Vashon’s school board recently passed a no-cuts budget for the upcoming school year that includes modest teacher raises, the elimination of some fees and added funding for some school programs.
This issue of The Beachcomber is a bittersweet one for me — it’s my last. After five years as both a reporter and editor at the newspaper, I’m moving on.
Temperatures reaching into the 90s last weekend didn’t stop hordes of island residents and visitors from heading to town for the Strawberry Festival, the annual celebration that typically draws 40,000 to 50,000 people.
Vashon's north-end ferry will go to a two-boat schedule next Monday through Wednesday, as other boats in the state's fleet undergo emergency repairs.
Local real estate broker and community activist Emma Amiad has been selected as the grand marshal for this year’s Strawberry Festival.
As a group gathered last week to celebrate a flurry of recent conservation purchases on Vashon, State Sen. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island) announced that she has secured another $2 million for environmental preservation on the island.
Vashon’s land trust will give tours this weekend of a swath of property near town that it plans to purchase as its first-ever farmland preservation project.
The Washington State Transportation Commission is asking the public to weigh in on a proposal to raise ferry fares over the next year, with car fares increasing slightly more than passenger fares.
Caleb Johns, the current unofficial mayor of Vashon, announced last week that he will run for reelection to the faux post.
Rob Kearns remembers shooting hoops at the Vashon High School gym when he was a kid. Standing in the same gym last week, Kearns, who is now 46 and a basketball coach, said he thinks it’s past time for a new one.
In light of the dry conditions on the island, George Brown, acting chief at Vashon’s fire station, said on Monday that he is urging residents not to light fireworks this Fourth of July.
Vashon’s fire department has been fined $900 and has increased its training after the state Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) issued a citation earlier this year.
There will be no primary election for a Vashon Park District commissioner race with three candidates, King County Elections announced last week.
Vashon’s largest water purveyor recently released 20 water shares, the majority of them to an island man interested in building affordable housing near town.
Vashon High School’s class of 2015 graduated under sunny skies on Saturday at the high school stadium. The ceremony, in turns spirited, funny and solemn, featured several speeches. In an opening address, Principal Danny Rock said he has been impressed at how this year’s graduating class — 127 students in all — has handled both academic challenges as well as personal ones. “School is both preparation for life, and it is life itself,” he said.
Public officials will hold meetings next Monday and Tuesday to discuss and take comment on issues surrounding two public docks on Vashon.
Kenny Sudduth is described by those who knew him as a fun-loving man who had a genuine care for others that was perhaps fueled by his own life’s struggles.
