The 40 lights that line the dirt runway at Vashon’s tiny municipal airport have transformed the grassy field into an emergency airstrip on occasion. Some years ago, when a small plane en route to Bremerton experienced engine failure, the airstrip saved a pilot’s life, said Al Paxhia, a commissioner for King County Airport District 1.
Here, too, is the only lighted helipad for medical evacuations off the Island — a critical link in the Island’s emergency network.
Now, due to vandalism or something even more malicious, the airstrip is dark at night.
Last Saturday night or early Easter morning, someone methodically pulled out or kicked over each of the 40 lights, Paxhia said. The vandal also ripped the airport’s telephone out of its box, broke the glass on the sign at the airfield’s entrance and turned the port-a-potty on its side.
It’s not the first time the airport has experienced vandalism, Paxhia said, but it’s the most extensive in his memory. Noting that it’s a federal offense, he added that it’s a serious matter.
“The airport is part of the emergency infrastructure of the Island,” he said. “If there were a major earthquake that took out the ferry docks, this airport could play a very important role.”
“I’m personally very upset,” he added. “It puts us Islanders at risk. It could be any of us who needs to be airlifted off of the Island.”
Even more troubling to some is that the incident seems to be part of a rash of property damage and vandalism that has occurred on Vashon this spring, much of it taking place between Bank Road and Cove Road and even further north.
Over the last several weeks, residents in neighborhoods near Vashon town have awoken to find their mailboxes ripped off of their posts, knocked over or thrown into ditches. Signs have been kicked over at three businesses on the outskirts of town. Vashon Market was broken into, and a burglary was attempted at The Little House.And in a move that Vashon Island Fire & Rescue Chief Mike Kirk called an escalation of the seemingly random vandalism, troublemakers paid a visit to The Harbor School late Saturday or early Sunday, where they slashed eight tires on the school’s two small buses, broke six windows on one of them, smashed lights lining the school’s pathway and ripped apart one of the hand-painted, plywood figures that welcomes visitors to the small, private school.
Toby Welch, The Harbor School’s head, said students are upset by the vandalism. The buses, which will require some time to get fixed, transport the kids to off-campus PE classes and track at McMurray Middle School. Two field trips will now have to be cancelled for lack of transportation, Welch added.
In separate moves, both Vashon Air Service, the nonprofit that manages the airport, and The Harbor School have issued $1,000 rewards for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the vandalism.
“This is not acceptable in any community. This kind of malicious, angry behavior tears at the fabric of our community,” Welch said.
“We run on a really tight budget,” he added. “We don’t have money for this type of thing.”
At the airport, volunteers, within a few days after the damage was discovered on Easter, were able to resurrect eight lights and get the helipad relit for night-time emergency evacuations, Paxhia said. But the airstrip is still without lights and could be for another two weeks; the airport had to order parts from out of state for the specialized lights, he said.
As he walked along the airstrip at the 20-acre airport, he said he was troubled by the impact of the seemingly methodical crime. He knew the pilot who made an emergency landing at the Vashon airport some 20 years ago.
“It saved him from crashing,” he said.
The destruction of the sign at the front of the airport is also troubling, since it was made by Tony Bianchi, Dick and Linda Bianchi’s son and now a commercial pilot, as his Eagle Scout project several years ago. Mostly, however, just the glass was broken, and he’s hopeful the sign will be fully repaired.
All told, the airport experienced about $3,000 in damage, he said.
While it’s a federal offense to destroy property at an airport, the commissioners opted not to try to call in the FBI, which likely would not have time to investigate the crime, he said. But the King County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the case, he said, aided by a surveillance camera that captured the image of someone on the property at nearly 2 a.m., he added.
John Urquhart, a spokesman for the King County Sheriff’s Department, said that these kinds of crimes are difficult to solve, because “it usually happens at night when no one’s around.”
Even so, he said, Islanders can help by calling 911 if they see or hear any suspicious activity. Two deputies are on the Island at all times, he said, so a 911 call would likely get an officer to the scene quickly.
It’s possible that the perpetrators are young people still living with their parents, he added, and as a result it’s important that parents know where their kids are at night and what they’re up to.
Because of the ongoing nature of the vandalism, Urquhart said, “It’s very serious. It can mean jail time. But the issue is really finding out who’s doing it.”
Kirk said he was troubled by the vandalism because of the impact it has on Islanders, from kids to the elderly. Even the seemingly minor act of knocking over a mailbox can prove to be a hardship for people, he said, especially seniors who depend on the mail to bring them a Social Security or pension check.
“If it means anything to (the perpetrators), there are a number of senior citizens who rely on those mailboxes for checks, and this is very hard for them,” he said. “It means they’ll have to rearrange their lives.”
Rewards offered
Vashon Air Service and The Harbor School are offering separate $1,000 rewards for the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the vandalism at the two sites. Those with information about the airport vandalism should call Al Paxhia at 567-4346, and anyone with information about The Harbor School should call the school at 567-5955.
