Year in Review - 2018 by Sound Publishing

2018

YEAR IN REVIEW

A look back at some of the top stories and events that made headlines in Kitsap County

A SUPPLEMENT OF THE BAINBRIDGE ISLAND REVIEW, NORTH KITSAP HERALD, CENTRAL KITSAP REPORTER & PORT ORCHARD INDEPENDENT

YEAR IN REVIEW 2018

2018 YEAR IN

JANUARY 18, 2019

REVIEW Vice president: Terry R. Ward General manager: Steve Perry Regional Advertising Director: Eran Kennedy Bainbridge Island Review editor : Brian Kelly North Kitsap Herald and Central Kitsap Reporter editor : Nick Twietmeyer Port Orchard Independent editor : Bob Smith

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Writers: Luciano Marano, Gabe Stutman, Mark Krulish Publication design: Bryon Kempf Creative artists: Bryon Kempf, Raquee Rivera, Brittney Berglund

ON THE COVER Photo 2- Senior Isabel Hendryx capped her career with a state championship in the 100-yard backstroke. Her time was 58.30. Mark Krulish/Kitsap News Group Broken tree sections sent flying by the tornado Dec. 18 inflicted damage to a residentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s truck at the site of the worst devastation, a cluster of homes near Harris Court in Port Orchard. Robert Zollna | Kitsap News Group

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YEAR IN REVIEW 2018

PORT ORCHARD INDEPENDENT

Five days after a tornado devastated many Port Orchard homes adjacent to Harris Court, the site has almost been cleared of fallen tree debris. Bob Smith | Kitsap News Group

Rare tornado rips through Port Orchard

The twister, rated as an EF-2, struck Port Orchard on Dec. 18, toppling trees and destroying houses and businesses. Fortunately no serious injuries were reported. By BOB SMITH bsmith@soundpublishing.com

he surprise EF-2 tornado that dropped into East Port Orchard Dec. 18 from a stray squall line of storms buffeting the Kitsap Peninsula shocked residents with a cameo appearance of only about two minutes. It was as rare as it was destructive. Curran Cain, who works at Farmer

George Meats on Bethel Avenue, was cleaning the grease traps in the store just before 2 p.m. when he noticed the winds had picked up and were roaring outside. Trying to open the back door, Cain said he felt as if the wind was trying to suck him up into its grasp. ”It was strong,” the still-shellshocked employee said about 30 minutes after the swiftly moving tornado dangled above his little shop, sweeping eastward across the busy Bethel arterial. “I looked up and saw branches flying. I then saw it go through the field after crossing the street. It sounded like an earthquake hit. Someone in the shop yelled, ‘Take cover! It’s hitting.’” He said the tornado was unmistakable. “It was really wide at the top and looked like a waterspout,” Norman said.

Next door to the meat shop is the venerable Bethel Saloon. Shortly after the tornado struck the location, a stone-faced Washington State Patrol trooper placed caution tape in front of the business to keep people from entering the area. It was feared that the tornado had severed a number of natural gas lines into the businesses.

WOMAN’S CAR UPLIFTED An unidentified woman driving a Toyota sedan was slightly injured when her car was lifted by the tornado as she drove on Bethel in front of the meat market. The tornado spun around the car and placed it on its rear end. The vehicle suffered extensive damage. The woman, Norman said, was able to get out of her car and was assisted by onlookers, who wiped blood from her face. Resident Skip Olmsted, who lives at 2095 SE Serenade Way, said he was taking a shower when he

noticed something odd happening to the water supply. “I thought that the water tank was going out,” Olmsted said. “Then I saw shadows from things going by from the small window and figured something was going on.” The resident, whose home incurred severe damage, said he called his wife and told her about the tornado strike. “I thought she was going to have a heart attack when I called her. It was bad enough then. I don’t know what she’s going to think when she sees this.” As the twister downed power lines and lifted roof sections of businesses and homes with swirling winds up to 130 miles per hour, it saved its peak fury for a neighborhood of residential homes on Southeast Serenade SEE TORNADO, 4

YEAR IN REVIEW 2018

JANUARY 18, 2019

NO TIME TO REACT

TORNADO

But even if the area had been equipped with sirens, there wouldn’t have been time to flip the switch. Unlike the mega-twisters that frequent other parts of the country, this tornado was only on the ground for a couple of minutes, at the most, during its 1.4-mile journey on the ground.

