Ski to - The Western Front

Transcription

vs.
The Race
see > RACE, pg. 14
see > FESTIVITIES, pg. 14
A
s its initial racing approaches more
than a century of existence, the
annual Ski to Sea race has become a
regional holiday of sorts, and Whatcom
County goes crazy every spring.
But with all the excitement Jeff
describes as the best part of this event,
I think we overlook the most important
aspect of the event. Have you realized
how insane an athletic test this race is
for the participants?
rowing up in Seattle, I never knew
what Ski to Sea was. I never knew
that each Memorial Day weekend, the
entire city of Bellingham shuts down to
celebrate it. Even if I had known what Ski
to Sea was, I never would have expected it
to garner nationwide media attention.
On Saturday of Memorial Day weekend,
my siblings, parents and I would take an
hour-and-a-half car ride north from Seattle
to visit my grandma and watch a parade.
G
Andrew Mitchell | WF Columnist
Jeff Twining | WF Columnist
The Western Front's sports columnists debate the best features
of Bellingham's ultimate race weekend
The Festivities
see > HISTORY, pg. 12
The Ski to Sea competition has come a long way since the first edition of its predecessor, the Mount Baker Marathon, was run
99 years ago. The event today is drastically different than in 1911, when just 14 participants competed in a grueling race.
“These days, you have everything from top Olympic athletes to the weekend athletes and Mom and Dad,” said Mel Monkelis,
ore than 450 teams of eight racers each are expected to compete in this
year’s Ski to Sea race. any of whom are among the best in the world at their
sport. They will face a challenging course and fierce competition.
But in all likelihood, none of them will have to face off against a rebellious horse.
M
Nick Schiffler | WF
A storied 99-year history
SEA TO SKI pgs. 9-14 | NEWS pgs. 2-8 | OPINION pg. 15 | ARTS & LIFE pgs.16-20
Ski
Sea
westernfrontonline.net | Friday, May 28, 2010 | Vol. 150, Iss. 17
38 years, 7 legs, 90 miles
and 3,700 participants
to
Bellingham's brutally strenuous race
through rugged Northwest terrain
WESTERN FRONT
the
2
|
See more online at
www.westernfrontonline.net
News
Friday • May 28, 2010 | The Western Front
Cops Box
Bellingham Police
photo by Carey Rose | WF
No frigate like a book | Bellingham resident Mike Talbott flips through a book that he found covered in train grease in a compartment on
a grain car. "These are my favorite cars," Talbott said. "They're the cleanest and the quietest." Talbott said the compartment where he found the
book gives train hoppers some protection from the dirt and wind kicked up by the train's wheels. Some are even big enough for two people
and sleeping bags, he said. For full story, see pg. 19-20.
Around Town
Henry Rollins
Poverty Project car wash
What: Henry Rollins is coming
to Bellingham and will
perform at the Mount Baker
Theatre. The singer-songwriter,
stand-up comedian and
spoken-word artist has also
hosted his own TV talk show.
When: 8 p.m. Friday, May 28
Where: Mount Baker Theatre,
104 North Commercial St.
Cost: $24
What: The Bellingham Poverty
Project is hosting a car wash
fundraiser. All proceeds go
to Amy’s Place, a center for
homeless and at-risk youth.
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 30
Where: The Market at
Fairhaven (Food Pavilion),
3125 Old Fairhaven Pkwy.
Beer Garden for Ski to Sea
Pasta Feed
What: Boundary Bay Brewery
& Bistro is hosting The Pasta
Feed in Bellingham. The
outdoor event will be in the
beer garden and spill into the
alley for extra seating. Tickets
will be available at Boundary
Bay. Race teams should buy
their tickets early, as this will
sell out.
When: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 29
Where: Boundary Bay Brewery
& Bistro, 1107 Railroad Ave.
Cost: $15 for adults, $10 for
children younger than 10, free
for children 5 and younger.
What: The Harris Avenue Café
will host a beer garden in their
patio area in honor of Ski to
Sea.
When: Noon to 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 30
Where: 1101 Harris Ave.
Cost: Varies by drink.
Memorial Day festival
What: The 45th Annual Festival
of Flags is the county’s largest
Memorial Day celebration.
The event features a tribute to
the “Guardians of America,”
a concert with bands and
a drum line, a helicopter
landing, Pearl Harbor
survivors, food and games.
Corrections
The May 14 column “Twining’s Take: Western fans, administrators too apathetic to
make D-I jump” misstated the number of people who turned out to watch Western beat Central Washington University’s basketball team in the first round of the NCAA Division II West
Regional. About 2,300 people attended the game.
When: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday, May 31
Where: Moles Greenacres
Memorial Park at 5700
Northwest Dr. in Ferndale
May 25
• Slick thief | At 1:24 p.m.,
police responded to a
person who said someone took some quarts of
oil from his vehicle overnight in the 2200 block of
Verona Street.
• Fire breather | At 1:39
p.m., officers responded
to a report of a person
inhaling butane in the
800 block of 24th Street.
• Going my way? |
Officers responded to a
woman who reported
3:02 p.m. that a neighbor
she didn’t know offered
her a ride at near the
2000 block of East Illinois
Street. She told officers
that she declined and
ran home to call the
police.
May 26
• False alarm | Officers
responded to a a report
of suspicious items at
3:41 p.m. in the 1700
Block of Old Samish
Road. Officers identified
the item as an old barrel.
• Man's best friend |
At 8:59 p.m., police
responded to a report
of a man getting bit in
the face by his own dog
in the 900 block of Baker
Street.
Cops Box compiled by David Sinex
THE WESTERN FRONT
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NEWS | 3
westernfrontonline.net | Friday • May 28, 2010
Bulletproof truss lowered onto pipeline
Blast prompts efforts
Benjamin Woodard | WF
A crane operator lowered an
85-foot-long steel truss onto the
exposed section of pipeline running across Whatcom Creek on
Tuesday, May 25.
For the past three weeks, two
sections of trail on either side of
the creek have been cordoned off
in Whatcom Falls Park as crews
drilled pilings into the creek bed
to support the truss. The lowering of the structure marks the end
of construction, tagged at about
$1.3 million at the expense of the
Olympic Pipe Line Company.
The almost 150-foot-tall
crane was operated by an experienced crewmember who
placed the truss within a 1-inch
window, said Pamela Brady, an
Olympic Pipe Line Company
employee who works with landowners about land-use concerns.
“I asked the crane operator if
it felt like she was doing surgery
rather than operating a crane,”
Brady said, “and she said, ‘absolutely, yes. It was very precise.’”
The pipeline, which moves
290,000 barrels of fuel per day,
has a long and checkered history
with Whatcom Creek. In 1999, the
pipeline leaked thousand of gallons
of fuel into the creek. The fuel was
inadvertently ignited, sending a fireball 1.5 miles downstream, killing
three. Two boys burned to death,
and a man fishing in the creek was
overcome with fumes and drowned.
photo by Benjamin Woodard | WF
On May 25, Olympic Pipe Line Company crewmembers guide an 85foot steel truss onto the pipeline that crosses Whatcom Creek.
Pipeline shut down
Olympic Pipe Line Company shut down the pipeline in
two places — a procedure called
a “double block” — Tuesday
at noon, Brady said. The pipeline was turned back on after
crewmembers secured the main
section of the truss. The whole
process of lifting the truss and
setting it over the pipeline took
about an hour.
Two more small sections
will be installed within the next
few days, and trails will be
opened soon after, Brady said.
Since the pipeline explosion, the Olympic Pipe Line
Company has worked with the
City of Bellingham to prevent
another rupture, Brady said.
The company signed an agreement with the city that required the
company to bore under the creek to
bury the pipeline, City of Bellingham environmental planner Kim
Weil said. But the bedrock underneath the creek proved too thick,
and the necessary drill would have
upset the watershed, Weil said. So
the city agreed to let the company
cover the exposed portion of the
pipeline with a truss.
David Lykken, director of
pipeline safety for the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, keeps tabs
on private pipeline companies
throughout Washington state
to ensure they follow federal
regulations. He said a handful
of pipelines in western Washington go above ground because of
steep terrain.
“I am not aware of any instances where trees have fallen on
exposed pipeline,” Lykken said.
He said the commission
does not force private companies
to cover exposed pipeline.
Park receives no complaints
Before Olympic Pipe Line
Company began constructing the
steel truss, the company requested to remove a few trees near the
exposed portion, Weil said.
An arborist with the Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife disagreed with removing any old-growth forest near
the creek, she said, so the city
agreed to a truss.
Since the trails closed in
Whatcom Falls Park, no one has
complained to the city.
“It was kind of surprising
because we usually can’t close
down one trail for an hour without people complaining,” said
Clayton Snyder, a Bellingham
Parks and Recreation Department employee who overlooks
the trails in Whatcom Falls Park.
