February 2007

There was a time when other KingCo boys basketball teams routinely trounced the Ballard Beavers and treated them like little brothers who should have stayed home.

The little brother has grown up under second year head coach Billy Rodgers and the KingCo teams have taken notice.

Last Friday, Redmond learned their lesson as Ballard's Eric Taylor scored with only five seconds remaining in the game to beat the eastside team 47-46 in front of a loud group of Mustang fans who stood up in one section throughout the game, like fans in college.

Senior Nigel Peter-Denman

Beginning of the end

By Peggy Sturdivant

When my daughter was young I didn't work on Wednesdays. On that day we would leave the house after breakfast and stroll to downtown Ballard. There didn't seem any reason not to stop at the swings by the Community Center, or the Ballard Baking Company for a brown-eyed Susan cookie - it was story day at the library. Even the bank where the library now stands doubled as an indoor playground with a large collection of interlocking plastic toys and farm animals.

We are concerned that the decision to forgo a new Pro-Parks levy could mean Seattle's excellent parks system could suffer the neglect of financial support that has plagued King County parks and the systems of other cities.

But that is just one concern. The other is the injection of the city council into the executive management of the city by the duly elected mayor. We often don't agree with this mayor, but his cold reception of meddling by the council is, in this case, right on.

When it comes to unions, there seems to be little middle ground. Americans either love them or hate them.

The good news for organized labor is, these days, more people love them.

A new survey by Peter D. Hart Research Associates shows that the public support of unions is at a 25-year high - 65 percent approve of unions while only 25 percent disapprove. More than half of all workers say they would join a union today, given the chance.

And why wouldn't they? It pays!

The U.S.

I was a fan of Mike Mailway since the days when you used to be able to call him for advice by dialing the letters of his last name into the telephone.

Mike wrote a newspaper column that was a neat combination of odd facts and troubleshooting.

Mailway's breezy style made you laugh and educated you at the same time, and I have no doubt that this had an effect on many writers, myself included.

One might call outgoing Assistant City Manager Derek Matheson the strong, silent type.

Silent in the sense that the 31-year-old stays out of the limelight, quietly but assuredly helping operate the controls of Washington's seventh largest city.

Strong because during his tenure in the city manager's office, Matheson has emerged as one of Federal Way's most effective advocates and one of its most forward-thinking city architects.

"I feel that these have been the best 12 years of my life," said Matheson, who reminded Fire Chief Al Church during a short farewell sp

Paul Ishii, of Federal Way, was elected to a second term as Secretary of 4Culture's Board.

As General Manager of the Mayflower Park Hotel, Mr.

1. Federal Way police fielded a call regarding some malicious mischief that took place at a construction site near 34000 19th Avenue Southwest. The incident took place sometime between 4 p.m. and 6:30 a.m on the evening of January 27 and the morning of January 29. Representatives from Alpha Development contacted Federal Way police to report that an unknown person or persons had thrown a large rock through the front window of a backhoe at the construction site. One of the representatives reported that there was approximately $400 worth of damage done to the backhoe.

The Todd Beamer Titans had a good season. As a matter of fact, they made it to the postseason in boys basketball for the first time in the school's four-year history.

But now the bad news.