December 2006

When Mark Benedum takes the reins at Highline Medical Center, the transition will be a seamless change of leadership.

Benedum, who currently is chief operating officer at Highline, will succeed Paul Tucker on Jan. 1.

Tucker has served as administrator and chief executive officer of this growing medical center since 1978.

Benedum joined Highline in 1984 and has served as administrator of its Specialty Campus in Tukwila.

A long-held vision for expanded social and health care services for residents of SeaTac and South King County is taking shape as The Village at Angle Lake project finishes up this month.

Developed by Lutheran Community Services Northwest (LCS) and the efforts of many community partners, The Village consists of two facilities, Angle Lake Court and the new Community Services Building.

Scheduled to be occupied this month, the three-story LCS Community Services Building will eventually house a full-service medical center, extended-hours childcare, services for immigrants and

Timothy Wood, who created the Highline School District's Waskowitz Environmental Leadership and Service Programs, has received a 2006 Golden Apple award.

The statewide Golden Apple Awards program is sponsored by KCTS TV and funded by PEMCO Insurance.

Wood is among nine individuals and one program honored for making a positive difference in state education from pre-kindergarten through grade 12.

He was originally hired by the Highline district to start a summer adventure-based education program for disenfranchised youth.

Since then, Wood has created y

Needing some assistance, a local woman used Craig's List and found a young woman offering services as an "organizer/handyman." She came to the victim's home and spent the day doing tasks. But the victim became suspicious when the woman said she'd take a bag of garbage out to the trash. Instead, the woman placed the bag in her car and drove away. But she had left her coat behind, so the victim looked through the pockets and found several pieces of her costume jewelry. The victim also discovered other jewelry and some silk curtains missing.

Christmastime always reminds me of my first year publishing the White Center News and my wife and I were busy in the little office about a week before the big holiday when a child, a girl about 10 years old, came into the office. She had long brown hair and two of the biggest brown eyes we had ever seen as she peered at us intently at about counter height.

When my wife asked how we could help her she said softly.

"I would like to get a paper route.

It's about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night - already perfectly dark outside. I've spent the last near hour sitting in traffic on I-90. All I want to do is go home, get something to eat and fall asleep in front of the fireplace. First, however, I have pick up a few last minute groceries for my dad and his poker buddies.

I don't really mind. Metropolitan Market is barely out of the way compared to the drive I'd just made. An elderly woman from the Salvation Army is standing just outside the automatic doors, ringing her soft bell in an unobtrusive manner.

"As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold the person down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might". - Marian Anderson interview, Dec. 30, 1957

For a small-town white girl who never saw a black face until I left my small town to gain a college education, I had a lot to learn about diversity. Looking back at college, I remember only white students. My only chance to branch out past my lock-step educational schedule was working for the head of the music department who was also the head of the local Civic Music Association.

It's three o'clock Sunday afternoon on Gatewood Hill and we were just powered up by Seattle City Light.

We'll hear from all the unhappy pundits and talking heads that want a "study" done on the recent events. We want to express our thanks and gratitude to all the guys and gals from City Light that put out a great effort over the last four days. They did their homework and relied on common sense to do a really great job.

Driving a white county car

to weigh a baby,

to lend an ear to a mother three days old,

the nurse is stopped by a motorcade-

engines rumbling and a line of lights sparkling

to the horizon of Pac Highway

like an angry Christmas tree.

Near the cemetery, men and women

in stiff jackets, green and gold,

line the sidewalk.

I commend you (photographer Amber Trillo) for your "Honoring a hero - Steve Cox" photo gallery. If I could find the words, I would, but this is too gut wrenching.

My wife and I had driven by an impressive crime scene on our way home to West Seattle in the aftermath of the crime without knowing what had happened. When I got home, turned on the news, and heard the name, I could only say to my wife, "Oh no. The deputy who writes the White Center crime articles for the Herald was killed."

I only knew him through the Herald. I liked what I knew.