Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber

3 days ago | vashonbeachcomber.com | Alex Bruell

The Vashon Health Care District discussed plans for a board retreat at their May 21 board meeting to decompress, evaluate priorities and work on building stronger community connections. Conflicts with Vashon Island Fire & Rescue leadership over the launch of DispatchHealth amid VIFR’s Mobile Integrated Health strained relations between the two districts for months. Reflecting on those challenges, and others, led district superintendent Tim Johnson to propose the retreat.

3 days ago | vashonbeachcomber.com | Alex Bruell

A new bill signed by the governor has paved the way for the Vashon Island School District to collect much more in property taxes for school purposes — just in time for the District’s budgeting process. VISD is set to take a second reading of its 2025-2026 budget on June 12. It coincides with a bill passed in the Legislature this year that will allow the district to collect more of they money Vashon taxpayers voted to allow it to collect — more than $700,000 more next year alone.

1 week ago | vashonbeachcomber.com | Alex Bruell

Islanders commemorated and mourned U.S. service members — including locals Tom and Douglas “Ladd” Bacchus — at events across Vashon last weekend, attended by throngs of veterans and non-veterans alike. The Vashon Senior Center unveiled its restored memorial to the Bacchus brothers and other veterans of World Wat II on Sunday, May 25, to a crowd of about 100 people. The Bacchus family sent four sons to war, but, as the war neared its end, only two returned.

1 week ago | vashonbeachcomber.com | Alex Bruell

Four Vashon High School students learned they have cardiac anomalies — and several others that they have high blood pressure — thanks to a heart screening event Tuesday, May 20, at the high school. In total, 38 VHS students were screened as part of an inaugural student cardiac screening by the Sam Yates Community Foundation, said organizers. In December 2023, the foundation teamed up with the Nick of Time Foundation to offer electrocardiogram (ECG) screenings to 353 young islanders.

1 week ago | vashonbeachcomber.com | Alex Bruell

Vashon residents are mourning the untimely death of islander John Kaiser, who died earlier this month after a deer crashed into him while he was bicycling on Vashon. Kaiser, 61, was coming down the hill on 75th Avenue SW just north of the entrance to the Vashon Island Golf and Country Club in the early afternoon of Monday, May 5, his wife Aili Kaiser said. He’d just left their home in the Gold Beach neighborhood. A deer came from Kaiser’s left and ran into him as he was going down the hill.