CAN YOU SPELL FUN? Laughs, gaffes and costumes at the bee. Pages 8, 9
NOTES OF HOPE Harp music brings comfort to the terminally ill. Page 4
NEWS | Sheffield Building recently changed hands. [3] COMMUNITY | Vashon dancers are part of global movement. [5]
BEACHCOMBER ARTS | Top talents bring back a unique performance. [12]
VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
Vol. 58, No. 06
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
Cookstove effort secures $4 million in financing Loans mean firm can build tens of thousands of stoves By LESLIE BROWN Staff Writer
Leslie Brown/Staff Photo
Vashon High School students Mara Burns, Skyler Howard (in the middle) and Harper Howard visit the site where Ryan Krug’s accident took place. Below, a recent photo of Krug.
Death of beloved teen leaves many grieving By LESLIE BROWN Staff Writer
Hundreds of islanders on Sunday bade farewell to Ryan Belknap Krug, a talented teen and native son who was remembered for his zest for life, unwavering kindness, strong work ethic and a mop of curls that surrounded him like a halo. In a memorial service in a packed Vashon High School gymnasium, several speakers — including his best friend and two of his teachers — told stories about Krug, played music in his honor and recalled his short but rich life on Vashon, the only home he ever knew. “I have a lot of great memories of him, some of which I can’t share with you,” Grant Lyons, his best friend, said to laughter. Ken Quehrn, his band teacher, also told stories that made people smile, describing the delightfully quirky way that Krug organized his music — by the last letter of the arranger’s first name — and his penchant for playing certain movie theme songs over
A Vashon company that has designed a cookstove that could stem smoke inhalation and deforestation in East Africa has received $4 million in financing — funds that will enable it to launch a farreaching manufacturing project in Kenya. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in her farewell address at the State Department last week, announced the financing agreement — a $3 million loan from the Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC), a federal development finance institution, and $1 million in financing from GE — to finance Burn Manufacturing Co.’s cookstove project. The company, which works out of warehouse space at the Sheffield Building, hopes to manufacture and sell 3.5 million cookstoves for
use in East Africa by 2020. Peter Scott, a Vashon resident and president of the manufacturing company, was in the nation’s capital for Clinton’s speech, sitting in the front row of the Benjamin Franklin Room as the outgoing secretary of state discussed the need for cleaner cookstoves in the developing world and announced the funding package. “It was an amazing moment for the cookstove movement. ... My team has worked so hard, worked for free for two years to make this happen. This is huge,” he said in an interview from Washington, D.C. The funds are still not enough to bring the project completely to fruition, he said. All told, Burn needs $5 million in financing. “We’re still looking for that extra million in equity, but we can get started,” Scott said. “It means we can make stoves.” Bob Powell, an islander who has worked as a volunteer for Burn Design Lab, the nonprofit arm of the venture, said he, too, SEE STOVES, 20
Hate crime filed against Tacoma man
and over again. The VHS band teacher teared up as he noted “the hole” that will now exist in the high school’s music program. “But Ryan,” he added, “we’re going to keep playing great music.” Krug, a junior at VHS, was killed in a tragic, one-car accident last Tuesday night, en route to his Dockton home after a study session at a friend’s house. The car apparently slid out of control, possibly because he was trying to avoid a deer, and broadsided a telephone pole. According to the King County Sheriff’s Office, Krug was wearing his seatbelt, and there were no indications of alcohol or drug use. Krug had turned 17 three weeks before. He’d had his driver’s license five days. His death, the first fatal car accident on Vashon in several years, has hit the island’s tight-knit school district and teen community hard. In the days that followed Tuesday night’s accident, the crash site on Dockton Road just south of Engels Repair & Towing SEE KRUG, 18
Vashon woman injured in attack at Pt. Defiance By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
A well-known Vashon woman was attacked at the Point Defiance ferry last week in an incident that has since drawn regional attention and hate crime charges. On Monday, Jan. 28, an elderly Tacoma man rear-ended islander Lu-Ann Branch at the Point Defiance ferry. He then attacked Branch with a steering wheel lock and threatened her and her friend, islander Kelli Nichols, saying he should beat them up because they looked like lesbians. The suspect, 71-year-old William Zesbaugh, was appre-
hended shortly after he left the scene and charged with seconddegree assault and malicious harassment, a hate crime. He was booked into a Pierce County jail and released on Thursday after he made bail. “I think this guy could be a danger to other people,” said Branch, who received 11 stitches after the attack. Nichols said she was still in shock over what happened. “You go (to the ferry) all the time, and you never think twice about your safety. It’s like being on the island almost. That’s what so SEE ASSAULT, 17