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Way, Harris Court and Tiburon Court. Those homes, tucked behind the Walmart on Bethel and surrounded by tall fir trees, were severely damaged by the damaging winds. One of the homes on Serenity Court also had its entire roof lifted from its ceiling joists. A bystander told the Independent that sections of that red-colored home were found six blocks away. A citywide response from units of the Port Orchard Police, South Kitsap Fire and Rescue and Washington State Patrol arrived at the scene to cordon off the roadway to traffic — an area ranging from the intersection of Bethel and Lund avenues to Southeast Blueberry Road. Inexplicably, no one was killed in the path of the 300-yard-wide tornado, nor were there any significant injuries. Some individuals reportedly had to deal with cuts, bumps and bruises from the falling debris, but South Kitsap Fire and Rescue assistant chief Jeff Faucett said on Dec. 19 that no one had been taken by stretcher to a hospital for treatment. As the broken pieces of homes, fences and businesses began to be cleaned up and some semblance of normality returned to the East Port Orchard area visited by the tornado, residents are just beginning to comprehend how lucky they are that the tragedy wasn’t greater. “I think we all know that we were

An RV parked next to a home near Harris Court was crushed by falling timber during the Dec. 18 Port Orchard tornado. Robert Zollna | Kitsap News Group

fortunate that the tornado happened when it did,” Port Orchard Mayor Rob Putaansuu said. “A little later in the day and we would have had increased traffic on Bethel or children walking home from school. “While the devastation is dramatic and is affecting many families this holiday season,” Putaansuu said, “it could have been far worse.” Putaansuu said that if the tornado had touched down farther to the north or south — even just a block or two — it would have hit busy shopping areas. As it was, said Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Deputy Scott Wilson, approximately 50 buildings were damaged in the commercial section of Bethel. About 250 residential structures were judged to have been damaged by a team of officials who evaluated the

site later in the week. Nick Bond, the city’s community development director, said construction regulations for Port Orchard call for a wind load limit of 85 miles per hour, well below the top winds of the tornado. In any event, tornadic events are a challenge for most wooden structures anywhere. The chilling aspect of Port Orchard’s catastrophic near-miss from a direct hit is that the tornado appeared practically from nowhere. Unlike other areas of the nation, particularly in “Tornado Alley” sections of the Midwest and southern states that are more familiar territory for severe thunderstorm and tornadic activity, the Puget Sound region doesn’t have a network of sirens that alert communities of incoming tornadoes.

So, combined with the suddenness of the tornado and the unfamiliarity of this kind of weather pattern, a later appearance could have meant many dozens of people outside walking about the area and at the mercy of punishing winds.

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Kirby Cook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the Seattle Times that the tornado was unexpected — and was certainly not in the forecast on Dec. 18. While thunderstorms were forecasted, the weather system wasn’t expected to be severe. Cook said the squall that rolled through was part of a cold front that is familiar to the Pacific Northwest in the winter.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, just 120 “tornado events” were recorded in this state from 1950 to 2016. Almost all of those events were registered in the EF-0 to EF-1 range — with winds 3-second wind gusts of between 65 and 110 miles per hour. The Port Orchard twister, believed to have produced winds of 115-130 miles per hour, was rated as a “strong” EF-2 tornado.

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YEAR IN REVIEW 2018

CENTRAL KITSAP REPORTER

For thousands in Bremerton, paying the rent takes winning a lottery Nearly 2,500 applied for 300 spots on the waiting list for housing vouchers.

added to the waitlist. With staffers seated around a conference room table, Neice clicked a mouse button. Staff members let out a reserved office cheer. “That was the big moment,” he said.

By GABE STUTMAN gstutman@soundpublishing.com

While the Bremerton Housing Authority has just under 1,500 rental assistance vouchers to give, the number of families who would qualify for rental assistance is closer to 18,000, according to Wiest.

n a recent Wednesday morning, six staff members of the Bremerton Housing Authority – the area’s largest affordable housing agency — sat in a conference room looking at a spreadsheet.

“That’s probably on the low side,” he said.

It felt like any other day at the housing administration on Park Avenue and Sixth Street. Drizzle pattered at the windows, employees, including director Kurt Wiest, shared hushed conversations in anticipation of a long weekend.

Not everyone who qualifies for Section 8 is at the poverty level. Federal guidelines say households making less than 80 percent of the area’s median income – $43,200 for a single person in Kitsap County – are eligible for rental help.

But it was a big day at the housing authority. For the first time in more than two years, staff would hold a Section 8 rental assistance lottery. An event Wiest said could “change people’s lives.”

But few vouchers are given to families in that category. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, the federal agency that administers the program, mandates that 75 percent of Section 8 vouchers be given to households making less than 30 percent of the median income. In Kitsap, that’s less than $24,600 per year, for a family of four.

The question was, whose? Through the Section 8 program, the BHA pays about $1 million each month on behalf of low-income renters, with funds provided by the federal government. About 1,450 families receive benefits in the county, Wiest said. Funds are paid directly to landlords – the difference between about 30 percent of the family’s household income and the value of rent. Families can choose where they want to live, and vouchers do not expire unless their circumstances change. Section 8 vouchers are a precious and scarce resource. Wiest said only

The Cedar Glen apartments in Bremerton, where one-bedroom units start at $895 per month. All 72 apartments were booked as of October, a company representative said. A recent Kitsap News Group survey found that a number of higher-end apartment complexes across the county maintain considerable vacancies, while affordable options like Cedar Glen are mostly full. Gabe Stutman/Kitsap News Group about seven vouchers “turn over” each month, and a waitlist is kept hundreds of names long.

applicant’s name was listed on the spreadsheet, assigned a randomly generated number.

When the waitlist shrank to 75 people earlier this year, staff scheduled a lottery to add names to the list and received 2,362 applications for just 300 spots.

