CREATING A SAFE PLACE Program to reduce LGBTQ hate crimes begins. Page 5
NEWS | State releases results of new standardized test. [3] COMMENTARY | Read VIFR board candidate statements [6,7] ARTS | Renowned poet to read, [11] sign books Saturday.
PIRATES SINK MARINERS VHS football team defeats Earl Marriott. Page 14
BEACHCOMBER VASHON-MAURY ISLAND
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015
Vol. 60, No. 40
www.vashonbeachcomber.com
State testing, sex education among topics discussed at school board public forum By ANNELI FOGT
75¢
Composting program begins on island
Editor
From the district’s water use to the role of testing in the classroom to sexual education curriculum and the availability of condoms at the high school, islanders provided the Vashon Island school board candidates with plenty to talk about at the candidate forum on Thursday, Oct. 1. The forum served as a chance for the public to get to know the six candidates by asking them questions about any issues over which they had concerns. It turned out that islanders were concerned about a wide variety of topics, and candidates answered nine audience-generated questions over the course of the two-hour long debate. While answers varied widely among the candidates, all agreed that more resources need to be in place for parents to become more engaged in their children’s schooling and that schools need to encourage diversity. At the beginning of the debate, community advocate and forum organizer Hilary Emmer asked the candidates about their passions and what they will bring to the board. Position 5 incumbent Laura Wishik said that she wants to create a more inclusive school experience for all, but believes that there is a “missing piece” when it comes to parents. “We need to focus on building partnerships with families and parents,” Wishik said. Wishik’s opponent, Toby Holmes, said that he is passionate about wanting to resist “the culture of standardization,” and supporting teachers.
Residents urged to bring food, yard waste to transfer station By ANNELI FOGT Editor
Susan Riemer / Staff Photo
Vashon High School student and debate team member Sam Cushing asks school board candidates at the Thursday, Oct. 1 debate a question about ways to increase funding for more programs. Position 3 candidates Zabette Macomber and Jake Jacobovitch both said they were passionate about educating every child and encouraging diversity. Macomber focused on girls and the importance of making sure to empower them in their daily schooling and also
said that the district needs to encourage diversity, because Vashon is “very white.” Jacobovitch said that the district needs to focus on ever-growing minority communities and the groups of students who get SEE FORUM, 18
A year-long pilot program organized by Zero Waste Vashon and King County aimed at determining the feasibility of an on-island composting operation is underway, and Zero Waste Vashon officials are urging the community to get behind the effort. Vashon does not currently have any kind of green waste or composting services, meaning most islanders pile up yard waste in their yards or burn it, which has a negative effect on the environment. Meanwhile, food waste is disposed of along with all other garbage. The new program that started Monday has the potential to not only create a composting system on-island and end the need for burning yard waste and wasting food, but eventually eliminate altogether the expensive process of hauling waste off-island. “That’s a vision we hold, to keep organics here,” Jim McRae, a Zero Waste Vashon member with more than 12 years of experience in solid waste management, told The Beachcomber. “We hold a vision to do it all locally and make it self-sufficient.” He and Zero Waste Vashon President SEE COMPOST, 17
Family sues insurance company after 2010 fire Insurance company claims cause was arson By SUSAN RIEMER Staff Writer
On a November night in 2010, a three-story waterfront home on Vashon’s File Photo west side burned in a blaze VIFR Chief Hank Lipe watches as the remnants of the November so dramatic it prompted 2010 fire burn the Paige Lane home. residents on the other side
of Colvos Passage to dial 911. Now, nearly five years later, a 12-member jury in King County Superior Court will decide the answer to a critical question about the denial of insurance reimbursement for the loss: Should the insurance company compensate the homeowners for their loss of what they say was an accidental fire? Or was the insurance company
justified in denying coverage because the company investigators determined the cause to be arson? That finding would mean no compensation for a home once assessed at nearly $1 million. Dennis Schmidt and Wendy Demeter, both firefighters with the Seattle Fire Department, are the owners of the former home on Paige Lane. They filed the civil suit in 2011, claim-
ing American Commerce Insurance Company (ACIC) wrongly denied coverage after it did not reimburse the couple for the home and other losses. The two are suing for both economic and emotional damages. ACIC, however, contends that Schmidt’s explanation of how the fire started is “scientifically impossible,” SEE FIRE, 19