�� �h� penins�la How our village raises a child Reading is FUNdamental! Healthy Eating
Fighting the good fight for your child's health
Project Hope
Meet the youngest volunteers on the Port Townsend Marine Science Center Orca Project!
PLUS Mouth-watering Cioppino A visit with piano legend Paul Creech LIVINGONTHEPENINSULA.COM | SPRING 2013 Supplement to the Sequim Gazette and Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Your journey to beating cancer just got shorter. You don’t have to leave the North Olympic Peninsula to get exceptional cancer care. Located in Sequim, Olympic Medical Cancer Center delivers world-class cancer care close to home. This year, we’re celebrating the anniversary of our 10-year affiliation with Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, which gives our patients full access to the world-renowned therapies developed at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, UW Medicine and Seattle Children’s. If you’re dealing with cancer, Olympic Medical Cancer Center can help. To learn more, visit omcforhope.com or call (360) 683-9895.
Contents
Departments Heart & Soul 12 | Look ... See Spot run!
Pour & Taste 33 | Paradise Restaurant
Arts & Entertainment 10 | A Passion for Piano: Paul Creech 26 | Book Review: “Wilderness”
The Living End 37 | What do children need?
Recreation & Travel 30 | Cowan Ranch Heritage Area
Now & Then 38 | Sequim & Port Townsend in history
In Focus Nurture:
How our village raises a child 6 | Healthy Eating The good fight for your child's health 8 | Car seats Proper installation can save a life
Vol. 9, Number 1 • Living on the Peninsula is a quarterly publication.
14 | Head Start Get ready, get set ... succeed! 16 | Read early, read often Literacy programs on the peninsula
147 W. Washington St., Sequim, WA 98382 © 2013 Sequim Gazette Debi Lahmeyer, General Manager
20 | Hands on Hope Life lessons in science 24 | English Language Learners succeed
Editorial: Patricia Morrison Coate, Editor pcoate@sequimgazette.com Production: Denise Westmoreland, Art Director Cathy Clark, Assistant Art Director Mary Field, Graphic Designer Jay Cline, Staff Photographer Marcus Oden, Production Coordinator
On our cover: Eliza and Chloe Dawson were the youngest volunteers on the Port Townsend Marine Science Center Orca Project. Photograph courtesy of Port Townsend Marine Science Center.
4 LOP Spring 2013
Advertising Sales (360) 683-3311 Kim Hughes, Harmony Liebert, Marcus Oden Holly Erickson, Advertising Coordinator 226 Adams St. Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-385-2900 Fred Obee: fobee@ptleader.com © 2013 Port Townsend Leader
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Healthy Eating
Fighting the good fight for your child's health
Healthy nutrition starts as early as infancy. Sometimes toddlers need to try a food 10 times before they actually accept and enjoy it! Research shows that healthy, active children are more likely to be healthy active adults. So, what can parents do to help children grow up with a positive attitude toward food? As it turns out, there’s a lot. Story by Ashley Miller Wholesome living for families Parents can lead by example to help children of all ages live healthier, more active lives. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, this includes eating five fruits and vegetables, spending two hours or less of screen time, encouraging at least one hour of physical activity and limiting sugar-sweetened drinks each day. Small changes can make big differences. Research shows extensive benefits to children (and adults!) who eat breakfast every day, dine together as a family and limit fast food consumption. Sometimes, all it takes is a little preparation. “We are machines,” explained Vicki Everrett, a registered dietician and certified diabetes educator at Olympic Medical Center. “We have our motors running all the time and need to be fueled at regular intervals.” “If meals aren’t planned, too often you resort to fast food. Which isn’t bad once in awhile but if you’re eating hamburgers and pizza and fried chicken all the time or going to the store when you’re hungry, you end up eating too many calories and usually going over your budget, too.”
6 LOP Spring 2013 In Focus
Goodbye, Clean Plate Club Childhood obesity has reached epidemic levels. Nearly one in every three children in America is overweight or obese. Regardless, recent studies suggest that more than half of Americans are members of what is casually referred to as The Clean Plate Club — eating everything on the plate before being finished. “If you want dessert, you have to eat all of your dinner!” “No TV unless you clean that plate!” “There are starving children in Africa who
Drink up!
only wish they had this food to eat!” We’ve all either heard such threats or tried using them on our own children. Instead of focusing on how clean a child’s plate is at the end of a meal, experts are now advising adults to pay more attention to what is served in the first place. “I’ve seen parents dish up for a child and say, ‘You’re not going to get dessert if you don’t eat all of this,’ but it's adult-sized portions,” Everrett said. “A serving size of cereal is not a bowl full; it’s an 8-ounce cup.”
The preschool years Just as toddlers grow in spurts, their appetites come and go in
Water makes up more than half a child’s body weight and is needed to keep all parts of the body functioning properly. Here are some quick tips when it comes to the importance of H20: • There’s no specific amount of water recommended for children but it’s a good idea to give them water throughout the day, not just when they’re thirsty. • Babies generally don’t need water during the first year of life. • Fruits and veggies also are a good source of water.
• If your child doesn’t like the taste of water, add a bit of lemon or lime for flavor or food coloring for appearance. • Children should drink more when ill, when it’s hot out or when engaged in physical activity.
spurts, too. One day a child may eat two servings and clean his or her plate. The next they might take three bites and claim to be full. In a nutshell, feeding a preschool-age child can be incredibly frustrating. But rest assured, such behavior is perfectly normal and as long as parents and caregivers offer a healthful selection of food, children will get what they need, experts agree. Parents should keep calcium intake under watch. Calcium is needed to develop strong, healthy bones and teeth — critical aspects of good health. Whether it’s through cow’s milk, fortified soy milk or calcium supplements, make sure children are getting enough calcium. Fiber also is important. While children may prefer bland, beige and often starch-filled foods, fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans — all of which provide fiber — should be encouraged. Not only does fiber prevent heart disease and other medical conditions, it helps aid digestion and prevents constipation.
The elementary school years At this point in time, children generally start attending school and aren’t under the constant supervision of parents. More freedom is available in food choices than ever before, especially if they’re eating in the cafeteria — although even children who bring lunches packed from home are known to make trades during lunch hour. Sweets, chips and other snacks might become lunchtime staples. Though the body needs carbohydrates, fats and sodium should be eaten in moderation. Over-consumption can lead to weight gain and other health issues. Encouraging children to select healthy lunch choices is essential.
Preteen and teen years Hello, puberty! It’s no secret that young people need more calories to support the many changes they will experience. Overindulgence in foods with little or no nutritional value and a lot of extra calories is common. But this also is the time in life when many children start to become conscious of their weight and body image. For some, this can lead to eating disorders or other unhealthy behaviors. What can parents do during these difficult years to help children stay healthy? Stay involved, experts agree. Making family dinners a priority at least once or twice a week allows parents to keep an eye on children and be aware of unhealthy changes in eating patterns. Above all, remember: Getting children of any age to eat healthy can feel like a constant battle but it is one well worth fighting for.
Kary Brown, right, never leaves home without her 5-year-old son Brody’s EpiPen in case of a food-related allergic reaction.
A quick rundown on
food allergies
Does your child have repeated cold-like symptoms that last more than a week or two? Does he or she experience recurrent coughing, wheezing, chest tightness or difficulty breathing? What about red, itchy, dry or sometimes scaly rashes that have been categorized as “atopic dermatitis”? Perhaps hives, swelling of the face or extremities, gagging or abdominal pain is common? If you answered “Yes” to any of the above questions, your child may have a food allergy. Each year, millions of Americans have allergic reactions to food. Although most food allergies cause relatively mild and minor symptoms, some can cause severe reactions and may even be life-threatening. The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network reports that an estimated 9 million adults have food allergies and nearly 6 million children. Boys appear to develop food allergies more often than girls and those may be a trigger for other allergic conditions, such as atopic dermatitis and gastrointestinal diseases. Although initial allergies to milk, egg, wheat and soy often disappear during childhood, they appear to be resolving more slowly than in previous decades with many children still allergic beyond 5 years of age. Allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, fish or shellfish typically are lifelong allergies. No cure exists for food allergies. Early recognition, management and avoidance of allergens are the most effective methods of coping. Kary Brown first noticed allergy symptoms in her 5-year-old son Brody when he was only a few months old. “From birth, his skin was always scaly,” she recalled. “I called him my ‘lizard baby.’”
By the time Brody was 9 months old, Brown was forced to stop breastfeeding and try formula because her breast milk was making him sick. He broke out in hives almost immediately from the formula so she had to try a soybased brand. As Brody grew older and began trying new foods, the symptoms worsened. Visiting a pediatric allergy specialist confirmed Brown’s fears. Brody was allergic to milk, eggs, wheat, barley, rye and tree nuts. Five years, multiple doctor appointments and a heaping amount of stress later, Brody has outgrown most of his food allergies but still carries an EpiPen everywhere he goes, just in case, and adheres to a strict gluten- and nut-free diet. Based on her experiences, Brown encourages fellow moms who suspect their little ones might have an allergy to schedule a doctor's appointment. “Get tested as soon as you can,” she said. "As soon as I eliminated everything from his diet he was allergic to, his skin and other symptoms cleared up in three days." To help consumers' reactions associated with food allergies, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires food labels to list all ingredients by their common names. The law requires labels to clearly identify the food source names of all ingredients that are — or contain any protein derived from — the eight most common food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybeans. Anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction, can make a person feel sick in many different ways, including: • Central nervous system: Dizziness, headaches, confusion • Cardiovascular system: Chest pain, weak pulse, dizziness, fainting • Airway: Trouble breathing, chest tightness, itchy throat • Gastrointestinal system: Nausea, stomach pain • Skin: Rash/hives, itching, swelling of the lips and/or tongue If a person is having an allergic reaction, he or she should seek immediate medical attention while someone else calls 9-1-1. For more information about food allergies or anaphylaxis, go online to www.foodallergy.org or www.anaphylaxis101.com.
Photo by Ashley Miller
Spring 2013 LOP 7
Is your child's car seat installed properly? 4 out of 5 parents think so, but only 1 or 2 are usually right Story and photo by Ashley Miller How many times a day do you buckle up your children and drive them to school, swing by the grocery store or run errands in town? It might surprise some people to learn that the No. 1 killer of children ages 1-12 in the U.S. isn’t cancer or some other terrible disease. It's car crashes. Since most of us drive on a daily basis, how can we keep our most precious cargo safe? The best way to protect children in the car, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is to put them in the right seat, at the right time, and use it the right way. With so many car seat types and models, it can
childhood obesity
epidemic Since 1980, childhood obesity rates have tripled. If the current trend continues, more than 86% of adults in the U.S. will be overweight or obese by 2030. How did we get so big so quickly?
