February 2010

With the threat of another election to change SeaTac's form of government looming over them and the city reeling from multiple controversies, SeaTac lawmakers have decided to hold off on seeking a permanent city manager.

In a special meeting Feb. 5, council members voted unanimously to retain Todd Cutts as interim city manager. Cutts indicated he would appoint an interim assistant manager from among the city's existing staff to help him with his workload.

Cutts was promoted to acting city manager in October after City Manager Craig Ward was suspended and removed from his duties. Cutts was assistant city manager and had originally come to the city as economic development director.

Councilwoman Pam Fernald reminded the council of numerous controversies over the past year, including cost overruns on a fire station, the removal of Ward and a condemnation action against a parking lot next to the airport light-rail station. The condemnation was rescinded in January.

"A lot of flux has gone on but things are starting to come together," Fernald said. "Todd has soldiered through this. Why change horses in the middle of the stream?

Two students from Madison Middle School and one from West Seattle High School won awards for their artwork at the 16th Annual Neighborhood Appreciation Day Student Art Contest Awards Ceremony held at Dunlap Elementary School Saturday, Feb. 6.

Delaney Ballard of West Seattle High School and Marie Ong of Madison Middle School won bronze awards. Rahel Yohannes (yōhannez), also of Madison, won silver. They joined nine others from four other schools.

The Department of Neighborhoods sponsored the event, hosted by Director Stella Chao. Mayor Mike McGinn and Councilmember Mike O’Brien spoke and handed out certificates, cash awards, and t-shirts to the winners. The colorful artwork created by students depicting neighborhood scenes and neighbors helping neighbors were on display.

“Great event,” said Mayor McGinn. “Great to see the artwork from the kids. I love events like this because the folks out here right now, what they care about is, ‘Are they going to heave a safe and secure place for their kids? Will they have economic security and strong neighborhoods?’ This is a setting where I’m talking to people about the right things.”

According to neighbors near the intersection of California Avenue and Monroe Street a black late model Corvette was approaching at approximately 11:30 AM on Saturday Feb. 6 driven by a man with a female passenger and "swerved to avoid hitting a dog" causing the car to leave the road and impact a utility pole on the corner. Also according to witnesses on the scene the driver refused treatment, no word on his passenger.

The utility pole was knocked into the intersection knocking out power to two homes. Seattle City Light crews on the scene as of 5PM were assessing the damage to the connecting pole but did not plan to turn power off. They now plan to auger a new hole, placing a new pole and then transferring the wires to the new support, and finally restoring the power lines to the affected homes.

According to City Light crews on the scene the power should be restored by midnight. The cost of a utility pole is approximately $2500, not including time and labor.

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Late in the Feb. 6 city championship game between the Whitman Middle School and Denny International Middle School girls basketball teams, the Wildcats drew a charge, throwing fans, players and coaches into a giddy celebration.

It was a fitting scene for the Wildcats, whose tough play and team mentality, led to a perfect regular season, a tear through the playoffs and a 53-33 championship victory.

"It feels really, really good," said Whitman's Nancy MacGeorge, who finished with four points. "We had a good team bond. It was a huge team effort."

Nine different Whitman players scored in the championship game. Imani Bender led the team with 16 points, 10 of them in the fourth quarter to ice the game.

Denny scored first to open the game and took a four-point lead midway through the first quarter. The Wildcats stormed back to take a 13-11 lead to end the quarter and would not trail again.

By halftime the Whitman lead had grown to 13.

In the third quarter, Denny's Myah Williams almost single-handedly kept her team in the game. She caused mayhem for Whitman, forcing turnovers, drawing fouls and shaking defenders.

Most canned soups have more salt in one serving that you should have for a whole day.

The roasted pepper tomato soup recipe we share has 2,000 milligrams of sodium for 16 servings. That is less than the sodium in just one cup of commercial canned soup.

Making your own chicken broth is easy. You can freeze it and have it ready or whip up a simple substitute in the microwave – it only takes about three minutes.

You will save money, eat less salt and have more flavorful meals.