Using a macro – a small, makeshift computer program – IT staffer Nicholas Neice would take the thousands of applicants and sort them. The first 300 names would, after going through a vetting process, be

At the meeting on Nov. 21, each

As rental prices inflate in Bremerton and its surrounds, finding adequate housing presents a stark challenge for those not making premium wages. According to the Seattle-based consulting firm Apartment Insights, the average rent in Kitsap County increased at a staggering 45 percent over the last five years, from $911 per month in 2013 to $1,323 per SEE HOUSING, 6

YEAR IN REVIEW 2018

HOUSING

said.

CONTINUED FROM 5

Brooke Lancaster is a 23-yearold nurse’s assistant. She lives in Poulsbo with her two young children. She has applied for Section 8 twice and was twice rejected.

month in 2018. A surging rental market in Bremerton has been a boon for developers, property managers and renters who can afford to pay high prices for rental units. It has accompanied a rise in economic activity in the region, bringing new businesses, cultural and artistic life to a city that many thought was past its prime.

For years she lived with her grandparents’ in East Bremerton. It was a safe area, she said, but there was tension in the home. “We had differences in parenting styles,” she said. “I felt like I was being judged.”

But housing subsidy programs designed to bridge the affordability gap are failing to keep up with increasing need, affordable housing advocates say.

At the time, Lancaster was working at Walmart and going to school at Olympic College for nursing. She would eventually drop out of school to focus on earning money full-time.

And families are forced to get creative to meet their sheltering needs. Jim Adrian, a property developer who rents about half of his units to rental assistance voucher holders, said he receives calls daily –and nightly – from people who find themselves “couch surfing.” “It’s tough to live like that,” Adrian

“Walmart wasn’t going to cut it,” she said. “I was ready for something new.” Now, as a nurse’s aid, Lancaster earns $13.75 per hour. Through a stroke of luck, she said, she was able to find a two bedroom apartment in Poulsbo suitable for her family. “It’s really nice” with a balcony, hardwood floors, and a “really large kitchen.” But at $1,050 per month before utilities, rent is a significant strain on her family.

“They didn’t want me to be here with two children, and I can’t fault them for that,” she said.

Lancaster is what HUD calls “severely rent burdened” – she pays more than half of her monthly takehome pay in rent, and after utilities, her family’s sheltering costs take up close to 60 percent.

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Wanting to pursue her passion for nursing, she said, she applied for and was admitted into a 15-person Certified Nurse’s Assistant training program at Martha and Mary, a health care provider in Kitsap County.

When she became pregnant with her second child, Adilynn, earlier this year, the cramped living situation became too much for her family to bear, she said.

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“I can barely, just barely afford it,” she said.

Using child support payments, child care subsidies and food stamps, Lancaster is able to barely make ends meet. She said she lives frugally and mostly buys non-perishable food, like pasta. “Something that will last,” she said. But her family is cash-strapped and cannot save adequately for emergencies, let alone for future expenses, like college or retirement.

“If worse comes to worst, I’ll visit the food bank,” she said. An April study from the Pew Charitable Trusts found that 38 percent of renters in the U.S. were rent burdened in 2015, paying more than 30 percent of their income in rent. The share of households that were severely rent burdened, like the Lancaster household, had increased 42 percent over the previous 14 years. Seniors are most likely to be rent burdened, the study showed. About 50 percent of households headed by people 65 and older were rent burdened – more than 20 percent severely. Being rent burdened often has effects beyond the day-to-day quality of life, the study found – it can lead to precarious financial circumstances, and stress. Sixty-four percent of rent-burdened families had less than $400 in cash in the bank, the study found. Half had less than $10 in savings. Conventional wisdom holds that affordable housing shortages, present in many metropolitan and suburban areas across the U.S., are a simple problem of supply and demand – build more units, and rental costs will inevitably drop. While the theory may be sound, a survey by the Kitsap News Group found that many apartment complexes renting at market rates in the county maintain a significant number of vacancies — housing units in

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Bremerton and surrounding areas are available, but they are not accessible to many renters due to their cost.

maintain vacancies, those complexes renting below market rate are, for the most part, booked solid, the Kitsap News Group found.

The problem, he says, is that developers have little incentive to provide housing that is affordable for people who cannot pay peak rates.

Buildings like Trillium Heights in Silverdale, where two bedrooms start at $1,554, according to the company website, and include features like a “state-of-the-art” fitness center and an indoor pool, had 18 vacancies available or coming available in October, a company employee said.

The Cedar Glen Apartments and Parkhurst Apartments in Bremerton for example, which offers one bedroom at $895 and $1,145 per month, respectively, had no vacancies out of 142 total units.

“Developers are so busy building apartments that can pay $1,200 per month,” he said, “why would I waste my time building for someone who can pay $750?”

The Diplomat Apartments, where two bedrooms cost $1,495 per month, had 10 open or pending vacancies as of October, and the Insignia in Bremerton, where two-bedrooms start at $1,372 per month, also had 10 available or soonto-be-available units.

Wiest said complexes that rent below market rate often maintain waiting lists.

