January 2010

She moved from Minnesota to be closer to her daughters. She moved to Ballard from Friday Harbor when her job no longer allowed her to telecommute. Now, Simone Vilandre is one of yet another breed of new Ballardites: a woman over 60 who is reinventing herself.

Simone’s request for magazines in Sustainable Ballard’s monthly update caught my attention.

I am becoming a vicarious collector – drawn to people collecting wood corks, pennies and now magazines.

Simone’s request was for used magazines to use in English as a Second Language classes (ESL).

For teaching purposes, she hoped for magazines with pictures of cars and household goods. But her notice in Sustainable Ballard gleaned mostly offers for National Geographic, Smithsonian and Atlantic Monthly.

She’s still hoping to crack the mother lode of other popular magazines that stores often return to the publishers.

The magazine hunt is just one part of Simone’s new life because she has not only changed her physical geography but her personal geography as well.

An opportunity to teach in China made her realize that she loves teaching adults.

Farewell Reception
Seattle Public Library
West Seattle Branch
2306 42nd Ave. S.W.
Saturday, Jan. 30, 2:30-4 p.m. The public is invited to attend a farewell reception to honor the 20 years that Karen Spiel has served as manager of the West Seattle Branch Library. Refreshments will be served after a brief program. For more information contact Carol 206-937-6744.

Open House
Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School
3401 S.W. Myrtle St.
206-935-0651
www.guadalupe-school.org
Sunday, Jan. 31, 9-1 p.m. Pre-K through 8th grade. Student and parent volunteer tours through the school. You can meet with teachers and visit the classrooms. Information will be on hand and you can schedule an appointment to meet with the Principal. All school Mass will take place at 11:00. Open to all faiths.

Free Ski and Snowboard Hot Wax Clinic
Mountain to Sound Outfitters
3602 S.W. Alaska St.
206-935-SNOW
Thursday, Feb. 2, 6:30-730 p.m.

Kenyon Hall
Celebrating Black History Month
7904 35th Ave. S.W.
Seattle 98126
(206) 937-3613
www.kenyonhall.org
February 2 & 3 at 8 p.m. -

“2012” is director Roland Emmerich’s third try at destroying the world (fourth if you count “Godzilla’s” romp across Manhattan) and he’s getting better with practice.

The film takes its title from the date the ancient Mayan calendar predicted the end of the world. It turns out—thanks to prodigious solar flares and the rain of neutrinos they send zapping through the earth’s molten core—the Mayans have made a pretty good guess.

Cut to a group of sweaty scientists huddled around geothermal measurement instruments deep in an abandoned copper mine in India. They have just discovered that those neutrinos are heating up the earth’s core to the point where planet’s crust has come unglued and continents are going to start bobbing around and crumbling like soup crackers in chowder. This is bad news for civilization as we know it, but Christmas came early for Emmerich and his animation team.

A crowd of approximately 800 people came to be part of or witness Polar Plunge 2010 at Alki Beach on Sunday, Jan 24th. The event, to benefit and support Special Olympics of Washington saw people and police officers from 6 departments show up, some in full dress uniform to leap in the chilly waters of Puget Sound. Also on hand was Rob McKenna, Washington State Attorney General and host of the event Chris Cashman from KIRO and ESPN.

Before the plunges (there were several groups of people), the crowd was entertained by the Seahawks band and those crazy enough to not only jump in the roughly 43 degree water but to do so in the silliest possible costume.

Chief of the Washington State Patrol, John R. Batiste said, "Special Olympics is a group that has been adopted as a group by law enforcement for many many years. I came to be engaged in this by invitation of the Seattle Police Department. A good friend of mine, Dick Belshay, a captain.... challenged me to come out and take part in this activity and I was more than happy to do so, after a little prodding."

Persistent Puyallup profited greatly from three key plays in the fourth quarter to unseat SPSL 4A South second place Decatur 67-62 on Friday and set back the Gators' efforts to keep pace with first place Curtis while also throwing second place into a three team scramble between Decatur (9-3), Todd Beamer (8-3) and Puyallup (8-3). Curtis stands at 13-1.

"Every time we had a little five or four point lead lead, they'd get a big play to keep us from expanding our advantage to 10 or 12 points," Decatur head coach Kevin Olson ruefully recalled. "Give them credit. They're a good team and made the plays. Three plays in the fourth quarter really set us back."

