FIRST FRIDAY BLOSSOMS Art is in full bloom for April’s Gallery Cruise. Page 10
NEWS | The Farmers Market returns this weekend. [4] COMMENTARY | Water purveyor grows resources carefully. [6] SPORTS | Football coach announces he’ll step down.[13]
FIELDING VICTORIES Lacrosse players stick it to their opponents. Page 15
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013
Vol. 58, No. 14
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
State finalizes plan to bring order to harbor By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
After more than two years of planning and outreach, the state has completed its plan to more closely manage boat moorage in Quartermaster Harbor, with hopes of protecting the important aquatic habitat and making the harbor safer for boaters. The 60-page plan, released today by the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR), outlines how the state will remove abandoned buoys and other debris in the harbor and require boat owners to install new environmentally friendly anchor sys-
tems and register their buoys, placing them in specific locations mapped out by officials. The final plan also responds to some of the top concerns expressed by boaters during the planning process. Islanders with buoys in the harbor will be required to comply with new regulations as soon as one year from now. “I feel really good about how the community has voiced what they’ve seen, the issues,” said Lisa Randlette, a planner with DNR’s Aquatic Resources Division and the principal author of the plan. “I feel like the community has stepped up and articulated
their concerns for the harbor. ... It’s turned out much better than I could even hope.” Randlette and other DNR officials say that in recent years the state has grown increasingly concerned about the condition of Quartermaster Harbor, part of the protected Maury Island Aquatic Reserve. The number of boats in the harbor has grown significantly, and today the bay contains clusters of boats that are too close together, abandoned buoys that pose navigational hazards, anchors that drag and damage the underwater habitat SEE HARBOR, 18
SUNSHINE AND SMILES TO RING IN SPRING As if on cue, the clouds parted and Ober Park filled with pintsized egg hunters in Easter outfits for the annual Spring Fling on Saturday. Kids met the Easter bunny, dyed eggs, made paper bonnets and, of course, raced for eggs on the parks expansive lawns. At right, three young girls try to guess how many jelly beans are in a jar, a contest at Spring Fling.
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Latino group comes together to support its youngest By ELIZABETH SHEPHERD Staff Writer
A group of islanders working to support Vashon’s Latino population is gaining traction, and their latest effort — to ensure that more Spanishspeaking toddlers get a chance to attend preschool on Vashon — will bring a mouth-watering spread of Latin cuisine to this Friday’s Gallery Cruise. The feast, which will include such treats as handmade taquitos dorados, tostaditos and pastel y galletas, is being offered free of charge in the hallway of The Wallflower Building, starting at 5:30 p.m. until the food runs out, on Friday. But Alejandra Tress, a member of the informal group called Comunidad Latina de Vashon, said that she hopes islanders will not only come for the free food, but also donate generously to the group’s scholarship fund for preschoolage, Spanish-speaking children. “Our community has a tendency to be invisible,” she said. “I have witnessed kids who go into kindergarten who don’t speak any English.” Preschool, Tress believes, benefits all children in a number of ways, but the need is especially great for Latino children who grow up in households where only Spanish is spoken. She herself
See more photos from Spring Fling, pages 11 and 12.
SEE LATINOS, 20
Alternative school administrator selected to head VHS Edmonds principal has connections to the island By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
The Vashon School District has chosen the current administrator of an alternative school in Edmonds to be the next principal of Vashon High School. Danny Rock, the principal of Edmonds Heights K12 and a young father with ties to Vashon, was selected following a two-month search to replace current VHS principal Susan Hanson, who announced her retire-
ment last year. Superintendent Michael Soltman, who headed a 16-person search committee and made the final decision, said Rock, who has also taught at high school, emerged from among 17 applicants as the clear best fit for the job. “There was really, really strong support on the part of the search team,” Soltman said on Monday after he announced his choice to school district staff. “I think the combination of his (high school) experience along with his alternative education experience gives him a well-rounded toolkit.” Soltman will recommend Rock’s hiring to the Vashon school board on Thursday. He
expects they’ll vote in support of his decision. Rock, 37, has been the principal of Edmonds Heights K12, an award-winning alternative school with about 500 students in the Edmonds School District, since 2007. The school serves a wide variety of students who opted out of traditional school, from advanced elementary schoolers to high schoolers who struggle in a regular school setting. Each student has his or her own learning plan, which incorporates work both in and outside of the classroom, and parents are highly involved in the process. “It explores lots of different ways learning SEE PRINCIPAL, 19
Danny Rock