March 2010

Saturday afternoon Miss Seafair’s past and present bowled at West Seattle Bowl, along with the Seattle Seafair Commodores raising money for the Seafair Scholarship Program for Women.

This marked the 18th annual Seattle Commodores Bowl-a-thon, their biggest fundraiser of the year.
The Seafair Scholarship Program for Women gives $20,000 in scholarships to worthy women every year, rewarding academic ambitions and showcasing future leaders.

The Seattle Seafair Commodores also appear in over 15 parades throughout Washington every year, with the largest parade being the Seattle Seafair Parade.

A glass case filled with 34 handmade decorative carved eggs, landscape-painted eggs, jewelry box eggs, plus some jewelry by 95 year-old artist Ella Cox is now on display at the Kenney Home foyer in time for the Thursday night, April 8 West Seattle Art Walk.

Cox ordinarily lives in her Highland Park house, but temporarily resides at the Kenney for rehab. She is a member of the West Seattle Rock Club and polishes gemstones to create cabachon jewelry. Last summer she won "best of show" at their annual gathering.

"Egg shells are not what they used to be," said the feisty, animated, Tacoma-born Cox who has lived in West Seattle since 1949.

"Farmers don’t feed them crushed oyster shells any more," she complained. "That made the shells harder and thicker. Now they break easier."

Cox became interested in how to make highly-detailed, delicate egg creations while shopping with her daughter, Audrey.

The City of Seattle, Rotary Club of West Seattle, the Boy Scouts of America, and the WSU Extension Master Gardeners partnered to plant 122 trees along Fauntleroy Way in West Seattle Saturday, March 27th.

The project coincides with the Boy Scouts of America’s tree planting project, titled “Generations Connections,” commemorating 100 years of Scouting in America, as well as the City of Seattle’s 25th year as a “Tree City USA” and Rotary International’s “Rotarians at Work Day.”

Educare Early Learning Center held its grand opening Saturday, March 27, and the event was grand, as nearly three hundred attended the program and speeches in the White Center Heights Elementary School gym just across a paved plaza from the 44,000 square-foot facility. They then took a tour of the Learning Center's two stories of infant/toddler rooms, preschool rooms, family resource library and its outdoor play areas. The center is located at 625 Southwest 100th Street.

The preschool accommodates 135 newborn-to-five year olds whose families who receive subsidies, mostly through DCFS. This is the tenth Educare Center. Others are in Chicago, Miami, Denver, Kansas City, and three in Oklahoma.

"This is just a spectacular thing, and just a beginning in our state, of course," William Gates, Sr. told the West Seattle Herald. He attended with his wife, Mimi. "It's just a beautiful model. The work is very advanced and professional. It's a great thing for our state. There are hundreds of people who have contributed." He added that he has an affinity for the children who attend the center.

Photographer Kurt Howard captured these images of last Tuesday's boys' soccer action. Todd Beamer thumped Spanaway Lake, 5-1; while Decatur battled SPSL South foe Curtis to a 2-2 tie. CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO PLAY SLIDESHOW.

After a long, cold winter, all of us are longing for some signs of spring. Chances are there are some early spring greens popping up in your yard right now.

It’s true – those dandelion leaves you struggle to pull up are a great addition to a salad, as long as you don’t use herbicides or pesticides on them.

But, if you aren’t into eating your weeds, how about trying some of the wonderful spring greens from the grocery store? They are pesticide-free and probably slug-free, too.

Spring greens grown locally include lettuce, spinach, dandelion greens, endive, radicchio, watercress and even fiddle head ferns, if you can find them. These are all good sources of fiber and vitamins A and C.

But beware – sometimes that “healthy salad” has more fat and salt than you know.

The average bottled dressing has between 200 milligrams and 500 milligrams of sodium in two tablespoons, which is hard to fit into your daily limit of 2,000 milligrams a day.

You can make your own dressing for a fraction of that.

Try serving a salad as an entrée with a warm bowl of homemade soup and nice crusty bread for a light dinner.

Orange-Sesame Dressing

After scoring two goals in the past four matches, the Ballard High School boys soccer team and Brent Campbell found a bit of offense against Bothell March 26.

But, that offense didn't add up to a victory, with Bothell surviving for a 3-2 win.

The Beavers got on the board first when Campbell scored his first goal of the season in the 11th minute off an assist from Balin Larson.

Campbell earned his second goal of the season 12 minutes later, scoring of a Jacob Kuntrakun assist.

Ballard's 2-0 lead would last for only two minutes. Bothell's Brandon Rise scored in the 25th minute to get Bothell going.

Rise would score again and Bothell's Alan Villavicencio kicked the game-winning goal as the Beaver defense could not hold on to preserve the win.

Ballard scored multiple goals in a match for the first time this season.

The Beavers are now 0-2-1 in KingCo and 0-4-2 overall.

The team gets a break until April 6 when they play Lake Washington at 7:30 p.m. at Lake Washington High School.

The City of Federal Way is partnering with Highline Community College and State Farm Insurance to present the 1st Annual South King County Latina Women’s Conference on March 27. A variety of community organizations will be on hand to address issues unique to the area’s Latino families and to help improve their access to services and information. The event is offered entirely in Spanish.

Women interested in attending must pre-register for the free conference by contacting Teniel Sabin, Federal Way’s Hispanic community liaison, at 253.835.2613 or teniel.sabin@cityoffederalway.com. The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., and lunch will be provided. State Rep. Phyllis Gutíerrez Kenney, chair of the Community & Economic Development & Trade Committee, is the keynote speaker as well as Acting Mexican Consulate Marisela Quijano.

At the conference, women will receive information on finances, nutrition, starting a business, community involvement, domestic violence, leadership and more. The day of education, celebration and fun also will include entertainment and prize drawings.

WSDOT maintenance crews will close the SR 99 Alaskan Way Viaduct for its semiannual inspection on March 27 and 28 to ensure the structure remains safe for drivers. Both decks of the viaduct will be closed between Spokane Street through the Battery Street Tunnel from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days.

Drivers should expect increased congestion on all major north-south routes during the closure and plan accordingly. WSDOT recommends leaving early, carpooling, vanpooling or taking transit. Drivers can check traffic conditions before they leave at www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic. Up-to-the minute traffic information is also available via the voice-activated driver information line, 511.

In addition to structural inspections, WSDOT and the City of Seattle will coordinate maintenance and preservation work during this closure. Work will include:

Surveying the structure to check for settlement.
Searching for and removing loose concrete.
Repairing expansion joints and damaged bridge rails.
Applying a protective covering to exposed rebar.
Servicing drainage systems and traffic cameras.
Washing the walls of the Battery Street Tunnel and inspecting its lighting and ventilation systems.

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, will participate in a panel at a forum hosted by Grammas for Ganja in Ballard on Tuesday.
Kohl-Welles sponsored Senate Bill 5789 this session to extend the ability to authorize medical use of marijuana to other licensed health professionals who are already authorized to prescribe controlled substances. These professionals include naturopathic doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Kohl-Welles also recently penned an op-ed for The Seattle Times about her plans for to introduce legislation next session to provide full legal protection for medical marijuana patients and providers who work within the law. The Seattle Times Editorial Board recently endorsed such legislation.

The forum will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Ballard House Community Room at 2445 N.W. 57th St. Gramma’s for Ganja Executive Director Jeanne Black-Ferguson will host. Also expected to attend are Rep. Reuven Carlyle, Dr. Sunil Aggarwal of the University of Washington, and Wallingford’s Terra Hemp Manager Jacqueline Meringer.