FOREST THINNED Logging project will improve forest health. Page 5
COMMUNITY | K2 enters state clean-up program. [4] SPORTS | Hundreds ‘do the Burby’ on Saturday. [18 NEWS | Island bookkeeper [4] charged with stealing.
BARNWORKS REUNITES Artists’ group will hold a new show. Page 10
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2014
Vol. 59, No. 30
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
Islanders disagree on best approach to pesticides and bees By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL: VASHON’S BIG WEEKEND A cacophonous parade full of costumes, music, dancing and kids rolled down Vashon Highway Saturday morning, signaling the start of Strawberry Festival weekend on Vashon. The allure of not only a parade, but live music, festival food, shopping at booths and fun for kids again drew thousands to the island, tying up ferries and crowding town. If the number of porta potties used is a measure of the weekend’s success, which festival organizers say it is, then this year’s event was again a hit. Festival attendance was strong, even on Sunday, when sunny skies gave way to clouds and sprinkles. Sue Stinson, event manager for the Chamber of Commerce, said she was surprised by how many visitors and vendors told her this year that the festival had brought them to Vashon for the first time. “That’s part of what festival is about,” she said, “getting people interested in Vashon.” Pictured above, boys from the Bouska family rode in their family’s antique fire truck in the parade. For more photos of the parade and the festival, see pages 14 and 15.
Customers who walk into Kathy’s Corner and look up in the boughs of the sprawling willow tree there will see a thriving bee hive strapped to a branch high off the ground. “I love bees,” store owner Kathy Wheaton said recently, pointing the hive out to a guest. “I have been a beekeeper for many years.” Wheaton, who has owned Kathy’s Corner since 1971, has recently found herself at odds with some islanders who believe that for the health of bees and other pollinators, a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids — or neonics — should be removed from local store shelves. But Wheaton, who said she has put in more than 150 hours in the last six months studying the issue from all sides, is not so sure. “I care about Vashon, and
I care about the earth,” she said. “But I am not ready to pull neonicotinoids.” The issue of neonicotinoids and their effect on bees has been in the news recently on Vashon and far beyond its shores. Earlier this month the Natural Resources Defense Council filed a petition against the Environmental Protection Agency, asking it to withdraw its approval of neonics because of their harmful effect on bees. Closer to home, Eugene, Oregon, and Spokane have banned the chemicals on public property, and this week the Seattle news agency Grist reported that a National Wildlife Refuge System official in the Northwest has asked his staff to investigate where neonics are being used in the refuges they manage and stop to their use. Aware of the case against neonics, Wheaton made her SEE PESTICIDES, 23
Nearing construction, VAA works to keep momentum on arts center project With fundraising and permitting wrapping up, board votes to break ground in October By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
On a warm July afternoon, Bruce Morser stood on Vashon Highway drawing. While Morser, a professional artist, has done work for such clients as Starbucks, Rolex and National Geographic, that day he and his daughter were drawing with Sharpie markers on the side of an old building. In the last few weeks, the father-daughter duo
has traced a sprawling mural that includes an orchestra, actors performing Shakespeare and dancers in “The Nutcracker” on the side of the old McFeed’s building. The mural, which that day frequently drew honks and shouts from the busy intersection at Center, is part of an effort by Vashon Allied Arts (VAA) to maintain momentum for its Vashon Center for the Arts project. A puzzle showing the new center by Will Forrester has been forming at the top of the mural as well, and in May, Steffon Moody painted two large birds on the other side of the building. “That drew a lot of attention,” said Molly Reed, Natalie Martin/Staff Photo
SEE VAA, 12
Bruce and Madeline Morser work on a mural on the side of the McFeeds building.