September 2009

Dear Editor,

I am writing in reference to Vol. 117, No. 37 of the Ballard News-Tribune, dated Friday, Sept. 25, 2009. In reading through the paper, two particular articles attracted my attention: on the front page “Swedish breaks ground on new medical office,” by Michael Harthorne and on page eight, “Vision Greenwood presents design options for redevelopment of park,” by Allison Espiritu.

Both articles provided information about projects, but neither one provided details about specific locations. The article on Swedish said it would be next to the Medical Plaza Building on Tallman Avenue. I actually went to the Swedish Web site to see a map of where this actually might be. Your article was pretty vague.

The article on Greenwood talked about Greenwood Park, but I have no idea where that is. I’ve lived on Northwest 80th Street near 3rd Northwest for 35 years and have no idea where Greenwood Park is located. I’m familiar with Sandel Playground but have never heard of Greenwood Park.

What a great name for a rock band, Black Whales. It is especially great since the bass guitar player is my own great grand nephew, Ryan Middleton, whom I had not seen but once in many years until I learned that his band was appearing Sept. 15 at our own West Seattle Easy Street Records on California Avenue Southwest.

His grandmother is my niece, whom I wrote about some time ago. I used to visit her in Centralia, Wash. when I was little. Yes, the same one that took me down the street from her house to see the dance program that her neighbor, the late, great choreographer Merce Cunningham organized for all the kids in the neighborhood.

Now the grandson of this niece of mine is carrying on the musical tradition of the family. What an exciting life appearing at radio stations to pitch their first record and touring the country as far as New York City and Texas to introduce their unique sound.

I drove to West Seattle, parked and walked down the sidewalk toward Easy Street, past the Discovery Shop where I buy my pre-worn clothes, and approached the sidewalk café.

The game was anything but defense at the start. If you like scoring there was plenty of it.

Decatur’s Alex Bykovskiy received the kickoff and returned it for 55 yards, and then two plays later found Cary Carver in the end zone on a play that took only 1:39 off the clock. The lead was short lived.

During the ensuing kickoff Rahmel Dockery returned it 92 yards for an answer and brought the game even at 7-7, and not even two minutes off the clock.

After three downs, the Gators of Decatur punted and two plays later C.J. Langlow, a senior wide receiver, beat the corner and raced 56 yards off the arm of quarterback Tyler Jamison. Now the score was 21-7 with 6:41 remaining in the first quarter.

The game of inches became a game of big plays. Dropped passes and tips that led to interceptions became a norm for the Gators, while the strength and speed of the Curtis Vikings took advantage of the miscues.

At the end of the 1st quarter the Gators found themselves down by another score, upping the total 28-7. Decatur refused to roll over and play dead.

Woe to the Falcons of Kentlake after the Eagles of Federal Way got a hold of them.

The Eagles sank their talons in early for a 21-0 lead and built it to a 49-14 win.

“Our kids came out ready to play tonight,” said Federal Way head coach John Meagher, whose team improved to 1-2 on the season after a couple of tough losses going into Friday’s game. “They took it to another level of offense and defense. We did a good job executing.”

Trenton Pinson of the Eagles was the best at executing, scoring three touchdowns and carrying the football 11 times for 118 yards.

“When he gets into the open, no one can catch him,” said Meagher of Pinson, who doubles as a track star in the spring. “He’s the fastest guy in the state.”

Pinson started off the scoring by running for a 55-yard touchdown with 10:18 to play in the first quarter. He took off down the middle, then got through a pack of defenders and sprinted down the right sideline.

“When you get to the secondary, it’s off to the races,” Pinson said.

Pinson found the victory sweet.

“Our goal today was to dominate them and obliterate them,” he said.

A young man was on his motorcycle near Duwamish Head and Anchor Park on Sunday appoximately 4:40 p.m. when a black Toyoya SUV allegedly pulled into traffic, striking the motorcycle according to Seattle Police Department personnel at the scene.

Police, fire and aid units responded to the accident. The victim was taken to Harborview Medical Center.

As promised a few months ago I have done interviews with all of the candidates for the Federal Way School Board elections.

These are important elections as clearly you will see that some candidates believe that education in Federal Way isn’t where it ought to be.

Education Week ranks the entire state as 43rd in graduation rates and lists Federal Way Schools as having a 45.7% graduation rate.

If this is true less than one half of the entering 9th graders graduate for our schools. There has been some questioning of this figure locally, but nationally I haven’t seen any writings challenging the calculations that they have made.

