NIGHT OF MYSTERY Local author reads from his latest book. Page 10
NEWS | Vigil to be held for Suicide Prevention Day. [4] COMMENTARY | Look for the good during hard times. [6] COMMUNITY | Bank employees [5] step out to stop hunger.
FOOTBALL KICKS OFF After loss last week, Pirates will play at home Friday. Page 14
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014
Vol. 59, No. 37
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
Coyote killings draw attention to local population By SUSAN RIEMER For The Beachcomber
The killing of two coyotes at the Vashon Sheepdog Classic has prompted some to call for a community conversation about how to best live with the island’s increasing coyote population. Shortly after dawn the first morning of the sheepdog trials last month, organizers found the bodies of two sheep who had been killed in the event field by coyotes the night before. Later, they found the carcass of a third sheep, also taken down by a coyote. “We were shocked and saddened by the attacks,” said Maggi McClure, who has served as the primary organizer of the event for the last five years. For assistance, McClure turned to the Wildlife Services division of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which sent officials out to the event at Misty Isle Farm to assess
the situation and protect the sheep, in the end killing two coyotes from a family group of six that came to the field that night. “I am so grateful to have their help in keeping the rest of the flock safe,” McClure said, noting she felt a strong need to protect the 300 sheep, which were brought in for the event from a ranch in Brownsville, Oregon. “The role of the sheepdog trial is to maintain the health and integrity of the flock. We have to be as compassionate with those sheep as we can be,” she said. Not far from the event field, however, Michael Tracy lives on 17 acres near the Christianson Creek ravine and says he and some of his neighbors are disturbed by the killing of the coyotes. “People who live around here, we consider ourselves very lucky. This is one
Peter Serko Photo
Royce Wall, the Vashon Opera’s volunteer set designer, works on crafting the set for “Don Giovanni.”
Making an opera: A set takes shape By JULI GOETZ MORSER Staff Writer
The stage is set. Chandeliers aglow with candlelight hang from the rafters in a room adorned like a 17thcentury palace in Seville. A concrete statue stands in a stately courtyard, while a brick and mortar gate marks the entrance to the underworld. All that is missing are
SEE COYOTES, 19
the players — Don Giovanni and his minion, a slew of townspeople and peasants, dancers, a nobleman and the many beautiful women who catch the eye of the dissolute Giovanni. Enter Vashon Opera. Its talented cast will inhabit the roles of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s evocative portrait of an unrepentant libertine in his SEE OPERA, 12
A ride with hills and attitude draws hundreds By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
It’s been called arduous and gruelling. “It almost killed me,” one person said. But for a fourth year, cyclists from all over the state and even the country will pay for the chance to burn their legs on Vashon’s — and perhaps the region’s — tallest and most strenuous hills. “Combining even two or three hills here is hard,” said Bruce Morser, an organizer of the Passport to Pain. “I can’t think of a single piece of this course that is not a challenge.” The Passport to Pain (P2P), a bike ride that raises funds for the Vashon Island Rowing Club, strings together 18 of Vashon’s steepest hills for a total of 10,000 feet of elevation gain. Since it began in 2010, the ride has attracted an increasing number cyclists from both on and off the island.
Hoping to continue to grow the event, organizers this year have hired a paid ride coordinator, added more activities to the day and attempted to publicize the ride’s shorter and less difficult course offerings. It is expected to draw around 300 participants this year. “Our vision for Passport to Pain in the future is it should be one of the premier rides in Puget Sound,” said Morser, a rower who is also credited with starting the event. “But it should also be one of the annual events the island looks forward too, like the sheepdog trials or an open house.” Both volunteers and riders say that while P2P could one day join the ranks of popular rides such as RAMROD (Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day), it offers altitude — and attitude — not found anywhere else. For instance, checkpoints at every hill on Passport to David Weller Photo
SEE P2P, 17
Jim Marsh as the Burma Road Devil chases Peter Ray at last year’s ride.