Puyallup ran down long rebounds for a 6-0 spurt in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter to regain the lead at 54-50 with 6:43 left in regulation. It was the first lead for the Vikings since 3:15 showed on the scoreboard clock in the first quarter.

January 29
Empty Bowls 2010--Your $10 minimum donation will get you the opportunity to pick out a beautiful handmade bowl, as well as a simple but wonderful meal of soup, bread, dessert and drink. All donated by local businesses. Lunch 11-2 p.m., dinner 4-8 p.m. Moshier Community Arts Center, 430 S 156th Proceeds to benefit Highline Food Bank. For info www.moshierartcenter.org or 206-988-3700.

January 30
Domestic Violence Walk-8 a.m. Highline High School, 225 S. 152nd St. Senior project of Monique Johnson to bring awareness to domestic violence and how to prevent it. johnson.monique58@ymail.com or Crazyb9777@gmail.com

February 3
Chinook District of Garden Clubs--General meeting/luncheon, 10 a.m. at the Grace Lutheran Church, 22974 24th Ave. S There will be an interesting program on horticulture featuring Seth Bynum "Birds of Hylebos" Reservations call 425-255-6236. More of Seth Bynum's bird photography can be seen at http://www.sethbynum.com.

February 8

I grew up in Seattle and was born in an even rainier place, Ketchikan, Alaska. This time of year, I start longing for the sun. This is when my cooking turns to comfort foods.

Baking brings out the savory umami flavor of foods. Umami is one of the five basic flavors—sweet, sour, bitter and salty being the other four.

Pumping up your dishes with umami flavor, instead of salt, is a great way to create healthy, wonderful tasting food.

For a great umami taste, without the salt, try the recipes below.

Rain City Stuffed Shells

• 1 package extra-large pasta seashells or manicotti
• 1 carton ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 bag of baby spinach (about 4 cups)
• ½ cup or 1 bunch of fresh basil, chopped
• 1 large can low-sodium tomato sauce
• Fresh grated Parmesan cheese

It's time to look at what we have changed. The passed laws we had need to be replaced.

When I was growing up, the law was anyone killing a policeman or kidnap was put to death. We need these laws back to protect us all.
Also rape and murder need to be the same. I am not talking about self-defense. No one needs to stand and let anyone hurt them.

Love, honor, respect need to be placed in our lives.

We cannot change our lives to honor the people moving to the States from other countries to rule here. They must live by our rules in this country. They cannot do as they would in the places they lived. English must be taught so we can understand each other. If they are going to be an American, they must do as our families in the past had to do. Stand up and be the American you want to be.

I love my children but, as I was raised, if you cause death on another just to kill I would turn in my own if they done wrong. If you know your child did some thing, turn them in. If you don't, you should suffer the same fate as the person who did the crime.

Last week's federal court ruling that Washington should allow incarcerated people to vote was based on a finding that the racial imbalance in Washington's criminal justice system cannot be explained in race-neutral ways.

Our state's population is less than 4 percent Black. Our state prison population is nearly 20 percent Black. Washington's Sentencing Guidelines Commission reports that our state's 3-strikes population is 40 percent black.

We know that this difference in incarceration rates does not reflect the rate at which people commit crimes. At every step in the criminal justice system, from arrest to conviction to sentencing, Black people get the harsher treatment.

Every year, the federal government reports on the level of illegal drug use among people of various demographic groups. For decades, these surveys have shown that Black people and White people use illegal drugs at about the same rate. Yet the incarceration rate for drug crimes for Black people in Washington is about ten times higher than for White people.

Casino robbers

A patrol Sergeant pulled in behind a suspicious car parked near two Shoreline casinos early Friday, Jan. 15, but the driver drove away.

The Sergeant was able to stop the car a few blocks away, but the driver took off running. The passenger, a 46-year-old Seattle man, was arrested at the scene.

The 34-year-old driver was arrested at his Edmonds home later that afternoon. The two men are suspected in several "takeover" robberies King and Snohomish counties. One of the robberies was the Silver Dollar Casino in SeaTac.

Cop-killer guns

A 36-year-old man police say was a member of a white supremacist gang, a sex offender and has a history of being violent toward law enforcement, was arrested Jan. 7th at Burien's Fred Meyer parking lot after allegedly trying to illegally sell guns that he boasted could penetrate body armor worn by police.

The suspect stated the guns are known as "cop killer" guns because of the "special rounds it fires."