January 2010

Ed. Note: A Look Back is a brand new column recalling the history of our neighborhood.

If you do remember the golden age of radio, you may recall a time when the room may have been illuminated only by the light of the radio dial and coming from the loudspeaker, the greatest names in comedy, such as Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Edgar Bergen , Jimmy Durante , Abbott and Costello and others.

These names may evoke a rosy glow of nostalgia for you. Or perhaps you are one who is more in the mood for a good mystery with Sherlock Holmes or a great radio spine-tingling thriller with the likes of the ever-popular radio classics Escape and Suspense!

Hear great stories like "The Time Machine" or "The Invisible Man" by H.G. Wells, or "Three Skeleton Key" where three men are trapped in a lighthouse surrounded by thousands of rats who are trying to claw their way in.

If this is too intense for you, try the comedy antics of Eve Arden as Madison High's favorite English teacher in "Our Miss Brooks." For Further hilarity, hear Phil Harris and Alice Faye or The Great Gildersleeve.

After Cadet Thomas Avolio's tragic accident in 2006, he was not expected to live, much less return to the Air Force Academy.

Laying in a coma in a Colorado hospital in intensive care, Avolio's body was in shambles and his life was hanging in the balance.

On Dec. 16th, 2009, a truly inspiring day, 2nd Lieutenant Avolio finished a five-and-a-half year journey and graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado.

"It was the climax of his journey," his mother, Barb Avolio, said.

Avolio grew up in Des Moines, attending St. Philomena Catholic School and Kennedy Catholic High School.

His two oldest friends, essentially since birth, Peter Livingston and Thatcher Kelley, grew up alongside him in Des Moines in the same cul-de-sac. All three still keep in close contact.

"Thomas is the type of guy that you would want your sister to marry, just a great guy through and through," said Livingston.

"When we were kids, Thomas loved playing with his toy fighter jets. It was inspiring to see him push through so much difficulty in order to serve our country as he has always desired," said Kelley.

Gerardo Bolong captured these images of a pair of former Federal Way and Beamer graduates playing college level football in Washington.

No. 58 in a Husky uniform is Federal Way graduate Andru Pulu. He was a 6-1, 251-lb freshman defensive end this past fall.

No. 56 in a Central Washington Wildcat uniform is Todd Beamer graduate Sean Davis. He was a redshirt freshman kicker and punter.

One person really can make a difference.
Longtime resident Keith Ono suggested to the City of Federal Way that it should recycle Styrofoam packing blocks, especially after the holidays when people tend to get a lot of packaged stuff. The City agreed and set up a temporary collection site
in the lobby of City Hall right after Christmas.

The response has been overwhelming. People from all over the South Sound brought more than 15 cubic yards of Styrofoam blocks. That’s the equivalent of 30 big (96-gallon) yard waste carts.

Ono, who calls himself an avid recycler, couldn’t be happier.

“I’m sure I’m not the only one who says ‘What the heck do I do with this stuff?’”

What he’d really like to see is a permanent dropoff site for Styrofoam blocks. Residents currently have to travel to Renton to recycle Styrofoam blocks (although packaging peanuts are accepted for re-use at local shipping stores).

The City is challenging a local business to step up and provide a permanent location for Styrofoam block recycling.

Anyone interested should contact Jeanette Brizendine, the City’s Recycling Manager.

Taco Del Mar Franchising Corporation, 2414 Southwest Andover Street in West Seattle (just south of Nucor Steel) announced on Friday, Jan. 22 that it is voluntarily restructuring its business under the protection of Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Seattle. The company is expecting to continue all business operations during the restructuring without interruption. The restructuring will provide the company a chance to restructure debts and become financially viable again while reorganizing to better position the company for growth in the current economic climate.

According to its press release:

9:50 PM update - SDOT’s contractor completed this weekend’s work early and opened the ramp from northbound I-5 to the West Seattle Bridge around 8 pm (Saturday, Jan 23). The ramp from Columbian Way (from Beacon Hill) to the West Seattle Bridge was opened shortly thereafter.

Several long-term closures that began last night (Friday, Jan 22) will remain in place for the Spokane Street Viaduct widening project. Lower Spokane Street from First to Sixth avenues is closed to both east and westbound through traffic. The Fourth Avenue South off- ramp from westbound lanes on the Spokane Street Viaduct is permanently closed.

