July 2007

The Metropolitan King County Council last week unanimously confirmed Sherril Huff as director of the King County's Records, Elections and Licensing Services Division, with praise for her leadership in implementing the council's recommendations for election reforms.

"Under intense public scrutiny, Elections has made tremendous strides, and as assistant director of Records, Elections and Licensing, Sherril has been involved in implementing the programs and the change of culture within Elections that resulted in those improvements," said Council Chairman Larry Gossett.

King County's sewer utility crews responded early Saturday morning to a small wastewater overflow at the Murray Avenue pump station after a power failure shut down pumping equipment about 4:30 a.m.

A backup power generator came on about 10 minutes after the initial outage and enabled the pump station to resume normal operations.

It's estimated that between 500 and 1,000 gallons of wastewater flowed into Puget Sound while power was off at the pump station.

In last week's issue, Russell Simmons was incorrectly identified. Simmons is the co-founder of the Def Jam record label and an author. He was not a member of the hip-hop group Run DMC.

On 20th SW, a man with diminished mental capacity lives in an unsupervised group home and has a habit of hiding in the bushes and jumping out, startling passersby on the sidewalk. He has also been known to run around the yard naked. Neighbors are documenting the incidents, hoping that the man will be moved to a supervised facility.

In South Park, an 85-year-old man was tied with an extension cord by a robber who entered his home and demanded his money and wallet. The suspect, a white male in his late 20s, had red facial hair, tan gloves, and a multicolored knit stocking cap.

Ariel House, in the Admiral District, is the only independent housing in the nation for people with multiple sclerosis.

"The whole idea is that there was a hole in the community," said Merrill Ringold, executive director of Ariel House. "We're talking about people who live very independently in a well-designed community that allows them to maintain their independence. Without this, they would end up probably having to go to a nursing home, even though they really don't need to."

Ariel House has been remodeled to be entirely accessible for wheelchair-bound residents.

Kevin Costner is the koala bear of actors, finicky and unadaptive by nature. If the role fits Costner - provides him with the right metaphorical eucalyptus tree of an "Open Range" or "The Upside of Anger" - he snuggles right in and owns the story. Plop him in alien territory - let's say "Waterworld" or "Rumor Has It" - and he will flatten the movie right out. It's a quality that makes him a chancy bet at a casting call.

"Mr. Brooks," the crime thriller by director Bruce Evans, solves this problem in a novel way.

Bring the family, order pizza - even set up a couch - at West Seattle's outdoor cinema, now in its fourth year.

"It's a neat little event," said Lora Vickrey, who chairs the cinema committee for the West Seattle Junction Association. "It's very West Seattle - eclectic and small town."

Vickrey, owner of Hotwire Online Coffeehouse, has kept the free summer event going after one of its originators moved out of state a couple years ago.

J. M. "Mike" Sweeney isn't actually quite as old as the City of Seattle, though you might find that hard to believe that after being regaled with one of his impromptu Seattle history lectures.

He still remembers the old Seattle Pacific Telephone Exchange for example and the clunky rotary dial phones they used (he's still got his), and can even quote you his first phone number (HOLLY-2737). As a man with total recall Mike has no use for all the new-fangled data storage gadgets out there: the PDA's, the I-pods and whatnot.

Colleen E. Wilson, who served as chief of police in Sumner for nearly five years, will become chief of the 130-person Port of Seattle police department in August.

Former city of SeaTac Police Chief Scott Somers was a finalist for the job. He is currently chief of special operations for the King County Sheriff's Office, in charge of units handling hostage negotiations, SWAT, marine patrol and search and rescue.

Wilson replaces Tim Kimsey, who retired May 31 after nearly 30 years in the department.

AUBURN - Madison Lowrey's sixth inning RBI double burst a 2-2 standoff and sent unbeaten Bonney Lake-Sumner to a 3-2 win Friday against Soundview-Steel Lake for the championship of the 2007 Washington State District 10 Little League Softball All-Star tournament at Brannan Park.

The hit disintegrated a dynamic duel between BL-S hurler Randi Johnson and SV-SL mound master Alex Destephano.

Soundview-Steel Lake's contact hitters were regularly foiled by balls that were hit directly at smooth fielding players.

Two first inning BL-S runs were the margin through four