50
Examiner The Whidbey
¢
Whidbey Island’s Only Locally Owned, Independent Newspaper
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2011
VOL. 17, NO. 15
Two ballots Veterans Day 11/11/11 confound local voter By Kasia Pierzga Examiner Staff Writer
A Coupeville voter said he’s worried about the integrity of elections in Washington after he received two ballots for the Nov. 8 election. Jim Martyn stopped by The Whidbey Examiner office Tuesday morning with both ballots in hand. Martyn had legally changed his name in May 2006, but one of the ballots he received had his old name on it. The other was addressed to his new name. “This certainly violates the principle of one person, one vote,” said Martyn, who believes that voting in person at an election poll where a trained poll worker checks each voter’s identification is much safer than the vote-by-mail system. But state voter-registration officials say Martyn got two ballots because he registered to vote under his new name without canceling his registration under his old name. Martyn asked that his previous name not be used in this story. According to state records, Martyn filed election ballots under his old name in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010. In December 2010, he filed a new voter registration under his new name when he renewed his driver’s license through the state Department of Licensing. As a result, when election time arrived this year, two ballots arrived in the mail. Patty Murphy, a voting-systems specialist at the Washington Secretary of State’s Office, said the statewide voter registration database developed in 2006 is checked about once a year for duplicate records. In addition to voter names, the system uses Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, dates of birth, addresses and phone numbers to ensure that each voter receives only one ballot. But because Martyn had originally registered to vote before the statewide voter database was established, there was no license number or Social Security number on file for him, making it nearly impossible to catch the problem, Murphy said. Making the situation more complicated was that Martyn had also changed his first and middle names, his phone number and
Kasia Pierzga / The Whidbey Examiner
U.S. Navy veteran Jack McPherson of Coupeville shows off the timeworn American flag that once belonged to the man who built their 19th-century home on Front Street. The national symbol is a point of pride for McPherson, who helps organize the Veterans Day ceremony at the Island County courthouse each year.
Honoring veterans a valued tradition By Toni Grove For the Examiner
Every Memorial Day, retired Navy Commander and former Coupeville Mayor Jack McPherson flies a timeworn American flag from the building on Front Street where he and wife Joan live. When the McPhersons first purchased the 1890s-era building that became their home and the site of Joan McPherson’s law offices, the building came with a hidden bonus: Elmer Calhoun’s fragile, 49star flag. Elmer Calhoun, a La Conner native, bought the building in the late 19th century after a stint prospecting for gold in Alaska. For a time, Calhoun also owned the Coupeville Wharf, was deeply involved in the local economy and community and, like McPherson, once served as mayor of Coupeville. McPherson likes to point out that except for the original builder, “everyone See BALLOTS, page 6 who’s owned the building was the mayor
of Coupeville.” McPherson considers flying the old flag a nod to the town’s past. “We fly it every year as a tribute to the building and Elmer Calhoun, who owned it,” he said. Connecting the past to the present is important to 81-year old McPherson, as is the community he and his family have called home for almost 40 years. McPherson grew up in the San Francisco Bay area and joined the Navy Reserve as a seaman in 1947, right out of high school. “I spent quite a few years in the reserve, and then went to officer’s candidate school and went active in 1953,” he said. It was when McPherson was stationed in Seattle after a tour in Viet Nam that a friend suggested he visit Whidbey Island. “He said, ‘You should take the kids up to Fort Casey to fly kites.’ So we came up here one day. We just fell in love with the See VET, page 6
Honor veterans in Coupeville Nov. 11 Central Whidbey Lions Club and the Town of Coupeville partner to provide a ceremony in recognition of Veteran’s Day at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 11 at the Veterans Memorial Plaza adjacent to the Island County courthouse at Sixth and Center streets in Coupeville. Lions Club members will present flags representing the various branches of the service. Coupeville Mayor Nancy Conard will offer some brief remarks, and community participants will join in singing patriotic songs. The ceremony is intended to honor and thank all those who have served in the armed forces. Everyone is encouraged to attend.
Page 6
The Whidbey Examiner • Thursday, November 10, 2011
Vet: Reunite at plaza; from page 1
Ballots: From page 1
St. Augustine’s in-the-Woods
Shantina Steele, Director of Christian Formation Nigel J. Taber-Hamilton, Rector
Sunday Eucharist 8 & 10:30 am
Child care available at 10 am Youth programs at 10 am Sept - June 5217 S. Honeymoon Bay Rd Freeland • 360-331-4887 www.staugustinesepiscopalchurch.org
tify the Island County Elections Office immediately, Crider said, adding that under Washington law, any voter found guilty of submitting two ballots may be charged with a felony. A
ST. STEPHEN’S ANGLICAN The Rev. Paul Orritt SUNDAY SERVICES 8:00 am • Solemn Eucharist 9:30 am • Sung Eucharist 11:11 am • Eucharist Celebration www.StephensAnglicans.org
ISLAND VINEYARD COMMUNITY CHURCH Pastor James Gallagher 6-7:30 pm Sunday Nights www.IslandVineyard.org
2 CHURCHES • 1 BUILDING 555 SE Regatta • Oak Harbor • 679-3431 www.ststephensanglicans.org
S T. S T E P H E N ’ S A N G L I C A N C H U R C H
THE EPISCOPAL CHURCHES ON WHIDBEY ISLAND WELCOME EVERYONE!
Kasia Pierzga / The Whidbey Examiner
Jim Martyn of Coupeville displays the two ballots he received for the Nov. 8 election. One of the ballots had his correct name on it, and the other was addressed to him by the name he used before he had it legally changed more than five years ago.
S T. S T E P H E N ’ S A N G L I C A N C H U R C H
his mailing address, she said. “We wouldn’t have known it was the same person,” Murphy said, adding that she believes this type of situation is very unusual. Because Martyn registered to vote under his new name at the end of 2010, this year is the first year that he was issued a ballot under that name. Murphy said she thinks Martyn had been receiving election ballots under his old name, but just never noticed it. But Martyn insists that’s not true, and that he hasn’t seen a ballot with his old name on it since he had his name changed in Island County District Court. He said he believes someone else must have been filing ballots under his old name. “How many others did this happen to? I doubt I’m the only one,” he said. “The whole thing just seems very strange.” Island County Auditor Sheilah Crider said she’s looking forward to hearing from Martyn. Until he contacts the county elections office, there’s little she can do to remedy the situation. “We would not have the authority to remove a voter from the database,” she said. “He needs to instruct the county to delete the old name.” Anyone who receives more than one ballot for any reason should no-
~ Sunday Services ~
16604 SR 20 (Just south of Coupeville)
(360) 678-3713 or (360) 969-5155
Pastor Mike Coleburn
Adult & Children’s Classes 10am Morning Worship & Children’s Church - 11am Please call for information regarding Small Group meetings.
