The Senior Scene

Dog waste that isn’t picked up and disposed of by owners is a source of pollution for stormwater runoff, says Shauna Hansen, public education and outreach coordinator for the Surface Water Management division for the city of Tacoma.
“We’ve promoted this message for a long time,” said Hansen. “No matter the size of the deposit, it will pollute local waterways because pet waste has harmful bacteria in it that contributes to water-quality problems when it washes into storm drains.”
The city’s dog waste law, which was passed in 2007, states, “It is a violation for any person to fail to immediately remove fecal matter deposited by a dog or other animal in his or her possession on public property such as park property, school grounds, public rights-of-way, or public easements or on private property that does not belong to the animal’s owner or custodian.” Violators are subject to a fine of $250.
One effort to help pet owners be responsible and meet the law by scooping their pet’s poop is Tacoma’s Neighborhood Dog Waste Station program. The city is piloting this program with a goal of installing 20 bag stations throughout the city by the end of the year.
Each station has a sign depicting a friendly pooch with a call to “Do your doody” and provides dog owners with bags to scoop their pet’s waste and dispose of it properly in the trash.
“Pierce County started this program a few years ago, and we are just starting it in Tacoma this year,” said Hansen.
The program relies on individual homeowners who are encouraged to sponsor a station in their neighborhood.
“The sponsor applies for a bag station free of charge, and we install it in a publicly accessible location in their neighborhood where pet waste is a problem,” Hansen said. “Then they are responsible for monitoring the station and restocking the bags when the initial rolls of bags run out. The sponsors can reuse any type of extra plastic bags they collect at home, and that’s one of the reasons we like this station design.”
Neighborhoods that would like to sponsor a bag station in their area can call Hansen at 253-502-2284 or get more information and an application form at www.cityoftacoma.org/scoopywatch.
Scoopy Doo, a dog-costumed mascot who loves Puget Sound, attends community events and encourages pet owners to be responsible with their dog’s waste. The events are fun for kids, especially the poop toss game where kids can win a prize by tossing baggies into a tin can.
“I think it’s most effective to keep a sense of humor when talking to folks about this topic,” said Hansen.
Joey Furuto, community and neighborhood parks manager for Metro Parks Tacoma, said all dog parks in Tacoma have dog bags available, as well as signs alerting dog owners to be sure to be responsible with their pet’s waste.
“We train our staff, and they have cards that they pass out to dog owners who aren’t going by the rules. The cards have a few facts about picking up waste or putting dogs back on the leash,” he said.
Furuto noted that when people don’t follow the poop-and-scoop rules, it affects all parkgoers and maintenance staff. Officials encourage visitors to scoop up the poop and dispose of it in the garbage (in plastic bags) or flush it down the toilet.
Stressing that 90 percent of dog owners follow the rules, Furuto said Metro Parks likes to say that park staffs educate and Tacoma Police Department does the enforcement.
Furuto said waste on the ground is unsightly, pollutes the water and poses a health risk for pets and people, especially children.
Metro Parks has partially fenced off-leash areas and fully fenced dog parks. More information about the dog parks is at http://www.metroparkstacoma.org/dogs/.