“Maybe it’s because they realize
it’s for the safety of the pipeline
— people are pretty pipeline-explosion jittery around here.”
During the construction, the
Washington Department of Fish
and Wildlife tested the water to
ensure that construction materials did not harm fish.
Jeff Kamps, habitat biologist with the department, said
the creek’s water quality did not
change.
“From my general observations, they didn’t have that span
of pipeline in very good condition,” Snyder said, who is also
a former pipeline engineer. “It
reminded me of oil fields with
no governmental control, but it’s
been a pretty fun project for me,
and [Olympic] addressed all our
concerns.”
4 | NEWS
Woodring grads struggle to find steady work as teachers
Evan Derickson | WF
Teaching full time
Substitute teaching, looking for full-time work
Unemployed, seeking work
infographic by Evan Derickson | WF
source: Western's Career Services Center
School's out for more and
more teachers these days.
The percentage of Western
education majors employed as
full-time teachers after graduation dropped dramatically with
the class of 2009, according to the
annual job outlook report by Western’s Career Services Center.
“It’s not just harder for
grads now finishing, but those
new hires who were hired just
a year ago,” said Jennifer McCleery, director of teacher education admissions and field experiences for Woodring College.
School administrators look
at newer hires first when deciding which teachers to lay off,
McCleery said.
About 60 percent of teachers from the Western classes of
2004-2008 were teaching in a
full-time position within three to
six months of graduating, the report said. Only 43 percent of the
class of 2009 was teaching in the
same amount of time after their
graduation. The number of graduates who were substitute teaching while looking for a full-time
position increased by 10 percent,
from 23 percent in 2008 to 33
percent in 2009.
David Brannon completed
Western’s
post-baccalaureate
teaching program in January. Brannon has been substi-
Certified Teachers Go Unemployed
School Years
tute teaching since February
at Mount Baker High School,
under a contract he said will expire at the end of the academic
year. He said he is not concerned
about finding a new job.
“I think things are going to
settle out in the teaching business,” he said.
The job market for teachers has shrunk partly because of
shrinking state and federal budgets due to the recession, said
Karen Powell, coordinator of
job search services for Western’s
Career Services Center. Declining enrollment in schools has
also reduced the need for teachers, she said. Opportunities are
still available, she said, but the
market is competitive.
“I have a lot of hope, but
I know it’s tough right now,”
Powell said.
Thirty-four percent of
Washington’s teachers are, or
will be, eligible to retire between
2007 and 2012, according to the
Washington Education Association’s website. Powell said she
has heard that principals are anxious about losing too many faculty members at once. She said
it is possible retirees may soon
open more positions than new
teachers can fill. Retirements
should balance the positions lost
to declining enrollment, she said.
Powell said finding a job
now requires a teacher to be
flexible. Many graduates want
to stay in Whatcom and Skagit
Counties, which have historically hired many Western graduates. Now, she said, there aren't
as many positions locally.
“Traditionally, Bellingham
has been the biggest hirer of
Western grads; this year, it was
three [teachers],” she said.
Positions typically require
specific qualifications when they
open, Powell said. Many openings are in less-popular areas,
such as Centralia, or are in other
states or countries, she said.
Math, science, world language and special-education
teachers are in greater demand
than other teachers, she said.
Powell also said having multiple teaching endorsements —
which define which grades and
subjects a teacher can teach —
can help a candidate’s chances
at finding a teaching position.
She said AmeriCorps, the Peace
Corps or Teach for America can
give valuable experience to a
teacher who can’t find a job after graduating. Teachers can also
get experience teaching English
in high-demand regions such as
Asia, she said.
“The more flexible you are
about where you’re willing to
go, the more experiences and
qualifications you develop, the
better off you are,” she said.
NEWS | 5
Displaced professors await new offices
Faculty and staff suffer
noise, fumes from
Miller Hall construction
Celeste Erickson | WF
Fourteen faculty and staff members in Miller Hall
rooms 158 and 160 are counting down the days until August, when they will each move into their own private offices.
The construction of Miller Hall has forced staff and
faculty from the Woodring College of Education to share
office space. The professors have been divided by cubicles in each room since September 2009.
The noise from construction and other professors can
be frustrating, but professors have been tolerant, said Linda Schleef, lecturer and coordinator of Ershig Assistive
Technology Resource Center.
“You just adjust,” Schleef said. “Knowing it’s temporary makes it certainly doable. Everybody is really cooperative and knows we’re in it together.”
Schleef recently took a tour of the new office space
outside of Miller Hall. The first thing she said she noticed
was the amount of space it seemed to have after being
cramped in the small quarters.
“They aren’t huge, but they definitely are going to
seem huge after people have been here for this year,”
Schleef said.
New additions to the office space include built-in oak
shelves, filing drawers, a seat near the window and lounges for students to meet and collaborate. Schleef said she
thinks space for students has been lacking at Woodring.
Assistant professor Bridget Kelley said she has a few
complaints about the construction: the fumes are bothersome, it’s noisy and there is not a lot of privacy.
Despite this, she said, everyone has been accommodating.
photo by Lillian Furlong | WF
Faculty and staff in Miller Hall were moved to new offices in
September 2009 due to construction.
“Everyone is really good about giving up their space
so we can meet with students,” Kelley said. “But if a couple of people need to meet privately with students, you
have to find another space.”
The close quarters have forced faculty and staff to
make accommodations from normal office procedures,
such as access to the office.
If the office doors are closed, visitors are asked to
call the specific faculty member before entering, instead
of knocking on the door. A list of extension numbers is
posted between the rooms. This system was developed
quickly after everyone moved in, Schleef said.
“It was problematic to have people walk in and
out all of the time,” Schleef said. “It wasn’t very good
security.”
Graduate assistant Jared Laine said a constant parade
of people come in and out of the office.
He works in the office five hours a day, four days a
week, but the space has not interfered with his work too
much.
“It can be distracting when I need to get things done,
but it hasn’t been too bad for me,” Laine said. “I can be
flexible and just kind of roll with the punches, but I know
that this is probably a little more taxing on the professors
who need to have their space.”
Laine said the proximity has helped him build relationships with his professors. He said he has enjoyed getting to know them. Bill Lay, a lecturer at Woodring, said he has not suffered too much because a few of the professors work from
home.
Some even had to move because the fumes from construction triggered asthma attacks, he said.
“The truth: I’m kind of torn. I’m not only a professor,
I’m a taxpayer,” Lay said. “I’ve talked to students who
aren’t going to be able to come back to school next year
because scholarships have dried up or their Work Study
positions aren’t going to be there. It’s kind of bittersweet,
but I’m sure we’ll love the new building. And the money
was passed before the crisis.”
Lay has been making the most of the construction.
Some of his past students have presented him with
“Mr. Bill” toys from “Saturday Night Live” skits. Lay
places the toys in various construction zones outside the
communal office and takes photos to post with captions
on his Facebook page.
“I’ve buried one of those dolls that the kids have given me over the years in the center of the new building,”
Lay said. “I’ve had fun with it!”
6 | NEWS
AS budget may
increase 5 percent
Sen. Murray seeks lower ATM fees
Lillian Furlong | WF
Danielle Poole | WF
The Associated Students budget could
increase by 5.1 percent next year, according to a proposal made by the AS budget
committee at Wednesday’s AS Board of
Directors meeting.
The proposed budget for next year
would give ASP Pop Music a 22-percent
increase, or $8,000, and changes the way
the program is funded. According to the
proposal, AS Pop would have two separate
budgets: one for small concerts and another
for the two large concerts in fall and spring.
KVIK television would also receive a
22-percent increase to purchase new video
equipment.
The AS Board will vote on the budget
on June 2. The Board used a new process
to figure out how funds would be distributed, said Jamin Agosti, a member of the
AS budget committee.
In the past, the budget committee went
through each office’s budget line by line to
see where money was spent, he said. To figure out and set the new budget, the committee took a big-picture approach to see how
programs operate and how money is spent.
“The process helps create a more accurate budget,” Agosti said.
Many of the proposed increases are
due to increased salaries for some student
positions. Salaries for some Outback and
Environmental Center workers would
come from a different source — the Sustainability Programs Administration budget — so its programs would see decreased
funding from the AS.
The creation of a Disability Outreach
Center will cause a 3-percent increase in
Resources and Outreach Programs funding.
Sen. Patty Murray is co-sponsoring
an amendment to the Wall Street Reform
bill that would protect Washington state
residents from high fees at ATMs, Murray
said in a press release.
“The truth is that it costs banks a tiny
fraction of the fee they’re charging to
consumers to process these transactions,”
Murray said.
According to the press release, the
national average cost per transaction at
an ATM is $2.66, when in reality, it costs
about 36 cents to process. Some banks are
charging as much as $5 for one transaction.
