Spring Break=Notebook Break

Spring Break is time to tackle that weed garden, take a bike ride to Manitou, swim in Mexico, flip out at Crystal Springs, raft the Rogue, go to Ometepe, take a road trip with the kids, find a sunny beach, find a windswept beach. I don’t have any grand trips planned, just hanging out with my [...]

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Recordsgate: The sequel

The Bainbridge Island Police Guild has blocked access to YouTube and certain dissident websites and local feeds. The crackdown comes in response to efforts by local blogs and other media to obtain records about an internal investigation into claimed misconduct against a  BIPD officer.  Just kidding. For a minute there I confused international news with local developments. [...]

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To Russia with love

 In the dining room of Wing Point Country Club, decorated with vases of spring tulips, glittering lights, and auction tables lined with Russian art, baskets of wine, sports tickets, vacation packages and more, it would have been easy to forget the children at the center of this outpouring of labor and generosity at the Camp Siberia auction last [...]

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BI blue line: Protect and serve or shred and forget?

I called for a supervisor ’cause I thought this is not going well and we need to make sure we are all covered here.–BIPD police officer, recalling Kim Koenig’s traffic stop You know how it is when you’ve been pulled over by the police and you get a little dry-mouthed and guilty-looking as you fumble [...]

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From the “where are they now” file

Last week, while outgoing Bainbridge Review editor Doug Crist was turning the local news wheel over to Dennis Anstine, I quoted one of their predecessors, Suzanne Downing, in a post I wrote about public records. The Internet being a place where nothing is local, she found my article and posted a comment. We emailed and she updated [...]

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Notebook in the news

The Sun has posted an article about my request for documents in the Koenig police misconduct case. The article is pretty accurate about the Bainbridge Police Guild’s lawsuit against me to prevent the release of the documents. You can read my post about the records request here. All those in favor of the Sun requesting the records and reporting what’s [...]

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A Government Relations Coordinator?

The Bainbridge Chamber of Commerce has recently announced that it’s hired John Waldo as its Government Relations Coordinator. Waldo is an attorney specializing in land use, and has also been a reporter for the Bainbridge Review. Last fall he made an unsuccessful run against Bill Knobloch for City Council, on a pro-Winslow Tomorrow platform.   The Chamber says in its [...]

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New blood takes Review reins

The Bainbridge Review has posted an article today announcing that Dennis Anstine will replace Douglas Crist as its new editor. Anstine lived on Bainbridge from 1987 until 1993, the Review reported. He’s a 40-year newspaper veteran who’s worked at the Seattle Times, the Portland Tribune, and the Eugene Register-Guard.

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Printing news and raising hell

But keeping government open and honest is a job for every citizen, not just members of the press….Others have the right to raise hell, and getting access to public records is key to that end.  No, that quote isn’t from some rabble-rousing blogger or City Hall activist. It was written in 1991 by Suzanne Downing, [...]

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