September 2009

The Skyline Spartans are one of the top 10 high school football teams in the nation and they played like it Sept. 10, burning Ballard for 42 unanswered first-half points.

For the first half of the game, Skyline harassed the Beavers into costly fumbles, tackled them for losses and scored at will.

Ballard managed to hold the Spartans' backups scoreless in the second half and scored two touchdowns – by senior Gardar Olaffson and freshman Stuart Thomas – to avoid the shutout.

Coming into the game, Ballard coach John Bowers recognized the dominance of the Skyline team.

"If anyone beats them this year, it's going to take one heck of a team and one heck of an effort," he said.

Bowers said his goal against the Spartans was for his team to play hard and simply come out of the game in one piece.

He said the team ended up in pretty good shape, and the players feel better knowing they improved and competed the whole game.

Ballard football has opened the season with a tough couple games. Before the 42-12 loss against nationally-ranked Skyline, the Beavers were shutout 38-0 by Liberty High School, which is in the top five teams in the state.

The community is invited to three meetings designed to share information about two upcoming levies that will be placed before the voters as a special election on Feb. 9, 2010. One of the meetings will be held at West Seattle's Madison Middle School.

The Operations Levy, which renews every three years, represents nearly 25 percent of Seattle Public Schools’ annual general fund budget and supports basic educational programs not fully funded by the state.  


The Buildings, Technology and Academics III (BTA III) Capital Levy goes before the voters every six years and funds hundreds of small renovations and major maintenance projects, technology and academic initiatives. 


Meeting dates/times:

Tuesday, Sept. 22 at Mercer Middle School, 1600 S. Columbian Way, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Thursday Sept. 24 at Madison Middle Schoool, 3429 45th Ave. S.W., from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 28, Eckstein Middle School, 3003 N.E. 75th St., from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

The purpose of the community meetings is to inform the public, present information and answer questions, according to the district. 

Paul Rogers remembers the days of "restaurant raids," before his rock band made it big. Well, bigger than he ever thought an all-accordion band playing original and classic rock songs could get.

Rogers, lead singer and songwriter of Those Darn Accordions, spoke with the West Seattle Herald over the phone from Miles City, Mont. on his way home from the first leg of his band's Midwest tour, which started in Milwaukee, Wis.

The tour will span 20 cities to commemorate the band's two decades of music, which brings them to West Seattle's Admiral Theater on Sept. 12.

A Port Townsend resident of six years, Rogers has spent most of his life in the Bay Area, where the rest of his six-member band lives now.

"We're basically a San Francisco band," said Rogers, who flies to the Bay Area at least every four to five weeks to rehearse and play shows.

It will be his and the band's first time playing in West Seattle and at the Admiral Theater.

"I was thinking, 'West Seattle is kinda like Seattle, I guess,'" Rogers said jokingly.

As soon as I mentioned to friends that I was separating from my husband they wanted to talk about dating. Or more accurately, sex.

“I’m not ready to think about that,” I protested. “I’m just excited to finally have some time to myself and to be able to go out with friends.”

They nodded in agreement, but quickly proceed to tell me all of the possible ways I could meet my future lover: the internet, bars, friends of friends, or look up an old boyfriend.

“Old boyfriends are old boyfriends for a reason,” they explain. “And internet dating is impersonal and risky, friends of friends are a good bet, unless the relationship ends poorly, and bars, well, we’ve all done that already and know how that ends.”

I’m impressed, and frankly surprised, that my married friends have given the dating scene such consideration. They shock me further by describing the single men they have crushes on or their ex-boyfriends.

“Are you going to introduce me to these guys?” I ask.

“No,” they scold me. “He’s my back-up boy friend.”

Another thing I didn’t know: most of my friends have a man in the wings in case their marriage goes tits up.

Dear Editor,

Having worked in the international insurance arena for most of my insurance career and having been an expatriate who had to deal with nationalized or socialized or government sponsored health care, I have found it to be lacking in services provided, research and development of new medicines, vaccines, and equipment as well as adding a significant cost to the tax payer.  

The value received for the price paid is far most costly in human terms than the present private system, which we all know has problems.  So, nationalized insurance is out.  We see how it doesn't work in Washington State's workers' compensation.

