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Wayne and Erik Fanshier share rare quadrennial day

BRETT DAVISof the Gateway

It’s Wayne Fanshier’s birthday today, and he’s either 60 or 15, depending on how you look at it. The Vaughn man and Pierce Transit vice president of finance is a Leap

Day baby, born on Feb. 29, which usually comes around only every four years on the Gregorian calendar.

This day is added to the calendar as a cor-rective measure, because the earth does not orbit around the sun in precisely 365 days.

Like the majority of Leap Day babies, Fan-shier celebrates his birthday on the last day of

those Februaries with the usual 28 days.“I always figured I was born in February,”

Fanshier stated matter-of-factly. While choosing when to celebrate may be a

matter of personal preference for those born on Leap Day, having such an unusual birthday can cause problems when the exact day mat-ters in certain circumstances: getting a driver’s license, for example, or registering to vote, or gambling, or, in Fanshier’s case, sipping an alcoholic beverage — or trying to.

Back in 1981, when he was in college at Central Washington State College in Ellens-burg — now called Central Washington Uni-versity — his friends took him to a local bar on Feb. 28 where it was customary for those turning 21 to receive a free beer.

Fanshier recalled being denied his free beer, because his driver’s license had his birthday

listed as Feb. 29, so he was not officially of legal drinking age.

A return trip the next day, March 1, to claim his free beer was again denied, because it wasn’t technically his birthday.

“That was pretty much it,” he said. While he never got his free beer from the

bar, his friends made sure he got all the beer he wanted, Fanshier said.

“I’ll be 84 when I have by 21st birthday,” he said with a laugh.

Fanshier maintains a sense of humor and perspective about his unique birthday. It’s a good thing, too, as there are many instances in the arts where a person’s claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out to be based on counting their leap-year birthdays.

Photo courtesy of Wayne Fanshier

Wayne and Erik Fanshier, father and son, both were born on a Leap Day.

Mayor Hunter lauds GH administrator’s service to the city


Gig Harbor City Administra-tor Rob Karlinsey will resign and become the city manager for the City of Kenmore, Gig Harbor Mayor Chuck Hunter announced Friday in a news release.

Karlinsey has served in his cur-rent capacity since January 2007. His last day will be April 9.

Karlinsey cited professional reasons for taking the new job, which will see him move to a city manager.

“It’s part of my long-term ca-reer goals, moving to a larger city,” Karlinsey said. “I’m in the No. 2 spot here, and I’ll go to the No. 1 spot there.”

Gig Harbor has a strong-mayor form of government, he said, with Mayor Chuck Hunter the chief executive charged with carrying out the policies and priorities as laid out by the Gig Harbor City Council.

GH City Council votes to change name in wake of backlash


“People’s Dock,” we hardly knew ye.

Two weeks after the Gig Harbor City Council voted to approve the name for the yet-to-be con-structed pier at 3003 Harborview Drive, it voted to rescind it Mon-day night.

Following a not-always-clear nomination process, the city council ultimately decided to go with the name “Maritime Pier.”

It wasn’t a unanimous decision, in spite of some public resistance by those were weren’t happy with the name or the process, that the name should be changed in the first place.

“It seems a little unfair to the folks who aren’t here,” said council member Derek Young, who sug-gested the “People’s Dock” moni-ker as a way to acknowledge the original People’s Dock at the site that served Gig Harbor before a land connection was established.

Council member Tim Payne, who said at a previous meeting that he thought the term “Mari-time Pier” was redundant, added that he didn’t anticipate the back-lash from members of the public

who weren’t happy with the name “People’s Dock.”

Payne said he didn’t expect to have the words “communism,” “socialism” and “comrade” thrown his way when he voted in favor of calling the planned pier the “People’s Dock.”

“It’s a perfectly good name,” Payne said prior to the name-change vote, adding the city coun-cil should nevertheless take the public’s reaction into account.

Other council members — Steve Eckberg and Paul Kadzik — said they liked the name “People’s Dock,” but they could support the name “Maritime Pier.”

Even though there was to be no public comment — at least of-ficially — that didn’t stop one per-son in attendance from speaking her mind.

Gig Harbor’s Rosemary Ross, whose great-grandparents home-steaded in Rosedale and who mar-ried into one of the area’s pioneer fishing families when she took Ronald Ross as her husband some 57 years ago, was adamant about whom the future pier should be named after: the Makovich fam-ily, six generations of whom have lived in Gig Harbor.

“The name Makovich should be on that dock!” she exclaimed.

In the end, however, the name “Maritime Pier” came out the winner.

Lee Giles III/Staff photographer

John Oldham walks around an abandoned property earlier this month to survey the damage caused by vandals, metal scrappers and people who illegally dump their household garbage.

Abandoned homes pose safety threatsPierce County council member asks people to stay away from derelict properties

SUSAN SCHELLof the Gateway

The first feeling that creeps in is revul-sion. The house is surrounded by

trash. Obviously abandoned for some time, people have used the secluded property, away from prying eyes, as a convenient place to dump truckloads of garbage.

Inside the house, the feeling turns to sadness. The windows are broken, and a cold wind blows through the hallways. Pictures of a family litter the floor — photos of children playing in the yard, kittens curled up on the sofa, a fluffy white dog with a ball in its mouth.

What happened to them? Why did they leave so fast and leave so much behind?

There have been other visitors.

It looks like giant robotic rats have chewed through the walls and the ceiling — not a single room or corri-dor has been spared.

Plaster and drywall carpet the floor and staircase. Thieves have ripped through the walls and destroyed the place to get to the copper wiring, making the situation far worse than just a clean-up job.

“This used to be someone’s dream,” said John Oldham, stepping carefully through the debris. “The place is just sacked. It’s torn apart.”

Oldham, board director of Penin-sula Communities in Faith, stumbled onto the property last month while he was conducting a count of the home-less population for Pierce County.

“I was just driving around, looking for places where homeless people might be camping out,” he said. “I

drove up this road and found this property. What struck me was the copper wiring. This place is really dan-gerous. There’s a ballpark right next door. Kids could come over here and get into this crap.”

Amazingly, Oldham found a similar property adjacent to the first one. It also had been abandoned for some time — the yard had grown over. The siding of the Gig Harbor property was rotting, and mold was all over the place.

