FROM ALPACAS TO ART Events will spotlight fiber arts on Vashon. Page 13
NEWS | VAA to pick up shovels for groundbreaking. [4] COMMUNITY | Islander tries to boost bus stop safety. [10] COMMENTARY | A local look at domestic violence. [6]
WINS IN THE WATER Crew team shows its stuff in Tacoma. Page 15
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014
Vol. 59, No. 41
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
Council hopes to update town plan, past changes found unsuccessful By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
Natalie Martin/Staff Photo
Michael Barker and Susan McCabe talk live on KVSH. The pair are two of 10 hosts for the Morning Scramble radio show.
Vashon’s first FM station goes live By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
On Monday morning there were cheers and tears as Voice of Vashon took to the airwaves on 101.9 FM, realizing what has been a dream of some in the organization for over a decade. “It’s the ultimate community historic moment,” said Rick Wallace, a longtime Voice of Vashon volunteer
who admits he cried that morning. “There aren’t that many things on Vashon that have taken so many years to come to fruition.” The new station, KVSH, will now broadcast 24-7, offering an eclectic mix of music, homegrown programs and live talk radio on a low-power FM station that will cover the island and stream on the web. “Sometimes you’ll hear islanders
playing music, discussing topics related to Vashon that are important to people, or you’ll hear music generated by Vashon artists,” Wallace said. “In one way or another, it’s all Vashon, and you can’t get that from any station in the metropolitan area.” Wallace and others involved with Voice of Vashon (VoV) call the effort SEE RADIO, 19
Vashon’s community council is kicking off an ambitious effort to update the Vashon Town Plan, beginning with an informational meeting with county officials next week. At the same time, however, a few islanders are asking what happened to the 2012 update of the town plan, which never went before the King County Council as planned. “I was shocked when I heard about it,” said Melodie Woods, who helped lead a four-year effort several years ago to update the town plan. She learned earlier this year that changes islanders proposed in 2012 never made it into King County’s comprehensive plan. “More than anything, I’m disappointed for all the people who worked so hard on it,” Woods said. “Their work was just sort of dismissed.”
What happened with the 2012 town plan proposal isn’t clear. At King County, John Starbard, director of the Department of Permitting and Environmental Review (DPER), said the changes to Vashon’s town plan were not submitted in time to be considered by the county council in 2012. However, islanders involved with the effort say they did submit required documents in time, and county officials never told them otherwise. Starbard was unsure if there was a miscommunication, in part because the county staff person who was working with islanders then has since retired, but said that person told him the deadline had not been met. “I would say that they had some important community issues to wrestle with, and it took several years for the community to have that discussion,” he said. SEE TOWN PLAN, 18
Retired rescue dog saved after wide effort By SARAH LOW Staff Writer
Amy Carey Photo
When Hoss was treated after being lost, he was also found to have a tumor.
A retired avalanche rescue dog was rescued himself last week after an community effort to find him when he became lost. Islanders then rallied to get the dog the medical help he needed. Hoss, a large, white-muzzled golden retriever wandered off last week and was found by his owner, Kevin Ward, after six days of tireless searching with a team of friends, neighbors and volunteers, spearheaded by Vashon Island Pet Protectors (VIPP). “The support we had from this group and all of the amazing volunteers is what kept us going,” Ward said. Ward and Hoss, who is now 12, worked together as
part of Washington’s Backcountry Avalanche Rescue K9s (BARK) team at Alpental for years. Ward, a ski patroller, began training Hoss for certification as an avalanche rescue dog not long after he brought him home as a puppy. Hoss was fully certified by the time he was 3, and at that time was just the seventh avalanche rescue dog in the state. “Before I picked him, I had read a book that described the characteristics of good working dogs,” Ward said. “and I saw those in Hoss.” While it’s rare for people to survive avalanches, the BARK teams are always training because they have to try, Ward said, and victim recovery is just as SEE DOG, 20