January 2010

SEATTLE - Coughing up the basketball 29 times on turnovers turned into a critical affliction that became fatal in a Class 4A ninth-ranked Decatur boys basketball 58-53 loss to Class 3A top-ranked Rainier Beach on Monday at the 2010 King Holiday Hoopfest at Bank of America Arena in Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

"They're No. 1 in 3A for a reason," observed Gator head coach Kevin Olson. "Rainier Beach is athletic, aggressive and physical. It took us a quarter to adjust. Our team has character and we kept battling. We hung around and had our chances. We just didn't get it done."

Rainier Beach employed its lightning quick speed to shackle Decatur with an imprisoning man-to-man defense that forced 11 first quarter turnovers and a 14-3 first quarter lead that turned into a 19-10 advantage by the end of the quarter.

Despite its early struggles in ball control and rebounding, Decatur, ranked ninth in 4A, fought hard in its gallant comeback effort from as much as a 13 point deficit in the second quarter against the Vikings (10-3).

After RB led 24-11 early in the second quarter, Decatur doggedly kept drawing closer until pulling within 30-26 at the half.

AUBURN - Fourth quarter pressure enabled Thomas Jefferson to pull away in the fourth quarter for a 55-47 home SPSL North girls basketball victory against Kent Meridian on Saturday, January, 16.

Leading only 43-40 early in the fourth quarter, the Raiders finally sealed the deal against the persistent Royals. Jefferson began the run with a Karen Carpenter to Uniique Taufa'asau goal. Hannah Kiyohara followed by draining a three-pointer. Kiyohara later notched a lay up after a Raider steal to put TJ in command at 50-40 with 2:07 showing on the scoreboard clock.

Being fouled often down the stretch, Kiyohara converted 5-of-7 charity tosses to hold off Kent Meridian.

"Every win is a big win," declared Jefferson head coach Jerry Krueger. "On paper, Kent Meridian is undermanned, but they made some super shots. Karen Carpenter did a nice defensive job on their leading scorer (Brianna) Shannon. Shannon has been scoring in the 20's and even had some games in the 30's. To make the playoffs we have to keep winning against the teams that are ahead of us."

WSDOT has released an updated cost estimate and tolling study for the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement. This report, requested by the Legislature, shows that the cost estimate to replace the viaduct remains within its $3.1 billion budget, and that it is feasible to generate $400 million in toll funding for the replacement.

Updated cost estimate shows viaduct replacement remains within budget
Last year, when the legislature endorsed a bored tunnel as its preferred option for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct, they directed WSDOT to provide updated cost estimates for the viaduct replacement, including the proposed bored tunnel. After extensive cost and risk workshops, value engineering and design changes, we released the updated estimate this week.

WSDOT determined that the cost estimate to replace the viaduct remains within the $3.1 billion replacement budget, which includes $2.4 billion raised from existing state and federal sources and no more than $400 million raised from tolling the proposed bored tunnel. An additional $300 million is committed from the Port of Seattle.

Following the demise of the Ama Ama Oyster Bar and Grill new restaurant Table 35 opened its doors for the first time on Jan. 9.
Ama Ama’s last day of business was July 25, the owners citing economic conditions as the reason for closing.

The space did not remain vacant for long, however. Brothers Sammy and Yaz Faour recently sold their Italian restaurant Salute in Bellevue to open Table 35 in West Seattle.
The night of their grand opening they started turning people away at 8:30 p.m., once the crowd inside reached 366, well over twice the restaurants capacity of 150.

Sammy Faour said he was happy with the opening week, saying the biggest challenge has been getting everything to run smoothly, getting the staff into a rhythm.
They have an international menu featuring some of their favorite Italian dishes from Salute, to seafood and hamburgers. Faour said they have been experimenting with the menu, which is slowly growing as new dishes are deemed to have made the cut.

Why would a seller be interested in seller financing? The same reason a bank would be: interest. Charging interest allows the seller to get more than his asking price or make up for a very low purchase price through interest. In seller financing, the seller does not receive a lump sum of cash and remains involved in a financial relationship with the buyer until the entire purchase price is paid.

With seller financing, the seller agrees to transfer title to the house in exchange for a note and a security interest in the house. The note is paid off just like a mortgage, but it is paid to the seller instead of a bank. Also, just like with traditional financing, the seller's security interest gives him the power to foreclose on the house in the event of default. Often, when a seller finances the purchase of a home, the loan note provides for a balloon payment after a period of years.

A balloon payment is basically a lump sum payment of the amount still owed to the seller. When the balloon payment is due, the buyer usually pays it or refinances with a traditional third party lender who pays it.

The former Sunset Bowl building, which has stood vacant and fenced off since April 2008, will be torn down Jan. 20 to make way for the mixed-use Avalon Ballard development.

