February 2008

A group of Ballard science students took on their peers during the Washington State Ocean Sciences Bowl (ORCA Bowl) on Feb. 9 and claimed seventh place.

The competition, held at the University of Washington, was described as similar to the television game show "Jeopardy," with "rapid fire" questions about biology, chemistry, geology, physics, history and economics of the ocean.

"It's the best we've done in the last four years. It's always tough with difficult questions," said teacher Megan Vogel.

Past marine science classes at Ballard were held in the spring.

Swimmers take on state's best

In boy's swimming, the Ballard Beavers team finished in 17th place at the State Tournament for 4A schools on Feb. 16 at the King County Aquatic Center.

At least one swimmer from Ballard turned in a surprise performance. "The stunner of the meet continued to be Dylan Walker in the 50 free. During the preliminaries, he moved from 11th seed to third seed with a scorching time of 22.01, a huge drop in time for him," said head coach Thor Tyson.

Walker ended up second in the finals of the 50 free.

Beaver girls are champs

By Dean Wong

With a state playoff berth out of the way, the Ballard Beavers won an overtime game against Inglemoor to earn the Sea-King District Two Championship last Friday.

The Beavers defeated the Vikings 49-41 in overtime at Juanita High School to earn their first 4A girls basketball title.

"I'm excited. To have our first ever district championship for Ballard High School is an awesome thing for them to achieve.

I would like to thank you (Rebekah Schilperoort) for your piece on saving Sunset Bowl (Wednesday, Jan. 30 "Petitions circulated to halt loss of Sunset Bowl"). Letting capitalism decide what to build and what to tear down resulted in the loss of a cherished gathering place, filled with history. Seattle would lose a piece of its history if we allow Sunset Bowl to be knocked down to build more condos/apartments. Your reporting of efforts to save Sunset Bowl have inspired me to get involved and see if we can save that wonderful bowling alley.

Andrew Sue

Ballard

Working together is a tradition

By Kay F. Reinartz

February 20, 2008, was a red letter day in contempory Ballard history because it represents the people once again coming together fighting for Ballard. This time the fight is over preserving Ballard's architectural and business history.

Downtown, on the 40th floor of the City Municipal Tower building, the Seattle Landmark Preservation Board voted 6 to 3 to designate the old Manning's Cafeteria, a.k.a.

The squabble over the future of the distinctively roofed former Denny's seems to boil down to two issues, plain economics and whose taste in old buildings we want to agree with.

When the Landmark Preservation Boad agreed to stay the wrecking ball, it made a decision that not everything 40 or 50 years old should be cleared away and another square-box, cash-producing condominium erected.

There are several "players" in the educational process.

Lucky for me, my Dad has always been a creative guy.

Back when I was little, he worked hard at including his kids in all manner of interesting projects.

During the spring we did yard clean up, in the winter it was firewood gathering, but in the summer we built floats for the White Center Jubilee Days Parade.

If you aren't familiar with what a parade float is, it begins usually with a theme and a few volunteers.

If one of us kids happened to be walking by when inspiration struck Dad, we involuntarily became volunteers.

After breakfast, with