voice of bainbridge

Ice skating on Gazzam lake

I was among the happy few who skated on frozen Gazzam lake. Blue sky, transparent black ice, an amazing treat that happens once every 20 years (or more).

December 4-20: Fiddler on the roof.

Get your tickets now !

Thanksgiving as seen by Art Buchwald during his stay in France: Le Jour de Merci Donnant

This famous column was written by Art Buchwald in 1952 while he was working in France for the International Herald Tribune. It was regularly republished each year thereafter. The text I have found on line on a Washington Post page was retitled Le Grande Thanksgiving and dated 2005.

I have retrieved in my archives a 1974 version from the Denver Post (while I was French Assistant at Loretto Heights College). It is slightly different from the text below at the start and at the end: the last sentence does not exist and that makes -in my opinion- a much sharper ending.

The title was Le Jour de Merci Donnant.

Le Grande Thanksgiving

By Art Buchwald, Thursday, November 24, 2005

This confidential column was leaked to me by a high government official in the Plymouth colony on the condition that I not reveal his name. One of our most important holidays is Thanksgiving Day, known in France as le Jour de Merci Donnant .

Le Jour de Merci Donnant was first started by a group of Pilgrims ( Pelerins ) who fled from l'Angleterre before the McCarran Act to found a colony in the New World ( le Nouveau Monde ) where they could shoot Indians ( les Peaux-Rouges ) and eat turkey ( dinde ) to their hearts' content.

They landed at a place called Plymouth (now a famous voiture Americaine ) in a wooden sailing ship called the Mayflower (or Fleur de Mai ) in 1620.

Le Jour de Merci Donnant was first started by a group of Pilgrims ( Pelerins ) who fled from l'Angleterre before the McCarran Act to found a colony in the New World ( le Nouveau Monde ) where they could shoot Indians ( les Peaux-Rouges ) and eat turkey ( dinde ) to their hearts' content.

They landed at a place called Plymouth (now a famous voiture Americaine ) in a wooden sailing ship called the Mayflower (or Fleur de Mai ) in 1620.

Troubling data and questions about the projected budget for Wilkes: would Wilkes -as it is planned- be the most expensive grade school replacement (K-4 or K-6) in Washington State?

Also very troubling is the apparent lack of answer from the District. Not a very good way to get people to support their request for $42 million.

From an email by Robert Dashiell.

Since I have received telephone calls and e-mails asking for my opinion of the $32 million Wilkes replacement portion of the $42 million BISD bond, I’m sending out my personal analysis. I do not wish to be the community activist or heavy hand on a school bond, but having been a federal contracting officer for 12 years and also heading a waste, fraud and abuse inspector general team for four years, I look at financial proposals to ensure they are ballpark reasonable. The Wilkes Elementary replacement costs for this bond seemed high, and questions to the school district were not satisfactorily answered on the bonds first passage attempt.

A meeting at City Hall to talk about Strawberry Park: why and what's next?

On Monday I received a call from Katie Cook inviting me to a meeting on Wednesday organized by the city about Strawberry Park. Out of curiosity and since I already spent so much time about Strawberry Park I decided to attend. It was mostly male seniors but for Linda Owens who has done such a tremendous work documenting all the process about the park and the facilitator Dee Endelman.

One French song per day: la chanson du jour

This is a new project I just started to share the pleasure of the best French songs: French song 101.
I think new internet tools change the way one can introduce students to French culture, in this case the huge number of songs that have been created and are accessible on line. BUT, there are so many songs and teachers have so little time: French songs 101 selects the songs, find the relevant links (music, video, lyrics, bios), posts one song per day so teachers, students and anybody who likes French music can easily enjoy and learn (at the same time). Today, on September 22d the song is -of course- Le 22 septembre by Georges Brassens.
Thank you in advance for your feedback.

In memory of Sylvia Bingham

The Ohio City Bike Co-Op has placed a Ghost Bike on the corner of the tragic accident that took the life of Sylvia (22). She was hit by a truck while she was biking to work in Cleveland. We had met Sylvia when she was visiting friends on Bainbridge. Let us remember her and feel free to join her memorial by biking with a white T-Shirt this coming tuesday.

The will of the people who donated the space for the park: recreation, amusement and education of the people

From an email by Gerry:

THANK YOU to our City Clerk's office and to Richard Labotz for pursuing and providing a copy of ...

... The Last Will and Estate of John Nelson,
   dated April 25, 1950.
   (Kitsap County Auditor's records Vol. 503, Page 316) .

