As part of your New Year Resolutions, consider volunteering, and of course I recommend you volunteer in a park near you. Volunteering has many benefits, including for your physical and mental health. You can do more than just vow to lose weight and exercise more.
Recently, there has been research that indicates volunteering provides individual health benefits in addition to social benefits.
The horror. The horror.
The Kennedy Lancers' undefeated 8-0 girls basketball team beat the winless 0-4 Tyee Totems, 84-6, in Seamount League action on Dec. 20.
And, really, because of the laws that govern high school basketball games, a team so much better than another team has no choice but to score time and time again, in this game invented by Dr. James Naismith back in 1891. Naismith's game, broken down into four quarters of eight minutes each, has no mercy rule to end a game early that is so terribly lop-sided.
Meet Ron Vailencourt,
He has been a bell ringer for the Salvation Army for seven years. His location this year was in front of Fred Meyer in Burien. He is gone now till next Christmas but he has lots of amazing stories.
I asked him if he was the real Santa because his beard was pretty short. He said it used to be clear down to his chest. One day he was leaning over the kitchen range not knowing his wife had turned on a back burner.
Will low-income folks finally find a home next to an airport runway? Will it be Burien, Seattle or last-minute suitor SeaTac that wins the heart of North Highline? Will Burien be screwed?
All of that was part of the soap opera that was Highline news last year. Here is the completely arbitrary list of the top ten Highline stories of 2007.
1.
The Port of Seattle performance audit [by the State Auditor] brings out the need for at least three major changes in the Revised Code of Washington [RCW] governing the Port.
1. The right to take property taxes in the RCW must be abolished. The audit demonstrates that during the three year (2004-2007) of the study, $97 million in property taxes was wasted. Previous audits show that the Port only took in approximately $179 total in property taxes during a three-year period.
Ralph Nichols' comments on Dec. 5 are yet another example of a continuous pattern of anti-liberal divisive rhetoric.
This kind of commentary reminds me of an out-of-touch conservative dinosaur that follows the old conservative strategy to take pot shots at liberals at every opportunity and to ignore the conservative failings that we are all so familiar with now.
This strategy is intended to mould public opinion and is proven to work if readers are not attentive. Fortunately, that is not the case anymore.
I feel a little sorry for Ralph.
A few weeks ago, I let my dogs out of their kennels when I got home. They ran out to greet my daughter who was still getting out of the car. There was a couple walking down the street and the man was carrying a golf club. The dogs barked, telling me that the man was there and telling the man that they were there.
My puppy, an 8-month Border Collie, went over to say "Hello" and was hit in the head with the club sending her head over tail.
Highline cities continued their economic development plans in 2007 while Burien dealt with affordable-housing advocates who opposed demolition of the Lora Lake Apartments.
Burien and Seattle's dispute over North Highline annexation was not resolved, and the decision was complicated by SeaTac's suggestion it might want to annex Boulevard Park.
Here's a month-by-month look back at what made news in Highline during 2007.
January
Scott LaVielle, a 27-year veteran who worked his way up through the ranks, replaced Russ Pritchard as North Highline Fire Dist
Burien City Council members voted 4-2 on Dec. 17 to approve comprehensive plan amendments that place no restrictions on the size of retail businesses in the Northeast Redevelopment Area.
The action followed a lengthy discussion about whether "big box" stores like Wal-Mart should be built there.
Mayor Joan McGilton, Deputy Mayor Rose Clark and councilmen Jack Block Jr.
Federal help is on the way for King County residents recovering from damage caused by the mid-December storm and flooding.
Major damage in the Highline area was in Shorewood, where about 20 homes were damaged or destroyed by a mudslide.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently declared King County eligible for individual assistance for the recent series of storms hitting the region.
"Thanks to the hard work of our local emergency management officials, and our partners at the state and federal levels, our residents can now receive the financial he
