HEALTHCARE

Advice for commissioners

I would urge the Vashon Health Care District (VHCD) to consider the following as they move forward with Sea Mar and beyond.

1. I continue to believe that Sea Mar is not the best fit as a provider for this community. Their drive to expand their footprint often takes priority over engaging and addressing the needs of the community they serve and I think this island’s experience with them bears this out. However, the VHCD finds itself between a “rock and a hard place” as there is unlikely another provider who will come to this community if Sea Mar stays. Seems like the commissioners are trying to cover all the right bases as they negotiate a path forward with Sea Mar.

2. I would urge the VHCD to leave the levy at its current level. The development of a rainy day fund is prudent given the uncertainty of the provider situation. In addition, there is a need to expand services to include both extended hours and more comprehensive and integrated services (mental health and substance use, for example) that may require additional resources.

Paul Tegenfeldt

DEER SEASON

Hunters have not gone home

Another year of deer hunting is over, but maybe not quite. The justification of opening Island Center Forest was to keep the deer population down by allowing deer hunting for a specified period.

My family has been here for over 35 years. We’ve watched the deer population in our community increase and decrease. We have never seen the surge often referenced as justification for deer hunting.

Deer taught us what we can grow and when we need to set up those ugly fences around our roses, just as birds and squirrels taught us to cover bean seeds and sunflower seeds and anything else they might get to before us. We’ve abdicated our rights to cherries; no matter how closely we watch them turning red, the crows have better eyes and get there first.

Have you ever seen a fawn born? They come out running. With spots. We call them hoppers. Does are good mothers staying close to their fawns until they are old enough to survive. I saw two dead fawns on the road during this year’s hunting season.

But hunting season is over on the island. Yesterday I was happy to see a doe, fawn and buck reappear.

Yet tomorrow I may not see the buck and doe, and the fawn may be dead on the road. Hunters have not gone home. Last night our neighbor was checking on her dogs and saw two men with guns with sights on the property. This is the second time this week. Imagine finding men with guns hunting in the middle of the night on your property.

Hunting out of season is not permitted. Carrying guns and trespassing on private land is illegal and dangerous. If hunting can’t be monitored, it should not be allowed.

Linda Bonazza