July 2010

The 15th Annual Admiral Neighborhood 4th of July Kid's Parade is today at 10 AM.
Kids and adults are part of the fun and will gather in the 1100 block of 44th Ave. S.W. (near Sunset).
After the parade people will gather at Hamilton Park (the viewpoint) for sack lunches and blanket Popsicles with water and other items for sale.

The event is sponsored by
The Admiral Neighborhood Association, Weitzel Construction, Kayle Shulenberger, Speech-Language Pathologist, and the parents and families of West Seattle

More photos have been added to yesterday evening's event at Ash Grove Cement. No word has come from the company regarding the incident. 911 logs show that at 7:47 PM a call went out and 14 fire units (not all engines) responded. The material coming from the site coated the road and cars passing through it.

Below is our original report.

Large plumes of dust were spotted coming from the southern most tower at Ash Grove Cement 3801 E Marginal Way South Saturday July 3 at approximately 7:45 pm.

The Herald got through to the control room and were told, "You'll have to call back Tuesday morning when the boss is here."

For the Seattle plant, the plant manager is Craig Puljan.

The dust appeared to be coming from the top south eastern edge of one of three towers and was covering East Marginal Way just as it reaches level heading south bound.

Ash Grove Cement is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, and operates cement plants in nine states across the country.

CLICK THE PHOTO TO SEE MORE IMAGES.

The Seattle Police Department recently launched an online Crime Map that lets you easily find out how much crime is going on anywhere in the city.

To see the map go here: http://web5.seattle.gov/mnm/policereports.aspx
The map uses icons to indicate the type of crime and the block the crime occurred on can be seen by clicking on the icon.

In order to get details about a specific crime, the police have also posted online crime reports.
You must register and agree to the terms of service to see this information.
Here's the link:

The reports are redacted since many crimes are involved in continuning investigations.

The Head Chef and butcher at the Swinery, Gabriel Claycamp has left the company. We published a story on the company's 'Re-Opening' on June 25.

On Facebook the company stated this:

"Yes, it's true. Gabriel has left Swinery to pursue other exciting ventures & focus on his wonderful family. What does this mean for your favorite butcher shop? Don't fret. We are NOT closing, we are NOT changing our hours & we ARE still focusing on our mission: the revival of responsibility & awareness in meat consumption & to enthusiastic appreciation for flavor & quality. Stop by and show your continued support."

Tom Lin, owner of the historic Alki Homestead at 2717 61st Avenue Southwest is making a uniquely structured offer to area historic preservation groups. He will sell them the fire ravaged building for $2 million and in the bargain provide a $500,000 endowment to help preserve it.

The West Seattle Herald was offered an exclusive tour of the building on Friday, July 2, during which Lin pointed out specific areas of fire damage.

"My wish is to preserve the Alki Homestead Restaurant, so I'm offering it for sale and providing an endowment to make that happen," Lin said. "Ideally I"d like them to take over the project. My biggest hope is that we keep Alki Homestead Restaurant and we have the building one way or the other, almost identical, with all the safety that we need today, with access where old people with wheelchairs can go in there, without going through the kitchen," Lin explained. "Ideally I'd like to have a building that's going to last another 100 to 200 years."

Lin has owned the restaurant since July of 2005, though it took a year to close the deal, purchasing it from the estate of Doris Nelson.

From the Seattle Police Blotter:

On July 1st, shortly after 11:00 PM, Southwest Precinct officers responded to reports of shots fired in the north end of Lincoln Park (near the 7300 Block of 47th Avenue SW). Officers arrived and located two men. One was attempting to hold down the other. After separating and detaining both men, officers learned that the two were together in the park when they began arguing.

At some point the argument became physical, and the two began fighting. During the fight, the 35 year old suspect pulled out a handgun and fired several times, striking the 32 year old victim in his left arm. The Seattle Fire Department responded to treat the injuries to both men (suspect had been struck in the face several times during the altercation and had difficulty breathing).

Both men were then transported to the hospital for additional treatment. The injuries are not considered life-threatening. AFter receiving treatment for his injuries, the suspect was booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Assault. Detectives will follow up with the investigation.

Highline High administrators apparently forgot to check the dusty subterranean school vaults for my PERMANENT RECORD so they let me judge senior culminating projects in May at my old alma mater.

Back in 1965, all I had to do is squeak through the required number of classes and they handed me a high school diploma.

There were no scary standardized state tests. That was fortunate for me. If I had been required to meet state math standards before graduating, I could have ended up as the oldest senior at the prom after a few years.

But nowadays, besides accumulating enough credits and passing a battery of tests, seniors must also complete a culminating project.

Working with an adviser, they must come up with a project that hopefully aligns with their career goals, find a mentor, complete the project and write a "reflection" paper.

Then, they must prepare a 10-15 minute oral presentation with visual aids in front of a panel of community civilians and teachers. Reminds me of those studies that found participants' second worst fear is dying-their worst fear is speaking in public.

A whale of a tale

This picture is of one of the huge grey whales that made national headlines recently on a West Seattle beach at the Arroyos.

The whale was hauled to a secluded beach and cut up with the remains a banquet for animal scavengers. After about a year, the bony carcass will be wired together like they do for those dinosaurs displayed in museums and shown at the Highline College aquarium in Redondo.

College President Dr Jack Bermingham hopes to display the huge skeleton in the main hall at the beach facility if the retrieval effort pans out.

So, it may take a year to find if the idea of saving the bony structure is indeed doable.

More fish stories

A couple of other true whale-of-a-tale stories:

The story above may be a stale story as the monster beached himself (or herself) a while ago. So while we have you hooked I want to tell you several other finny stories.

I once took number two son Ken salmon fishing at Neah Bay. My friend Jim Cardwell from White Center joined us and the hooknose silvers were practically leaping into the boat. Ken even caught a 38-pound king.

SeaTac's Tape Ministries Northwest, a non-profit lending library for the blind and disabled, mailed over 21,000 recordings in 2009!

These are books and periodicals that bring joy and comfort to someone born blind or going blind. Some cannot read books because of a disability. Others are allergic to the ink on books.

Hundreds of patrons throughout the United States and Canada receive inspirational and spiritually uplifting materials. Any day we have 1,500 books in circulation.

John Knox Presbyterian Church in Normandy Park started this ministry 29 years ago. God continues to bless us as we serve our beloved patrons.

Bill Wippel
Executive Director

With Asarco environmental damage settlement dollars secured and the Legislature's support, the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) is planning the next phase of arsenic and lead cleanup associated with a century of operations at the former Asarco Smelter near Tacoma.

Ecology is laying the groundwork now so sampling and cleanup at play areas in public parks, camps and public housing can begin in earnest this summer in the Highline area and other locations affected by the plume.

These properties are within a 200 square-mile geographic "service area" that includes the most highly contaminated portions of the Tacoma Smelter Plume - an area of widespread soil contamination from airborne emissions from the former smelter. The Legislature provided Ecology $3.9 million to cover the costs of sampling and cleanup this next year.

Rep. Dave Upthegrove (D-Des Moines), who sponsored legislation in 2005 to require playground testing and cleanup, says this funding was a high environmental budget priority this year.