Islanders had hoped for a large farewell gathering to commemorate the Rhododendron’s final full day of service. The boat, after all, is the oldest in the fleet, and its modest beauty — with its brass railings, polished benches and wrap-around exterior deck — suggests an earlier time.
As the winter storm continued Thursday, several ice-covered trees and branches have toppled on Vashon Island, knocking out power lines and closing roads, King County officials report.
Vashon’s three public schools will be closed Thursday — for the second day in a row — because of Wednesday’s heavy snowfall, according to Superintendent Michael Soltman.
Vashon’s five fire commissioners made a total of $20,146 for performing their official duties in 2011, with Rex Stratton, last year’s board chair, earning the most at $6,704.
Citing a goal to involve Vashon contractors in the construction of the new Vashon High School, the Vashon Island School District has hired someone to assist locals in the process of bidding and working on the project.
For the last seven years, Island Lumber has held a Ladies’ Night on a Monday in November, drawing hundreds of women to the sprawling building supply store for special discounts, catered food, glasses of wine, drawings and camaraderie.
The 40-acre forest behind Roseballen is a muddy expanse in places, crisscrossed by deeply rutted tire tracks and pockmarked with debris — food wrappers, discarded needles, an old sleeping bag, clothes.
Vashon educators and officials are cheering a strongly worded state Supreme Court decision issued last week that found the Legislature has failed for decades to meet its constitutional mandate to amply fund K-12 education.
After a lengthy legal battle, Vashon HouseHold is in the midst of a far-ranging set of repairs at Eernisse Apartments, where water was pooling in some of the crawlspaces and mold was growing on many of the subterranean pony walls.
The Vashon Park District will not borrow money from King County but will instead look to a private bank this week for a loan, according to Jan Milligan, the agency’s executive director.
May Chaleoy, who co-founded a popular Thai restaurant in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood, said she hopes to open May’s Kitchen on Vashon in February.
The Washington State Redistricting Commission issued its final maps for a new 10th congressional district last week, leaving Vashon in the 34th Legislative District and the 7th Congressional District, a seat held by Rep. Jim McDermott.
The Beachcomber is a community newspaper, and as such, it’s a place for all kinds of local news. Most of what one finds in the paper is written by our staff — Natalie Johnson, Susan Riemer, Elizabeth Shepherd and myself — reporters who craft news stories based on the journalistic principles that govern most newspapers these days.
