October 2009

Is there an addiction in North America that is more powerful than either drugs or alcohol?

I think there is. I searched Google for definitions of “Addiction,” and I found several that seem to apply to a far more universal, and perhaps more damaging, addiction than either drugs or alcohol.

Here are some of the answers I got:

1. Being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming.

2. An abnormally strong craving.

3. An obsession, compulsion, or excessive psychological dependence.

This addiction is taxpayer supported, causes death to some and permanent injury to many.

Many parents knowingly encourage their children to devote a great deal of their time to becoming addicted.

Adults, often with limited incomes, spend billions of dollars on enhancing this addiction.

The media, newspapers and radio/television, spend much of their budgets on promoting this addiction.

It is raging even in many of the most religious communities in the nation.

As far as I can see this addiction doesn’t enhance the productive lives of many and destroys the lives of legions.

On Tuesday, Oct. 27 at approximately 10:45 p.m., officers from the North Precinct’s Anti-Crime Team (ACT) located and arrested the suspect wanted in connection with a stabbing that occurred earlier this month in Ballard at the Matador restaurant.

See previous coverage here.

The 28-year old male suspect was arrested in Ballard without incident and booked into the King County Jail on a felony assault and felony identity theft warrant, according to Seattle Police.

The Ballard High School girls soccer team closed out its 2009 season Oct. 27 against Lake Washington with a 4-0 win – its biggest of the year.

The victory was only the second time this year the Beavers have shutout a conference opponent, but it was not enough to get them into the playoffs.

Ballard senior Sarah Ives scored twice and seniors Anna Kelsey and Rosemary Spracklin added a goal apiece.

Coach Val Seid said he wished the team had played every match this season with the same passion they showed against Lake Washington.

The Beavers played hard all year but were hurt by injuries and illnesses, Seid said.

Ballard finished the season with a 3-5-3 conference record and was 4-8-4 overall.

The top six teams in the conference make the postseason. The Beavers finished tied for seventh place.

On Friday and Saturday nights, costumed children of all ages will be out in force for community events and neighborhood trick or treating; the Seattle Department of Transportation urges drivers to be extra watchful for children crossing the streets in the evening darkness.
 
Friday, Oct. 30

Magnolia Village Halloween Trick or Treat: 3:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
1,000 expected
Streets closed: West McGraw Street (from 34th Avenue West to 32nd Avenue West)
 
Saturday, Oct. 31

Trolloween 2009: 7:30 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Annual Halloween event starting at the Fremont Troll (20th Birthday) , parading through the Fremont neighborhood, and ending under the Fremont Bridge;
400+ expected

The Washington State Department of Transportation Ferries Division (WSF) is inviting the public to a series of meetings in ferry-served communities Nov. 4 through 19.

In these meetings WSF will provide information, answer questions and hear public comments on a variety of issues related to the ferry system, including the legislated vehicle reservations pre-design study, winter vessel maintenance schedule, new 64-car ferries, crewing schedules and preparing for the 2010 legislative session.

“I look forward to this series of community conversations,” said David Moseley, Assistant Secretary for WSF in a news release. “We will discuss work being done now as well as work moving forward into the 2010 legislative session.”

The community meeting for the Vashon Island and Southworth routes are as follows:

Southworth
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

South Colby Elementary School, 3281 Banner Road S.E., Port Orchard

Vashon Island
Monday, Nov. 9, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

McMurray Middle School, 9329 S.W. Cemetery Road, Vashon Island

State Sen. Karen Keiser, chair of the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee, and state Rep. Eileen Cody, chair of the House Health Care and Wellness Committee, brought the national healthcare debate to Ballard and the 36th District Oct. 27.

The town hall meeting at the Swedish Medical Center was markedly different than what Keiser and Cody experienced while touring elsewhere in the state over the summer.

"This room is a lot different than the rooms we had in July and August," Cody said. "There were a lot of people concerned over whether we should do this at all."

Of the 26 Ballard, Magnolia, Belltown and Queen Anne residents at the Oct. 27 meeting, only one expressed concern over healthcare reform and the possibility of a federal healthcare system.

