Hello, my name is Lisa Devereau. I am a cemetery commissioner and a funeral director. I grew up here on Vashon, and have a story about growing up here. A few years ago, a woman named Verna Bacon Everitt moved back to Vashon. She had hopes of writing for our local newspaper, so she wrote…
Abuse happens. How we respond determines whether the abuse is effectively stopped. Or whether a pattern develops, as the abuse is tacitly allowed to continue. On Thursday, April 27th, Vivian Lyons read a letter at a Vashon Island School District board meeting, written by one of two women who have co-filed a formal complaint against…
Years ago, I hired a contractor to rebuild a structure for me. He named a price, I got out the checkbook and wrote him a check. Several days later I mentioned this to a friend who worked in small business law. He shook his head, laughed at me, and said I’d told the contractor two…
Because public health is an increasingly (and unexpectedly) in-your-face part of life, it’s a good idea to understand how public health “talks” to and sends messages to us. While I was working on my public health degree, I was never given the impression that our kind would emerge with any sort of genuine authority or…
Awhile back, I began to question my credit/debit card habit. It felt like a convenience – with a hidden cost – and I wasn’t the only one to notice. “Keep Cash Alive” and “Cash is King” have entered the public sphere, along with several reasons for returning to good old-fashioned paper money. For me, two…
Short of being plugged directly into Hanford’s nuclear power reservation, Vashon and Maury Islands are the ideal run-about ranges for electric vehicles. Although the Island has enough elevation changes to be notorious to visiting bicyclists during the annual “Passport to Pain,” we sit at a confluence of undersea cables sending us clean, stable, and practically…
When our Cathlamet ferry crashed into a dolphin pier on July 28, 2022, we were told three things in short order. First, all crew had passed drug tests after the accident. Second, the following day, the captain resigned. Third, the USCG – United States Coast Guard – would lead the investigation and determine why the…
Kate Moore is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of “The Radium Girls.” A British writer based in London, she has published numerous Sunday Times bestsellers, writing across various genres including history, biography, true crime, and humor; her work has been translated into more than 12 languages. The Radium Girls was the winner of…
Did you know that compost is not only good for your plants, but also a powerful tool to fight climate change? Turning our yard and food waste into compost, instead of sending it to the landfill, reduces greenhouse gasses in several ways. Food scraps that are put in the garbage get sent to the landfill….
As you drive north and turn the corner into the quaint town of Burton, you are suddenly transported back 100 years, and are surrounded by a turn-of-the-20th-century village. What is now Burton was once a thriving village of the sx̌ʷəbabš or “Swiftwater People,” with longhouses and a potlatch house. Historians estimate that prior to European…