May 2010

D'vorah Kost may be a fixture at the Senior Center of West Seattle, be the professional social worker doesn't hold still very long. She is busy facilitating courses on caregiving, and on mental and physical health there to seniors, and to those caring for them. Her courses have included "Living Well with Chronic Conditions," "Powerful Balance," which helps those vulnerable of injury through falling, "Brain Gain," a memory enhancement course, and "Taking Care of You: Powerful Tools for Caregiving," a free, six-class series beginning May 25.

"The insights gained are helpful whether you are a caregiver or not," said Kost. "It deals with a lot of aspects of being human including stress and communication. If you are a family caregiver you're going to have more challenges than the average Joe, communicating with a loved one with Alzheimer's, a sister who is not doing half as much as you for your mother, your (paid) caregiver not coming in on time, or your health care provider who isn't giving your loved one the proper care."

Museum Quality Framing at 2352 California Avenue S.W. in the Admiral Junction was heavily damaged Saturday morning May 15 when
a "small Mazda" lost control and drove into the front of the business. The female driver was not hurt in the 6:42 AM accident and the owner of the store Robert Glenn said, "No one's art was damaged in the accident," though a major portion of the front of the business was destroyed.

Repair people are already on the scene to get the damaged fixed and Glenn said he expects to be open and operating normally by Wednesday but urged customers to "call first to be sure we can take care of them." The phone number is (206) 937-4243.

The accident occurred when the driver lost control of the vehicle as it turned from Admiral Way on to California Avenue S.W. The driver mistakenly used the gas instead of the brake. No alcohol was involved in the accident according to Glenn.

West Seattle Produce, the new produce company at 4755 Fauntleroy Way S.W. is finally running at full capacity after being delayed by the non arrival of refrigerated display cases. The systems are now in place and the full range of produce the company carries is on display.
Sarah Bowes, an employee, said, "We had the produce but it was kept in the refrigeration unit we have on the site so it was a lot of work running back to get what customers wanted. Now that we have these working people can just pick out what they want," she said.

The company, which opened for business May 1st will be holding a grand opening celebration, now slated for June 5-6.

Responding to the West Seattle Herald's May 7 story "Experts Urge West Seattle families to communicate directly about drugs and alcohol," long-time West Seattle resident, Bob Fox, wanted to weigh in with his years of fighting our tobacco-smoking culture and the powers behind it. A retired Boeing employee who with many positions including customer support, Fox tried, with some success, to change the corporate smoking culture in his work place. He recalled that at work the supervisor would announce several times a day it was time for a smoke break, and if an employee said he did not smoke, he was told to keep working.

"The thing we had to fight continually was there were too many people back then who thought the world turned on tobacco," Fox said. "If people stopped smoking the world would stop turning.

"At Boeing I tried to get the cafeterias divided into smoking and non-smoking areas and won that, but not in the offices," said Fox, a WWII veteran who repaired electrical systems on planes, mostly B-17's and B-24's from damage caused by German flak, or ground-based guns. "Then I tried to get to get the airlines to stop letting passengers smoke on planes.

The West Seattle Kiwanis Club held their 1st Annual Motorcycle Poker Run, Classic Car show and Barbecue on Saturday May 15 in an effort to support their 21st Century Scholarship Fund. "It goes into the hands of youth in scholarships, leadership education, whatever we can do that gets them out there. get them learning and get them developed," said Kiwanis President West Niver. The fee to enter was $30.

About 15 motorcycles showed up (some with two people) to make the "Poker Run" which involved traveling from West Seattle to Eagle Leather in Lakewood near Tacoma, then to the Renton Harley Davidson, on to Bellevue Harley Davidson and back to West Seattle.
At each stop the riders pick up playing cards to form a poker hand. Prizes were chosen for best and worst hand.

Also part of the event was a classic car show with some members of the Undead Car Club from White Center.

CLICK THE PHOTO TO SEE MORE IMAGES FROM THE EVENT

The Ballard High School softball team finished its 2010 season with a 7-1 loss to Redmond, capping off a disappointing second half of the season in which the team lost eight of its final nine games.

