NEWS | BioBlitz species survey set to start Friday. [5] COMMENTARY | Take a hike on Vashon. [6] ARTS | Galley Cruise showcases [10] a world of art.
FAST AND FURIOUS Island athletes compete at state track meet. Page 15
A TRAGIC LOSS Longtime islander killed in car accident. Page 4
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2015
Vol. 60, No. 22
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
75¢
County slowly cracks down on septic systems polluting local beaches By NATALIE MARTIN Staff Writer
Natalie Martin/Staff Photo
King County is pressuring homeowners to address septic systems such as this unapproved one on Quartermaster Harbor.
When Rhoni Grimshaw and her husband rented a home on outer Quartermaster Harbor a year and a half ago, they were happy to find a place on the water and didn’t think much about the home’s sewage. But now, according to Grimshaw, they’ve moved out because they could no longer handle a septic system they found to be unpermitted and smelly. “When the wind is blowing, it’s nauseating,” Grimshaw said last week before she moved out, showing a reporter the underground septic pit with a plastic lid about 3 feet from her back door. Plastic piping that appeared to come from a neighboring house went into the septic tank, as did some cables that prevented the lid from fully closing. When it rains heavily, she said, the tank overflows. “You can see the live turds in there,” she said after opening the lid. “I don’t know how else to put it.” SEE SEPTIC, 19
SPLASHING INTO WARM WEATHER
Juli Goetz Morser/Staff Photo
Koshin Christopher Cain stands at the front of the Havurat Ee Shalom, which the Puget Sound Zen Center recently moved into, sharing the building with the island’s Jewish congregation.
Under one roof on Vashon
Jewish congregation will share historic church with Zen group By JULI GOETZ MORSER Staff Writer
Susan Riemer/Staff Photo
The Vashon Pool, which recently opened for the season, was full of activity this weekend, as warm temperatures lured swimmers to stop by. Pool manager Scott Bonney said he was delighted with the weekend’s turnout, adding that he and his staff sold a lot of season passes and punch cards and signed many people up for swimming lessons and sailing camp. The pool will be open on weekends only, for both lap swimming and open swims, through June 21, when it will move to its regular season schedule. For more information, see vashonparks.org.
For almost 90 years, a white clapboard building on Westside Highway has been the spiritual home for several religious communities. It began as the Golgatha Norwegian Lutheran Church, followed by the Bethel Evangelical Free Church and for the last decade, Havurat Ee Shalom. This Sunday, the doors will open to welcome yet another group in a win-win rental agreement between the Havurah, Vashon’s Jewish community, and Puget Sound Zen Center (PSZC), the island’s Zen sangha. When the Havurah first purchased the building, the option of renting to another organization never entered the minds of the leadership. Though on occasion concerts and community events are held in the hall, during the week the building mostly remains dark, much to the chagrin of Dan Asher, an active member of Havurah. So when his friend Koshin Christopher Cain, abbot of the PSZC, mentioned that the center was looking for a new home, sharing the Havurat seemed like a mutually beneficial idea. “As a community, over the 10 years we’ve had the building, we’ve been under-utilizing it, and it has certain expenses,” SEE CHURCH, 20