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BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2013 Vol. 58, No. 38
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
Island burglaries lead to Seattle suspect By SUSAN RIEMER
car, according to charging papers. Once apprehended, A Vashon father and he confessed to several resian iPhone app recently dential burglaries in recent helped King County depu- months, prosecutors say. In an interview last week, ties apprehend a man they Vashon resident Gene believe is responsible for several burglaries in King Kuhns recounted the story County, including two on of the burglary at his famiVashon and one that left sev- ly’s north-end home. While eral students without their family members were away, a thief removed a screen backpacks and gym bags. on an open winAut horit ies dow, entered the arrested West “This is a big home and stole Seattle resident case. We think a safe containSean Jeardoe, 20, ing valuables, after burglarthis guy is including jewies at an island responsible elry and a gun. residence and for more than One of the items the Jensen Point in the safe, he boathouse on two dozen said, was his Sept. 9. Jeardoe burglaries.” g ra nd mot her’s was booked into jail Sept. 11 and Sgt. Cindi West, diamond wedKing County Sheriff’s Office ding ring, which was charged in King County he had given to Superior Court his wife and has on Monday with 10 felonies, much sentimental value. including possession of a Beyond the loss of the stolen vehicle, residential material items, he said the burglary and possession theft has had other effects of a stolen firearm, accord- as well. ing to charging papers. The “It has caused us to quescrimes dated from Jan. 26 tion our trust in others and to July 7, 2013. Monday’s be more prudent in our charges did not include the security. We are going to incidents on Vashon, which invest in a security system are still under investigation, with cameras,” he said. according to Dan Donahoe, Not long after the Kuhns spokesman for the King family reported their theft, County prosecutor. members of the junior crew “This is a big case. We team returned to the boat think this guy is responsible house after practice on for more than two dozen Quartermaster Harbor and burglaries,” said Sgt. Cindi found that nine backpacks West, a spokeswoman for and duffel bags containthe King County Sheriff’s ing cell phones, textbooks, Office. A woman was also clothes and money had arrested in the aftermath been stolen. Coach Richard Parr of Vashon’s crimes. She has not been charged yet but is expressed frustration about being held on an outstand- the incident. “It’s really unfortunate ing warrant from her July 7 that some low-life people arrest with Jeardoe. Following the thefts on can have such a negative Vashon, Jeardoe attempted impact on decent kids who to elude arrest and had both support each other and his pregnant girlfriend and a stolen loaded gun in the SEE THEFT, 24 Staff Writer
Elizabeth Shepherd/Staff Photo
Island artist David Erue will be part of the green-themed Super Saturday event this weekend, displaying the sculptures he creates from found materials.
A sculptor turns rust into razzle-dazzle art By ELIZABETH SHEPHERD Staff Writer
I
t’s easy to find sculptor David Erue’s house on Cove Road — there’s a baby elephant next to the driveway.
The five-foot tall pachyderm has plenty of personality. She has big sad eyes, and a bejeweled headpiece droops royally downward onto her sweet face. And although the baby’s saggy, baggy legs are wrapped in tire chains, a few feathers extend outward from the bottom of her trunk — perhaps, like Dumbo, she is getting ready to fly away. The elephant is Erue’s latest creation, meticulously and creatively fabricated from rusted sheet metal and other found materials, and he’ll be showing it off this Saturday, along with other sculptures, at the WisEnergy Fair in Island Lumber’s parking lot. The fair, held in collaboration with Island Ingenuity and Solar Tour, aims to educate the broader community about ways to conserve energy and live sustainably. Erue’s artworks, and indeed his
entire way of life, seem to be solidly in keeping with the ethos of reducing, recycling and reusing. One of the first stops on a tour of Erue’s property is an area tucked away behind his studio, where he’s neatly laid out piles of items islanders have brought him to use in his work. “All I ask is that people call me first, before dropping things off,” he cautioned. “I want to be sure I can use it, and I’m not going to take people’s stuff to the dump for them.” There’s a twisted pile of rebar, a big pile of brightly colored lawn mower blades, two shiny motorcycle rims, a rusted tractor seat and hundreds of other unidentifiable pieces of metal that once whirred and hummed inside all kinds of machines and gizmos. Now, those scraps of discarded steel are Erue’s raw materials for forging outdoor sculptures that range from whimsical slugs to a majestic eagle with a 5-foot wing span. Using found objects, he said, helps him keep the price of his artwork low. “I get my materials for next to nothing, so I can keep things reasonable,” he said.
Still, he said, pricing his work has always been tricky for him, and he thinks it’s also hard for a lot of artists. “I don’t keep track of my time when I make this stuff, because I’m afraid I’ll find out I’m making $5 an hour,” he said. Some of his creations have found a home in his own backyard. His partner, Bobbi Arnold, is a well-known island gardener, and she’s created several lovely garden “rooms” that surround the small house where she and Erue live together. “If I leave something out for too long, she takes it and puts it in the garden,” Erue said, as he ambled past Arnold’s well-tended beds — garden spaces so beautiful that to walk through them feels like stepping into the pages of a picture book. The place is clearly a labor of love and a place of collaboration between Erue and Arnold. A vegetable garden stands behind an intricate metal gate crafted by Erue. A tree, festooned with blue bottles, is topped by a comical bluebird that Erue cut from SEE ART, 23