“Nothing is too hard for God”
place.” They bought a home in Coupeville in 1969, and when he retired in 1976 they made it permanent. It wasn’t long before Jack and Joan McPherson became active in local issues. Joan McPherson was deeply involved in the formation of Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve. “In fact, Joan was one of the first people around to recognize that replacing the farmland with a housing development wouldn’t be a good thing,” he said. McPherson said they got to know the core group of local activists who were knowledgeable about and involved in preserving the prairie – concerns that dovetailed with his own. “I was interested in the area and the environment and the historical aspect of it,” he said. In 1978, McPherson threw his hat into the political ring, but with an unexpected twist. “I ran for a seat on the city council,” he said. “Right after I was elected, the major quit. So the council elected me mayor.” Later, McPherson turned his sights to helping to create a space in Coupeville where veterans could be honored and remembered. When the Central Whidbey Lions Club and the Town of Coupeville come together on Veterans Day at the Veterans Memorial Plaza at the Island County courthouse to present flags,
sing patriotic songs and present speeches honoring those who have served our nation, it is in part be due to the efforts of McPherson and a cadre of determined retired and active-duty service members. “That was started by Bill Ethridge, a former bombardier and prisoner of war,” McPherson explained. “We established the organization to form a war memorial. I was the secretary. There were maybe 10 of us. And Bob Clay was other one.” The community helped make the plaza a reality by supporting the group’s fundraising efforts. “We threw a dance and we sold commemorative bricks,” he said. “A lot of people bought bricks for $100.” After the memorial plaza was completed in 2002, the group decided to donate its remaining $400 to the Disabled America Veterans, which had stepped up to become the plaza’s caretakers. The Central Whidbey Lions Club committed to providing the flags that fly in the plaza year ’round – flags that need to be replaced every year or two because of weather damage, McPherson pointed out. McPherson also is quick to give credit to Mayor Nancy Conard. “She always calls and asks if we’re going to do it,” he said. “We usually have 20 or 30 people that show up,” McPherson said. “Every year we have a few more. It’s kind of like Me-
Coupeville United Methodist Church
Whidbey Evangelical Free Church
Contemporary Service 8:45 a.m. Sunday School 9:45 a.m. Traditional Service 11 a.m. Child care available
Sunday School - 9:15 a.m. Worship - 10:30 a.m. All Welcome!
Pastor Jin Ming Ma 608 N. Main St. • 360-678-4256
874 Plantation Dr. Greenbank, WA
Come join us for Lutheran Worship Services in Coupeville! Pacific Rim Institute St. Mary’s Church Sundays • 6:30pm Oak Harbor Lutheran Church invites everyone to experience a casual evening of prayer, worship and friendship in Coupeville.
Now meeting Sundays at 11 a.m. in the Service Alternatives Building 20 NW First St., Coupeville
Call 679-1561 for information.
425-343-5288 • www.coupevilleunity.org
simple
relational
relevant
ALWAYS a PLACE for YOU THE
COMMUNIT Y
CHURCH
Coupeville Oak Harbor Pac Rim Institute OH Senior Center 180 Parker Rd 51 SE Jerome St One Church . . . 2 locations Sunday 9:30 am www.ctkonline.com/whidbey Sunday 11:00 am
morial Day or Fourth of July. We purposely hold a short ceremony, to think about the veterans who make the country what it is, and go home.” But honoring veterans shouldn’t be a one-day event, McPherson said. Nor should the plaza remain empty the rest of the year. “The place is there all year, all the time, where people can reflect on the reason for the plaza,” he said. This year’s ceremony takes place at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 11 at the Veterans Memorial Plaza near the corner of Sixth and Center streets in Coupeville. The public is not only welcome, but encouraged to attend and take part in the ceremony. McPherson knows it takes the dedication of a lot of men and women to keep our county strong and safe, just as it takes an entire community to honor and commemorate those who have served and sacrificed on our behalf. He recalled an experience he had at the plaza that left a vivid impression on him. The group had let people know that they would retire the colors at 5 p.m. What happened next moved him deeply. “About 20 people showed up,” he said. “As we got to the American flag, they started to sing. I think it was “God Bless America. “I still get a little choked up.” A
Drivers needed to help veterans Volunteers are needed to drive local veterans to appointments at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System facility in Seattle. The U.S. Veterans Administration provides a vehicle and covers fueld and related expenses. For information, call Disabled American Veterans Chapter 47 at 360-257-4801 or the Veterans Administration at 206-764-2195.
Booster Club hosts crab feed, auction The Coupeville Booster Club hosts its annual Crab Feed and Auction at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12 at Greenbank Farm. The event includes live, silent and dessert auctions and dance music by Jacob Road. Tickets are $25 in advance at Keystone Café, Cascade Insurance Agency and the Coupeville High School office. A table for eight costs $190. Individual tickets are $30 at the door. The event raises money to support Coupeville High School athletics. For information, contact Christy Kellison at ckellison@live.com or 360-969-5275.
Thursday, August 18, 2011 • The Whidbey Examiner
Page 3
Gardeners to turn black gold into blue ribbons By Toni Grove For the Examiner
If your rose petals have dropped, your dahlias have already drooped and there’s nothing left of your peas but the pods, don’t count yourself out as an exhibitor in the horticulture department at the Island County Fair. With the addition of Homegrown Compost to the open class competitions this year, fair officials are acknowledging that funky can be fine and moldering can be marvelous – especially when it comes to recycling yard, garden and kitchen waste into nutritious black gold for our gardens. Conscientious gardeners have been turning their spent flowers, apple cores and grass clippings into homemade fertilizer through the use of compost piles and worm bins for decades. Now, because of our troubled economy and concerns for the environment, composting has become even more popular, including in neighborhoods where gardens are measured in feet rather than in acres. The field of competitors for this inaugural compost competition includes three long time composters who are eager to find out whose decomposed plant material will end up at the top of the heap.
Wonderful worm castings
This may be the first fair competition for Melissa Russell of Freeland, but she has an inkling of what goes into a good entry. “For the last two years I’ve helped Lois Fisher judge the jams and jellies for the children’s division. Though I’m not much of a jam and jelly maker, I know what to judge for.” Having learned to compost from her dad, Russell has carried on the family tradition. She took a worm bin class in 2002 through the WSU Extension taught by Waste Wise Coordinator Janet Hall. Since then, Russell has added worms to her composting repertoire and admits she doesn’t have a lot of them, but they’re
Toni Grove / The Whidbey Examiner
Bob Chidsey of Greenbank holds a tray of dark, rich compost made from food waste he hopes will win a ribbon at this year’s Island County Fair. He and his wife Sheila, a Master Gardener, recycle most of their kitchen and yard waste into compost for their garden. hard-working and provide buckets of rich castings for her garden. “It brought me back around to the sustainable side of things,” Russell said. “Living here on the island, it brought me back to that mind set.” Russell spends one day a week as a Waste Wise volunteer at the Admiralty Head Lighthouse at Fort Casey. She enjoys helping to get the word out on the benefits of composting, and as a Master Gardener is committed to helping gardeners improve their skills. Entering a jar of worm castings in the compost competition has inspired her to make that leap to other categories at the fair as well. “I’m going to do the poster competition for next year,” she revealed. Russell’s got the worm cast-
ings, but does she have the willingness to win?
