May 2009

Ballard Camera, located on the corner of 24th Avenue Northwest and Market Street, will be closing June 30.

The store, owned by Bruce and Kathleen Cozens, opened in 1948.

Ballard Camera will join a growing number of empty storefronts in the area.

Across 24th, All the King's Flags remains empty after closing in December 2008. Scream Barbershop, two doors north of Ballard Camera, closed in March. And, Ballard ExPress, formerly next to Scream, moved its store in July 2008.

“Who wouldn’t give anything to be able to hear the voices of their grandparents?” Gordon Strand asked. “It’s something we always regret losing.”

We’d been discussing the Nordic Heritage Museum’s plan to expand on the oral history project they began 10 years ago that became an exhibition and the book entitled, “Voices of Ballard: Immigrant Stories from the Vanishing Generation.”

When I’m lucky, I dream about my grandmother and actually hear her again.

Last week I met with Gordon Strand and Janet Rauscher at Nordic Heritage Museum to discuss plans to continue and expand the scope of the oral history project started in 1998 in conjunction with Ballard Historical Society and Swedish Finn Historical Society. The Nordic Heritage Museum is nearing its 30th anniversary and Gordon has always been involved in myriad ways, presently as chair of the steering committee. Janet Rauscher is a new face; hired last fall as chief curator even as she completes her Ph.D. in Scandinavian studies at Indiana University.

Thousands from Ballard to Bergen converged at Market Street to watch the annual Syttende Mai (May 17) Parade to celebrate Norwegian Constitution Day.

The hot Sunday afternoon sun attracted Norwegians sporting clothes and accessories that honor their flag and colors. You didn't have to be Norwegian to attend, of course, and some joked that even Swedes were allowed.

CLICK ON PHOTO FOR SLIDE SHOW.

On Saturday, May 16, at approximately 5:30 p.m., Southwest Precinct officers were at 58th Avenue Southwest and Alki Avenue Southwest when they observed a stolen vehicle occupied by three suspects.

When the officers approached (in heavy traffic) to attempt to arrest them, the suspects fled on foot. Following several foot pursuits and yard-to-yard searches, two of the three suspects were located and arrested.

The Alki area was very crowded, choked with vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Officers reached the scene quickly without any collisions, conducted several foot pursuits, and took two suspects into custody without injury to officers or suspects.

The two suspects, one adult male and one juvenile male, were booked into the King County Jail and Youth Services Center for Investigation of auto theft.

At 4 a.m. Wednesday, officers responded to a burglary alarm at a business in the 8300 block of 15th Northwest. One saw a suspect inside the store and alerted other officers that the man was headed their way through an emergency exit and was carrying a black trash bag. Upon exiting, the suspect threw the bag to the ground and ran west on 15th for about a block before giving up, gasping and retching. He had injured himself breaking through a window, and he carried several pocket knives, a screwdriver and three wallets—as well as loot valued at around $7,000. He was booked into King County Jail for investigation of possession of stolen property, burglary, and false reporting. During their investigation, officers discovered that the 24-year-old had provided them with his brother's identification rather than his own. Startled that he'd been caught, he asked how officers knew of his ruse. “It's our job to figure it out,” the officer replied.

A trio of Ballard High School seniors – triple jumpers Carlos Stanley and Julian Montante and thrower Linton Rowan – advanced to next week's District 2/4 track & field championships with their efforts in the KingCo championship meet May 11 and May 15.

Stanley jumped an unlooked-for 42-4 in placing second to Skyline's Kasen Williams.

Montante improved his personal best two inches to 41-9 1/4 to garner the fifth and final spot to district.

Shot-putter Linton Rowan, a 2008 state meet qualifier, finished fifth May 13, throwing 45-4 1/4 under miserable conditions. Two days later, Rowan added another fifth as he threw a personal best of 123-3 in the discus.

The boys' 100-meter relay, comprised of seniors Montante, Michael Tran, Jack Sandstrom and Stanley, were nosed out by Garfield for the final district spot, as they ran a season best 43.88, compared to the Bulldogs' 43.87.

