March 2010

The importance of a fine floor leader presented itself on Wednesday, March 3, at the Tacoma Dome in a Federal Way girls basketball 43-40 loss to No. 4 Chiawana of Pasco, a team it had beaten 55-48 in Pasco on January 2.

Clutching a decisive eight-point lead with 4:44 remaining in the fourth quarter of its Class 4A WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington/Les Schwab Tires girls basketball state tournament opener at the Tacoma Dome, third-ranked Federal Way had its lead and hopes of victory fall off after sophomore point guard and leading scorer Darah Huertas-Vining fell to the floor with a tournament-ending high ankle sprain incurred by stepping on the foot of a Chiawana defender less than a second after a precision assist to Talia Walton that gave the third-ranked Eagles a 39-31 command.

Huertas-Vining was helped off the floor shrieking from the utter painfulness of the injury.

Without Huertas-Vining, the Eagles failed to make another field goal the rest of the game while turning the ball over numerous times

Shelby Ellsworth's three-pointer ignited a Riverhawk charge that gave the Riverhawks their first lead of the game at 40-39 with 1:10 remaining in regulation.

The Seattle Department of Transportation will be upgrading the existing pedestrian signal at 28th Avenue Northwest and Northwest Market Street to a full traffic signal this month.

Three new crosswalks with signal poles are being added to existing crosswalk and signal poles.

The project will take approximately four weeks from the time the work begins to the time the signal is fully operational.

While the installation is taking place, parking in the immediate area will be restricted.

According to the Department of Transportation blog, the intersection meets the criteria for a new traffic signal because of the high volume of traffic, collision history, the distance to the next signalized intersection and the existence of nearby bus stops.

The signal is being funded through the department's General Fund and Bridging the Gap Fund.

The Burien City Council will vote at the next council meeting to on a resolution to pursue annexation of the remaining part of North Highline.

Seattle has discussed putting the annexation of the north part of North Highline to the voters of the unincorporated area, but has not made a formal decision one way or the other about the unincorporated area.
Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin has said he thinks the Council will agree to put the annexation on the ballot as early as this November.

Concerns about paying for services in the low-income area caused annexation to be rejected by the Seattle City Council in the past. The State Legislature has approved legislation to give the city incorporates the area part of the States portion of sales tax to offset the extra cost of services.

Burien Mayor Joan McGilton said she believes the extra money from the State could be the reason Seattle is considering annexation now. McGilton said the money from the State could be $5 million.

In January, Swedish Medical Center announced its search for the "oldest baby" born at Swedish in celebration of its 100th anniversary. On March 8, Ballard resident Virginia McCutchon, 96, took the prize.

McCutchon was born at Swedish on May 27, 1914 and grew up in the Ballard/Greenwood area, attending Ballard High School. She then designed and built her own home in the neighborhood.

At age 3, McCutchon was diagnosed with polio and suffered paralyzation in her legs. Today, she is one of the oldest polio survivors in the country.

McCutchon has a passion for art and returned to school late in life, graduating at age 60 from the University of Washington as a Lambda Rho Art Honorary student.

Her other passion is Seattle and its natural beauty. Her favorite sights are the water of Puget Sound and Hood Canal, the snow-covered Olympic Mountains and the grandeur of Mount Rainier.

McCutchon passed her love of Seattle on to her family. Her two children, four grandchildren and two great grandchildren live in the city.

As the oldest person born at Swedish, McCutchon will receive a prize package from Hotel 1000.

The Burien City Council has agreed to vote on the agenda to move forward with annexing the remaining part of North Highline as soon as possible after the successful incorporation of the southern part of North Highline.

Seattle has discussed putting the annexation of the north part of North Highline to the voters of the unincorporated area, but has not made a formal decision one way or the other about the unincorporated area.
Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin has said he thinks the Council will agree to put the annexation on the ballot as early as this November.

Concerns about paying for services in the low-income area caused annexation to be rejected by the Seattle City Council in the past. The State Legislature has approved legislation to give the city incorporates the area part of the States portion of sales tax to offset the extra cost of services.

Burien Mayor Joan McGilton said she believes the extra money from the State could be the reason Seattle is considering annexation now. McGilton said the money from the State could be $5 million.