Murray is co-sponsoring the amendment with Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.
The ATMs that charge higher fees are
typically not owned by banks or credit
unions, said James Pishue, president and
CEO of the Washington Bankers Association.
“I think putting a price fix on an ATM
is the wrong thing to do,” Pishue said.
The fees cover the cost of ATM software, the machine itself and the security
illustration by Drew Miller | WF
it provides so that if a card and pin are
stolen, the bank can cover the losses.
“As a member-owned credit union,
BECU supports fair and transparent ATM
transaction fees,” said Todd Pietzsch, media contact for Boeing Employees Credit
Union. “However, we are very concerned
about the ramifications for consumers
with this approach.”
Pishue said Murray’s attempt to regulate fees is unnecessary.
“The [economy] should dictate what
the fee should be,” Pishue said. “People
don’t have to use the machine.”
NEWS | 7
Program
to launch
freshmen
Elise Harrington | WF
This fall, incoming freshmen can participate in Viking Launch, a 10-day program
to experience Western before fall classes begin. Viking Launch participants will first arrive on Western’s campus and move into the
Fairhaven residence halls on Sept. 9, according to Western’s Viking Launch website.
Viking Launch is comprised of a twocredit course, a service-learning project,
extended orientation to campus and oncampus resources, said Marlene Harlan,
director of summer programs.
For the service-learning component,
students will complete a community-service project in the Bellingham community
through Western’s Center for ServiceLearning. Several projects will work with
community partners such as the Nooksack
Salmon Enhancement Association, Common Threads, the Boys and Girls Club and
possibly Habitat for Humanity or The RE
Store, said Beth Parker from Western’s
Center for Service-Learning.
Classes offered at Viking Launch:
ᏵᏵ Introduction to Chemistry
ᏵᏵ Computer Science: Animation
and Gaming
ᏵᏵ Creative and Technical Writing
ᏵᏵ Criminal Law and Justice
ᏵᏵ Education: Perspectives on
Learning and Teaching
ᏵᏵ Environmental Impact
and Sustainability
ᏵᏵ Neuroscience
ᏵᏵ Marine Biology
Western seeks new food service contract
Group will
test
'aggressive'
market
Christopher Wood | WF
Western is forming a
group to write a new food
service contract request, said
Kurt Willis, Western’s associate director of University
Residences Business and Information Services.
The group’s members are
not known, but, Willis said, it
will include students and Eileen Coughlin, Western’s vice
president of Student Affairs.
It will be chaired by Willy
Hart, director of Western’s
University Residences, he said.
“[The process] takes a lot
of time, so we have to start
early,” Willis said.
Western junior Rhea
Woolley, a student manager at
the Viking Commons, said that
if a change happens it probably
will not affect students much.
The upper management at Dinning Services may be replaced
if there is a change in food service providers, she said.
Western has awarded the
contract to a similar group
of companies for about 50
years, Willis said, starting in
1959 with Saga foods. It was
bought out by Marriott Food
A cardboard box once filled with food used by University Dining Services lies in a trash bin behind the
Ridgeway Commons dining hall.
Service, which in turn merged
with Sodexo in 1998, he said.
“It’s all up to what Western wants [in a food service
contract],” she said.
Western is opening the
contract to be bid early because it can get a better contract than what they have cur-
“
It's time for Sodexo to
step up their game.
- Kurt Willis,
associate director of
University Residences
rently, Willis said.
“It’s a good time to do
this. The vendors are aggressive,” Willis said.
A cheaper contract for
Western is a possibility, Willis said.
“It’s time for Sodexo to
step up their game,” she said.
There are no penalties to
Western for ending the contract early, Willis said.
However, Western would
still owe Sodexo $300,000 on
a $3-million loan the company
gave to Western in 2002.
The money was used to up-
grade Dining Services’ facilities,
such as completing the Miller
Market remodel, Willis said.
The loan was on schedule
to be repaid at the end of the
original 10-year contract and
if Sodexo wins the bid for the
new contract, the repayment
will be part of the new contract. If Sodexo does not win
the new contract, the remaining debt may be picked up by
the new company.
“It was an investment, not
a gift,” Willis said. “[The repayment] is already embedded
in our costs.”
8 | NEWS
Former child star dies near Bellingham
Earl Settlemyer leaves legacy
of generosity toward schools
Andrea Farrell
& Zack Price | WF
E
arl Harry Settlemeyer ran
with Lassie, ate cereal
with Tony the Tiger and
appeared with Loretta Lynn in
her weekly TV movies.
Settlemyer, known professionally as Earl Robie, died from
a brief illness on May 14 at his
home in Sudden Valley. He was
63.
A celebration-of-life memorial was held for him on May 24
at Lairmont Manor in Old Historic Fairhaven.
Settlemyer was a child actor during the 1940s and 1950s,
between the ages of 4 and 14.
He was mentored by many of
the most popular stars of the era:
Lucille Ball, Walt Disney, Jerry
Lewis and Richard Burton.
“It was very serious business.
He was making big money and he
was very adult at a young age,”
said Settlemyer’s sister, Louise
Settlemyer Lott. “He was never
cocky. He was kind, thoughtful
and always considerate.”
At 15, Settlemyer left Hollywood. He later attended California State University, Long Beach,
where he majored in economics.
He pursued a successful career
in the banking industry, serving
as the vice president of Quaker
City Bank in Florida. In 2005, he
retired, along with Lott, in Whatcom County.
They chose Sudden Valley
because it reminded them of their
Scottish and Irish roots, Lott said.
She said they loved the shade, the
forest, the meadows and especially the rain. Settlemyer lived by
the motto, “Of all the paths you
choose in life, make sure some of
them are dirt.”
“Sudden Valley was our own
little paradise,” Lott said.
Settlemyer made friends
in the Bellingham Rotary club,
a service club of professionals.
Educators welcomed him; he
served on boards and committees
at Western, Bellingham Technical
College and Whatcom Community College.
Lott said he loved to interact
with students and help them in
any way he could.
At Western, he set up the
Settlemyer Family Graduate Fellowship, a scholarship for underprivileged students pursuing
MBA degrees.
He said the scholarship was
to honor his parents, who viewed
photo courtesy of the Settlemyer family
Earl H. Settlemyer set up a fund at Western to help students earn their MBA
degrees.
education as the road out of poverty and the key to success.
Lott said their mother was
unable to finish high school during the Great Depression because
it was too expensive. Their mother made going to school a big
deal, so there was never the question of whether they would attend
college, rather it was what college
would they attend. She was the
reason Settlemyer valued education so highly, Lott said.
“Earl always felt that if he
made any money, what he wanted
to do was help other people get an
education,” Lott said.
Brian Burton, dean of Western’s College of Business and
Economics, said Settlemyer’s
love and dedication made him
able to win the hearts of Whatcom
County’s education community in
the short time he was here.
“Earl was extraordinarily
connected throughout the world
of higher education in Whatcom
County,” Burton said. “The fact
that he was able to become so
connected in such a short period
of time is really remarkable, and
it shows his commitment to students.”
At his memorial, many educators praised Settlemyer’s passion for education.
“He was all about getting
students to transform their educational lives,” said Kathi HiyaneBrown, president of Whatcom
Community College.
Settlemyer’s service to the
Whatcom community stemmed
from working with Zeta Beta
Tau, the fraternity he belonged to
while at Califonria State University Long Beach. In college and
afterward, Settlemyer worked
with members of the fraternity
to instill in them a dedication to
intellectual awareness, social responsibility, leadership and community service.
Brown said Whatcom County was very lucky to have a person like Settlemyer because of
his dedication to the educational
progress of students at every level
of education.
Burton said Settlemyer’s
involvement with local schools
showed the type of man he was.
“He truly was a good man
and one to be emulated,” Burton
said.
Settlemyer’s family requested that all of his memorial gifts be
made in donations to Western.
See more online at
ski to sea | 9
Competitive side of the adventure
Ski to Sea competitive division boasts former Olympians, extensive preparations
Dan Balmer | WF
By the end of the day Sunday, 3,712 athletes will
have raced around Whatcom County celebrating the spirit
of the Northwest lifestyle in Ski to Sea 2010. The only
question is: which team will be the first to ring the bell at
the finish line in Fairhaven Marine Park?
Last year, The Bagelry won the overall race for the
second consecutive year, finishing the seven-leg, 90-mile
race in less than six hours. Team captain and kayaker Jeff
Hilburn is confident his team can win again, but is wary
of the competition.
“It is really interesting how big [the race] has become,” he said. “I can think of five teams that can win
this year.”
We train to peak for the race so
we can throw down. The chance to
compete with world-class athletes
in our own backyard speaks to itself.
