July 2006

Governor Christine Gregoire recently praised 34th Legislative District Democrats for electing state Sen. Erik Poulsen and Reps.

A recently opened restaurant in White Center offers drip coffee for five cents a cup to customers ordering breakfast. Since breakfast is available anytime at Chef Simon's, the nickel coffee flows all day.

Tina Nguyen and Simon Nguyen, the chef, own the new cafe. They serve American, Chinese and Vietnamese cuisine and are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lunch prices start at $4.50. Dinner prices range from $6 to about $9.

Chef Simon's is located where the Cookbook Caf/ operated for years, on 14th Avenue Southwest a few doors south of Roxbury Street.

Education takes center stage in this year's Summer Musical Theater Conservatory at ArtsWest as West Seattle students Mandy Barnet, James Grixoni-Lewis, Riana Hidalgo, Emily Meyer, Micah Packard, Cecelia Rehm, and Kelly Thoma help bring Kander and Ebb's musical classic "Cabaret" to the stage for 12 uncut and uncensored performances August 1 to 12.

The award-winning smash Broadway hit musical "Cabaret" is set in a nightclub in Berlin as the Roaring Twenties draw to a close and the pre-World War II social and political mechanisms of the Nazi party gain power and popularity.

Lori Nguyen has been recognized as a leader and achiever with a $1,000 grant from The Comcast Foundation for outstanding commitment to community service and academic accomplishments.

Nguyen graduated from West Seattle High School with a 3.6 GPA and plans to attend the University of Washington in the fall.

Abraham Diekhans-Mears, a junior at West Seattle High School, won second place in the annual Civil War Preservation Trust national essay contest for his essay on saving Civil War battlefields.

Diekhans-Mears received a $100 cash prize, and his essay will be published in the next issue of Hallowed Ground, the Civil War Preservation Trust's magazine. In addition, two of Diekhans-Mears' teachers at West Seattle High, Bonnie Saunders and Andrew Finley, will each receive a $50 gift certificate from the History Channel, a sponsor of the contest.

Witnessing a violent confrontation between his parents, a 13-year-old called 911. By the time officers arrived, Dad had already left the scene and Mom, seemingly intoxicated and on narcotics, was screaming and uncooperative. A large rock of crack cocaine sat on the kitchen counter. One officer interviewed Mom outside, away from the children. She bit the officer_s hand and was taken into custody. The other officer spoke with the children, and learned that the boy and his 9-year-old sisters live with the parents in a single room at the back of rooming house.

Ready for some rock with a side 'o fries?

No longer do you have to hop in the car for late night drives to see live music in Ballard, Belltown or Capitol Hill (and we thought life for Westside music fans was getting' good with the Georgetown's latest offerings).

Now, thanks to the new Skylark Caf/ and Club on Delridge, we can have it all right here in the hood at a nice, affordable neighborhood price.

This 1,800-square-foot "garage chic" venue decorated with vintage Buick Skylark ads and found objects from the basement (former restaurants dating back to the 193

Just think what Bill Gates got us into when he produced the personal computer - a world of stress, conspicuous consumption, and planned obsolescence. I thought I had arrived when I exchanged my electric typewriter for the perfect home computer. But it was only then that the technology tantrums began.

My monitor lit up with letters and numbers and this message: Shut down your computer and unload all your software and reinstall it or you will lose all the data you have stored. Then a box pops up reminding me that my virus software has expired.

It is good to hear that the city will really fix California Avenue and not just slap some oil and little rocks over the top and call it a job.

We got the idea that was the plan at first. Now the city street folks are agreeing that there are some serious problems beneath the surface of West Seattle's "main street."

Tim St.

We appreciate Rebekah Schilperoort's attempt to shed light on the challenges our business has faced recently.