A Bainbridge man fled a High School Road gas station after a man in a wheelchair repeatedly circled his SUV while yelling insults.

Also this week, a Dumpster was destroyed by fire, a man was injured in a drunken fight outside Safeway and a woman reported that her husband is beating her while he “sleeps.”

Mar. 11
Arson: A large metal trash receptacle near the Safeway store was destroyed when its contents were ignited by a smoke bomb just before 3:45 p.m. Two teenage males were seen in the area shortly before the fire was reported.

Mar. 10
Assault: A Bainbridge male punched another Bainbridge male outside the Safeway store just after 9:15 p.m. The victim responded by throwing the suspect to the ground. The fall injured the suspect’s rib area, resulting in an ambulance trip to Harrison Hospital in Bremerton. Notified of the incident by the victim, police found the suspect lying on the ground outside the nearby Radio Shack store. The pair became involved in an argument over an earlier incident in which a guitar was thrown into a street. Neither male had visible injuries. The suspect appeared highly intoxicated and was slurring his words. When informed of the suspect’s rib injury, police reminded him that he had reported a rib injury two weeks ago when a man kicked him during another fight. When asked what he hit the victim with, the suspect responded “everything.” The victim admitted he’d also been drinking, possibly consuming up to five alcoholic beverages at the nearby Island Grill bar.

Mar. 9
Assault: A Bainbridge woman reported that her husband had assaulted her several times during their seven-year marriage. The victim said the suspect, a Bainbridge man, had beat “her black and blue” with his fists during one occasion in 2008, and that he often punches her while the two are in bed. The suspect appears to be asleep during the assaults, but the victim believes he is actually conscious. She said the last attack was a punch to her back while they were in bed sometime in January. She left her husband for a period of time but returned because she needed care for a medical condition. Police are investigating.

Harassed: A Bainbridge man reported that a former employee of his apartment complex was been harassing him. The victim had parked his SUV at the Chevron gas station when the suspect, who was in a wheelchair, began circling the vehicle and yelling insults and obscenities. The victim said the two had been at odds over an improperly installed faucet at the victim’s apartment. The suspect yells at him whenever he sees him, the victim said. The victim fled the station in his SUV to get away from the suspect. Police advised the victim about a possible protection order against the suspect.

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The callers are demanding personal information like Social Security numbers from whomever answers the phone, police say.

The calls aren’t coming from the island, Bainbridge Police Lt. Sue Shultz said.

Shultz said their investigation found that a Colorado company owns the Bainbridge phone numbers and leases them to a New Jersey company. That company leases the numbers over the Internet to anyone “with a credit card” and “limited subscriber information,” she said.

The phone calls are brief. Many of the complaints say the caller, a man of “Middle Eastern” or “Indian” accent, claims to be a police officer or investigator and makes threats to get personal information.

Some of the threats include: “Only God can help you now,” “We are coming for you,” “Watch your back,” and “You don’t know what we’re going to do next.” Often, they call up to 10 times in a row, Shultz said.

Many of the calls came from 855 prefixes. They didn’t seem to come from 842 or 780 prefixes.

Police don’t believe anyone in Kitsap County have been victimized by this scheme.

People with information about such frauds, or who believes they’ve received one, are asked to call 911.

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Got the full story for you on that. Read it here.

There’s nothing better than a map to show you just what this property is and what it will do for the park. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a mapped location of the property before deadline.

But, courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Land Trust, I can pop one into this here blog. Click down below to see it. It’s no mere “trail easement.” The property, referred to as the “Hill Top Tree Farm” by BILT, would create a wide bridge between the Grand Forest’s two largest sections.

A few notes on the map:

–The narrow gap between Hill Top and the east portion of the Grand Forest is actually a private dirt road. I’ve seen maybe one car on the road during dozens and dozens of visits there. Probably won’t disturb the flow of walking from one section to the other.

–The “Heart of the Forest” property you see on the map is another Grand Forest link BILT is in the process of paying for. It will connect the west and north portions. Along with the Hill Top property, the Heart of the Forest will finally link up all of the Grand Forest sections.

Map: Bainbridge Island Land Trust

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The 94-year-old Moran School building near Rolling Bay is slated for demolition next month. Photo: Tristan Baurick

The plight of the Moran School theater building has come to the attention of Seattle columnist Knute “Mossback” Berger.

At the top of his recent Crosscut column, Berger asked: “Is a building a landmark if no one can see it?”

Tucked behind tall trees on a narrow north-end side street, the four-story building comes as a surprise to the few who stumble upon it. Now that the owner plans to demolish it next month, Berger wonders if many people will rally to save it.

“It is tough for communities to hang onto their history even if their landmarks are well known, harder if they’re somewhat obscure and off the tourist track,” Berger writes.

For Berger, the building is important enough to be saved. As a precursor to Seattle’s prestigious Lakeside School, the building has historical value beyond Bainbridge.

