8-1-2003 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Tort Reform    Mr. Koch’s article (KBJ 7/03) opposing caps on pain and suffering awards in medical malpractice contains the usual generalizations and reliance upon inaccurate reports. To begin, I know of no industry that believes caps on judgments will solve all of their problems. However, caps on pain and suffering awards will relieve a large financial burden on many industries and prevent many future bankruptcies, which in the past have cost many people their jobs...   (Full Article) 8-1-2003 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Impact Fees    I’ve just returned from a long vacation to learn of the impact fee vote by Patty Lent. I am shocked that she voted in favor of them. Your editorial was right on, we need to always keep the fire on the commissioner’s feet when it comes to important economic issues in Kitsap County...   (Full Article) 8-1-2003 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Impact Fees    A condition is a state of existence. Everything is in one condition or another. The ethics conditions identify these states and provides formulas — exact steps which one can use to move from one condition to another higher and more survival condition...   (Full Article) 8-1-2003 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Transportation    Thank you for printing Dan Schueler’ letter, “Vashon residents don’t want a bridge.” Essentially, in Dan’s letter, there Mr. Naysayer goes again.    He writes many words, creating a picture of us overcome by ignorance, fear and anger, using all means necessary to prevent any use of Vashon and Maury islands to build a bridge/tunnel system across Puget Sound...   (Full Article) 8-1-2003 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Barker Creek    In response to Matt Ryan’s letter to the editor, July 2003, stating the reason the Chums of Barker Creek citizens’ group was founded, I wish to make the following correction: The Chums of Barker Creek were founded at the time of the Open Space Levy movement in 1992. The property owners along the creek felt that as an organization we could be more effective in preserving the entire Barker Creek corridor/ecosystem...   (Full Article) 8-1-2003 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Wal-Mart    I can hardly wait for Wal-Mart in Poulsbo.    My wife and I had a store in downtown Poulsbo. The politics and the backward business approaches were self -defeating. Until all the old timers in the town retire, business will be the same...   (Full Article) 8-1-2003 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Thanks!    Several months ago, I sent you a blurb on my completing requirements and becoming certified as a Certified Financial Planner (CFP). Maybe you know this already but, it appears your paper is more widely read than I had figured...   (Full Article) 7-3-2003 POLITICS Why waste $5 billion shutting down FFTF at Hanford? By Adele Fergusen    It isn’t often that I am called upon to write about a bunch of citizens fighting their government to keep something that doesn’t exist, but you know what they say, stuff happens...   (Full Article) 7-3-2003 MY TURN A new Kitsap economic vision By Carl Duff    Do you ever contemplate healthy future economic alternatives for Kitsap County? Try this one. Picture tens of thousands of people coming here, spending large sums of money, and going home. Some come for an evening — or a weekend. Some come for a week or two. Entertainment includes folk and jazz festivals, Shakespeare, Gilbert and Sullivan, Rogers and Hammerstein, dinner theater...   (Full Article) 7-3-2003 I-601 set the stage for living within our means By Don C. Brunell, President Association of Washington Business    Love it or hate it, credit Initiative 601 for changing the way the Governor and lawmakers approach budgeting in Olympia these days. The ballot measure, approved by voters nearly a decade ago, tied state spending to inflation and growth in personal income...   (Full Article) 7-3-2003 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Lied to by Lent    When is a commissioner accountable to their constituency? In Kitsap County I have to wonder. The recent vote by Patty Lent to change the impact fee ordinance and to add a schedule of stupendous increases is a case in point...   (Full Article) 7-3-2003 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Wal-Mart    Kathleen Byrne-Barrantes attempted to re-write of history regarding the Wheaton Way Wal-Mart. I was County Commissioner when it was built. Site preparation didn’t begin in the rainy season. Regulatory delays did push the start date back from spring into early summer. Heavy fall rains came earlier than usual. They were of such great intensity that muddy water also filled all of Elliot Bay, but no Ecology fines were levied for those causes...   (Full Article) 7-3-2003 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Wal-Mart    We are writing to urge each and every person who does not want Wal-Mart in Poulsbo to sign a petition stating such. To be eligible to sign there is only one requirement: you must do some shopping in Poulsbo. You can be any age and live anywhere...   (Full Article) 6-13-2003 POLITICS Can George Nethercutt unseat Senator Patty Murray? By Adele Fergusen    Can someone from Eastern Washington beat U.S. Sen. Patty Murray next year? Specifically, can Spokane Congressman George Nethercutt do it...   (Full Article)