March 2008

TACOMA--Snohomish had a hole in its defense the size of Decatur's Darious Walker in last Wednesday's state Class 4A boys basketball tournament opener.

Walker wound up with a game high 27 points as the Gators won going away, 49-39, in the action at the Tacoma Dome.

"It's just like they (Snohomish) wanted to give him the ball," said Decatur teammate Michael Hale III of Walker.

"We thought they were going to play zone, but they played man-to-man," said Gators head coach Kevin Olson.

King County Council Chairwoman Julia Patterson plans to organize south county community leaders across city boundaries to lobby for more services for the area.

"The time to talk about it is over-it is time to do something," Patterson declared.

Patterson announced her plans at the Feb. 26 SeaTac City Council meeting.

She lives in SeaTac and was an original member of the SeaTac council when the city incorporated. Her husband, Pat Patterson, is the city's facilities director.

Patterson noted that south King County is broken into small cities.

A planned housing development west of Pacific Highway South in Des Moines' Redondo community came under fire at the Feb.

It's that time of year again.

Through March 16, Highline-area Girl Scouts are selling cookies at local stores and supermarkets.

And again this year, as part of the Girl Scouts Gift of Caring program - in partnership with Seattle-based Fisher Communications - customers can once again participate in Operation Cookie Drop by donating cookies to servicemen and women in our armed forces.

Last year, customers in Western Washington donated more than 72,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to our troops. This year's goal is 100,000 boxes.

TACOMA--It just had to go into overtime. Everything else was set for a

big game.

Crosstown rivals Federal Way and Decatur were on the Tacoma Dome floor

Friday playing each other in the Class 4A boys basketball state

semifinals, with the winner advancing to the championship Saturday and

the "loser" receiving a game for third and sixth place that same

TACOMA--Hard play to the core characterized Thursday's state boys Class 4A quarterfinal basketball collision between Federal Way and Narrows League champion powerhouse Lincoln of Tacoma.

Lincoln's sudden attacks and bumps at first threw off the Eagles, but they put themselves back together and won, 52-45.

"They play you hard nosed and because of the physical play it disturbed us in our shooting," said Federal Way head coach Jerome Collins. "I told the kids to keep their heads up.

Fastpitch registration

Federal Way Girls Fastpitch Association is accepting registrations for girls ages 6 to 14 for its upcoming season. For more information, please visit www.eteamz.com/FWGFA or call 253 520 6514.

Masters offer workouts

The Federal Way Masters swimming team for ages 19 and over is now offering three workout session times at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center located at 650 SW Campus Drive in Federal Way.

Monday through Friday a 5:30-6:45 a.m. and a 7-8 p.m.

(Editor's Note: This was Tim St. Clair's last story for the West Seattle Herald. Tim was a regular bus rider to downtown and about anywhere else. He did this story just a short time ago.)

With gas prices topping $3 per gallon, there are a lot more people riding buses these days, said a Metro bus driver, who wishes to remain anonymous.

Metro recently released figures showing ridership was up 7 percent between 2006 and 2007. That translates into an average of 365,000 boardings per weekday.