May 2010

At 11 a.m this morning a semi truck flipped onto its side on the West Seattle Bridge offramp exiting toward Spokane Street. The driver was able to exit the semi truck by himself and did not have to be taken to the hospital, firefighters on the scene said. Traffic going west on West Marginal way toward Spokane Street and the Admiral Way exits was redirected for several hours while workers righted the semi truck from on its side. The semi truck, hooked to a couple of tow trucks, was pulled upright around 1:30 p.m.

Because there is an ongoing investigation into the incident fire fighters at the scene would not say what had happened.

The City of Seattle, like any large municipality keeps and updates a wide range of databases. The compiled data gives them a sense of how to apply resources and provides the public with access to facts, figures and awareness of what the city has to offer. The compiled data can be seen in numbers, as graphs and even shared on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites.
When you first go to Data.Seattle.Gov it loads the default page of the top 100 popular datasets. But by choosing another tab you can quickly see All Datasets or Suggested Datasets. If you register with the site you can even nominate some yourself as Jon Stahl did in nominating The City Council and Mayor's visitor logs, which are part of the public record. But the available data goes well beyond this level and is amazingly deep.

During Ballard's recent eight-game losing streak, coach Kyle Gray said his team was still fighting and showed it could compete with anybody and stay in tough games.

The Beavers proved it May 11, overcoming two Skyline comebacks to earn a 10-8 victory.

Ballard lead 3-1 after the first inning but Skyline stormed back, taking a 4-3 lead in the third inning. The Beavers scored five in the third and withstood Skyline's four-run fifth inning to get the win.

Ballard had 13 hits as a team. The team's 10 runs were their most since April 13.

Bernie Cardon and Amry Kimmerly went two-for-four with two RBIs. Sophie Overlock-Pauley was a perfect three-for-three with 3 RBIs and two doubles.

Pitcher Andrea Jewett struck out eight batters and allowed only one walk in seven innings.

Next up for Ballard is Inglemoor at 4 p.m. on May 12 at Lower Woodland.

The West Seattle Junction Merchants are hoping to get volunteers out to plant 800 plants they have assembled for the new Junction Plaza Park. The park is still under construction at the corner of 42nd Ave. S.W. and Alaska Street.

The plan is to conduct two, 4-hour shifts with 20 volunteers doing the planting work in each. Training, materials and refreshments will be provided.

To volunteer contact Susan Melrose at susan@wsjunction.org or call 935-09004.
Space is limited so get in touch as soon as possible if you can participate.

The park dedication is slated for June 29th at 5:30 PM.

Ballard-born Ron Ness has been a hotel director for Carnival Cruise Lines for 15 years. He was recently in town on the 960-foot Carnival Spirit cruise ship, ready to sail to Alaska May 11 for a seven-day cruise to the Tracy Arm Fjord, Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan and back through Victoria.

This was Carnival’s first cruise from Seattle and had a full ship of 2,124 passengers. This was also the first of 18 cruises that will bring some 42,000 passengers to the city this season for cruises departing every Tuesday from the Port of Seattle's newest cruise terminal, Smith Cove at Pier 91.

Many have heard the modern cruise ship described as a floating hotel. So what does Ness do?

"I encompass 825 crew members," he said. "I'm in charge of food and beverage, entertainment, all the concessions and housekeeping. My being from Seattle and our bringing one of our favorite ships into Seattle is incredible."

Ness grew up in Crown Hill. He said his grandfather had his fishing boats in Ballard and would go up to Alaska regularly.

Now, Ness is doing the same but in a fancier craft.

Junior Maddie Soukup gave the Ballard High School lacrosse team a 1-0 lead just five minutes into the second-year program's first playoff appearance, May 11 against Overlake High School.

Despite that quick score, a slow overall start doomed the Beavers. During the next 12 minutes, Overlake outscored Ballard 11-0 as it cut through the Beaver defense and kept Ballard from coming anywhere near its net.

