May 2010

The Ballard High School softball team managed only one hit in a 10-0 May 10 loss to Woodinville, a team that is in first place in KingCo, has only one loss and was ranked sixth in the state four wins ago.

Coach Kyle Gray said his team couldn't find a way to hit the ball and made a number of harmful mental errors in the field.

"You almost have to play a perfect game to get to Woodinville," he said.

The loss, Ballard's sixth in a row, dropped the team to 3-10 in KingCo and 7-10 overall with three games remaining.

Despite the losses, Gray said his team is still playing hard and still fighting, it just ran into a really good Woodinville team.

The Beavers' 10-8 extra-innings loss to Bothell May 6 is an example of Ballard being able to go back and forth with a team and show enough backbone to stay in games, Gray said.

He said his players have come a long way this season and now see they can compete with any team in KingCo.

Gray said he wants to use the final three games of the season this week to get momentum for next season and send his seniors, Sophie Overlock-Pauley and Syrina Bailey, off the right way.

Photographer Kurt Howard captured these images of the Titans 2-1 victory over Decatur on May 7. CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO PLAY SLIDESHOW.

Homeowners throughout Federal Way are now eligible to apply for free and reduced-cost energy-saving retrofits through the end of this month.

The City of Federal Way Human Services Division and Tukwila-based SustainableWorks teamed up earlier this year to offer free and reduced-cost energy audits, weatherization and energy-saving retrofitting to homes near Mirror Lake. The mandatory timeframe focused on the target area is over. Now, all residents within city limits may apply.

Candidates must be owner-occupied homes or rental property with landlord agreement located within Federal Way.

Application deadline is May 27. To apply, visit www.sustainableworks.com or contact SustainableWorks’ Kellie Stickney at 206.575.2252.

Workshop slated for May 17

A free workshop explaining the program will be held from 7 to 8 p.m. on May 17 at the Nautilus Elementary School Library, 1000 S. 289th St.
“The goal of the program is for people’s monthly energy savings be greater than the amount they pay on the loan,” said Jennifer Teeler, Federal Way’s volunteer and neighborhood programs coordinator. “That helps household budgets and the environment.”

Five Ballard High School students won the 48 Hour Film Off at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) on May 1.

The competition began at the conclusion of NFFTY Opening Night April 29. To ensure that no preproduction had been done before then, teams from Bellevue, Franklin, Mount Si and Ballard were given critical props, a key line of spoken dialogue and a theme that must be prominently featured in the short film.

Ballard High School video students John Christensen, Sydney Jarol, Matt Law-Phipps, Rikke Heinecke and Ryan Zemke then worked around the clock to produce a three-minute narrative short in only 48 hours.

The team worked on scripts, storyboarding, production schedules, shooting and editing in order to deliver a finished short in time for the May 1 deadline.

A jury of four professional filmmakers, along with audience voting, selected the Ballard short, "Charlie," as the winner.

The winning producers received Nike 6.0, Skullcandy gear and a $2,500 scholarship for the Ballard High School Video Production Program.

Erik Junso Honda, a former Decatur High School student and wrestling standout, was awarded the Hood of the Masters of Arts in Teaching, Instructional Strategist II, on Saturday May 8th, 2010 from the Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa.

His journey from the winner's podium to the graduation stage has been as challenging as any opponent he faced on the mat. After being on the winingest Decatur High School Wrestling Team ever, Erik Honda spent the next four years at the University of Dubuque. Wrestling in Iowa brought a step up in competition. But academic studies came first.

Graduating in 2006 in Education with several endorsements including Special Ed, Honda joined the staff at Prescott Elementary in downtown Dubuque, Iowa.

At Prescott, a charter school, Honda has proven himself with effective Special Ed programs. Honda also attended the Master’s Program from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.

Honda stepped on the 116-year-old campus only once before graduation. Classes are online with professors conducting instruction over 300 miles away.

Ballard resident Quinn Rudee has worked on films including "Zoolander" and "Beverly Hills Cop" as part of Paramount’s special features division. Rudee's most recent gig is as producer of the short film "Shuffle," which will premiere later this month at the Seattle International Film Festival.

"Shuffle" assistant director Tony Becerra and actor Brent David Fraser are also Ballard residents.

