January 2010

If you need a reminder of why it's great to live in West Seattle, here it is. The sun broke through the haze as it came over the Cascades and the relatively cool clear air over the Olympic Mountains allowed the light to put them in high relief. This January has seen much milder temperatures than normal with El Nino diverting a lot of rain that normally comes our way to the south.

Photos by Kim Robinson and Patrick Robinson

Despite missing a large portion of the team due to injuries and illness, the Ballard High School gymnastics team squeaked out a 159.8-158.75 victory over Bothell Jan. 21.

Tayler Stern had another big meet for the Beavers, finishing first on the vault with a score of 9.2, the floor with 9.05 and bars with a season and career-high 9.65. She also placed third on the beam with a score of 8.2.

Stern's scores were good enough for first-all around with 36.1.

Erica Redman took first on the beam with 8.7.

Maria Volk came in second on the vault, bars and beam with scores of 8.5, 7.5 and 8.3 respectively. She placed third all-around with 32.5.

The Beavers got a couple of fifth-place finishes from Shannon Donnelly on the bars and Molly Barnes on the floor.

Ballard is 5-2 on the season.

Coach Stephanie Gundel said she is looking forward to the team rebounding from its various ailments for the final regular season meet next week, 7 p.m. on Jan. 28 at Ballard High School against Bellevue.

After that, Ballard will compete in the KingCo Championships Feb. 6.

It's 10:15 a.m. at Whitman Middle School, and Kate Bainbridge, a Whitman teacher, and Kim Ferkingstad, a parent volunteer, are balancing a ladder and hanging strand after strand of paper chains from the ceiling. The chains stretch off down the hallway.

The process might seem tedious and annoying if each one of the thousands of paper chain links did not represent a dollar donated by the students, staff and families of Whitman to go toward Haitian relief after the Jan. 12 earthquake.

In a fundraiser spearheaded by two eighth-grade students, Whitman Middle School has raised $2,074 and counting for the Red Cross since Jan. 20.

Theresa Edwards heard about the disaster in Haiti, and it kindled her passion for fundraising. She and friend Anna Ferkingstad went to Whitman Principal Michael Starosky and proposed the fundraising drive.

Edwards said she thought it would be cool if students got involved in the relief effort.

She said they had a $1,000 goal – about $1 for every student and staff member at Whitman. They doubled that goal in two days.

"I feel really proud of my school," Edwards said. "I didn't realize it would get such a big response from everybody."

Chad Harris, a native of Seattle who has since relocated to North Port, Fla., published "Alaska Commercial Fishing Guide" in September 2009.

The 102-page book is intended as a guide to the state’s commercial fishing industry, which attracts 70,000 to 80,000 people per year and is a popular option for those looking to make a large amount of money on a minimum time commitment.

Harris, who has been in the business for 16 years and is first mate and soon-to-be-captain on the Pavlof fishing boat, grew up in Kirkland and since moved to Florida to be closer to his wife’s family.

Harris listed the benefits of working in the fishing industry as the potential to make great money, the time off (six to eight months per year), and the ability to work outside the typical office environment.

These benefits, plus the fact that the fishing industry has not contracted as a result of the country’s recession, contributed to the demands of the dozens of people who showed up on Harris’ front step in Florida looking for a job.

In November, Ballard Landmark residents Betty Kent and Ned Skavlen were collecting signatures supporting improvements to what they said was a dangerous crosswalk connecting the Landmark with the Canal Station Condos across Leary Avenue.

In about a month, the Seattle Department of Transportation will be adding new signage and paint to alert drivers to the crosswalk between 20th Avenue Northwest and Market Street and by May will have installed overhead crosswalk lights, said Richard Sheridan, spokesperson for the department.

"They are doing far more than we were even thinking of asking," Skavlen said. "An overhead light – that was really the dessert on the whole situation."

Skavlen said he thought it would take a big push in his meeting with the city for crosswalk improvements and expected to come away with a can of crossing flags on either side of the crosswalk.

