August 2007

The state Supreme Court dismissed last week a challenge by Burien, SeaTac and Tukwila to non-compete fees they receive from the city of Seattle.

In a 6-3 ruling, the court upheld the legality of noncompete fees that Seattle City Light pays to several suburban cities, including Shoreline and Lake Forest Park, to stay out of the utility business.

Writing for the majority, Justice Barbara Madsen said Seattle can pay the suburban cities because those fees do not constitute a government tax.

State law restricts one city from imposing fees on another city's municipal

The South King Fire & Rescue District could save up to $1 million over six years if voters approve Proposition 1 on the Aug. 21 primary election ballot, according to Chief Al Church.

Proposition 1, a property tax levy lid lift measure, would allow the fire district that serves Des Moines and Federal Way to charge up to $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed property value for the next six years.

In the past the district has run the levy lid measure every year.

The Des Moines Rotary Club is focusing much of its current community service efforts on Highline schools.

Among the group's projects so far this year, it has given money for multicultural books, presenting dictionaries to all Des Moines third-graders and funded recreation programs for middle school students.

The Des Moines Rotary joined forces with Rotary clubs of Des Moines, Southcenter and SeaTac, in partnership with the Highline Schools Foundation for Excellence, in contributing $5,000 to the Highline district for the purchase of multicultural books.

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Don't mail your ballots for the Aug. 21 primary election quite yet.

The Aug. 15 issue of the Times/News will include a question-and-answer section featuring Highline-area candidates who are in primary races.

Ballots were mailed to voters serving in the military, living overseas and out of state on July 20 to allow extra transit time for delivery.

Absentee ballots were sent to all other voters who requested them last week.

"Important decisions about parks [and] fire districts ...

Three public housing properties in the Highline area are among eight such facilities included in a $25 million renovation project announced last week by the King County Housing Authority.

The Highline buildings are Brittany Park, Riverton Terrace and Munro Manor.

Fire and life safety system improvements and critical building upgrades, along with remodeled community spaces, will be made at all eight properties, which house nearly 550 seniors and people with disabilities.

The King County Housing Authority closed on an innovative financing this week that rais

Port of Seattle Commissioner Lloyd Hara voted at the July 24 Port commission meeting to delay demolition of the Lora Lake Apartments and reconsider the issue on Thursday, Aug. 9.

Chairman Bob Edwards and Commissioner Alec Fisken also voted to delay demolition so the full commission can discuss at the next meeting whether to accept an $18 million offer to buy the apartments and keep them open.

Commissioners John Creighton and Pat Davis were out of town on Aug. 24.

Hara's vote was erroneously reported in the Aug. 1 Times/News.

I don't know how I missed the superb movie, Marvin's Room, when it was released in 1996. Perhaps I was too stressed in those early years after my husband's stroke to notice a movie that offers a quintessential statement about family caregiving.

John and I stumbled across it recently while channel surfing. Lured by a celebrity cast, I was all set for a couple hours of escapism when, whaddaya know, the room in Marvin's Room turns out to be the bedroom of a stroke patient.

I don't think John identified with the bedridden stroke patient.

Proof that a liberal can co-exist with a conservative sits 10 feet from me.

That's where my conservative colleague Ralph Nichols' desk is located.

Like many families, this professional family maintains a harmonious relationship in the workplace by not discussing politics or religion.

Ironically, we air our differences in the very public arena of our columns.

It was through Ralph's column last week that he used an opening quote from conservative godfather William F. Buckley Jr. to accuse liberals of intolerance toward conservatives.

Meet Helen Hogan

and Jeanne Sweeney

They meet again after 59 years.

Two childhood pals meet again and we can share their moment of delight.

Helen Watson Hogan and Jeanne Fazio Sweeney discovered each other for the first time since graduation from Highline High School when they met recently at the Rainier Golf Club.

Helen is the mother of nine children. Jeanne is the mother of eight children and was editor of the West Seattle Herald, The White Center News and the Highline Times. They first met as students at Mt. View Elementary.

Truck downs power line

Aug. 1-Traffic in downtown Burien was disrupted for much of the day after a solid-waste-disposal truck hit a power pole at First Avenue South and South 150th Street.

The pole carried a feeder line that provides power to about 2,500 customers, many of them businesses, who were without electricity until mid-afternoon.

Traffic backed up in both directions on First Avenue, was is undergoing reconstruction, and was rerouted onto other downtown streets.

No one was injured in the 2 a.m.