For the last seven years, Bud Dyer and the Auburn Valley Wings, an Auburn-based motorcycle club, have donated time and supplies to clean up the Washington Soldiers Home Cemetery in Orting. The group annually is dedicated to making sure the cemetery looks its best right before the Memorial Day weekend.
Dyer said he approached the Soldiers Home administrators, telling them that the cemetery was in bad shape and his group would like to help.
“We did everything they couldn’t do by themselves. We raised headstones before they sunk,” he explained.
Now each year 50 to 70 members of the motorcycle group show up. “We make sure everything is spruced up. We bring our own supplies and provide labor, plants, bark and we feed the people who come out and work,” Dyer said.
This year, state Rep. Graham Hunt and other volunteers collaborated with the Auburn Valley Wings in a coordinated effort to spiff up the cemetery. It was appreciated by the Soldiers Home, said Heidi Audette, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Veterans Affairs.
“We depend a lot on community support, and the cemetery in Orting is one of those things,” she said
Hunt, who serves the Second Legislative District in south Pierce County and lives in Orting, said he and his wife have visited the Soldiers Home for the last few years with their children. Hunt and his wife are veterans, and they have used the experience as a history teaching tool for their children.
One of the things that bothered them was the state of disrepair of the cemetery.
“The original purpose was for displaced homeless veterans from the Civil War, and later they established the cemetery,” Hunt said.
Keeping the gravesites in good repair and clean was quite a challenge. “Some of them lean left or right or go forward and some are really in bad shape,” said Hunt.
Hunt organized his group and they cleaned the headstones, working hard to remove all the mold and moss. A new cleaner, also used by the White House, was applied to the headstones.
“Since this was approved by the Veterans Affairs, we were allowed to use it for our event,” he said.
Hunt has created YouCaring.org and a fund-raising site to raise money to not just clean the headstones, but also to restore the cemetery.
“We want to preserve the trees without disrupting the remains of the soldiers. We have trees there that are probably close to 100 years old, and there is history in that,” he said.
YouCaring has raised $860 so far. Hunt said the goal is to raise $700,000.
“It is not just Washington soldiers that are buried here. They are from all over the U.S.,” said Hunt.
With 2,265 sites at the cemetery, the volunteers’ work was cut out for them at the cemetery. Hunt said both groups worked well together.
“What a blessing it was to have them there that day. Some of our volunteers helped them and some of their volunteers helped us,” he said.
Lunch was provided by the Auburn Noon Lions Club and Hunt Family Insurance, the business that Hunt owns.
“There is still a lot more work to do to get the cemetery to an area that truly is fitting to be honoring our veterans, but it is leaps and bounds forward from where it was,” Hunt said.

Joan Cronk, who wrote this article, is a freelance writer.

Every Monday from September to the end of May, the Memorie Singers meet to rehearse for upcoming performances.
The group, comprised of folks who are at least 55 and have a love and talent for singing, are serious about their craft. That being said, they also have a lot of fun with it.
Musical Director Cyndie Carr sang in choruses and played in bands and orchestras most of her life and admits that her new role is a bit challenging, but she loves it.
“I do enjoy what I’m doing,” she said.
The Memorie Singers perform at nursing facilities, retirement centers, hospitals, adult daycare centers and more throughout the year, and their rendition of songs from the past bring smiles to the faces of the residents.
“The expression on their faces – it is really wonderful,” said Carr.
Currently the group is practicing like mad to be ready for its yearly performance on June 13 from 3 to 5 p.m. at Tacoma Musical Playhouse, located at 7116 Sixth Ave. in Tacoma. The show, titled “Way Way Way Way off Broadway,” will feature Broadway songs most everyone can relate to. The TotemAires and the Out of Time Gospel singers will also perform.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12. All money raised by the performance will be donated to Tacoma Musical Playhouse’s Scholarship Fund. Tickets can be purchased in advance from any member of the group, by calling Doris Leister at 253-472-1208, or at the door on the day of the performance.
Leister, has been with the Memorie Singers for about four years, “saw them sing at St. Ann’s Convent, and after the performance I asked them, ‘How do you get into this group?’ and they said ‘Just show up for practice.’
“We sing because we like to sing,” Leister added.
Suzanne Tate said she has been a member for about a year and enjoys the diversity of folks who participate.
“It was so easy to join,” she said. “People are very friendly.”
At a recent practice session, the Memorie Singers belted out tunes such “Memories,” “Another Opening-Another Show,” and “Put on a Happy Face.”
Male and female voices blended and chimed in at just the right moment, practicing tunes over and over until they were satisfied. Carr sat up front, her glasses balanced precariously on her nose, directing, explaining and giving directions. The group did a lot of laughing.
“We are just learning some of the songs, but by show time, it will be much better,” said Carr.
One member of the group arrived late, but as she rushed through the door, she was already singing along.
When they sang “Easter Parade,” it was with gusto and enthusiasm. Singing along with everyone else was 96-year-old Bill Parks, who joined the Memorie Singers in 1970 and is still a regular member.
Piano players are hard to come by for the Memorie Singers, and they value their current players, Vivian Skagerberg and Carol Benton. Skagerberg and Benton take turns playing, and when they aren’t working the piano, they are singing right along with the group.
Outfits for performances vary with the season. Leister said the basic outfit is black slacks and a white shirt, with the vests changing color throughout the year.
“Cyndie tells us to wear all the gold jewelry we own,” said Leister laughing.
The group gets a real kick out of performing and looks forward to the yearly appearances at the playhouse.
“It is fun being on stage,” said Leister. “Our grandkids are waving and everyone smiles. All of our lives, we watched the movies and never dreamed of being on stage, and now we are there performing and people are applauding.”

