June 2010

8:54 a.m. June 19, 4600 Block of Third Ave. N.W.

The victim states that she woke up and came through her bathroom to go upstairs in her three-level condo. She noticed that her front door was standing open about six to eight inches.

She went upstairs to her living room and kitchen area. About halfway up the stairs, she could see a man sitting in a chair in the living room.

The victim took her keys and went outside to call 911. Police arrived and noted that the driver's window on her car had been broken out.

Police entered and found a person in a hooded sweatshirt sitting in a large chair in the living room. The suspect was arrested without incident.

Suspect had used the garage door opener inside the victim's car to gain entry to the condo. Vicim reported that a couple of her tops had been taken down from her closet area.

The suspect told police that he thought he was at his friend's place. The victim's neighbor in the condo complex told police she knew the suspect. The neighbor said she and the suspect had been going to bars and Fremont when they were separated. She thought the suspect went home.

It was a true weapon of destruction that sank a local team in the winners bracket of the District 10 Little League 10-11 age All Star baseball tournament on Field 4 at the Federal Way National Little League Complex.

Unloading its awesome hitting arsenal, the Kent All Stars grabbed an early lead en route to a 14-2 win against Steel Lake in a game shortened to four innings due to the 10-run mercy rule on Tueday, June 21.

Shortstop Austin Pauls dove to his right for Steel Lake to snag a hard hit ground ball and completed the play on a throw to first base to retire Kent's first batter and the next batter flew out to center field to open the top of the first inning. An infield miscue placed a runner on first base before Ryan Anderton drove a two-run homer far over the reaches of straightaway center field for a 2-0 Kent lead.

In the second inning, the Kent All Stars fired up their big bats to shell Steel Lake for 10 runs on nine hits. An additional two runs in the Kent fourth inning at bat padded the final margin.

Where’s Cartman?
Not a question one would expect to be asking twenty minutes into a movie that is neither animated nor inclined to refer to “South Park” in any direct manner. But there it was popping out of my mouth instead of laughter at a recent viewing of “Hot Tub Time Machine.”

“Hot Tub Time Machine” is one of those star-crossed films that have stumbled upon a delightfully evocative title (“Snakes on a Plane” is another one) but lack the creative firepower to back it up.

Hope Academy will celebrate the achievements of its students during with its fourth annual banquet on Saturday, June 26, 2010, themed “American Muslims: Defining Ourselves.”

The event will be held at the West Seattle Elementary School, 6760 – 34th Avenue SW from 4:45pm to 6pm.

The event will include award presentations to graduating students as well as other students. Muslim community leaders and activists from the area will join in the celebration.

As I mentioned in an earlier column I was invited to a showing of the film “Race to Nowhere.” The producer of this film, Vicki Abeles, decided to make this film based upon the experiences she was having raising her 3 children. Terms such as “Soccer Mom,” “Minivan,” and “Entertainment Center” had entered her family’s life, and she wasn’t very positive about the effects that they were having on their family.

I have dissected her 9 suggestions for improving the lives of her family below.

This past week I was invited to a special showing of a new film “Race to Nowhere” by the Seattle Education Association. This group must have its data base messed up to have me on its invite list!

The Director of this film, Vicki Abeles, a former Wall Street lawyer, made this film as she became concerned about the “pressures” that schools were imposing on her family’s life.

I have read recently, and heard many times from parents, about these stresses also. I can agree with Ms. Abeles that these exist, but not much more.

Her solutions all involve placing less academic demands upon children. As long as I have been on this planet, at least since World War II, we have known that our children are not getting the academic education that is offered in the rest of the developed world, and now some of the “emerging” countries have figured out that quality academic education is a significant path to economic success.

What if instead of the pit where Sunset Bowl once stood, there was an all-ages street hockey rink? Or if instead of the temporary lake just east of the Ballard Bridge, there was a floating art installation?

Those are just a few of the suggestions for Seattle's vacant lots submitted to the Seattle Design Commission as part of the Holding Patterns project.

On June 22, the Design Commission released the 13 finalists out of the 83 submissions it received.

The finalists are:

• Community Rink: A space for street hockey, bike polo, dodge ball and more.
• ParkOurPark: A parkour park.
• Kaji Court: A fustal/soccer court.
• Rising-Shining: A temporal light installation.
• ViDea Video Performance: A video project project.
• Neighborhood Watch Theatre Company: A multipurpose public event space.
• Blackboard Jungle: An installation of blackboards for the public to write/draw on.

Federal Way City Council member Jeanne Burbidge has been reappointed to the Washington State Transportation Improvement Board and will serve until June 30, 2014.

The Secretary of Transportation originally appointed Burbidge to the Board in February 2004 after her nomination by the Association of Washington Cities.

She served as chair of the board from 2008-2009.

The Washington State Legislature created the TIB to foster state investment in local transportation projects. It is an independent state agency that distributes and manages street construction and maintenance grants to 320 cities and urban counties throughout Washington.

The funding for TIB’s grant programs comes from revenue generated by 3 cents of the statewide gas tax.

Burbidge has been a Federal Way City Councilmember since 1997, and served as mayor from 2002-2003. She chairs the City’s Parks, Recreation, Human Services and Public Safety Committee, and is a member of the Finance, Economic Development, and Regional Affairs
Committee.

Ten weeks of concentrated effort paid off for two local residents as they topped the leader board as the “Biggest Losers” in the Federal Way Community Center’s popular contest.

The winner: Steve Acklam, who lost 37.5 pounds and 16.45% of his body weight.

He won a $250 gift certificate which can be used toward a Community Center pass, personal training sessions or a future Biggest Loser competition. Coming in second was Susan Stone, losing 23 pounds and 12.85% of body weight. She is the recipient of a $125 gift
certificate.

The contest ran from April 12 through June 18, with 25 participants who lost a combined 308 pounds - an average of 12.33 pounds per person.

Fitness and Athletic Coordinator Kimberly Shelton guided the competition with the assistance of four trainers who led teams during the course of the event: Chris Knight, J. Bowman, Gail Cuthbert and Eva Rasor. All will be back for the launch of the Fall 2010 Biggest Loser program on Sept. 13.

On June 24, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles of the 36th District was awarded the State Poverty Action Network’s 2010 Leadership award in honor of her commitment to addressing poverty in Washington.

“Sen. Kohl-Welles has been a consistent leader in the legislature on issues that affect low-income families and children," Tony Lee, the State Poverty Action Network's policy director, said in a press release. "She has championed protections for victims of trafficking and people impacted by predatory lending practices. She has also been a leading advocate for increasing training and education opportunities for low-income parents.”

Kohl-Welles chairs the Senate Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee that heard two key antipoverty measures during the 2010 session: Senate Bill 6252 and Senate Bill 6648. SB 6252 would have eliminated the use of credit scores to set insurance rates. SB 6648 would have required mediation between borrowers facing foreclosure and lenders.