1 in 4
CHILDREN DO NOT PARTICIPATE in any free-time physical activity Children spend an AVERAGE of
7.5 hours
A DAY using ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA EACH DAILY HOUR OF TV increases the prevalence of being overweight by
8 LOP Spring 2013 In Focus
2
%
be intimidating to find one that is right for your child. Forward-facing. Rear-facing. Infant carrier. Convertible. Booster. The list seems to go on and on. But purchasing the right car seat that fits your child and using it correctly every time you travel is critical. Not only will you be establishing the foundation for a lifelong habit of seat belt use, you may be saving your child’s life. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises parents to keep toddlers in rearfacing car seats until age Eli, 3 years old, is buckled up in a forward-facing convertible 2 or until they reach the car seat using a 5-point harness system. maximum height and weight for their seat, not the 1-year low, the harness straps not tight enough or mark that so many parents positioned incorrectly, the actual seat not think. It also recommends that children ride secured tightly enough in the vehicle, and in a belt-positioning booster seat in the rear children being “moved up” to the next car seat of the vehicle until they have reached 4 feet 9 too soon. inches tall and are between 8-12 years old. “Every step up in a car seat is a step down Carrie Johnson-Tate, of Sequim, is a certified in safety,” she said. “Rear-facing is safer for car seat technician and mother of three young everybody and certainly for toddlers.” children. She holds regular drop-in car seat You already may have guessed it, she doesn’t safety clinics at community events and offers recommend buying or using used car seats either. free installation assistance and car seat checks “I wouldn’t do it,” she advised. “You don’t by appointment every third Wednesday of the know if it’s been in an accident, checked on month at the Sequim Police Department. an airplane and thrown in with the luggage, “Four out of five parents think they have their dropped, or if the straps have been washed. It’s child’s car seat installed correctly but really only better to get a new one.” one or two of them do,” Johnson-Tate said. Car seat safety should be taken very “An incorrectly installed car seat can seriously. Read the safety reviews and check become a projectile in an accident, be ejected for recalls before purchasing a seat. Read from the car with a child, or move and cause the manual thoroughly to ensure proper a child to hit their head,” she warned. “An installation and use and then keep the booklet improperly harnessed child, a child using a for future reference. poorly fitted car seat, or a child that is placed For more information about car seat safety, forward-facing too early can suffer internal child seat rating and recalls or to register a new damage, or worse, internal decapitation.” seat, go online to www.nhtsa.gov/Safety/CPS. The most common mistakes parents make To schedule an appointment with Carrie when installing a car seat or securing a child Johnson-Tate in Sequim or Port Angeles, call are easily avoided, Johnson-Tate said, and the Sequim Police Department at 683-7227. include: the chest clip being positioned too
Are Taxes Eating Away at Your Hard-Earned Money?
In today’s economy, many people are giving more thought to tax-advantaged strategies as they consider the impact of taxes upon their investments. Tax-advantaged investments are intended to help you retain more of your investment earnings, while lessening your tax obligation. Retirement plans are one of the first vehicles you should consider when strategizing ways to lessen your tax burden. Traditional and Roth IRAs also offer numerous tax-shelter features. Tax-exempt investments can provide income that is typically exempt from federal income tax. State and local tax benefits often apply as well. Capital gains/losses can serve as leveraging tools within your tax-advantaged strategy. Travis can guide you through the complexities of tax-advantaged investing, and help you keep more of your hard-earned money. Contact Travis Berglund
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Spring 2013 LOP 9
piano
A passion for Story and photos by Lela June Stoner
Creech composes at the piano equipped with his clipboard, stack of sharpened pencils and an eraser. He produces three or four completed works in the average week.
In 1988, Paul M. Creech Jr. packed his tuxedo, ended his career as a professional performing pianist and moved to the Olympic Peninsula. For a quarter of a century Creech had toured the Midwest as a soloist, with his duo or his band, The Troopers. His repertoire consisted of piano classics, show tunes embellished with his own arrangements and a few of his original compositions. He was weary of the constant traveling, which provided very little opportunity for family life. After moving to Sequim, he ceased performing and gave his attention to other phases of his passion for the piano. Creech was born and raised on a farm in the Missouri Ozarks. His first exposure to the piano came at age 9. His attachment to the piano was immediate and his affinity for this wonderful new friend was evident by his compulsion for experimenting with new sounds, always playing by ear. An older woman, Shirley Ferguson, spotted his talent and volunteered to be his teacher for free — the right price for a boy with nine siblings. He thrived under her tutelage. By age 15, he expanded his piano ventures to include tuning pianos. These techniques were refined at the Steinway Corporation in St. Louis and as an apprentice to a talented, blind piano tuner. At one time he tuned pianos for the Van Cliburn College. By age 21 he began to tour professionally.
Piano restoration
Creech at work on a circa 1900 Brewster 5-foot grand by Chickering, under a restoration contract to be returned to its home at the Dungeness Schoolhouse.
10 LOP Spring 2013
The intricate workings of grand and upright pianos are a mystery to most. Creech quickly assesses the quality of a piano and works to restore it to its best playing condition. A grand piano consists of an outer wooden case attached to an inner case. It contains a sounding board, usually of Sitka spruce, and an iron frame on which two maple bridges and 200 strings rest for a standard 88 keyboard. This cast-iron base must support the stress of string tensions up to 20 tons. These parts must be disassembled and independently sanded, treated and finished before return to the case.
The piano action consists of parts that enable the felt-covered hammers to strike the strings utilizing thousands of pieces of wood, felt, springs, screws and leather. During restoration all these elements must be removed, refurbished or replaced with adjustments and alignments made to return the piano to condition for playing the rich, sonorous tones pianists and listeners expect from the instrument. As an expert piano technician, Creech brings to this process his wealth of experience as well as his understanding of the history and construction of the pianoforte. As technical support for restoring a specific piano, he refers to the Klepac Chart of string gauge and length found in the Travis Manual for Piano Restoration.
Moving a piano Moving a piano, grand or upright, is not a simple task. It requires knowledge of the heavy weight of the piano (300-700 pounds for a small upright up to 1,000 pounds for a grand); the ability to sense the balance of this asymmetrically shaped structure whose inertia changes subtly with every step or motion; plus the ability to coordinate the actions of two or three people who maneuver the piano to its final destination. Equipment such as a padded piano board, dolly, hoist and case padding may be required. For a grand piano the lid and legs also must be removed. Ideally piano movers prefer to review the site before engineering the move but this is not always possible. When stairs are involved it is often easier and safer for both piano and movers to use a hoist and enter the building through an upper window. Physical fitness is clearly a requirement for any piano mover, thus Creech runs 4-5 miles daily, lifts weights and completes a stretching routine to maintain his personal fitness. For one of his recent moving tasks the piano had to be transported from the front of the Queen of Angels Church in Port Angeles, hoisted more than 15 feet in the air and rotated to a platform constructed to receive the piano and support it during the final slide into position in the church balcony. With the aid of scaffolding, block and tackle and the constructed platform, the actual
move took four men two hours to complete. High praise was given to Creech for his superb engineering of the task.
Tuning the piano Pianos require regular tuning even when they are not played. A new piano should be tuned four times the first year and probably twice yearly thereafter. The temperature and humidity of the home site for the piano and their variable changes with the seasons dictate the importance of tuning to avoid piano revoicing — major adjustment in tuning before final tuning. Consider that concert pianos are tuned before every concert and recording studio pianos may be tuned four times a week. Poor site choices for pianos are basements which tend to be damp and locations near heat sources, i.e., working fireplaces or heat vents. At the time of tuning problems of sticky keys, noisy pedals and unusual squeaks, clicks or buzzing also can be addressed. Creech regularly tunes pianos throughout Jefferson and Clallam counties for churches, music festivals, concert performers and individuals.
Piano teacher Currently Creech has 24 youth and adult students ranging in age from 8-78 years with varied ability from novice to advanced pianist. With children he paces instruction at an appropriate level concentrating on the ABC’s repeating pattern of white and black keys and the fun of music making. With adult novices he stresses the basic formulae of chord formation using music they find interesting. He composes music or duets at the student’s instructional level encouraging each to engage in composing. Recitals tend to be intimidating for any age student, so Creech arranges group rehearsals, using his compositions with five or six students playing together. In addition each student is encouraged to play a piece
he or she currently is practicing — without concern for perfection.
Piano composition Probably the greatest thrill for Creech is composing for the piano on a daily basis. His background in composition was learned at Kansas State College where he studied theory and composition. His more advanced students are introduced to polychords and their role in composition. Although he has composed for orchestra and the ballet, piano is now his primary focus. Rarely does a student appear for a lesson without hearing Creech at work on a new composition. “Come, listen to this,” he encourages, “let's try this duet together.” Every student is encouraged to try composing. One senior adult quipped, “He came to tune my piano and became my composition instructor. He was very patient, encouraging and has the ability to adjust a few notes of my efforts to produce a smoother, more interesting musical flow.” This student is now composing her 19th work.
A community friend Since moving to Sequim, Creech has been a contributing member of the Olympic Peninsula community. His network of piano friends and acquaintances encompasses the far reaches of Clallam and Jefferson counties. He repairs vintage pianos, moves pianos and other large musical instruments, and tunes and adjusts the many parts that compose the piano action. His clients include performers, churches, music festivals and individuals. Anyone who stops by his studio is greeted cheerfully, with a winning smile that brightens even more at an expressed interest in the piano. His knowledge of pianos, piano history, famous pianists and composers enhances any conversation about the piano. The piano truly is Creech’s passion.
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Open 7 days a week! Mon. - Fri. 5am - 9pm • Sat. 8am – 8pm • Sun. 11am - 8pm Spring 2013 LOP 11
HEART&
SOUL
As spring emerges all over the Olympic Peninsula, we are
r u t n o ! p S e e Look ...s By Rev. Pam Douglas-Smith
all called into wonder at the unfolding of new life all around us. From the daffodils breaking free of the winter’s soil to the special green unique to emerging leaves to the adorable fawns walking beside their mothers through the streets of Port Townsend. And for us, life seems to reawaken from the winter’s respite beside the warmth of the fireside and back out into our secret gardens and windswept beaches. New life is always amazing. One needs only gaze into the eyes of newborn infants to see that spark of possibility that accompanied their first breaths — just like the fresh breezes of spring seem to make us pause and breathe more deeply of the air of life. A lifetime ago, I was a neonatal intensive care nurse entrusted with nurturing precious new lives. The memories that touch me deepest to this day are those of the infinite variety of souls that I was blessed to encounter. From that very first entrance into our world, each came with a distinctive personality. Some were stoic, some temperamental, some comical, some thoughtful. Each one an emerging possibility that would evolve into a unique life. In simply holding them, they invited me to experience that. There’s a wonderful passage from Marianne Williamson’s “A Return to Love” that is a perfect reflection for us all this time of year. “When we were born, we were programmed perfectly. We had a natural tendency to focus on love. We were connected to a world much richer than the one we connect to now, a world full of enchantment and a sense of the miraculous … Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we’ve learned here. The spiritual journey is the relinquishment, or unlearning of fear and the acceptance of love back into
open eyes, open minds, open hearts and open arms. This time of year seems to remind us that that “world beyond" lies all around us in every moment of our lives if we can but notice what’s around us and love the wonder of it. The truth of that is found in sacred writings from across the ages, from Gautama Siddhartha’s vision that we are created to "love the whole world as a mother loves her only child" to the master Jesus’ wisdom that “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” When we enter this world we are tiny and helpless. But how quickly we grow and learn, adapting to the world and finding our own place in it. The seeds of what we each can become were there from the beginning and we get to keep blossoming for our entire lives. That stumbling toddler becomes the ballerina … the kid who always drew outside the lines becomes a breakthrough artist … the quiet reader evolves into a teacher who changes lives from within. And the best part is that wherever we each are on that life journey, as George Eliot wrote, “It is never too late to become what you might have been.” You were even gifted with a secret mantra from that first primer in elementary school to guide you on your path. Do you remember the opening passage? It contains four simple words: “Look! See Spot run!” Earth becomes heaven when you simply have the eyes to see the wonder and love all When one goes on an adventure, having rules of the road can help navigate around you in every mothe path. Luckily, most of us were gifted with those very early on as children. ment. It becomes heaven They’re not too complicated, but in the simplicity of their truth we find when you take that next inspiration. Here are some favorites that were captured by Robert Fulgrum in step toward your own his classic “All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”: divinely chosen life path. It becomes heaven when Live a balanced life – learn, think, draw, paint, sing, dance, play you have a joyful experiand work every day. ence or reunite with a When you go out in the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and loved one. It all begins stick together. with remembering to “look.” To slow down Share everything — Play fair — Clean up your own mess. enough to use your Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you — Take a nap every sight, both physical and afternoon. spiritual. And when you look, you can then take Be aware of wonder — Remember the seed in the Styrofoam cup – the all-important next we are all like that. step which is to truly our hearts. Love is the essential existential fact. It is “see.” To give what lies around you depth of meaning our ultimate reality and our purpose on earth. To be as you open to more perceptive awareness and to more consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves creative exploration. and others, is the meaning of life … Love is the intuiAnd so with open eyes, we can encounter the world tive knowledge of our hearts. It’s a ‘world beyond’ that anew. Seeing it with the vision of wonder, surprise and we secretly long for. An ancient memory of this love hopeful anticipation. From the beaches of Rialto to haunts us all of the time, and it beckons us to return.” the lavender fields of Sequim to the Victoria ferry ride And so like for those newborns, we journey forward from Port Angeles to the red caboose hot dog stand in into the experiences Port Townsend, step into the wonders of the peninsula. of our lives. Like them, Remember how excited you became as a child on field we can do so with trip day at school? Do your own mini-field trips in our 12 LOP Spring 2013
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
community rich with activities for the creative soul, the adventuresome spirit and the intrepid traveler. We are entering the season of festivals where music fills the air day and night, the aromas of local cuisine tempt us to try something new and the lingering sunshine invites us to remain outside amid all the fun. We live in the perfect place to redevelop these qualities as the longer days call us out into the world. Being an adult allows us to be creative and visionary in how we do them. Each can find ways to incorporate these in fun ways that enliven their existence. Here are but a few: your life more consciously. Are you 1. Balance focused on one thing too much? Are you finding
yourself taking it all too seriously? The old Scottish proverb reminds us that the angels can fly because they take things so lightly. Lighten up this spring. Go out into the world around you to experience it and others. Have you been doing the same routine or lost connection with people important to you? All around you are interesting new people and places. Go play with them. Generously and lovingly engage your world. What can you do to make the world a better place? Do random acts of kindness. “Go green” to protect our Mother Earth and honor all the creations under Father Sky. Go to outdoor concerts and help pick up afterwards. Rest and replenish! Do you remember to take time every day for TLC? Take a friend to the beach with a bottle of Pacific Northwest wine and a loaf of crusty bread fresh from a local bakery. Sit on your porch with a cup of hot tea, scones and an interesting book. Look around with the eyes of a child and with wonder. Notice the subtle shadings of light as the sun plays across the water. Listen to the harmonious tones of a street musician. Embrace the infinite variety of souls all around you who all chose to be here.