A closer look revealed that it used to be a nice property with a meadow. There are remnants of a crumbling brick wall that surrounded a garden, long succumbed to weeds, a concrete bench and built-in fountain.

What happened?

Karlinsey to take city manager job in Kenmore

‘People’s Dock’ out, ‘Maritime Pier’ gets nod

Father, son celebrate Leap Day birthdays

Please see Leap, 8A

Please see Karlinsey, 6A

A broken window at an aban-doned and heavily vandalized home in Gig Harbor tells the tale of destruc-tion.

Please see Pier, 6A

Please see Homes, 8A

Three Gig Harbor artists all dressed for RAGSArt show features artisans from around the nation


Three Gig Harbor artists will participate in the 18th an-nual RAGS wearable art sale and show, a three-day event at Larson’s Mercedes-Benz of Tacoma in Fife.

RAGS isn’t an ordinary art show; it’s one for people who really want to put on some-thing special — someone who wants to enter the room with that certain “wow” factor.

“It’s a very highly juried show,” said Christine Lutschg, a Gig Harbor fashion jewelry designer. “So the work is spec-tacular.”

A portion of all RAGS sales will benefit the YWCA’s do-mestic violence prevention and intervention programs, something of which Lutschg is particularly proud.

“A percentage of our sales go to help the homeless and battered women,” she said. “Everything a person buys and the artists submit will help these women.”

Lutschg is a five-year vet-eran of the show. She creates artistic jewelry from mixed media and seeks out different colors and textures.

“I’ve been working with a lot of felt and found objects,”

she said. “Enamel is fun. It’s like glass, so you’re melting the color onto the metal. It’s terribly exciting to use differ-ent colors and textures. The finish is beautiful because it’s bright.”

Nationally renowned fine-jewelry artist Joan Tenenbaum will make her first appearance as an artist this year.

“I was asked to be a juror at the last minute last year,” she said. “So I thought I should come back as an artist.”

Lutschg knows Tenenbaum and her reputation.

“The fact that she’s in this show should bring people in,” Lutschg said.

Tenenbaum said she will feature “three exquisite” pieces in the show. Each has a name and tells a story, usually of her experiences in Alaska with the native peo-ples, with whom she worked as an anthropologist and linguist.

“My pieces have many lay-ers,” she said. “They tell sto-ries. They’re not just pretty objects.

“What I do is take the form of a traditional artifact and use it as my canvass to paint stories of these people and their lives.”

Tenenbaum described a pendant in the shape of an Eskimo called “Night sky from remote places.”

“It’s a story about the Northern Lights in the gem-stones that I chose,” she said.

“Another layer is in the form of an Eskimo ulu knife.”

A newcomer to the RAGS show, Russian-born Irina Francis has her own shop in downtown Gig Harbor that is doing fairly well. She teaches classes on how to create fi-bers and fashion them into hats, scarves and other acces-sories.

“My hat was accepted for a juried exhibition,” Francis said. “I will present my hats, scarves, purses and some shoes. I’ll have inexpensive items from $20 to almost $500.”

Artists from around the country will gather in Puget Sound to display and sell their work at RAGS. Alongside the boutique-style marketplace, RAGS will feature a gallery-style competition of one-of-a-kind garments, accessories and jewelry.

Oldham was curious about these houses and wondered just how many like them ex-ist in the area. He contacted Pierce County Council mem-ber Stan Flemming to ask about the issue.

Flemming said certain steps have to be taken before a property can be officially declared abandoned.

“On abandoned and der-elict homes, there’s a process the county must follow,” he said. “We’re willing to identify the (property) with notifica-tion. The second step is to notify the property owner that the house or structure poses a health and safety issue to the community.”

Oldham feels that aban-doned properties can become a nuisance because they may attract illegal activity that can bring down the value of neighboring lots. He also un-derstands that not many peo-ple want to be left holding the ball when it comes to dealing with the cleanup involved.

“It’d be great if the county cleaned up the properties, then got back the money when the property was sold,” he said. “I’d like them to at least put a fence around them so kids can’t go back there.”

Flemming said property owners are responsible for the condition of their lots, regard-

less of whether they live on them.

“It is prudent that property owners maintain them, even if they are abandoned,” he said. “Once they are identi-fied as a hazard or a nuisance, then the property owner must take the appropriate steps to repair the situation. Any derelict home that is not maintained adversely affects the value of the homes in that area, whether the property can be seen from the street or not.”

Flemming is adamant that people abstain from exploring abandoned properties — if someone believes a structure is a nuisance, they should contact the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

Flemming recalled a situ-ation in which a deputy was investigating such a call and was shot at by a squatter on the property.

“Don’t go on the property to investigate,” Flemming said. “It’s best to advise the sheriffs.”

“The purpose is the safety of the public,” he added. “There’s a lot of potential risk associated with that. And you certainly don’t want to be vio-lating any trespass laws.”

Flemming said if anyone has an abandoned home to report, they can email the lo-cation’s address to [email protected].

One of the more well-known such plot devices can be found in W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan’s 1879 comic opera, “The Pirates of Penzance.”

The story concerns Fred-eric, who has been appren-ticed to a band of pirates until he turns 21. Having passed his 21st year, he leaves the band of pirates and falls in love. It turns out, however, that his indentured servitude to the pirates is based on his ap-prenticeship not ending until his 21st birthday, and since he was born on Feb. 29, that day will not come until he is an old man. Bound by duty and a sense of honor, Frederic leaves his fiancée and returns to the pirates.

A number of entertainers and politicians were born on Feb. 29, including singer and actress Diana Shore (1916), American actor Dennis Farina (1944), American congress-man Bart Stupak (1952), American motivational speaker Tony Robbins (1960),

Italian-born actor Antonio Sabato, Jr. (1972) and Ameri-can rapper and actor Ja Rule (1976).

One in 1,461 people are born on Leap Day, with about 200,000 across America and 4 million worldwide.

Amazingly, Fanshier also has a son, Erik, who was born on Leap Day in 1980.

What are the odds of that?“I looked it up once,” the

elder Fanshier said of a father and son both being born on Leap Day. “It was like 170-some-thousand to 1.”

That means Erik turns 32 years old today, even if he’s only officially marking birth-day No. 8.