“…perhaps the Lakeside connection might give ideas to those who seek to preserve it: perhaps support could be found for saving it beyond the island, which some say treasures its “ruins”, especially among people who value how an obscure structure that few know about has ties to some of the beneficiaries of the kind of independent “modern” private education the building embodies.”

Read Berger’s full column here.

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Photo: edviesturs.com

High altitude mountaineer and Bainbridge resident Ed Viesturs will be the featured speaker at a breakfast fundraiser for Bainbridge schools on Friday.

Viesturs, who summited Everest several times and was the first American to climb the world’s 14 tallest peaks without an oxygen tank, will discuss how he has overcome mountain climbing challenges.

The event is free, but organizers are asking attendees to bring their checkbooks. Proceeds from the event will help bridge the funding gap for the 2010-2011 school year.

Viestur’s two recent autographed books will be available for purchase at the event. A percentage of profits will be donated to the Bainbridge Schools Foundation.

The event begins at 7 a.m. at Woodward Middle School.

Reserve a seat online at bainbridgeschoolsfoundation.org.

Click below to see Viesturs’ recent appearance on the Colbert Report.

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The committee, which was tasked with deciding how to spend the park district’s new levy-backed property acquisition fund, has recommended the purchase of a large parcel that would connect the two largest Grand Forest Park properties.

The 31-acre property, referred to as the Hill Top Tree Farm, stretches between the Grand Forest’s east and west sections, and includes forest, trails and a 7-acre meadow with views of the Olympic Mountains. It also includes an unoccupied cottage and a large barn.

The park district would use $500,000 in levy funds to match a $500,000 state grant. The combined $1 million would help the Bainbridge Island Land Trust make the full $2.75 million purchase.

BILT plans to turn over all or most of the land to the park district.

The property’s meadow could be used for an off-leash dog park, community gardens or open play areas, according to committee members.

I’ll have more on this later.

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First, the City Council decided to de-fund the city’s Housing Trust Fund, which supports local affordable housing projects.

Then came news that the Housing Resources Board was delaying the start of the Ferncliff community land trust project by one year. Later phases will likely be delayed a three or more years.

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This week, a Bainbridge man was found dead under a fallen tree on the island’s north end. The Sun’s story, plus comments from people who knew the longtime island resident, can be found here.

Blotter’s below.

March 6
Death: A 47-year-old man was found dead under a large fallen maple tree on Knight Road shortly after 7 p.m. The man’s teenage children had been looking for him for about two hours. He had left the home to cut trees sometime before 5 p.m. The children found tree cutting equipment but not their father. Police located the man and cleared the tree from his body. Bainbridge firefighters attempted to resuscitate the man but were unsuccessful. He was declared dead at the scene. Police are investigating the man’s death.

Assault: A Bainbridge man was arrested for assaulting his wife at their Battle Point Drive home at approximately 11 a.m. The victim had been looking in a file drawer when the suspect slammed it on her hand and then shoved her into another room, the victim said. The incident caused bruising on the victim’s upper arms and back. The suspect, who had left the home before police arrived, later turned himself in and was taken to the county jail.

March 5
Vandalism: Three 4-foot-tall letters were spray-painted on an exterior wall of the Kids Discovery Museum on Madrone Lane sometime during the night. Damage was estimated at $100.

March 3
Crash: An unknown vehicle crashed through two posts, a large rock and a large planter with shrubs in a yard off Winslow Way sometime during the night or early morning. The vehicle apparently continued on and did not attempt to contact nearby residents.

Mar. 1
Theft: A buoy was reported stolen near Crystal Springs Drive sometime during late February. The owner suspects that the operators of a fishing trawler may have taken the buoy. The trawler had been seen near the buoy.

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You can see the latest list of cuts here. The council is scheduled to approve the reduced budget at tonight’s meeting.

As for the Bainbridge Conversation’s last poll, results showed strong opposition to the Bainbridge Ratepayers Alliance lawsuit. Fifty-eight percent of the 178 votes cast were against it, and 42 percent were for it.

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Yet, people get busted for having misdemeanor amounts (under 40 grams) of pot just about every week on the island.

How do the police do it?

“We can arrest someone for having drug paraphernalia,” Scott Weiss, an island officer, told criminal justice reporter Josh Farley. “But not for the marijuana.”

And what if the person has some pot but doesn’t have a bong, pipe or other common pot-smoking accoutrements?

“Even if they have marijuana in their pocket, then the pocket becomes the paraphernalia,” said Kitsap County deputy prosecutor Claire Bradley.

So, whatever the pot is in – baggie or back pocket – is considered “paraphernalia,” and could carry a 90-day jail sentence.

Last week, the Bainbridge Police Department asked the City Council to finally put misdemeanor pot possession on the books. They change, police say, will give a more accurate and honest description of a person’s criminal conduct.

The council has asked for more information about how many drug paraphernalia cases are filed in county’s district court, and will likely decide how to proceed later this month.

Read more here.

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