Category Archives: Government

Rocky Point Road Reflectors

A five-vehicle, seven-person process


Today a crew from Kitsap County Public Works installed road reflectors in the recently paved section of Rocky Point Road. Although the process is labor intensive (see photo), when the crew is working in sync they can install the reflectors quickly.
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Hurry Up and Paint the Fog Lines

Smooth and too quiet


Last week’s paving job (see photo) makes Rocky Point Road a joy to drive on. Until the fog lines are painted, however, the road is a bit dangerous for cyclists. I hope Kitsap County Public Works realizes that and makes the painting job a top priority.
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About Those Missing SR 16 Miles

SR 16, the busy Washington state highway that connects I-5 in Tacoma and SR 3 in Gorst, is missing a couple of miles. I don’t mean that it’s not all there, just that there isn’t as much of it as you might think if you go by the official state mile posts alone.
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Jury Wait

The big wall clock in Room 110 at the Kitsap County courthouse runs so slowly it seems to carefully weigh the evidence before clicking off each second. As the old joke goes, I spent a week there yesterday morning before learning that I would not be part of a district court jury that would hear whatever trial was to begin that day.
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USS Long Beach (1959–2012)

USS Long Beach—hiding in plain sight


The USS Long Beach, the Navy’s first nuclear-powered surface ship, had been quietly moored in Bremerton, Washington, since being deactivated in 1994. Not any more. This week the big cruiser was towed away from its berth at the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (see photo), ending any chance for an easy photo op.
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Core Dump: The War of 1812

Old Ironsides


To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the beginning of the War of 1812, the USPS will issue a stamp later this year (see illustration). This post covers everything I know, or thought I knew, about the War of 1812. It’s not a long write-up. My knowledge comes from the National Anthem, a decades-old public school education, and the lyrics to the 1959 pop hit by Johnny Horton called “The Battle of New Orleans.”
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Kitsap Tire Round-Up

Tire recycling sign


By the numbers the free tire recycling project (see photo) at the Olympic View Industrial Park on SR 3 is already a big success. According to the Kitsap Sun more than 10,000 tires have been collected so far and the event has another week to go.
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Senator Sheldon’s Legislative Survey

Late and out-of-date


Senator Tim Sheldon (Democrat-Potlatch) represents Washington’s 35th legislative district in the state senate. He’s also holds a full-time elected post as a Mason County Commissioner. The legislative survey from Senator Sheldon that I got in the mail yesterday made me wonder if he is on top of things.
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State of the Union Rebuttal

President Obama painted a rosy picture of the state of the union on Tuesday night in a flowery speech about how America is on the way back. Who is he kidding? In just a few minutes the Mud Bay Blog identified a number of serious issues with the union that NO ONE seems to be working on. Here are five:
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No on Sewers

They came, they listened, they said no. If the informal vote taken at Bremerton Councilman Will Maupin’s district meeting Tuesday night on going ahead with sewer planning is representative of what Rocky Point and Marine Drive residents think, area homes will remain on septic tanks for the next few years.
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