"It's almost incomprehensible that we don't have universal public healthcare," said one attendee.

"I'm pretty disgusted with the way it's gone on national level," said another.

Keiser said she thinks there will be a healthcare reform bill on the President's desk for approval by Christmas, though it will not include everything members of the 36th District want.

"What do we want? The Missing Link! When do we want it? Yesterday!"

Hundreds of Burke-Gilman Trail supporters, from seniors with walkers to babies on the back of their parents bicycles, turned out for "We Are the Missing Link" Oct. 27.

"It warms the cockles of my heart," Friends of Burke-Gilman Trail's Kevin Carrabine said of the crowd.

The event, hosted in part by Sustainable Ballard, was meant to draw attention to the Missing Link, the section of the trail from near the Ballard Bridge to the Ballard Locks that has not been completed yet. It has been held up by litigation between the city and local industries.

"Some of our friends in these businesses need to decide they're going to catch up with the rest of the citizens," said Del Gerstenberger, a Queen Anne resident who rides the Missing Link three to four times per week.

He said the gravel and the train tracks along Shilshole Avenue where the trail would be make him feel unsafe.

Byron Cole, general manager of the Ballard Terminal Railroad, came out to see what the event would be like.

To extend or not to extend the first time homebuyers’ tax credit, that is the debate facing Congress right now.

Some say that the $8,000 tax credit is boosting the real estate market, an enormously important part of our economy, whereas others say that it doesn’t bring many more new buyers into the market than would have been there already and that the price tag is just too high.

First of all, let’s think about why home values have dropped over the past couple of years. Well, the primary factor would be an oversupply of housing. Too much inventory creates a vicious circle whereby values decline and potential home buyers, not wanting to buy into a falling market, sit on the sidelines and wait for a perceived bottom. This lack of demand then causes values to fall even further.

And, buyers continue to wait.

So to address this, congress created the tax credit for new homebuyers. Across the country, we’ve seen pending and existing home sales turn a corner and rise month over month, with figures much higher than a year ago — this is a much faster turnaround than was expected.

By Kaetlyn Cordingly

In 1984 Annie Davis founded Ballard-based Annie’s Nannies; that same year, Seattle Mayor Charles Royer started the Mayor’s Small Business Award, giving honors to small area businesses for their contributions to Seattle’s economy.

Unrelated then, these two happenings would result in an exciting change for Davis:  25 years later she and her daughter Suzanne Royer McCone received the Mayor’s Small Business Award for Annie’s Nannies, currently located at 2236 N.W. 58th St.

According to the Seattle's Office of Economic Development, the Mayor’s Small Business Award honors small businesses and the diversity and excellence they bring to Seattle’s economy. And for 25 years, Annie’s Nannies has done just that.

“Who would have known that the same year I started my business, he started the award and 25 years later we win it,” said Davis, who had not known that her first husband Royer had started the award.

Davis had been working with at-risk teenagers in Seattle Public Schools and pursuing a master’s degree when it was brought to her attention that there were no nanny agencies in the Pacific Northwest.

Fifth-year co-coaches Annette Silvernale and Christopher Silvernale escorted a West Seattle High cross country team to the starting line of a Metro League Championship Meet for the last time Thursday, Oct. 22.

The retiring coaching pair witnessed six personal records from the seven-man West Seattle varsity, but those performances were not enough to advance their 2009 team to the post-season. The team's 262 points placed it ninth in the eleven-team competition. West Seattle did not enter a girls' team.

Michael Wickham led West Seattle in a time of 19:09 (43d), with Jesse Tarabochia, 19:11 (47th) in hot pursuit. Senior Lars Stromberg saved his best for last with a strong 19:30 (54th), followed by Chad Miller, 19:37 (56th). Wickham, Tarabochia, Miller, plus Nick Barnecut should form a solid nucleus for the Silvernales's coaching successor in 2010.

Chief Sealth

The best individual performance from the Duwamish Peninsula schools was the 18:22 clocked by Daniel Perrine of Chief Sealth. Perrine's 35th place qualified him, as the only runner from either school, to compete in the following week's SeaKing District meet.