouse on the property since 1879, and it was moved from the top of the lighthouse keeper’s house to the adjacent tower in 1913, according to the Coast Guard. TURN
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LIGHTHOUSE/A6
PORT TOWNSEND — The Port of Port Townsend will actively begin its search for a new executive director this week. The new director will succeed Larry Crockett, 68, who has held the position for 17 years. With Crockett’s input, port officials are now putting the finishing touches on the application packet, which includes a job description and five questions meant to determine the candidate’s qualifi- Crockett cations and disposition. The application period formally opens today with a posting on the port’s website, portofpt. com, as well as in local and regional newspapers and industry trade sources. The application deadline is March 31. Crockett will retire June 1. The job description does not include an annual salary range but should be between $115,000 and $140,000, according to a discussion at a Feb. 10 meeting. Crockett earns $126,000.
No more work While he will be available for consultation, Crockett said he will not work after his retirement. “Once I go home on May 31, I will go home and not answer my phone,” he said. Crockett said that if a new director is not in place at that time, the commissioners could name an interim director, such as Deputy Port Director Jim Pivarnik, Planning Analyst Eric Toews or Human Resources Director Abigail Berg. TURN
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DIRECTOR/A6
Official: Kitsap jail suicide under investigation Eric Waldenberg, 49, who had ties to Jefferson, was found in his cell BY ARWYN RICE PENINSULA DAILY NEWS
PORT ORCHARD — A Kitsap County Jail inmate with ties to Jefferson County has died at Harrison Medical Center in Bremerton after being found by sheriff’s corrections officers unconscious in his cell. Eric Orville Waldenberg, 49, was listed as a Kingston resident but also had an established address in Jefferson County, according to the Kitsap County Coroner’s Office. Waldenberg was found unconscious and unresponsive in his
cell at 8:57 p.m. Saturday by an officer conducting a periodic security check, said Deputy Scott Wilson, spokesman for the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office. Waldenberg had created a way to strangle himself using issued inmate property, Wilson said. Corrections officers performed emergency first aid in an attempt to revive Waldenberg, he said. A South Kitsap Fire and Rescue medical aid crew arrived at the jail at 9:05 p.m. and continued emergency treatment. Waldenberg was transported
to Harrison where emergency department medical staff declared him dead at 9:56 p.m. The Kitsap County Incident Response Team was called in to investigate Waldenberg’s death. The investigation was led by a Bremerton Police Department detective sergeant, assisted by investigators from the Port Orchard Police Department and the State Patrol. An autopsy will be completed by the Kitsap County forensic pathologist to determine the cause and manner of his death. Waldenberg has an extensive criminal history in the region. According to court documents, Waldenberg has been convicted of more than 20 felonies, including a 2010 burglary in Port Hadlock.
In July 2012, Port Townsend Police said he was caught in the act of taking more than $9,000 in equipment from Port Townsend Golf Club. By Waldenberg’s request, he was tried by a Clallam County judge, and he was convicted in December 2012. He was in the Kitsap County Jail after he was arrested by Poulsbo police Feb. 22 and booked into jail for investigation of second degree burglary. On Feb. 23, the state Department of Corrections served a warrant for Waldenberg for a previous escape from community custody.
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he investigation was led by a Bremerton Police Department detective sergeant, assisted by investigators from the Port Orchard Police Department and the State Patrol. An autopsy will be completed by the Kitsap County forensic pathologist to determine the cause and manner of his death.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at arice@ peninsuladailynews.com.
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