December 2009

Composure down the fourth quarter stretch run helped the Class 4A fourth-ranked Federal Way girls basketball team hold off No. 2 Lewis and Clark of Spokane 75-72 Tuesday night at Federal Way in the second half of a doubleheader billed as the South Puget Sound League vs. Greater Spokane League Challenge.

"I'm happy the girls kept their composure," said Eagles head coach Danny Graham. "We did give up too many points on defense, so we have some work to do. Lewis and Clark got too many easy shots and we turned the ball over 30 times. We pride ourselves on not giving up easy shots. The other team was in high speed and had good shooters."

Both teams matched each other in speed and intensity until a 70-70 deadlock with 2:15 remaining in the fourth quarter.

At that point, Brittany Barrington spotted up from the corner without hesitation to bury a three-pointer from the corner for a 73-70 Eagle lead with 1:20 remaining.

I think that many of our educators, and school board members, could be very successful at raising mushrooms.

Mushrooms come in three basic varieties. Tasty, but not particularly nutritious, hallucinogenic, and poisonous. I think that all three types of these are to be found in some of the statements we hear from our educational “experts.”

Let’s look at how you grow mushrooms. The basic material for this is horse manure which is spread out onto flats that are then sprinkled with mushroom spores. These flats are then placed in cool, dark, places. Caves are a significant place of the production of mushrooms.

Fed horse manure and kept in the dark, makes for some excellent, tasty, sometimes hallucinogenic, and sometimes poisonous mushrooms.

We hear from our educators about the “progress” that our students, usually a small sample, are making in schools. Perhaps these are the “Tasty but not nutritious” kind of mushrooms. We hear about how our students are now being measured by “World Class Standards.”

Have you been inundated with Snow yet? No?

What happened to the ‘Arctic Blast’ that’s always supposed to arrive on our doorsteps each winter?

Some folks suggest that global warming is messing up traditional weather models, but I think it’s mostly just the hot air that seems to emanate from our TVs during weather forecasting segments. So I guess that asking how the weather isn’t might be more of a conversation ice-breaker.

Around this region, nearly anything could be happening outside your windows and doors at any particular time of year.

The saying, ‘If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes,’ seems to be perfectly suited to us, and while it’s true that the northwest interior is notoriously difficult for weather forecasting experts, if anyone else was wrong in regard to their jobs as much as they are they’d likely be looking for work.

We can be upset by the inconsistencies, or we can just shine it on the way my pal Crazy Bob does, when he blathers out part of this kid’s rhyme for me: ‘Whether the weather be cold…or whether the weather be hot…we’ll weather the weather, whatever the weather..whether we like it or not.’

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport invites fans to score a "TD" with a 50% discount on Terminal Direct parking for the Seahawks final home game Jan. 3 versus the Tennessee Titans.
Terminal Direct parking at Sea-Tac Airport offers the most convenient access to the airport terminal and quick connection to Link light rail's new SeaTac/Airport Station. You'll park on the 4th floor of the airport garage, an easy walk to the pedestrian bridge leading to the Link station.
On Jan. 3, customers parking in Terminal Direct will enjoy a $2 per hour rate if they arrive between the hours of 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. - plenty of time to experience the quick, convenient ride from SeaTac/Airport Station to stations near Qwest Field. Terminal Direct tickets during that time period will automatically be credited with the discount rate when you exit the airport parking garage.

"If you're still looking for a New Year's Eve outfit, we will be open New Year's Eve day from 11am-6pm and New Year's Day from 11am-6pm. Stop by and find something to wear to ring in 2010!," declared Tracy Dart, co-owner of Cherry Consignment.

'We have a bunch of fun sparkly shoes and tops and dresses, including a silver mirror ball dress with fun earrings, size 10, for $64." enthused co-owner Nyla Bittermann. "A lot of people like to shop locally before they go out New Years Eve locally. "

Happy New Year from Cherry Consignment!

- Nyla Bittermann & Tracy Dart

Cherry Consignment
4142 California Ave SW

(206) 933-7479

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It is 8:00 p.m. Tuesday night, Dec. 29, and 10 teams with 70 members, a caller, onlookers, and servers fill the rear room of the Feedback Lounge at Morgan Junction as they do every Tuesday night to play "It's Only Rock 'N' Roll" Rock Trivia," a musical trivia pursuit game. But there’s nothing trivial about the hard-edged competitive spirit in the air. And this competition is getting more serious, and crowded, every week.

