NEWS | Senior Center parts ways with park district. Page 3 COMMUNITY | Island women plan a retreat center. Page 5 COMMENTARY | Bird songs are harbingers of spring. Page 7
A WORLD BEAT New band takes inspiration from around the globe. Page 11
FINANCIAL MATTERS Credit union celebrates one year in business. Page 4
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2012
Vol. 57, No. 10
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
Park district EXPERIENCE TAKES ON YOUTH AT THE HARBOR Support for Romney rethinks pool prevails at approach GOP caucus
By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
The Vashon Park District is planning an assortment of changes at the Vashon Pool this summer in order to bring down the cost of running the Island’s only public pool. The pool cost the park district about $54,000 to operate last year, and $40,000 in 2010. The park district also used a $75,000 subsidy the county gave the the district when it turned over the pool in 2010. At a park board meeting last week, the pool’s manager, Scott Bonney, presented a plan to bring the pool’s cost down to about $40,000 in 2012. The presentation came just two weeks after a board meeting where commissioners suggested that if the pool doesn’t become more financially viable this summer, the park district may have to shut it down. Bonney, who managed the pool last year as well, has expanded duties at the pool this season and was hired on much earlier in the year so he could address the pool’s budget and SEE POOL, 19
By LESLIE BROWN Staff Writer
Michele AnneLouise Cohen Photo
More than 40 of Vashon’s junior and master rowers battled wet and windy weather on Quartermaster Harbor Saturday during the Vashon Island Rowing Club’s fifth annual scrimmage, an event that has become a beloved tradition among the Island’s rowing community. All morning long, boats powered by the teenage junior rowers went head-to-head with boats rowed by their adult counterparts. The juniors won most events, including the coveted “One Guinea Pig Cup,” taking the guinea pig trophy from the master’s team that won last year. Pictured above, from left, Chad Magnuson, Dave Hattery, Gary Schoch, Scott Engelhard, Ed Zapel and Steve Haworth work hard during a race in the men’s masters 8 boat, taking on the juniors 8. Bruce Morser and Colby Atwood were also in the boat, and Rayna Shinn was the coxswain. The juniors won the race. To read more about the scrimmage, see page 15.
More than 100 people turned out for Vashon’s Republican precinct caucuses on Saturday, where passion for Ron Paul ran strong but where Mitt Romney ultimately emerged the victor in the non-binding straw poll vote. According to an unofficial count at the Vashon High School, where the caucuses for Vashon’s 19 precincts were held, Romney got 34 votes; Rick Santorum won 23 votes; Paul secured 20 votes, and Newt Gingrich came in a distant fourth place, with five votes. The straw poll is considered a nonbinding beauty contest; what counts are the Island’s 36 delegates, who were also elected Saturday morning and who will move on to the 34th Legislative District caucus and a countywide caucus. Ultimately, a state convention, to be held May 31 in Tacoma, will select the delegates to send to the August Republican SEE CAUCUS, 12
Where does our garbage go?
Vashon’s trash catches a ride off the Island By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
Natalie Johnson/Staff Photo
Garyn Potter, Vashon’s only garbage man, has driven a garbage truck on Vashon for seven years. He picks up trash on Vashon five days a week and takes it to the county-owned transfer station.
Every week Islanders generate about 150 tons of trash. That’s 300,000 pounds of moldy leftovers, dirty diapers and used appliances. It’s about five semi-trucks full of unwanted packaging, smelly food, worn-out clothes and old kitty litter. From the garbage can under the sink to its final resting place across the water, it’s a long journey for Vashon’s unwanted refuse. And it’s a journey that often begins with Garyn Potter. About half the homes on Vashon set their garbage cans at the curb each week. And Potter — Vashon’s lone
garbage man — sees all that trash. Potter drives a truck for Vashon Disposal, a company owned by Murrey’s Disposal in Puyallup, and spends his weekdays winding around Island roads, often down long driveways, to empty Vashon’s garbage cans. “It’s not a job for everybody,” he said one day last week at the end of a shift. “It’s very physical.” The job involves more than lifting heavy cans, which can weigh as much as 65 pounds. Potter, a friendly, middle-aged man who sports a ball cap and tattoos, literally sprints between his truck and the curbside. He explained that drivers are paid
the same no matter how long their routes take, so most work fast to finish quickly. “Your body gets used to it after a while,” he said. “It’s a lot different than sprinting 10 miles.” Murrey’s Disposal has about 120 trucks that mostly serve eastern Pierce County, and Vashon is one of its most rural areas. Potter said Vashon’s truck is one of the safest in the fleet and is outfitted with special rear sensors because he has to back down many long and narrow driveways. “Backing up, for me, is like going forward now,” he said. SEE GARBAGE, 14