2. 3. 4. 5.
Are you ready for your next adventure? It may be one of exploration of the new or a return to a favorite encounter. You may want to explore with your mind in a new class, with your heart in volunteering, with your body in hiking new trails and with your spirit in just taking time to be truly present in this amazing world. I’ve always loved the famous line from J.R.R. Tolkien, “Not all those who wander are lost.” You’ve got your spiritual travel guideposts so you won’t get lost. May your wanderings bring you joy and peace, and may your inner child come out to play. May you always “Look!” and may you be fascinated by what you “See.” Then do just like Spot and “Run” into life like a child. Reach Rev. Pam Douglas-Smith at pam@celticgypsy.org.
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Spring 2013 LOP 13
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Head Start programs geared to promote school readiness and give children a jumpstart to learning Story and photos by Mary Powell Controlled chaos. Dichotomous concepts, yes, but walk into any preschool classroom and that is exactly what comes to mind. Case in point: At the Early Childhood Resource Center in Sequim, classrooms are alive with the R chatter and activities of excited preschool students. This isn’t your neatly aligned-desk-type classroom. On the contrary, some of the 17 or so youngsters are in one corner of the brightly decorated room listening to their teacher read a story, while another group makes Valentine’s cards and yet another Head Start teacher Monica Gonzalez oversees lunchtime at the center in Sequim. bunch creates sand art in an indoor sandbox. Across the hall, more kiddos line up at the sink Head Start and budget Reinvestment and Recovery Act added more than to wash their hands and then help set tables for increases are a thing of 64,000 slots for Early Head Start and Head Start lunch. the past. Funding allows programs. Sounds fairly typical of most preschool about $10,000 per child enrolled in the programs, not Since 1965, Head Start has served nearly 30 million classrooms today, doesn’t it? And it is, including enough, according to directors. children, growing from an eight-week demonstration for the 47-year-old Head Start program that serves “We do well with what we have to spend, but we project to include full day/year services and many preschool-age children and their families. could use more,” Hoswell maintained. program options. Head Start is now administered by Head Start is a federal program that promotes the Administration for Children and Families in the Beginnings school readiness for children ages birth to 5 from lowDepartment of Health and Human Services. Head In January 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson income families by enhancing their cognitive, social Start serves more than a million children and their declared The War on Poverty in his State of the and emotional development. Head Start programs families each year in urban and rural areas in all 50 Union speech. Shortly thereafter, a panel of experts provide comprehensive services to children and states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the came together to develop a comprehensive child their families, which include health, nutrition and U.S. territories. development program that would help communities social services, in addition to education and cognitive Closer to home meet the needs of disadvantaged preschool children. development services. These services are designed to Part of the government’s thinking was infl uenced The first Head Start program on the peninsula respond to each child and family’s needs. by research on the effects of poverty, as well as on began in 1966 in Forks as a summer program. Another “We are unique in that every child has an individual the impacts of education. Head Start was designed to Head Start classroom opened in Port Townsend learning plan,” explained Deborah Hoswell, Early help break the cycle of poverty, providing preschool and Port Angeles in the early 1970s, and the Early Childhood Services program director. Parents, teachers children of low-income families with a comprehensive Childhood Resource Center in Sequim opened about and staff work together to develop the learning plan program to meet their social, health, nutritional and 10 years ago. specifically for the child, she said. psychological needs. The programs have flourished since opening. “Social skills are the first to be taught,” Hoswell said. In the summers of 1965 and 1966, the Offi ce of “We have an ongoing wait list, which is good and “Getting children ready for kindergarten is the goal Economic Opportunity launched an eight-week Project bad news,” said Vickie Becker, family and community here.” Head Start. In 1969, Head Start was transferred to the partnership coordinator. “We would love to Hoswell, a transplant from Oregon, has been with Office of Child Development in the U.S. Department have funding to serve all who want to Head Start programs for more than 25 years. Four of Health, Education and Welfare. In 1977, Head be part of the months ago, she decided to take the director’s position Start began bilingual and bicultural programs. program.” in Sequim and hasn’t looked back. It’s a big job, indeed, Seven years later, in October 1984, Head Start’s For Head as she oversees programs in Clallam and Jefferson grant budget exceeded $1 billion. By 1998, Start, at counties. Head Start was reauthorized to expand to least 90 Under the auspices of Olympic Community Action full-day and full-year services. percent Programs (OlyCAP), early childhood services, including of Head Start was reorganized again in Head Start, Early Head Start and Early Childhood 2007, with provisions to strengthen the Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP), are offered program’s quality. These included in Forks, Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Quilcene and alignment of Head Start school Sequim. Enrollment is right at 130 Head Start students, readiness goals with state early 48 Early Head Start and 61 in ECEAP. learning standards and higher Head Start and Early Head Start are federally qualifications for the Head Start funded, with a combined $1.5 million annual teaching workforce. budget. Like every other federally funded program, In 2009, the American belt-tightening is a fact of life for At right are Deborah Hoswell, Early Childhood Services Program director, Vickie Becker, Family and Community Partnership coordinator, and Kelli DeBoer, center staff supervisor. 14 LOP Spring 2013 In Focus
HEAD START
enrolled families must be at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level. Priority is given to families at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level. Up to 10 percent of ECEAP and Head Start children can be from families who are above the income limits and are accepted into the program because of special needs of a “crisis diagnosis.” “We are a nonjudgmental program,” Becker said. “Our goal is to get the kids enrolled and give the family support.” Involving parents in their child’s education is as important as the education itself, according to program coordinators. “Parents are the primary educators of their children,” Becker said. “Our goal with our parents is to make sure they can be involved with the classroom and in the community, to give them the skills and experience they need.” To that end, Head Start has a policy council that consists of 51 percent of parents whose children are enrolled. The council makes decisions about all program procedures and policies. Parents may remain on the council for up to two years after their child “graduates” from the program. A former policy council parent is now a school board member in Quilcene, Becker noted. Success stories such as that are abundant. When Alicia Disinski’s twins were 2 years old, she decided to take advantage of the Early Head Start program offered in Sequim. Kayden, her son, and Keylee, her daughter, had what she called the twin syndrome, whereby they had their own language and interacted only with one another. Today, at 5, the two are able to make their own friends, are writing their first and last names and can count to 20, and, most importantly, speak the
same language as other children in the classroom. “It’s exciting to see how much the children are learning, that’s what the whole program is about,” she added. Amber Worman, who on this day was helping out in her son Logan’s classroom, agrees. Because Logan was developmentally delayed, Worman enrolled him in the Head Start program, the first one in Japan where her husband was deployed. When they moved to Sequim, Logan transitioned into the local Head Start and now at 5 years old, is “no longer delayed,” Worman said. Worman is a member of the policy council and is considering staying on the board next year when Logan goes on to kindergarten. “It is a great experience to see how Amber Worman watches while her son, Logan, sifts through the sandbox in much they are striving,” she said of the the Head Start preschool classroom. Worman serves on the policy board at children in the program. the Sequim center. If early childhood education is key to from the peninsula going to Olympia in March.” future success in the classroom, then Head What is most rewarding to Hoswell and the staff, Start and Early Head Start programs are just what the however, is seeing how families change. doctor, or rather, educator, ordered. “We can go back to when they first enrolled and Research shows that children enrolled in Head track how much the program has changed their lives,” Start programs benefit by receiving formal education Hoswell said. before kindergarten. Children taught at an early age That includes the seemingly chaotic classroom usually have improved social skills, better grades and fi lled with kiddos turning pages of picture books, increased attention spans, graduate from high school, creating sand castles, sharing space on reading attend college and have fewer behavioral problems. carpets and enjoying a playground filled with swings Hoswell finds it exciting to watch parents become and slides. advocates of Head Start with the state Legislature. All in a day’s learning for eager 4- and 5-year-olds. “We have a very strong state association and a For more information about Head Start, Early Head lobbyist who works with the state Legislature and in Start or ECEAP, call 360-582-3708. Washington, D.C.,” she said. “There will be a delegate
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Spring 2013 LOP 15
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Childhood Literacy Read Early, Read Often! Story and photos by Kelly McKillip There’s a quiet revolution going on in our community. The warriors are educators, librarians, literacy advocates, parents and concerned citizens. Their method of conquest is books, books and more books, and their goal is to help children achieve a high degree of literacy. The methods used are fueled by research that indicates children who are read to early and consistently by a caring adult are much more likely to succeed in school. I had the privilege to talk to a few local individuals who have dedicated much of their lives to the cause of childhood literacy.