While units renting at market rates

He added that in recent months, the housing market appeared to be softening. “We may finally got a little bit of relief,” he said. “But they’re still high.” Jim Adrian is a property developer who owns more than 100 rental units in Bremerton, Port Orchard and elsewhere in Kitsap County. He’s also been an advocate for the homeless

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Kurt Wiest, executive director of the Bremerton Housing Authority Courtesy photo and for affordable housing programs. He volunteers at the Salvation Army’s winter homelessness shelter. Adrian has been outspoken about how “unforgiving,” he says, the rental market can be for lower-income or working class people.

“There’s no way I could buy a piece of property and build a house and rent it for affordable rents,” he said. “It doesn’t work. It doesn’t pencil out.” He offered a hypothetical: a landlord has remodeled a nice two-bedroom house. “Took about two months to do it,” he said. “Really nice place.” To be considered Section 8 eligible, or to be remotely affordable SEE HOUSING, 15

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Of the more than a dozen apartment complexes contacted by the Kitsap News Group renting at or above market rate, each had an average of more than 10 vacancies, with one — Mariners Glen in Port Orchard — having 20.

He said costs for developers are increasing. Building materials like lumber are more expensive due to import tariffs, and labor costs are up, too.

“We are usually full,” a representative of Parkhurst said.

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BAINBRIDGE ISLAND REVIEW

Staring down a century Island WWII vet celebrates 99th birthday, recounts time in uniform

uncertain about what her role might be. “[Aviation] was sort of where I ended up,” she said. “They gave you a list of things available to do and you could pick what you wanted [but] they didn’t promise that you’d get it. I originally picked meteorology, and that got me into the aviation division.”

By LUCIANO MARANO lmarano@soundpuplishing.com

ary Richardson plans to take it easy for her birthday this year, and a well-earned rest it will be.

Though typical duties for women in the reserve were clerical or semiskilled trades, Richardson quickly distinguished herself and was made an air traffic controller. Hawaii (then still just a U.S. territory) was the only overseas duty station to which women were assigned, but almost all stateside bases were fair game. Richardson began her tour of duty in the tower at El Centro, California.

The longtime island resident will turn 99 on Nov. 12, which is, ironically, the observed date of Veteran’s Day this year, a group among which Richardson holds an elite place. Not only is she a female World War II vet, a rare subset of an already sadly fast-disappearing population, but she is a female W WII Marine Corp vet — an air traffic controller, no less. But the woman who would go on to blaze a pioneering trail through the male-dominated worlds of both the mid-century military and aviation industry was born in California’s San Fernando Valley and, having graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in geography, at first aspired to nothing more exciting than planning other people’s vacations. “I wanted to be in the travel business,” Richardson recalled. “But Pearl Harbor came along.” As it did for so many others, the date that will live in infamy was a game-changer for Richardson. Though she’d never been especially interested in military service (not that it was even an option for women at the time) or aviation, she was soon to discover both, and in so doing be introduced to her life’s work and set on a reluctantly revolutionary path.

WOMEN’S WORK In the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Richardson, like

Luciano Marano/Kitsap News Group

many other women, sought opportunities to contribute more directly to the war effort, which had to that point been almost exclusively a boy’s club.

of filling shore station assignments with qualified women so as to free up more men for combat.

“I got interested because of Pearl Harbor, everybody suddenly got very patriotic,” Richardson said. “I was working at the Lockheed Corporation (later Lockheed Martin). At that time I guess I was just doing clerical things. That was the only thing women could do, there was nothing to enlist in at the start [of the war].”

Though the women stepping up to fill the home turf slots meant more men were combat-bound, Richardson said she could not recall any instance of bullying or sexist behavior during her time in uniform.

The United States Marine Corps Women’s Reserve was the World War II-era women’s branch of the Marine Corps Reserve, authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on July 30, 1942 (though the Marine Corps delayed its actual formation until February 1943) for the purpose

“Which the men didn’t particularly like,” Richardson laughed.

“People were pulling together,” she said. She was signed up and shipped out to boot camp in May 1943, at the age of 23.

WHY THE MARINES? Richardson said she chose the Corps because, “That’s the elite group.” Sure as she was about her branch of choice, though, she was equally

“It is [stressful], but oddly enough people doing stressful work often feel they wouldn’t want to do anything else, even though it’s difficult,” Richardson said. “In those days aviation was very glamorous, and here I am working with pilots. That’s what I liked, I guess, telling them what to do. I couldn’t believe that, here I am telling Marine Corp pilots what traffic pattern to get in and so forth.” Here again Richardson said she recalled no misogyny on the part of the pilots. Though her longtime friend Karen Anderson said those fellas would have hard a hard time getting under Mary’s skin. “I don’t think Mary would have been intimidated by anyone,” Anderson said. “She’s just been amazing.” “I enjoyed working with men, and I mostly did work just with men,” Richardson said, though she recalled the community of wartime female air traffic controllers being fairly small but convivial. “We all got along fine,” she said. Gender-blind as the war effort was, however, the ladies couldn’t help but

JANUARY 18, 2019

turn a few heads. Richardson recalled one particularly steamy anecdote from her days, well, not actually in uniform. “There was no air conditioning in El Centro, and we soon found ourselves running around in nothing but a towel,” she said. “The bathroom was down the hall and we wore as little as we could to stay cool. So a bunch of us were transferred, because of the heat, up to [Marine Corps Air Station] El Toro, which is inland from Laguna Beach and which is cooler. We unthinkingly just went on wandering around in a towel or our underwear and we got a terrible reputation as ‘The Naked Ladies from El Centro.’ “We soon got over that because it was cooler and we realized we needed a bathrobe, not a towel,” she added.