The art of composting
Bob Chidsey of Greenbank has turned compost making into an art. He and his wife Sheila, a Master Gardener, collect almost all of their yard waste in two large plastic bins and have a separate rotating barrel digester for their kitchen waste. They even designed their home to include a built-in food waste collector recessed into the kitchen counter. Sheila Chidsey said they don’t
25% OFF
All Vitamins & Supplements
worry about getting a good mix of “greens and browns” in their bins. “We don’t measure,” she said. “We just throw stuff in and it comes out really great.” One ingredient the Chidseys won’t put in their compost is invasive weeds. Because they use their composted yard waste primarily on their flowerbeds, they don’t want to create a nightmare of endless shotweed and thistle removal. Chidsey estimates it takes about two months for his yard waste bins to produce usable compost. “The kitchen composter takes longer,” he said. “You have to stop adding to it and let it digest. I get probably two loads of finished products from the kitchen waste bin a year. And that goes back in the garden.” The Chidseys began composting in the 1970s, but it was the ready availability of composting equipment from King County when they lived in Normandy Park in the 1990s that set their feet firmly on the path to making compost a way of life. “I tried all the equipment the county offered for composting,” Chidsey said. When the couple moved to Whidbey Island, there wasn’t any question that composting would remain a valuable part of their gar-
dening routine. This isn’t the first time Chidsey has signed up for competition at a county fair. He was an exhibitor at the Medina County Fair in Ohio several decades ago. “Yeah, I had a rabbit when I was seven years old,” he said. “Growing up in an apartment, we didn’t have a garden.” Chidsey finishes up his compost by using a Black and Decker cultivator to chop and mix it. The result is a dark and airy aggregate that looks much like the compost produced commercially. Chidsey is betting both of his entries – one of finished yard waste and another of food waste – will earn high marks. Chidsey’s done the work, but will he wow the judges?
Super compost?
Out of all the contenders so far, Terry Permenter of Freeland arguably has an edge as an uber-exhibitor at the fair. Since the inception of the Super 17 Challenge five years ago, he’s entered it almost every year and won in 2010. The Super 17 requires individuals to enter one exhibit in each of seventeen very different divisions – including baking to quilting to even making beer and wine. See COMPOST, page 12
Buy Local • Eat Local • Be Local
Get Ready, Get Set... to start am for It’s time r te ing you organiz wacky & the wild lay Races! Re t s Harve ailable ckets av ning a p m a Te gin arket be at the m ug. 20. y, A Saturda
thru Aug. 31!
Kasia Pierzga, Publisher & Editor Marketing Representative: Arlynn Benson News Staff: Gordon Weeks & Rebecca Olson Published since 1995, The Whidbey Examiner is Whidbey Island’s only locally owned, independent newspaper. The Examiner is a legal newspaper for Island County. ADVERTISING: Media kit available at whidbeyexaminer.com. DEADLINES: Advertising: Display: Noon Thursday; Classifieds: 5 p.m. Monday; Legal Notices: Noon Tuesday; News, Events & Letters: 5 p.m. Monday. The Whidbey Examiner (USPS 015276) is published weekly by Cascadia Publishing Co., LLC. Annual subscriptions are $19.50 in Island County; $23 outside Island County. Periodicals postage paid at Coupeville, WA 98239. CONTACT US news@whidbeyexaminer.com • subscribe@whidbeyexaminer.com marketing@whidbeyexaminer.com The Whidbey Examiner, P.O. Box 445, 6 NW Coveland St., Coupeville, WA 98239 ph. 360-678-8060 • fax: 360-678-6073 • www.whidbeyexaminer.com
Visit our shop for: • Natural Products • • Gluten-Free Foods • • Organic Foods • • Vitamins & Minerals • • Supplements • Gifts & Art •
Plus Fresh Produce from Prairie Bottom Farm!
404 No. Main St. • Coupeville
360-678-2276
Fresh this week: Basil, beets, bok choi, broccoli, cauliflower, salmon, salad greens, spinach, snap peas, fava beans, kohlrabi, onions, potatoes, garlic, flowers, nuts, cheeses, pies & baked goods, plants, sweet treats & much, more. Plan ahead: The Harvest Relay Races at Harvest Fest on Oct. 8 help raise money for Gifts from the Heart food bank! 10-2 Saturdays 8th & Alexander, behind the Coupeville Library We accept FMNP coupons
Page 12
The Whidbey Examiner • Thursday, August 18, 2011
Whidbey General Hospital welcomes Matthew J. Marquart, D.O. Matthew J. Marquart, D.O.
Dr. Marquart is a graduate of Western University of Health Sciences’ College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific. He completed his internship and Orthopedic Surgery residency at Genesys Regional Medical Center. Dr. Marquart will be joining the staff at: Whidbey Orthopedic Surgeons 80 N. Main St., Coupeville 360-678-4424 360-321-1266
For more information call (360) 678-0831 From the South End, call 1-877-678-0831
Don’t do it: Resist the allure of attractive invasive plants
There’s one lesson all gardeners are eager to share. It’s the single thing that has produced the greatest amount of wasted effort in the whole of the gardening universe. It’s the plant that never should have been planted. We’re talking about invasive species, those plants that not only crowd the rest of the flowers out of our beds, but can overtake our woodlands, choke our waterways and wreak economic havoc throughout our agricultural lands. Banes like kudzu in the southern part of the United States and Himalayan blackberry closer to home have one thing in common: they were brought in intentionally by humans. English ivy, Japanese honeysuckle – even Scotch broom – were, and often still are, planted by homeowners who let a case of plant lust convince them they have super powers that will enable them to keep these plants in check. It requires a dose of magical thinking coupled with willfully ignoring the red flags that pop up repeatedly while reading the tags and signs in the nursery. A well-made plant label should, at the very least, provide
the basics: the plant’s common and Latin names, when it blooms, what the flowers will look like and how to care for it. But what that tag will never come right out and say is, “Beware! If you value your sanity, put this pot down and run like the wind!” Instead, you may read that this particular plant spreads quickly, does well in sun or shade, grows well in poor soil conditions, reproduces quickly or readily reseeds itself. At first blush, this may sound like the answer to your prayers. If you’ve got a barren hillside or a patch of earth that has so far been unwilling to strike up a friendship with any of the other plants you’ve brought home, this could be the plant for you. It will out-compete the weeds, take care of itself and look good at the same time.
