March 2010

It was indeed a valiant effort. High winds and big waves. Marco Spani set out to do a good deed and with the help of three other residents managed to save somebody the probable loss of two kayaks.

The moorage platform just broke loose from someplace just south of Three Tree Point and Ray Rice, who lives beside the beacon light, saw peril and brought them a huge coil of rope to help them. Now Spani wants to try to get the kayaks back to their owner.

Here is his report to publisher Jerry Robinson:

The kayaks were both locked to a small dock that apparently broke loose from its home. Strong south wind and outgoing tide so maybe Vashon? Redondo?

The wind and tide was taking them for an unpleasant high tide landing against the rocks on the south side of the point. Two swamped kayaks and a dock are hard to tow, and the tide was going out, so I couldn't get

The assemblage back to my beach, and I changed direction to pull with the tide and past the point. Tide and wind was strong enough that I couldn't paddle back to shore on the north side. Ended up untying, coming to shore to get the end of a rope from Rich and Ray, then back to tie on to one of the kayaks.

She moves across the room with the grace of a ballet dancer, carefully opening a dark mahogany cabinet.

From pristine glass shelves Gladys lifts a small decorated egg. "I've made a thousand of these," she says proudly.

The colorful goose egg shell has a set of butterfly wings. Tiny blue clusters of glitter and plastic follow a colorful path along the cut-outs in the surface. It is a beauty, like its creator.

Meet Gladys Reynolds, Burien resident, self-taught artist in needlepoint, embroidery and eggshell art, who turned 104 in January of this year.

Gladys chuckles when visitors marvel at her pace of life-- how she moves like a woman half her age, does not have a family doctor and takes no pills.

"I hear that all the time," she smiles. For more than 30 years she has lived in Burien, teaching egg art and embroidery after retiring from secretarial work in Seattle.

Sitting quietly in an armchair is a beautiful Raggedy Ann doll, a favorite from the 1930s. It smiles back at us. "I've done 37 dolls," Gladys beams.

Bag Stolen

A woman was walking towards the Burien Park and Ride on S.W. 150th St and 4th Ave. S.W. when she was approached by two juvenile males. The suspects tried to start a conversation with the woman and grabbed the diaper bag off of her right shoulder. Both men ran off with the bag. The woman was not injured.

Asleep at a Gas Station

Deputies were dispatched to the 76 Gas Station at 19924 International Boulevard South. A clerk had found a man sleeping in his car in the parking lot of the gas station. The car had not moved for a few hours and the clerk had attempted to wake the man, but was unsuccessful.

Car Break-Ins, Thefts, Vandalism and Prowlers
15500 Blk 2nd Ave. S., 400 Blk S. 152nd St., 14600 Blk 24th Ave. S.W. 3500 Blk S.W. 172nd St., 1100 Blk S.W. 139th St., 13800 Blk 12th Ave. S., 3595 S. 188th St., 2824 S. 188th St., 17800 Blk 38th Ave. S., 3000 Blk S. 204th St.

The Federal Aviation Administration is looking to build a new regional headquarters in a city near the Sea-Tac Airport.

The cities being considered are SeaTac, Des Moines, Tukwila, Kent and Renton but not Burien. And now Burien wants to know why they were overlooked for the project.

Burien found out they had been excluded from the procurement area, at a meeting on January, Burien's Economic Development Manager Dick Loman said.

"No one there could say why we had been overlooked," Loman said.

The deadline for cities to formally submit their intent to be considered for the project was March 1st. Burien moved fast and managed to get a location and a developer lined up, but Loman said they were told since they were not in the procurement area their proposal could not be considered.

An administrative order by the Federal Administrator of the General Services Administration in Washington was the only way to expand the procurement area to include Burien, Loman said.

Burien went to their Congressional representatives in Washington D.C., but Loman said they were so backed up they just did not have the time to do what needed to be done to get Burien included.

Lafayette Elementary School PTA is sponsoring Play it Forward - Lafayette Elementary Playground Legacy Project. Building Healthy Kids and Healthy minds.

The project includes building a new play structure with much needed ADA Accessibility and play components. The area surrounding the play structure will include seating and planting to create a more park like environment for the community to enjoy.