VICTORY AND BEYOND With the end of the fighting in sight, the writing was on the wall for the reservists. The Marine Corps began to demobilize them, and by late 1945, their numbers were significantly diminished. Richardson got out in October of that year, having achieved the rank of sergeant, though it was a reluctant move. “I think I would have stayed, at least a while,” she said. “The only reason I left was because they said they were disbanding the women’s part, but of course they ended up keeping it. It seemed there was no point in staying on until they kicked me out.” But she wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to aviation yet. “I went back to work at Lockheed while looking for control tower positions,” she said. “They gave me clerical work, which I hated, and one day I picked up the company phone book to see if I could’t find a better part of the company and here’s a division called flight operations and I thought, ‘Boy, that’s for me.’ So I finally got an appointment with the chief pilot and they showed me to a bare room in a big hangar and told me to wait.

YEAR IN REVIEW 2018

There were windows, and I went over and looked out and here’s the flight line and airplanes taxiing, so I climbed up on a chair and hung out the window, enjoying this. And I heard the door open and it was the chief pilot come to interview me. I was kind of embarrassed, and I jumped down off the chair and he looked at me and he said, ‘You like airplanes.’ And so he took me on.” She had a degree, a license and wartime experience. Also, as luck would have it, she had a great sense of timing. “I turned out that Lockheed was testing their new jet fighters, which were quite new, at a small nearby airfield,” Richardson said. “The tower was run by an Air Force unit [and] they just got up and left one day because the war was over. So Lockheed had to provide control tower operators and I turned up at just the right time. So I went to work as the tower operator at Van Nuys; did it for several years.” Thus she went to work keeping track of the comings and goings of test aircraft, calling emergency responders when necessary. But the war was still more stressful, Richardson said, “Because I was dealing with inexperienced pilots.” Even so, it’s one of the most notoriously stressful occupations there is. How does one cope? “You drink a lot,” Richardson laughed. In fact, until she was about 90-years-old, Anderson said a key secret to her friend’s longevity and vibrancy was a strict daily regimen of two gin-on-the-rocks at 7 p.m., just before dinner. Also, lots of garlic. At 95 she cut back to one drink a day, and these days she’s a reluctant teetotaler, as it does not mix well with her Parkinson’s disease medication. The garlic, though, is still a staple. As was, until very recently, her getup-and-go lifestyle. “She was a very outdoorsy person,” Anderson said. “She did a lot of camping.” Richardson also once did the Inside Passage, and tooled around Europe for three months in a ’78

Luciano Marano/Kitsap News Group

camper van. “Since she retired and moved up here she’s done a lot of camping on her own,” Anderson said. “When she was about 92 or 93, we went out to Mount Rainier … and she lasted longer than I did and I’m like 20 years younger. She’s always been very athletic.” Tennis lovers will no doubt already be aware of Richardson’s physical prowess, her being something of an icon in the sport round these parts.

“She was one of the original members of the Bainbridge Island Athletic Club and she played tennis twice a week until she was 95-and-ahalf,” Anderson said. Having retired from the aviation biz, Richardson moved to Bainbridge in 1978, after falling in love with the place while visiting a friend. “I visited a friend and I liked it,” She recalled. “Southern California SEE MARY, 10

YEAR IN REVIEW 2018

it over these past years, she never wanted VA benefits because she’s always said they gave me my life, they gave me my career, they don’t owe me anything,” Anderson said. “Which, I think, is a fantastic attitude that she’s had.”

MARY CONTINUED FROM 9

had gotten so crowded, so different from what it used to be.”

MEET MARY

Even some staff members at the assisted living facility where she now lives were shocked to learn of Richardson’s service record.

Though inspirational, Richardson’s life has not been without sadness. Her husband, a soldier, died young of a spinal chord tumor, after they’d been married about 10 years. Her mother passed away during childbirth when Richardson was just 2, leaving her to be raised by her grandmother for a time and then her aunt and uncle. She believes these experiences have made her more resilient in the long run. Of her time in service, or the progressive example she has set in her subsequent career, Richardson is reluctant to expound. She shrugs of the idea she may be any kind of role model and insists the things she’s done, “didn’t seem amazing at the time.” Even during a brief stint in hospice

JANUARY 18, 2019

Courtesy Photo

care, from which she recovered, Richardson downplayed her accomplishments to the point she refused any sort of VA assistance. She has made her own arrangements, to be buried beside her husband, in California, when the time comes, and until then is learning to, finally, take it easy. “Mary has, when we talked about