Coach Lise Martin said she tried to tell her young team that they had already exceeded expectations and to just go out and have fun. But once the players took the field, postseason nerves worked to inhibit their stick skills, she said.

Martin said Ballard struggled to make passes and come up with ground balls while Overlake was making quick transitions with excellent stick skills and tiring out the Beaver defense.

Three quick goals from junior Jayne Barnes and a goal from sophomore Katie Kennedy late in the first half stopped the bleeding, but Ballard was down 16-5 at halftime.

As the 97-year-old, 133-foot schooner Adventuress waited to pass through the Ballard Locks May 12, its crew bellowed a collection of sea shanties to entertain those watching.

Adventuress' crew were making a last-ditch effort for a $100,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Partners in Preservation grant program.

The schooner is one of 25 sites in Puget Sound that is eligible for the grant. The winner is determined by online voting, which closes today.

Adventuress is owned by Sound Experience, a Puget Sound-based environmental and youth leadership nonprofit organization founded in 1989. More than 3,000 young people and adults are involved in Sound Experience each year.

Visit www.VotefortheBoat.com to vote for Adventuress and be entered to win a free sailing trip on the schooner.

Adventuress will be open for tours from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. tonight at South Lake Union's Center for Wooden Boats, located at 1010 Valley St.

To the Editor:

On June 26th with assistance from the City of Federal Way our Chapter of Trout Unlimited is going to be hosting a cleanup/restoration to the Celebration/BPA trail here in Federal Way.

I intend to solicit Petco and PetsMart in helping us spread the word on how important it is to scoop your poop when walking this trail. In the last several months it is getting pretty bad for us joggers who use the trail on a daily basis and end up dodging the waste left on or along aside the trails.

We intend to educate the public on the issue of the waste and its affects to our watershed along Panther Lake. We will be setting up booths at the Aquatic entrance to the trail as well as a booth near Celebration park. I am hoping to also help the city for volunteers to help remove scotch broom along the trail adjacent to the Aquatic center.

The city will furnish all tools and removal once the scotch broom has been cut. We also intend to contact residents living along the trail who have had their fences vandalized with graffiti.

Federal Research on Washington’s Seatbelt Patrols Looks at Driving Records and Criminal Records of Nighttime Unbuckled Motorists
As city, county and state law enforcement gear up for another statewide Click It or Ticket seat belt mobilization between May 24 and June 6, officers would be wise to take extra precautions with people who drive unbuckled at night. That’s because new research shows that nighttime unbuckled drivers are twice as likely as daytime buckled drivers to have criminal records for offenses that involve violence.

The Click It or Ticket seat belt patrols moved to the hours of darkness three years ago because the traffic death rate at night is four times higher. Officials also expected the research to show that nighttime unbuckled drivers have worse driving records, which proved true. The research also uncovered surprising findings about the criminal histories of nighttime unbuckled drivers. Compared to people who drive during the day with their seat belt on, nighttime unbuckled drivers are:

Three times as likely to have a felony record.
Twice as likely to have a criminal record for offenses that involves violence.

Mayor Mike McGinn's Police Chief Search Committee tonight selected Police Chiefs Rick Braziel of Sacramento, Ronald Davis of East Palo Alto, Calif., and John Diaz of Seattle as finalists to succeed Gil Kerlikowske as Seattle Police Chief.

Diaz is Seattle's interim police chief.

As stipulated by City Charter, Mayor McGinn will choose from among the committee's three finalists, with his selection subject to City Council confirmation. The mayor expects to interview the candidates in early June and to make his selection sometime in June.

Mayor McGinn thanked the 26-member committee, co-chaired by Kate Joncas and Charles Rolland, for its work.

"I'm grateful for the hard work and commitment shown by Search Committee members during this important process," McGinn said. "I'm looking forward now to spending time with the finalists, allowing the public to get to know them, and choosing a chief for all of Seattle. I'll be looking for a chief who shares my values of public safety, fairness, and a commitment to racial and social justice."