Father and son like to get together to celebrate the anniversaries of their birth, especially when a Leap Year rolls around.

“We get together,” Fanshier said. “We have pizza and stuff. We go to the Cloverleaf (Tavern Restaurant & Bar) in Tacoma.”

Neither he nor his son has any problems getting any beer they order.

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Leap: Rare birthday source of humor, fun

RAGS WEARABLE ART SHOW

The RAGS wearable art show will be open and free to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 9-10, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 11 at Larson’s Merced0es-Benz of Tacoma, 1701 Alexander Ave. E. in Fife, just off Interstate 5. For more information, call 253-272-4181 or visit www.ragswearableart.org.

A gala preview will kick off the event from 6 to 9 p.m. March 8. It will feature an evening of fashion, hors d’oeuvres and wine, and a preview of the wearable art. Tickets are $70 per person.


Christine Lutschg, a Gig Harbor artist, will be one of the featured artists at the RAGS wearable art sale. Proceeds benefit the YWCA’s domestic violence prevention efforts.


A heavily damaged kitchen at an abandoned Gig Harbor home has been brought to the attention of Pierce County officials.

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Homes: Citizens can report nuisances

Gateway photos/Susan Schell

First mate Clara Hard checks the position of the morning sun.

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Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part story. Next week, learn about how the Adventuress gives a special gift to a grieving family.


A black-and-white photo-graph on the cabin wall of the Adventuress shows a row of serious-looking

men standing on the deck of a ship. They navigated the seas, hauled up the sails and searched for that ever-precious wind that would propel them on to new lands and unex-plored mysteries.

When they weren’t sailing, they washed dishes, swept the bunks and mopped the decks.

Nearly 100 years later, the Ad-venturess is traversing Puget Sound with a new crew. People on their hands and knees are still scrub-bing her decks, but they aren’t paid for their labor. Instead, they have paid good money to step onto this schooner and become immersed in the lifestyles of early 20th century sailors.

There’s a palpable value in be-ing able to leave the modern world behind for just a little while, to completely step out of life’s com-fort zone and become immersed in something new — away from traffic, buildings, computers and fluorescent lights.

The 133-foot, gaff-rigged schoo-ner was built in 1913 for a wealthy businessman named John Borden, who planned to sail the arctic wa-ters to hunt Bowhead whales.

One of his shipmates, a natural-ist named Roy Chapman Andrews, allegedly is the inspiration behind the fictional character, Indiana Jones.

The Adventuress now lives the life of a research vessel that hosts environmental education pro-grams and sailing adventures, like the three-day “Getaway for Grown-ups” out of San Juan Island’s Friday Harbor. The voyage isn’t about gambling casinos, nail salons or gourmet meals.

“For a lot of folks, it’s a three-day break,” crew member Amy Kovacs said. “A lot of the volunteers have been on the adult getaway. Some of them come with a partner that’s been on the ship before who wanted to share that experience with someone they love. Once they come on board, they fall in love the boat.”

The voyage is a mixture of sail-ing, camping and youth hostel-ing. The ship’s cook serves meals, passengers take turns washing

the dishes, and everyone sleeps in dorm-style bunk beds. They help raise, lower and furl the sails — not an easy job, considering the main-sail is about the same weight as a Volkswagen.

If one can muster up the courage and beat a fear of heights, they can climb up the rigging or take hold of the oars in the ship’s dinghy.

The people who sail on this voy-age are looking for something dif-ferent. They’re adventurers at heart who want to add a new chapter to their repertoire of life experiences.

Julie McCowan climbed the rig-ging for the first time Saturday, at-tached to a safety harness.

“I’ve been on this ship before but never thought there was an op-portunity to do this,” she said. “The vessel is home, but it’s the commu-nity that counts.

“It’s very emotional,” she said. “I expected it to be fun, but it was

a lot more powerful. It makes me wonder why I took so long to do this.”

Most of the people on last weekend’s voyagers had been on it before. Many volunteers previ-ously had sailed on the ship as pas-sengers and found the experience so profound that they returned as crew members.

Volunteer Dan Adams said peo-ple who take the voyage become friends quickly. Kovacs agreed.

“You’d never think 25 people would get along in this tight space,” she said. “But you’re on the water, and you’re working hard. You’re experiencing wildlife and recon-necting and wanting to be a part of changing things.”

While most passengers took the three-day voyage for different rea-sons, many of them simply wanted to purge themselves of the prob-lems of land life.

Laura Barclay originally boarded the Adventuress, hoping it would help her deal with the loss of a best friend.

“I didn’t want to take a big cruise,” she said. “I needed to re-move myself from the environment I was in. I was in so much pain and grief.”

Barclay was surprised at the amount of physical work that sail-ing the vessel takes, but it turned out that muscling the lines was just what she needed.

“I thought you would just push a button, and the sails would go up,” she said.

There’s something about the magnificent wooden schooner under full sail that seems to bring out a sense of awe in people. Pas-sengers in private boats and aboard

the giant state ferries line the rail-ings and wave exuberantly like little children. Seaplanes that fly over-head take an extra loop in the sky above the ship.

The Adventuress’ beauty and el-egance commands attention when she drifts into port. Conversations at waterfront restaurants stop, and faces peer at her through the win-dows as she docks.

Overcome by curiosity, people gather at the dock when she’s at anchor and question the crew, who are all too happy to talk about their floating temporary home.

September choices loom ahead on Key Peninsula

There’s one week left in Au-gust, our “official” end of summer.

Students and parents scramble to get ready for school — new clothes and supplies, adjust-ing time schedules for bedtime, locating equipment set aside for months.

This is a time of excited anticipa-tion for some and feelings of unease for others. A time for end-of-sum-mer picnics, trips, social events and, of course, shopping.

New choices appear when the calendar is flipped. Perhaps even more so than January, Septem-ber offers more opportunities for change.

September always has been the time for me to make resolutions and re-set goals because it’s my birthday month, and most of my life re-started this month — as a student, teacher, parent and a teacher’s wife.

What do I need to focus on this year? What changes have been made this past year?

It’s a time for soul-searching and consideration of commitments.

Each time we add something new in our lives, we often have to either take something away or at least reduce the time spent on it. That’s where hard choices are sometimes needed.