Lifetime literacy at the library Free public libraries remain one of the best resources in the cause of lifetime literacy. All the North Olympic Library System (NOLS) branches have age-appropriate story times and activities for youngsters. The Port Angeles and Sequim locations have programs for babies from newborn to age 2 and their parents or caregivers. Port Angeles Youth Librarian Jennifer Knight says the sessions with the littlest ones employ talking, singing, rhyming, reading and playing to help develop the critical skills of phonetic awareness that promote literacy competency and inspire a desire to read. Jefferson County’s library also has several age-appropriate programs for children from birth through the teenage years. Tuesday toddler and preschool story time and Friday after-school programs for school age children to work on reading and writing skills are ongoing through the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Library. Summer reading programs are offered at most libraries as well.
nine-session course and participants receive a book at each class. Reading is a necessary skill for children to succeed in school and life, but it’s also a lot of fun. Retired kindergarten teacher Carol Kruckeberg was the guest Krista Charters, left, and Tereira Rosa enjoy reading a book together for part of the reader the day I visited reading time in Christine MacDougall-Danielson’s first-grade class at Helen Haller the Monday session of the Elementary School in Sequim. preschooler-geared First United Way Executive Director Jody Moss says the Teacher class. Kruckeberg council was founded by United Way board member began the session by having the children guess Ann Brewer to address the recurring concerns from what was in a tin she was holding. Buttons were local employers that many of their adult employees revealed, a story about buttons read, and then the could not read manuals and other work-related children went on to make a craft with the items. literature. Martin says adults are sometimes Watching young ones who are so eager to learn embarrassed to seek help but will do so when they and Kruckeberg’s expertise at engaging them was are unable to read a job application. Adult tutoring absolutely delightful. The children, as always, were remains an important part of the work, but Moss invited to take a book home. Readers change weekly says the primary focus of the council at this time is and have included such notables as Sequim’s Mayor to get books into the hands of children who would Ken Hays, Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict and not otherwise have them. Rep. Steve Tharinger. First Teacher and the Literacy Council stock First Teacher was one of 50 programs in the U.S. 225 book baskets in restaurants, doctor’s offices, to be nominated for the 2012 Service to Science food banks and other locations in the county. They award from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health also give books to the Olympic Medical Center and Services Administration (SAMSHA). Forks Hospital nurseries, the Lower Elwha Head First Teacher also works in coordination with the Start program, and many local events including the Clallam County Literacy Council to provide books upcoming Sequim Kids Day in early May. and information to the community. Clallam County
The first teacher Cynthia Martin, Ph.D., founded the highly esteemed program First Teacher and is the director of the Parenting Matters Foundation. First Teacher functions as a “toolkit” to support parents and caregivers in the daunting task First Teacher of raising children. In addition founder, Cynthia to being a psychologist, educator Martin, Ph.D., and author, Martin has much assists parents in becoming their personal experience with young children as she and her husband child’s best first have raised eight, including a teacher. number of adopted children, and currently are caring for two grandchildren. Martin says it is critical for any adult who spends time with youngsters to have books around, read to the children and teach them in a loving manner how to pay attention. Home reading has helped one of Martin’s own 11-year-old grandchildren move from the 30th to the 90th percentile at school. To help parents, there are classes available through the Parenting Matters Foundation. It’s a
Emily Sly, North Olympic Library volunteer outreach coordinator, reads and sings to 14-month-old Rosalie and her dad, Ken, and 6-month-old, Jeston, and his mom, Shari, during baby story time at the Sequim branch.
In Focus Spring 2013 LOP 17
must deal with every day. Smith says there are a lot of behavioral issues that have to be addressed with counselors. Some children are stressed from unstable homes. Free lunches as well as shoes and coats for children's programs are in place for those who come to school hungry or without adequate clothing. An after-school program is available for younger ones who don’t have anyone to help with homework. A bus gets them back to their house safely afterward. Additional community support comes from the Sequim Prairie Grange, which provides books to schools. The Rotary Club of Sequim gives more than 300 dictionaries to Sequim fourth-graders annually. Parent Teacher Associations have a huge impact at both schools. Smith says that despite everything the schools do, parental support remains the most critical factor in a child’s literacy.
Jack Sullivan, 2½-years-old, uses the reading wand to describe colors to retired kindergarten teacher Carol Kruckeberg at First Reader story time. So far their combined efforts have resulted in more than 4,000 books given away to children. Martin obtains, somewhat miraculously, large numbers of books for nominal shipping charges from donors, publishers, book distributors and other agencies. Certain books, including ones in Spanish, are bought from Scholastic for $1. Necessities and Temptations owner Edna Peterson of Port Angeles provides storage space for the books with partitions made by members of the United States Coast Guard. Lower Elwha Head Start education manager Rosemary Newday says they work closely with United Way and NOLS. There is a government mandate now for kindergarten readiness to ensure that preschoolers are mentally, emotionally and socially ready to cope when they begin school. Newday says the Literacy Council has given their program huge numbers of books, and per the tribe’s request, has included stories that are culturally appropriate — which has been fabulous for the youngsters. NOLS does parenting education classes and staff training. United Way donates calendars which describe ways to incorporate literacy activities in daily life such as reading signs and counting apples at the grocery store.
A day at elementary school Sitting in on Christine MacDougall-Danielson’s first-grade class at Helen Haller Elementary School during reading time was a great experience. MacDougall-Danielson says the new Common Core standards, which have been adopted by most schools in the nation, emphasize authentic learning. The children are allowed to choose for part of the time to read alone, with a partner, at the computer or in a small group. Later, in a large group, they work out the theme of a story, whether it is fiction or non-fiction, how the author persuaded the reader and then they try their hand at writing. I was a little stunned when the children knew the word “onomatopoeia”. I wonder how many adults know that one? The children are sent home with a book every night to read at least 10 minutes with their parents or another adult. They are asked and it is noted the following morning if they completed the assignment. MacDougall-Danielson has noticed a bump in her students’ reading comprehension with this small but enormously important addition to their homework.
18 LOP Spring 2013 In Focus
After school at Helen Haller, fifth-grade teacher Eric Danielson told me that the new Common Core standards are more rigorous and in depth and are addressing what will be needed for the children to succeed. Beyond mandates however, there is the ever present need to get youngsters to love reading. Find that book or series that captures the child’s imagination and he or she will take flight. Reading out loud, having reading competitions, independent reading time as well as sharing insights and compiling summer reading lists are all helpful. Children love to have a choice. Danielson accompanied one of his own children to a great fiction discussion group for youth at the Sequim Library. He also shared some fascinating statistics about how students from lower-income families arrive at school with much less vocabulary than their peers from higher-income homes. The vocabulary gap continues to increase as the children progress through school, but easily can be closed by parents reading out loud to their children. Danielson also recommends keeping the TV out of children's rooms.
Supporting the teachers Literacy coach Betsy Smith works with teachers and students at Greywolf and Helen Haller Elementary Schools. She has been a first-grade teacher, worked with children who fall below grade level and trains BETSY SMITH tutors and para educators. Literacy and math coaches were put in place because outcomes have shown that it is the teacher, not the curriculum, that has the biggest impact in the classroom. Smith spends most of her day coaching teachers to help them become better teachers. She applauds the higher standards of the Common Core that were set in place by taking a top-down view to see what children would need to succeed as adults. She says children should read books they can understand but also need the challenge of tackling more complex texts without too much scaffolding. This helps the child develop the ability to persevere. The ideal is to have students reading 90 minutes every day in school. Educating is only one of the things that educators
Beyond single-language literacy Local language teacher and certified translator MaryBel Marks is trilingual and has personally seen the effects of early reading in different countries. In her native Venezuela, she says there is access to books, but people MARYBEL MARKS are not encouraged to read and they generally don’t. In Colombia, children have books in the home from infancy and literacy is high. In her experience, the most impressive country for literacy is Belgium, where she lived for eight years when her children were young. Children start school at age 2½. Elementary school students are required to read a lot of books and grow up trilingual. In addition to teaching Spanish and French, Marks has started working with children in Spanishspeaking families to keep them fluent in their native language as well as English. There are many resources in our community to help children grow up to be highly literate adults. To learn more, donate or volunteer, call or e-mail: North Olympic Library System www.nols.org P.A Branch — 360-417-8500 Sequim Branch — 360-683-1161 Forks Branch — 360-374-6402 Clallam Bay Branch — 360-963-2414 Jefferson County Library www.jclibrary.info 360-385-6544 Jamestown S’Klallam Tribal Library www.jamestowntribe.org/ 360-681-4632 Dr. Cynthia Martin First Teacher Parenting Matters Foundation www.firstteacher.org pmf@olypen.com 360-681-2250 Clallam County Literacy Council United Way of Clallam County www.clallamreads.org 360-457-3011 Lower Elwha Tribe www.elwha.org 360-452-8471 To volunteer as an elementary school tutor: Betsy Smith bsmith@sequim.k12.wa.us 360-582-3242. MaryBel Marks www.bilinguafranca.com 830-741-1677
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Chloe Dawson works inside the rib cage of Hope, the orca rearticulated by a group of volunteers for the Marine Science Center. Photo courtesy of the Marine Science Center
Hands on Hope By Allison Arthur
W
hen they were toddlers, Chloe and Eliza Dawson loved to peer into tide pools and build sandcastles on beaches around the Olympic Peninsula. When they were 8 and 10 years old, the Port Townsend girls waded into Chimacum Creek to count salmon for the North Olympic Salmon Coalition. One year later they walked through the doors of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center and discovered more of the wonders of volunteering. It’s a world that has given the two home-schooled girls an opportunity to dissect seagull boli, check for toxins in mussels and assemble a baby seal skeleton, while also exercising their writing, math, science, photography and teamwork skills. By far, the biggest project the two have worked on as young volunteers was
20 LOP Spring 2013 In Focus
articulating – essentially assembling – the skeleton of Hope, a 22-footlong transient orca that beached herself and died in 2002 on the Dungeness Spit. “They were the youngest volunteers by far,” recalls Orca Project manager Libby Palmer, a co-founder of the science center, who sat next to Chloe recently recalling those days, weeks and months in 2011 when the girls came to the center every day to start working with other volunteers on a monumental project to articulate Hope's remains. Hope is now the learning centerpiece of the marine science center. “It is so amazing to see it now, having known what it looked like before. You start with a pile of bones and then it turns into a complete skeleton,” says Chloe, now 14. “It also gives a strong message of what’s happening in the environment,” says Eliza, now 16.
Water and plastic Laurel Dawson, the girls’ mother and mentor, who has a background in science and teaching, says the family, which includes dad Michael and 8-year-old Glen, always has loved the outdoors. After the girls went out on the salmon count, they wanted to get their feet wet and volunteer even more. “The girls were excited and I was excited to do more in the
community,” Laurel says, admitting she initially wasn’t sure if, at 9 and 11 years old, they were too young to start volunteering at the science center. “But Jean Walat (former volunteer coordinator at the center) found many meaningful things for them to do,” Laurel said. So the girls started out by going out on the dock, taking water samples and measuring water quality. Then they became involved in a program to dissect seagull boli – similar to owl pellets – to check for what plastics seagulls might have eaten. Chloe remembers the process well, of picking each bolus apart, measuring it, labeling it. And what she was doing started to have meaning. “After I started doing the boli, I started noticing people walking on the dock, dropping trash in the water and I wanted to say, ‘Hey, wait, that’s not going to go away,’” Chloe says of the impact the project had on her understanding of how the world works. The girls put their knowledge into action as well by writing letters to the editor, urging a ban on plastic bags in Port Townsend. They also signed petitions. Ultimately, the city adopted a ban on plastic bags, which went into effect Nov. 1, 2012.
And then teeth After the boli project came the science center’s whale project. “We would spend every day, all day there for two months straight. We’d wake up, go there and not come back until 6 at night. We were completely immersed in bones,” Eliza recalls. “It was really neat,” chimes in Chloe. Mom Laurel says it was nice to have the girls involved in what amounted to a community project with volunteers of all ages and skills.
Above: Chloe and Eliza Dawson at work on casting orca teeth. Eliza wrote an article on the process which has been included in “The Whale Building Book.” Left: Eliza and Chloe apply silicone to Hope, an orca the girls volunteered to help articulate at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center. Photos courtesy Lee Post and Port Townsend Marine Science Center
In Focus Spring 2013 LOP 21
Then
Chloe Dawson dissects seagull boli at the Marine Science Center, where she has been volunteering since she was 9 years old. She was sorting out what she found to understand what seagulls ingest, including plastics found along the shoreline that they mistake as something edible.
