June 2009

The National Historic Landmark Steamer Virginia V is the last of the wooden hull passenger steamers that were called the "Mosquito Fleet" because they swarmed over Puget Sound like mosquitoes.

The Virginia V’s home port was Lisabuela and for much of the 1920s and 1930s, she carried passengers, mail and freight on the West Pass route. This summer islanders will have a chance to experience a "Mosquito Feet" cruise around Vashon and Maury Islands aboard the Virginia V on Sunday August 16.

The Vashon-Maury Island Heritage Association and Vashon College are teaming together to offer a "Mosquito Fleet" experience that will highlight Island history, geology and ecology.

Tickets for the Mosquito Fleet Cruise aboard the Virginia V are now available, at $60 for VMIHA members and $75 for non-members.

For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Bruce Haulman at 463-6329 or bhaulman@aol.com. Proceeds support the Island Heritage Museum.

The cruise will begin and end at Vashon's north end passenger ferry dock. Boarding will begin at noon, and the vessel will depart at 12:30 p.m. The cruise will run until approximately 5 p.m.

Treasured objects and artifacts held by the Log House Museum will be preserved for future generations with help from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Connecting to Collections Bookshelf, a core set of conservation books
and online resources donated by the IMLS.

IMLS has now awarded almost 3,000 free sets of the IMLS Bookshelf, in cooperation with the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH).

“The Connecting to Collections bookshelf is another great resource that the Log House Museum and Southwest Seattle Historical Society can utilize for better preservation and collections care” said director Andrea Mercado.

“When IMLS launched this initiative to improve the dire state of our nation’s collections, we understood that the materials gathered for the Bookshelf would serve as important tools for museums, libraries, and archives nationwide,” said Anne-Imelda Radice, director of IMLS. “We were both pleased and encouraged by the overwhelming interest of institutions prepared to answer the call to action, and we know that with their dedication, artifacts from our shared history will be
preserved for future generations.”

Chef Kathy Casey will no longer be moving her Ballard Avenue Food Studios and Dish D'Lish restaurant to Magnolia, and the businesses will remain in Ballard.

Casey had signed a lease in September for a location at the Salmon Bay Marine Center, but disagreements between the city and the landlord over permitting and use issues caused the deal to fall through, Casey said.

Casey said she is disappointed the move will no longer happen, but it is not the end of the world.

"The best laid plans go awry," she said. "We were very excited to be on the water. But, we love Ballard. We've been here for a long time."

The Food Studios have been located at 5130 Ballard Ave. N.W. for more than 11 years, and Dish D'Lish opened next door in 2007.

Casey said she now has no plans to move out of the Ballard locations, which she owns. The only reason she signed a lease for the new location was because it was such an amazing spot, she said.

Casey said business has been booming for her Ballard operations anyway. The Food Studios especially have been busy since January, she said.

Zeke, a K9 Pet Detective, is supposed to find lost dogs, but last week instead of locating a dog, the five-year-old Bloodhound ate a rock.

Zeke was rushed to the Five Corners Emergency Vet in Burien where an X-ray revealed a rock the size of a golf ball lodged in his small intestine. Dr. Paul Chauvin performed surgery on Friday night which went smoothly and without complications.

Zeke is well on the road to recovery, however, that rock may yet sink the volunteer program that Zeke is involved in. 

Kat Albrecht, a former police officer-turned-pet detective, is Zeke’s guardian/trainer. Albrecht founded Missing Pet Partnership, a nonprofit organization in 2001.

The organization moved its training operations to the Puget Sound area in 2008 where Albrecht has been quietly training a small group of volunteers and dogs to sniff out lost pets. Plans were in place to launch the first-ever lost pet search-and-rescue team in King County, however, the rocky economy has affected those plans.

The Fremont Outdoor Cinemas start at dusk (around 9:45 p.m.) with a suggested donation of $5.

Bring your own chair (low-back as to not obstruct the view of others) and alcohol is prohibited.

The rest of the season will be showing in the parking lot across from Theo Chocolate, 3400 Phinney Ave. N.

Saturday, June 27

"Edward Scissorhands"
The Scissorhand Stylist Showdown presented by Rudy's Barbershop



Friday, July 3

"Shaun of the Dead" 
Red, White, & Dead Independence Day Zombie Party



Saturday, July 11

"Pee-Wee's Big Adventure"



Saturday, July 18

ARMY OF DARKNESS 
Twisted Flick Night



Monday, July 20

"The Big Lebowski" 
Lebowski Fest- Official movie party


Saturday, July 25

"Die Hard"
Twisted Flick Night



Saturday, August 1

"Legally Blonde" 
Bruiser’s Little Heroes Charity Dog Show



Saturday, August 8
"The Godfather"



Saturday, August 15

"Some Like it Hot" 
Twisted Flick Night

A town hall-style meeting about the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative turned into a passionate public discussion of both causes and solutions to the issue.

