SPOTLIGHT ON LOCAL TALENT Meet the artists commissioned for VAA’s annual auction. Page 10
TIME TO SHAPE UP A group forms to help Islanders get healthier. Page 4
RIDING THE ISLE Annual event brought hundreds of bikers. Page 15
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2011 Vol. 55, No. 35
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
Vashon school district brings on substance abuse pro
A homegrown team burns rubber at the strip Wagons of Steel proves drag racing isn’t just for hot rods
By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
Islander Chris Barnes’ road to drag racing began at a California art school in the late 1980s. As the publisher of a “zine” — a small photocopied magazine — Barnes went to a drag race thinking he’d write an article. Instead, he got hooked. “I thought, ‘This is what I was born to do,’” he recalled. “That’s when it all started.” Two decades and several race cars later, Barnes, 46, and his race partner Chris Brenno, also 46, now race the fastest station wagon on the planet with their Island drag racing team Wagons of Steel. “I always thought cars were cool. I never thought I’d be a drag racer, though. I had no idea the sport even existed ’til I had this stupid magazine,” Barnes said, laughing, as he and Brenno, who works at Sawbones, stood outside the shop next to his home on Westside Highway one warm evening. Their prized ’64 Plymouth Savoy was parked under cover behind them, plastered with sponsor stickers and the words “Wagons of Steel”
Natalie Johnson/Staff Photo
Mike Brenno and Chris Barnes stand in front of their prized station wagon, a ’64 Plymouth Savoy. emblazoned along its side. Barnes, the team owner, still periodically publishes the zine — also called “Wagons of Steel” — but it’s now all about the team of a half-dozen Islanders and its classic station wagons, vehicles that have been turning heads at dragracing competitions up and down
the West Coast. As the men shot the breeze, it looked to be a regular night for the two car lovers, who slowly nursed microbrews and were joined by teammate Step Graves, another long-time Islander who they affectionately call a Rastafarian and who details all the team’s cars.
“People are amazed,” Barnes said of the cars. “People who have never seen a classic race car from the 70s.” Barnes’ 5-year-old daughter Caroline ran in and out of the shop, often jumping up into her SEE RACING, 16
An actor turned storyteller pays a visit By ELIZABETH SHEPHERD Staff Writer
Stephen Tobolowsky
75¢
When an actor has appeared in hundreds of Hollywood films and television shows and hobnobbed with countless famous movie stars, directors and musicians, you might think he’d have some stories to tell. But in the case of Stephen Tobolowsky, the consummate character actor who will make a special appearance on Vashon later this month, that assessment is just the beginning. Tobolowsky, in fact, has parlayed his tales of
more than 30 years of life, love and the entertainment industry into a whole new career as a storyteller. His podcast and radio show, “The Tobolowsky Files,” launched in 2009, includes his take on such films as “Groundhog Day,” in which he played the obnoxious insurance salesman Ned Ryerson. But it also goes much deeper than that. The show has won raves from listeners and critics, including one reviewer for National Public Radio who called it “funny, ... fascinating ... (and) filled with little bites of wisdom you’ll take with you.” SEE STORYTELLER, 18
This school year a full-time substance abuse counselor will work to address an issue that has generated increasing concern on Vashon: the Island’s high rates of teen alcohol and marijuana use. Terri Tilotta, who just started as the school district’s new prevention and intervention specialist, will split her time between the middle school and high school, working with students, teachers and parents to bring Vashon’s substance abuse rates more in line with state averages. The new position and accompanying curriculum are largely funded by a state grant the school district received to participate in a pilot program for small districts. Three other school districts in the Puget Sound Educational Services District (PSESD) and several more across the state were also chosen for the program, which the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction created in an effort to redistribute drug prevention funding to school districts that need it most, providing them with the on-site specialist. Vashon School District Superintendent Michael Soltman said he was happy Vashon was chosen to participate in the pilot program. Over the last few years, the state’s Healthy Youth Survey results showed that at some grade levels on Vashon, alcohol and marijuana use is significantly higher than the state average. “I think we have a really difficult drug problem here in our community,” Soltman said. “Having a focused resource that provides both intervention and prevention services has been missing in terms of us being able to deal with this problem.” SEE SPECIALIST, 19