ROLL OUT THE RED CARPET Get ready for the Oscars, Vashon-style. Page 10
Inside this issue!
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2013
Vol. 58, No. 08
The 2013 Health & Wellness Guide offers up a wealth of information about practitioners on Vashon.
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
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Park district erred in its handling of finances, fields project, auditors say By LESLIE BROWN Staff Writer
The Vashon Park District failed to curb expenses when revenues fell, kept itself afloat by borrowing money and did not comply with state laws governing the administration of a public construction project, state auditors have found. In a report delivered to the five-member board Tuesday night, two auditors from the Washington State Auditor’s Office also said
the district did not submit annual financial statements, as required by state law, and could not locate many of the records the auditors needed to fully review the small Vashon agency. After the state agency received calls on its hotline about problems at the park district, those missing annual financial statements were a red flag that alerted auditors that a review might be in order, Dan Potapenko, the lead auditor for the park
district’s review, told the commissioners. “You have to tell the citizens how you’re doing financially,” he told the board. “They want to know.” It’s the law to submit financial reports, he told them. “But I also think it’s a good idea.” Potapenko and Carol Ehlinger, audit manager for the state, reported their findings to district’s commissioners at a meeting at the district’s Ober Park office. About
60 people attended the meeting, though the auditors did not take questions from the audience. In both their briefing Tuesday night and their written report, the auditors did not suggest the commissioners acted with criminal intent or committed violations that would prompt the auditors to turn their report over to the state Attorney General. SEE AUDIT, 15
Finding Faith | An occasional series
Unitarians embrace social justice, spiritual openness By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
Natalie Johnson/Staff Photo
Bruce Brown greets commuters with a wave and a smile. He finds it easy to smile on Vashon, where people smile back.
On a recent Sunday morning in Burton, a group of Islanders crammed into the small, whitewashed fellowship hall behind Burton Community Church and sang hymn number 361, their cacophonous but spirited strains nearly drowning out the harp player at the front of the room. The words they sang, though, were not ones of worship, thankfulness or faith in God. “Open your ears to the song,” read the sufficiently vague hymn. “Today will be a joyful day. Enter, rejoice and come in.” Sundays at the Vashon
Island Unitarian Fellowship have all the trappings of a traditional church service: brightly colored programs, an inspirational message delivered from the pulpit and a coffee hour afterward when churchgoers mingle and eat pastries and children run around underfoot. But unlike most congregations, the 70 or so members of the Unitarian Fellowship don’t share a common religious belief. In fact, many of them don’t even believe in a higher power. “We’re open to all kinds of beliefs,” said Melvin Mackey, a longtime member of the SEE UNITARIANS, 12
A ferry worker celebrates life’s daily joys By ELIZABETH SHEPHERD Staff Writer
Four mornings a week, the fleet of daily commuters heading to the mainland from Vashon’s north-end ferry dock roll past Bruce Brown, a ferry worker who directs them onto the waiting boat. He’s impossible to miss. Brown’s a big man — 6 feet 3 inches and of no small girth – cloaked in a fluorescent safety vest as he directs traffic onto the boat. But what distinguishes him most — and what makes him beloved to many islanders — is something extra that he does as he loads cars and passengers onto the boat. He smiles and waves to every person driving onto the boat. Walk-on passengers get even more attention — a friendly hello, an exultation about the weather, a personal greeting. “You’re doing good, you’ve got good karma,” he
shouted on a recent morning to a young man running down the dock, huffing and puffing as he tried not to miss the boat. “Thank you for hustling.” To a woman with a cold in the terminal waiting room, Brown offered a steady call and response of “bless you’s” to match each sneeze. A smile. A wave. An encouraging word. These are ordinary gestures, but when they are repeated, hundreds of times a day by a single person, they become extraordinary. And so say many island commuters. In fact, in conversations with more than a dozen islanders, not a single one failed to light up with a smile of his or her own when asked about Brown. Miranda Carr, a 21-year-old single mother who hitchhikes down Vashon Highway every morning to catch a SEE FERRY WORKER, 17
Natalie Johnson/Staff Photo
Rev. Carmen McDowell at a Sunday worship. Behind her is harpist Leslie McMichael.