In lieu of burning up the tennis court herself anymore, these days Richardson ardently follows sports as a fan. She never misses a Seahawks or Mariners game, and when watching tennis she roots for Roger Federer. She loves crossword puzzles, and to knit — but do not get her started on cooking. “I hate cooking,” she said. “I’m happy that they cook here for me.” “Even before she moved here, her favorite dinners came from Town & Country, pre-made,” Anderson said. When she sold her condo, Richardson donated about 600 books

to the Bainbridge Public Library. Though she does not read as much these days, she still prefers primarily nonfiction. Her favorite movie is “Casablanca.” Of the culture today, the national discourse, Richardson has little good to say. “We do seem to be more divisive,” she said. “Trump is impossible.” On Nov. 12, Richardson will share a cake with two other residents of the facility where she lives who have the same birthday. Even so, she’s not looking to make any bigger a deal than that. “Let it happen,” she said. “That’s the way to put it.” To young people, especially women, she counsels fearlessness. Be it a possible career, a tour of service, however brief, or an adventurous excursion, Richardson said regretting not doing something is much worse than being disappointed. “If they want to try it, try it.”

Thank you Islanders for your loyal patronage! Since we opened our doors October 7, 1991 we have become an Island favorite for hardware, garden goods, housewares & gifts, toys and more. We care about your business and are proudly to be a part of this 27 YEARS wonderful community. E S TA BL I S H E D

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JANUARY 18, 2019

YEAR IN REVIEW 2018

NORTH KITSAP HERALD

Spectators watch North Kitsap Pee Wee Vikings march down Front Street during the Viking Fest Parade. Donna Etchey | Kitsap News Group

Viking fest turns 50!

Poulsbo’s favorite celebration of its Norwegian roots was a raucous success last summer with Viking Fest’s semi-centennial celebration. By NICK TWIETMEYER ntwietmeyer@soundpublishing.com

he return of Viking Fest roused the self-proclaimed “Viking City” in fine fashion last weekend as thousands of residents and visitors flocked to downtown Poulsbo in celebration of Viking Fest’s 50th anniversary.

For many, Viking Fest is first heralded by the metallic roar of carnival rides, punctuated by the gleefully shrill cries of those aboard. The carnival attractions staged at the King Olaf public parking lot are a crowd favorite among those seeking a thrill or to try their luck at the multitude of games of chance. Wandering downtown, it’s not hard to notice the rows of tents erected along Anderson Parkway, yet still one could smell their presence before they saw them. Vendors and nonprofits alike use the space in the parking area to raise their tents, park their food trucks and assemble their assorted carts. While the numerous nonprofits and local organizations were as varied as the food being sold by the vendors, all appeared to be joined together

under the common banner of business. And amongst the tents, carts, food trucks and information booths, business was booming. The sea of patrons made for a constant ebb at nearly every stall and the sheer volume of fried foods changing hands was enough to prompt one to loosen their belt a notch in anticipation. At the Austin Kvelstad Pavilion in Poulsbo’s waterfront park, Mayor Becky Erickson welcomed those in attendance during the festival’s opening ceremony. Just north of the pavilion sat the Viking village, also a series of tents, albeit more rudimentary than the aforementioned ones serving funnel cakes and Viking Dogs. The Vikings therein appeared to be the genuine article, some were clad

in traditional nordic dress, others had opted for the more utilitarian chainmail, shield and spear combination. Those manning the tents educated passersby on Viking culture and showcased traditional folk art, crafts and skills, offering a brief insight into the ways of the Viking. As one Viking handled the tanned pelt of a red fox, he held the article out to a young girl passing by, “It’s really soft,” he said with a smile. But the girl recoiled into her parents, presumably startled at the fact that the pelt still included the fox’s face. The ways of the Viking are not for everyone. To the south of the pavilion, contestants in the Strong Man Competition dusted their hands liberally with chalk SEE VIKING FEST, 12

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JANUARY 18, 2019

and hefted weights above their heads while the crowd of onlookers shouted words of encouragement. Later the competition saw the men and women donning chest harnesses and pulling a pickup truck along Anderson Parkway. Meanwhile, back at the Austin Kvelstad Pavilion another competition was taking place, one of an arguably less-athletic nature, but one which was no less entertaining. Viking Fest’s eating contests are a prominent feature of the celebration, most notably the three-pound donut eating contest and the lutefisk eating contest. The former saw contestants tangling with a beachball-sized donut, known as the King Olaf over the course of 15 minutes. Since nobody has yet managed to finish a whole King Olaf donut, the winner of the contest is determined by whoever can manage to consume the most of their donut before the fifteen minutes are up. This year’s winner was Nate Ensor. The lutefisk eating competition was a central feature of Sunday’s festivities. Little Miss Viking Fest Everlee Brenton cheers on as Brennan Webster and Tim Leary compete in the final round of the competition. Nick Twietmeyer / Kitsap News Group

“I couldn’t do it and I probably won’t ever be able to do it,” Ensor said of the King Olaf. “I always come so close but I never can finish it.”

