March 2010

While the federal government has spent months proposing, discussing and debating healthcare reform, there is one group of Ballardites who have been getting free, safe, confidential primary care, regardless of insurance, for eight years.

The Teen Health Center at Ballard High School, started in partnership with Swedish Medical Center in 2002 as part of a citywide program, acts as a primary care clinic for students.

"It's more like a doctor's office than a school nurse," said Sara Rigel, manager of Patient/Family Education and Community Health at Swedish.

By providing services at no cost to students, some of whom have no insurance or are under-insured, the benefits of the Teen Health Center are huge, Rigel said.

"It's an opportunity to contribute to the greater well-being of our youth and community," she said.

The center is jointly funded by Swedish Medical Center and King County Public Health trough the Family and Education Levy.

In addition to sports physicals and vaccinations, the center provides mental health counseling and sexual health and family planning care.

Recently our school board met with the District’s attorney to review the legal implications that are involved in the appeals hearings that they conduct for students who have been expelled, had a hearing with a paid hearing officer, and wish to dispute his findings.

Having been involved in many of these hearings in the past, I found the “constraints” that the attorney was advising to be a significant indicator why schools, and general society, may be having some difficult problems.

Typical students using this appeal process admit to “Doing the deed” for which they are being expelled, but do not wish to be excluded from school, often in spite of dubious evidence of scholarship. The school board is provided with a complete record of all discipline incidents that the student has incurred prior to this hearing. Often this list is quite lengthy.

What the District’s attorney was cautioning the Board about this was that they should not be “Judgmental” with either the student or parents!

Maritime Pacific Brewing Company and the Jolly Roger Taproom
1111 N.W. Ballard Way
206.782.6181
Monday - Thursday, 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. - midnight
Sunday, noon - 9 p.m.

After a long wait, the Jolly Roger Taproom is snug in its new So-Bal location on the same block as the always-intriguing Cash and Carry.

Cash and Carry is at the very top of our list for inexpensive entertainment, even if we don't buy anything. Whether we need eight chili bowls, 40 pounds of beef, a 96-ounce can of corn or just want to see local restaurant owners nervously standing in line, hoping customers won't see where they really get their ribs, it's the place to go.

But, that's another review.

The current Jolly Roger atmosphere resembles that of the older space just a few blocks away under the Ballard Bridge, with the welcome addition of about twice the square footage.

While being interviewed by the West Seattle Herald Friday, March 5, Amanda Knox's stepfather, Chris Mellas, received text messages from family members and an attorney that gave him a happy jolt.

The messages alerted Mellas to a new article just released in Italy's second largest, and widely respected, newspaper, la Repubblica. It said that Rudy Guede, the first person convicted of killing Meredith Kercher, told his former prison cellmate that West Seattle UW student, Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, also convicted of the murder, were not present at the murder scene. Guede's cellmate claims that Guede told him there was another person with him on the night of the murder.

The cellmate made a formal videotaped statement that has been submitted to the prosecutor's office in Perugia, Italy, where Ms. Kercher's murder took place and where the case was heard.

The Fremont neighborhood has attracted the unusual for a long time, and The Flying Apron Bakery at 3510 Fremont Ave. N. is no exception.

The Flying Apron is Seattle’s only organic, gluten-free and vegan bakery, and this week they held an informal gathering to thank their friends and talk about their future plans.

In January, the business was sold to a group of three investors who share a strong commitment to maintain the bakery's unique status as well as expand it's business.

The new owners are Ethan Hernandez, Erik Chelstad and Jeff Silva. Silva and his wife previously owned a bakery and café in Seattle, and his ongoing management of Crohn’s disease has given him a very real perspective on food and nutrition.

Hernandez is from a family of Seattle-based entrepreneurs, and having a daughter with severe dietary restrictions has strengthened his commitment to helping others that need to be mindful of their eating requirements.

Chelstad, like Ethan, has had a hand in many Seattle-based startup companies and is excited to be working on organic, sustainable food production.

Nearly four months after the season started, the last of the Chief Sealth Winter sports teams concluded their season last night, when the boys basketball team was defeated in a winner-to-state, loser-out game versus Franklin High School. While the 68-65 loss wasn't the desired result, it doesn't dampen the amount of 'Sealth Pride' that was built throughout the season.