“As I stand back and look, I see Hope in front of me, her graceful curving spine, her strong powerful flippers, her massive boney head and her ribs spanning the vertebrae all suspended from the ceiling. This great creature is once again swimming, beginning a new journey in her life. With many careful hands, Hope has been put back together.” - Eliza Dawson
Palmer agrees that many of the adults who were involved didn’t want to leave at the end of the project. The project actually started with the challenge of casting molds for the whale’s 46 teeth, something Palmer said apparently never had been done before. Even Lee Post, a whale expert from Alaska, never had cast orca teeth. “And we didn’t know anything about making molds. We had to go to a dentist,” Palmer recalls, explaining the adults learned alongside the girls how to cast molds for the fragile teeth. “Each time we did one step in the casting process, I would come home and write it up,” Eliza says. She ended up writing down the entire process and that has been condensed and included in Post’s most recent publication, “The Whale Building Book.” Work of the volunteers, including Eliza and Chloe, has been included in other scientific publications, Palmer said. Eliza wrote about how she felt the day the Hope project ended: “As I stand back and look, I see Hope in front of me, her graceful curving spine, her strong powerful flippers, her massive boney head and her ribs spanning the vertebrae all suspended from the ceiling. “This great creature is once again swimming, beginning a new journey in her life. With many careful hands, Hope has been put back together. But this time in a new form.” “With her majestic skeleton hanging in front of me, she now has a new story to tell,” Eliza wrote of the center’s exhibit on how toxins impact the marine environment. Hope had surprised the scientific community because she was found to have the highest levels of PCBs and DDT ever found in an orca.
Seals and sailing
Now 22 LOP Spring 2013 In Focus
Chloe acting assists during the necropsy of a baby seal, who died for unknown reasons. Photos this page courtesy Dawson family
The girls say they learned so much from articulating Hope that they went on to assemble a baby seal skeleton, which also is on display at the science center. “I had the chance to be a surgical assistant on the necropsy of a baby seal who died for unknown reasons,” Chloe said, adding what she had learned – that people should stay away from baby seals and keep dogs away because if the mother gets scared, she can’t return to feed and care for the baby. It’s not just whales and seals and salmon the girls have been putting together, dissecting and counting. Eliza also took lessons at the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend, then started teaching sailing when she was 12. Both girls have been on the Port Townsend High School sailing team and Eliza sails singlehanded in a Laser. Last year Eliza won a district championship and went on to
Can you hear the quiet?
Eliza Dawson first took lessons at the Northwest Maritime Center, then volunteered to teach sailing and now is a paid sailing instructor. She competed with top sailors in the nation at the ISSA Singlehanded Youth Sailing Championship in 2012. Photo courtesy Dawson family
compete with top sailors in the nation at the ISSA Singlehanded Youth Sailing Championship. She’s now a paid sailing instructor at the maritime center. “We have a perfect place to get out on the water,” says Eliza. “I love the feeling of moving fast in a boat and it’s beautiful, too.” Eliza also has volunteered to pull buoys out on the coast off LaPush with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and she’s mapped eelgrass beds as part of an environmental survey for where to site shellfish farms. Both girls envision their volunteering work and study of the ocean around them will lead to some sort of career in science. Eliza is interested in mapping and the ocean. Chloe worries about plastics and ocean acidification. Chloe remembers those days, when she was younger, when she watched the salmon spawn in Chimacum Creek. Center: Suree Chommuang, Owner and chef, with Rooney Linnane (sister) & Nick Suwan (server) “It’s magical to walk near a stream and hear the sudden splash “Dine with us here at Galare Thai and travel to my hometown of Chiang Mai of salmon and see them return to without ever having to leave the country.” spawn,” says Chloe. “It feels good to Suree Chommuang help a species survive and thrive,” Proprietor and Chef adds Eliza. “We do all this because it’s fun Catering • Parties • Gift Certificates and it’s a great way to learn. It’s also a way to help do our part to 120 West Bell St. • Sequim work toward a cleaner ocean.” 360-683-8069 And perhaps their efforts will Mon.-Sat. • Lunch 11-3 • Dinner 4-9 help keep those tide pools of the www.galarethai.com future clean for children of the future to enjoy.
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Sequim, WA 98382 Spring 2013 LOP 23
English language learners succeeding Story by Chris Cook
S
ons and daughters of migrant, mostly Spanish-speaking, Forks-area families are fulfilling the hopes and dreams of their parents who crossed the border to seek a better life. Washington state migrant education programs run through the Quillayute Valley School District (QVSD) provide a foundation for transitioning students from entering local public schools with no or limited English language skills to various levels of fluency. Such students are termed English Language Learners (ELL) in education lingo.
24 LOP Spring 2013 In Focus
The programs are required by state law. The school district is finding the key to success for the migrant students through a staff dedicated to the task working across grade levels K-12, the solid cooperation of parents of migrant students who are termed English Language Learners and the support of the local Hispanic community, as well as opportunities for the mostly Spanish-speaking students to plug into school life through athletics and student organizations. Diana Reaume, the QVSD superintendent, says the public schools in Forks have found “incredible
support” from the parents of the Spanishspeaking Latino students who hope their children succeed in American society. The parents, like immigrant groups before them across the history of the United States, provide a foundation for their children’s success by sacrifice in their own lives. In Forks this often entails working at laborintensive jobs like picking the salal ground cover found in West End forests and sold wholesale to the national florist industry, by cutting blocks off cedar stumps logged long ago for shake mills, and working in other field jobs. The national and local issue of illegal immigration crackdowns and immigration reform still developing in the political arenas in Washington, D.C., has become a significant factor for the Latino community in Forks. The number of Latino students has dropped over the past several years due to Border Patrol raids and detentions of West End residents who have no legal immigration documentation. A similar dip is being seen in the medical care sector of the West End. Reaume says the schools have seen Latino families with multiple children depart from the West End. Some move to farming areas away from the state’s coasts where the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol presence can be more prevalent due to the danger of terrorist arrivals by sea. Other families depart back home to Mexico after the father of the family is detained and deported and in danger of serious prison time if they return to the U.S. Some head back to the fields of California where the families got their start north of the Mexican border. Anecdotal stories of support from local residents for migrant students who face the breaking up of their family due to deportation reflect the community kindness that’s a wellknown characteristic of Forks residents. One family reportedly drove a middle school-age Mexican youth all the way down the Pacific Coast to the Mexican border to reunite him with his deported father. Reaume said some urban I-5 school districts are faced with educating students from over two dozen different language groups. In Forks the majority of immigrant students are Spanish-speaking. However, the school, the legal system and health care providers sometimes need assistance when a “dialect” speaker seeks service. A study published by the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction covering 2009-2010 breaks down the makeup of migrant students then enrolled in the QVSD. The study found five speakers of Kanjobal (a Mayan language spoken primarily in Guatemala and nearby regions of Mexico; nine speakers of Mam (a Mayan language with almost 480,000 speakers spoken in the Mexican state of Chiapas and in Guatemala; and six speakers of Mixteco (a region which covers parts of the Mexican states of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Puebla). The QVSD demographics also showed 94 Spanish speakers among the students and one Vietnamese speaker. According to state guidelines, the school district has about 10 days to test a new English Language Learner student through a process titled English Language Proficiency Assessment. The state guidelines break the students, who could be enrolled in any grade from K-12, down into four groups based on their Englishspeaking ability: Level 1—Beginning, Level 2—Intermediate, Level 3—Advanced and Level
4—Transitional. “Level 1 indicates minimal or no English language proficiency, while Level 4 indicates a level of English language proficiency sufficient to be instructed,” the guidelines state.
State guidelines require a three-year program for transitional ELL students. The school district receives the same basic education funding per student it receives for the mainstream student body. In addition, school districts across the state receive state funds for the supplemental ELL teaching. Reaume said there is a false perception that funding within the QVSD schools for Spanishspeaking education is draining funds for Englishfirst students. She called that a “myth” and said state and federal funds are allocated above and beyond the school funding received per student each year. The state’s plan has ELL students being taught in their native language 90 percent of the time and in English 10 percent of the time. Gradually they move to a 50-50 split. Their teachers are certified as having bilingual abilities; in Forks that requires being a fluent Spanish language speaker. The involvement of a student’s parents is a key factor in the plan and the long-term educational goal is to have the students be biliterate. Ideally, the student will know English well enough to be able to handle mainstream class work without many language problems. Students from homes where one of the Mexican dialects is spoken face the challenge of being trilingual, speaking the dialect at home and with fellow students who speak the dialect, plus
Assisted Study Sequence Program) is an online advancing in Spanish and English. education program that is accessed through The courses taught also bring the student in Internet-connected computers located within line with the state’s core areas of study such as high schools. Completing the PASS courses can math, language, science and history, which they fulfill the state’s graduation will need to qualify for requirements. A bilingual high school graduation. student finds some of the Making this transition curriculum in English, while to being bilingual speakers most of the core required and learners has been an classes such as algebra, U.S. evolving process over the government, U.S. history and past decades, both in the world geography are now QVSD and in other school also offered in Spanish. The districts across the state. PASS program is linked to the In years past, a study state’s Office of Secondary done by University of Education for Migrant Washington educators Youths (SEMY), which serves showed some schools in middle school and high the state were so lacking school migrant students and in having bilingual staff educators. they used SpanishPerhaps the most public speaking janitors and acknowledgement of the students in bridging the success of educating students language gap for Latino from Spanish-speaking students. families in Forks occurs Adding English regularly during graduation at speaking to their abilities Forks High School. In recent also is opening the door to years students with ties to the citizenship for students, As Forks High School Class of 2012 local Latino community have along with the new wave members toss their graduation caps, class been the class valedictorian. of federal immigration valedictorian Ismael Ramos-Contreras Their speeches, delivered reforms. Currently, gaining gives the keynote student speech. both in perfect English citizenship can be costly Photo by Chris Cook and Spanish, are heard by for migrant families and an audience that seems to include everyone complicated and require re-entry from Mexico for in the close-knit town packed into the annual some students. graduation ceremony held in the Spartan Gym at Online education is now also part of the Forks High School. bilingual education program. PASS (Portable
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT “Wilderness” is a dark portrait of Civil War veteran Abel Truman, an upstate New York man who finds himself in South Carolina when the Civil War breaks out, a situation he resolves by joining the Confederate army. He’s suffering from his own personal demons – his hand in the death of his infant daughter, him
“Wilderness” by Lance Weller, Bloomsbury USA 2012 Review by Chris Cook Western Washington was a magnet for Civil War veterans, some optimistically seeking a new life and opportunity, others running from their inner ghosts to the edge of the continent. Through placing his fictional character Confederate Civil War veteran Abel Truman in a post-Civil War West End setting, author Lance Weller drew my interest in the role of Civil War veterans in settling the West End. Most significant in this group of veterans I found was Luther Ford, the patriarch of the founding family of Forks. A West End anecdote has Fords as the first-chosen place name for the main West End town, with the name rejected after it was found another Fords post office existed in the Washington Territory. Ford served in the Union Army with an Indiana regiment. He gave up a homestead with large acreage in what is today downtown Seattle for a life in the wilds of the Quillayute Valley, coming down the coast from Neah Bay with his young family in a Makah whaling canoe. In a forthcoming book on the life of Forks resident Florence Miles and her Clearwater pioneering Northup family ancestors, several Civil War veterans are mentioned. These include her grandfather Benson Northup Jr., a Union Army veteran who came West, settling in the Houghton area just south of Kirkland on the east shore of Lake Washington. Northup was a founder of the Seattle Post newspaper in the 1870s. In the mid-1890s a depression in Seattle drew him to the coast to settle a homestead in the Clearwater region about 30 miles south of Forks. In a Northup family journal there is a note that another Union Army veteran, as well as a Confederate Army vet, lived at Clearwater in the late 1890s. The veterans diplomatically chose not to discuss the war, it is noted in the family’s Clearwater account.
