July 2010

Just hang up if you get a call from an 876 area code about a special package being delivered. A local resident received such a call (it originated in Jamaica), and the male voice on the other end of the line described an, um, different type of “package” that was allegedly on its way to her.

When an officer spotted a car with expired tabs on Admiral Way, he signaled the driver to pull over. A computer check showed that the 30-year-old West Seattle resident was driving with a suspended license and that he was wanted in Kirkland for a previous suspended license offense. Plus Bellevue Police wanted him on a $2,000 warrant for theft in the 3rd degree. He was booked into King County Jail.

Lowman Beach Park was the scene of two incidents this week. In one, a transient was trespassed from the area after a citizen saw him masturbating. In the other, a homeless woman called 911 from a a nearby residence after her boyfriend assaulted her for no reason as they “camped” in the park. Bruised, and with a swollen, bloody lip, she was transported to Harborview for treatment.

Three Tree Point residents on the north beach are concerned with Burien city plans to enforce setbacks reducing use of frontage of private beach depth, and providing public access to visual use and path to water front.

Heated debates are being held weekly at Council meetings.

State laws regarding Shoreline Management in Washington State are being enforced and the Burien city council is also debating plans with citizens regarding city plans to force providing public access and use of Lake Burien.

Scandinavia, which encompasses Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, is a land that brings to mind long winters, saunas and fair-skinned natives. But, the northern European culture is also deeply rooted in the Ballard community.

Viking Days took place July 17 and July 18 at the Nordic Heritage Museum. The festival, now in its 27th year, featured reenactments, Scandinavian food, tables lined with Nordic arts and crafts plastic sets of Viking armor and for the children.

Eric Nelson, CEO of the Nordic Heritage Museum and a third-generation Swede, said the two-day festival is a community event.

“One of the favorite stops is the Taste of Scandinavia,” Nelson said, pointing to a line of women busily producing sugary edibles. “We have a group of volunteers from each of the five countries who all prepare specialty foods. Those are all community members, most of them live in Seattle and help out at the museum.”

While the weekend attraction used to include a broader celebration of Scandinavia, it has since shifted its focus to Viking culture.

Nelson said the festival was particularly pertinent to the Ballard neighborhood.

I have now spent a few weeks in Massachusetts and I think it will be interesting to do a little comparison between Massachusetts and Washington. Both have approximately the same 6.6 million populations, both have dominant cities that are very significant in the politics of the states. Both have been very liberal in their politics for many years.

Massachusetts has more minority populations. There are twice as many Blacks and about 12% more Hispanics in the Bay State.

When it comes to education there are dramatic differences! There are more competitive colleges in Massachusetts than there are colleges in all of the Northwest! Harvard, MIT, Tuffs, Boston University, Holly Cross, Williams, Boston College, to name a few, are all colleges that are open only to those high school students who have taken high school very seriously.

Why doesn’t the Northwest, touting itself as “educated,” have a stable of colleges that are of this caliber? Many of the employees of Microsoft and Boeing come from these New England institutions.

To the editor:

Reflecting at age 87 the astounding changes in prices over the years as a result of inflation. In the 1930's we kids used to ride our bikes from South Beacon Hill near Cleveland High School to Mrs Wickman's Pie Factory just north of the Jefferson Golf Course and buy a big apple pie for 20 cents. 2 of us would pay 10 cents apiece and each eat half the pie. We used to jog 3 miles to Seward Park in the summer to save bus fare to go swimming. We'd pay the 3 cents to return home on the bus tho. Postage for many years used to be 1 cent for post cards and 2 cents for regular mail. Sometime in the 1930's regular mail jumped from 2 cents to 3 cents and stayed there for a number of years. Eventually it upped to 4 cents and I remember it used to be 5 cents in the 1950's.

In the early 1930's the sales tax was introduced. Each dollar was taxed 1 third of a cent and paid for with aluminum tax tokens that had a hole in the middle. It was called a "temporary" tax and everyone knew that it would not be temporary - my how this "temporary" tax has grown!

