Dec 2021 issue

Posted

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In this issue

  • A Farewell to Blending: Key Center Wine Shop Closes

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    Blend Wine Shop closed its doors — eventually — for the last time Oct. 30.

  • Evergreen Elementary Open House

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    The Peninsula School District officially welcomed its third of four new buildings this year with a formal ribbon-cutting and public tour at Evergreen Elementary. It is the first new school built on the Key Peninsula in decades.

  • Interim Fire Chief Appointed as District Faces Major Expansion Decisions

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    Pierce County Fire District 16 Board of Commissioners appointed Assistant Chief Hal Wolverton interim fire chief for Key Peninsula Fire Department.

  • Giving Thanks

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    Thanksgiving was a day of talking a little too loudly, gesturing a little too broadly and experiencing all the good feelings of true belonging that we’ve missed over the past two years. It …

  • Holiday Magic

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    My daughter, Violet, has been waiting for Santa since last January. It feels like she’s asked, “How much longer until Christmas?” just about every single day. I was the same …

  • Giving Gratitude

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    The Christmas season is upon us once again. Even in this second winter of Covid, it is a time for celebration, family, and feasting. Dancing lights twinkle merrily while carolers serenade our streets …

  • The Miracle of Boats

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    Crabs think fish fly. I can hear them, muttering and grumbling, stumbling about on the barnacled rocks along the shores of Puget Sound. The fish too look up jealously at the bottom of my boat as I …

  • Hiroshima

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    I spent a couple of years back in the 1990s working for a small tutoring company in Seattle. The job was to help teenagers academically, but some needed more. We found them better schools, …

  • Commercial Geoduck Operations Too Destructive

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    I have lived in the area over 40 years and walked the beaches and forests of the Key Peninsula. I see firsthand the damage that commercial geoduck harvesting does to the beach. I was at the Haley …

  • Fire Chief's Departure

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    I take no pleasure in pointing out the lack of leadership exhibited by the board in handling Chief Morrow’s decision…

  • Lila Lee Abraham

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    Lila Lee (Smith) Abraham born Nov. 22, 1930, in Yakima to Jim and Betty Smith, passed away quietly in the company of her family Oct. 23. She was raised in Kellogg, Idaho, and Yakima as her father …

  • Clifford "Buck" England

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    Born Oct. 10, 1942, in Morton, Washington, to parents Alfred and Helen Jorgenson England, Clifford B. England aka “Buck,” age 79 of Home, died Nov. 11 at St. Anthony Hospital following …

  • Marianne Irene (Nordquist) McColley

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    Marianne was born in Lakebay to Ernest and Irma Nordquist Sept. 2, 1936. She died peacefully in Renton, surrounded by family Nov. 10. Marianne graduated from Peninsula High School Class of …

  • William Smitherman, First Black Legislator from the 26th, Dies at 78

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    In 1982, Smitherman became the first Black man elected to the Legislature from the 26th, which at that time included part of Tacoma, Gig Harbor and the Key Peninsula, west to Gorst.

  • New Medical and Dental Clinic Opens

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    Peninsula Community Health Services opened the doors to its new Key Peninsula Clinic, providing primary medical and dental care for children and adults.

  • Redistricting Commission Fails to Meet Deadline

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    The Washington State Redistricting Commission failed to meet the deadline to submit its plans for new congressional and legislative district maps Nov. 15. Responsibility for redistricting now goes to …

  • Naturalist's Notebook

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    A Beaver Poop Mystery The dam is deep in a thicket and quite small. To reach it I’m forced to crab-walk into the lively creek below it. Salmonberry canes extract the small blood offering …

  • Deck the Halls: When the KP Grew Holly

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    The Key Peninsula once worked hard every December to deck the halls of America with boughs of holly. For a brief decade in the 1930s, one of the most promising crops in the South Puget Sound area was holly.

  • Naughty or Nice, Santa Claus is Coming to Town

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    Most of the year, Santa Claus can go about in public without a single child noticing him. But come autumn, he breaks out his red fedora and starts waxing his moustache; he is no longer incognito.

  • The Heavenly Swedish Meatball

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    Growing up in southern Minnesota, the holiday season for our family centered on the run up to Christmas Eve. Holiday baking began as soon as the Thanksgiving table was cleared, with a variety of …

  • Guided Mountain Biking for Local Teens Inspires More

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    Red Barn Youth Center teamed up with Key Pen Parks to take nine students from Key Peninsula Middle School for a guided mountain bike ride. It was a ride they won't soon forget.

  • Key Center Library Welcomes Visitors

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    After over a year of adapting to changes brought on by the pandemic the Pierce County Library System has reopened its buildings to the public.

  • New Leadership at Food Backpacks 4 Kids

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

    Last spring new leadership stepped in at Food Backpacks 4 Kids.

  • Out and About December 2021

    Thursday, December 2, 2021

  • Yule

    Wednesday, December 1, 2021

    Graphic notes on local life

  • Yule

    Wednesday, December 1, 2021

    Graphic notes on local life


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