“But I love everything I do, and I really want to add this ... ”

Life is full of such challenges. Some people brush aside decisions and say it will all work out. Others ponder the alternatives with lists of pros and cons, seek advice and fret over the appropriateness of their priorities.

We’d love to be able to do it all — read all the new books, see all the new shows, attend every event we’re invited to, travel to new places around the globe, sign up to volun-teer for all the worthy causes and continue our commitments to fam-ily and work.

September offers new choices again — volunteering at schools, with scouts or other youth groups, Angel Guild or SAVE Thrift store, the food bank or other charitable services.

For students, decisions include in-school and after-school activities — sports, music, art, drama, com-munity service, jobs and how much to study to get the grades they want.

Kids today have many more op-tions than my generation. Do they allow themselves time to dream as well as to have fun?

Adults also have more options than those in previous generations.

As the price of gas creeps up, we choose between going and staying put, making one essential trip in-clude little side trips to avoid more mileage, perhaps walking or bicy-cling to a nearby event.

Do we tend to choose happen-ings closer to home or spend an hour or so driving?

The current economy forces us to consider where we spend or save our money, to pay off or to sit tight, to take that trip of a lifetime or to save funds in case of possible finan-cial disaster.

One of our personal new choices this year is to participate in both Gospel Jam Sessions at Lakebay and Longbranch Community Churches — Lakebay on first Sundays at 12:30 p.m., and Longbranch on third Sun-days at 6:30 p.m.

Another choice is to renew our membership in the Key Singers who begin fall rehearsals at 7 p.m. Sept. 20 at the Key Peninsula Lutheran Church.

We make choices based on our interests, abilities, values, needs and experience. Some of those change over time, and others stay for a lifetime.

Sometimes we decide on a whim, or strong encouragement from a friend or relative, and add the out-come to our information base for future reference.

As Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, “The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.”

Out Our Way columnist Colleen Slater writes a monthly column for the Neighbors page. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

OUT OUR WAY6

Colleen Slater

The Adventuress’ dinghy, the “A-Ya-Shee,” takes passengers for a row through the waters near San Juan Island.

Passengers have a chance to climb all the way to the top of the ship’s rigging. The reward is a stunning view.

The Adventuress’ bright orange life ring.

Crew members Amy Kovacs, left, and Emilee Monson are right at home on the Adventuress’ bowsprit.

Passenger Carl Christianson tries his hand at a “palming” technique of tying a line.

The crew aboard the Adventuress’ three-day “Getaway for Grownups” tour last weekend had excellent weather in the San Juan channel.

Following the footsteps of Indiana JonesWeekend warriors mimic lives of tall ship sailors


Mark Aberle couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the majestic schooner bobbing in

the waves in front of his parents’ home on the northeast shore of San Juan Island. On Aug. 19, the family was dealing with the loss of Mark’s father, Dr. John Aberle, who sud-denly died that Wednesday.

The appearance of the Adventur-ess in such a time had incredible significance for the family.

“Never in 50 years has a boat anchored out in front for the night that any one of us can recollect,” Aberle said. “Two days after my father passed, the Adventuress anchored out in front. Dad had a great love of wooden boats. He ap-preciated schooners in general, and Adventuress in particular.”

Mark had sailed aboard Adven-turess when he was young. On Sat-urday morning, he jumped in his kayak and paddled out to talk to the captain, Daniel Evans.

“When I told him of my father,

he offered his condolences, but I suspect it also got him thinking,” Aberle said.

The ringing of the bell eight times signifies the end of a watch aboard a ship, he explained.

“Dad’s watch over his family was complete, and in keeping with tradition, we were getting ready for our ceremony later in the af-ternoon,” he said. “As mom was cutting flowers, we all heard the unmistakable ringing of a ship’s bell. Adventuress rang eight (times), with the crew lined up on her rail.

“It was a moving gesture, which we deeply appreciated.”

Amy Kovacs, a crew member aboard the tall ship, said the Ad-venturess often is referred to as “the magic boat.” Aside from the special experience it brought to the Aberle family, the passengers aboard for the three-day “Getaway for Grown-ups” felt that magic Aug. 19-21.

Perfect weather complemented the voyage. Whale-watching fleets reported three pods of Orcas in the area, feeding in the waters around the San Juans. The J, K and L pods were identified as they traveled north on Friday.

Crews hoped they would turn around and stay in the area. They did.

Saturday was a whale watcher’s paradise as the Orcas cavorted in the sun. The Adventuress cut her engine and the air grew silent while the sound of spouting blowholes accompanied fleeting images of sleek black dorsal fins slicing the surface.

At meal times, the ship’s pas-sengers chatted with one another as they enjoyed a constant water-front view and resplendent sunsets sprinkled with clouds brushed onto the horizon by nature’s artistic hand.

But it’s those who wandered the deck after dark who fully embraced the feeling of solitude and beauty of sleeping on the ocean. The Ad-venturess has lights out at 10 p.m., and the atmosphere falls under a blanket of hush.

Far away from city light pollu-tion, the sheer number of stars is breathtaking, climbing down from the sky to touch the sea. Every so often, a shooting star streaks across the heavens.

What at first seems like the glow of a distant town over the moun-tains reveals itself as a huge slice of orange moon that rises to cast a sparkling amber streak on the water. Just out of sight, a sea lion bellows and slaps about.

Crew members on night watch and other passengers are on deck, too — people-shaped patches of night drifting by in the darkness.

They talk in excited whispers, pointing at their favorite constella-tions with a green laser pen.

A crew member lowers a light bulb into the water, casting a bright shock of light into the soupy field of plankton. Fish dart away from the sudden intrusion, then

drift back, curiously drawn to their newfound piece of daylight.

These are the moments that pas-sengers aboard the Adventuress will take with them when they step back on land and into their day-to-day lives.

“I hope these moments get stuck in you and fill the pockets of your soul,” Kovaks said at the end of the voyage.

The Adventuress will visit the area Oct. 3-8 with a public sail in Gig Harbor from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 8. There is an opportunity for school groups to reserve a three-hour “Sound studies” education voyage. For more information, call Megan Addison at 360-379-0438, email [email protected] or visit www.soundexp.org.