"More and more people keep showing up," said "Chachi" the caller, who is actually Charlie Beck with the popular Seattle band Memphis Radio Kings. Participants say he is a good fit for the role with his jovial stage presence and musical know-how. The "non-winners," as he calls them, from the previous week come up with a theme, and he comes up with the questions.

Each team is allowed up to six players. There are four rounds of 11 questions each. The two-dollar entry fees are divvied up and awarded to the top winners. Feedback Lounge also awards discount coupons to many of the players.

This week's theme was "Years" because of the new year. Questions included, "Who wrote 'Year of the Cat?" -Al Stewart.

On the afternoon of Dec. 29, Traffic Collision Investigation Squad detectives located and arrested the suspect from the Dec. 27 hit-and-run collision in Fremont.

The suspect, a 26-year-old man, was located and arrested in Shoreline.

He was booked into the King County Jail on Investigation of Vehicular Assault, Investigation of Hit and Run, Investigation of Auto Theft, plus he had an outstanding Department of Corrections felony warrant for his arrest.

On Dec. 27, two vehicles collided at Fremont Avenue North and North 39th Street. The suspect, the driver of one of the vehicles, fled the scene. A female pedestrian and a passenger in the suspect's vehicle, a stolen Chevy Nova, were injured.

The investigation surrounding the collision continues.

Four first-quarter three-pointers Dec. 29 allowed Lakeside to end the Ballard girls basketball team's two-game win streak 50-43.

"They were hot and didn't miss any," Ballard coach C.J. Sealey said.

After Lakeside's early offensive onslaught put them out ahead 17-10, the Beavers outscored them 36-33.

"I told our team, "They (Lakeside) aren't going to be able to keep that up," Sealey said. "And, we beat them the rest of the way."

Juniors Elena DeWeese and Theresa Moriarty led Ballard with 15 and 14 points respectively.

Despite missed opportunities, such as nine missed free throws, against a strong Lakeside team, Sealey said she is excited about what she is seeing from her team.

She said the Ballard players are starting to come into their own and play together at the level they are capable of.

The Beavers are 2-6 overall and 0-4 in the conference.

Ballard has a chance to improve that conference record at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 6 at Newport High School.

The 5th Avenue’s enormously popular Spotlight Night series, a free event that continues to attract record crowds, continues on Tuesday, January 5 with a look at two of our upcoming shows, South Pacific and Legally Blonde: The Musical.

Hosted by The 5th Avenue’s Executive Producer and Artistic Director David Armstrong, the program features three of the most important people of the American Theatre: songwriter Laurence O'Keefe, Tony Award-winning producer Hal Luftig and Seattle's own Tony Award-winning director, Bartlett Sher.

The evening begins with a conversation with Legally Blonde songwriter Laurence O’Keefe and producer Hal Luftig, who give us the inside story of creating this hit Broadway musical based on the popular film. O’Keefe will play and sing excerpts from his musicals (including the cult favorite Bat Boy) and Luftig will share experiences of his 20-year career as the producer of Broadway hits such as

Thoroughly Modern Millie, Movin’ Out, the current revival of West Side Story and the upcomingCatch Me If You Can, which had its world premiere here at The 5th Avenue last summer.

The warning period for the City of Federal Way’s new automated speed cameras at two school zones and new Red-Light cameras at two intersections ends at midnight on December 30, 2009.

Cameras nab 676 speeders at Twin Lakes and Saghalie

As of December 29, the City of Federal Way Police Department had issued warnings to 676 drivers for speeding through school zones at Twin Lakes Elementary School and Saghalie Middle School.

When school resumes on January 4, 2010, police will fine violators between $189 and $250, depending how much they are speeding over the posted 20 mph limit, at Twin Lakes Elementary (on Southwest 320th Street) and at Saghalie Middle School (on 21st Avenue Southwest).

The cameras are in effect when students are coming to and from school, during lunch hour, and when the flashing yellow lights are on.

New red light cameras catch nearly 600 drivers at two different intersections

The City also activated three new red-light cameras last month and nearly 600 drivers were caught running red lights during the warning period, which also ends at midnight on December 30.