Simple Soup Base
Makes 2-4 cups

• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 Tbsp. margarine or butter
• 2 cups milk
• ¼ tsp. dry mustard
• ¼ tsp. paprika
• ½ tsp. parsley, basil or any other fresh or dried herbs you like

Mix flour and margarine or butter together in a 2-cup glass measuring cup. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir. Microwave for another 30 seconds. Add milk and spices and stir. Microwave for 1 minute, stir again. Microwave for 1 more minute. If not thickened, add 1 more minute. You can do the same thing on the stove, and the soup will have less of a starchy taste.

For most of us, it's the love we share with that special someone in our lives.

I raise this question about one of the strongest, most important muscles in the body-beating roughly 2.5 billion times and pumping nearly 300 million liters of blood in an average lifetime-because we depend on its function every day of our existence for everything from oxygen and hormone delivery to tissues, as well as the removal of waste from the body.

There is nothing glamorous about this organ, except for the fact that it operates every second of every minute of every day of every month of every year for our entire life without our conscious control. Wow! How is this possible, you might ask?

The answer is in your NERVOUS SYSTEM. A division of this system called the autonomic nervous system, or ANS, is responsible for every heart rhythm in your life. I find it easiest to think of this group of nerves as those that are responsible for "automatic" functions in the body (i.e. heart rhythm, breathing, digestion, etc.)

David Lee Fore has earned Eagle Scout rank, the highest rank in Boy Scouts.

This is the highest rank a boy can earn as a member of the Boy Scouts of America.

He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Fore.

A member of Troop 352, David is being honored on Feb. 20 at 10:30 a.m. at Highline United Methodist Church in Burien.

His Eagle project was to repair a bridge across a creek and make a new hiking trail at Camp Shoenwald, a Kiwanis camp located in Burien.

On 2/6/09, at approximately 1:13 a.m., a metro Bus was traveling W/B on the Columbia St Ramp onto the S/B lanes of the Alaskan Wy Viaduct.

As the metro bus changed lanes on the Viaduct, a Black Mercedes collided with rear bumper of the bus and lost control. A passenger sustained a head injury and was treated by Seattle Fire on scene. The passenger was transported to Harborview Medical Center (HMC).

A Drug Recognition Officer, responded to HMC to screen the driver for signs of impairment and/or intoxication. There were signs of impairment observed during the evaluations.

SeaTac lawmakers have adopted a shoreline master plan with additional restrictions on Angle Lake homeowners, but have kept in place a 65-foot setback provision.

The draft plan presented by city staffers would have required new buildings to be constructed 75 feet from Angle Lake's shoreline.

Under the draft plan, if a home that was less than 75 feet from the shoreline burned down, the homeowner would have to rebuild a new home at least 10 feet farther back from the shore.

However, an amendment to the draft plan that maintained the 65-foot setback passed unanimously.

The state Department of Ecology must approve the city's amended plan to make sure it complies with provisions of the state shoreline management act.

Councilman Ralph Shape pointed out that 14 houses around the lake are less than 75 feet from the shore. A 65 foot restriction could be considered "a taking" of property, Shape said.

Some critics of the council's decision to condemn a commercial surface parking lot next to the airport light-rail station complain lawmakers are being hypocritical in opposing lake restrictions. Council members have rescinded the eminent domain action.

Highline Community College in Des Moines is now accepting nominations for its most prestigious award for alumni.

The Distinguished Alumnus Award honors a former Highline student who has made outstanding contributions through community service, noteworthy professional achievement and/or recognized leadership.

Nominations are due by April 16.

Former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, who attended Highline in 1968-69, was the first recipient of the award in 1990. Other past honorees include Junki Yoshida, CEO of the Yoshida Group, and Washington state's first poet laureate Sam Green.

Last year's recipient was Dr. Linda Petter, a family practitioner in Tacoma and author of "Common Medical Sense," who was honored for her outstanding work in the health care field. She has a regular feature at 7:45 a.m. Sundays on KOMO-AM 1000.

Nominees will be asked to submit a résumé and personal profile that will be reviewed by a campus selection committee. The person selected will be invited to accept the award and participate in Highline's commencement exercises on June 10.