December 10

Prevention

Keep safe this holiday season

With the holiday season fast approaching, Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue wishes to remind our citizens that the need for fire safety vigilance is more important than ever. Please use decorative lighting and associated extension cords properly and follow the directions for indoor or outdoor usage. Never run electrical cords or plugs through doors or windows.

Keep Christmas trees well-watered and away from heaters, fireplaces and wood stoves. Remember to use your Menorah, Kinara or Christmas candles safely and make sure the holder has a sturdy base that won’t tip over. Most importantly, when you leave the house or go to bed, blow out all the candles.

Cook with care and keep an eye on young children in the kitchen. Keep a pan lid close by the stove to cover and smother small pot or pan fires. When it comes to gift giving, don’t forget your smoke alarm. Fresh new batteries and a vacuuming are always appreciated.

Check out our Web site at www.ckfr.org for fire and injury prevention information or call us at (360) 447-3550. The firefighters and staff at Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue wish you and your family a very safe and healthy holiday season.

Bill Minks

Public Safety Supervisor

Thank you

Anonymous sender helping out

This letter goes out to the individual(s) who are looking after us. When I went on Medicare I no longer had any prescription coverage. My prescriptions run over $1,200 a month. That really put us in a bind.

For several months our family has received an envelope with money in it. The envelope has our address typed on the front and nothing else. The Tacoma postmark is the only mark on the envelope. The money is wrapped in a sheet of plain notepaper. No identifying marks.

We really want to thank you, whoever you are, for the extra help you have been sending us. It is very much appreciated. Thanks again.

The Jensen Family

Poulsbo

Education

Intelligent design teachings don’t belong in the classroom

For the record … let me state that I am a creationist. That is … I believe that a Supreme Being (God) created the universe, and that his creation took place in specific increments over the past 14-plus billion years, with obvious evolutionary processes, and that there is overwhelming scientific evidence for a creator’s involvement in the origin of the universe and life. However, I am opposed to teaching intelligent design (ID), as currently formulated, in the public science classroom.

This is not to say that there are not serious deficiencies with the theory of evolution. There are. The problem with ID is … it’s not science. There is no “theory” of intelligent design. ID makes no predictions about what scientists should discover, nor is it capable of guiding scientific investigation. These are the hallmark characteristics of science.

Indeed, the scientific community is right to level objections against intelligent design. And, if ID is to ever influence the scientific enterprise, then its advocates must bring it into the domain of science.

However, there is a group of research scientists that have recently put together a “testable” scientific creation model … a “theory of creation” if you will. And this “model” is currently being presented for peer review to unbiased scientists on university campuses around the country.

I’ve seen this model, and it does meet the criteria of science: falsifiable … verifiable … predictive … and capable of directing scientific research.

Once this model is in place, and successfully survives peer review (hopefully within the next year), a case for introducing intelligent design into the science classroom can be legitimately made. The debate will then be science against science, not science against religion.

Carl R. Johnson

Silverdale

CAO

Where is Patty Lent?

In her vote to approve the revised Critical Areas Ordinance, Commissioner Patty Lent ignored all her campaign promises, thumbed her nose at all her supporters, and abandoned the core principles of those who voted for her. Her vote culminates three years of doing the exact opposite of what she promised and the reason she was elected.

“Discussion before decision” to ensure every voice is heard, a cornerstone of Commissioner Lent’s campaign, has never materialized. Lent’s performance during the deliberations clearly indicated that she had no personal understanding of the issues at hand and was totally dependent on the advice of staff members. If Commissioner Lent bothered to look at any of the volumes of public testimony presented on the proposed ordinance, it was not evident in any of her actions during deliberations.

“Maintaining your individual rights will be my primary and sacred duty” said Lent when she wanted our vote. Ignoring our individual rights was what was accomplished in her vote. There was no logical reason to support an ordinance provision to require a property owner to declare regulated buffers on a property as “open space” and enter a “notice to tile” to document the condition. This ordinance takes about 15 percent of available land in the county from individual property owners. So much for “individual rights” and “sacred duty.”

Commissioner Lent campaigned on the issue of excessive government spending with a promise to control that spending. The total bill for the ordinance she just approved, I believe, is about $1 million for staff time alone. This expense does not appear to be either a wise use of limited assets or effective control of spending.

The ordinance she has supported will not only result in a significant impact on the pocketbook of everyone in the county it will drastically effect the economy of our community. The money spent on “staff” for this report, and the money spent on any future litigation resulting from this ordinance, will be paid by the home owners, families, and members of this county. The ordinance removes vast amounts of land from the development inventory and significantly increases the cost of permits for development. The upward spiral of housing costs and increasing tax assessments will continue.

Commissioner Lent does not appear to understand that through her vote she has also made the elements of “high urban density”, that she so adamantly opposed three years ago, more likely to be implemented. Throughout the public testimony both sides on the CAO issue agreed they did not want “packed housing developments” in Kitsap County.

The county was never able to determine if a problem actually existed that needed additional regulation. The new ordinance has no method to monitor the condition of protected areas or any requirement to conduct such long term monitoring, there will be no way to tell if these restrictive regulations are of any benefit.

Millions of dollars spent, loss of individual rights, economic hardship, all accomplished without any basis in fact that additional regulations were necessary and without any way of monitoring improvement. This does not sound like Commissioner Lent’s campaign platform nor the reason she was elected.

Commissioner Jan Angel recognized that the revision process did not really include public participation, as required by law, and that the provisions of the ordinance far exceeded those necessary to protect actual critical areas. Especially worthy of note was that Commissioner Angel steadfastly withstood the almost relentless flow of badgering and continuous threats of legal repercussions to maintain her platform for which she was elected.

Our most sincere thanks and congratulations to Commissioner Jan Angel for being the commissioner she was elected to be. Commissioner Lent do you know where the woman is that the citizens elected?

Kris Danielson

Port Orchard

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