-Brandon Nelson, Ski to Sea participant
Barron Heating, Clipper Canoes and The Bagelry,
which classify for the competitive open division, have
been the top three teams for the past five years. Clipper
Canoes, is a Canadian team, won the overall race in 2007.
Since 1992, Barron Heating has won the competitive open race 10 times. This year, Hilburn said Boss
Construction’s three teams are all filled with professional athletes who make this quite possibly the most
competitive Ski to Sea race ever.
The Bagelry trailed Barron Heating by more than
a minute going into the last two legs last year. Bagelry
mountain biker Adam Schwind was able to reel in professional mountain biker Mark Hansen, pass him and
give his team a 30-second lead. Hilburn then held off
Baron Heating’s Robert Clegg on the 5-mile paddle in
Bellingham Bay for the win.
“[Schwind] became a local legend after that race,”
Hilburn said. “That was the best race of my career.”
Three basic divisions in the Ski to Sea race are:
competitive open, Whatcom County and recreational.
Race director Pete Coy said a majority of the racers in
the recreational division “weekend warriors,” guys who
train by drinking beer.
Teams in the competitive division usually consist of
athletes recruited by local businesses and are not typically employees of the company sponsoring the team,
Hilburn said. In the Whatcom County division, the
requirements are that everyone on the team resides in
Whatcom County.
The reigning champion is RunningShoes.com. Beaver’s Tree Service, led by 20-year race veteran Brian Boatman, has won the Whatcom County division 12 times, nine
straight from 1997-2006. The two teams have developed a
friendly rivalry the past few years, Boatman said. RunningShoes.com team captain Jeff Clevenger proudly displays
the trophy in his downtown office for all to see.
“I think it is going to be close with us and [RunningShoes.com] all the way down to the end,” Boatman said.
“I don’t expect any blowouts.”
Boatman’s team has six athletes returning from last
year. New to the team is runner Jason Gulley and kayaker
Brandon Nelson.
Nelson, a real estate agent for RE/MAX, is a veteran
of the race. Last year, while racing for team Re/Max, he
finished with the third-fastest time in a kayak leg. Nelsons wife, Heather, was the top gun female last year in the
kayak portion. For the Nelsons, Ski to Sea is the biggest
race of the year.
“We train to peak for the race so we can throw down,”
Nelson said. “The chance to compete with world-class
Ski to Sea competitor Brandon Nelson runs from his kayak up the beach at Marine Park after crossing the finish line during a
trial run of the race on May 26.
Recent Ski to Sea winners
2009: Bagelry
2008: Bagelry
2007: Clipper Canoes
2006: Barron Heating
2005: Barron Heating
infographic by Willy Delius | WF
athletes in our own backyard speaks to itself.”
One of those world class athletes racing this year is
Greg Barton. A two-time Olympic gold medalist, Barton
was the first American to win a gold medal in kayaking
at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
He will canoe with Nick Bauer for the Boss Construction
Master Team.
To lead off for Barron Heating is three-time Olympian
skier Torin Koos, a member of the U.S. Ski Team. To counter, The Bagelry’s cross-country skier Jed Hinkley competed
for team USA at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Hilburn said a critical moment of the race for his
team could be the transfer from the runner to road cyclist to stick with the top teams.
While each leg of the race presents its own unique
challenges, the longest elapsed time leg of the race is
the canoe portion. The canoe leg stretches 18-miles
down the Nooksack River from Everson to Ferndale
and can take the better teams about two hours to complete, Boatman said.
Come Sunday, the river conditions could be an
added challenge. The water level in the Nooksack was
about 6 feet on Thursday. Boatman said the ideal level
would be anything more than 8 feet. At the end of the
leg is a 3-foot-deep hole at the base of the hill coming
out of the water.
Boatman said he credits his success to his familiarity with the river. From the start of the year up to the
week of the race, he said he will go out on the Nooksack
once a week to train. By practicing going upstream, he
learns how to read the current, he said.
Boatman will be in the canoe with Western sophomore David Williams, who has paddled in canoe competitions since he was 4 years old. Williams has been paired
with Boatman since 2006. In that year, they had the top
time of one hour and 50 minutes for the canoe leg.
“Canoe racing is about trimming the boat so it is not
too heavy in the bow or stern,” Boatman said. “If it is too
heavy in the front, it is harder to steer. It is like surfing a
big wave.”
While some of the top competitive open teams
recruit elite athletes from all over the country, Whatcom County teams like Beavers Tree Service participate for the enjoyment and socializing, Boatman said.
He hosts a post-race party every Memorial Day at his
house near Lake Whatcom. The party gives him a chance
to catch up with other racers and share race stories while
also having an opportunity to recruit new talent to his
team, he said.
“I like how different disciplines work together to
make one chain,” Boatman said. “By playing together, it
brings Whatcom County to a healthier lifestyle.”
Nelson said the growing popularity of Ski to Sea is a
testament to the scope of the event and what it means for
Whatcom County.
“I love the energy of the crowd [at the finish line],”
Nelson said. “It is as exciting as it has ever been.”
10 | sports
From Baker to the bay:
Leg 5
CANOEING
information compiled by Lincoln Hollis | WF
18 miles
Leg 4
The canoeing segment is the only part of the race that requires two team members. This
segment of the race winds about 18 miles down the Nooksack River, starting in Everson
and finishing in Ferndale. The course is only considered a class-1 on a difficulty scale
of 1 to 6. “The river is really low this year,” said canoe conditions race chair Thom
Pritchard. “The racers will have to be careful. Because the water is so low, there are
more sand and gravel bars and logs to get snagged on.” At the end of the segment, the
canoeists must drag the canoe and gear 40 yards up the sandbar, where they will cross
the segment finish line.
BICYCLING
38.5 miles
This is a 36-mile segment, which winds down Mount. Baker Highway to
the bikers get to Kendall the course turns off Mount. Baker Highway onto
The final portion of the road-biking segment will wind down South Pass R
in Everson. Racers in this segment must obey all traffic laws and are not
any closer than 20 feet behind a motor vehicle.
MOUNTAIN BIKING
Leg 6
14 miles
The mountain biker is required to help
the canoers drag the canoe and gear
across the sandbar to the finish line. This
segment starts at Hovander Park and
winds through rough terrain to the finish
line at Squalicum Harbor. The racers will
also be required to ride down the middle
of old train tracks. “We added the traintrack section last year,” Koy said. “It is
really hard for the mountain bikers —
especially the bikers who don’t have
good suspension. Because the tracks are
so old, all the gravel is missing from between them. It really shakes them up.”
N
sa
ook
ck
v
Ri
er
W
8
M
W
M
F
Leg 7
SEA KAYAKING
5 miles
The kayaking segment begins at Pete
Zuanich Park and ends about 5 miles
later at Marine Park in Fairhaven. Considering the kayakers will be in the
harbor, the weather could make this
segment very dangerous. About 90
miles from the start of the race, the kayaker will remove the kayak from the
harbor and cross the finish line, marking the end of the 99th annual Ski to
Sea race.
Bellingham
Bay
Ski to Sea competitor Heather Nelson crosses the finish line shortly after
her husband, Brandon. Heather said that on race day, she doesn't
worry about herself, but instead "hopes the team on the mountain is
doing OK."
Ski to Sea events
around Bellingham:
Ski to Sea Carnival
Ski to Sea Grand Parade
Weekdays 3 p.m. to late,
weekends 11 a.m. to late
May 20 - 30
Bellis Fair Mall — Sears parking lot
Noon, Saturday, May 29th
Downtown from State Street to Alabama Ave
Theme: Whatcom County 2010 -2020
Sports | 11
a leg-by-leg breakdown
The starting line of the 2009 Ski to Sea race
at Mount Baker.
o Kendall. Once
o Highway 547.
Road and finish
t allowed to get
photo courtesy of Mike Estes
Leg 3
RUNNING
8 miles/2,200 foot drop
The segment starts at the Day Lodge and is an 8-mile run along a well-defined route down
Mt. Baker Highway. “The running segment is a really competitive and tough segment,”
race chair Pete Koy said. “Running downhill on hard pavement for 8 miles with a 2,000foot elevation drop is really hard on the runners.” The racers must stay on the right side; if
a racer crosses the yellow line, the whole team will be disqualified from the race.
N o rth F o
Ski to Sea
rk
When:
8 a.m. Sunday,
May 1st
Where:
Mount Baker to
Fairhaven
enue
DOWNHILL SKIING
Leg 2
Mount Baker
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING
Leg 1
5 miles
The race starts at 8 a.m. with the 4-mile cross-country skiing segment. The skiers begin the
race right outside the Day Lodge and make their way up Seven Hills Valley then down Homerun ski run. Once down Home run, the skiers will make their way diagonally across chair one
to the Valley of No Return, which they will ski down. In the last leg of the segment, the skiers
will climb Seven Hills Valley and finish at the Day Lodge area. “ The hardest part of the race
is the start,” said Mel Monkelis, executive director of Whatcom Events. “At the start, you
have 464 cross-country skiers banging elbows, trying to race.”