Demolition was set to begin Jan. 19 as soon as crews finished removing asbestos from the interior and cut the power lines to the building. But, the demolition was pushed back because of remaining freon in the building.

Jim Bristow, who led the Save the Sunset Bowl campaign, said the empty building makes him sad whenever he drives by it.

"It's a shame," he said. "But, at the same time, it's better than having a vacant lot."

Nancy Sullivan, front-end manager at Ballard Market across the street, said the building was a kind of landmark for the neighborhood, and she is sad to see it go.

Jon, the manager at the Burger King next to Sunset Bowl, used to work at the 51-year-old bowling alley. He said he was sad when it closed, but demolition is the necessary next step.

"It has to be done," he said. "That's progress."

The closure of Sunset Bowl, located on Market Street and 14th Avenue Northwest, caused a wave of support from inside and outside Ballard.

When 101 Dalmatians was released as a feature film a few years back Ken Bromberger was living in Missoula, Montana. He and his girlfriend at the time really took a liking for the breed and she surprised him with a gift of a puppy she got at a pet store at the shopping mall. At the time there "was a lot of bad rep for a while", about the breed, Bromberger said, "So he kind of sat for a little while." He had previously given her a Dalmatian for her birthday so this one was her way of giving back.

He got his name, Cosmic Charlie Mingus after the famous jazz musician but it wasn't until later that they noticed that he in fact has a "C" in the fur of his right ear. Cosmic Charlie is a song by Mingus.

"He's been a great dog," Bromberger explained, "Most of the Dalmatians are not that friendly toward strangers but he's much more 'labbish'," pointing out that Charlie is very approachable.

"He has a ton of energy. When we first came out here we'd go to Westcrest dog park and he'd have every single dog there chasing him around, because he is so playful and energetic." Charlie is slowing down a little bit now at the age of 13 but he is still often mistaken for a younger dog.

It was a meet loss for Tyee, but positives still surfaced.

Hazen outscored Tyee 124.9-100.75 in one half of a dual gymnastics meet held at Mount Rainier on Tuesday, January 12.

For the Highlanders, coached by former Kennedy state champion gymnast Kim Merlich with Marcie Reinhardt, Becca Shure-Reinhardt led the way with a first-place all-around total of 28.4 on the strength of winning the vault (8.1), bars (6.0), beam (6.3) and floor (8.0).

Hazen captured the next two spots before Thuy-My Nguyen annexed fourth place for the Totems with a score of 21.8. Nguyen scored a 5.6 fourth place on the balance beam with a fifth place 3.6 on the uneven parallel bars. Stephanie Johnson’s 6.65 fifth place floor exercise propelled her to a 19.9 fifth place on the all-arounds. In sixth place came Sarah Melchior with 19.05 points. Cathy Jimenez notched a 6.8 fourth place on the floor exercise.

“This team has come a long way,” said Courtney Hitchcock, who coaches Tyee with Gordan Kadric. “Great progress has been made with a team that did not have lot of background in gymnastics. This team has given a lot of heart as competitors, and we’re mostly seniors.”

Mount Rainier used its depth of team talent to continue on track toward its third consecutive state gymnastics meet appearance with a win against John F. Kennedy Catholic in a Tuesday, January 11 dual meet in Des Moines.

Tallying 152.85 points, the Rams strongly outdistanced the Lancers’ 132.25 total.

“We did really well,” responded Ram head coach Ali Kestle. “One of our all-around performers, Bernie Ward, broke her arm in warm ups, and that’s upsetting. Other than that, we’re right where we want to be. We’ve gone to state the last two years as a team, and we’re on schedule for that.”   

Kerrie Heckel performed in the starring role for Mount Rainier. Heckel claimed the all-around competition with a total of 34.45 points while also earning first on the uneven parallel bars and the balance beam. The Ram athlete totalled 8.1 on the bars and an 8.7 on the beam. Her 9.55 on the floor exercise gained her second place, just behind the 9.65 first place total. She also finished fourth on the vault with an 8.1.

“I have my club gymnastics, but this has been really fun,” exclaimed Heckel. “All our team are best friends and cheer for each other.

Last year’s sixth place 3A state finisher, Prince Mansaray, and the host Highline Pirates’ wrestling team handled Tyee’s Totems, 58-15, Thursday.

The Pirates were short-handed on this night and that coupled with five forfeits by the Totems reflected the final score.

Tyee didn’t have enough wrestlers, as previously noted, but those that wrestled were strong and there is definitely potential on Tyee for future good performances both at state and also in their forthcoming Seamount League seasons.

But, for now, it’s a building team that depth-wise just is not knit and lop-sided scores will develop. Highline forfeited one match and Tyee five, which means six points per forfeit so that’s 30 points to Highline minus the one Highline forfeit, so 24 points go on the Highline scoreboard before the match even begins.

Hopefully, this new coach for the Totems sticks around. His name is Thomas Taylor.