February 2008

To the Editor:

Recently I logged onto your papers site and found oh so many articles belittling the fact that my husband and I spoke on behalf of ACT.

To make things perfectly clear, my husband and I are not associated with ACT, but don't mind stepping up to present the pro side of having a strong mayor. We were asked to in fact.

For those of you so highly offended by the fact that ACT members didn't speak, please realize that not everyone is willing to stand up and speak. Many simply cannot do it.

I have been involved in public education since the early 1960's, and I wonder if education is considered as important as it used to be.

This involvement has included work as a classroom teacher in secondary schools and colleges, school administration in both public and private education, and most recently serving 7 years on the Federal Way School Board.

Clearly I have found that education, as it says in the State's constitution; a "Paramount Duty."

I have lived in this state since 1979.

The Federal Way City Council tonight unanimously confirmed the appointment of Dave Larson as the City's next municipal court judge.

The seven-member council voted 6-0 to approve Larson, with Councilmember Michael Park absent.

Larson, who graduated from Federal Way High School in 1976, will step in amid a http://www.federalwaynews.net/articles/2008/01/10/news/local_news/story01.txt>flurry of controversy to replace Judge Colleen Hartl, who resigned in December.

Whittle, fiddle backs, quilted maple, spalted; these words are as foreign to our modernized world as such words as "hunting," and "made from scratch," yet they are still part of the everyday vernacular of Howard and Audie House.

Howard and Audie House have lived in Seattle for most of their lives. They have two daughters, five grandchildren, and seven great grandchildren. Howard, 86, was born in 1921. He grew up on a farm outside of Birch Tree, Mo. He was raised during the Great Depression, served in World War II ( "I saw Europe through the back of a GI truck," he said) and was awarded five battle stars for his efforts, worked as a machinist for Kenworth and Boeing, and retired from MacNab in 1983.

He and Audie have been married 61 years.

I learned of the House's from a friend who waxed poetic about the couple, and especially about Howard's wood work.

"His pieces are amazing," he told me, "You have to see them to believe them."

So, I did.

Mayor Greg Nickels will release $25,000 in aid to renters being displaced by condominium conversions from a $350,000 fund the City Council had set aside to help eligible tenants.

Last month, Nickels froze the funds temporarily because it might be needed to supplement an unexpected loss of $600,000 in federal funding, according to Seattle City Council central staffers.

The council designated the money in the 2008 budget to supplement the $500 developers are required by state law to pay displaced tenants to aid in the search for housing.

For the sixth time in 10 years, Sea-Tac International Airport completed its annual Federal Aviation Administration Airport Certification Inspection with zero discrepancies.

The three-day inspection is a rigorous review covering all components of an airport's ability to provide a safe operating facility for airline and passenger customers.

The inspection results were announced at a recent Port of Seattle Commission meeting.

"This is not a routine outcome, and the results of the FAA inspections continue to show Sea-Tac International Airport is one of the models f

Metro (Transit) met opposition to its proposal to realign its No. 17 route at a public outreach meeting Thursday, Jan. 31 because it did not approach the 32nd Avenue corridor people right. It did not cover the needs of the Seaview Avenue corridor people and it completely missed the opportunity to capitalize on the long-awaited Burke Gilman Trail extension.

A concerned group of Seaview residents had studied the problem of no transit and crafted a recommendation to Metro which would have realigned the No.

Editor's Note: This letter was sent to the 36th Legislative District delegation with a copy to this newspaper.

The Ballard District Council is writing in support of the Community Schools Act 2008 (House Bill 3291 and Senate Bill 6872), which would establish a statewide grants program to help community organizations purchase surplus school buildings.

Homeless need our help

By MaryLee Smith and Jean Darsie

Citizens of Ballard: Some of our neighbors are in trouble. But for the grace of a higher power, it could be any one of us. They are veterans of our wars, Native American Indians, Microsoft engineers, laborers. They have families and obligations just like the rest of us, but have become ill, lost their jobs and their homes, and have been discriminated against for years.

Three Ballard companies are putting together major exhibits for the Salmon Bay Event's Northwest Flower and Garden Show coming up on today through Sunday at the Washington State Convention Center.

The shows main attraction will be 26 full-scale display gardens ranging in size from 400 to 1,800 square feet.

Colin McCrate, owner of the Seattle Urban Farm Company in Crown Hill is planning a garden that features edible plants. The design will include a backyard farm with a chicken coop and flowers.

"Everything is something you can eat.