MAKING MUSIC Weekend festival will benefit youth. Page 10
Special Pull-Out Section
2015 Island Child Back to School edition
BEACHCOMBER Sponsored by John L Scott, Vashon
VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2015
Vol. 60, No. 34
Page 11– 22
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC
75¢
Coyote reports rise, group aims to educate islanders By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
Pete Welch Photo
Last Thursday evening Ian Moore and his band mates drew the largest crowd in years to a Concerts in the Park show, with well over 400 people attending. The evening capped off with dancers from the audience joining Moore on stage for his encore song. The free concerts, held at Ober Park, feature talented and diverse musicians and provide fun for all ages, according to organizer Pete Welch. Two more shows will be held this summer. Clinton Fearon, bringing his signature reggae vibe, will play on Thursday evening. The last of the series will be on Sept. 10 with The Great Divide, a crowd favorite on Vashon. Concerts in the Park are presented by the Vashon Park District and curated by Vashon Events.
When Angela Schonbok’s favorite cat did not return to the family’s north-end home after hunting voles one night recently, she knew something had gone terribly wrong. A few days later, Schonbok’s fears were confirmed when she found the cat’s collar in a patch of woods across the road. Since then she has learned that several cats have disappeared this summer from a neighborhood close by, and many believe coyotes are to blame. Schonbok knew that coyotes live on the island, she said, but had not anticipated they would come to her residential neighborhood. Nor did she know about the missing cats. “I feel very responsible, she said, fighting tears. “I did not realize the extent to which it was happening.” Animals wander off for many reasons, and it’s often impossible to determine if a pet has fallen victim to a coyote. However, experts stress that coyotes are active in many areas of the island
now, including the north end. The coyotes are here to stay, they add, and the best way to co-exist is to prevent incidents, including by keeping cats and dogs in at night and making an effort to keep coyotes wary of people. “The number one message is prevention,” said Bianca Perla of the Vashon Nature Center. “It is better to prevent things and teach the coyotes to stay out of human areas.” To help in that effort, the Coyote Working Group has formed with assistance from the Vashon Nature Center. The group came together last year after coyotes killed three sheep at the Vashon Sheepdog Trials and government officials who were brought in to assist killed two coyotes. Since the group formed, it has focused on research and education by meeting with government wildlife officials, conducting a “howl study” on the island and creating materials for farmers, pet owners and the general public to learn more about the animals and how to best live with them. SEE COYOTES, 27
Family business a labor of love for all involved with Sporty’s By SARAH LOW Staff Writer
Nestled unassumingly between the pharmacy and The President of Me, Sporty’s has been one of Vashon town’s enduring businesses. And while it has never been named to any “top” or “best” lists, and may not be as well known off the island as some of its neighbors, the occasionally infamous establishment holds a special place in the hearts of many in the community. “We are the first place open in the morning and the last place to close at night,” owner Pete Chorak Jr. said. “And we’re only closed two days a
year.” The son of Croatian parents, Chorak took over the business from his father in 1994, when he was just 25. “We first lived in Enumclaw; my dad had a business there,” he said. “When I was 10, he sold it, and we moved to Vashon.” The family owned two businesses across the street from each other in town — The Islander and the tavern that eventually became Sporty’s. “It was PJ’s initially, then Karen’s Place, then Vashon Tavern and finally Chorak’s Sportsman’s Inn,” Chorak explained. “Once it got to that, everyone just started calling it Sporty’s. It stuck, so we changed the sign.”
Meanwhile over at The Islander, pancakes were cooking and gaining a fair amount of notoriety. Bigger than a Frisbee and prepared by Chorak’s mother Neja, they achieved some fame when Chorak’s brother Jason, a record-setting linebacker for the University of Washington’s Huskies football team, was getting a lot of press. “He would talk about eating the pancakes, and that got some (media) attention,” Chorak said with a chuckle and a big smile. So it was then, that when the Choraks decided to close The Islander in 1999, they built a kitchen at Sporty’s SEE SPORTY’S, 26
Sarah Low/Staff Photo
Waitress Dorothy Freye with lunch customers at Sporty’s