OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS Comedy show will support a celebrated performer. Page 11
COMMUNITY | Domestic violence hotline will operate daily. Page 4 NEWS | County to map buoy spots in Quartermaster Harbor. Page 5 EDITORIAL | The county should study the impact of rumble strips more fully. Page 6.
A FINAL SEASON Founder of Vashon lacrosse says goodbye. Page 15
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 2012
Vol. 57, No. 22
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
New survey: Many voice concern about teen drug use
A special party
CELEBRATING our elders
D
orothy Hall Bauer, a Burton resident who turned 90 last month, held a special party on Saturday. She invited every Islander age 90 or older to come to her beach-front home for an afternoon of lemonade, music and festivities. Also on the invite list were friends close to age 90, family members or caregivers and all of the people she’s profiled in her books, “Islanders, Meet Your Neighbors.” Bauer has published six books in the series celebrating Island residents; she’s currently working on her seventh. The mood was light and lovely on Bauer’s back deck, as one senior after another — many dressed in their finest — showed up. Those age 90 or older received leis, until Bauer ran out of them. She guessed there were 15 who had reached that milestone, including one 99-year-old, Janet Fiske. “I’ll be 100 in November, if I make it,” she told Bauer. “Oh, you will,” Bauer answered brightly. “You look hale and hardy.” Bauer said she decided to host the event because she believes it’s noteworthy to have lived 90 years. “The saying, ‘Old age is not for sissies,’ is very true,” she said. “Ninety years or more of living is something to acknowledge, for sure.”
By LESLIE BROWN Staff Writer
recently began the Vashon Nature Center, a private organization with an online presence and a goal to better document the Island’s plant and animal life. When she proposed that the center hold a BioBlitz, a type of species survey held in many communities in the United States and other parts of the world, several of the Island’s nature experts and amateur naturalists jumped at the opportunity, she said. “There are so many longtime naturalists on the Island who are excited about it and supportive of it,” Perla said. “We’ve had a lot of help.” Neill Point Natural Area, a King County
A majority of Vashon adults are concerned about teen substance abuse but believe the broader community doesn’t share their concerns, according to the first comprehensive survey of adult attitudes toward substance use on Vashon. The results are noteworthy in a community where a large number of teens in recent years have reported using alcohol or marijuana, according to officials with the Vashon Alliance to Reduce Substance Abuse (VARSA). “It makes it harder for people to stand up against teen substance use,” said Ken Maaz, the executive director of Vashon Youth & Family Services (VYFS). “If you think everybody around you is tolerant, it’s harder to take a stand.” The dichotomy between one’s personal concerns and a belief about community-wide tolerance is one of several significant findings from the survey, Maaz said. The survey also found a dichotomy between respondents’ personal tolerance for alcohol and marijuana use among adults and their perception of a wider community tolerance. And more than half of the respondents said they believe it’s too easy on Vashon for minors to get their hands on alcohol. The 22-question survey, conducted in March, garnered 743 responses, or around 10 percent of the adult population, giving it a solid statistical foundation, Maaz said.
SEE BIOBLITZ, 19
SEE SURVEY, 20
Leslie Brown/Staff Photos
Above, Bobby Stone, 88, and Rachel Bard, 90, share a moment with Dorothy Bauer. Bottom left, Bauer greets Janet Fiske, 99, and Mary Beba, who brought Fiske to the event from the Vashon Community Care. Bottom right, — Leslie Brown Suzanna Leigh laughs as Olde John Croan tells a story; her mother, Marj Watkins, in the hat, listens as well.
Vashon’s BioBlitz provides a window onto the natural world The biological inventory marks a first for the Island By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
This weekend Vashon wildlife lovers will spend 24 hours searchings for bugs, listening to birds, studying the shoreline and trapping small animals — all part of a new effort to better understand Vashon’s diverse ecosystems and document their changes over time. The first Vashon BioBlitz, an intense biological inventory of a specific Island area, will take
75¢
place this weekend at the Neill Point Natural Area on Vashon’s south end. Local naturalists and members of the public will work to identify as many plant and animal species as they can at the 50-acre preserve both during the day and in the dark, between 3 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. “Having people see the actual biodiversity of where they live, you really can’t appreciate it until you can go out and go through a place like this with a fine-tooth comb,” said Bianca Perla, who is heading the event. “It’s a great experience for people.” Perla, an ecologist who grew up on Vashon and moved back with her family a few years ago,