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Tim Leary, a radio DJ noted before the first round that he had never tried lutefisk before. After the completion of the first round, Leary was wearing the expression of a man who had made a grave mistake, as he watched the organizers place another pound of lutefisk on his plate. Dave Lambert and Brennan Webster on the other hand were no strangers to the competition and Webster had even been crowned the winner for the previous year’s lutefisk eating competition. Surprisingly Leary came out ahead of Lambert in the second round, leaving only him and the defending champion. In the end Leary was bested by Webster, who was wearing full Viking regalia and bellowed his victory to the crowd of onlookers. In all, the 50th anniversary of Viking Fest appeared to be a roaring success by harkening back to Poulsbo’s roots as a small community of Scandinavian immigrants, giving local nonprofits the opportunity to fundraise and generate awareness for their respective causes, all while simultaneously offering to the community a fun-filled weekend of Nordic cheer. — Nick Twietmeyer is a reporter with Kitsap News Group. You can contact him at ntwietmeyer@soundpublishing. com.

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The first round of the lutefisk eating competition, saw competitors taking on a full pound of the lye-cured codfish, the early round weeded out a few of the less-enthusiastic competitors, leaving two seasoned lutefisk-lovers and one newcomer.

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YEAR IN REVIEW 2018

JANUARY 18, 2019

NORTH KITSAP HERALD

North Kitsap reaches the pinnacle with a 2A state championship The Vikings finished 47.5 points ahead of second place Liberty By MARK KRULISH mkrulish@soundpublishing.com

utting North Kitsap’s team 2A state championship into words was nearly impossible for Vikings swimmers and coaches — much harder, it seemed, than actually winning the title. “I can’t think of the word to describe it,” said senior Isabel Hendryx. “Indescribable!” she exclaimed a moment later.” There we go. That’s a good one.” North Kitsap won five events and scored 277.5 points at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way on Nov. 10, finishing 47.5 points ahead of last year’s champion, Liberty. It was the first championship in program history and the first girls team swimming title in Kitsap County since Bainbridge won one in 1999. Over the past four years, North Kitsap moved up from seventh in 2015 to fourth in 2016 and second last year in 2017. With a deep roster of experienced and talented swimmers returning in 2018, there was only one place left to go for the Vikings — the summit. “When I was a freshman, I think we got sixth or seventh,” said senior Izy Iral, a member of all four of those teams. “I never imagined we’d be here. But the team has just been so great.” But even with all the talent in the world, so many things can still go wrong. Last year at districts,

Mark Krulish | Kitsap News Group

North Kitsap had a relay disqualified. Eleanor Beers, the team’s star sprinter, was also flagged for a false start in the 100-freestyle. Starts have to be clean, swims have to be fast, and technique has to be perfect. “It’s kind of one of those magic moments where everything kind of converged to this moment,” head coach Greg Braun said. And there was certainly plenty of magic on this day. Hendryx had thrice been denied a state championship in the 100 backstroke in her career coming into Saturday’s meeting. She finished fourth as a freshman, and then second her sophomore and junior years,

coming up short by less than twotenths of a second both times. This year, she beat out Liberty’s Alexa Hoeper by half a second to finally capture her crown. “It was four years in the making,” Hendryx said. If it was a extra loud as Hendryx swam to a title, it was because she had a cheering section a little larger than most others. A group of firefighters from the Bremerton Fire Department were in attendance Saturday to cheer her on. Her father, James, was a member of the department when he passed away in January 2017 from non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

“That was very heartwarming,” Hendryx said, describing the scene as she stood on the podium and was announced as the winner, the crowd roaring with support. “I’m very grateful for that.” Beers, the junior and now threetime winner of the Swimmer of the Meet award, provided some of the morning’s most electric moments, slicing her way through the water like a knife through butter. She took home a victory in both the 50 and 100 freestyle events for the third year in a row, breaking both of her own meet records in the SEE SWIMMING, 14

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JANUARY 18, 2019

relay. Freshman Zoe Cera and sophomore Genevieve Nolet also added points in the 200 freestyle. Another freshman, Ava Harris, scored with an 11th place in the 100 butterfly. Hart also picked up points in the 50 and 100 freestyle and Hendryx finished eighth in the 100 freestyle as well. Each contribution, no matter how small, taken together, added up to a point total that sealed the team championship by the end of the tenth event. “I think that’s why this is such a big deal,” Beers said. “Everyone feels like they’re a part of it.” With the title in the bag, Braun, named by the Washington Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association as Coach of the Year for the second consecutive time, finally allowed himself to relax.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Izy Iral, Eleanor Beers, Layna Hart and Brianna Hoffman won a state championship in 1:40.50. Mark Krulish/Kitsap News Group

SWIMMING CONTINUED FROM 13

process with times of 23.17 and 50.75 respectively, the former an automatic All-American time. Beers also swam a 23.17 in her 50-yard leg of the 200 freestyle relay, overtaking Melissa May of Aberdeen for the state championship. Her 22.94 50-yard leg nearly closed a 3.5-second lead held by Aberdeen in the 200 medley relay. Sophomore Brianna Hoffman won

her first state crown in the 200 freestyle and finished second in the 500 freestyle. But the individual accomplishments seemed to be secondary in everyone’s mind, even the swimmers who achieved them. “I’m pretty happy with my performances,” Beers said. “But I would say this definitely … it’s way more exciting.” Each swimmer can only participate in two individual events and two relays. North Kitsap needed big performances from more than just its