All of our Winter Sports have things to be proud of. Foremost, it was a season marked by excellent coaching. Long-standing coaches Dave Rosario (wrestling) and Colin Slingsby (boys basketball) each took home Metro League Coach of the Year honors and added regional awards as well. Tony Trahan, in his first year at the helm of the girls basketball team, and Katie Hathaway, also new to the school as head swim coach, helped craft hard-working teams that competed well throughout the season. Gymnastics was lead in conjunction with West Seattle High School and coached by Echo Balliett-Legge.

There are jazz bands. There are classical orchestras. Then there is the Seattle-based Pontiac Bay Symphony. While they may not play rock and roll, some of their repertoire includes songs more recognizable than the Beatles. Each Pontiac Bay performance embraces a theme. One concert focused on movie theme songs, including “Jaws,” “Lord of the Rings,” “Jurassic Park,” “Star Wars,” and “2001 A Space Odyssey” with its trademark heart-stopping timpani “Boom-boom Boom-boom.” Another celebrated the Western movie and TV show genre, and that song list included “Rawhide,” and “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” a Clint Eastwood cult-classic. The eclectic roster including at least one player from Highline.

Sunday, March 14, they will perform “The Pontiac Bay Old-Time Radio Show,” which will attempt to duplicate the old radio shows of the 1930’s and ‘40s with a Cole Porter and Duke Ellington big band sound.

SDOT has announced the following Spokane Street Viaduct and West Seattle Bridge ramp and lane closures:

Work on the Spokane Street Viaduct (which connects I-5 to the West Seattle Bridge) and the West Seattle Bridge will result in the following closures:

Saturday, March 6, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The eastbound, right hand lane of the Spokane Street Viaduct will be closed to allow crews to clean drains for the Spokane Street Viaduct widening project.

Sunday, March 7, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The ramp from northbound I-5 to the West Seattle Bridge, the ramp from South Columbian Way (from Beacon Hill) to the West Seattle Bridge, and the westbound, right hand lane on the South Spokane Street Viaduct from I-5 to Harbor Avenue SW, will be closed to allow crews to clean drains for the Spokane Street Viaduct widening project.

Friday, March 12, 7:30 a.m. to noon

Ballard High School Principal Phil Brockman was given the first-ever Washington Music Educators Association Administrator of the Year Award Feb. 15 for championing the cause of music as a core quality of education.

He was honored at two concerts during the association's All-State Gala in Yakima. Two Ballard High School students, James Vitz-Wong and C.J. Eldred, were selected to participate in the All-State event.

In a letter nominating Brockman for the award, Ballard High School Music teachers Courtney Rowley and Michael James said he has a vision for the growth and success of the music program at Ballard, but gives the teachers complete creative and strategic control.

"Phil Brockman is the most supportive, caring and respected administrator we have ever had the privilege to work for," Rowley and James said in the letter.

According to the letter, Brockman has found the money and resources to allow the school to add a percussion class and women's treble choir and to produce an after-school musical year after year.

Brockman believes a strong music program is essential to an excellent high school, Rowley and James said in the letter.

With little fanfare or notice, a new theater company, Ghost Light Theatricals, has moved into the small space on Market Street formerly occupied by Live Girls! Theater.

Ghost Light Theatricals, a nonprofit organization founded in 2003, moved into the 64-seat theater in the lower level of 2200 N.W. Market St. in early January. On March 2, a notice for a liquor license was posted in the window.

The company moved into the Ballard location because they wanted to have their own space after being nomadic for the past seven years, said Matt Lyman, Ghost Light Theatricals' marketing director.

Artistic Director Beth Raas said the permanent home will give the company more opportunities than it had while it was moving around.

Live Girls! Theater vacated the space at the end of December when its lease was up and Ghost Light was able to take it over, Lyman said.

Lyman said the company is hoping to bring great theater to Ballard and its residents.

"It's important in a neighborhood that has as much nightlife as Ballard does to have a theater there," Raas said.

According to its Web site, Ghost Light Theatricals focuses on classical and classically-influenced plays.