REVIEW BAINBRIDGE ISLAND
MOVE IT: City wants taxi stand at terminal to relocate. A3
FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012 | Vol. 112, No. 33 | WWW.BAINBRIDGEREVIEW.COM | 75¢ AKIO SUYEMATSU | 1921-2012
Island gathers this weekend to pay respects to iconic farmer BY RICHARD D. OXLEY Bainbridge Island Review
Akio Suyematsu lived a life that touched America’s history and the heart of Bainbridge Island. The island’s iconic farmer passed away on July 31. On Sunday, Aug. 19, a celebration of Akio’s life will be held from noon to 2 p.m. at the farm he crafted for decades at 9229 NE Day Road. The same day has been proclaimed by the city as “Akio Suyematsu Day.” Suyematsu represented much of what Bainbridge likes to boast about itself — honoring its rural roots, and valuing its local farms. From the day he came into this world, he was tied to the island’s farming culture. Born on Bainbridge Island Oct. 30,
1921, he took his first breath on a Port Madison farm. When he was just 7, as the oldest son of the family, his parents purchased farmland off of Day Road in his name. The Japanese Exclusion Act of the time made it illegal for his foreign-born parents to own land, but the American-born Akio could. He grew up on the Suyematsu family farm, prime farmland that produced strawberries, until he graduated from Bainbridge High School, though, he missed his graduation ceremony. Suyematsu, like all other islanders of Japanese decent, were removed from the island. The country had entered World War II and citizens of Japanese ancestry were being rounded up throughout the country and sent to internment camps.
Suyematsu’s family spent the first part of the war at a camp near Death Valley, Calif., and then later moved to a camp in Idaho. He left the camps by joining the Army’s 442 Regimental Combat Team — an all-Japanese American regiment — and was sent overseas as a military police officer in Germany. The interment split apart much of the Suyematsu family; only a few returned to the area while others went to farms in eastern Washington and Oregon. Suyematsu was one of a handful of Japanese citizens that returned to Bainbridge Island where he found his farm in disarray and his home looted. “Akio was one of the few that returned after the war,” said his
Akio Suyematsu as a young man on Bainbridge Island, above, and later in life at his farm on Day Road.
SEE AKIO, A7
HOW THE RACE WAS WON
Bainbridge proves crucial in District 23 race for Hansen
Drew Hansen
BY BRIAN KELLY AND HENRI GENDREAU Bainbridge Island Review
James Olsen
This bubble chart shows the wide difference in votes picked up by each candidate across Bainbridge Island precincts.
= 100 VOTES Brian Kelly / Bainbridge Island Review
Rep. Drew Hansen used a home field advantage to turn a fellow islander into an outsider in the 23rd District, Position 2 race. Although Hansen, the Democratic incumbent, and James Olsen, the Republican challenger, both claim the island as home, an analysis of precinct returns by the Review in the Aug. 7 election show Hansen was the overwhelming choice of Bainbridge voters. Hansen’s impressive showing on Bainbridge Island, where he won every precinct by 40 percentage points or more, was also key to his first-place finish in the 23rd District. Unofficial precinct results show the first-term state lawmaker picked up a third of his overall vote count
on Bainbridge Island — an area that has only 20 percent of the 23rd District’s registered voters. Olsen remained unfazed at Hansen’s hefty lead on the island, and vowed to campaign across the county, regardless of where he found support. “I’m going to spend a proportional amount of time talking to voters in precinct on Bainbridge Island,” Olsen said. “I’m not necessarily going to go where I have support to begin with.” Hansen and Olsen will advance to November’s General Election in the race. The latest unofficial vote tally has Hansen with 52 percent of the vote, while Olsen has 40 percent. Although Hansen failed to get a majority in most of Kitsap County’s precincts — he won outright in only 34 of a total 206 — the incumbent found small pockets of support
that buttressed his domination on Bainbridge Island. The Review’s analysis of unofficial returns through Aug. 7 found that across Kitsap County, Hansen pulled in more than 60 percent of the vote in 24 precincts. In nine of those precincts, he won big, with more than 70 percent of the vote. All but one of those precincts was on Bainbridge Island. His strongest support, in terms of the percentage of vote won, came in the precinct of S’Klallam, the precinct made up mostly of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Reservation, where Hansen collected 75 percent of all ballots cast. That said, turnout was just 10 percent in the precinct. Hansen’s victory was solidified instead by his home turf of Bainbridge Island. The incumbent SEE CRUCIAL, A20