CommunityPort Orchard ready to party for a hostof worthy causes

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50¢ Vol. 117, No. 65

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PORT ORCHARDPORT ORCHARD

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al-Mart, V

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Printed with recycled paper and environm

entally friendly soybean oil-based ink.

Wolves G

et Started With P

re-Season Practice Sessions. P

age A6

Mahan G

rapples With Election D

efeat; Angel, A

bel Debate Issues. Page A

3 Kitsap A

uditor’s Office First in W

ashington to Post Election Results. Page A9

By JU

STIN

E FRE

DE

RIK

SEN

Staff Writer

The Port of Brem

erton will be dis-

cussing on

Tuesday an

agreement

reached nearly three years ago with the

Suquamish Tribe after at least one Port

Orchard resident expressed concerns

about the nature of the pact.Steve Slaton, the port’s director of m

a-rine facilities, said that interest in the contract w

as sparked after a letter to

the editor written by M

ark Morgan w

as published.

“Based on m

y conversation with M

r. M

organ, he had run into a barrier during his w

alk on the (Port Orchard M

arina’s dock), and w

anted to know about the fish-

ing boats he saw,” Slaton said, explaining that w

hile there were tribal m

embers fish-

ing nearby, the boats were not the reason

for the barrier.“O

ne of the metal hinges on the public

dock broke, and we didn’t w

ant anyone to

be harmed by w

alking on it,” he said.H

owever, Slaton said he also explained

to M

organ the

agreement

the port

reached with the Suquam

ish Tribe in D

ecember of 2005, w

hich he described as m

itigation for a planned expansion of the B

remerton m

arina.

Port to re-examine tribal agreem

ent▼ B

oard’s 2005 contract with Suquam

ish will be addressed at A

ug. 26 meeting.

Jesse Beals/Staff Photo

Cody W

right from M

ilford, Utah, got a m

outh full of mud and a zero score after falling off Straw

berry Delight in the

Saddle Bronc R

iding competition W

ednesday night at the Kitsap C

ounty Stampede. T

he fair runs through Sunday.

SLOP-A

LON

G C

ASSID

Y

▼ Matthes, G

arrido advance in SK

com

missioner race;

Dalton, D

anielson in judicial contest. B

y CH

AR

LIE BE

RM

AN

TStaff W

riter

Expectations were turned on their head

in two K

itsap County political contests

during Tuesday night’s primary election,

as the perceived front-runners came in

third and were disqualified in their re-

spective races.Republican Tim

Matthes drew

the most

votes in the South Kitsap com

missioner’s

race, followed by D

emocrat C

harlotte G

arrido. M

onty Mahan, w

ho was the first to de-

clare for the seat and earned the endorse-m

ent of local mayors, cam

e in third (See related story, page A

3).

CH

AR

LOT

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AR

RID

OT

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MA

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AN

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UP

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TS

, PAG

E A

2

By C

HR

IS CH

AN

CE

LLOR

Staff Writer

The South Kitsap School D

istrict is a little closer to closing its $2.9 m

illion defi-cit for the upcom

ing school year.Terri Patton, assistant superintendent

for business and support services, said at W

ednesday’s school board meeting that

the district won’t replace five full-tim

e custodians w

ho left the district after the last school year.

She said that will save the district

$250,000.Patton said the deficit stem

s from un-

foreseen circumstances w

hen the district presented its last levy to voters in 2004.

She cited escalating teacher salaries

and pension rates along with inflation as

issues.In addition to the m

oney saved on cus-todians, Patton said the district w

ill dip into its reserve fund for $1.72 m

illion. She said that’s not all bad because the

district saved more than it anticipated in

its last fiscal year, which ends Aug. 31.

Patton said they also will save through

not filling other vacant positions in the district, and through cutting expenses on supplies.

The board unanimously adopted the

budget.Patton w

arned in previous meetings

that the “hard decisions” likely won’t end

SE

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L, PA

GE

A2

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OR

T, PAG

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8

By JU

STIN

E FRE

DE

RIK

SEN

Staff Writer

Tensions between tw

o Port Orchard

neighbors that erupted after one attempt-

ed to open a home business last year led

both wom

en to head down to the K

itsap C

ounty Courthouse M

onday and file re-straining orders against each other.