A fundraiser is being held to build a rock wall in honor of former Des Moines resident Luke T. Gullberg, who died on Dec. 12.

Luke died while attempting to summit Mt. Hood in Oregon, along with Katie Nolan and Anthony Vietti. The fundraiser is being held at the Seattle REI rock wall, The Pinnacle, from noon- 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 24.

Although Luke is no longer with us, his memory will live on in the hearts of those who knew and loved him. In order to honor Luke's memory, this fundraiser is being held to raise money to build the rock wall at the bible camp he loved and served: Lakeside Bible Camp, located on Whidbey Island.

"Lakeside was a huge part of Luke's life and we want him to be remembered through something he loved," said Peter Livingston, close friend of Luke's and an organizer for the fundraiser.

Luke spent a lot of time at camp as a camper and serving in many areas (cabin leading, replacement staff, cooking and directing).

Mayrani Romero Luna (Decatur High School, 2007) is a Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) certified medical interpreter with a fulltime staff position.

She says, "I have a great job that I love!"

Silvia Yanez (Tyee High School, 2008), also DSHS certified, is working fulltime as a freelance medical interpreter for three different interpreting agencies.

Elizabeth Arteaga (Highline High School, 2010) earned her DSHS certification a full year before she graduated from high school. She is looking forward to working for herself as a medical interpreter this summer.

These talented young people love being bilingual and bicultural. While in high school they all attended the Translation and Interpretation Program at the Puget Sound Skills Center (PSSC) in Burien.

This program is for bilingual high school juniors and seniors in the Highline, Tukwila, Tahoma and Federal Way school districts.

Students who take this program learned to speak a language other than English at home or growing up in another country. Some sign up for the Translation and Interpretation Program because they are already interpreting for family members and they want to become better at it.

Burien Animal Care & Control has recently joined other animal welfare organizations in the area that list their homeless pets on Petfinder.com, the oldest and largest database of adoptable animals on the Internet. The site currently has over 294,500 homeless pets listed, and it is updated continuously.

More than 13,100 animal welfare organizations in the U.S., Canada, and other countries post their pets on the site.

Burien pets may be viewed at http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/WA494.html. A potential adopter enters search criteria for the kind of pet he or she wants, and a list is returned that ranks the pets in proximity to the zip code entered.

Adoptions are handled by the animal placement group where the pet is housed, and each group has its own policies.

Petfinder.com was created by Jared and Betsy Saul in early 1996 as a grassroots project to end the euthanasia of adoptable pets.

Since its inception, the site has facilitated approximately 20 million adoptions, making it the most life-saving initiative in animal welfare.

Everyone knows that white wines are best when eating fish or poultry. Red wines go well with beef. But what would a good wine steward recommend to accompany Victorian parody, bank failure spoof and Breeders Theater acting?

The answer is obvious: E.B. Foote wines!

To be more precise, Breeders Theater's latest show, "Withering Heights" will taste best with such offerings from E. B. Foote as their bronze medal-winning ETC (a Zinfandel-Syrah-Merlot-Cabernet-Cab Franc blend) and their platinum medal winner, a 2006 Northwest Duet (a Cabernet-Merlot blend).

A recipe for fine dining? Maybe. A formula for comedy, laughs and a great time that will be had by all? Most definitely!

"Withering Heights" is an affectionate parody of the beloved novels by Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. The more you know about their stories, the more you will enjoy this show.

On July 15, the Seattle Office of Economic Development announced more than $160,000 in investments in neighborhood business. The Ballard Chamber of Commerce, Crown Hill Business Association and the In Ballard Merchants Association are three of the beneficiaries of those funds.

The 2010 Neighborhood Business District awards will be used for a variety of projects designed to help small businesses thrive in Seattle, including organizational development projects, beautification and branding with light pole banners and signal box art, and a new, multi-neighborhood buy local marketing effort that will increase shoppers’ awareness of local businesses across the city, according to a an Office of Economic Development press release.