July 2010

by Sara N. Reardon

When it comes to weight loss, it seems that no one is an island, especially children. At the West Seattle YMCA, a program called Actively Changing Together! (ACT!), formerly known as Strong Kids/Strong Teens, is teaching families with overweight children and parents about healthy lifestyles by encouraging them to work together toward their weight-loss goals.

“We’re about helping parents and kids have better communication, creating an environment where fun experiences happen in healthy lifestyles,” said YMCA disease prevention director Lindsey Gregerson, who heads the program. During the 12-week course, families run relay races and obstacle courses together and discuss their food choices with a nutritionist. At the end of the class, the families cook a light meal to share. The goal, says Gregerson, is to “keep everything fun.”

This is your chance to not only eat Mediterranean food but dance the calories away at this non-stop festival of music and entertainment.

275 dancers will take part with vendors selling a wide variety of ethnic crafts and goods. The event is FREE.

This event is locally-sponsored and focuses on the dances of the Mediterranean area. Traditional Greek food, will be sold.

It takes place from 11 AM to 7 PM on Saturday July 17 and Sunday July 18 at the Hiawatha Community Center adjacent to West Seattle High school at 2700 California Ave SW.

Bring your blankets, (low) beach chairs and your dancing shoes to the first West Seattle Outdoor Movie of the season on Saturday, July 17 – when the musical Mamma Mia (see the trailer below) 2008 Rated PG-13 (with the short, Trip to the Dentist/W.C. Fields) will be shown at dusk.
The film stars Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård , Julie Walters, Christine Baranski and Dominic Cooper. The entire film is based loosely on the music of the Swedish supergroup ABBA.

During the pre-show there will be Go-go dancing to Abba and a 100 year celebration of the Horwitz/Wolff/Hotwire site sponsored by Dr. Wolff and Hotwire Coffee. Fairway themed foods.

Located at in the courtyard at 4410 California Ave SW between Hotwire Coffee and Dr. Wolff the movies will show every Saturday evening.

All movies start at dusk and are FREE. Gates open at 6:30pm . Concessions and raffles too, all proceeds go to charity.

White Center July Jubilee Days got underway in earnest this weekend with the street fair which began at 10 am on Saturday from 17th Ave S. W. and S. W. Roxbury, to S. W. 100th Ave. Thousands of people attended the Davis Shows carnival near Steve Cox Park throughout the weekend event and thousands more attended the street fair and the Jubilee Days parade on Sunday.

The Show and Shine Car show, put on by area car clubs was well attended and had some cars with truly amazing paint and detailing on Saturday.

The street fair featured 50+ venders representing everything from Samoan cuisine to creative clothing for infants for everyone to enjoy. Two stages of music and entertainment ranging from rock to children’s acts provided something for children as well as adults.

The July Jubilee parade happened Sunday at 10 am. Starting from S. W. 114th Ave and will travel north up 16th Ave S. W. and concluded at S. W. 100th Ave. Among this years entrants were the Charros mounted equestrian riders.

For more information go to- http://www.jubileedays.org/

UPDATE 7/17/10: Carl Wallace, age 58 and suffering from dementia, was found last night in Grants Pass, Oregon. He was with his vehicle and dog Frankie. He was not injured.

Wallace was reported missing from the Burien area on Friday July 16th.

There is no additional information at this time.

ORIGINAL REPORT:

The help of the public is needed to find 58 year-old Carl Wallace. He was last seen on Thursday, July 15th in the Burien area, and might be intending to drive to California.

Wallace suffers from Alzheimer's and is in Seattle from Idaho for medical treatment.

The missing man has little gas, no credit or debit cards, little money, and did not know how to get to the freeway from Burien.

He is likely driving a black, 1990 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, Idaho license 1AEB756.

His dog "Frankie" is with him, a brown and white border collie, weighing about 40 lbs.

Wallace is 5' 7" tall, 180 lbs., and gray hair, blue eyes, and a full beard.

He has a tattoo on his left forearm of purple roses with "Carl + Betty." He is wearing a gray shirt, tan shorts, tan boat shoes, and might have a purple sweater.

When Ballard native Electa Anderson's husband Norm was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease in 1999 at the age of 56, she became aware firsthand of the misconceptions and lack of understanding associated with the disease.

"Something as simple as going to dinner and reading the menu for them and ordering for them and having the waiter looking at you like you are trying to run your husband's life," Anderson said.

She said people who do not have to deal directly with those suffering from Alzheimer's make wrong judgements about the situation. They see someone who still looks normal and healthy despite the loss of memory and body function, she said.

Anderson said the husband of a friend of hers was diagnosed with Alzheimer's when he was in his 40s. Eventually he had to have his driver's license taken away. He was still mentally aware enough to complain to friends, and they nearly sued his wife for guardianship because they were convinced she was mistreating her seemingly normal husband, Anderson said.

Providence Health and Services and the King County Housing Authority have been awarded $9 million to build affordable housing for low income seniors at the companion property to the existing Greenbridge near White Center.

The Section 202 program provides capital and rental subsidies for the rehabilitation or in this case construction and operation of supportive housing for the elderly. The assistance is provided to nonprofit organizations, in this case Providence Health & Services, who will work with KCHA to construct a new 65-unit building for seniors and persons with disabilities at Seola Gardens (the companion property to Greenbridge)

They released the following press release with more details on the program.
PRESS RELEASE:

On June 15, the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce reported that Benaroya Companies is close to a deal to sell the former Denny's/Manning's property on the northwest corner of Market Street and 15th Avenue Northwest.

According to the Journal of Commerce, a buyer signed a letter of intent last week for the property – the future home of the Market Street Landing residential and commercial development – and Benaroya Companies expects the sale to close in two to three months.

Benaroya Companies declined to verify those reports or what a sale could mean to the future of the Market Street Landing development as planned.

After a protracted battle over whether or not the former Denny's/Manning's building on the site qualified as a historic landmark, the building was torn down June 24, 2009. In September 2009, the remaining buildings on the site were torn down, and the property has sat empty since.

The Surfrider Foundation released a statement this week acknowledging it made a mistake when it reported high levels of fecal coliform in the steam at Golden Gardens June 22.

According to the statement, the foundation's scientific method was sound, but the testing counted the levels of all coliforms, some of which are not harmful, instead of just fecal coliform.

On June 22, the Surfrider Foundation, an international nonprofit focused on the health of oceans and beaches, released test results that showed levels of fecal coliform in the Golden Gardens stream three to four times what is acceptable by state regulations.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, fecal coliform is not usually harmful itself, but it can indicate the presence of harmful pathogenic bacteria and viruses. Swimming and eating shellfish from an area with high levels of fecal coliform may pose a health risk.

A deeply divided SeaTac City Council will vote Tuesday, July 27 on whether to place a resolution on the November ballot to change the city's form of government.

Based on the debate at the July 13 council meeting, the motion is likely to fall one vote short.
The importance of the debate was underscored by the fact that Deputy Mayor Gene Fisher, a commercial fisherman, voiced his opinion via satellite telephone from a boat approximately 100 miles out in the Pacific Ocean. Councilman Tony Anderson also participated in the discussion by telephone.

Fisher and newly elected council members Rick Forschler and Pam Fernald supported placing the ballot on the ballot. But Tony Anderson, Mayor Terry Anderson, Councilman Ralph Shape and Councilwoman Mia Gregerson opposed it.
Fernald requested that action be delayed for two weeks, moving the vote to July 27.

Forschler made the motion to submit the change of government proposition to King County Elections to be placed on the Nov. 2 general election ballot.

The proposition would eliminate the current city manager/council form of government in favor of an elected mayor system.