2.5-mile loop
Once the downhill skier receives
the timing chip, they will ski to the
bottom of chair two, then hike to
the top of chair one. “This is a hard
hike back up to the top,” Monkelis
said. “Not only do they have to
carry their skis or snowboard, but it
is an 800-foot elevation change.”
Once at the top of chair one, the
skier will go down Gunners Ridge,
Blueberry Cat Track, Home Run
and Seven Hills to the finish line at
the Day Lodge.
Carbo-load Pasta Feed at Boundary Bay
Harvey Haggard Hoedown
4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, May 29
Cost: $15 for adults, $10 for children under 10
Outdoor event held in beer garden. It will spill into alley for extra
seating.
Noon to 9 p.m. Saturday May 29
Held on the green at Grahams in Glacier.
Event will feature music, dancing and food.
12 | sports
> HISTORY
Harvey Haggard,
Joe Galbraith duked
it out for the first title
< pg. 1
executive director of Whatcom Events,
the nonprofit group that began organizing
and running of the competition this year.
The race has changed in style as well
as size. This year, teams will compete in
seven different legs: cross-country skiing,
downhill skiing or snowboarding, running,
cycling, canoeing, mountain biking, and sea
kayaking.
But in 1911, the Mount Baker Marathon consisted of solo competitors simply
getting racing to the top of the mountain and
back and returning to Bellingham by train,
car or horse.
Robert Bornstein was a member of
the winning team in the 1973 Ski-to-Sea
race, the first modern version of the competition. He said there are pros and cons to
how the race has evolved.
“When we did it, it was just regular
people getting together, with no training,
using whatever natural ability we had,”
he said. “It’s become professional now.
For somebody like me, you feel like you
wouldn’t even stand a chance. But with so
many different classifications, there’s still
room for novices.”
The original competition in 1911 was
made up entirely of novices, and its story
is a Bellingham legend.
Harvey Haggard was the first man to
summit and get down from Mount Baker,
and he boarded a special train to take him
from the mountain back into Bellingham.
During the train ride, a giant bull jumped
out of the bushes and onto the tracks,
causing a collision that derailed the train.
Haggard received minor injuries, but he
then climbed on a horse to ride into the
town of Kendall, where a car awaited
him. But when he rode into town, the
horse was so startled by the car that it
threw Haggard off.
After that, the car’s driver put Haggard in the car to take him back to Bellingham, and Haggard passed out twice on
the ride. Upon arriving in town, he found
that he had finished in second place behind Joe Galbraith. But the people in the
crowd were so impressed by his perseverance that they collected money for Haggard and crowned him king of the town of
Glacier for a day.
“That personifies the attitude, the
spirit of all the racers on the Ski to Sea,”
Monkelis said. “To me, there’s not a more
photo courtesy of the Whatcom Museum
Harvey Haggard, second from right, had to settle for second place after his train hit a bull and derailed during the 1911 Marathon. The bull
became the main course at an after-race barbecue.
Want to go watch?
erything that goes into it as
a whole,” she said. “It’s a
really fun experience because it seems like a Bellingham tradition.”
The best place to catch a glimpse of the action is to
As the Ski to Sea
head to the pier at Boulevard Park. There, you can
race continues to develop
and grow in popularity,
see conclusion to the sea kayaking leg and the
Monkelis said he sees it
whole race. The race starts at 8 a.m. and the early
becoming even more of a
finishers are expected in the early afternoon, likely
community-driven event.
around 12 p.m. or 1 p.m.
“People want to be
involved in an event like
this,” he said, “because
now the race is owned by
inspirational story than that.”
not quite as sophisticated as it is now.”
the community. It’s for the
The Mount Baker Marathon was run
Bornstein said the event then wasn’t
community. The race committee is made
until 1913 when one competitor, trying
even close to what it is today.
up of volunteers like our neighbors and
a shortcut, fell into a deep crevasse. Al“Each year, it just kept growing and
your friends.”
though he survived, the event was not run
growing,” he said.
Even though the race has gone
again for 60 years until it was reborn as
The current race isn’t only contested
through many changes over its 99-year
the Ski to Sea race.
by top-tier athletes. Western sophomore
history, one aspect has remained constant.
Bornstein was one of three members
Bethany Park plans to participate in the
When the finishers from each team
of the winning team in 1973. Fifty-two
event this year as a snowboarder. She said
this year end the race in Fairhaven, they
different teams entered that year. The
she considers herself to be somewhere in
will be greeted by a lively celebration and
event then consisted of cycling, canoeing
between a beginner and an intermediate
— just as important — a beer garden.
and downhill skiing. Bornstein was the
boarder.
“They didn’t have anything like
skier for his team.
Park said she feels connected to the
Fairhaven at the end of the race [in
“It was pretty exciting that year,”
community of Bellingham through the
1973],” Bornstein said. “But at the time
Bornstein said. “The skiing course was
event.
I owned a tavern and there was a party
pretty open, just a quick down the hill —
“I really enjoy the whole event — evthere.”
Timeline: Ski to Sea from its origins
1966
1911
Fred Elsethagen proposed the modern
idea of Ski to Sea to city chamber of
commerce. It had just three legs: skiing,
bicycling and canoeing. Fifty-two teams
entered and the winner was “The
Taverns.”
The Ski to Sea’s inspiration comes from the Mount
Baker Marathons. At that time, the Marathons ran
from Bellingham to the top of Mount Baker and
back. It was eventually cancelled in 1913 because it
was deemed too dangerous.
The Ski to Sea Race added
cross-country skiing.
1983
1981
The race now had six legs and a distance covering 85 miles. The finish line
moved to Post Point.
Participation skyrocketed — in the
previous 10 years, the race doubled
in number of teams participating.
1990
2003
An kayak option was added to
the final leg of the race. For
two years, participants had the
choice of sailboat or kayak.
2007
Electronic chip timing
was used for the first
time in calculating each
racer's finish time of
their respective legs.
Sports | 13
Western's horses in the race
Caitlin Chinn | WF
Dozens of Western students will compete in this
weekend’s Ski to Sea race. The seven-leg, 4,200-foot descent relay from Mount Baker to Bellingham Bay features
participants from all over the country. The Western Front
took a look at three teams Western students put together.
Chuckanut Up Shuksan’s Nooksack
For some, Ski to Sea is an internationally renowned,
competitive event for which athletes train year-round. For
this Western team, however, the race is a 90-mile-long party.
“It’s going to be a blast,” said Western junior Ian Terada,
who is participating in Ski to Sea for the first time this year.
Terada, along with seven other Western students,
formed a team called “Chuckanut Up Shuksan's Nooksack,” which will compete in Sunday’s race. Terada’s
team came together by networking though friends.
Dianna Hanson, team captain, will participate in her second Sea to Ski race.
“Ski to Sea is just true to Bellingham colors. We’re
quirky people,” Hanson said. “As long as we finish without getting disqualified, that’s all I can ask for.”
On Saturday night, the team will have a pre-race pasta feed to decorate team shirts, bond with teammates and
plan details for Sunday’s race.
Hanson, along with teammate Barbara Johnshoy, will
be canoeing the 18-mile leg for their team.
“I think they [Hanson and Johnshoy] are going to be
blasting ‘Pocahontas’ on a boombox and drinking [during
the canoe leg],” Terada said.
Terada will be running the brutal 8-mile downhill race,
often dreaded for its harshness on the shins and knees. However, there are many distractions from the pain, he said.
“Last year, there were guys running in Chewbacca suits
and prom dresses with blonde wigs,” Terada said. “It was hilarious. A lot of teams have themes, like pirates and truckers.”
Indeed, fun seems to be the goal for many other Ski
The 10 best team names
for outdoor recreation based out of Bellingham. This will
be Roberts’ third Ski to Sea.
Ski to Sea boasts 464 team names; a couple are bound to be humorous
While Ski to Sea has been known to attract professional athletes and even Olympians, training around a
busy school schedule can be difficult.
1. B’HAM’S BOADCAIOUS BEER-BELLIES
“I think I ran, like, once. But I’m going to win anyways,” Roberts said. “My goal is to get in the top six.”
2. CHUCKANUT UP SHUKSAN’S NOOKSACK
Roberts is competing with Team OutboundLife.com
in the corporate division. He will be taking on the down3. WE LOOK BETTER NAKED
hill skiing leg.
4. RIGHT TO BARE ARMS ... AND LEGS
“The downhill ski is not about how fast you can ski
[or snowboard],” Roberts said. “It’s about how fast you
5. WE’RE SCREWED
can hike. You have to hike up this hill, then ski down. It’s
all about the hiking.”