Expecting any plant that’s evolved into the plant kingdom’s version of “The Beast That Would Not Die” not to spread beyond its allotment of soil is a lot like convincing yourself a three-year-old will color inside the lines. Remember how Mickey Mouse tried to stop the brooms in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” by chopping them up with an ax? Chopping, tilling, cutting and pruning can just make some invasive plants spread more aggressively. You may get rid of it in one spot, but there’ll be a new patch of it just a few yards away. Worse yet, if it goes in your compost pile, it could eventually end up everywhere, like mold on a loaf of bread. Don’t let invasive species lure you in with their good looks. It nearly happened to me. A vigorous patch of yellow archangel that had jumped ship from a neighboring property gave me a comehither look from alongside the road. I was drawn to the cute yellow flowers and the silver-brushed foliage. But like someone having second thoughts about a free cruise on the Titanic, I beat feet down the gangplank. And I’m never looking back. A
Melissa Russell of Freeland hopes the castings from her busy worms will win her a blue ribbon at this year’s Permenter said the Super 17 Challenge was created by a hand- Island County Fair. ful of ardent fair volunteers to in- This is the first year spire others who think they have gardeners will have the opportunity to nothing to offer to the fair and have their compost move the community from a spectator mentality to being partici- judged by compost expert Waste Wise pants in their own fair. Coordinator Janet “The real point behind the SuHall. per 17 is that everybody does Toni Grove / something that could be exhibThe Whidbey Examiner ited in the fair,” Permenter said. “I would encourage everyone to do it. You’ll get more out of it if He added with a laugh, “We’re you’re participating in it.” Americans, so we have to make it a competition.” Permenter said he’s been composting for most of his 53 years. For a man who didn’t let his fear of fine arts keep him from crafting metal sculptures that have since done well in that division, he should be in his comfort zone as a compost competitor and plans to give the others a run for their premium money. “I’m going to beat everybody with my compost,” he vowed. Janet Hall will be the judge for this year’s entries and knows what makes a good jar of compost. Does it have big chunks of wood Janet Burchfield in it or is it a uniform aggregate? Front Street Realty 22 NW Front St., Ste. B • Coupeville Does it smell earthy and not sour 360-678-6100 • janetburchfield.com or acidic? “I shouldn’t be able to squeeze
water out of it, but it shouldn’t be crackly,” Hall said. “Color is more subjective. If a person uses shredded newspapers in their worm bins it can look kind of grayish.” All in all, Hall said the competition “should be fun” and welcomes the opportunity to educate people on the benefits of composting for gardeners, the environment and our wallets. Because there is currently no landfill in Island County, backyard composting means less garbage needs to be hauled away to the mainland. That saves time, money and resources for consumers and the county alike. Besides, why pay to haul garbage away when you can help Mother Nature return it to the soil for next year’s crop of fair-worthy veggies and flowers?
Compost:
toni grove sowin’ ’n’ the trowel
from page 3
I Coupeville!
Thursday, June 16, 2011 • The Whidbey Examiner
Page 7
Springtime brings changes to Meerkerk Gardens By Toni Grove For the Examiner
A pair of hummingbirds performs a noisy mating dance as Susan Reynolds, nursery manager at Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens, works quietly nearby. Despite the loud humming and chirping in the background, she carefully transplants dozens of newly rooted rhododendron cuttings into raised beds for future sale. Just like the energetic little birds, Reynolds is doing her part to celebrate spring and a season of rebirth and renewal in the gardens. Founded by Max and Ann Meerkerk in 1961, the original 10 acres of woodland gardens designed by Max Meerkerk to showcase his collection of rhododendrons eventually grew to include 43 acres of trail-dotted forest preserve. Bequeathed to the Seattle Rhododendron Society upon Ann Meerkerk’s death in 1979, the gardens in 2002 became an independent, non-profit organization that provides educational programs for children and a peaceful setting for walking and viewing hundreds of varieties of beautiful and often rare rhododendrons. “Meerkerk started bringing in some very old rhodies in the sixties,” Reynolds said of the garden’s founder. “We have rhodies from Japan, England and China, from all of his hybridizer friends.” Signs of renewal can be found throughout the extensively landscaped gardens. A fresh bed of dahlias has been added in the test gardens, while the rest of the beds have been spruced up and covered with fresh layers of mulch. Weeds and undergrowth are being stripped away and pathways that were once obscured now invite visitors to wander through the dappled light amid a riot of flowering trees. Meerkerk’s revamping follows close on the heels of a major reorganization that began last December. At that time, the board of directors laid off all of the paid staff, including longtime Executive Director Kristi O’Donnell. “Part of the reason is the economy,” explained Bob Boehm, president of Meerkerk’s board of directors. Funding for the gardens comes mainly from plant sales, admissions to the gardens, Friends of Meerkerk annual memberships and donations. But over the past two years, Boehm said, there’s been a gradual drop in plant sales and admissions. To top it off, an auction that has in the past brought in as much as 15 percent of the gardens’ annual $160,000 budget was called off this year. Boehm said after the last auction, the team that staged the event felt it had become a struggle to attract both donations and at-
nearly every capacity at the garden, including working with renowned hybridizer Frank Fujioka, took over the reins as garden manager. Joan Bell, a longtime volunteer and Master Gardener, stepped in to become the new operations manager, while Susan Reynolds brought her 15 years working in the gardens and the nursery to her role as nursery manager. With new staff in place, Boehm said the gardens are in a “cleanup, get-organized situation.” “The focus is to reinvigorate the garden areas,” he said. Sendt already has taken out at least 50 dead plants, removed a lot of salal and debris from beneath many a massive rhodie and opened up spaces so that visitors are invited to wander beneath and between the showy flowers. Thickets of blackberry have been Kasia Pierzga / The Whidbey Examiner pulled off of at least one hillside Board member Penny Harger points out highlights on a garden map to visitors at Meerkerk Rhododendron and many “lost” plants exposed. “We uncovered rhodies we Gardens on a recent Saturday. didn’t even know were in there,” tendees. chose to eliminate the full-time Boehm said. Some grant money has been executive director position and Visitors to the gardens will enavailable to help fund educational divide those responsibilities bejoy exploring the changes, Sendt programs, installation of irrigation tween a garden manager, operasaid. systems and building of a mas- tions manager and nursery man“We’re recapturing some of the sive rain garden to alleviate severe ager whose hours will vary with areas that haven’t been focused storm water runoff problems. But seasonal workloads. on,” she said. “We want people in the midst of a deep recession, “The intent was to bring her to feel that an experience here is the budget outlook had become back,” Boehm said of former diworth a donation.” bleak. rector O’Donnell, who chose not Meerkerk rhodies in bloom. Much of what is being accom“It’s very difficult to get grant to return to Meerkerk in a reduced, plished at Meerkerk is due to the money for operations,” Boehm part-time capacity. to fill the newly designed posi- work of volunteers who gather said. “We had to make some hard The board didn’t have to look tions. every Thursday morning to weed decisions.” any farther than its own cadre of Marfield Sendt, who had spent After the layoff, the board volunteers to find the right people much of last year volunteering in See MEERKERK, page 10
Providing Peace of Mind
by Keeping You Organized.
• Bookkeeping • Phone Service • Secretarial • UPS/Fax/Notary/Copies • Downloading and Printing of Blueprints
360-678-7543 • 107 S. Main St., Ste. C102, Coupeville dawn.bbs@verizon.net • Fax: 360-678-4452
Cash Discounts Up To
20% for Services! Hands-on Full Spine Adjusting
HEARIN G HEALTH SERVICES CA !
Building Green.