Starting Monday at 9 a.m., Fourth Avenue South under the viaduct will be restricted to one lane in each direction from S Horton to Industrial Way, and will remain restricted for several weeks.

Today the contractor positioned barriers blocking the Fourth Avenue off-ramp from the westbound lanes of Spokane Street Viaduct. The contractor expects to begin demolition of this ramp next week.

Closures similar to this weekend are planned for next weekend if the weather is favorable. Watch for updates.

With the imminent closing of Mr. Spot’s Chai House on Leary Avenue at the end of January, downtown Ballard is about to lose another unique space where people can hang out.

While there are certainly plenty of coffee shops and bars to hang out in, the question is for whom?

Hangout spots like the former Sunset Bowl and Denny’s were places where older and younger people could hang out in a relatively affordable environment.

It seems to me like the renewal of downtown Ballard is leaving older, younger and eccentric people with less places to hang out.

Is this what we want to see happen in Ballard?

The Chai House is a cool place that caters to a pretty eclectic crowd, in addition to serving up good chai tea and falafel sandwiches.

I’ve never hung out here later in the evening, but judging by the calendars that I would pick up, they have something interesting going on every night.

I hear they’re going to look for another place to reopen, but it might not be in Ballard, which would be a shame and a loss for the arts community.

Tuesday, Feb. 2
Boys basketball: Mount Rainier at Tyee, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: Tyee at Mount Rainier, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 3
Boys basketball: Highline at Evergreen; Kennedy at Lindbergh, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: Evergreen at Highline; Lindbergh at Kennedy, 7 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 4
Boys basketball: Kennedy at Mount Rainier, 8 p.m.
Girls basketball: Kennedy at Mount Rainier, 6:30 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 5
Boys basketball: Foster at Lindbergh; Renton at Evergreen; Hazen at Highline, 8 p.m.
Girls basketball: Foster at Lindbergh; Renton at Evergreen; Hazen at Highline, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 9
Boys basketball: Hazen at Foster; Renton at Highline; Evergreen at Mount Rainier; Tyee at Lindbergh, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: Foster at Hazen; Highline at Renton; Mount Rainier at Evergreen; Lindbergh at Tyee, 7 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 11
Boys basketball: Lindbergh at Evergreen; Tyee at Kennedy; Foster at Renton; Highline at Mount Rainier, 7 p.m.
Girls basketball: Evergreen at Lindbergh; Kennedy at Tyee; Renton at Foster; Mount Rainier at Highline, 7 p.m.

Great effort and tough inside play catapulted the Highline girls basketball team to a 51-32 Seamount League home victory against Lindbergh on Wednesday.

With the win, the Pirates pushed into a fourth place tie with Tyee at identical 5-5 records as well as squaring up their overall record to 7-7.

“We already had some players not available and then we had that (left ankle) injury to Sam (Erben) in the first quarter,” Pirate head coach Paul Gary said. “It was a great effort inside from the people who were here.”

It was still a reasonably close game as the Eagles trailed only 33-25 with 7:09 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Post player Sofia Locklear then scored an inside basket off the inbounds pass and followed it up on a lay up. After Lindbergh notched a basket, Alana Lopez dropped home a basket off a rebound. A Sarah Ganz pass to Locklear for another close-in score had Highline soaring away to a 42-27 margin that simply grew into the biggest lead by the end of the game.

Watch out for the Rams again this postseason. It looks as if last year’s 3A state second place boys team heads that be-wary direction after destroying Kennedy Catholic, 120-70, in a dual meet at the Mount Rainier Pool.

The league championship meet will be next after the Rams finish breezing through capture of the Seamount League season for a couple more weeks of duals.

Win league meet?

Will the Rams win ‘it’ is a good question, but it won’t get a good answer from the coach.

“You know, I don’t like to call things like that,” said Omar Crowder, Rams head coach.

Win districts?

Wait, we already know the answer to that don’t we?

So, hmm, well, then, how about this...

Will your Rams improve the finish at state from last season, get higher on the awards stand than before, and overlook everyone else?

“That remains to be seen,” said Crowder. “We took a big hit, we lost 24 seniors. A bunch of those guys made up our relays, Greg Giesbers, Curtis Strand, Jon Ester, to name a few.”