BUSINESS | Local bakery goes up for sale. [5] OPINION | Let’s rethink traditional office space. [7] COMMUNITY | A chat with the [13] Chamber director.
TRADITION BLOOMS 23rd annual garden tour is a feast for the senses. Page 10
A CROWDED SHELTER VIPP looks to find homes for abundance of cats. Page 4
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2013
Vol. 58, No. 25
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
Man behind suspected drug house goes free Foundation funding Islanders say neighborhood where woman’s body found still plagued by crime By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
A man who’s been called Vashon’s top methamphetamine dealer had a significant drug charge thrown out last month, frustrating islanders who had long hoped his conviction would rid their neighborhood of suspected drug activity and related crime that centers around his home. “We’re just kind of at the end of our rope,” said Frank Shipley, who lives by the house. Richard Arthur Grant, a 47-yearold who authorities say is frequently arrested for drug possession and other crimes, now faces three additional drug charges and is scheduled to appear in court today. “I can’t predict what the court is going to do after this last time,” said Shipley, who has paid close attention to the situation. “The more times he is arrested, the more likely it is he’s going to be convicted.”
Grant came to the attention of plained about Grant and periodically many on Vashon last fall, when the called police on the house for years, body of a missing woman was found heightened attention fell on Grant last near his house. But residents of the November after the body of islander quiet, wooded neighborhood east of India Castle, 27, was discovered in a the Vashon Airport say that for years shallow pond behind his home. The they’ve been bothered what appears King County Sheriff’s Office ruled her to be frequent drug activity at Grant’s death an accident resulting from an home, a modest split-level on 109th overdose of methamphetamine, and Avenue. no criminal charges Neighbors have resulted. “We’re not targeting him, had regular conAt the time of we’re going after crime in the incident, Grant frontations with faced a drug charge visitors to the general, and it so happens from an August house, who they say he’s in the middle of a lot of arrest where he was come and go at all criminal activity on the island.” found to possess hours, sometimes drive recklessly, are Dept. Jeff Hancock nearly 10 grams of King County Sheriff’s Deputy methamphetamine aggressive, trespass with the intent to on other property sell. and have siphoned For months while the case moved fuel from cars. Police have often gone to Grant’s home to search for stolen through the court system, some of property and criminal suspects, and Grant’s neighbors followed its promultiple neighbors report that people gression, hoping for a conviction that from Grant’s home once killed a local would send Grant to prison for as dog. many as five years. When he’d gone “I literally leave my house as little to jail for longer periods in the past, as possible to not have to deal with they said, Grants off-island brothers it,” said Kelly Wald, who also lives by came and cleaned out house, which is Grant’s house with her husband, Joe owned by their mother. Wald. SEE CRIME, 19 While the neighbors have com-
Moving up: The class of 2013’s big moment The class of 2013 graduated Saturday under sunny skies in the Vashon High School stadium. The ceremony, by turns spirited, funny and solemn, featured several speeches, including an address given by students Alec Spencer and Kelly Sullivan, who the graduates had chosen to speak that day. It provided many laughs, but also several moving moments, including when they noted about Vashon, “It’s incredible how much love can fit into 13 miles of length.” Valedictorian Maria Osborne, who left her high school career behind with a 4.0 GPA, also addressed the group with a set of commandments she tries to follow, ranging from the importance of loving deeply and honestly to the value of thinking carefully about values. In the end, she conjured up A. A. Milne’s Piglet, telling them, “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying good-bye so hard.” The ceremony also included many tributes to retiring principal Susan Hanson, who spoke some about the difficulty of the year and the loss of students Palmer Burke and Ryan Krug. She had tender words for the graduates and told them at the end of each day to be sure to look for the joy they had experienced. “Because no matter how hard, there will always be joy,” she told the students before her. “You were my joy.” At right, graduates Jonathan Kim and Madelyn Royal walk together in the graduation processional. They’re followed by Emma Hennessey and Katherine Misel. Phil Royal Photo
short, but school district says no cuts
With state budget still unclear, campaign will wrap up this week By NATALIE JOHNSON Staff Writer
As the Vashon School District declares no cuts for the next school year, the schools foundation is scraping to round out the $350,000 in donations the district estimates it will need to avoid dipping into its reserves next year. As of Monday, the nonprofit Vashon Schools Foundation, which will end its public campaign Friday, had about $60,000 left to raise. “If that money came in this year, it would certainly help put us in a better place next year, instead of having a bigger hole to dig out of,” said Donna Nespor, the foundation’s coordinator. The foundation kicked off its third annual campaign in March with a goal to raise $500,000 to sustain district programs where state funding falls short. In 2011 it raised $440,000, and last year it brought in $436,000. About a month ago, as donations came in far slower than in past years, fundraisers revised their goal and put out a call for at least $350,000, the minimum SEE SCHOOLS, 18