Dahlquist’s Fine Jewelry

Business is back to usual

On Monday, Jan. 19, as everyone may have heard by now, a car drove into my store at Dahlquist’s Fine Jewelry. We were closed at the time and although there was extensive damage, luckily no one was hurt. We were open the next day thanks to the help of several people. I want to thank everyone in the community for all of your good wishes and concern. I would like to commend the Poulsbo Fire Department and the Police Department for their quick response. I would like to thank Chuck and Tim and everyone at Tim Ryan Construction for removing the debris and putting up a new wall faster than I thought was humanly possible. I would like to thank God that neither Shane from Bird Electric or myself were hurt as we were in front of that window minutes before the car crashed through. Other than that it is business as usual here so feel free to come by and take a look.

Richard Koven

Dahlquist’s Fine Jewelry

Charlotte Garrido

She’s baaack

Garrido is back! Our recycled county commissioner from South Kitsap. She hasn’t even been in office a month yet and she’s decided the commissioners need some fuzzy wuzzies, group hugs and “visioning” exercises.

So, the consultants are called in and the board spends a day at a retreat in Quilicene. An “… escape into the wilderness” as the press describes it. To get away from “ringing phones and buzzing Blackberrys.”

According to the newspaper the cost of the “off-site meeting” was “undetermined” “ … estimated to be in the range of $2,000 – $3,000.” I can’t believe the county would contract with consultants without knowing the costs involved — especially in these fragile economic times.

As a citizen and taxpayer I resent the commissioners having such a meeting in the first place without even knowing the cost. In the second place it was held in a private home in Jefferson County.

I attend most of the commissioners’ public meetings but I’m not going to Quilicene for a meeting that should be held in Kitsap County. And I’m not going into someone’s private home.

If it’s wilderness the commissioners are looking for, Heaven knows they buy enough of it right here in Kitsap County. Cell phones and Blackberrys don’t interrupt you when you leave them in the car.

One of the objects of the meeting was for the commissioners to learn to speak “ … with a single voice.” They should speak as individuals each with their own perspective, not a homogenous body walking in lockstep repeating in unison some agreed upon dogma.

It’s back to 1997, is it? That was over a decade ago. Commissioner Garrido got fired after one term and so did Phil Best. Charlotte, are you sure you want to repeat history?

Vivian Henderson

Port Orchard

NKSD

What’s fair is fair, and this isn’t

The hubris displayed by the North Kitsap School Board regarding lights at Kingston High School has been truly remarkable. As any teacher will tell you, if you don’t understand the problem there is only a very slim chance that you will be able to solve it correctly. The board’s public statement “if the KHS staff, students and community members would like to play their home football games on their field, they may certainly do so. However, they do so with the understanding that no further plans will be made to enhance the District stadium to reflect multiple high school use AND there will be no additional funding from the Capital Projects budget for any ‘stadium’ type item at KHS (i.e. no bleachers, no lights, no concession stand, no restrooms, etc.). There may be a time when a full stadium will be built for KHS. But not with the support from this Board and not with these Bond dollars,” illustrates the board fundamentally does not understand what Kingston has been asking for.

Kingston is not asking for a stadium. They are simply asking for lights for their artificial turf football field. Poulsbo has seven lit fields for practices and games and Kingston has zero. The board contends that the current situation where KHS and NKHS share the stadium is equitable. Any objective analysis of how these resources have been “shared” to date would expose that contention as laughable. Control and allocation of these resources has been entirely Poulsbo- and NKHS-centric.

If Kingston had a lit field, my guess is that many in the community would prefer to play their football games there — even if it meant standing in the rain and mud, rather than play at the Viking festooned “district” stadium. That should be their decision to make. Until then, if they have to drive to Poulsbo every time they need to play or practice after dusk, basic fairness demands that they receive exactly the same consideration as NKHS.

Stark Ravenholt

Kingston