6. DRINKERS WITH A RACING PROBLEM
The race is timed with electronic timing chips on lanyards, which each athlete hands off to the next person in each
7. RACING LIKE WE STOLE SOMETHING
transition area. This allows for more accurate timing and indi8. WHEATIES BOX LEGENDS
vidual splits for each leg can be recorded more easily.
9. COOL SKIMEN AND HOT SEAMEN
10. CAN’T BEAT ‘CAUSE WE DONT’ COMPETE
infographic by Willy Delius & Caitlin Chinn | WF
to Sea teams. The official team roster on the Ski to Sea
website is peppered with names like “Eight Men Without
a Clue,” “Fitting Into Our Skinny Jeans,” Fresh Off The
Couch,” and “Run Like the Wind(ed),” “Fustercluck” and
“We Look Better Naked.”
Hanson and Terada will join the hundreds of people
celebrating on the town following Sunday’s race.
“I’m turning 21 at midnight on Sunday, so we’re definitely going to go out and celebrate afterward,” Terada
said. “If I’m not dead [from the race].”
Team OutboundLife.com
Senior Adam Roberts’ team will represent OutboundLife.com, an up-and-coming social networking website
Team Whitemeat
Another Western team competing in the recreational
division is Team Whitemeat. This weekend will mark
team captain Zach Kramer’s third Ski to Sea race.
Kramer, a junior who formed his team with fellow hallcouncilmembers in Birnam Wood, teamed up with members
of the Edens/Higginson hall council for this year’s race.
“I always get nervous right before I go, but then so
much adrenaline kicks in, and it’s really fun,” said Kramer, who will taking on the road-biking leg. “The best part
is meeting people and bonding with your team.”
“I really recommend it as a team-building and bonding experience,” Kramer said. “It really brings people together.”
Kramer trained for this year’s Ski to Sea by going on
long rides on Chuckanut Drive and using spinning machines
at the Wade King Student Recreation Center, he said.
“We’re in the recreational division so it’s not too competitive,” Kramer said. “But I want to get in the top 50.”
14 | sports
> FESTIVITIES
> RACE
Ski to Sea's best
byproduct:
Community unity
Race's athletic
requirements
prove its legitimacy
< pg. 1
Little did I know just how grand this
parade actually was.
See, I was lucky. My grandma lived
on the corner of Alabama Street and Dean
Avenue, one block from Cornwall Avenue
where the parade started. Because of her
house’s perfect location, my grandma’s
street became the staging area for parade
floats and participants.
Imagine being 9 years old and hanging out with the Nile Shriners with their
funny hats and tiny cars zipping around
the street practicing their routine. These
parade participants, in the novelty units
category, are taking part in their own
competition, judged on uniqueness,
crowd appeal and costumes. If I were
a judge, the Shriners would win every
time.
What many people don’t realize, including myself until I wrote this column,
is that the Ski to Sea race is not the only
competition of the weekend. The Grand
Parade, with its collection of Bellingham
talent, is a competition all its own.
Whether it’s a high school band,
which can win the Sweepstakes Award
for accumulating the most points, or a
nonprofit, fraternity or military band,
which can win the Ralph Pauley Award,
the performance is judged on appearance, music quality, marching and audi-
ence appreciation.
Numerous awards are handed out in the
float category, including the coveted Grand
Sweepstakes Award. Equestrian units, always a hit when I was younger, can win
awards for Best Group, Best Pony Hitch,
Best Draft Horse Hitch, Best Equestrian, Best
Costume/Novelty and Best Cleanup Crew.
Wait, best cleanup crew? I used to
laugh at the pooper-scoopers who trailed
the animals. I had no idea they were in the
running for an award as well.
High-school drill teams compete for
first, second or third prize and are judged
on precision, appearance, originality and
audience appreciation. Finally, one of the
coolest parts of the whole parade, the cars/
trucks division.
When the parade started, my family
would bring lawn chairs and blankets to
the corner of Cornwall Avenue and Alabama Street and have an unimpeded view
of every single parade participant.
As great as the Ski to Sea competition
is, the best part of the weekend has got to
be the sense of community within Bellingham surrounding this great event.
With its wide array of local sponsors and hundreds of volunteers helping
to ensure a fun weekend for all, Ski to
Sea is about more than just a race from
the slopes of Mount Baker to the shores
of Bellingham Bay. It is about an entire
community coming together to celebrate
tradition.
< pg. 1
I appreciate the way this event brings
the whole county together, but I think the
most important aspect of it was the sheer
athleticism that will be on display Saturday.
There is no other race quite like the
Ski to Sea, and that is why it is featured
in USA Today recently and includes former Olympic athletes competing in it every year. The race has become so big and
competitive that local companies are recruiting out-of-state athletes for the teams
they sponsor.
This is not some hometown race; this
is a premier athletic event in this country
and the closest thing Bellingham will ever
have to hosting an actual Olympics.
Some athletes spend their entire year
focused on how well they do in this race.
If you do not believe the hype about
how grueling the event is, let me break
it down for you: Teams consist of eight
members, and those eight divide the 90
miles —yeah, I said 90 — covered by legs
of cross-country skiing, snowboarding or
downhill skiing, running, road and mountain biking, kayaking and canoe racing.
That means the average distance per
contestant is more than 11 miles. Go out
and try to do 11 miles of any of those activities right now. I dare you. You might die.
The easiest portion of the race to the
outsider looking in is the downhill skiing,
but if you take a closer look, it is more difficult than you think. Once the skiers or
snowboarders complete the downhill course
once, they must hike 1,000 feet back up the
trail and ski down again. You kidding me?
Besides, grabbing my interest with
the athletic element, Bellingham itself
brings an unpredictability factor because
we live in an area known for odd weather.
Take the river portions of the race, for
example. Canoeing may sound leisurely
enough, but make no mistake: this is one of
the trickiest portions of the races because of
hazards like logjams and submerged logs in
the Nooksack River. Combine that with the
weather, and only those with experience will
finish with a decent time.
We are lucky to live in an area that
has the environment that has these diverse
event courses so close to each other, and
we should appreciate and take advantage
of it. I will be more impressed by the crazy
feats of endurance I will see this Saturday.
To drive home the point that this event
should be recognized for athleticism rather
than tradition, let me leave you with this:
even though the race is already a brutal 90
miles as I described earlier, race organizers are seriously considering increasing the
race to 100 miles next year to commemorate the 100th year of the race. Add more
than a mile for each participant.
If you will excuse me, I have to go
and rest. Just talking about this race has
me exhausted.
See more online at
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Obama must hold BP accountable for atrocity
M
ore than five weeks have
passed since the Gulf of
Mexico oil spill began, and it’s
just now showing signs of slowing
down. According to USA TODAY,
the effort to plug the leak with
heavy mud resumed Thursday
night after a temporary halt.
Even if the release of oil is finally
coming to an end, there’s still a gigantic
mess that must be dealth with. Scientists
from the U.S. Geological Survey announced Thursday that the well has spilled
17 to 39 million gallons of oil, making this
the largest spill in United States’ history.
The 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska’s
Prince William Sound spilled about 11 million gallons.
Eleven crewmembers lost their lives
when the Deep Horizon rig exploded on
April 20. According to USA TODAY,
70 miles of Louisiana coastline are now
coated with oil and 54,096 square miles of
federal waters have been closed to fishing.
The Obama administration and BP
must move forward with the cleanup process once the leak is stopped. Cleanup efforts must be swift, massive and effective.
Once these immediate needs subside, the
U.S. government must take a serious look
at how BP handled the situation, and decide if BP should be allowed to keep operating in the United States.
In a press conference Thursday,
President Barack Obama said, “As far as
I am concerned, BP is responsible for this
horrific disaster and we will hold them accountable on behalf of the United States.”
Well, Mr. President, we will hold you
accountable to hold BP accountable.
ProPublica reported last week that
the Environmental Protection Agency is
considering barring BP from receiving
government contracts, which could cost
the company billions of dollars in revenue
and could stop it from drilling in federally
controlled oil fields. According to ProPublica, the EPA plans to examine whether the Gulf Coast spill is evidence of an
institutional problem within BP, which is
necessary for debarment. BP has been implicated in four instances of criminal misconduct over the past decade, which could
be evidence of an institutional problem.
The harshest kind of suspension the
government could impose is called ‘discretionary debarment,’ which is applied to
the entire company. ProPublica reported
that if this were imposed on BP, the company’s contracts to sell fuel to the U.S.
military would be cancelled and BP would
be prohibited from leasing or renewing
drilling contracts in the United States.
It could also mean BP’s existing federal
leases, worth billions, would be cancelled.
Before the government could do any of
that, though, it would be required to weigh
the possible effects on the economy.