BuiltGreen
RES ABOUT YOUR HEARING
Marianne Brabanski, MS, Audiologist
Coupeville Chiropractic Clinic
Dr. Robert R. Kardly, Chiropractic Physician 360.678.3288 • Suite A-103, Coupeville
360.678.7000
Lic. #CH00034097
360-678-1423 107 South Main Street, Building A Coupeville, Washington
107 SOUTH MAIN, COUPEVILLE
Preserving and Enhancing Whidbey Island Since 1989
CLIFTON VIEW HOMES 678-7000 cvh@whidbey.net
WWW.COUPESVILLAGE.COM
Page 10
The Whidbey Examiner • Thursday, June 16, 2011
Meerkerk, from page 7
ibuywhidbey
Keep your dollars on the Island by doing business with Whidbey’s LOCAL businesses! Find everything you need online at
ibuywhidbey.com The Local Place to Shop and Buy Local Sponsored by
Whidbey Island’s only locally owned, independent newspaper.
and deadhead the spent rhodies and daffodils. Sendt said he wants volunteers to feel like the work they decide to give to the gardens is appreciated and that they’re not just there to do hard labor. “I want them to walk away with a feeling of accomplishment,” he said. It’s clear from the progress being made in the “recaptured” memorial garden that Meerkerk volunteers like Arlee Anderson, Alice Ellis and Stephanie Wright are worth their weight in creeping blackberries and horsetails. Ellis has only been a volunteer for a month and she’s already made a dent in the undergrowth. She likens a morning weeding at Meerkerk to a good workout. “You can either go to the gym and pay for it,” Ellis said with a laugh, “or come out here and do some good while you’re at it.” On her first day as a volunteer, Wright, who owns a gardening business in Freeland, helped uncover a pair of memorial markers that had been lost to the weeds. Anderson, who moved to the island from Montana and said she didn’t even know what a rhododendron was until she visited Meerkerk three years ago and fell in love with it, serves as a Botany Adventure guide for kids when she isn’t weeding and beating back the forest.
Toni Grove / For the Examiner
Garden manager Marfield Sendt and volunteer Alice Ellis. While leading a group of fifth graders through the gardens recently, Anderson said one of the kids expressed what the gardens are all about when she exclaimed, “This is like walking through art!” Boehm would love to see more young people involved in both the care of the gardens and in propagation. He said many of the local breeders are looking toward retirement and it’s an aging population that needs some new blood. “It’s as issue for rhododendron societies and gardening associations everywhere,” Boehm said. Boehm hopes the prospect of experiencing the spectacle of untold numbers of vibrant rhodies in
bloom will attract visitors to the gardens and that the beauty and peacefulness of the landscape, plus the many concerts and special events that take place there throughout the year, such as the upcoming Wine & Rhodies Dinner Extravaganza on May 21, will keep them coming back year round. “We need more visitors and we need more volunteers,” Reynolds agreed. And though an extended winter has delayed the peak blooming season by a few weeks, she knows it’s right around the corner. “All we need are a few sunny days and they’ll begin to pop,” she said with confidence. A
Greeting Cards by Whidbey Island Artists
Anne Waterman Betty Rayle
Rob Schouten Meredith McLeod
Mark Van Wickler
Bart Rulon
Craig Johnson
coupeville 40 N. Main St. 360-678-4010 www.lindscoupeville.com
Also available are cards by artists Andrea Comsky, Dan Karvasek, Veronica von Allworden, Mary Stanford, Michael Stadler, Nan Hahn, Pam Barger & Gaylen Whiteman
freeland 1609 E. Main St. 360-331-4760 www.lindsfreeland.com
Page 8
The Whidbey Examiner • Thursday, April 7, 2011
One school at a time An educator from Freeland reaches out to children in Uganda By Toni Grove For the Examiner
E
very day, 14-year-old Nantaba walked 40 minutes each way to fetch water for her school. As in most regions of Uganda, rainfall can be scarce and villagers with empty cisterns and limited transportation must seek out their water on foot. If they’re lucky, the government has drilled a borehole, or open well, within walking distance. This is where Nantaba would head, carrying a large jerry can. Shepherding a group of younger girls, perhaps 10 in all, she made her way down a dusty, red dirt path through the Ugandan bush to the borehole. Here, only a few girls at a time can clamber down onto the logs at the well’s rim and push the pond scum away from the surface so they can submerge and fill their cans. Around the borehole’s muddy
margins, cattle tracks provide evidence the villagers must share their water equally with the local livestock. Freeland resident and retired teacher Jeanne Strong watched in admiration as Nantaba helped the younger girls lift water containers weighing more than 40 pounds onto their heads to begin the balancing act back to school, their brightly colored school uniforms swaying. Strong knows the time invested in hauling water is time these girls can’t spend in class learning and increasing their chances for a better future. She also knows there’s much more at stake than mere time spent out of school. Open wells are easily contaminated and become a source of waterborne disease. What’s worse, as each girl walked to and from the borehole, there was a very real danger she could be raped by men hiding along the path. With decades of experience as
Contributed photo
Like many children in rural Uganda, these preschoolers must depend on teachers like Jane Kibuuka who operate private schools out of their homes. With nearly 100 students, Kibuuka’s school needs a building to house a growing number of students.
an educator, Strong made her first trip to this east central African nation in July, 2009 as a representative of the nonprofit One School at a Time. Co-founded by Bay Roberts, a former grad student of Strong’s, the organization’s mission in Uganda is to improve impoverished schools by identifying and working with capable leaders, creating mutual partnerships
and offering critically needed resources using local products and technologies. “Just giving schools money doesn’t work,” Strong explains. “It can’t be a one-way relationship, throwing money in and then walking away as the money runs out.” One School at a Time hires local staff to provide technical assistance and help schools find
and use local resources. This reinforces “ownership” of their projects and helps to strengthen the infrastructures needed to keep the schools operating with good leadership and sound policies. Strong likens the positive outcome of these partnerships to the eight mango trees planted in a See SCHOOL, page 9
Greeting Cards by Whidbey Island Artists
Anne Waterman Betty Rayle
Rob Schouten Meredith McLeod
Mark Van Wickler
Bart Rulon
Craig Johnson
coupeville 40 N. Main St. 360-678-4010 www.lindscoupeville.com
Also available are cards by artists Andrea Comsky, Dan Karvasek, Veronica von Allworden, Mary Stanford, Michael Stadler, Nan Hahn, Pam Barger & Gaylen Whiteman
freeland 1609 E. Main St. 360-331-4760 www.lindsfreeland.com
Thursday, April 7, 2011 • The Whidbey Examiner
School: From page 8 circle on the way to Kyamulinga Primary School, one of the partner schools she visited. “They are local trees, taking root in local soil to promote shade and provide food for local people,” she said. Like many schools in Uganda, Kyamulinga Primary School in the Mubende District is a private school founded by an individual with enough land for a school building and a desire to improve the educational opportunities of the community’s children.
Page 9 Because he needed to support his family and never had the opportunity to attend school himself, farmer Joel Katamba built Kyamulinga Primary School, then hired teachers and began enrolling students, many of whom also live at the school because travel to and from school is often too far, too difficult or too expensive. Most buildings in this region are constructed of sticks covered with mud, and floors are smeared with a layer of cattle dung that dries to a hard surface to keep down the dust. This also serves to keep the dust-dwelling, burrowing sandflea population in check. The females of the species will dig into
the warm flesh of feet and ankles and deposit their eggs under the skin. Even with the floors regularly swept by the students, the fleas are never completely out of the picture – as Strong found out the hard way. “These bumps appeared on my feet and I thought my shoes were just rubbing and making blisters,” Strong recalled. “They had to dig them out with a rusty safety pin.” Not only did she have to deal with the threat of contracting tetanus or blood poisoning, but in a country where nearly everyone has been touched by the effects of HIV/AIDS and AIDS awareness See UGANDA, page 9
Whidbey General - We go to great lengths so you don’t have to. Jeanne Strong of Freeland has made many friends in the rural Ugandan village of Kyababeezi while working to build a school for preschool children there. Unaccustomed to seeing herself in photos, the grandmother of this family told Strong she never knew her hair was so white.