That final run stands in stark contrast to the Beavers' seven victories in their first 11 games to start the season.

Despite the losses that dropped Ballard's record to 4-12 in KingCo and 8-12 overall, the team is heading in the right direction.

Ballard's eight wins are eight times its 2009 season total. Four of those wins came against good Sammamish, Newport, Issaquah and Skyline teams.

Prior to the 2009 season, softball participation at Ballard was at an all-time low, and the school couldn't field a junior varsity team. This season, 47 girls tried out for softball.

Ballard is losing only two seniors, Sophie Overlock-Pauley and Syrina Bailey, to graduation.

In addition, this season's eight-win team included six freshman, five of whom contributed regularly in big ways, that will return as experienced sophomore players next year.

Martin Scorsese makes beautiful films that are sometimes quite good (I’m sorry, but I don’t think “Gangs of New York” has made too many top-ten lists). “Shutter Island” teeters between those two qualities—between exquisitely crafted imagery and compelling entertainment—and it’s hard to put a finger on exactly where the tipping point lies.

Federal Marshal Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) has been dispatched to Shutter Island, a psychiatric prison located off the Massachusetts coast, to help track down a patient who has escaped. The island is an Alcatraz for the criminally insane and Scorsese has constructed it out of some wonderfully creepy details. There’s an old Civil War era fort on the crest of the hill, an abandoned village crumbles along the side of the road and the asylum itself is a sullen oasis of pristine lawns and Victorian brick.

The Washington Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association honored the Ballard High School lacrosse team with a handful of awards after the team improved from a two-win season last year to a sixth seed in the playoffs this year.

Second-year coach Lise Martin was named Division II Coach of the Year after guiding Ballard to a 6-4-1 record in its second season.

In addition, three Beavers were named to the Division II All-State Second Team.

Junior attacker Jayne Barnes scored multiple goals in every match this season after the first two, including four in Ballard's playoff loss to Overlake. She finished the season with 29 goals and three assists.

Junior midfielder Maddie Soukup led the Beavers in total scoring with 35 points this season. She scored a season-high seven goals April 20 against Lakeside and finished the season with eight assists.

Junior defender Kelsey Barta recovered 60 ground balls this season and controlled 41 draws. She also had nine goals.

Martin and the Ballard players were honored during the state championship games May 15.

Ballard High School's Baxter Smith took first place in discus during the March 14 KingCo Track and Field Championship.

Smith's throw of 144-4 beat out Maxx Forde from Woodinville's 139-11.

Smith was the only Beaver athlete to place in the top three of an event at the KingCo Championships.

Ballard had three sixth-place finishers: Catherine Banobi in the 400 meters, Hans Weertman in the 300-meter hurdles and Alex Bowns in the 3,200 meters.

The Ballard boys team finished 12th out of 12 teams with 14 points. Skyline won the boys championship with 127 points.

The Ballard girls also finished in last, earning five points. Inglemoor took first in the girls championship with 149 points.

Smith will be competing in the District Championship on May 21 and May 22.

Click here for complete results from the KingCo Championships.

After pulling themselves out of a large hole to earn a victory on the first day of the KingCo District Tournament May 13, Ballard High School girls tennis players Anna Brokhaug and Jimena Diaz repeated the feat in the second day May 14.

The doubles team of Brokhaug and Diaz defeated Inglemoor's Meg Lindner and Ellie Tanaka 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 to lift them into the quarterfinals.

"I was very very impressed with the Ballard girls and their display of mental toughness," coach Charles Brenner said. "For the second day in a row, they found themselves down in a serious way and were able to battle back. There were many times where they could have easily lost the match, but they fought through it."

Brenner said Diaz and Brokhaug played some of the best tennis he has seen them play during his two seasons with the team. He said it was a fitting end to their senior seasons.

"They made me very proud as they played very smart doubles en route to a great tournament for the two of them," he said.

In the quarterfinals, Diaz and Brokhaug lost to Eastlake's number-one-seeded Chelsa Tsujii and Olivia Salak 6-1, 6-0.