The Editorial Board urges the EPA to
move forward with the process and punish BP for its reckless actions that will
surely have widespread effects for years
to come. The EPA must not cut BP any
slack because of possible ramifications on
the economy.
Cancelling government contracts
would be a huge blow to BP, which is
what the company deserves for the environmental, economic and human destruction it has caused.
The Editorial Board is comprised
of Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Johnson,
Managing Editor Alex Roberts and
Opinion Editor Megan Jonas.
Apply a critical eye to scientific manipulation
Science is capable of doing some pretty freaky stuff.
What humans have figured out how to do has warranted the
need to draw lines, delineating what we are OK with. Of course,
the problem is that no one agrees on where to draw these lines,
and some people will always try to push limits.
When science reveals new opportunities, we have to draw
our lines and see if any get crossed before we can make any decisions. Take, for instance, genetically engineered trees. ArborGen
is a biotechnology company that has grown eucalyptus trees with
a foreign gene that helps them tolerate cold weather, allowing
them to be grown in a wide variety of places. A trial harvest of
these trees has been approved by the Department of Agriculture.
This new technology has the potential to make a big difference
for the environment, but it’s also possible the trees could do harm.
First, it is necessary to think about what the point of the new
technology is. Eucalyptus can be harvested for wood, pulp and
biofuels, and this new technology would allow the trees to be harvested like any other crop. According to ecology.com, four billion
trees are harvested around the world each year for paper alone.
If we could farm trees efficiently, we could rely less on natural
stands and could protect more acres of forest. This would alleviate many environmental problems.
So, I draw the first of my lines. An issue like this has the
potential to be a waste of time and resources. In the case of these
eucalyptus trees, I am confident this project warrants exploration
because the potential for good outweighs the possibility of failure.
My next move is to consider the ethics of the issue. Are humans allowed to use knowledge to manipulate a living thing in
order to serve human needs? Programming trees so they can survive in more habitats is giving evolution a push. The point is to
make a timber crop to satisfy our resource needs and alleviate the
pressure put on natural habitats. It’s time to use our heads to come
up with new timber production methods, and I accept pushing
‘fast-forward’ on evolution to make this happen. Bioengineering
eucalyptus trees does not cross my ethical line.
What about the environmental effects? Beyond the practicality and the ethics, the health of the environment is most important. If this line gets crossed, it doesn't matter if the trees were
practical or ethical.
The environmental effects of these trees are not yet known.
The company will set up a field test on a small scale to decide
whether these trees can be grown commercially. Foremost is the
worry that these bioengineered trees will turn into invasive species. When foreign plants or animals are introduced into new areas, there is high potential for them to flourish and outcompete
native species, throwing off the balance of the ecosystem. Other
worries include whether the trees use too much water or if they
will carry disease.
I can’t make a decision about the commercial use of genetically engineered eucalyptus trees until I know the results of the
trial. However, I do support the test run, because I think it is ethically sound and practical.
Megan Mullay is a Western senior majoring in environmental
science with an emphasis on terrestrial ecology. Contact Megan
at [email protected].
cartoon by Drew Miller | WF
Megan Mullay | WF Columnist
| 15
What are your plans for
the holiday weekend?
compiled by Chelsea Asplund
Erika Nicole Miller
Junior
"This weekend, my friends and I are
going to go to Fort Casey and we’re
going to play in the old military bases.
Afterward, we’re going to watch the
sunset at Deception Pass.”
Brooks Hassig
Senior
“I am doing the Ski to Sea. I am doing
the downhill skiing section, which
is incidentally more hiking up the
mountain and then four minutes
of skiing.”
Marieka Pernell
Sophomore
“My plans are to go home for Memorial
Day and have a family barbecue. I get to
see my niece, so I’m excited.”
SEE VIDEO ONLINE
16
|
aRTS & liFE
The
See more online at
stairwell
sessions
T
Samantha Sorden | WF
he sound of an acoustic guitar fills the stairwell of Mathes Hall and echoes from the
ninth floor to the basement. People whistle from the lower levels of the stairwell in
appreciation.
Western sophomore and Mathes resident Peter Jahn frequents the stairwell to hone
his “fingerstyle” guitar skills; he also plays in empty classrooms, the Art Annex and
Western sophomore Peter Jahn plays guitar in the ninth floor lounge in Mathes Hall on
May 27. Jahn said he is entirely self-taught, and much of what he plays is made up of
improvisations.
anywhere with high ceilings because of the acoustics.
“Fingerstyle” is a guitar style used to diversify the sound of the music, Jahn said.
Instead of using the traditional pick, or plectrum, Jahn uses his fingers and fingernails to
pluck the strings independently.
Players using a pick are usually focused on creating music and chords, or a collection
of notes and tones sounded together, Jahn said. The fingerstyle brings in more rhythm and
percussive elements.
Rather than providing the bass line or melody for a song, fingerplayers can act as a
band with just one person on guitar.
Jahn’s friend, Western sophomore Spencer Mister, said he has been trying to get Jahn
to learn guitar parts for music Mister has written, but Jahn has refused to use standard
tuning.
Jahn uses DADGAD tuning, a technique that makes it easier to play his style of
music. The guitar is tuned to a chord, so it is not necessary to use the left hand to press
strings down, he said.
Mister said he utilizes the fingerpicking technique — not to be confused with
fingerstyle.
Fingerpicking is more of a patterned, rigid technique. With fingerstyle, which draws
from a variety of techniques, players can be more spontaneous and adventurous in their
playing.
Fingerpicking guitar players usually play with other instruments and are sometimes
accompanied by a vocalist, Mister said. On the other hand, with fingerstyle, it is all about
the guitar and how many uses a player can find for it.
Fingerpicking examples include Joni Mitchell’s song, “I Don’t Know Where I Stand”
and Rocky Votolato’s song, “Silver Trees.”
Jahn started listening to music at an early age, but did not receive his first guitar until
he was 16 years old. He started using the fingerstyle technique because he had no one to
“jam” with and he wanted to explore music in its entirety.
Jahn said he would like to perform and produce an album, but does not have enough
written material yet.
“[Fingerstyle] allowed me to fully explore musical ideas I would otherwise need
a band for,” Jahn said. “I am using my thumb to play the bass notes in my tune [so] I
can effectively replace a bass player when performing. At the same time, I can replace
the lead guitar player by using my index and middle fingers to pluck the higher-pitched
strings, sounding the melody of the tune.”
The self-taught, stair-dwelling guitarist said some people compliment his playing,
but most just hear his music as they run off to class.
“I really love his playing because it’s something I have never really heard before,”
said Western sophomore Erin Jackson, a Mathes resident. “Peter’s fingerstyle playing is
truly distinct and beautiful; he seems to play effortlessly.”
Fingerstyle playing is most often heard in jazz, classical, flamenco and mariachi
music, Jahn said.
“The sound of those genres practically requires the use of some variety of fingerstyle,”
Jahn said. “[It] allows guitarists to play several parts of a tune simultaneously, which
generally leads to a fuller, complete sound.”
Fingerstyle is on its way to becoming a completely new genre of music, bringing
together various elements to create a diverse sound, he said.
Jahn said he learned how to play guitar from The Guitarist’s Online Survival Kit, a
book called “The Guitar of Pierre Bensusan” by Pierre Bensusan, YouTube, and hours
of practice.
Listen to Peter Jahn perform at
westernfrontonline.net
arts & life | 17
Crazy for
kombucha
Andrea Farrell | WF
P
op open a bottle of kombucha, and you will encounter a tangy, fizzy drink that tastes almost like
vinegar soda pop.
Kombucha is a centuries-old fermented tea beverage that is quickly gaining popularity in the
United States. It likely originated in Russia, is non-alcoholic and can be found in beverage cases at
health-food markets and grocery stores.
For many kombucha enthusiasts, the simplest and cheapest way to get their hands on a glass of
the amber liquid is to brew it themselves.
Western junior Sara Digby and her two roommates brew their own kombucha in their home
overlooking Lake Whatcom. By brewing her own kombucha, she pays just a few pennies per glass,
instead of $3 to $5 for a store-bought 16-ounce bottle.
During the brewing process, each bowl or jar is filled with several cups of tea and sugar, with the
kombucha culture, also known as the mother or the mushroom, floating on the surface.
The culture can look almost like a jellyfish — a brown-red disk of waxy slime, waving tendrils
of yeast and bacteria in the liquid beneath it.
The bacteria and yeast in kombucha are edible, much like the microbes in yogurt or beer. In
batches of kombucha, they work together, feeding on the tea, fermenting it and protecting it from any
foreign bacteria or fungus.
Many kombucha companies make vague claims about the health benefits of the drink, saying
it improves health, energy and general well-being. However, little solid research exists regarding
kombucha’s medicinal qualities.