Joan Cronk, who wrote this article, is a freelance writer.

Bill Baarsma calls himself a Tacoma guy and a history buff.
The former University of Puget Sound professor and two-term former mayor of Tacoma has served as president of the Tacoma Historical Society for the last four years. He was just re-elected for another term.
The historical society began 25 years ago and “was formed primarily because people thought that the Tacoma story was being told by the Washington State Historical Society,” said Baarsma. “We felt there needed to be an organization that would tell the Tacoma story and retain and archive treasures from Tacoma’s past.”
The first anniversary of their new museum location at 919 Pacific Ave. in the Provident Building is fast approaching. The cozy and easily accessible storefront is open to visitors free of charge Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The exhibit “Greetings from Tacoma: Souvenirs and Boosterism” closed at the end of March and showcased treasures from the Top of the Ocean restaurant that once was a waterfront landmark, the Never Never Land family attraction that was a longtime icon at Point Defiance Park, and Cheney Stadium, just to name a few.
“Golf History for Non-Golfers 1894-1944,” opened March 29 and will run through July 31.
The first location for the historical society was on South Cedar Street. Baarsma described that location as “difficult to find, but at least it was 1,500 square feet where they could put their collection.”
The society relies on fund-raising to keep things rolling, and their first Tacoma Historic Tour of Tacoma Homes and a Destiny Dinner helped them get off the ground.
An exhibit center on Broadway in the early 2000s opened to what Baarsma described as “great fanfare,” but when the city formed the Broadway Local Improvement District in downtown, visitors couldn’t reach the new location and the building was closed and the staff was laid off. Finding a suitable location downtown became the society board’s main goal.
“We had searched for a number of years and looked at a lot of options when this location (on Pacific) opened up,” said Baarsma. The new location offers two suites and over 3,000 square feet.
“We could have a site for our archived documents and objects and a place where we could put the newspapers back to the 1880s, and a place for the exhibit center. We could call it our museum,” said Baarsma enthusiastically.
The Tacoma Historical Society is more than just a storefront in downtown Tacoma. Each month they present a lecture at UPS, free and open to the public, on a subject related to Tacoma. And the Tour of Historic Homes is the first weekend of May each year. The tour is an opportunity for people to experience Tacoma’s history by walking through homes built in the 1880s and learn about people who lived in those homes and how they shape and affected the city, said Baarsma.
Bill Evans, owner of the Pacific Northwest Shop in Tacoma, opened his home to the tour once in the mid-1990s and again in 2014. Hundreds of people walked through it, and Evans said it was a great experience for his family.
“It is so important to remember the people who lived in those structures and the events that took place there,” he said.
The annual Destiny Dinner honors some aspect of Tacoma’s heritage. Past honorees include the history of rock and roll, an event honoring artists who have performed at the Pantages Theater, the military, and sports in Tacoma with a banquet at Cheney Stadium inviting past athletes.
This year’s banquet will be held on Sept. 27, and the theme will be the men and women who helped build Tacoma over the years. T
he first weekend in June, the Society puts on their extremely popular cemetery tour, with re-enactors portraying people who were buried in the Tacoma Cemetery.
Membership in the society costs $25 for one person and $35 per family. The website for more information is www.tacomahistory.org.
“Compared to other non-profit organizations, history is a tough sell. It is difficult to get people to write big checks, and we are always scrambling to raise money to provide for this museum. We aren’t government, and we rely on our supporters to help us pay the bills,” said Baarsma.
The society publishes books, as well.

“Rising up from Tacoma’s Twenty-One Disasters and Defeats” was based on topics chosen by the 2012-13 students of Seabury Middle School, and 1,500 copies were presented at no cost to all elementary schools in Tacoma.
The Society’s mission is to preserve, promote and present Tacoma’s History. “We are the only organization around that does that. We are it. If we go, there is no Plan B,” said Baarsma.