January 2010

Once a year hundreds of West Seattle supporters of our community college in Riverview, gather just south of Pigeon Point and just north of the Dumar district where Earl Cruzen was born in 1920. His house still stands. It is close to that of another famous resident, Richard Hugo, world - wide revered poet.

Earl, father of the collection of historic paintings which grace the Alaska Junction and his wife Ada are noted backers of our college and often invite us to join them at the annual banquet, It is called Gifts from the Earth. Food Service of America, located on Delridge Way for many years has moved its headquarters to Nevada but still remains the major sponsor.

At approximately 10:50 p.m. on Jan. 30, a man entered a convenience store in the 900 block of Northwest Leary Way.

According to customers inside the store, the man was acting strangely, and it appeared that he had a pistol in a holster on his belt.

According to witnesses, the man grabbed a drink and poured the contents over his head.

The customers fled the store, as did the store clerk after calling 911 to report the man’s strange behavior.

Officers arrived and could see the man inside the store walking around and occasionally doing exercises.

Officers contained the store while SWAT and negotiators arrived.

After approximately three hours, the man walked out of the front of the store and was taken into custody by officers without further incident.

A very realistic looking Airsoft gun was in a holster on the suspect's belt.

The suspect was then transported to the hospital for a mental evaluation. He will be booked into jail as soon as he is released from the hospital.

Just five days prior to the Amanda Knox fundraiser at the Comedy Underground, the head prosecutor who convicted her of murder was himself convicted for his mishandling of a separate murder case.

Giuliano Mignini, who prosecuted Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito in Perugia, Italy for the murder of Knox’s college roommate, Meredith Kercher, was found guilty in the Florence Court Jan. 22 of illegal phone tapping, abuse of high office, and dereliction of duty in connection with highly publicized "The Monster of Florence" serial killer case in Italy.

Mignini wiretapped journalists, newspapers, police and legal authorities, mostly in Florence and Rome during his investigation of the serial killings. He had threatened lawsuits and investigations against journalists who questioned his investigation in the case. Mignini has been sentenced to 16 months jail time, but his sentence may be suspended.

Hot shooting and tormenting defense by the Tacoma Baptist Crusaders dealt Evergreen Lutheran a 57-40 SeaTac 2B South Division boys basketball loss Friday.

The visiting Eagles remained in a division third place at 5-5 while dropping to 6-12 overall.

Superb ball movement and high percentage shots set up by the imposing defense put Evergreen Lutheran down, 12-1, in the opening minutes of the game. The Eagles trimmed the disadvantage to seven points, 15-8, at one stage before the Crusaders moved on to a 17-9 lead at the end of the quarter.

With its field goal shooting percentage more frigid than the ice of the Arctic region, Evergreen Lutheran was also prone to turnovers as Tacoma Baptist created a 36-19 halftime lead.

Clawing defense produced five straight Eagle points in the opening of the second half to creep EL within 36-24, but this was the closest Evergreen Lutheran could get.

The energetic Crusaders rode away to a 44-26 margin after three quarters and eventually grabbed a 23-point lead in the fourth quarter before then Eagles closed out the fray with a 6-0 surge.

Douglas E. Bond Gymnasium on the campus of Tacoma Baptist Schools turned into tough environment for the visiting Evergreen Lutheran girls basketball team on Friday.

Melanie Shank continually rode to the rescue for Tacoma Baptist in a 51-45 win against Evergreen Lutheran in a SeaTac 2B South Division match up of league powerhouses.

The 5-foot-8 inch senior Crusader guard was solid all the way en route to 23 points and 10 rebounds.

"We fought back and rallied from way back against a good team," observed Evergreen Lutheran head coach Jeff Kurbis.

Tacoma Baptist now leads the division at 9-0 with a 15-2 overall record. Second place Evergreen Lutheran (6-2, 10-5) is just ahead of 5-2 Crosspoint -- whom it has beaten twice.

"Our team is successful because of hard work, commitment to the program and teamwork," explained Crusader head coach Josh Narayan. "We have good senior leadership and tonight we shot well from the free throw line."

The Crusaders shot 16-of-19 from the charity stripe to underscore his statement.

Tacoma Baptist needed a full effort to hold off the onrushing charge of Evergreen Lutheran.

The Duwamish Longhouse Museum and Cultural Center celebrated its first anniversary Saturday, Jan. 30. Festivities included flute playing by Dario Meguire, 17, tribal singing and drumming, by Tom Speer, Mike Evans, and others, homemade food cooked on site, speeches, and the showing of a film about Princess Angeline, the daughter of Chief Seattle. Folks stationed at booths dispensed information on tribal issues, and two residents of the ever-migrating “Nickelsville” homeless encampment also had a table.

“I’ve always enjoyed coming here. It just feels good,” said noted Duwamish tribal member and master basket weaver Mary Lou Slaughter at the party. Her baskets are on permanent display at the museum. She will give a basket making class beginning Saturday, April 24, at the museum.

“I’m so happy everybody showed up today. There’s been a steady stream of people,” said Tribal Council Chair, Cecile Hansen. “The land and building are paid for so we’re cool. But this year we now need a lot of people to think about sustaining.”

Author and three-time breast cancer survivor Becky Olson, co-founder of “Breast Friends,” spoke to 40 people at Bridge Park Retirement Community in High Point, Saturday, Jan. 30. She shared strategies to fight depression and to get out instead of hiding at home. A friend made her the cap, pictured, which she said gave her courage to get out more when she lost her hair. Breast Friends is a grant recipient of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She based her book on that cap, called "The Hat That Saved My Life."

A crowd of fans attended the 30th anniversary party of the Duwamish Dixieland Jazz Band to hear them perform Saturday, Jan. 30, at the Senior Center of West Seattle. Washboard player and band member Carol Johnston was also the event's MC. Also performing was octogenarian Lucy Mitchell who sang and played the piano. She is a former UW music student.

This photo, shot with an iPhone from Westwood Village on January 27th was taken because the cloud formation was particularly striking.
It wasn't until the photo was transferred and viewed on a larger screen that something stood out. It might well be a bird but it's clearly not an airplane or a smudge or an optical artifact. For now we won't speculate further as to what it could be. No changes aside from minor color, contrast and sharpness corrections were made.

If YOU have an unusual or amazing photo you'd like to share with us, please send them to either our tips email at Tips@westseattleherald.com or to pr@robinsonnews.com. Include a description of where and when you took the shot.

If you'd like to see a larger version of this photo to examine more closely you can download it from the link above.

zaw
5458 Leary Ave. N.W.
206.297.1334
www.zaw.com
Sunday - Thursday: 3 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Friday - Saturday: 3 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Take-and-bake pizza has been around a long time, but never like this!

Seasonal and local ingredients, nothing frozen and each pizza prepared to order elevate zaw's fare to a higher plane.

We accessed their services at the Leary Avenue and Ballard Farmers Market location, but they also serve Capitol Hill and South Lake Union.

The designer "We make 'em, you bake 'em" pizzas are unique among Seattle's pizza parade. "Handcrafted" takes on a whole new meaning when customers get to watch their order carefully assembled.

Zaw, of course, references the youthful shorthand reference to pizza (PEET-zaw, as in, "Dude, let's go get some zaw").

From the Leary locale comes the "Vietzawn," their take on the Vietnamese baguette sandwich. That may sound weird, but this is a really fine pizza. And we are not kidding one bit about that.