All told, the boys' picked up 25 points in the team competition to finish ninth.

Senior Lauren Hammerle finished sixth in the 3,200 meter, running a season best of 11:41.26. Hammerle scored Ballard's only three points in the girls' competition.

The Seattle Board of Park Commissioners held a public hearing Thursday, May 14 to hear the community’s response to a possible proposal that would standardize city park operating hours, which aims to increase safety and decrease illegal activities.

The purpose of the proposal would be to reduce confusion about operating hours and alleviate safety issues such as alcohol use, graffiti and noise, according to the parks department. The department also says it would provide police and park rangers with an additional tool for solving issues in parks.

Under the new proposal, park hours would be standard but vary by type of park. Regional parks, such as Green Lake and Golden Gardens, would be open 4 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. year round. Neighborhood and pocket parks would be open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset. This would set winter hours at 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and summer hours at 4 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Downtown parks would be open one hour before sunrise to 10 p.m. year round.

Alternatives have also been considered. One would standardize park hours at 6 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. in the summer and 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the winter, allowing for seasonal variation.

Janice Balme and Bill Boss looked for over a year for a dog like Annie, their Australian Shepherd. Now 18 months old they purchased her in Renton from Kim Buffum who breeds these dogs.

"She's very agile," said Bill, "She can walk on her hind legs if she's interested in a squirrel."

Though "She sleeps when we sleep" Janice said, "We named her after the character in Sleepless in Seattle." Annie is a very well behaved dog they said and is a "Good traveller" who loves to go on trips with the couple.

You can learn more about this breed by visiting this site:
http://www.australianshepherds.org/

How to nominate your pet:

Want to nominate your pet for Pet of the Week? Stop by the VCA West Seattle Veterinary Hospital at 5261 California Ave. S.W. and just ask for a form. A nomination is not a guarantee of appearance and your name and photo may appear in our newspaper and online.

Photos may or may not be used and our "Pet Reporter" may be in touch with you to arrange to take a photo. Pets nominated will be chosen on the basis of uniqueness of the pet and the quality of the story and information submitted.

Chas Redmond is such a fixture in West Seattle he's almost part of the landscape. Except Redmond seldom sits still.

He's a man in constant motion and has tread on the soil of many places and has the shoes to prove it. He's an activist and a member of several community organizations, most of them dedicated to pedestrians or just making Seattle a better place to live.

As a child in a military family Redmond has lived in dozens of places, including North Carolina where he was born, plus Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Hollywood, France, Casablanca, France again, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Fort Lewis and South Korea in the Army, Back to Seattle, then Washingon D.C. and Houston where he worked as a public information officer for NASA during Skylab and Apollo/Soyuz era in the 1970's, back to Washington and finally back to West Seattle. While at NASA he became good friends with Carl Sagan.

Redmond describes himself as a "connector" of people and places and he loves walking around the trails all over Seattle.

"I want the City of Seattle to be a dramatically better place after I'm gone. I want to connect," said Redmond.

The Seattle Department of Transportation commissioned local artists SuttonBeresCuller to create acid etched color tinted concrete art "picture frames" entitled "Salon" to be part of the sidewalk adjacent to the Morgan Junction Park, which will be dedicated June 13.

The interior is intended to allow people to use chalk to create their own art. Liz Ellis of the transportation department said, "This is a fabulous collaboration of Parks Department that worked with the Morgan Junction Community... and SDOT to help with some sidewalk repair."

The development of the idea began more than a year ago. The artists created the empty color frames by building sections of picture frames from which they made molds and then stamped them into the wet concrete. They then etched and stained the art later sealing with a special compound rated to last 15 to 20 years and resist both weather and vandalism.

One of the principal artists, John Sutton said, "We wanted to make something that was playful and interactive, that was engaging the community that was constantly being renewed by the community and decided to go back to the idea of sidewalk art work, chalkboards."