Learn more
Jeanne Strong will share her experiences in Uganda at a free presentation set for 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 7 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 20103 Hwy. 525, Freeland. RSVP to 360-331-7879 or jearnnerstrong@gmail.com.
Whidbey
GreenGuide helpful tips for keeping whidbey island healthy & beautiful
The Whidbey Green Guide shows people how to make small changes that add up to big benefits for their wallets, their health, and the health of Whidbey Island and the planet. Make it easy for anyone to go green and stay local by promoting your business in The Whidbey Green Guide!
Publication Date: May 5 Ad Reservation Date: April 21 Reserve your ad while space is available! Contact Naomi Sullivan: 360-678-8060 marketing@whidbeyexaminer.com
Examiner The Whidbey
Whidbey Island’s only locally owned, independent newspaper
6 NW Coveland Street, P.O. Box 445 • Coupeville, WA 98239 Phone 360-678-8060 • Fax 360-678-6073
At Whidbey General individual care is a group effort.
We are One Team with One Purpose: Caring for You! Acute Medical Services; caring for you and about you. Inpatient and Outpatient Surgery Services; Our surgeon’s skills are close at hand. An All-Digital Diagnostic Imaging Center; Medical imaging with a difference. Accredited Cancer Care Services; You don’t have to go off-island. Whidbey Family Birthplace; The closer and better birthing center. Rehabilitation Service Centers; (Coupeville & Oak Harbor) the road to rehabilitation is close to home.
Physician referral services available. 101 N. Main St. Coupeville, WA 98239 www.whidbeygen.org 360-678-5151 360-321-5151
Page 12
Calendar, From page 10 Lincoln Day Dinner & Auction, 5-9 p.m. Saturday, April 9, Whidbey Golf & Country Club, 2430 SW Fairway Lane, Oak Harbor. Fine dining, auction, speakers. Tickets: $45 through March 30: 360-320-0448; islandcountygop.com. F.I.T. Boot Camp, 6 p.m. Thursdays, 5 p.m. Sundays, April 10-June 19, Coupeville Elementary School, 6 S Main St. Calorie-blasting workout of cardio & weight training. Adults. Cost: $60. 360-675-4911. Adult Basketball, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Sundays, April 10-May 29, Coupeville High School Gym, 501 S Main St. Ages 16+. Cost: $20. Register: swparks.org. Music on the Sound Concert, 7 p.m. Sunday, April 10, private home. WICA Chamber Singers. Tickets: $30: 360-221-8268; 800-638-7631; WICAonline.com. Short Story Smash Contest, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 10, Zech Hall, WICA, 565 Camano Ave., Langley. Short stories of 100 words will be read aloud and voted on. Cost: $10. E-mail submissions by April 7 to: cspencer@whidbey.com. 800-6387631; 360-221-8268. Joint Replacement Seminar, 1 p.m. Monday, April 11, Oak Harbor Senior Center, 51 SE Jerome St. For those with replacements or planning to get one. Free. Helen: 360-675-4201. Intro to the New Library Catalog: Starring Polaris, 1:30 p.m. Mondays, April 11, 18 & 25, Coupeville Library, 788 NW Alexander St. Learn how to use Sno-Isle’s new catalog. 360-678-4911. Promises & Pitfalls of Adolescence, 6 p.m. Monday, April 11, Waldorf School, 6335 Old Pietila Rd., Clinton. Speaker: Johanna
The Whidbey Examiner • Thursday, April 7, 2011 Steegmans. 360-341-5686 ext 12. Seibukan Karate, 6 p.m. Mondays & Wednesdays, April 11-June 1, Coupeville Elementary School Multipurpose Room, 6 S Main St. Ages 7 & up. Get in shape & learn self defense. Cost: $100 adults; $60 students. 360-678-6099; seibukansue@aol.com. Adult Volleyball, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Mondays, April 11-May 23, Coupeville High School Gym, 501 S Main St. Ages 16+. Cost: $20. Register: swparks.org. Oak Harbor Garden Club meeting, 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 12, First Methodist Church, 1050 Ireland St., Oak Harbor. Speaker about floral designs. Sally: 360-675-8484; Gail: 360-675-5723. Artists of South Whidbey meeting, 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 12, Brookhaven meeting room, 150 4th St., Langley. Bring artwork to share. Demo by Pat Hitchens, watercolors & silk dyes. Wendy: 360-321-2150. Freeland Chamber of Commerce meeting, 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, April 12, China City Restaurant Board Room, 1804 Scott Road, Freeland. Discuss Whidbey’s certification as a wildlife habitat community. RSVP: 360-331-1980. Zumba, 4:45 p.m. Tuesdays & Thursdays, April 12-June 2, Coupeville Elementary Multipurpose Room, 6 S Main St. Blend of Latin rhythms & easy-to-follow fitness moves. For adults. Cost: $85. 360678-0466. Puget Sound Starts Here, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, Oak Harbor City Hall, 865 SE Barrington Drive. Discuss stormwater issues and low impact development. 360-2794762; Go to oakharbor.org, click on Environmental Education, then Events Calendar.
