August 2008

This July, Elliott Bay Brewing Company's Burien location became only the second certified organic beer provider in the state and its West Seattle location should follow suit by the end of the year.

To be certified organic, a beer must have all of its ingredients, as well as its brewing facility, meet the Washington State Department of Agriculture guidelines for organic food.

Doug Hindman, head brewer for Elliott Bay Brewing, said the company is now able to offer 12 certified organic beers brewed at its Burien location.

Elliott Bay Brewing started the applicatio

At the Junction, a bike rider didn?t like being cut off in traffic. So he retaliated by cutting in front of the truck at a stoplight. When the light turned green and the driver started to go around him, the bicyclist swung his arm and fist into the driver?s open window. But as the truck drove away, the cyclist?s arm was still inside and he was drug for a short time. Witnesses also say that during the verbal altercation that followed, the cyclist shoved the driver. Both were given case numbers.

Muralist Ryan Henry Ward can be found rolling around Seattle's neighborhood's in his brown van with gold tinted windows looking for his next canvas.

With dog Merlin at his side for motivation and as a reminder of his on-going theme of having animals in each of his murals, Ward wasn't always the Fremont Orange Splot Gallery artist he has come to be.

Social worker turned street art muralist and painter; Ward grew up in Enumclaw and attended Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Western Washington University.

The city has created the Green Building Task Force, an advisory panel that will provide recommendations to make homes and businesses more energy efficient and climate-friendly.

Over the next six months, the task force will provide feedback to the city on a range of policies and programs that could later influence executive orders, legislation and departmental actions.

"Climate change is one of the most important challenges of our time - and no climate protection solution will be complete without a commitment to building energy efficiency," said Ash Awad, vice president of

Why did it take me 20 years to finally cross the threshold of The Lockspot? Some of the things I still haven't done in Ballard make me feel like a fraud. I've never been to the Tractor Tavern or shot pool at the Lock n'Keel. I've never tasted lutefisk or marched in the Syttende Mai parade. I meant to go to Sunset Bowl at 3 a.m. but put it off too long.

Hair today,

gone tomorrow

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

Hair has got to be a very important body part in my estimation. The "I'm Worth It" commercial reminds each woman of her own crowning glory. But who knows what is really important in hairstyle from one decade to another?

Sampson surely needed his locks in order to stay alive. If he had been a 1960's teen, he would have been in trouble with the school principal.

I once had a school principal who was really upset when boys started growing long hair.

Glass Art Society now on 23rd

By Allison Espiritu

Previously residing in a downtown office for 12 years followed by the Northwest Work Lofts for two years, the Glass Art Society decided they needed a space with a better layout and flow that would best suit their members, volunteers and visitors.

Finding an opening in our very own Ballard neighborhood shared with other non-profit organizations, they are now located at 6512 23rd Ave. N.W. Ste. 329.

"We needed to move because this current location has better parking and a better layout.

Mr. Lubahn, you'd be proud

By Lauri Hennessey

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.

Ballard is on its death-bed. We should re-name it 'North Belltown.'

It is sad, so very sad that they are replacing another of Ballard's traditional institutions with yet more overpriced housing that only affluents just moving into the area will be able to afford.

If anyone had understood that Greg Nickel's vision of "Urban Villages," - exclusive neighborhoods, people might have said "wait-a-minute" before it was too late.

Just out of curiosity, who is it that can afford to pay Avalon's high rents anyway?

Not sure if Barbara Sims' condemnation of Bisphenol A plastic food containers is hysterical overreaction or Nickels-generated propaganda, but (it is) not solid journalism.

Sims quotes a two-year-old preliminary report that has been found to be an over-reaction, even by the Canadian government, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has found no reason for concern.

Like the boy who cried wolf, the "green" editor who simply reprints news releases from dubious sources will stop being taken seriously.

Chris Philips

Ballard