Letters to The Editor | August 14, 2025
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Expressing gratitude and resolve
First and foremost, thank you to the Vashon Island community. Your support has meant the world to me. I’ve listened, I’ve heard you and have felt your encouragement in every handshake on the street, every letter and email, and every conversation. Your voices have guided me and affirmed that the work we are doing is truly addressing the needs of our community.
While I may not have 30+ years of fire service experience, I have dedicated my entire career to making this fire department the best it can be, every single day, for the people of this island. Along the way, I have built relationships and partnerships with the incredible folks of Vashon, each contributing in their own way to the strength of our community.
We are fortunate to have such an amazing group of people here. In this game called life, we’re all dealt a different hand. But any smart card player will tell you that it’s not the cards you’re dealt, it’s how you play them. And for you, Vashon Island, I have always been “all in”.
I’m betting on us — on our ability to keep working together, lifting each other up, and moving forward as one. I welcome the experience and ideas our new chief brings, and am committed to helping ensure our district continues to grow in the best direction possible.
Ben Davidson, Interim Fire Chief
Editorial missed the mark
I was incredibly disappointed with the editorial in the Beachcomber’s August 7 edition. What could have been a wonderful welcome to our new fire chief turned into a slap in the face to him by suggesting another person might have been a good or even better choice.
The fire commissioners made an excellent decision in hiring the very best and most qualified applicant, William McLaughlin. Didn’t we just vote for an extremely expensive levy lift in order to have the best of the best for our little island? Just look at the experience and knowledge each candidate possessed. This was not a popularity contest; it was a search for the best person to act in the most important position there is in the department. While interim chief Davidson may be a popular person, he was definitely at the bottom of the applicant list for qualifications.
Fire Chief McLaughlin stated he will be happy to mentor Interim Chief Davidson, and McLaughlin is certainly in the top tier of being able to do just that, because his current job is to train fire chiefs at the National Fire Academy.
Instant gratification in the form of a popular person in our fire department’s top position is not in the interest of either the department or our community. Slow down and allow a wonderful new chief to mentor a possible future one.
Michelle Harvey
Contribute to everyday beauty
As the August heat makes its determined presence in our last blow out of summer, remember, it is time to paint your mailbox!
As you drive around, isn’t it wonderful when you see a colorful mailbox in the midst of all of the black and silver and mold-covered boxes?
In these difficult and depressing times, let’s add beauty and color and whimsy to our roads. Join your kids in creating a fun design. Visit the paint store and choose a great color. Change it up, and enjoy, knowing that everyone who passes by your box will smile. We need this.
Beth White
Invasives threaten Vashon
In response to Beachcomber’s editorial to Vote Yes on Prop. 1, let me disagree that “Vashon enjoys clean public parks.”
Maybe for now. But ecologically, Vashon is headed toward a wasteland of invasive infestations. English holly “is doubling every six years,” and hawthorn can be worse. Nothing is stopping ivy’s spread except us cutting it off trees, because that’s when it goes to seed. Loss of native plant communities means loss of wildlife, an incremental silent spring.
Prop. 1 thankfully passed, but let’s consider a strategy to use property taxes wisely, to reduce off-site invasive seeds that reinfest tax-paid forest restoration.
I truly commend efforts of King County, Vashon Park District, Water District 19, and the Land Trust to thoughtfully manage public lands. But if we prioritize control of mature fruiting invasives, then we reduce the continual reinfestations of everyone’s restoration efforts. Control of invasive “seed rain” typically costs less than $200 per acre.
Assuming public agencies cooperate on this strategy, how can we get private homeowners on board? Maybe if people understood that parts of Vashon are already “too far gone to be worth saving,” according to noxious weed experts.
In my opinion, the missing link is a program to cost-share professional help for homeowners unable to afford or do the work themselves. If a trusted non-profit could manage donations earmarked for “seed rain” reductions, and then identify and help problematic properties, perhaps we can reverse the invasive trajectory and preserve the reasons we live here.
Steve Richmond