Beginning Sewing, 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays, April 12, 19, 26, Coupeville Middle School, 501 S Main St. Ages 16+. Sew 3 easy projects on a sewing machine. Bring sewing machine, manual, thread, scissors, 1 yard fabric. Cost: $75. 360-6784846. AAUW Scholars Recognition Reception, 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, Coupeville Rec Center, 901 Alexander St. American Association of University Women will honor young women from high school & SVC. Work Party, 9 a.m.-noon Wednesday, April 13, Trillium Forest, Hwy. 525 south of Classic Rd., Greenbank. Remove blackberry & scotch broom along entrance & trails. Jessica: 360-222-3310; jessica@wclt. org. wclt.org. Making Sense of Retirement seminar, 2 & 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, China City, 1804 Scott Rd., Freeland. Learn about investing in your retirement. Free. RSVP: 360331-4450. Coupeville Lions Open House, 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, Coupeville United Methodist Church, 608 N Main St. Learn about Lions projects, meet members, become a member. RSVP by April 7: 360-6784798; 360-678-4105; CoupevilleLions@juno.com. Beginning Machine Quilting, 6-8:30 p.m. Wednesdays, April 13, 20, 27, Coupeville Middle School, 501 S Main St. Ages 16+. Create a 50”x50” quilt. Bring sewing machine, manual, thread, scissors, pins. Cost: $75. 360-678-4846. Coupeville Book Group: “Someone Knows My Name,” 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, Coupeville Library, 788 NW Alexander St. Join the discussion of this novel by Lawrence Hill. 360-678-4911. IDIPIC DUI/Underage Drink-
ing Prevention Panel, 6:45 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, Oak Harbor Library Room 137, 1000 SE Regatta Drive. Required for drivers ed. 360672-8219; idipic.org. Whidbey Community Credit Union meeting, 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, Trinity Lutheran Learn about the proposed local Whidbey credit union. 360-321-7489; norable@whidbey.com. Greenbank Progressive Club potluck, 6 p.m. Thursday, April 14, Bakken & Firehouse Rds., Greenbank. Topic: genealogy. Bring a dish to share. 360-678-4885. Central Whidbey Republican Women meeting, 6 p.m. Thursday, April 14, call 360-678-5678 for location. Speaker from Evergreen Freedom Foundation. cwrw.org. Whidbey Audubon meeting, 7 p.m. Thursday, April 14, Coupeville Rec Hall, 901 NW Alexander St. Speaker: Dennis Paulson, biologist, ornithologist, author. Free. 360-6785403; whidbeyaudubon.org. Annual Easter Dinner, 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 15, HomePlace Special Care Center, 171 SW 6th Ave., Oak Harbor. Enjoy a traditional Easter meal. RSVP by April 11: 360-2792555; HPOakHarbormktg@frontiermgmt.com. Ty Barnett Comedy Night, 7-10 p.m. Friday, April 15, Elks Lodge, 155 NE Ernst St., Oak Harbor. By Skagit Valley College. Tickets: $4 SVC students; $6 adults; $10 at the door: 360-675-5353. Hoypus Point Field Trip, 9 a.m.noon, Saturday, April 16, meet at Windjammer Park, Oak Harbor, or Cornet Bay restrooms at 9:20. Walk the old growth forest, look for birds. Sponsored by Whidbey Audubon. RSVP: Steve Ellis: sremse@comcast.net. 360-678-2264.
Providing Peace of Mind
by Keeping You Organized.
• Bookkeeping • Phone Service • Secretarial • UPS/Fax/Notary/Copies • Downloading and Printing of Blueprints
360-678-7543 • 107 S. Main St., Ste. C102, Coupeville dawn.bbs@verizon.net • Fax: 360-678-4452
Cash Discounts Up To
20% for Services! Hands-on Full Spine Adjusting
HEARIN G HEALTH SERVICES
Building Green.
BuiltGreen
CARES ABOUT YOUR HEARING!
Marianne Brabanski, MS, Audiologist
Coupeville Chiropractic Clinic
Dr. Robert R. Kardly, Chiropractic Physician 360.678.3288 • Suite A-103, Coupeville
360.678.7000
Lic. #CH00034097
360-678-1423 107 South Main Street, Building A Coupeville, Washington
107 SOUTH MAIN, COUPEVILLE
Preserving and Enhancing Whidbey Island Since 1989
CLIFTON VIEW HOMES 678-7000 cvh@whidbey.net
WWW.COUPESVILLAGE.COM
Uganda: From page 9 is taught in the schools, the complications of such a minor procedure could have been devStrong astating. Fortunately, all went well and Strong remains healthy. In March, 2010 Strong returned to Uganda to mentor Jane Kibuuka, an educator she had met the year before who wanted to start an early childhood center in Kyababeezi. Like Joel Katamba, Kibuuka’s plan was to operate the school on her own property. The JEBMIDH Learning Center opened its doors in February 2010 with a 6-foot-by-12 foot classroom to accommodate 35 preschoolers. Not a One School at a Time project, Strong stepped in to become the project manager and got to work raising the $8000 needed to buy bricks for a school building. Since then, Strong has not only raised enough money to cover the cost of the building, roof, paint and latrines, she returned to Uganda in January with a suitcase full of children’s books and set to work with Kibuuka on budgeting for materials and to hash out floor plans. Strong also found the little school, still in makeshift quarters on Kibuuka’s property, with a burgeoning enrollment of almost 100 students and a third teacher on staff. “Construction of the new building is even more urgent,” Strong said. When this project began, Strong said she never thought she could be successful as a fundraiser, but she’s surprised herself. “I discovered the secret is my passion and deep belief in this project,” Strong said. Strong is putting that passion into the next steps for the early-learning center. She hopes to be able to install a solar-power system and a rainwater catchment system to provide clean drinking water. For all the girls who would one day have to venture down to a well, this is not a small thing. A
Got news?
Send news tips to the Examiner at news@whidbeyexaminer.com
50
Examiner The Whidbey
¢
Whidbey Island’s Only Locally Owned, Independent Newspaper
THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2012
Paragliding Freeland’s piano man at Ebey’s Landing grounded
VOL. 17, NO. 23
By Kasia Pierzga Examiner Staff Writer
The view from Ebey’s Prairie across Admiralty Inlet won’t include the colorful nylon wings of paragliders after state officials turned down a request to allow enthusiasts to soar along the bluff. However, it’s not because of local residents’ 33-year effort to preserve the historical views across Ebey’s Prairie to Admiralty Inlet and the majestic Olympic Mountains beyond. Instead, according to State Parks spokesman Steven Starlund, it’s because people floating just above the ridge at Ebey’s Landing State Park might get in the way of Navy jets, helicopters and drones. “The Navy conducts customary and unscheduled training flight patterns,” Starlund said in an informal announcement released last week. “There are concerns about flight visibility of paragliders flying at varying altitudes and the effects of powerful updrafts from Navy aircraft which would create dangers to all aircraft pilots.” Farmer Wilbur Bishop, who had spoken out against the proposal during a public meeting in Coupeville in June 2012, said he was pleased with the decision. “I think the bluff is really special for people who go there to hike,” he said, adding that people seek out the bluff trail for its solitude and its uninterrupted views of mountains, water and the broad sweep of farmland that is at the heart of Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve. “The view from up there looks out at where the Reserve started,” Bishop said, referring to the historic Smith Farm. Bishop’s Ebey Road Farm also is in the heart of the Reserve. According to Starlund, Navy officials had warned that paragliders would interfere with Navy flights and put both Navy fliers and civilians at risk. He quoted a letter from the U.S. Department of the Navy strongly opposing paragliding See EBEY’S, page 6
Toni Grove / For the Examiner
At Dean Petrich’s house in Freeland, several storage buildings are chock full of old pianos. Petrich wants to find homes for at least 100 of these aging instruments before time, humidity and cold weather render them irreparable.
Musician cares for orphaned uprights By Toni Grove For the Examiner
Dean Petrich is in a race with the elements. Stored inside of six metal-framed tents and one Quonset hut on his Freeland property are dozens of old wooden pianos. Some of their lids are bowed and benches broken, but others remain stately and dignified, their intricately carved scrollwork intact and needing only a good refinishing. The colors of the many woods used to build them run the gamut from pale to dark, the textures ranging from fine-grained to burled. And if they could talk, each instrument would doubtless have a story to tell. Sadly, falling temperatures, damp air and condensation raining down from the underside of the tents all threaten to permanently silence their music. What he’d like more than anything, says
Learn more Interested in adopting a piano? Contact Petrich’s Piano Shop at 206-324-5055 or petrich@whidbey.com.
