PARK GETS SPRUCED UP The lighthouse will get a new roof this summer. Page 4
OPINION | Center helps islanders age with confidence. [6] SPORTS | Local athletes excel in several sports. [16] NEWS | Park district votes twice to comply with state law. [5]
ART RULES Take in the visual pleasures of First Friday. Page 12
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2014
Vol. 59, No. 31
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
Vashon responders help battle state’s record wildfires
Eyes are on local beaches as scientists study sea star die-off
By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
As the state sees record wildfires, some Vashon firefighters have aided in the effort to control the blazes in Central and Eastern Washington. Three firefighters from Vashon Island Fire & Rescue (VIFR) recently returned from battling the massive wildfires, and a recent Vashon High School graduate is spending her entire summer working in the Methow Valley as a firefighter. “At this point I’m sure we’ll be called again,” said Brett Kranjcevich, a VIFR firefighter who returned last week from a nineday stint in Eastern Washington with Ross Copland. The two men, who have special training in wildfire fighting, were deployed with a strike team of other specially trained responders from south King County. VIFR’s Wes Paulsen went over with another team a couple days before. Kranjcevich and Copland were sent to both the Mills Canyon fire near Entiat, north of Wenatchee, and the Chiwaukum Creek Fire near Leavenworth. They worked on night shifts, mostly watching the fires to ensure they didn’t spread, and back burning, or setting controlled fires to burn specific areas to prevent the fire from growing.
Researchers are narrowing in on the cause of mysterious disease By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
When Rayna Holtz and Yvonne Kuperberg began monitoring a strip of west-side beach a few years ago, searching for dead sea birds as part of a citizen science project through the University of Washington, they soon realized they likely wouldn’t find any dead birds. So the two women, also Vashon Beach Naturalists, began recording other sea creatures they saw on their monthly walks, thinking it would be interesting to watch how their populations changed over time. Little did they know they would soon see one of the Puget Sound’s most iconic sea creatures — the sea star — nearly disappear from the beach, hit by a mysterious disease that has decimated sea star populations up and down the West Coast. “I would say the disease hasn’t been abating. It looks to me like it’s raging,” Holtz said last week. Holtz is now one of a handful of islanders collecting data on sea star wasting disease, which came to local waters last year. That information is sent on to scientists, who now SEE SEA STARS, 20
75¢
Natalie Martin/Staff Photo
Rayna Holtz looks for sea stars in pilings on the west side of Vashon.
SEE WILDFIRES, 15
Made on Vashon
A homegrown tamale business takes off By SARAH LOW Staff Writer
Islander Patty Freebourn’s dream of sharing Hispanic culture and traditional food with Vashon reached a major milestone this week, as both IGA and Thriftway began selling Patty’s Tamales. Many already know Freebourn and her tamales from the Vashon Farmers market, where her booth has drawn long lines. The tamales have also been popular at the Tacoma Farmers Market, and may soon be headed to Costco or Trader Joe’s. “The tamales have taken over,” Freebourn said last week with a
laugh. “I’m just trying to catch up with them.” Freebourn’s road to entrepreneurial success began when she was a little girl in Mexico, she said, waking up to the smells of her grandmother’s freshly made tortillas, salsa and tamales. “I always wanted to cook like her. Being happy eating my grandmother’s food … this is what I wanted to see in others from my own cooking,” Freebourn said. Born in Mexico, Freebourn grew up extremely poor after her father died when she was a baby. Freebourn’s mother brought her
family to the U.S. in the hopes of making a better life for them. Freebourn was 11 years old when they moved to California and her mother got work sewing in a factory. “I was sad when we first left Mexico. It was very hard. None of us spoke English,” Freebourn remembered. “But we survived, and I am glad we did it.” Eventually her family moved to Utah and Freebourn went to school, ultimately earning her credentials as a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN). She married and started a family of her own, and SEE TAMALES, 19
Sarah Low/Staff Photo
Patty Freebourn makes her tamales at Express Cuisine.