Reach Lifestyles Coordinator and reporter Susan Schell at 253-853-9240 or by email at [email protected].

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Adventuress continues to spread her magic

Gateway photo/Susan Schell

Crew members Rosemary Lyons and Colin Horton secure the lines.

Tall ship helps family deal with sorrow; others experience joy

Editor’s note: This is part two of a two-part story. Last week, we introduced the tall ship Adventuress during a three-day sail around San Juan Island.


Passengers Alaina Hahn, left, and Diane Crawford enjoy the morning with good conversation and coffee. Hahn took the trip with her mother, Cindy Hahn, for a “mother-daughter experience.”


Cindy Hahn washes up before dinner aboard the Adventuress.


An Orca surfaces while cameras snap away aboard the Adventuress.


Crew member Jing Zhong gives the line a mighty tug.

Photo courtesy of Mark Aberle

The Adventuress is captured at sunset near San Juan Island.


A giant, menacing Great White shark will make an ap-pearance at Donkey Creek Park next week.

On screen, that is.Bruce and the gang of “Jaws”

will be featured as the Cinema Gig Outdoors movie at the park. The night of free film and fun also will be an opportunity to meet with Hank Searls, the author of the books “Jaws 2” and “Jaws the Revenge.”

Searls, who lives in Gig Har-bor, was in Hollywood in the

midst of all the rage that was caused by the chilling novel of a Great White shark that terror-ized a fictional resort island.

At the time, Searls was of-fered a deal from which he couldn’t walk away. He’d had several books produced by Putnam Publishing when pub-lisher Walter Minton called him to ask if he wanted to write a novel based on a screenplay for “Jaws 2” that already had been written in anticipation of the second movie.

At first, Searls was puzzled

as to why the offer wasn’t being extended to Peter Benchley, who wrote the first, immensely popular novel, “Jaws.”

“I didn’t know Peter Bench-ley,” Searls said. “All I did was call him and said that Walter Minton at Putnam asked me to write it, and why didn’t he want to? He said, ‘I don’t want to write any more Jaws books.’”

So Searl started to write.“The advance was enor-

mous,” he said.

JEANINE STEWARTof the Gateway

The public message was unanimous Thursday night — no big box stores in the zone situated west of state Route 16, across Olympic Drive from QFC and Safeway. Before a sea of over 50 attendees, resi-dent after resident expressed concern that 100,000 square foot retail stores would erode Gig Harbor’s character, but the commission didn’t indicate what it would recommend to the full city council.

“I don’t want more large commercial development in Gig Harbor,” Tides Tavern

owner Peter Stanley said. “It influences the feel of our city when you drive down the freeway.”

Planning commission

members voted to postpone their recommendation on whether to increase the retail building size limitation in the C-1 zone from 65,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet after Senior Planner Jennifer Kester informed the commission they had several written comments yet to review.

Mix in the city’s concerns

about economic growth and residents’ calls for preservation of character, and the debate gets heated. After the meet-ing, comments from planning

commissioners raised different points than those who spoke publicly.

“Certainly, the thing that I think it brings is a new element

of competition to the commu-nity,” said Planning Commis-sion Chair Harris Atkins, who added that a strong anchor tenant could mean increased

sales tax revenue.The current retail building

size limitation would prohibit

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The Gig Harbor Planning Commission faces the question of whether to increase the retail build-ing size limitation in the C-1 zone from 65,000 square feet to 100,000 square feet. In the coming weeks, it will make a recommendation to the city council, which will make a final decision after it holds another public hearing.

Residents say ‘no’ to building size increase

“We just want to get the 65,000 increased

to 100,000 square feet so that we can

attract a quality retailer in a quality

retail climate.”RANDY BOSS

Real Estate Broker

Planning Commission continues review before it recommends option to council

Please see Big box, 3A

Gateway photo/Lee Giles III

GIG HARBOR CRUISERSDale Schultz and George Flaherty stand in front of their classic Chevy Corvette sports cars last week at the Gig Harbor Civic Center. They will be among many other car enthusiasts Aug. 6 at the annual Gig Harbor Cruisers Car Show at the Uptown Gig Harbor Shopping Center. Schultz’s car is a 1962 yellow Chevy Corvette, and Flaherty’s is a red 1964 Corvette. For the complete story, turn to page 17A.

Full daylighting of Donkey Creek possible after allContractor offers another option at half the cost


A full Donkey Creek day-lighting project may happen after all.

Wade Perrow, owner of Wade Perrow Construction, LLC, presented new plans for the project to the Gig Harbor City Council on Monday, sug-gesting he could construct a bridge over the stream that runs underneath North Har-borview Drive for $600,000, nearly half the city’s estimate of $1.1 million.

“Let’s not look at the obsta-cles; let’s look at the opportu-nities,” Perrow said to council.

As a result, the city council postponed its decision on the

Donkey Creek roadway im-provements project.

Perrow’s entire proposal, which would fully daylight the creek, connect the park to Gig Harbor Bay and improve the surrounding roadways, would cost less than $2 million.

“It is a complex issue; we have a chance to do it right,” city council member Steve Ekberg said. “This is the only plan that we have seen that has anything to do with con-nectivity. The other plan does not really do that.”

An extension of one of the city’s grants for the project also was presented during Mon-day night’s meeting, allowing council members more time to make their decision.

Although more time to study the proposal means pay-ing more in consultation fees, a concern raised by council

Photo courtesy of Hank Searls

Author and screenwriter Hank Searls poses with “Bruce,” an animatronic replica of a Great White shark that terrorizes fictional Amity Island in the movie “Jaws.”

Author to appear at ‘Jaws’ movie in park

Please see Donkey, 15A

Please see Movie, 15A

PERFECT SEASON!GIG HARBOR ALL-STARS WIN STATE TITLE/1B

member Jim Franich.Mayor Chuck Hunter said

additional consultant costs are a concern, but he added: “If we’re on the wrong road, I don’t want to continue down that road.”

Several council members said Perrow’s numbers seemed too far from the city engineer-ing department’s estimates to be correct, but they also said they were willing to speak more about Perrow’s project. Perrow said he has designed several similar bridges during his career.

“The only problem is the numbers, but I, for one, would like to take time to evaluate these numbers,” Ekberg said.

Searls completed the novel and then wrote “Jaws the Revenge,” also based on a screenplay.