But, the the situation was resolved in 10 to 15 minutes, he said.

Skavlen wasn't the only one surprised with the city's handling of their request.

"I honestly thought that I was going to get the political two-step," said Landmark Executive Director Peter Brookes.

The Seattle Police Department will be well represented as members of the command staff will participate this Sunday, January 24th in the 2nd Annual Polar Plunge at Alki Beach.

The plunge is part of a fundraising campaign for the Law Enforcement Torch Run Campaign for Special Olympics Washington. The plunge is scheduled to take place at 11:00 am.

Opening ceremonies will commence at about 10:15 am at the Alki Beach Bathhouse, located at 1702 Alki Avenue SW, in West Seattle. For more information on this event, please go to http://www.sowa.org

Does Homer Simpson live in Federal Way?
 
I think he maybe living here along with his family and many of his relatives!  If we look at the values that we see in him and his family portray, there seems to be a great deal of coincidence between these behaviors and those that are quite commonly exhibited in our community.
 
Bad behavior, poor scholarship, violence, gun shots, murder, you name it, are constantly reported in the local papers. 
 
Where does this start?  I would like to suggest that it starts with very young children who are not "guided" either by the adults in their lives, or by the schools that they begin to attend starting somewhere after the age of three.  Before long some are judged to be "behaviorally disabled." 

In the past 50 years we have decided that it would be judgmental to criticize the way adults bring up children.  In this same period we have experienced the rise in almost any kind of bad behavior you would care to remember.
 

When Pope John Paul passed away back in 2005, we learned about how spartan his life was in the instructions that he left for his personal secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz.

“I leave no property behind me of which it is necessary to dispose. As for the everyday objects that were of use to me, I ask they be distributed as seems appropriate. My personal notes are to be burned.”

The Holy See’s refreshing example of selflessness must make some of us feel inadequate.

Possession obsession seems like fun for a while, but as some wiseacre said years ago, ‘you can’t take it with you.’

Last Will and Testaments are important documents to have and to keep updated, but among those documents is the sometimes overlooked formal health care directive, or Living Will.

Advances in medical technology allow sick or injured persons who in decades past may have died to be kept alive by artificial means, and in the event of a coma, this can go on indefinitely.

It was the end of perfection and a 29-game winning streak on Monday, but the quest for a repeat state championship continues.

Against the powerful and agile presence of 6-foot-9 senior guard Terrence Jones, the defending Class 4A state champion Federal Way Eagles and current No. 1 rated Federal Way Eagles suffered a 62-58 loss to the current and twice defending Oregon Class 5A boys basketball champion and current No. 1-ranked Jefferson of North Portland Democrats in the main event game of the 2010 King Holiday Hoopfest held at Bank of America Arena in Hec Edmundson Pavilion on the campus of the University of Washington.

Eagle head basketball coach Jerome Collins counts no long term benefits in losing a close regular season game and wants his players to learn and remember this feeling.

"I just hate to lose," said Collins. "Some coaches believe a loss is good for you. I don't. I'd much rather win close and learn from that and still be in the win column."

Jada Piper's three-point basket late in the fourth quarter ignited a final Thomas Jefferson surge in a crucial 48-39 South Puget Sound League North division girls basketball upset of fourth place Kentlake on Tuesday at Jefferson High School.

By winning, the Lady Raiders (5-6) stayed one game behind fifth place Auburn (6-5) and closed in on the Lady Falcons (6-4) as the regular season playoff positions loomed ahead.

"Our defense held them to 39 points," Raider head coach Jerry Krueger said. "It was nothing fancy. We played a hard-working man-to-man defense. Every time they got close, we responded and got some breaks this time. In the fourth quarter, we had to value our possessions."

With 5:22 remaining in the fourth quarter and Jefferson maintaining a wafer-thin 35-34 lead, Jada Piper launched a three-point try just before the 30-second shot clock buzzed. Off angle for a nearly straight on shot, the ball amazingly banked off the glass perfectly to the delight of Lady Raider supporters.