Petrich, is to find homes for those pianos before they’re beyond repair. “I’d rather have these pianos in somebody’s house, being used,” he said. Petrich, who tunes, repairs and moves pianos out of his home and adjacent shop, never set out to adopt 187 pianos. But in recent years, a growing number of people have opted to get rid of their old pianos instead of having them repaired. The shrinking middle class has also played a part in determining their fate. The affluent want to spend many thousands of dollars for a grand piano, Petrich explained, while the rest of us might get an inexpensive electronic keyboard at a big-
box warehouse store. “These in-between pianos, the old uprights, people are giving up,” he said. Petrich couldn’t bear knowing the last sound these pianos might make wouldn’t be a haunting melody, but a discordant crash at the bottom of the garbage heap at the dump. That’s why he’s been rescuing them. For a long time, Petrich admits, he would pick up the pianos for free. As a professional piano mover whose service area includes not only Whidbey Island but also the greater Seattle area and beyond, he has all the proper equipment and knows he can move pianos more efficiently and safely than your average homeowner. But rising fuel costs and the amount of time he was dedicating to his one-man piano rescue effort forced him to begin chargSee PIANO, page 6
Page 6
The Whidbey Examiner • Thursday, January 5, 2012
Piano: Recycling countless parts, from page 1 ing to haul them away. “I can’t do that anymore,” he said. Along with his “orphaned” pianos, Petrich also has pianos that are available for rent, and another 25 he would like to sell. Several dozen pianos are in his shop right now, each waiting its turn to be refurbished. It’s a prospect that seems farther and farther away as Petrich, like all good business owners, must complete the jobs that pay the rent before taking on the ones that are clearly a labor of love. “It would take me nine years of no pay to rebuild all these pianos,” he said. Some of the pianos have some hope of being played again. But if no one steps forward to claim the ones stored in the tents, their outlook is grim. Behind Petrich’s home sits a massive pile of wood concealed beneath a large plastic tarp. Here lie the remains of pianos that couldn’t be saved and were disassembled for their parts, a process that takes Petrich about four hours to complete. Sections of sides, back and lids, along with thin pieces of veneer, have all been cut into stove lengths for use as kindling for the next several winters. Sturdy fourby-four posts are stacked under a nearby tree, while another pile
contains pieces from which Petrich will remove by hand any metal parts that can be reused to repair other pianos. A final pile holds wood containing metal fittings that are too numerous, small or damaged to be salvaged. These pieces may have to go to the dump, though the notion of not being able to find some use for them is difficult for Petrich to consider. “I recycle everything,” he said. “I’m a total environmentalist.” A tour of his home and property bears this out. All of his toilets are the composting kind, and all of the windows in the multilevel home that he designed and built himself were reclaimed from other buildings. Petrich says he gives the iron plates from the pianos’ internal workings to local charities to sell for scrap metal and the collected usable parts are stored on shelving that once held medical records in a local clinic. Altogether, Petrich figures he has enough parts for 10 pianos and is determined to spend the winter sorting it all out. Like a farmer who uses every part of the pig but the squeal, Petrich says he tries to find a use for everything. But this piano man does the farmer one better. Of the pig’s squeal, Petrich said, “I’d probably record it.”
Petrich’s home is a wonderland of secret doors, a tunnel, pools, water slides and a conical shop that looks like the perfect home for friendly dwarves or a visiting hobbit. It all seems to fit the personality of a man who’s devoted himself to music – he plays the piano, guitar, violin, recorder and mandolin – and to whimsy. This is the home he’s made for himself and he says he’s staying put. “You make paradise where you are,” he said, “You don’t just keep looking for it somewhere else.” There are other surprises to be found at Petrich’s home. Who else do you know who owns 42 different clown costumes, a half-dozen unicycles and a drawer full of gags like fake mustard that shoots out of a bottle, whoopee cushions and snakes that pop out of a can? These are the stock in trade of Petrich’s alter ego, Deano the Clown, a local fixture who’s been bringing laughter and fun to the island for decades. In fact, Petrich says he started clowning professionally about the same time he began tuning pianos and believes both professions complement each other. “They’re opposites,” he said. “Clowning is chaotic and with a lot of people around. Piano tuning is very structured and quiet and solo. One’s summer, one’s winter. One’s outdoors, one’s indoors. So
I always have work.” Right now he’s focusing on his pianos. He said he is thankful there are still people out there who appreciate his craft. It’s not unusual for people to keep a piano because it has sentimental value or is a family heirloom, and some keep them tuned and continue to play them. These are the lucky ones, because he’s convinced you’re missing half of the musical experience when you’re not playing one of these old instruments and sharing
what others before you have felt. “When you feel, it feels,” he said. “When you play music, music is all about feelings. All their emotions went into their piano.” Petrich knows some of his orphan pianos need work, but finding them loving homes would be the first step to giving them a new life and a new chance to make music. “They’re free,” he said. “I’ll give them away if somebody wants them.” A
Ebey’s: No fly zone, from page 1 at Ebey’s Landing: “The volume and type of aircraft (using the airspace), along with the training status of the pilots, creates an unsafe environment for paragliders arriving and departing within this air space.” Bishop said he felt that parks officials had listened to all the objections presented at the public meeting last June. Those who commented at the meeting raised concerns about the impact on birds and native plants and on people whose homes are at eye level with the flight paths of paragliders, as well as the limited availability of public parking. At the meeting, Bishop had pointed out that the local community has gone to great lengths to preserve the history and scenic views in Ebey’s Reserve, even setting guidelines on paint colors that
can be used on homes and other buildings in the area. On Monday, Bishop said he found it interesting, though not surprising, that Starlund’s announcement made no mention of those other issues and cited only the Navy’s concern about the impact on Navy flights. “Who’s going to argue about national defense and the Navy?” he said. According to Starlund’s announcement, State Parks won’t reconsider its position on prohibiting paragliding “until such time that the Navy or similar operation no longer uses that air space for training pilots.” Two nearby parks – Fort Ebey just north of Ebey’s Landing and Fort Flagler south of Port Townsend – remain open to paragliders. A
Convenience & Savings Enjoy the convenience of two locations and the savings of Linds Healthy Savings Plus program. Get 90 day supplies of your generic prescription drugs at less cost than the big box chains. ✓
400 Generic Rx drugs at less than $1 per week for a 90 day supply ($9.99 for 90 day supply)
✓ Big Savings on all your Rx drugs ✓ 10% Savings every day on all Sunmark & LINDS brand over-thecounter drugs and sundries
✓
Annual family membership includes all members of your household (including pets!)
coupeville 40 N. Main St. 360-678-4010 www.lindscoupeville.com
freeland 1609 E. Main St. 360-331-4700 www.lindsfreeland.com
FREE
Prescription Delivery 5 Days/Week M-F
$2
0 VALUE
FREE
Healthy Savings Plus Family Membership When you transfer any prescription to a Linds Pharmacy*
*Offer not valid for prescriptions transferred from other Linds Pharmacies. Per Federal law, offer not valid if any portion of prescription is paid for by a government program. This is not an insurance program and does not provide insurance coverage. Coupon has no cash value. Valid only at LINDS PHARMACIES. One coupon per customer. Not valid with any other offer.