26 LOP Spring 2013
being rejected by his beloved young wife and her subsequently going insane. In his debut novel, author Lance Weller casts through Truman’s eyes the dark shadow of the slaughter of men from North and South in the Battle of the Wilderness and earlier conflicts that mark him for life. As Truman wanders amid the corpses littering the Virginia countryside following the Wilderness battle, a blinded Union soldier unexpectedly shoots him in his left arm, shattering the limb, crippling him for life and taking his life down another hopeless notch. The post-battle tragedy combined with his loss of friends in graphically detailed combat deaths, and his dead young family, haunt his days and nights. The chapters of “Wilderness” alternate between the downturn in the psyche and body of Truman in his Civil War years, and the end of his trail, which finds a weary, aged Truman some 35 years later in 1899 living out his fate in an isolated driftwood-walled cabin located somewhere along the West End wilderness coast north of La Push. Along with following Truman’s quest to its end, readers familiar with the West End and the wilds of the Olympic foothills and mountains will find the author’s description of local scenes authentic throughout the book. He especially captures well the feel for the Pacific Coast of the West End, its wildness, its moments of beauty both sunlit and dark and gloomy. Outstanding is a scene where Truman attempts to end his life drifting naked in the cold, dark West End ocean waters, only to be washed back up on the beach, seemingly spit out by the wilderness portending that his sad life has yet another chapter. A collared part-wolf dog, benevolent in spirit in guiding Truman in the book’s denouement, is the only remotely possible sign that there’s any “Twilight” connection at all to Wilderness. The frame of Truman's youth and old age is populated with outlaws and alienated people, people with tragic twists to their paths, characters that edge him toward death, and characters that give him hope and care in his desperation. How Truman finds glimmers of redemptions – small and large – along with
deadly conflicts in the early homesteading era of the West End creates mileposts in the story as it builds to its climax in the wild lower slopes of the Olympic Mountains. Weller lives in Gig Harbor with his wife and dogs. The editors of Glimmer Train, the Portlandbased literary journal that features emerging writers, awarded Weller its coveted Short Story Award for new authors and he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A promotional video of Weller viewable on the page for “Wilderness” on amazon.com was filmed mostly at Rialto Beach. Interspersed in the video are glimpses of Ozette petroglyphs that refer back to coastal petroglyphs mentioned in “Wilderness.” A series of hiking and camping trips to Ozette, first taken in his mid-20s with his father and later with his wife and with his buddies, and alone, placed the West End coastal beaches and forests into Weller’s imagination. Following his promising success with his short story, an unexpected and disconcerting attack of Bell’s palsy set back the author’s normal life about 10 years ago, but also provided him the time and perspective needed to begin writing what would become “Wilderness.” With partial drafts of the novel completed, and with the encouragement of his wife, his life working in restaurant management and other get-by jobs ended and he focused on completing the novel several years ago. “I’m going to be professional,” Weller said of his determination to get published. Further along the path he made the important step forward of being picked up by a creditable book agent, a step that many aspiring writers never achieve. Bloomsbury chose “Wilderness” as its lead fall fiction book for 2012 and the book is doing pretty well across the nation, Weller said. Since publication, critical praise for the book continues to grow and foreign editions are now in print in Great Britain and France. Weller is now about two-thirds of the way along on a book set in mid-19th century America. The working title is “American Marchland” and the plot is set in the frontier borderlands between the established eastern and Midwestern states of the growing U.S. and its West Coast. The MexicanAmerican war of the 1840s is part of the scenario this time instead of the Civil War.
Civil War Union Army veteran Luther Ford, garbed in International Order of Odd Fellows regalia, is shown in this photograph, which was, perhaps, taken when he was named the first Noble Grand of the Forks chapter on May 6, 1893, the founding date of the Odd Fellows Lodge in Forks. The original town name, Ford’s Prairie, was rejected by the post office because a town in central Washington already claimed the name. Instead, Forks was chosen due to the prairie, an area of flat land between the Calawah River immediately to the north and the Bogachiel River to the south of town. Forks Timber Museum photo from the book, “Images of America: Forks,” from Arcadia Publishing by Larry Burtness and Chris Cook
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Spring 2013 LOP 27
It takes an extended village By Elizabeth Kelly
Providing services for children and their parents in the Port Angeles/ Sequim area since 1972, the First Step Family Support Center has expanded, improved and evolved over the years, explained Executive Director Nita Lynn, who has been with the organization for more than 30 years. The mission of the organization is to, “Provide for the healthy development of children and families in Clallam County.” In 1987, the First Step Child Development Center joined forces with the existing Perinatal Project for three reasons, Lynn said. It was a 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency; United Way supported them; and both organizations could reduce t heir costs. Lynn added that in 1993, the newly combined group changed the name to First Step Family Support Center. Today, through a wide variety of programs defined below, First Step is able to meet its goal: “To provide innovative and family centered programs to meet the needs of parents and their children in a respectful and responsible manner.” It’s obvious that in its vibrant, well-designed, remodeled setting, First Step is doing just that. “For example,” Lynn said, “ a pregnant teenager can get help with prenatal classes. Or grandparents who find themselves taking care of an infant again can get help.” Working primarily with low-income families, Lynn explained that this includes a large percentage of new mothers in the area. “In Clallam County 62 percent of women who have babies are eligible for county assistance,” she said, (Washington’s average is 49 percent), “which means they are eligible for what used to be called Medical Coupons, but is now a Washington State Services Card.” This card is free to persons eligible for Medicaid and can be used much like other insurance cards. “The state pays for medical access for pregnant women and pays the physician,” Lynn said. When a new mother has access to medical benefits, it is less costly to the community in the long run, Lynn explained. “It saves the state a lot of money and also human suffering is eased.” The role of First Step in this process is to advise women and help them apply for their medical benefits. Parents come to First Step by referral from a doctor or a school, or “friends bringing friends,” she said. At First Step they find programs to help with child development by participation in one or more of the following: ■ Maternity Support Services: a community health nurse, a nutritionist and a social worker help support a healthy pregnancy and birth. This is often the first time a client comes to First Step, Lynn said, but many continue on through the first three years of a child’s life. ■ Parents as Teachers: The PAT program helps parents with babies from 0 to 3 years of age to understand how children grow and learn. They are taught how babies’ brains develop and how important it is to talk to a baby, describing what they are seeing. Parents learn what to expect from each stage of development, as well as problem-solving skills. This year, First Step will be serving more families in the PAT program with personal home visits, group meetings, child screenings and referrals to needed resources. First Step recently has gained affiliate status with the National PAT organization and the staff has been trained in the new model curriculum and screening techniques. For instance, “If a baby has motor skills or speech problems, they can be referred to a specialist,” Lynn added. ■ Parent-Child Assistance Program: This program assists mothers with substance abuse problems by getting them into treatment and helping them stay clean and sober. First Step also will assist with law enforcement and Child Protective Services issues. “We have 50 families right now in this program,” Lynn said. Intensive case management services are provided to parents and children through this program. ■ Supported Parenting Program: In situations where parents have cognitive limitations or are developmentally challenged in some way but want the keep custody of their child, First Step offers counseling for the child’s safety and healthy development, “if it is in the child’s best interest,” Lynn qualified. “About 80 percent of the children of developmentally delayed parents don’t inherit their parent’s problem,” she said. “However, if they don’t seek outside help, approximately 80 percent of those healthy children will develop problems, depending on the degree of disability. As long as society says that developmentally delayed parents have a right to attempt to care for their children, there will be a need for these kinds of programs,” she said. ■ Infant Case Management: “Families on assistance have a lot of big issues, such as housing, legal problems, depression and day-to-day life,” Lynn said. Under this program monthly home visits for at-risk, low-income parents with children 2 months to 1 year of age are provided, as well as advocacy, information and referrals. ■ Parenting Classes: With funds from United Way, parents with
children of 0 to 3 years of age can attend a 2-hour parenting class each week for the 12-week course. ■ Literacy Book Program: Free books are provided along with reading training and a fun reading night. In conjunction with First Book (a national literacy organization), and working with three area elementary schools, more than 2,600 books were distributed last year. ■ Farmers Market Project: First Step helps educate parents in how to cook with fresh, locally grown foods. ■ Summer Food Service Program for Youth: Providing a nutritious sack lunch daily in the summer for children ages 0-18, this program operates in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Summer Food Service Program and runs June, July and August. More than 50 percent of children in the Port Angeles school district are eligible for free lunches, Lynn said, adding that the lunches are distributed from eight different sites, including the Boys & Girls Club, parks, schools and at the Lower Elwha Tribal Center. They are working to expand this program to Sequim this year, she said. ■ Readiness to Learn Program: Family support workers help bridge the gap between home and school for families with children entering kindergarten and first grade by coordinating with parents, teachers and children. Additionally, Lynn explained that the staff meets regularly to talk about the families they are working with and discuss what programs might be most helpful for them. None of the offered programs are compulsory. There are 30 employees at First Step – 15 full-time and the rest part-time. Most of the employees are educators with degrees in early childhood development. “Most have at
With the least a bachelor’s degree and quite a few have a In Focus Spring 2013 LOP 29 Olympic master’s,” Lynn said. CommAnother important part of First Step is its unity Action Program (OlyCAP) First Step drop-in centers. In Port Angeles, the center is at offers an Early Head Start program to promote 323 E. Sixth St. and is open from 1-4 p.m. Mondayschool readiness for children 1-3 years of age. Thursday. In Sequim, on Mondays only from 1:30The program strives to engage parents in their 3:30 p.m., there is a drop-in center at St. Luke’s children’s learning and help them make the Episcopal Church, 525 N. Fifth Ave., for Spanishtransition into the school years. speaking parents. There are about 45 families Funding for First Step comes currently using the Sequim from a variety of places. They are program, Lynn said. able to bill federal, state and local At the drop-in centers, many governments for fees for services needs are met. Parents can covered under their various talk to a host and children can policies; they receive grant play. There is food available as monies from foundations; gifts, well as clothing and equipment bequests and memorials from they might need for their child. individuals; gifts of new children’s “It doesn’t cost a lot to run the books from the National First drop-in program,” Lynn said, Book Program; and other “but it fills a valuable need in donations such as diapers and the community. When a parent new winter clothing. First Step takes a piece of equipment or First Step Family Support Center holds two large fundraisers each baby clothes, we ask that they year: Snowgrass and Midnight in return them in good condition 323/325 E. Sixth St., Port Angeles when they are through with 360-457-8355 • www.Firststepfamily.org Paris. The community supports both of these fundraisers them so they can be passed on.” Photo by Elizabeth Kelly generously. Besides organizations In 2012 there were a total of 5,533 such as United Way, Merrill & Ring and Sodexo, drop-in participants in Port Angeles, representing Rainbow Girls and Girls Scouts, local churches and 833 families. In Sequim – on Mondays only — there many volunteers keep First Step operating toward were 272 visits, representing 65 families (this was for its goal. only an 8-month period), she added. Lynn encourages interested people in the Another valuable service First Step provides is community to stop by and visit the facilities at the Three Bears Educare child care center. Here the Dorothy Duncan Learning Center, (First Step’s they take children from 1-5 years old. People pay main offices) at 325 E. Sixth St. or the Bennett on a sliding scale for this service. A single working House (drop-in center) next door at 323 E. Sixth St. parent with a full-time job may pay very little, Lynn in Port Angeles. said, depending on how much they make.
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Preserving Heritage Along the Hoko
Group Aids State Parks in Restoring Cowan Ranch by Reneé Mizar, Chair, Clallam County Heritage Advisory Board Nestled along the Hoko River amid a rugged expanse of forested land and elk-roamed pastures in western Clallam County sits a historical ranch that, thanks to passionate volunteers and committed state park staff, has not been lost to time. Situated about three miles west of Sekiu on the Hoko-Ozette Road, the 613-acre Cowan Ranch Heritage Area comprises more than half of the Hoko River State Park, including more than four miles of shoreline along the Hoko and Little Hoko rivers and the public-accessible Little Hoko River Trail. A part of the Washington State Parks system, the culturally rich landscape is home to several historical structures, notably a 1900-built dairy barn, 1909 Craftsman bungalow farmhouse, 1920s milk house and other outbuildings, which serve as a tangible connection to the state’s homesteading history and a resilient pioneering spirit still very present in the area. “The park includes a jewel of a rain forest trail, a slice of West End farming history and beaches on the strait. It’s a beautiful setting and worth sharing,” said Clallam County Heritage Advisory Board member Dr. Nancy Messmer, a West End resident of more than 25 years. “The Hoko River State Park is a wonderful resource and a treasure for local residents and visitors from 30 LOP Spring 2013 around the world.”