They are competing for a Department of Neighborhoods grant for $100,000, and need to match that amount with $100,000 in cash, donations and volunteer hours. They are scheduled to begin construction in June, 2011. To meet these goals, they are hosting a series of fundraising events that will take place during the next ten months:

Sports Swap
Sports Swap is an annual event that serves Lafayette Elementary School and the greater West Seattle community. Proceeds will benefit the continued development and maintenance of the playground. The community can bring gently used sporting goods for consignment sale or donation. Support from local businesses is welcome. Mountain to Sound Outfitters has sponsored the event this year by donating two snowboards for sale.

"The Trials of Amanda Knox," is a documentary about the West Seattle UW student currently serving a 26-year jail sentence in Italy for the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher. The film was released on Great Britain cable TV early January. Google the title and you will find numerous reviews with unshakable takes on the trial based on the evidence presented in the film.

The problem is, there is more than one version of the film. Some versions are more sympathetic to Amanda Knox than others. So, which one will Americans see when it airs here this Sunday, March 28, 8pm, on The Learning Channel?

According to Chris Mellas, Amanda's step-father, there are at least seven versions, and he personally possesses five.

"They contacted our family and wanted our input," said Mellas in an exclusive interview with the West Seattle Herald, referring to the British producers, Eye Films.

This year's SeaTac International Festival will be held June 25-27 at Angle Lake Park.
The City of SeaTac, Rotary Club of SeaTac and the Southwest King County Chamber of Commerce are sponsoring the event.
The International Festival is a summertime event that lets families enjoy a wide range of unique activities on the shores of Angle Lake and other locations in SeaTac.

This year the "Under the Lights VI" Skateboard Competition will be on Friday, June 25 at Valley Ridge Park in SeaTac. Registration opens at 6 p.m. and the contest starts at 7 p.m.

The Family Fun Run is scheduled for Saturday, June 26, at 10:15 am, and follows the same route as the parade for approximately one mile.
The parade will follow shortly thereafter at 10:30 am, beginning at South 188th Street at the Tyee Educational Complex and traveling west on South 188th Street, then turning southbound on 33rd Avenue South, ending at Angle Lake Park.

At the vendor booths, visitors can satisfy their appetites with a variety of ethnic and festival type foods, and enjoy perusing the Arts & Craft vendors and informational displays.

With the stroke of a pen, baseball was saved - at least, for Highline-area Little League teams on March 22.
Gov. Chris Gregoire signed legislation that authorizes airport operators to make airport property available for public recreation and other community use at less than market value.

The measure was sponsored by Rep. Dave Upthegrove (D - Des Moines), a former Little Leaguer who grew up playing baseball in the shadow of Sea-Tac Airport.

"The Port of Seattle has been leasing these ball fields to the Little League organization and it's been a win/win situation," Upthegrove said. "The community gets affordable athletic fields, and the Port is able to provide these fields in an otherwise restricted-use area. Federal law permits these arrangements, but state law hasn't been as clear."

The ball fields are located within the airport's "runway protection zone" (or RPZ), a place of limited residential and commercial activity due to federal regulations.

Athletic fields are permitted within the zone, but many homes and businesses are not.

When the Brigham Youg University Theatre Ballet performed March 17 in Burien, the college students participated in some community outreach by tutoring young students at Burien's Momentum Music and Dance Academy.
The collegiate dancers taught the young students parts of the dances they performed later that evening.
Momentum is locates at 15811 Ambaum Blvd. S. in Burien. Stephanie Moss is the owner.
The ballet company presented "Fairy Tales and Fantasy: An Evening of Ballet Classics" at Burien's Highline Performing Arts Center. The presentation contained selections from "Swan Lake," "Cinderella,: "Le Corsaire," "Don Quixote," and "Les Sylphides."
The appearance was sponsored by the LDS Seattle Washington Stake.

Amanda Knox was awarded $55,000 by the Italian court Thursday, March 18, for the theft of her personal notebooks and unauthorized photographs by Corriere Della Sera journalist Fiorenza Sarzanini. Her step-father, Chris Mellas, told the West Seattle Herald the family wanted ten times that amount and may appeal. Corriere Della Sera is Italy's most widely read newspaper.

"We will probably appeal the amount," Mellas told the Herald. "The big thing is the decision, not the money. I can't stress that enough. The materials had already been looked at deemed no evidentiary value in the trial. This was just her private property. The journalist had zero right to publish this, much less read it. How did she go about doing it?"

Amanda Knox's family wants to know how the journalist got the notebooks in the first place, as very few officials had access to it. The notebooks were looked at by investigators, then returned to her in prison. The paper also ran photographs of Amanda without authorization, Mellas said. He said they published her personal information extensively.