RAMROD is pain in the (blank)
By Dave Kannas
Pain is often an overused term for what is nothing more than living. How often have you heard that such and such is a "pain in the _______?" You fill in the appropriate word. What we really mean in most cases is that we merely dislike such and such or so and so. Real pain, on the other hand, is different.
Biking has it moments of pain that sometimes extend into hours.
On July 25 while Julie Robinson-Jasper was visiting her neighbor she noticed some unfamiliar faces at the vacant house next door.
When she introduced herself, Jasper learned that these were two employees from Sound Mental Health who had been hired to prepare the house for their clients. As she continued to ask questions, Jasper learned that these clients were ex-convicts who would be living in the neighborhood as a part of Washington State's Re-entry Housing Pilot Program.
The program aims to facilitate the successful re-entry of offenders into their communities.
The city and Seattle Climate Action Now have launched a pilot program called Car Free Days to encourage Seattle drivers to leave their vehicles at home to aid the city's battle in its fight against global warming.
On Sept. 7 from 6 p.m., Harbor Avenue and Alki will be closed from noon to 6 p.m.
With dad's buns on the line, West Seattle resident Gayle Dunham, 56, and her three kids couldn't pass up the chance to finally get dad to run the 2008 Ironman Race in Coeur d'Alene, ID.
It was a life goal of Gayle's eldest son Todd to run the race before the age of 30. With his 29th birthday coming up, Gayle asked Todd if he was still up for the challenge. Todd agreed and along with him Gayle's youngest son Gregor, 24, wanted to join in as well.
Attending medical school in Ireland, Gayle's 27-year-old daughter Kati initially declined on competing in the race.
An unknown Hispanic male had a history of making crank 911 calls, claiming, through the translation line, that he had been stabbed and robbed in the Delridge area. Around midnight, just after another one of these false calls, an officer noticed a Hispanic male walking in the area, with no one else in sight. On a hunch, he drove alongside the man and asked if he had a cell phone. (The officer could see the outline of one in the man?s pocket.) When he said, "no," the officer stopped him and had a dispatcher call the number that the 911 calls originated from. The man?s phone rang.
That isn't all folks, the Council has been told it may have to increase water rates by 40 percent over three year and garbage rates by a whopping 46 percent over a mere two years. Add into the mix the county's expected big increase in bus fares.
All the while the nations's economy is tanking, largely because of greedy mortgage lenders and the oil industry going ballistic aided by oil speculators who bid up the price per barrel to line their own pockets.
The Seattle City Council can do nothing about oil prices or mortgage lenders.
So, higher interest rates, tighter lending requirements, higher gas prices, a slowing economy, building inventory - how exactly is demand spring-loaded?
Realtors continue to lie to the public, hoping beyond hope real estate prices will keep going up. But can you blame them, their jobs depend on the farce that we all need bigger homes, that renting is somehow demeaning and unbecoming of a real American family.
Buying a home isn't a decision to be taken lightly in a depreciating market. Being underwater on your home can uproot your life in a matter of months.
hanging baskets
Just a big thank you to the person that takes care of the hanging baskets at the Junction and Jefferson Square. They have been beautiful for several years and again this year. Thanks again.
Dorothy Wicklund
Seattle
Union workers at Swedish Medical Center ratified new contracts for registered nurses, service employees and technical staff. The agreement was reached after 14 bargaining sessions with SEIU 1199NW and includes across-the-board pay raises as well as an increase in health-insurance premiums for dependent coverage.
"We entered negotiations believing we needed to bring our service and technical wages - which are much higher than other hospitals - closer to the market average.
While most of us were still in bed at 5 a.m., Lauren Kisser was standing on top of 14,410-foot Mt. Rainier on July 8th.
Kisser raised $5,459 for breast cancer research during the Climb to Fight Breast Cancer effort. She did it to honor her grandmothers, mother and aunt who all survived the disease.
The American Cancer Society estimates there will be 178,480 cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed among women and 1,690 among men this year in the United States.
"It hit close to home.
