Whenever weather reports indicate a major storm is headed this way, Michael Cochrane says he sees a phenomenon that troubles him greatly — scores of Islanders flocking to stores to buy candles, batteries, canned food and other emergency supplies.
Local law officials and community leaders are expressing concern about a new camp that has sprung up in a vacant lot just south of Vashon town, where a handful of people are living in squalid conditions and in makeshift shelters.
King County and the Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust teamed up to put another 10 acres of property along Judd Creek into protected ownership, representatives from both entities said last week.
In the few weeks since she set up shop at J.G. Commons, Michele Kimble has been able to help one resident reduce the amount she pays for her cable service.
King County officials hope that a new timber-framed shelter in Island Center Forest will become a site for family reunions, weddings, picnics and educational gatherings once the open-sided structure is completed early next year.
Nearly 40 people registered to hunt in Island Center Forest (ICF) during the 400-acre forest’s closure for a limited hunting season between Oct. 13 and 31.
Morningside Farm is a quiet, park-like expanse on the south end of Vashon, surrounded by a white split-rail fence and dotted by towering firs. On a recent rainy day, hardly a soul was there, save for a couple of men driving tractors to repair potholes in the gravel road leading up to it.
King County’s highest financial official said the county won’t let the Vashon Park District default, a specter raised last week after the agency’s four commissioners failed to reach an agreement on a plan to pay off a $410,000 loan due Dec. 31.
Neighbors have complained for years about the grey-blue house on 109th Avenue S.W., a modest split-level on 12 acres of marshy land abutting the eastern edge of the Vashon Airport.
Kathleen Barry Johnson, a fundraising professional and former criminal defense attorney, will become the new head of Vashon Youth & Family Services, a $1.5 million agency that provides a wide range of social services on the Island.
Vashon Island Fire & Rescue will see slightly less tax revenue next year but will still meet its operational needs and complete some needed projects, while pushing less important budget items into 2014.
A Vashon family concerned about the lack of scholarship funds for low-income kids who want to participate in Vashon’s ski school program is making wreaths and holding a raffle in an effort to raise the needed money.
Vashon’s Mormon church has received preliminary approval from King County to move forward with its plans to develop a teen girls camp at its 100-acre property on the southern tip of the Island.