Filmed in and around Seattle with a local cast and crew, "Shuffle" is a 17-minute thriller about a hitman who must play one last round of poker with the mob boss who raised him within a criminal house of cards.

How did the idea for the film come about?

Actor, writer and executive Aron Michael Thompson approached director Garrett Bennett with the script, originally planned as a feature. He wanted to do it as a short. Things happened really fast. We had a week of pre-production, which is insanely short for a film this ambitious. It was a three-day shoot—three very full days.

What attracted you to the project?

The Seattle City Council today approved landmark designation ordinances for ten new City of Seattle landmarks. Representing a number of neighborhoods, these ten landmarks exemplify the diversity and the rich cultural and architectural heritage of our City. The City of Seattle Landmarks Preservation Board, staffed by Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, approved the nomination, designation, and controls and incentives for each of these landmarks, and forwarded the draft ordinances to City Council for approval.

The ten landmarks are:

(Former)First United Methodist Church, 811 5th Ave. (Downtown)
MGM Building, 2331 Second Ave. (Belltown)
Sorrento Hotel, 900 Madison Street (First Hill)
(Former) Sixth Church of Christ, Scientist, 2656 42nd Ave. SW (West Seattle)
now called Sanctuary at Admiral and available for rent
Egan House, 1500 Lakeview Boulevard E. (Capitol Hill)
Coca Cola Bottling Plant, 1313 E. Columbia St. (First Hill)
Fire Station # 13, 3601 Beacon Ave. S. (Beacon Hill)
Seattle Center House (Seattle Center)
Kobe Bell (Seattle Center)

The Burien City Council agreed on procedure to discuss the Shoreline Master Program, but that agreement was far from unanimous.

Work on the Shoreline Master Program (SMP) by the Council will begin Monday, June 14 with the first of two public forums.

At the first forum a panel of scientists and biologists would give presentations and answer questions about the ecology and health of the Puget Sound and Lake Burien. Staff said they were open to scientists recommended to them by the community. However, a process was not given for those scientists to be chosen.

Names of any candidates should be sent to Scott Greenberg, Burien community development director, or David Johanson, Burien senior city planner.

Greenberg told the Council, at their May 10 meeting, they were envisioning a question and answer period from the community and council members of the scientists, as well as a back and forth between each-other.

The meeting is scheduled to be up to three hours long.

Councilmember Brian Bennett said he wanted to avoid advocacy in the experts.

The musical comedy play Once Upon a Mattress is in rehearsals now at West Seattle High School and will debut May 20th. It is a popular choice for High School drama programs. West Seattle High School Drama Club advisor and director Andrew Finley points out, this is because it involves singing, dancing, choreography, costumes and set construction so it's extremely inclusive. "Students are involved in every layer of the production," he said.

CLICK THE PHOTO TO SEE MORE IMAGES

Finley, who has been teaching English and been active in theater "since I was six" does a great deal with a limited budget. Other schools with larger budgets may have it easier but he said, "When you have a large budget it's like filet mignon, it's easier to get something good. For us it's more like chuck steak. We marinate it, we work it, we massage it until we create something really really good." The school drama club gets no grants and has no outside support. The plays presented there are dependent solely on the money from ticket sales.

In some baseball circles the three-run home run is downplayed in favor of a return to the days of more speed on the basepaths.

But Terin Beck of the Federal Way High School baseball team didn't have any trouble with the big blasts. He hit a two-run home run in the top of the second and launched a three-run shot over almost the same spot on the Kent Memorial Park right-field fence in the third.

Taylor Horsfall found the two-run shot to his liking in the fifth, only he launched the ball out to center field. Brett Evans went for the solo shot and crunched it out to right center, also in the fifth.

For Beck the blasts against Rogers of Puyallup in a 14-2 win were his first two home runs of the season, although he has been known as a power hitter in previous years.

"Terin, he has struggled," said Federal Way head coach Dan Graham. "He's been the No. 4 and No. 5 hitter, then we made him the eighth.

He's slowly starting to move up a bit. We haven't hit too many, maybe 11 or 12 as a team. He had zero before."

"I've been practicing and practicing," said Beck of his turn around. "I've been a home run hitter before. I was just trying to help the team."