July 2010

Thousands of people young and old lined the streets of Greenwood July 28 to bear witness to the 60th annual Greenwood Seafair Parade.

Politicians and princesses waved to the crowd, marching bands played, giant meerkats posed and children swarmed to the free candy being tossed their way.

The Greenwood Seafair Parade truly feels like a neighborhood event as business owners and patrons watched from windows and doorways, old-time residents came out of their homes to line the sidewalk and inhabitants of the newer apartment developments watched from their balconies.

Seafair 2010 continues July 31 with the Torchlight Parade in downtown Seattle.

Click image above for a slideshow from the parade.

He is an avid board paddler who used to live in Maui but now rides the waves at Alki Beach and Three Tree Point
in Burien. He was enjoying himself this week on the evening tide near Seahurst Park. He is 32 and unmarried.

West Seattleites have two great opportunities for entertainment tonight.
On Avalon Way the Luna Park neighborhood businesses are holding their Block Party, (see our detailed story here) with live music, free food, raffles and giveaways including services from Ola Salon to acquaint you with the various businesses in that area. That party starts at 5pm and runs until 9pm.

90 minutes later at 6:30pm The Admiral Neighborhood Association's Summer Concerts at Hiawatha begin on the east lawn of Hiawatha Park. They will take place each Thursday evening from July 29th through September 2nd.
Kicking off the series is the group The Starlings.

A full schedule of the concerts this summer can be found in our original story here.

Meet Gil Loring

He stepped out of the White Center Jubilee Day's booth during the annual celebration and was vehement in his enthusiasm for having his hometown annexed by Burien and not by Seattle.

Why?

'The county doesn't want it, Seattle doesn't either. Burien does and we think we will be better off with a smaller government. The state has promised to give us the money from the local sales taxes and we don't have to pay it back. We have no faith in the Seattle City Council providing fire and police protection better than we have."

State legislators did pass a law that promises to give sales tax collected in White Center back to any city that annexes the territory without having to pay it back. Ever.

I don't know how the state legislature or the governor can do this when the state is running on fumes now and so are the city and the county.

Our former county executive blatantly tried for years to get Seattle or Burien to annex all the territory south of the Seattle city limits because it was too expensive to govern. Now he is back in Washington D.C. and he is free of that problem.

Reporters, like fishermen, have tales of the big one that got away.
For journalists, it's the fascinating story that didn't get written. Most likely the reporter got too busy and the story lost its timeliness.
But unlike anglers, we can sometimes track where the big one went. And the path sometimes takes wild twists and turns nobody could imagine.

That's the case with the Jackie Lewis story. I know now why reporters never throw away their old notebooks.
Back in the spring of 2007, the Highline School District was preparing to open its second set of small high schools on the Evergreen High campus in White Center. Tyee in SeaTac had gone first.

For more than a century, comprehensive high schools were the norm. Students took a variety of required courses and electives by moving around to six different classrooms with six different teachers during the school day. It worked reasonably well for white middle-class kids like me with stable home lives and educated parents.

Reporters, like fishermen, have tales of the big one that got away.
For journalists, it's the fascinating story that didn't get written. Most likely the reporter got too busy and the story lost its timeliness.
But unlike anglers, we can sometimes track where the big one went. And the path sometimes takes wild twists and turns nobody could imagine.

That's the case with the Jackie Lewis story. I know now why reporters never throw away their old notebooks.
Back in the spring of 2007, the Highline School District was preparing to open its second set of small high schools on the Evergreen High campus in White Center. Tyee in SeaTac had gone first.

For more than a century, comprehensive high schools were the norm. Students took a variety of required courses and electives by moving around to six different classrooms with six different teachers during the school day. It worked reasonably well for white middle-class kids like me with stable home lives and educated parents.

Former Highline School District athletic director Jackie Lewis filed a claim Tuesday against the district alleging he was unfairly demoted from an assistant principal to a teacher because of the actions of former Evergreen campus athletic director Daylene Boehm.
Daylene Boehm is no longer on leave and has been reassigned as an elementary teacher, according to district spokeswoman Catherine Carbone Rogers. Daylene Boehm has a continuing contract with the district. The specific elementary has not been determined.
"She still has a job in Highline," Rogers reported.

Rogers noted the investigation of Daylene Boehm has not been concluded.
Lewis has been reassigned to a secondary school, yet to be determined, according to Rogers. Lewis also had been assistant principal at Highline High in Burien.

In the claim, Lewis said Daylene Boehm's direct supervisor, Evergreen Principal Paula Montgomery was not significantly disciplined. Montgomery, one of the principals of three small academies on the Evergreen campus, also supervised Evergreen's athletic program last year.

Former Highline School District athletic director Jackie Lewis filed a claim Tuesday against the district alleging he was unfairly demoted from an assistant principal to a teacher because of the actions of former Evergreen campus athletic director Daylene Boehm.
Daylene Boehm is no longer on leave and has been reassigned as an elementary teacher, according to district spokeswoman Catherine Carbone Rogers. Daylene Boehm has a continuing contract with the district. The specific elementary has not been determined.
"She still has a job in Highline," Rogers reported.

Rogers noted the investigation of Daylene Boehm has not been concluded.

Lewis has been reassigned to a secondary school, yet to be determined, according to Rogers. Lewis also had been assistant principal at Highline High in Burien.

In the claim, Lewis said Daylene Boehm's direct supervisor, Evergreen Principal Paula Montgomery was not significantly disciplined. Montgomery, one of the principals of three small academies on the Evergreen campus, also supervised Evergreen's athletic program last year.

Officers responded to a call in Arbor Heights in the 9600 block of 37 th S.W. at 5:15 pm Wednesday.
Detectives on a stakeout of a home there called for assistance when a suspect left the premises. That person is now at large and being sought by SPD.

Ballard Realty Inc., Property Management, managers of a house on the 2300 block of Northwest 67th Street that was severely damaged by fire July 22, have set up an emergency fund to aid the building's former tenants.

All funds collected will go toward helping the six former tenants with relocation and medical expenses.

Two of the tenants sustained injuries when their home caught fire slightly before 3 a.m. July 22. One injured his ankle while jumping from a second-story window, and the other suffered burns to his hands and feet while fleeing the building, according to the Seattle Fire Department.

Three other residents escaped the fire without injury.

The fire was caused by overheated electrical wiring in the walls on the first floor, according to the Fire Department.

The house is now boarded up and blackened from the first floor to the third-floor attic.