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top few swimmers, and it got them. Sophomore Kyla Schroeder swam a solid leg on the 200-yard medley relay team that finished second. Iral, also a member of that relay, won the state title along with sophomore Layna Hart in the 200 free relay and finished 11th in the 50 free and sixth in the 100-yard butterfly. Freshman Kristina DuPont qualified for the “A” finals in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle and took eighth in both — she also took part in the fourth place 400 freestyle

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As Hendryx took her place on the starting platform for the 400 freestyle relay, he put away the stopwatch, put down the clipboard and took some time, 3:46.50 to be exact, to admire the talent of his swimmers. “I didn’t even buzz up my watch,” Braun said. “I took some video and enjoyed the moment.” It was a moment that no one wanted to end, either. As volunteers dutifully began setting up for the 3A state meet, the girls lingered near the podium posing for pictures with their championship trophy, their medals, and each other. In each photo, they held one another closely, hoping to forever capture the joy and exuberance of that fine morning. Hoping to hold on to the euphoria of a successful journey just a little bit longer. — Mark Krulish is a reporter for Kitsap News Group. He can be reached at mkrulish@soundpublishing.com. Follow him on Twitter @ MKrulishKDN

YEAR IN REVIEW 2018

JANUARY 18, 2019

HOUSING CONTINUED FROM 7

to people earning a working-class income, he said, the unit would have to be rented between $1,000$1,100 per month. With the market as it stands today, the apartment could easily fetch $1,500, $1,600 per month, Adrian said. “Why would I want to do Section 8?” he asked. Adrian says policy solutions are needed — and have been inadequate — to address what he calls a crisis of housing affordability in Kitsap County. “You hear local officials talking about the affordability crisis,” he said. “But they do not give existing landlords any incentives to work with that community.” “In a free market that continues to deny access to something as life-sustaining as a home,” Adrian wrote in a Sept. 21 op-ed, “it’s necessary for the government to step in and help push business to do what’s right.” Even as large sums of rental assistance come from federal programs like Section 8, public housing and the IRS’ low-income tax credit program, local politicians on the Bremerton City Council and Mayor Greg Wheeler have named affordable housing as a top priority and have tried to use the levers of local government to support it.

A proposal by Bremerton’s planning commission to mandate that developers include affordable housing units in buildings built over 75-feet tall failed, as lawmakers said they feared it would slow growth. And the zoning changes – to allow duplexes across most of Bremerton’s neighborhoods – passed despite opposition by some council members, who said they worried it would change the character of neighborhoods. The $100,000 rental assistance fund too was met with sharp opposition in the council. Richard Huddy and Pat Sullivan opposed the expenditure, which would be paid out of the city’s general fund, arguing that rental assistance, unlike roads, police and fire, is not a core function of the city government.

fund intact. Wiest expressed his gratitude in a statement. “We are grateful to Mayor Greg Wheeler for having the vision to look for local solutions, and local funding, to meet a growing affordability gap in rental housing in Bremerton,” he said in a statement. On Dec. 4, Brooke Lancaster got an email from the Bremerton Housing Authority. “Congratulations,” it read. “Your application was randomly selected with a placement number of Position _.” She didn’t know where she stood in line. But her application for a Section 8 voucher, after waiting years, had been accepted.

“Frankly, rental assistance, eviction prevention and weatherization of private homes is not a core service of the city,” Huddy said.

“I was really surprised, actually,” she said, of receiving the email. “I applied without a lot of expectations. I wasn’t placing any major bets on it.”

Despite opposition, the budget passed with the rental assistance

Her reservations were warranted. The likelihood of being added

was low – less than 10 percent. She acknowledged the thousands of others who didn’t get picked. Being placed on the waitlist does not mean she will receive a voucher immediately. It means she will be placed in line and will receive one over the next 12-18 months. Lancaster is currently on maternity leave caring for Adilynn, who is just weeks old. When she goes back to work her pay rate will be slightly lower, she said, because she’ll have to work the day shift, which pays at a lower rate than the night shift she was previously covering. But she said she is hopeful of “brighter days ahead” for herself and her kids. “Since I was pregnant with my first, I knew it was just going to be me. I was going to have to make it work,” she said. “Making a life for my children will push me forward to being able to make ends meet, but the struggle is going to be real.”

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On Dec. 5, the city council passed new zoning laws meant, in part, to spur housing development. The ordinance would amend zoning rules to allow duplexes in low-density residential zones, and to increase density in medium-density residential zones from 10 to 18 units per acre. In next year’s budget, Wheeler introduced a program to spend $100,000 on stopgap rental assistance, meant to curb evictions. But even modest local changes are often met with opposition by lawmakers. Some measures intended to spur affordable housing get left on the cutting room floor.

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