Dr. Brent Bauer of the Mayo Clinic, a national medical organization, wrote on the clinic’s
website about the potential benefits of kombucha.
“To date, there hasn’t been a single human trial reported in a major medical journal,” he wrote.
“This doesn’t mean that kombucha tea can’t possibly have health benefits; it just means that at this
time, there’s no direct evidence.”
Kombucha brewers can sometimes find their cultures contaminated with green or black mold, a
sign that the batch and culture should be thrown away to avoid causing illness.
However, most brewers say it is easy to avoid a foreign mold invasion by keeping a close eye on
the kombucha.
Western junior Sara Digby drinks kombucha tea in her kitchen. In front of her
is a bowl of live, growing kombucha cultures.
Turn to page 18 to learn
how to make your own
batch of kombucha tea
18 | aRTS & liFE
How to:
brew kombucha tea
Supplies: water, sugar, a large jar or bowl and a kombucha culture.
Tips
•
•
•
•
•
•
A jug of kombucha tea sits on the kitchen table. In it are the
live kombucha culture, vinegar, ginger and tea.
The longer kombucha stays in a jar or bottle with a lid on top, the fizzier it will get.
Make sure to release the pressure often; sealed jars of kombucha can sometimes
explode.
Save a small amount of tea along with the culture for your next batch. If your
culture starts to grow a baby — an offshoot of the larger culture — you can peel
it off and use it to make two batches at once.
Try adding ﬂavorings such as pieces of peeled and chopped ginger.
You can also mix kombucha with fruit juice, use it to spice up a salad dressing, or
put a teaspoon into bread dough.
Make a kombucha punch with sparkling wine, strawberries, mandarin oranges
and any other fruit you like.
1. Get a kombucha culture.
4. Place the culture at top of jar or bowl,
2. Brew about three cups of black or green tea,
5. Put the jar in the dark, at room temperature.
You can grow one from
a store-bought bottle of plain kombucha, buy one online or ask
someone who already brews kombucha to save one for you.
and stir in three to five tablespoons of white sugar.
3. Put the tea into a large jar or bowl.
Clean the
jar or bowl first with a plain soap that has no antibacterial properties;
these chemicals will kill the kombucha culture.
and
cover with a towel or cloth. This will protect the kombucha from dust
and foreign mold spores, while allowing carbon dioxide to escape.
The yeast in the kombucha culture will eat the sugar, and bacteria will
turn the yeast byproducts into fizz and ﬂavor.
6. After five days, taste the kombucha. If it is still
slightly sweets with a sour, vinegary bite, it is ready to drink or bottle.
arts & life | 19
Riding
the rails
Train hopping has died down since its
heyday, but some — like Bellingham
resident Mike Talbott — still take the risk
Mike Talbott leans on a dormant freight train. Talbott said he has hopped several trains similar to
this one.
Celeste Erickson | WF
The train
began to stop. Mike
Talbott, 25, woke up to the sun beating down
and the sound of crushing steel ahead.
Talbott, lead singer of Bellingham band Muppet Fetish, missed his first train, and
against his better judgment, took the only other train heading out of Cincinnati.
Talbott did not buy a ticket. Instead, he hopped on a freight train.
“This train was built up of a bunch of cars with giant spools of steel and open tops,
but we got on it anyway,” Talbott said. “We were in a garbage car with an empty open-top
container. The train stopped, and there was a chute that they were just dumping raw steel
in it. We were eight cars away from being crushed by thousands of pounds of steel.”
Train hopping occurs on freight trains, not passenger trains, said Amtrak spokeswoman Vernae Graham.
Train authorities have problems with fare evaders, passengers who go from car to
car to avoid paying for a ticket. If a passenger is caught and refuses to pay the fare, the
person is escorted off the train and to the local law enforcement, she said.
“A train hopper is someone who rides trains to get around the country,” Talbott said.
“Some people do it for fun; some people do it to actually move about from place to place.”
Talbott said he hopped a train for the first time at 14 years old while living in
Naples, Italy. He spent three years living there before returning to the United States.
Talbott said using the train is more common when travelling from town to town in Europe because the train system is better. Talbott said he hopped trains for short distances
and would jump off after riding for about two miles.
When he returned to the United States, he started hopping trains in the same
manner, he said.
“I’d hopped a couple of trains in St. Louis to get to the other side of town, and I
just started hopping for longer periods of time,” Talbott said. “It got to the point where I
would get on a train just to get on a train and leave for the entire summer.”
Train hopping is dangerous, Talbott said. He said he avoids jumping on a train
while it is moving, or “hopping on the fly,” as he calls it, but has done it before.
“I’ve had too many friends that have had limbs cut off or have tried to get their dog
on the train and lost their dog,” Talbott said. “They’ve even hopped on a train and as it
sped up realized it’s not going in the right direction.”
Talbott said hopping on the fly is one of the best feelings.
“When you grab onto the actual train, your feet hit the steel and you’re not in danger anymore,” Talbott said. “It’s an adrenaline rush.”
Gus Melonas, director of public affairs for Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railway,
said the company has commissioned police to give citations for trespassing, fining
people $250 to $500 per citation. The company has been successful in cracking down to
eliminate train hopping.
Editor's note: The Western Front does not condone
train hopping. The activity is often romanticized, but, in fact,
it is illegal and dangerous.
Train hopper terms:
Bull
Hopping on the fly
Johnny/ Jimmy
Slang for train police or security.
Jumping onto a train while it is moving.
Electronic device with a light on the back of
the train. If the light is blinking, that means the
train is leaving.
“It was more common from the mid-1800s to 1970. It was part of the railroad,”
Melonas said. “Train riders are as uncommon today as they were common in yesteryear.”
The crackdown began in 1980 and has become more aggressive since Sept. 11, 2001.
In Washington, about 16 trespassers are killed each year on company lines, Melonas said.
“Bottom line: safety is our top priority,” Melonas said.
Trespassing on railroad property and along railroad rights of way is the leading
cause of rail-related fatalities in the United States. About 500 deaths occur each year
because of trespassing, according to the Federal Railroad Administration’s website. The
organization is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation and focuses on preventing
rail trespassing by partnering with the railroad industry, state and local governments and
other organizations to stop trespassers and issue more tickets.
Talbott said he waits to find a train going in the direction he wants to go before
getting on, and does not get on until it is about to leave. To find a train that is departing,
Talbott looks for a blinking red light on the back of the train, called a Johnny or Jimmy,
he said. After finding the correct train, the rider has to consider how long the train is
and if it is carrying the same freight. If a train is mostly carrying the same freight, it is
likely to be heading to a factory instead of a town, he said.
Even this can be risky: the more cars the train has, the longer the train will go without
stopping.
see > TRAINS, pg. 20
20 | arts & life
photos by Carey Rose | WF
Mike Talbott sits in a compartment he calls a "porch," on a grain car. Talbott said that these
areas make trains more comfortable. He added that the porch should be facing the opposite
direction of the train's movement so wind, dirt and grease won't get blown inside.
> TRAINS
The train-hopping lifestyle is at times fun, but
usually inefficient and inconvenient, Talbott said
< pg. 19
A train hopper could go days without food or water if a train does not stop.
Other factors — such as finding the right car — make train hopping a better experience.
For Talbott, it is the Canadian grainer, a big tank that angles in at the bottom. Box cars are
not the best choice because they are noisy and need a wedge to keep the door open, he said.
Sometimes the door of a box car can accidentally lock a train hopper in, he said.
“Where it angles in, a lot of the time there is a porch on it where you can sit and
watch the country go by,” Talbott said.
Talbott said he knows train hopping is not the best way to get around. He has traveled across the country twice by train alone, but his favorite mode of transportation is
hitchhiking, he said.
“Hitchhiking is more efficient; train hopping is more fun,” Talbott said. “If I need
to get somewhere, I’ll hitchhike. If I just want to travel, I’ll hop on a freight train.”
Talbott has traveled by passenger train before, but only when the tickets were purchased for him, he said. In a way, train hopping has become Talbott’s lifestyle. He said
he doesn’t see any need to buy a ticket.
Talbott points out an area of track called a railroad switch. Talbott said that if a train hopper
isn't careful, the switch can easily trap their foot.
Mike Talbott's suggestions:
Don’t do it: “Don’t jump on a train just because you’ve heard
about train hopping.”
Be safe: “If you’re gonna go, above all, be safe.”
Experience: “Go with someone who knows what they are doing.”
Protection from the sun: “Always carry a bandana.”
Don’t hop a train with identical cars: “You don’t
want to end up at a refinery or factory. The security can be worse
than the cops.”
Avoid winter: “Don’t do it in the winter. It’s like riding in a freezer.”
Light packing: “Make sure your pack isn’t too big. Don’t
carry any unnecessary crap.”

Ski to - The Western Front

Transcription

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