Cowan Ranch history The Cowan family settled on its namesake ranch in 1918, when J. Kenneth and Helma Cowan purchased the 110-acre dairy farm of original homesteader George Lamb. Over the ensuing decades, the Cowans continued to expand their acreage and worked the land as a successful dairy farm for more than 40 years. Under the helm of eldest son John, the ranch was turned into a beef cattle operation in the late 1950s and later a tree farm before ceasing operation in the mid-1980s. One of four children and the only to pursue a life of farming, John Cowan sold the ranch property to Washington State Parks in 1991 as a life estate and donated his additional Eagle Point property. State Parks assumed possession of the land upon Cowan’s death in 2000. In an autobiographical essay written in 1995 and on file at the Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley, Cowan expressed his hope that the state be a good steward of the land and the visiting public be able to enjoy it as much as he had. “After the care of the trees, they become a part of you and you like to see them preserved,” he wrote. “That was one of the factors in my decision to sell to State Parks. It is my hope that they take good care of the property and the wildlife.”
Friends of the Hoko River State Park volunteer Nancy Messmer show potatoes harvested by the group in the Cowan heritage garden. Photo courtesy of Nancy Messmer While environmental stewardship and preservation for public benefit once were considered hallmarks of state parks, the State Parks system’s ongoing transition from a largely general fund tax-supported operation to one based on user fees has left all state parks facing uncertain futures. As state parks across Washington continue to absorb the impact of budget cuts and staffing reductions, with those on the Olympic Peninsula being no exception, volunteers and community service groups have been stepping in to offer crucial support wherever possible. Enter Friends of the Hoko River State Park.
Passion with a purpose Working in conjunction with and under the direction of park staff, and with fiscal sponsorship from the Clallam Bay Sekiu Lions Club, Friends of the Hoko River State Park volunteers donated more than 700 hours in service of the park last year. Designated a nonprofit organization in the spring of 2012 and comprised of a dozen core volunteers, as well as many other workers and contributors, the group is guided by a board of directors that includes President Roy Morris, Emil Person, Bob Bowlby, Bill Riedel, Paul Bowlby, Clallam County
Commissioner Mike Doherty and Messmer, who serves as secretary/treasurer. “We are supporting John Cowan’s vision of keeping the farm he and his family worked generations to create alive for future generations,” said Morris, a close friend of John Cowan. “He wanted his home and property to help people understand what it was like to make a living on the land.” Ongoing projects, which are preapproved by park staff, include collecting oral histories from those who have memories about the Cowan family and ranch, repairing and maintaining the metal- and rock-based folk art pieces and fencing made by John Cowan, his wife, Inez, and Ken Sadilek that decorate the home and grounds, and clearing and maintaining the Little Hoko River Trail. Given the Cowan Ranch Heritage Area is considered a developing park and thus not open to daily use by the public, the group also hosts visitor tours at the ranch every Sunday afternoon from July through September. “We care passionately about this project and anything that volunteers can do, we hope to do,” Messmer said. “We grow a volunteer at a time and hope people will join us in some of the many tasks ahead of us.” Volunteers also have reestablished the John Cowan Heritage Gardens, which include vegetable and flower gardens, and the group held its Second Annual Potato Dig and Harvest Celebration at the ranch last fall. Person, who is also John Cowan’s cousin, hand-turned the sod to re-create the vegetable garden, which is harvested and vegetables donated to the food bank and other local groups. “It would be impossible to do the work that we do these days without the help of volunteers like the Friends of the Hoko River State Park,” said State Park Area Manager Steve Gilstrom, who oversees Hoko River State Park. Messmer said the group is grateful to park staff, including Gilstrom, former State Parks Construction and Maintenance Project Supervisor Dave Howat, and their crews for their guidance and ongoing efforts to preserve the park. Most recently, such efforts have entailed stabilizing the Cowan farmhouse in order to repair its sinking foundation.
Photo opposite: Friends of the Hoko River State Park Board member Bob Bowlby, a longtime West End resident, strolls by the now-thriving heritage garden at the Cowan Ranch. Photo by Reneé Mizar Inset photo: J. Kenneth and Helma Cowan pose in front of their farmhouse with children Garnet, Norman, John and Thema on the family’s West End ranch ca. mid1920s. Cowan Collection, Museum & Arts Center in the SequimDungeness Valley.
Proactive advocacy In addition to visible restoration efforts, Friends of the Hoko River State Park volunteers also have been proactively working behind the scenes to increase public awareness, fundraise and garner support at all levels, including networking with other state park volunteer groups. With funding a critical issue for all state parks, Messmer and Morris joined fellow state park advocates in Olympia in February to testify before a legislative hearing in support of Senate Bill 5657. If approved, the bill would stabilize State Parks funding by committing some general fund resources, achieved in part by an automatic general fund match of Discover Pass sales and, said Messmer, allocating one-tenth of 1 percent of the state budget to the State Parks system. “State parks need champions. We hope that people will call our state legislators and urge them to support our State Parks system,” Messmer said. “We need the talents and hard work of many to keep our parks open and thriving.”
business DIRECTORY Products, services and ideas from across the Peninsula. To advertise in Clallam County, call Debi Lahmeyer at 360-683-3311. In Jefferson County, call Sara Radka at 360-385-2900.
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Fun for the Whole Family! Open Daily 9:00 am
From left, Clallam County Heritage Advisory Board members Nancy Messmer and DJ Bassett tour the Cowan Ranch grounds with longtime area resident Emil Person in September 2011. Photo by Reneé Mizar
Call Marie-Claire at 360.460.4364
Mon-Fri 8 am-5 pm
Sit back and enjoy the view. We’ll do the driving. www.jeffersontransit.com (360) 385-4777
For more information about Friends of the Hoko River State Park, including how to donate, volunteer, or participate in the group’s oral history project, contact 360-963-2442 or able@olypen.com.
for increased wealth and happiness in your professional and personal life. Stop suffering and get to creating the life you want, now! Currently taking a limited number of new clients. Listen to your heart and soul.
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Our nursery nurtures inspiration, education, and vision for all who visit. 131 Kitchen-Dick Rd., Sequim 360.683.2855
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Destination Super
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Spring 2013 LOP 31
A Unique Shopping Experience Since 1972
DON’T MISS THE LARGEST BUILDING SHOW IN CLALLAM COUNTY!
261461 Hwy. 101, Sequim, WA 98382
16th Annual (360) 683-8003
Your Naturally Good Food Market
• Produce • Natural Groceries • Old-Tyme Butcher • Country-Style Deli
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Come see our store in the Sequim Village Center • Vitamins • Herbal Remedies • Homeopathy • Skin & Nail Care • Natural Cosmetics • Largest Selection of Domestic & Imported Organic Wines
April 6 & 7, 2013 Sequim High School Campus Saturday, 9 am to 4 pm Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm www.SequimExpo.com Enter for a chance
$
IN 1 of 4
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Come to the Expo to see the latest in building products, materials and energy efficiency options. Meet industry experts who can help! Open to the Public FREE Admission | FREE Parking | Enter to Win Prizes Talk with Industry Experts | See Innovative New Products Meet Builders | Remodelers | Skilled Contractors Get Answers | Discover New Ideas | Find Creative Solutions Learn How To Finance Your Project Go Green with Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency PLUS Attend FREE Workshops & Demonstrations
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1 Family Dining Restaurant in America
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(see store for details)
*Locally Owned and Operated
Open For Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner Serving Breakfast All Day
1360 W. Washington St., Sequim, WA 98382 • (360) 683-2363 (River Road exit, next to Walmart) Sun-Thur 6am-10pm Fri-Sat 6am-10pm
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32 LOP Spring 2013
Open Daily 9:00 am • 1423 Ward Road • Sequim
800-778-4295 • 360-683-4295 www.olygamefar m.com
Family Fun Since 1972
POUR &
TASTE
Cioppino Stew
A rich, bouillabaisse-style soup Recipe courtesy of Chef James Lam of Paradise Restaurant
In a large saucepan, cook green pepper, onion and garlic in hot oil until tender. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, wine, oregano, basil, cilantro, clam base, fresh ground pepper and Tabasco sauce. Bring to boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer about 10 minutes. Add fish, scallops, clams, oysters and shrimp. Bring to boiling, reduce heat, cover and simmer 6-7 minutes. Put Parmesan cheese on top of the dish and garnish with fresh basil or cilantro.
Makes 5 servings 1 pound fresh fish filets, cut up into 1-inch pieces 10 medium scallops 10 medium shelled fresh oysters ½ pound of bay shrimp ½ pound of manila clams 1 cup chopped green pepper ¾ cup chopped onion 2 larger ripe tomatoes, cut up into ½-inch pieces ½ cup cut fresh basil
¼ 1 1 ¼
cup cut fresh cilantro clove garlic, minced 16-ounce can of tomato sauce teaspoon dried oregano, crushed ½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper ¼ teaspoon Tabasco sauce ½ teaspoon clam base 1 cup white wine 1½ tablespoons cooking oil ½ cup Parmesan cheese
PER SERVING: 406 CAL., 44.5 G PROTEIN, 15.4 G FAT (3.4 G SAT.), 22.7 G CARB (4.2 G FIBER), 1,105 MG SODIUM, 168 MG CHOLESTEROL
Chef James Lam's parents opened Paradise Restaurant, a fine dining, family friendly establishment at 703 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim, in 1989 and he and his wife, Shirley, are its owners today. He has been a chef for 23 years. The eatery was named Kiwanis Club of Sequim Business of the Month for January 2012. The menu ranges from hamburgers with the works to steaks, fresh seafood, pasta and soups. There are no fewer than 11 seafood entrees and melt-in-your-mouth prime rib from Midwest corn-fed beef is a special feature on Fridays and Saturdays after 5 p.m. The lunch menu includes sandwiches, soups and combo specials from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. The Early Bird Dinner menu from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. offers entrees with steak, chicken, fish, prawns, calf's liver and meatloaf. Several veal dishes are among evening house specialities. The restaurant also has a bar/lounge and banquet room for large gatherings. Hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and Sunday; and 4-9 p.m. Saturday. The restaurant is closed Mondays. Call 360-683-1977 for more information.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Feel-good food: Fish, anyone? All types of fish and shellfish are a great source of protein, vitamins and minerals. The Food Standards Agency advises we eat at least two portions a week, one of which should be oily fish.
6.
Omega 3 fats may help keep the heart healthy by making the blood less likely to clot, lowering blood pressure and encouraging the muscles lining the artery walls to relax, improving the flow of blood to the heart.
All varieties of white fish are low in fat; 100g of haddock, for instance, contains less than 1g of fat. Lower in fat also means lower in calories.
7. 8.
Oil-rich fish are one of the few foods which contain vitamin D, essential for calcium absorption. They also provide iodine and selenium, important trace elements.
9. 10.
During pregnancy, the Omega 3 fats that are found in oil-rich fish are an important factor in the baby’s eye and brain development.*
White fish is light and delicate, making it easy to digest – hence it’s great for weaning babies. Remove any bones and poach it in water or baby milk, then purée it with veg. A diet that is rich in long-chain Omega 3 fatty acids may help to improve a person’s ability to concentrate. Omega 3 fats have an anti-inflammatory effect that may help relieve the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis as well as skin problems such as psoriasis.
Though some shellfish are high in cholesterol, this isn’t responsible for raised levels in the blood. The cause is a diet high in saturated fats which the body itself then turns into cholesterol in the blood.
Although you can find Omega 3 fats in plant sources, the long- chain Omega 3s found in oil-rich fish are the most useful sort for the body.