“Jaws 2 was so success-ful, they asked for a sequel,” Searls said. “Then I got tired of it. Those were the only books I ever wrote from screenplays.”

Both books brought a tre-mendous outpouring of fan mail, Searls said.

“There were so many let-ters,” said his wife, Bunny Searls. “But he answered every single one of them by hand.”

A true lover of the sea, Searls’ books often reflected his passion. He wrote other best-sellers like “Overboard” and “Sounding,” a book about a Russian submarine and a Sperm whale. He considers the latter the best book he ever wrote.

“It’s my Moby Dick,” he said.

Searls started to SCUBA dive when he was in the U.S. Navy, and continued to dive throughout his life with his wife in areas like Tahiti and New Zealand.

“I did a lot of diving for food and for general interest,” he

said. “I was into SCUBA diving when people were just getting started. In the Philippines, I went hard-hat diving with the Navy.”

Throughout the years, Searls became interested in sharks, as Benchley had, but particularly in cetaceans. He and his wife swam with whales and dolphins with Dr. John Lilly when Lilly con-ducted studies on interspe-cies communication.

“I’m no naturalist; I just did research for my books,” Searls said. “In that research, I got to know Dr. Lilly. He was running the institute to teach

whales to communicate with humans audibly.”

Searls fondly remembers working with the Kennedy family while he wrote a book about Joe Kennedy’s oldest son, Joseph Kennedy Jr., a Navy pilot who “blew up over the coast of England,” Searls said.

“He probably would have been president if he had lived,” Searls said.

The cause of the explosion during a very advanced mis-sion remains a mystery, Searls said.

While he wrote the book, “Young Joe: The Forgotten

Kennedy,” Searls met mem-bers of the Kennedy clan, including Rose, Ethel, Robert and Ted.

“I got to know the Kennedy family through my research,” he said. “They were most anxious to see their oldest brother eulogized. The aver-age American never heard of Joe Kennedy (Jr.), but he was groomed to be president from day one, just like his broth-ers.”

Reach Lifestyles Coordinator and reporter Susan Schell at 253-853-9240 or by email at [email protected].

from page 1A

Donkey: Studies, talk to continue

f rom page 1A

Movie: It’s not safe to go back in the water

news briefs

Peninsula School District board passes budget

The Peninsula School Dis-trict Board of Directors passed its 2011-12 budget Thursday night.

The general fund expendi-tures total $83.25 million, with $79.99 million in revenues ex-pected.

To make up for budget a shortfall, the district dipped into its reserve fund for $3.37 million, leaving the fund with $4 million.

The reserve fund remains just within goal range, at 3.97 percent of the overall budget. The PSD’s goal for the fund is between 4 and 6 percent of the overall budget.

In order to meet its trans-portation needs, $102,715 was transferred from the general fund to the transportation ve-hicle fund.

The capital projects fund will begin at $5.95 million, with $3.35 of that designated as expenditures, such as en-ergy-efficiency projects, a new facility for the community transition program and a pos-sible school site purchase, if one becomes available.

School district raises debt service fund

The Peninsula School Dis-trict Board of Directors raised the debt-service fund with the end goal of saving taxpayers money. The goal is to be able to reissue the bond that voters passed in 2003, which will be paid off by 2015.

“It’s like refinancing your house,” PSD Deputy Superin-tendent Chuck Cuzzetto said.

Interest rates were not quite low enough as of last Thurs-day’s meeting, but they are close and could drop soon, Cuzzetto said.

“The minute that they do, we are in a position to take advantage of it,” PSD Finance Director Karen Andersen said. “We’ve built a budget where we can go forward with it, re-gardless of when it happens.”

Attorney General Rob McKenna to speak in Gig Harbor July 30

State Attorney General Rob McKenna, the 2012 republi-can candidate for governor, is scheduled to speak at Sehmel Homestead Park on July 30.

The Gig Harbor Republi-can Women and Gig Harbor Republican Club will host the potluck event. The clubs re-quest attendees to bring pies to auction off as a fundraiser for county and state republi-can candidates.

For the potluck, food is re-quested in correspondence with last names.

A-D: Appetizer;E-H: Salad dish;I-L: Vegetable dishM-P: Meat dishQ-Z: BeverageThe event will be from 2 to 4

p.m. at the Sehmel Homestead Park pavilion, 10123 78th Ave. NW in Gig Harbor.

RSVP to Linda Siegel at 253-549-7311 or email [email protected].

Volunteer Park to feature ‘Twilight’ movies July 30

A double feature of the “Twi-light” movies will be shown at 8 p.m. July 30 at Volunteer Park, 5514 Key Peninsula Highway N. in Lakebay.

The event is sponsored by Peninsula Light Co. Cost is $2 per person.

A Twilight trivia game will preceed the movie, which will begin at dusk.

Credit union, media honor pair with Teacher of the Week awards

This is an awarding Kids’ Corner. Really!

Weeks ago, an office manager at

Key Peninsula Middle School told me that PE teacher Steve Elligsen had won the pres-tigious Teacher of the Week award from the Washington State Employees’ Credit Union.

Moments later, I was at the school gym, where Elligsen was surrounded by a swarm of admiring kids, all of whom wanted to be in a group photo with their hero.

What was I to do? Remem-ber that line from a South Pacific song, “You know darn well!”

Turns out that the Elligsen was one of 24 teachers who had been selected statewide, and he received a $500 grant to use in the classroom cour-tesy of WSECU, as well as tickets to a Seattle Mariners

baseball game.That’s pretty impressive.

But what was really impres-sive to me was the look on Elligsen’s face as his students swarmed all over him, voic-ing their appreciation of what he’s been doing for them during the school year.

STAR/KOMO AWARD

At Discovery Elementary, there was another award. This one went to kindergar-ten teacher Donna Smith, who was honored with the STAR 101.5/KOMO-4 TV News Teacher of the Week award. Both KOMO TV and the radio station presented the award to Smith.

The whole affair was sub-rosa. When we all trooped in to Smith’s classroom, she wondered who we were and just what we were up to. A

very surprised woman!Some weeks prior to the

event, Melissa Lichau wrote to STAR and KOMO about how Smith had touched their lives.