The meeting took place yesterday evening, Tuesday, June 25 at the Hall at Fauntleroy.

Youth violence prevention was one of three topics discussed at the meeting, the other two being public schools and urban forests. There was a brief presentation on each topic given by different Seattle City Council members, and then the crowd was split into four rotating groups to discuss each subject.

Although there was concern for all of the topics, the debate over the priorities for prevention of youth violence was filled with strong, personal sentiments.

People were sharing at a level of vulnerability and honesty that it was uncomfortable and sometimes painful to hear, but ultimately made for good discussion, said council member Tim Burgess.

Part of the struggle of creating a solution was in finding the primary cause of the issue. Family dynamics, school environment, lack of extracurricular activities, relationships with police and gun control were the dominant factors discussed.

On Friday, June 26 at about 1:30 a.m.,North Precinct officers responded to Swedish Ballard Hospital and contacted two victims, one reported being stabbed in the lower back/abdomen area and the other had been hit in the head with a beer bottle.

The victims indicated that the assault occurred about an hour earlier, during a fight at an area Night Club, in the 2200 block of 1st Avenue. The fight reportedly started inside the club, but the participants were pushed out by security and began to go their separate ways when the two groups clashed again.

At approximately 2 a.m., officers checked the area of the night club for a possible crime scene and/or any possible witnesses.

Officers spoke with an employee at the night club in question and an employee of another nearby night club establishment who saw the fight, but did not call 911.

No suspect information at this time.

With summer ready to kick into full swing, the Ballard Boys and Girls Club has partnered with the Seattle Storm to encourage kids to continue reading this summer vacation with its Read to Achieve program.

Read to Achieve is a year-round, league-wide initiative supported by all 30 NBA teams, 13 WNBA teams, and six NBDL teams that promotes the value of reading and online literacy and encourages families and adults to read regularly with young children. 

The Storm sponsors an incentive-based program designed to encourage Boys and Girls Club students in grades one through eight to develop strong reading skills.

To kick-off the program, Storm guard Tanisha Wright made an appearance June 25 at the Ballard Boys and Girls Club to read “Roar,” by Pamela Duncan Edwards to more than 50 kids.

“They (kids) have a set of ideas of who we are as people,” Wright said. “We’re put up on this pedestal. For the kids to be able to meet us and talk to us and touch us is great. That’s the best part.”

As part of the new student assignment plan, passed by the School Board on June 17, all middle schools in Seattle will be required to offer the Spectrum advanced learning program by the 2010-2011 school year.

Currently, Lafayette Elementary and Denny Middle School are the only schools in West Seattle that offer Spectrum besides a very small program at West Seattle Elementary. According to the new plan, a well-developed program will be established at Madison Middle School and at least one elementary school in the southern half of West Seattle.

“Spectrum is a good fit for a group of kids who are significantly advanced in their math skills,” said Denny principal Jeff Clark.

Clark added that the new student assignment plan will help Denny better align their programs with other schools.

School Board member Steve Sunquist explained that because students will be assigned to local schools under the new plan, the district is striving to ensure program access in all reference areas.

There is a disparity of Spectrum programs across the city. While many schools in north Seattle offer the program, there are few in south Seattle

A surprising number of teens showed up at the South Park Community Center June 24 to voice their opinions to Seattle Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher about the kinds of resources they wanted from the department.

Gallagher has been attending a series of neighborhood meetings to garner community feedback on how the parks department has been meeting the need of the city.

“We’ve had a large number of teens attend these meetings and it’s good to see,” Gallagher said. “They represent quite a different crowd.”

At the Wednesday meeting, the teens discussed with Gallagher and the number of city employees in attendance the need for outdoor basketball hoops at the South Park Community Center.

“At the Van Asselt meeting we had a few teens attend but after that meeting we saw an even bigger number of kids playing at the basketball hoops outside the community center,” Gallagher said. “Once we saw the number of teens at the South Park meeting, we definitely knew that we were missing something.”

Currently, the South Park gym has limited open gym hours and people 18 years and older must pay a $2 fee to play basketball.