That being said, our country needs mandatory health insurance.  So, should we have a public option (the public option, like Medicare works)?   Maybe! Healthcare needs to be reformed and reformed now.  I'm not advocating a Public Option, but, as an insurance professional, I believe that the OPEC like health insurance cartel, run by a cabal, needs to be controlled.  

Denny International Middle School is hosting a ceremony to celebrate its start of the school year as an international school.

The celebration event will be held Monday, Sept. 14 at the school from 8:30 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. It will feature steel drums, Mariachi, cultural dancing and Denny’s Dolphin Marching Band.

Concord International School will celebrate the same designation the following day, Sept. 15. Superintendent Maria L. Goodloe-Johnson, Ph.D., is scheduled to speak at both events. 

According to the Seattle School District, the mission of the international education program is to educate and prepare all students with the cultural competence and skills necessary to thrive in a global community and economy. Concord International School, led by Principal Norma Zavala, and Denny International Middle School, led by Principal Jeff Clark, are the third international elementary school and second international middle school, respectively, within Seattle Public Schools.  

Three offices in the Tallman Medical Center on Tallman Avenue just off Market Street were broken into on the morning of Sept. 10.

Landlord Juliana Noble said the break-in occurred at approximately 6:30 a.m. It appeared the break-in was an attempt to get drugs, she said.

The offices of Dane Travis, M.D., PacLab and Equinox Massage Services were broken into.

Medication and some cash was taken from Dane Travis' office, said clinic manager Chris Root. She said the office doesn't keep much of either to steal on hand.

An employee of PacLab said nothing noticeable was missing, but the intruders may have taken forms with patient information, which scares him.

He said Equinox was smashed up and a laptop was stolen.

Root said today was Equinox's first day of business.

"It's a lousy way to be welcomed to the building," she said.

Root said the break-in makes her sad because her office helps a lot of people, many of who are uninsured.

"We consider ourselves as helping members of the community," she said.

Overall, it was only property that was harmed, and it could have been worse, Root said.

School is back in session this week and so are Woodland Park Zoo’s animals, sort of.

This weekend, Sept 12 and 13, zookeepers will help stimulate the minds and hone natural behavioral skills of the animals with back-to-school-themed treats, such as sack lunches, textbooks and more.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., hear zookeepers talk about how treats and a variety of activities are part of the zoo’s ongoing enrichment program to help improve the lives of the zoo’s animals, promote natural animal behavior, keep animals mentally stimulated and engage zoo visitors.

Back-to School treats: Saturday and Sunday, September 12 and 13, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Lemurs 11:00 a.m. – Tropical Rain Forest

Colobus monkeys 11:30 a.m. – Tropical Rain Forest

Orangutans 11:30 a.m. – Trail of Vines

Grizzlies noon (Saturday only) – Taiga Viewing Shelter, Northern Trail

Otters noon (Sunday only) – Taiga Viewing Shelter, Northern Trail

Raptors 12:30 p.m. – Raptor Center

Gorillas 1:00 p.m. – Tropical Rain Forest

Keas 1:30 p.m. – Near Willawong Station

Pigs 1:30 p.m. – Family Farm

At the end of August, Mayor Greg Nickels awarded 19 neighborhood projects a total of more than $1.3 million in matching funds from the Department of Neighborhoods.

Local organizations to receive funds:

- $63,750 to the Committee for Renovation of the West Woodland Field for creating a green sustainable track and a ga-ga ball court and rain garden on the school playground. (Green Lake/Phinney)

- $50,000 to the Friends of Northlake Wharf for planning efforts to convert an underused piece of waterfront into an active public site for community use. (Fremont)

- $80,000 to the North Seattle Boys and Girls Club for the creation of a plaza and gathering place for Greenwood neighbors. (Greenwood)

The money will support projects across the city as diverse as public art, parks improvements and youth development. A ceremony and celebration was held for the award recipients at the North Seattle Boys and Girls Club.

The Seattle Department of Transportation has completed paving the west side of Greenwood Avenue North from North 105th to North 112th and will begin demolition and paving on the eastside of the street the week of Sept 14.

Work will start at North 105th and move northward. One lane of traffic in each direction will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week through the end of October.

There will be no on-street parking in the work zones, and access to driveways may be temporarily restricted. Emergency access will be maintained.

Improvements to Greenwood Avenue North include: new pavement, sidewalks, street trees and lighting.

For information: calll George Frost at (206) 615-0786 or visit the project Web site.