Foster had a big lead of 17-10 after the first quarter, only to fritter it away, all away, and then some. But the fact remains that the Bulldogs gave the state's undefeated No. 1-ranked 3A team, the Enumclaw Hornets, a stinging dose of toughness through three quarters before getting buzzed, 56-43, in a West Central/Southwest semifinal at the ShoWare Center in Kent Tuesday.

"Just got outplayed second half," said first year Bulldogs coach Mike Broom, masterfully taking the purple and gold clad team all the way to state right away.

Outplayed or outshot?

"Either one," said Broom, whose team moved from 2A to 3A this season and didn't miss a beat. Broom's predecessor, John Smith, took the Bulldogs to state in his three years as well. So, the tradition continues.

Almost the talk of the state, the Bulldogs were outplayed and outshot in the second half by the state's best Hornets.

The intersection of Southwest 160th and 19th Ave Southwest is a disaster waiting to happen.

At least seven out of 10 cars blow through the intersection when turning left, from 160th onto 19th, even though there are stop signs and stoplights winking their presence.

Nineteenth SW runs right past the Gregory Heights school and this afternoon at 3 p.m. (3/1/10,) four cars failed to stop at the left turn from 160th onto 19th. These four cars were so close together that if one of them had stopped, all four would have been totaled. So running the light may have seemed like a blessing in disguise.

However, this should never have happened because the cars were going too fast and following too closely. The intersection is a bad one.

There needs to be a solution: a camera to catch the culprits? Or speed bumps like there are at 160th and 16th? Or some sort of citizen patrol, deputized to take license plate numbers and report the infraction?

We really need a solution. The children will thank us!

Elizabeth M. Williams
Seahurst

As a member of the Shoreline Advisory Committee, I read Ken W Smith's letter with interest. Since I expected to be incorporated into the City of Burien, I thought serving on the committee would be a good way to become involved in my new city.

Like the other members, I answered a notice for committee membership. The city seemed to want the best diversity of members and all who applied appropriately were accepted to the committee. I suppose that makes me a community activist.

Like the other members, I care about the environment, so I'm also an environmentalist. Like most citizens of Burien, I can't afford to live on the water, so I guess since that's all he knows about me, in Mr. Smith's mind that makes me a ne'er-do-well.

As a proud member of what Mr. Smith calls a "stacked committee of community activists, environmentalists and ne'er-do-wells" I, like the other members of the committee, put in a considerable amount of time in and out of meetings working out the details of the SMP.

We were given no direction from the city that could be interpreted as "a thinly disguised attempt to take property from its rightful owners."

Amazing Awaits. That's what the banner hanging in the Celski's home states.

The Family Project was amazing. Each and everyone of the Celski family was pulling together to make the dream of a lifetime come true.

J.R. Celski competed in the 21st Winter Olympics in Vancouver BC. Not only did he make the USA Olympic Team in Short Track Speed Skating. Not only did he bring home two Olympic Bronze Medals. He did it just 6 short months after a devastating career ending injury where his skate cut his thigh to the bone in crash during the Olympic Qualifying Trials.

His come back is nothing short of...amazing.

The Family Project included an extended family of over 40 members from Federal Way, road tripping up to Vancouver to cheer on J.R. Celski.

You can imagine it difficult to gather a family of mom, dad and three brothers just for meals in the Olympic city of Vancouver, packed with a crowd of international visitors.

Just imagine the challenge of gathering 40.

Dear Editor,

It seemed an unlikely place for a town meeting, but the spontaneous outburst at the Westwood Post Office was certainly just that in its purest form.
It seemed that this was a location selected for political solicitors. It was a simple message: "Impeach Obama." Thing is, the President was sporting a Hitler Mustache.

As our disparate group stood in line on what should have been a perfectly normal Thursday, people just spoke out as the man at the counter expressed his offense at this and wondered of the legitimacy of their presence. The woman said, "Hitler didn't tolerate "free speech." " And the Black ladies said, "If that is who Obama was, how did he get elected?" And the man said, "When he starts rounding up people and sending them to gas chambers.." and I chimed in, "Then we can talk."