Spring 2013 LOP 33
e m i t g n i r p It s' S in Jefferson C oun ty
360
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Hours: Mon. Noon - 4pm ~ Tues. - Sat. 10 am - 5 pm
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112 Kala Square Place, Port Townsend
360-379-0655
260 Kala Point Drive Port Townsend, WA 98368 360-385-7156 . www.kelleyshields.com
CIRCLE of quality SQUARE deal • Car Wash and Vacuum with most services • 40-Point AAA Inspection with every visit • Ask about our Loaner Car Program & Shuttle Service
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W A R R A N T Y
“My car is 26 years old and Reto Filli (owner of Circle & Square) has put a new engine in it so I’ll have it for a long time. I don’t want a car payment, and they’ve helped me achieve that. They’ve been really good. I know their technicians are well-schooled, they’re a AAA shop, and they’re always very straight-forward. I would recommend them to anybody. This is our car, and Circle & Square Auto Care keeps it safe.” -Jan Kemp, All City Autobody & Towing, and her dog, Baxter
5 Star Business
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10953 Rhody Drive
360-385-2070
www.circleandsquare.com
Creative Independent Education since 1983
jcs@jeffersoncommunityschool.com jeffersoncommunityschool.com
Community at Home, Kinship with the World
Time for
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Come check out our new community Store! Come check out our We carry housewares, camping equipment, fishing gear, towels andStore! new community sheets plus women’s, men’s, children’s and babies’ clothing. We carry housewares, camping equipment, fi shing gear, towels We also stock major brands suchand as High sheets plus women’s, men’s, Sierra, Woolrich, Dickie, Key and Horny children’s andand babies’ clothing. Toad, Hanes Jockey for men and women. We also stock major brands such as High Sierra, Soon weWoolrich, will be offDickie, ering Key and Horny Toad, Hanes and Jockey for men and Sportswear! women.
Open 7 Days a Week
Mon-Fri: 9-6 • Sat & Sun: 9-5 321 Four Corners Rd., PT 360-379-0807
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385-7003
360
CareCredit Preferred Provider
600 Cliff Street • Port Townsend • www.admiraltydental.com
Steve Bergstrom
841 Nesses Corner Rd. Port Hadlock 360 385-5050 Steve Bergstrom
841 Nesses Corner Rd. Port Hadlock 360 385-5050
LIVING
t r s
END
“Nothing you do for children is ever wasted.” — Garrison Keillor
A
by Norma Turner, RN, MPH
grandmother standing in line at the local post office was busy talking to her 8-month-old grandchild. I tapped her on the shoulder and said, “It is wonderful to watch you and I can almost see the brain cells lighting up in your grandchild.” The grandmother said a quiet thank you and then went on to say, “When my children were small I didn’t talk to them because I felt foolish doing it.” This interchange is an example of how raising children is an evolving process. Recent brain research has shown that babies have literally billions of connections in their brains and as they grow the connections that are not used eventually disappear. This pruning of unused neuronal connections is an essential element of brain growth. Awareness of this process has fueled the growing emphasis, from parents to politicians, on emphasizing early learning. Maintaining as many healthy brain connections as possible creates a brighter future for our children. This is not a difficult task. The basic elements of healthy infant brain development are talking to infants, holding them, and most importantly, making focused eye contact. A local children’s advocate often sees what she calls the “distracted parents syndrome.” In this era of high technology many young parents are more routinely focused on their cell phones than they are on their babies. It is important to break this cycle and help them understand the vital importance of eye contact communication with their young children. Clallam County’s United Way project of community conversations, with over 700 people, concluded with their adoption of Great Beginnings. The board was convinced that the best investment they could make in the community was to emphasize early learning. (www.unitedwayclallam. org or www.ClallamReads.org) Prevention Works! A Community Coalition of Clallam County also held community discussions and adopted a Five-Year Prevention Plan 20122017. It is centered around helping children and
36 LOP Spring 2013
s t t a o i a
W C i o t w W b f i A a U a s c
t b P t h f h f
u b s h o m 9 v T o m w v b
c H b w c o c p f l a w b t G g l o b L
families in the early years as the best way to prevent violence, child abuse and neglect, reduce substance abuse and achieve academic success. (www.preventionworks.ning.org.) More than a century ago Frederick Douglass said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Studies now show that the adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” underestimates the value of prevention. It is worth more. Every dollar invested in preschool children yields a return any stock owner would value. A recent survey conducted by Prevention Works! of all kindergarten teachers in Clallam County found that 1 in 5 students currently in kindergarten exhibit a social, emotional or behavioral problem (SEB) that causes the teacher concern. These behaviors interfere with a child’s ability to learn. A Prevention Works! task force is tackling this problem by working toward offering early screening for all preschool children in order to offer information, resources and support to parents. A local pilot project screened 42 preschoolers and also found 1 in 5 children with SEB. United Way recently funded screening of 150 additional children. Grant funding is being sought to provide screening throughout the county for all preschool children. Working with parents and children prior to age 5 makes it easier to encourage positive behavior and to change negative patterns. Parents, for good reasons, are called “first teachers” for their children, but they need help in discovering ways to stimulate learning from birth onward. There are several things happening in our county to help children and families succeed. Olympic Medical Center nurses offer universal home visits to mothers of all infants born at OMC to help the infants get a good start. A generation ago mothers stayed in the hospital for days and learned about the care of their newborns. In today’s medical model mothers return home within 24 hours. The 95-percent acceptance rate of these home visits shows that mothers desire to learn. The visits are paid for by private insurance or Medicaid and are limited to the first two months. A Prevention Works! goal is to find ways to expand this service, and other home visiting programs in the community, that are being curtailed by budget cuts. Parenting is a learned skill, is a huge challenge, is rewarding, but is also difficult. How does a parent know if their child’s behavior is “normal”? How do parents know whether or not they are helping their child or creating negative behaviors? Parent education opportunities are available, but limited, in the community. United Way recently funded more parenting classes and a Prevention Works! task force is seeking grant funding to make parent learning opportunities widespread and easily accessible. Videos, books and parents sharing with other parents also are ways to learn. A book currently being discussed throughout the county is “Mind in the Making” by Ellen Galinsky. It is a gold mine for everyone to gather very practical ideas for stimulating learning in young children. The ideas are online at www.mindinthemaking.org and the book is available through the North Olympic Library System.
A few basic ideas on how each of us can help Know the names of the children in your neighborhood and greet them — it provides a connection to their neighborhood. Volunteer in preschools, schools and libraries (the required background check is easy to do). In the general community make eye contact with children and share a smile — one community found that adults routinely failed to make eye contact with teens — no wonder they feel isolated. Be a positive role model — treat others kindly — children will notice. Reach out, particularly to single parents, to help provide learning opportunities for their children — retirees have a lifetime of experience and talents to share with the young. Become involved in organizations that work with children — call your local school, local library, Boys & Girls Clubs (Sequim and Port Angeles units), your church, YMCA, United Way or Prevention Works! Any one of these organizations will welcome you and be willing to share names of specific groups that work with children and young families.
What do children need? Most importantly, all children need nurturing by families, friends and neighbors. Older children need opportunities to help both at home and within the community to give them a sense of belonging and attachment to their community. These are basic human needs shared by both children and adults. It is important to emphasize the joy of learning. Albert Einstein said, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales,” and the highly respected Mr. Rogers, of television fame, noted that “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning.” Practical hints on the importance of play can be found at www. LoveTalkPlay.org.
Nelson Mandela said, “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” May it be said that the soul of Clallam County is healthy because we care about our children.
Norma Turner, RN, MPH, is chair of Prevention Works! Community Coalition of Clallam County and former chair of the Washington Council for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. Contact Turner at normagene@olympus.net or 457-0151.
NOW &
THEN What began with a community gathering to celebrate the 1895 introduction of irrigation ditches on the Sequim prairie has grown into the oldest continuing festival in Washington. This spring, the Sequim Irrigation Festival marks its 118th year with a host of family friendly activities to the themed tune of “Dancing Through the Valley.” Originally known as the May Day Festival and at times boasting pony racing, high wire and trapeze performers, and boxing matches, annual festival happenings now include a logging show, strongman competition, carnival, “Crazy Daze” breakfast and historical walking tour. Among the signature events is the Grand Parade, which snakes through downtown Sequim and includes a float carrying the Irrigation Festival royalty court. An all-volunteer crew designs and constructs a new theme-bearing float annually, which is then used by the festival royalty to represent Sequim in community parades across the state throughout the year.
Sequim Irrigation Festival Recent Photo: Queen Abigail Berry waves from atop the 117th Sequim Irrigation Festival float also carrying Princesses Amanda Dronenburg, Natalie Stevenson and Arianna Flores in the 2012 Grand Parade. Photo by Reneé Mizar, Museum & Arts Center in the SequimDungeness Valley Historical Photo: “The Sunshine City” was the theme of this 67th Sequim Irrigation Festival Grand Parade float carrying the 1962 royalty court that included Queen Marta Livingston and Princesses Terri Schnuriger and Anita Boyd. Virginia Keeting Collection, Museum & Arts Center in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley
Port Townsend In 1899, Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island was one corner of the now famous Triangle of Fire that guarded Admiralty Inlet from enemy invasion. Providing the other points on the triangle were forts Casey and Worden. Fort Worden, on the Quimper Peninsula at the extreme northeastern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, sits on a bluff at Port Townsend, anchoring the northwest side of the triangle. Fort Casey, on Whidbey Island, sits on Admiralty Head almost directly across Admiralty Inlet from Fort Worden. Fort Flagler anchors the southwest side from a bluff on Marrowstone Island. The forts were outfitted with huge disappearing guns that would rise to fire and then sink down below the fortifications out of view of any enemy ships. The forts never fired their guns in anger and today all are state parks, and the gun batteries are playgrounds for small children.
38 LOP Spring 2013
Serving:
Port Angeles • Sequim Port Townsend • Discovery Bay Kingston • Edmonds • Greyhound Amtrak • Downtown Seattle Sea Tac Airport • Seattle Hospitals Olympic Bus Lines is an independent agent of Greyhound. You can now purchase your Greyhound tickets locally at your only nationwide reservation location on the Olympic Peninsula. • Free WiFi on board • Providing complimentary home-made chocolate chip cookies from the “Oven Spoonful” in Port Angeles.
Port Angeles/Sequim
(360) 417-0700
Outside the area toll free
(800) 457-4492
www.dungenessline.us
Late night or early morning flight? Ask us about special hotel rates!
We’re going the extra mile so you don’t have to.
Get quality care around the corner at Jefferson Healthcare Clinics. •
Jefferson Medical & Pediatrics Group 915 Sheridan Suite B-103 Port Townsend (360) 385-4848
•
• •
Jefferson Healthcare Family Medicine 1010 Sheridan Suite 101 Port Townsend (360) 385-3500 •
•
Jefferson Healthcare Internal Medicine 934 Sheridan Port Townsend (360) 385-5330
Jefferson Healthcare Walk-In Clinic 934 Sheridan Port Townsend (360) 379-0477 Jefferson Healthcare Primary Care 915 Sheridan Suite B-103 Port Townsend (360) 379-8031 South County Medical Clinic 294843 US Hwy 101 Quilcene (360) 765-3111
•
•
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Jefferson Healthcare Port Ludlow Clinic 9481 Oak Bay Road Suite A Port Ludlow (360) 437-5067 Jefferson Healthcare Women’s Health Clinic 915 Sheridan Port Townsend (360) 379-8031 Port Townsend Surgical Associates 1010 Sheridan Suite 201 Port Townsend (360) 385-5444
Whether you or a loved one are ill, injured or in need of a check-up, you’ll find the convenient, quality care you deserve at Jefferson Healthcare Clinics. Located throughout your community, our comprehensive network of neighborhood clinics offer services from Primary Care and Pediatrics to Urgent Care and Internal Medicine. And because our lab and radiology tests are tied electronically to Jefferson Healthcare, you’ll receive quick, expert diagnosis from our dedicated team of specialists. Now accepting new patients. Call or stop by today.