“I entitled my story, ‘A Mil-lion Hugs,’ ” Lichau wrote. “It always amazes me how many kids start their morn-ing by coming in and giving Mrs. Smith a warm hello and a hug. Kids from every grade do this each morning.

“As a parent and fellow educator, I believe children are the toughest critics of teachers. How they respond to Mrs. Smith really speaks to who she is: a caring, re-spected and beloved teacher. I have worked with her this year as room parent; it’s in-spiring that the majority of the 25 kids are reading.”

Don’t forget, these are kin-dergartners!

Lichau said Smith has “transformed my son Devin, who dreaded school and teachers, into a confident child who loves school and his teacher.”

Devin Lichau said Smith is nice.

“She has a snake, a turtle

and fish in her classroom,” he said. “I love it when she reads Magic Treehouse stories to us.”

Brandon Christler said: “She made it easy for me on my first day when we moved here a couple of months ago. She moved a lot when she was a kid and knew how hard it was to change schools. She made me feel welcomed.”

Kaleb Dalbec said he likes Smith because she has ani-mals in her classroom.

“I can’t forget to mention the candy,” Sofia Verratti said.

“Sometimes she lets us have a quick extra recess,” Kameron Wanner added.

Luke Benoit feels Smith

“makes school fun and not boring. She is calm and makes you want to learn.”

“I like her because she is always kind to us, and that lady is full of surprises!” Iza-bell Thompson said.

To Vitaly Abernathy, “she does good things.”

And Lindsey Muske said, “she is funny and kind.”

Smith is one of 24 teach-ers in western Washington who will be considered for Teacher of the Year. And she was on KOMO TV that eve-ning.

Hugh McMillan is a long-time freelance writer for The Peninsula Gateway.


The numbers are in, and Peninsula Education Associa-tion President Jim Falcocchio is stressed.

This year’s Peninsula School District budget includes cuts of 1.9 percent to salaries for teachers and other educa-tional employees, 3 percent salary cuts for administrators and the loss of 11 teaching positions.

The cuts originated with the state Legislature’s slashing in K-12 education this year, Falcocchio said.

“It affects morale, it affects that there are fewer teachers and more workload for the existing teachers,” said Fal-cocchio, who recently was elected to represent all cer-tificated teachers, along with school district employees from counselors to psycholo-gists.

Falcocchio added that he and the teachers he repre-sents do not harbor any ill will toward the school district, which received 11.6 percent

less revenue from the state this year, according to state Sen. Derek Kilmer.

“The Legislature is the one making poor choices,” Falcoc-chio said, adding that at least 10 teachers have resigned this year because of the cuts.

But decisions were not en-tirely by choice at the state level, either. The state faced a $5.1 billion shortfall for the 2011-12 biennium.

Had the state chosen to close all correctional facili-ties, public universities and environmental protection agencies, the state still would not have balanced its budget, Kilmer said.

“There was an attempt to mitigate cuts to education,” said Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor. “It’s hard to imagine, but there were proposals that could’ve made things even worse.”

Gov. Chris Gregoire’s origi-nal budget included substan-tial cuts to support for prop-erty-poor school districts, cuts to funding for gifted pro-grams and full-day kindergar-ten, Kilmer said.

Higher education took an

18 percent cut in funding this year, and that wasn’t the only area to receive more cuts than K-12 education. Low-income health care received a 13 per-cent reduction, Kilmer said.

Kilmer, whose parents were both teachers, said the cuts to education were the hardest he had to make.

State Rep. Jan Angel said she fought for K-12 funding when she opposed the $42.3 million in cuts from K-4 class-size reduction. She also sup-ported five bills to alleviate pressure on ailing districts; all but one failed.

The cuts to education are proof that the state needs to look at new ways to fund education, state Rep. Larry Seaquist said. Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, introduced House Bill 1980 this year, legislation which would have closed tax exemptions in order to create more revenue for education. Seaquist plans to push for its passage next year.

But for now, the Peninsula School District will move forward with a budget that means inevitable class-size

increases and problems to solve. Deputy Superintendent Chuck Cuzetto and Finance Director Karen Andersen have been working on the latter.

“We wanted to have the least amount of impact on families possible,” Cuzzetto said.

PSD Superintendent Terry Bouck and Cuzzetto will take salary cuts greater than the rest of the administrative em-ployees, Cuzzetto said.

One large piece of the bud-get puzzle has been on how to decrease teachers’ pay with-out cutting into the 180-day school year, an option that the Legislature did not provide, Andersen said. Instead, the PSD cut two professional de-velopment days and created three half-days. Half-days are scheduled immediately prior to pre-existing holidays -- the day before Thanksgiv-ing break, for instance -- to provide added incentive to leave school once the school day ends, Andersen said.

“The goal is to give them something for what they’re losing,” Andersen said.

Teachers have been ad-mirably willing to accept the cuts, Bouck said.

“The way we bargain is col-laboratively,” said Falcocchio, who has been in discussions about salaries, and other work issues, with school district of-ficials since January.

The failure of the school district’s $78 million bond measure earlier this year also created some challenges for the district. It deferred the purchase of new technol-ogy equipment, delayed the remodel of Gig Harbor High School and delayed the pur-chase of a new heating, ven-tilation and air conditioning system, Cuzzetto said.

Next year, the situation could require the school dis-trict to cut more staff mem-bers in order to complete some roof replacements it is deferring this year, Cuzzetto said.

Falcocchio said the ap-proaching school year is rea-son to celebrate, regardless of bad financial news.

“Right now, we’re look-ing forward to another great year,” he said. “We just want to create the best situation for students and families.”

District reduces teacher salariesEconomy forces cuts; leaders blame state for slashing K-12 funding

Teachers rewarded for work in classroom

Key Peninsula Middle School PE teacher Steve Elligsen received the Washington State Employees Credit Union’s Teacher of the Week award. The surrounding students are, from left to right, front row: Corey Kreis and Armon Weaver, Michael Oney, Caitlyn Parks, Devon Helseth, Murphy Guy, Micca Stahl and Lexy Haug. Back row: William Burke, Hector Medina, Garret Cranford, Haili Crow-Cyr, Joey Cooper, Andrew Dallas, Hunter Minch, Gage Dunham, Makena Nelson, Cadence Michell, Angel Martin, Megan Ward, Breanna Rose, Erica Hanisch and Anna Lee.

