Shore Club-Coast Guard incident reported

Mercer Island police forwarded a report to the Coast Guard concerning an Aug. 5 incident in which a Coast Guard vessel sped through the channel behind Mercerwood Shore Club and damaged several cleats, the 6- to 12-inch metal post holdings used to tie boats to the dock. There were several witnesses to the incident, as there was a barbecue event at about 6 p.m., at the Shore Club, 4150 East Mercer Way, when the Coast Guard vessel rushed past. The vessel sent the noses of several smaller boats under the dock when the wake occurred. "The boats looked like corks in a whirlpool. I don't know where (the Coast Guard vessel) was going, but it was really booking," Islander Kendall Taylor said of the 60- to 80- foot boat that, she added, went "screaming past." Taylor said she was astounded that the vessel didn't stop, or appear to slow down after the incident. "I think it was totally reckless of them." Mercer Island Marine Patrol Sgt. Dave Jokinen said 10 cleats popped from the dock and two cleats were loosened. However, there are no plans to pursue the matter, other than passing the report on to the Coast Guard, Jokinen said. "Occasionally large boats come through and create a wake, it happens once or twice a year. Usually it's with private boats, where people aren't paying attention or are not used to being in a narrower area," he said. "But, nobody did anything on purpose, it's not like someone came through there laughing and saying Ha! Ha! I'm going to get those little boats.' This is something they probably weren't even aware happened." Rotary First Harvest receives $8,000 from PacifiCare The PacifiCare Foundation has contributed $8,000 to Rotary First Harvest, a community-based organization on Mercer Island. Rotary First Harvest provides millions of pounds of surplus fruits, vegetables and other nutritious products to food-bank distribution warehouses. Funds from the donations will be used for food recovery costs and program costs, such as picking, packing, storage and transportation of produce and other food items.

The PacifiCare Foundation is a nonprofit organization established by the PacifiCare Health Systems, Inc.

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