Letters to the editor | June 25 edition
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Ferry schedule
I highly commend the community, and especially the members of Islanders for Ferry Action, for their extraordinary efforts taking the case to restore reliable three-boat service to the north end all the way to the Governor’s office. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful.
It is time for the island to stop tilting at windmills and accept the fact that we will not have a reliable three-boat schedule until the first new ferries begin to arrive in 2031.
However, there still is hope for improved ferry service during the next five years. The reality is a reliable two-boat schedule is better than an unreliable three-boat service. As Justin Fujioka of WSF mentioned in a recent Beachcomber article, WSF is “looking at potential benefits of developing a schedule that includes the bonus boat.”
It is time for the island to pivot and embrace such a solution. Give Vashon the Cathlamet and Kittitas, both 124 car ferries, permanently as our two-boat schedule, with the Sealth, 90 car ferry, as the ghost boat, also permanently.
Instead of having our schedule continuously disrupted by breakdowns and scheduled maintenance throughout the fleet, we can make plans based upon a reliable two-boat schedule. Then we can be pleasantly surprised if a ghost boat reduces our scheduled two hour wait to only 20 minutes on occasion. When WSF needs to pull a boat from the Triangle, it won’t be missed, since it is not on the schedule.
Will terrible gaps in the schedule remain — Yes! Will there be more full boats — Definitely! This is not a perfect solution, but it is the best alternative to the unreliable three-boat schedule.
Scott Harvey
Praise for Ike Harmon’s commentary
I was taken by Ike Harmon’s words (in his “Every generation’s test of truth and justice,” opinion piece, June 4, 2026) that “…our history shows that a struggle between domination and decency is woven through our national story…,” and later in his article the encouragement that “…we elders should help disabuse…the self-promotion and competitiveness…that results in the minuscule winner’s circle surrounded by a vast sea of losers.”
Yes, our nation needs to catch up with its original goals of justice, equality, individual freedom and world peace — goals expressed in a 1945 open letter, signed by a group of politicians and other prominent people (such as Albert Einstein), that encouraged ideas in “The Anatomy of Peace,” a book urging ours, and other nations to address the obvious threats of another world war in the age of nuclear weapons.
“The Anatomy of Peace” — still available today — was reaching back into decades of international failures that hadn’t adjusted to the Industrial Revolution, massive population increases, increases in international activities, advances in weapons of war, an imbalance in the personal wealth of some, while heath care was lacking for many others, and the labor problems similar to those we face today and more. Fortunately, the response to this collective effort, encouraged by that open letter and book resulted in the formation of the United Nations and other international efforts that have helped to avoid nuclear holocaust (so far).
Some of us have familiarized ourselves with “The Anatomy of Peace” and highly recommend it to everyone that agrees with Ike Harmon’s quest for truth, justice and a lasting peace among all in this world’s population.
Ward Carson
Fossil fuels in banking
In the last five years, JPMorgan Chase has invested $248.5 billion in fossil fuels. During those same years, Bank of America has invested $205.3 billion in fossil fuels. Both these institutions are available to us on Vashon.
U.S. Bank no longer invests in coal and oil. And of course neither of our wonderful credit unions. It would be thrilling if customers from Chase and Bank of America open accounts and move their money to PSCCU, Community Credit Union or U.S. Bank. Not hard to do.
Open the account with a small deposit, wait a month and if all looks good, move the remainder. Feel good about yourself and sleep better at night!
Sheila Brown
Better marketing
Vashon has a personality as distinct as its ferry schedule: artsy, agricultural and independent. Islanders celebrate the Strawberry Festival, visit the farmers market and support neighbors’ shops. Unfortunately, some local businesses have begun to look generically ‘stylish’ online.
It’s tempting to use the same templates you see on big‑city sites — minimalist fonts, pastel palettes and stock photos. But when everyone does that, it washes out the quirky charm that makes Vashon‑Maury unique.
Why not use colors inspired by the island’s forests and beaches? Feature photos of Quartermaster Harbor, your chickens or your pottery wheel. Tell the story of how you started or why you moved here. Write like you talk to your neighbors.
Good branding isn’t about slickness. It’s about helping people connect. Let’s make sure that, even online, it’s obvious you’re from Vashon — not from a template.
Matthew Yanovych
Hands across the heart of Vashon on Independence Day
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how children are growing up with the impression that the current political climate in the U.S. is ‘normal’ — when it is anything but. Unless we, as the adults in their lives, tell them otherwise, they will grow up believing that division and indifference to others is the way it is in this country.
Remember ‘Hands Across America’? It was an event that attempted to create a continuous human chain of people holding hands across the contiguous United States. Approximately 5 million people participated.
The memory of this event resurfaced for me recently in a dream — and I thought, why not create our own version on Vashon for Independence Day?
Many people have mentioned to me lately that they are feeling exhausted by the fight against fascism that we have been waging for a year and a half. People are looking for ways to participate to make a difference without adding to that exhaustion.
Creating a human chain down one or both sides of the highway, from Ober Park to the four-way, would be a simple and symbolic way to honor the nation’s 250th birthday. This would demonstrate solidarity as a community while showing children what unity and democracy look like. All that would be required is to show up in town for less than an hour.
Let’s join hands on July 4 at noon and stand up for the value of equity for all.
Look for flyers from Vashon Indivisible with more info by the end of June.
Emily Herrick
Time & Again: Vashon Pride
Bruce Haulman and Terry Donnelly have, as usual, done a great job of putting the history of Vashon’s LGBTQ+ story on paper, with great profiles and interviews in the article “Time & Again: Vashon Pride” (June 4) .
However, there were factual errors. I think you will see on vashonpride.com that the Vashon Heritage Museum’s 2019 exhibit “In and Out: Being LGBTQ on Vashon Island” did anything but “erase the growing trans, Asian, Latino, and bisexual dimensions of the Vashon community,” as they wrote. Our planning committee included high school students, librarians, artists, and leaders of the LGBT Pride movement on the Island. We included trans, Latino, Native American and disco queen stories as well as those from farmers, families, and sailors.
While the exhibit could have featured more racial diversity, we did make every effort to find bisexual people who would be willing to be interviewed, as there are many bi people on the island; the truth is, bi people on Vashon prefer to stay in the closet.
Also, we did work closely with the Gay Straight Alliance at VHS to have an entire wall of the exhibit about the Island’s young genderqueer folk and their views on the future, including their success getting nongendered restrooms in the high school. The youth wall included an extraordinary poem by a Mexican-American student.
And among our many video interviews are wonderful conversations with Stephanie Mueller and Leo MacLeod representing the trans experience. Well worth watching again on the vashonpride.com website, where the entire exhibit is archived thanks to Peter Serko and Rey Hansen.
Stephen Silha and Ellen Kritzman, Co-curators, “In and Out: Being LGBTQ on Vashon Island”