Many have wondered about this.

Sign the petition about Strawberry Park/Cannery Cove

Gerry Elfendahl writes:

Dear Friends of Island history and water access,

City plans driven by grants designed to establish "fish and wildlife preserves forever" for a project that involved no open public input or creativity threaten to destroy the historic and cultural landscape of Cannery Cove, its beautiful harbor overviews and meadow, any opportunity for safe water access via ramp and float, and opportunities for educational and recreational uses there.

Friends of preserving Cannery Cove (see some supporters names below) are asking citizens to give this there most urgent attention NOW. Consider signing a petition to City and Parks to save the site's historic landscape and water access, and to ATTEND the 7 PM, July 22 City Council meeting --- wearing a life preserver!

Photo Credit Judie Elfendahl

Dee DuMont's opinion about Strawberry Park/Cannery Cove

I asked Dee what she thought about the Strawberry Park/Cannery Cove debate. Below is her answer.
(The picture is by Judie Elfendahl -thanks Judie- and came from a different email). What are the other candidates and elected officials thinking?

  My first concern about the Cannery Cove issue is how one city employee, with no apparent public input and no apparent permission from the council to seek a grant, could spend 2 years working on a proposal, secure a grant, and THEN present it to the public as a fait accompli.

Apparently, the grant money is once again being used as a weapon against the public...'how dare we turn this down, it's being paid for by someone else?'

Dee DuMont is also a candidate for the central ward

Here is Dee's website where you can find more information about her candidacy.

Why Strawberry Park is not the right place for habitat restoration

Statement before the City of Bainbridge Island Hearing Examiner, June 25, 2009, concerning the City's proposed Strawberry Cannery Park Project:

My name is Conrad Mahnken. I am a 40 year resident of Bainbridge Island. I am a retired NOAA fisheries biologist. At my retirement, I was director of the NOAA Manchester (Fisheries) Laboratory and the NOAA National Aquaculture Matrix manager at the time.  I presently serve as a Commissioner on the State  Fish & Wildlife Commission.

Debbi Lester for Council

Debbi is a candidate for Council for the Central Ward: she has her blog and her official campaign site running. Voice of Bainbridge endorses Debbi as we know her deep commitment for the island: she cares for the people and the quality of our environment, especially the trees that need us to speak out for them. If the trees could talk we are sure they would endorse Debbi.

From Bob Scales: 10 proposals

Bob writes about what he considers the most important issues facing Bainbridge Island and what he would propose to do if elected to the Council. Here is a reminder of what he was writing in April 2008.

His campaign site is here. He is a candidate for the North Ward.

Rod asks: What do you (we) value here on Bainbridge?

Rod Stevens sent this email he allowed me to post on the blog. It was titled "What do you value here on Bainbridge?" Read his choice and figure out yours.

One of the key challenges in making any community work is deciding on priorities, on what people value most, and in defining these in day-to-day terms that make these unimpeachably clear to elected decision makers and the government staff who carry out the laws.  Planning is a mess here on Bainbridge Island, and unless we agree on what we value, we will lose this place.

A perfect demonstration that the community knows better than the City's bureaucracy

Thank you Gerry for giving us this excellent report about the second hearing about what should be done with Strawberry Park. I wonder: were any members of the City Council attending? What is the position of the candidates for City Council, to be elected in the Fall, on this issue? Meanwhile go and enjoy the park... and laugh aloud at the opinions of Mr Best -the City's project manager- (at the very end of Gerry's report). There will be a last hearing on July 10 with a visit to the site.

Photomatopeia: one photo a day on Mark Gsellman's blog

Mark's pictures capture the moment and make us dream. If you click on the picture you can be taken to a picasa album where you can see more (for instance the graduation ceremony for West Sound Academy).

Plan to attend the second hearing for Strawberry Park, Thursday June 25

Plan to attend the second hearing that will be devoted to the future of Strawberry Park, a key park for Winslow.

Unable to attend the Hearing Examiner's meeting about the future of the Strawberry Plan Park

I used email as you can read below if you are so inclined. Yes it is the same rant against the way the City (one employee in charge of this project) pushes its plan against the will of the community. I invite you to visit the park as it is now a really inspiring place that the city plan would largely destroy. Enough public protest can still kill it, as we did for Grow Avenue.

From the Methow Valley, this great text about community

Thanks to John Bonica for his text. The comments are also very interesting.