A local columnist recently said, “The system is broken,” and, to me, this would require a real “fix” not just more talk.

I asked each of the candidates in District One 15 questions regarding the local situation. The following are their answers, unedited.

After reading these answers you might be able to decide how “comfortable” you are with the largest part of your tax bill. Items in parentheses ( ) are my comments.

Defense was the name of this soccer game as two familiar foes battled in a non-conference contest.

In the unseasonably warm afternoon sun, the Eagles from Evergreen Lutheran hosted the Grizzlies from Bear Creek in a warm-up contest to Sea-Tac league play. Both teams have had strong teams over the past three years with each team participating in the district playoffs one year ago.
The head coach for the Eagles, Stan Cole, is in his fourth season taking Evergreen Lutheran all the way to the finals at the WIAA State Championships. They came up a bit short, losing in a shootout to La Salle.

Coach Cole knows how tough it is to get back to that level, especially graduating four key seniors.

“Grace Lorette( 2008 SeaTac League MVP) is a difficult person to replace. She was literally everywhere.” Cole said. “Kailey Fuegmann and Kaitlyn Weber (both seniors at EL) have stepped in and really challenged their teammates to improve.”

Coach Cole believes in being defensively strong and with senior keeper, Lindsay Sandwith, it was quite strong. Sandwith came up big on several plays, squelching crosses and corner kicks from the Bear Creek squad.

Volleyball
TJ 3, K-M 2

Thomas Jefferson battled to a 25-21, 25-13, 19-25, 16-25. 15-13 win over Kent-Meridian in the South Puget Sound League North Division opener for both teams Wednesday, Sept. 23.

The Raiders ran their overall record to 4-0 with the road win.

Allie Crowe came through with 36 assists to lead TJ in that department, while Katelyn Nugent had 22 kills, Kendra Ansotigue 14 kills and 18 digs, Megan Levesque four blocks and Owne’Tan-yay-tu recorded four blocks and 3 digs.

Kentlake 3, Federal Way 1

The Eagles came up on the short end of a 25-20, 25-22, 23-25, 25-12 score against the Royals in another SPSL North opener Wednesday, Sept. 23.

Jaleecia Roland had seven kills and four blocks for Federal Way, while Christiana Ventura racked up 15 assists and Monica McConnaughey had three aces.

Sp. Lake 3, Decatur 0

Decatur went down to a 25-6, 25-8, 25-12 loss Wednesday, Sept. 23.

Cross country
Boys

strong>Beamer 28, Federal Way 31

The sun brought out the crowds at the 21st Fishermen's Fall Festival, which took place Saturday, Sept. 26 from 11 am to 6 p.m. at the Fishermen's Terminal, 3919 18th Ave. W.

Activities included survival suit team races, outdoor salmon barbeque, J.P. Patches, Reptile Man, and free tours of the Sea Star from the Deadliest Catch TV show.

"Generally speaking the public has a lot more faith in the port and the commissioners then they have had for many many years," said Warren Aakervick, owner of Ballard Oil, who was commandeering the salmon barbecue. "The majority of the port is right on track. It's not about maximizing the dollar for the port, but maximizing the dollar for this community.

"The most important thing is that if the people are going to bother to vote take the time to find out about the candidate," said Aakervick, wearing more than one Sallly Bagshaw button. "It takes a lot of intelligence to be an informed voter, so be that."

"We picked a great day," said Tay Yoshitani, Port of Seattle chief executive officer. "It's beautiful. I see a lot of smiles out here. It's exactly the kind of community event we like to sponsor."

The sixth annual Sustainable Ballard Festival is taking place this weekend, Sept. 26 and 27, noon to 5 p.m. at Ballard Commons Park, corner of Northwest 57th Street and 22nd Avenue Northwest.

Green Home Workshops include Mycrofiltration, Right Bulb, Right Place, and "Compassionate Communication, or creating sustainable relationships.

Also offered are food and garden, and town hall workshops, and a Sustainable bike tour.

Penned goats you can pet are featured. Marlowe Barrington, 8, an Adams Elementary student, enjoyed petting Miriam, a goat.

Lori Vail owns the goats on display. They live on her southeast Seattle home.

"We milk, make our own cheese, yogurt, and use the whey as a bi-product to ferment vegetables," said Vail, who calls her home the Seattle Urban Nano Farm.