June 2008

Readers of this newspaper have proved over and over again that they expect us to provide them with the information they need to access the necessities and the not so necessary enjoyments of life in our peninsula. We are making an important change this week to help this process.

For many years, the Community Calendar has served as the basic calendar of events, large and small; serious and frivolous. There is nowhere where such a full listing of events exists.

The King County Council said on Monday it wants to audit Metro Transit to figure out how they can "best ensure the best allocation of resources in order to maintain levels of service.

?Skyrocketing fuel costs may soon lead the County Executive to propose a fuel surcharge or fare increase for Metro Transit,? said Councilmember Larry Phillips, who represents Ballard on the council.

A false alarm went off last week when Seattle Parks and Recreation considered limiting bonfires this year and banning them next year in order to help prevent global warming, the wish of Mayor Greg Nickels stated in a memo referring to carbon emitting from the flames.

Never more would have bonfires been the draw to parties and revelry on the beach at Golden Gardens.

Shortly after a Seattle Post-Intelligencer story raged through the city and objectors began writing to Web sites and letters to the editor, the city's Parks and Recreation department backpedaled.

A n

While a new skate park at Lower Woodland opened last weekend and work has started on a million dollar renovation of the old tennis courts that are one of the busiest in the Seattle parks system.

The skatepark is 17,000 square feet and is built between the soccer fields and cloverleaf softball diamonds where the Ballard High softball team plays its home games.

Crews demolished the old tennis courts this spring and expect to finish the new courts this fall.

"This is the first skatepark in the city designed for all ages and abilities," said Tim Gallagher, superint

Tiana Woods, an eighth grader at Whitman Middle School, won the Leighton Hilbert Scholarship Award, and $1,000 college scholarship.

The scholarship was part of the Mayor's Scholars Awards, given this year to 19 students from Seattle schools.

The last stretch of undeveloped shoreline on the Ship Canal was dedicated over the weekend as a safe haven for over 950,000 annually migrating juvenile salmon, including threatened Puget Sound Chinook.

At a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Salmon Bay Natural Area, Mayor Greg Nickels said the $1.8 million project will protect and restore the last section of un-armored shoreline in the area, and will provide habitat critical to the survival of Lake Washington salmon during their migration from fresh to salt water.

Much of the area downstream of the Ballard Locks is

Members of the Pacific Ballroom Dance group lit up the stage at the Auburn Performing Arts Center during a dress rehearsal last Thursday. The 89-member team of Federal Way and Auburn participants performed "Feelin' Good," their spring concert, for three shows May 30 and 31. Click Here for nearly 400 more photos from the performance.

Masters times offered

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.session are offered, with a 6:50-7:50 a.m. session taking place Tuesdays and Thursdays. A 10:15-11:15 a.m. session is offered Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Saturdays an 8-9 a.m. session is held at the Kenneth Jones Pool (Federal Way High School).

Members are required to join U.S.

A lot of good baseball was played by the Federal Way Buzz boys U-18 team last year.

"We got all the way to the state final and lost to the Columbia River Dogs, 5-3," said eight-year head coach Dave Richardson, who also is helped by his son, Dan, who played ball at Thomas Jefferson in the late 1990s.

Actually the Buzz have had good seasons for a long time now.

"Dan has been keeping track of how we have done the last five years and it's been something like 147-79," said Richardson. "That is a pretty good winning percentage."

It is.

STUDDED WITH AREA TALENT

By Tim Clinton

No matter what league they were in, Federal Way School District teams rose toward the top this spring.

The same can be said for the athletes who were selected to the South Puget Sound League North and South Division all-star teams in sports where they were selected -- baseball, fastpitch softball and boys soccer.

Five players were selected for the SPSL North first team for baseball from the three teams involved -- Federal Way, Decatur and Thomas Jefferson, and five more made the second team.