Hugh McMillan/ Special to the Gateway

KIDS’ CORNER6

Hugh McMillan

STAR 101.5 reporter Stan Board dis-plays a check for $100 that he awarded Discovery Elementary kindergar-ten teacher Donna Smith.

Hugh McMillan/Special to the Gateway


Beverly Hopper of Gig Harbor was among more than a dozen citizens who visited the Harbor History Museum last Friday to see the World Trade Center steel artifact. “It means a lot to me,” Hopper said. “We have a piece of something that has changed our lives forever.”

NEIGHBORS AROUND TOWN 2A SCHOOLS 11-12A OPINION 15A

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A ceremony was held at the mu-seum Friday with all four firefighters who made the trip to celebrate the move from station headquarters, where the beam had been held since May. The Ground Zero artifact will anchor a memorial that eventu-ally will be erected at Station 51 on Kimball Drive.

Gig Harbor Fire District 5 Lt. Kent Cooper took the cross-country trip along with Rob McCoy, Josh Bis-senas and Ryan Watson.

“It was open to the whole orga-nization, but the four of us did it,” Cooper said.

When the crew looked for a trailer on which to haul the piece back, West Pierce Fire and Rescue came up with one to lend.

The four men drove non-stop to their destination — no comfortable hotel rooms along the way. They all took turns driving.

For the most part, the trip went smoothly, save for some nasty weather.

“There were a lot of tornadoes and weather systems we were up against,” Cooper said. “We hit it right at the peak when all those weather systems were coming through.”

In Montana, the crew was blocked by a tornado.

“A tornado system came through and took out I-90 in front of us and flooded the eastern side (of the state),” Cooper said. “We had to backtrack around and ended up in South Dakota. We went way up north through South Dakota and ended up dropping through Chicago. That was really the only snag we hit.”

The group had technology on its side and was able to avoid serious trouble.

“As we were driving, we had two laptops and iPads,” Cooper said. “We were constantly wired into the Internet.”

When the crew members arrived in New York, they finally stretched out and spent the night in a hotel. But the next day, they were whisked off by the New York Fire Depart-ment, which gave them a hero’s welcome.

“They hooked up with us and gave us a place to park the rig,” Coo-per said. “We stayed at the marine division in the fire station.”

On May 25, the Gig Harbor fire-fighters went to Hangar 17 at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where pieces of the World Trade Center have been kept as evidence for the past 10 years.

“We had a police escort through Brooklyn Naval Yard,” Cooper said. “We picked up the steel from Han-gar 17 and spent some time touring the facility and seeing other artifacts of the WTC.”

The four Gig Harbor men were in good hands with Lt. L.C. Sal, who took them to dinner, then on a tour of Ground Zero.

“They were fantastic hosts,” Coo-per said. “We got to see Fire Station 10 right on Liberty Street. We were doing our best to honor them, and they were honored by what we were doing, so it kept going back and forth.”

On May 26, the NYFD had an-other surprise.

“They were commissioning a new fire boat, ‘The Bravest,’ that was built by Safe Boats out of Port

Orchard, and we got to join in the celebration,” Cooper said. “They heard about our trip, and it all came together at the last minute. We got to tour their first fire boat. It was in-credible. It was a big water show; we were between the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan Island. It was like being a kid in a candy store.”

Later that same day, the men started their journey back to Gig Harbor.

“We returned to the Brooklyn Naval Yard, showered, changed clothes, said goodbye to all the guys and thanked them for their hospi-tality, motored up and drove off,” Cooper said. “It was a whirlwind tour.”

GOING HOMEOn the way back home, the

firefighters stopped in Shanksville, Penn., where a memorial was being constructed in the field where Flight 93 went down during 9/11. The Gig Harbor crew members had kept in touch with the public and docu-mented their tour online.

“When they picked up that we were heading to New York, a lot of people were extremely interested in what we were doing,” Cooper said. “When we stopped to get gas, you could count on spending at least 30 to 45 minutes of sharing with the people. Some people would stop what they were doing and walk right over. People were feeling the steel. It was like that all the way home. It’s exactly what we wanted to do.”

News media and firefight-ers showed up when the crew went through firefighter Ryan Kress’ hometown in Ohio.

Kress was the one who initiated the idea of obtaining the artifact for Gig Harbor, but he was deployed with the National Guard before the trip could be finalized.

GIG HARBOR RESPONSEThe Gig Harbor firefighters were

greeted with a ceremony at fire station headquarters when they returned. But before they went to the station, they took a quick tour through town.

“When we went down Sound-view, there were people waving flags and cheering for us,” Rob McCoy said. “I was not prepared for that. The most striking part of the trip to me is that we traveled 6,298 miles, and it felt like everybody we met, we were connected with.”

McCoy was surprised that, 10 years later, the 9/11 incident still touches people all across the United States.

“We were bringing back a piece of our American history to Gig Harbor to make us aware and closer to it,” he said. “We knew the impact of what we were bring-ing back. It was important for us to capture this in a monument. It wasn’t just about the firefight-ers. They were my neighbors and your neighbors. Just don’t forget the towers existed and people lost their lives that day.”

Harbor History Museum embraces


Gig Harbor Fire District 5 Lt. Kent Cooper attended with the other men who drove to New York and back to bring the World Trade Center artifact back to Washington State.

WORLD TRADE CENTER ARTIFACT

Steel beam will stay at history museum until memorial is built


Four firefighters set out from Gig Harbor to New York last spring. With a trailer in tow on the back of their 5-150 training truck, they traveled across the country in just two days to retrieve a piece of steel

I-beam from the World Trade Center. The beam is now on display at the Harbor History Museum.


A display case at the Harbor History Museum contains many tribute pieces like this 10-year anniversary first responder uniform patch.


The World Trade Center steel arti-fact still has significant meaning to Gig Harbor residents long after the terrorist attack more than 10 years ago. Attendees last Friday were visibly shaken and emotional when they viewed and touched the steel.


Gig Harbor Fire District 5 Assistant Chief Steve Nixon was emotional as he read a prepared statement on his reflections of 9/11 and how it has affected him and fellow fire-fighters.

Documents

Susan Schell 2012