Shelia Cronan, 49, said she filed a re-

straining order against Am

ber Keehn

after returning home from

a camping trip

Aug. 17 and discovering pellets had been

shot in three of her home’s w

indows.

Cronan, w

ho lives on the 200 block of Flow

er Meadow

s Street in Port Orchard,

said she believed the attack was part of an

ongoing dispute with K

eehn, whom

she alleges has been running a hair salon out of her hom

e without a business license

and in defiance of a city “stop-work”

order.K

eehn, 30, said she filed for permission

from the city of Port O

rchard to operate a hair salon out of her hom

e on the 2300 block of Flow

er Avenue soon after pur-

chasing it last spring.C

ity D

evelopment

Director

James

Weaver confirm

ed that Keehn received

a conditional-use permit to operate a one-

chair hair salon out of her home, w

hich he described as “pretty innocuous” and som

ething that doesn’t typically reach “the level of intensive use,” as far as im

pacts on the neighborhood are con-cerned.

How

ever, since Novem

ber of 2007, C

ronan has filed multiple com

plaints with

the city regarding traffic, noise and other

activities she reported as stemm

ing from

Keehn’s attem

pts to operate a business out of her hom

e.W

eaver said following an A

pril 11 hear-ing w

ith the city’s Hearing Exam

iner, cer-tain conditions w

ere placed on Keehn’s

permit to m

itigate Cronan’s concerns be-

fore she would be allow

ed to operate her business.

“(Keehn) has addressed all but one of

those conditions, with the last being the

letter from the (K

itsap County) H

ealth D

epartment,” W

eaver said, explaining that K

eehn’s current sewer facilities are

Neighbor denies pellet gun shooting

▼ Both sides report feeling harassed in rift over hom

e business.

SE

E N

EIG

HB

OR

S, PA

GE

A2

▼ Custodians w

on’t be replaced, $1.72 m

illion will be taken from

reserve fund.

BusinessPerfect Partys has plans to make itself amonumenal success

Page A32

Sports Wolves’ season comes to soggy, merciful end

Page A10

South Kitsap’s Source for News & Information Since 1890

Core Values

Courtesy Photo

Rotarians showed their volunteer spirit again this year by donating 2,132 pounds of premium Red Delicious apples to the South Kitsap Helpline food bank last week. Brian Sauer, David Selbig and Steve Hutchins drove over the pass to eastern Washington to pick up the apples in Sauer’s truck. They then delivered the 49 cases of apples in Port Orchard despite a torrential downpour. Rotarian Steve Hutchins arranged for the Oneonta Starr Ranch to donate half the apples.

Sports Wolves’ season comes to soggy, merciful end

plans to make itself amonumenal success

INDEPENDENTPORT ORCHARD

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2010 ■ Vol. 119, No. 45 ■ www.portorchardindependent.com ■ 50¢

By KAITLIN STROHSCHEINStaff Writer

Daniel Mustard pulled a knife on his mother on March 27, 2009, and started talking with a different voice than he normally uses, accord-ing to testimony from Kitsap County Sheriff ’s Deputy Timothy Keeler.

Mustard told her he wasn’t her son,

but a demon in her son’s body, and that she should wait and see what he would do next.

His parents took him to the emer-gency room at Harrison Medical Center because of incident, but he wasn’t committed.

Nine days later, Mustard killed his

Murder suspect told mother hewas a ‘demon’Mustard’s attorneys say his many mental problems have gone untreated for years

SEE MURDER TRIAL, A13

By KAITLIN STROHSCHEINStaff Writer

Ron Bates, a Port Orchard resident, watched the value of his home drop by $40,000 last year but saw his prop-erty taxes increase at the same time.

And he’s not alone. “Most of us who live in South

Kitsap did see a tax increase,” even though South Kitsap home values dropped by 4 percent three years ago, 10 percent two years ago and 7 to 8 percent last year said Jim Avery, the Kitsap County assessor.

“In 2009, we voted for pretty signif-

It’s either that or cut services, mayor warns

SEE PROPERTY TAX, A8

City council approvesproperty tax increase