June 2008

With the start of the summer boating coming up, boaters will have limited use of the small lock at the Hiram Chittenden Locks.

The small lock has pintle bearings that are badly deteriorated and replacement parts have to be custom fabricated.

The locks were built in 1907 and are commonly referred to as the Ballard Locks.

The bearings support the four gates and act like hinge pins on a door, said Dick Devlin, public affairs specialist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"The soonest we can have new pintle bearings fabricated is October.

There's a new feature attraction in Ballard and it's the Sea Star, one of the boats from the television series Deadliest Catch.

The boat was retired from the crabbing business in 2005 and still serves as a chase boat for the Discovery Channel crew of the Deadliest Catch.

Videographers use the Sea Star to get footage of five boats: Cornelius Green; Northwestern; Time Bandit; Wizard; and Early Dawn.

"The boat to boat action, that was us. You see a lot of shots from outside those boats, all that was filmed here," said crewmember and co-owner Gary Stewart.

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, a Democrat who represents Ballard, recently spoke at the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis.

The conference covered a wide array of issues from the failures of our media system to the emerging communications technologies, such as access to digital media.

The Mountain Loop Highway will be reopened Saturday, June 28, at noon, at Barlow Pass, reconnecting Granite Falls to Darrington for hiking and camping for the summer. This scenic byway through the Mt.

3 on 3 tourney to be at Seafood Fest

By Dean Wong

Local players are invited to form teams for the first 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament July 26 and 27, during the same weekend as the Ballard SeafoodFest.

The tournament is presented by Michael Johnson's Hoopaholics organization and the Olympic Athletic Club at St. Alphonsus School.

Johnson, who was a star player at Ballard High School and the University of Washington, said he hopes the tournament could be an annual event that continues to grow.

"This is going to be a fun event.

You can always tell the English. You can always tell the Dutch. You can always tell Lubahn's class, but you can't tell much. Thank Goodness it's Friday!

At Hilltop Elementary in Puyallup in the 1970s, John Lubahn's sixth grade class gathered every Friday to yell that cheer at exactly 3 o'clock. Then, just as the cheers and whistles and claps were started to fade, the class of kids burst out of the room and ran towards the buses. I remember very clearly that sense that Fridays gave you - the sense of excitement, of wonder, of joy.

I am wondering if the Ballard News-Tribute can do an article on the dangerous pedestrian corridor on 24th Avenue Northwest due to construction?

As you know, 24th Avenue Northwest was totally reconfigured recently in the interest of pedestrian safety (or so the party line went), and now there are two construction projects on 24th that frequently allow no pedestrian corridor in lieu of a sidewalk.

The construction site on the east side of the street, where the old QFC used to be, is frequently cordoned off for pedestrian access, and there is significant progress on construc

Some people make their mark by just being who and what they are. Edith Macefield was that sort of person.

When she died on June 15, she was told about on newscasts and in newspapers around the world. "The Woman Who Wouldn't Sell" was the most frequent headline. The little house surrounded by high, thick cement walls was photographed in newspapers around the United States and Canada, even in Great Britain and Asia.

On the next to last day of the school year I noticed mothers walking to Adams Elementary while I was deadheading rhododendrons in front of my house. I'd seen on a sign on the ever-informative reader board about an awards assembly at 9:30 a.m. I brushed off sticky, spent blooms, put my camera in my pocket, went down the street and slipped into the cafeteria/auditorium. The room was already hot with the excitement at least 500 people facing the front.

It came again. And, yes, what a show it was.

The 32nd annual Bruce King Celebrity Golf Classic at the lovely Twin Lakes Golf & Country Club, that's what, all to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of South King County Thursday.

"Another day of perfect weather, 32 years in a row," said King, retired KOMO News 4 sports anchor.

Or did King say that at the golf classic?

Bruce King? Wait ! Halt! Lies, deceit, from the reporter!

King wasn't there this year, you say?