July 2006

The car of accused murderer Velma Ogden-Whitehead was stolen on July 2 sometime before 2:15 a.m.

Ogden-Whitehead is currently in the King County Jail facing first-degree murder charges for the death of her husband, Ron Whitehead.

Her 18-year-old son and his 17-year-old friend are also charged with first-degree murder in connection with the March 2005 shooting of Whitehead.

Ogden-Whitehead's daughter, who has power of attorney while her mother is in jail, went to her mother's house in the 20900 block of 6th Ave. S. in Des Moines at 2:15 a.m.

Jack Thompson (center), a graduate of Evergreen High School and Washington State University who went on to play quarterback in the National Football League, poses with students and fellow coaches at his recent camp in White Center.

Jacob Eddy pitched a complete game and West Seattle batters supported him with 19 hits on Sunday, July 2, to bring a banner to the West Seattle Little League.

Scoring in four of the six innings, the West Seattle 10-11 age Little League baseball All-Stars demolished Pac West, 14-4, to complete a rise from the dangerous losers bracket of the tournament to the Washington District 7 championship at the Pac West Ball Fields.

West Seattle will represent District 7 at the Shoreline state tournament.

Leading 2-0 after two innings, West Seattle erupted for seven runs in

Drama, suspense, and spirited competition were the dynamics on Sunday, July 2.

Rex Lakey's deep fly ball to center field in the bottom of the sixth inning plated two runs to propel West Seattle to a 6-5 win in the provisional championship game of the 2006 9-10 age Washington District 7 Little League baseball All-Star tournament held at the Pac West Ball Fields in SeaTac.

Andrew Crunican's one-out single preceded a walk to McNeil Fulmore. Both runners moved up one base before Lakey drove what appeared to be a fly ball out to center field.

If you shop at McClendon Hardware in White Center, you probably already have met the Duchess. She has been a cashier there for nine years.

Duchess is her nickname but her real name is Vida Rayfield and she hails from Chimacum but now lives in Boulevard Park. I noticed the 24 bracelets on her left arm and got curious because she has so much metal on her arm she could set off every security detector at Sea-Tac.

When you spend most of your time advocating for a husband in health crisis it becomes clear that some things get lost in the shuffle. Since my husband came home from a succession of care center stays, I prided myself on being on top of things. Well I must say that being on top wasn't always my favorite position but it helps to be in command when dealing with health organizations, health aides, specialists, the IRS and all manner of other entities when one is in home- and health-care management.

Things were great the other morning.

Do you feel like you're in a bit of a rut? Is your performance or enthusiasm waning? Could this be because you're repeating the same routine over and over? Or that you're not paying that close of attention? Grinding it out, day in, day out. Just getting it done.

Here's to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation!

The $9 million investment in White Center children from the world's biggest philanthropic organization will benefit our most vulnerable citizens, poor children younger than age 5.

The Gates Foundation and its partners will test the theory that spending money to improve child care, provide early education, teach parenting skills, even offer job training for parents, will all help create more productive, more promising lives for kids who grow up poor.

Kindergarten teachers frequently complain that many childre

The Burien Residents Against Annexation Political Action Committee recently conducted one-on-one meetings with each of the Burien City Council members.

The purpose of these meetings was for the political action committee to alert the council to serious problems in the budget numbers being provided by the city staff.

To our cherished guests,

Webster's Charlestown Street Caf/ has had the opportunity to serve our West Seattle community for over 16 years. It is with heavy hearts that we announce our lease will not be renewed and will end on Dec. 31, 2006, and we will be forced to close our doors.

The property has been leased to a developer. What is to be built here is unknown to us at this time. We have spoken with the developer and he would like us to continue to operate here until demolition begins some time in the spring of 2007.