School levy

Vote against it to effect real change

It’s levy time again. Time to consider growth consequences.

Washington state is constitutionally mandated to pay for basic education; hence, we pay property tax and sales tax to fund schools.

The school district funds 20 percent of its budget with an additional voter-approved tax.

Now consider: Parents get a $5,000 tax credit for each and every child they choose to have. With such obscene policy, many young families pay no income tax at all. Fortunately, some people choose not to have children; it’s certainly good for the environment.

The public education system as we know it promotes population growth. As long as parents can enroll as many children as they please, free-of-charge, there is little incentive to prevent the next pregnancy.

No one should feel shame for voting against the school levy. It’s simply unfair. Parents should own up and pay for any funding above the state minimum.

Voting against the school levy is in fact a vote for change. As long as levies pass, school districts will have no incentive to find alternative funding.

— Jeff Schnelz

A ‘yes’ vote supports excellence in education

We are voting “yes” on the Feb. 9 school operations levy. This levy funds about 20 percent of our school district’s basic operations budget for teachers, textbooks, transportation and supplies. It helps fill the gap between what we receive from state and federal funds and what we need to maintain essential educational programs.

With state budget troubles jeopardizing school funding, passing this levy is critical. Your “yes” vote will assure continued excellent education for our children and jobs for many in our community employed by the Vashon Island School District.

This is a special election with mail-in only ballots. Join us in mailing in your “yes” vote.

— Mary Margaret and Daniel Briggs

An Island icon

Capt. Joseph Wubbold is a courageous leader

I enjoyed your story about the lighthouse and Captain Joseph H. Wubbold. He was the captain on the Icebreaker Northwind when I reported aboard in 1976. He is another story in and of himself — a leader of leaders, tough, caring, solitary, demanding of himself and of those who served under his command.

He instilled a sense of family in those who served on his ships and was often seen offering encouragement to his crew when the going got tough: knee-deep in frigid sea water in the forward hold directing the bucket brigade when our main deck separated at a seam in severe weather south of New Zealand, ready to assist the engineers when a fuel line snapped over a red-hot turbo-charger, yet last in line for a cold beer at the end of a long day.

The captain left a crew that was so much like a family, his legacy lives on today — something many of us in the Northwind family never found on any other ship or any other station during our long Coast Guard careers.

— Miles York

Dancing

Rules of conduct aren’t enforced

I’ve never been to a Vashon High School dance, and I’m a few decades too old to understand the minds of teenagers these days. But I do live and work out here in the real world, and I’m pretty sure I’d lose my job and wind up in jail if I behaved the way people are purportedly behaving on the VHS dance floor. 

Still, it’s not for me to judge what teens claim is a reasonable dance form. I’m a lousy dancer, and I don’t understand the sexploitation of youth in our culture. But I do understand that VHS has rules of conduct that were not being enforced (or worse, selectively enforced, thereby confusing everyone and diminishing the effectiveness of the rules). Sixteen girls said sexual advances at VHS dances were unwanted or disturbing, yet their feelings are trivialized in this discussion. In my company that would amount to a sexual harassment catastrophe.

One young woman likens unwelcome groping to “on the job training” for handling future sexual harassment. I think there are better ways to prepare young women for sexual exploitation than to let young males abuse them until they learn to fight them off (or worse, accept it). 

Of course, I’m a clueless adult who doesn’t get it. Adults and teens are genetically wired not to understand each other. This is a losing battle on both sides. So as an adult, I will admit that perhaps it is OK for minors to dry hump each other and ejaculate on the dance floor while a dozen or more girls are treated as collateral damage and dumbfounded chaperones look on like deer in the headlights. All I can say is I’m glad we chose to home-school our daughters. 

— Bob Moses

Banning grinding was not tyranny

I would like to point out the gross inaccuracy of Chris Ott’s statement that the school district’s decision to ban grinding at dances was an example of “generational tyranny.”

Perhaps Mr. Ott is not aware that current district policy specifically disallows sexually explicit behaviors (such as grinding) on campus. To ban grinding was not tyranny; it was a necessary action to ensure that the school’s practices are in compliance with its stated policy. Indeed, grinding should never have been allowed in the first place.

It is the district’s job to provide guidance when appropriate and edicts when necessary. It cannot and should not allow students’ “thoughts, feelings and emotions” to steer all of its policies and decisions.

Philosophical opinions aside, it is a fact that to allow grinding to continue, in direct opposition to the school district’s policy, would put the district at serious risk for legal action.

Do parents/taxpayers want to foot the bill if the school district loses such a lawsuit? I, for one, do not. I expect the district to enforce its policies, regardless of how parents and students feel about them.

Those who disagree with these policies are free to lobby for a change. Until then, the rules must be enforced.

— Katrina Lande

This, too, will pass

Every once in awhile, I read The Beachcomber online from California. Having spent my high school years on Vashon, I remember some of those school dances and some pretty out-of-control behavior “back in the day.” I readily admit to my fair share of shenanigans.

I have read that some parents are outraged by the “grinding” at dances and can’t even believe this is happening. From time immortal, teenagers have been pushing the boundaries between acceptable and not.

Rest assured, parents and concerned citizens, this will all pass over. I have found that Vashon trends tend to run about four years behind what is happening down here.

That style of dancing is SO 2005, according to my kid’s friends, and no self-respecting high schooler would be caught dead doing it here or they would be totally made fun of.

Peer pressure trumps all reasoning, so how about planting the “loser” label to it and see what happens? Just an idea from a former Vashon rebellious teen.  

— Dee Dee Engels Breuer

Traffic safety

Check out the laws

Let me get to the point immediately! Kudos, congratulations and keep up the good work, Rick Frye, for your response to the recent letter to the editor about the double yellow lines being crossed into the Thriftway lot.

Rick is an extremely knowledgeable person in emergency operation plans, fire prevention, first aid and safety plans and has been active locally for several years.

Jennie Hodgson, not too long ago, pointed out how active the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council safety committee had been during the 1990’s. Accurate minutes of the meetings were prepared, with a copy being provided to the King County Library System for the information of the community.

If people desire to have input, they can do a little research by checking “the manual on uniform traffic control devices”  (U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration) and Washington State RCWs.

— J.P. Anderson