September 2010

One of the lost arts I mastered in my misspent youth was playing migs, also called marbles.

I am saddened to see kids today using their thumbs for pitiful things like texting and hitchhiking on I-5.
Playing migs not only builds your thumb muscles. It helps you get your pants grimy at the knees and your knuckles full of sand. If you drop an aggie or two in Mom's lard can overnight, then forget to dig them out, you will get no milk on your oatmeal when she finds them.

But by overnight the lard will work its magic. It will magically penetrate the agate and erase those tiny fractures. Unless your prized marble ends up in a biscuit, which could irritate your Dad.

The first rule of marbles was to find some real estate. This is really important, but with all the organized games they play today, kids will have to pick out a corner behind the portables where they can play.

If they get bored shooting migs, they can make another circle in the dirt, divide it in half, then fling an open-pocketknife (genuine Barlows are best) at their opponents' real estate. Draw a big circle in the dirt with a line down the middle. You and your friend each own half. Object? To own it all.

Seattle Civic Dance Theater Family Fun Night
Fauntleroy Community Center
9131 California Ave. S.W.
(entrance on Director St.)
Friday, Oct. 1. Free event. There will be a sock hop with music by Paul Thompson, DJ on Star 101.5. Also a silent auction, cake walk, face painting, games, raffles with all proceeds going to Seattle Civic Concert Dancers, a non-profit. For more info call 206-938-3062.

Endolyne Children’s Choir 2010/2011 Season
New singers are welcome to join. Rehearsals take place at St. John’s Church in West Seattle. For information visit www.endolynechoir.org or email info@endolynechoir.org.
Debut Choir rehearsal grades K-2 is Tuesday, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Encore Choir rehearsal grades 3-5 is Thursdays, 6:30-7:30. Advanced Ensemble rehearsal grades 6-8 (gr. 5 by invitation) is Thursdays, 7:30-9 p.m.

Dinner & Jamie’s Rock and Roll Legends Show
White Center Eagles Club
10452 15th Ave. S.W.
206-248-1400

Medical emergency at bottom of cliff

Firefighters responded to a medical emergency at 5108 S.W. 311 Place Sept. 22 at 8:30 a.m. Upon arrival they were directed to a house down on the beach area below that address. The firefighters treated a 65-year-old female for consciousness problems. She was unable to sit or stand upright without passing out.

As the patient lived at the bottom of a cliff near the Puget Sound, the firefighters were unable to get her back to the top for transport by ambulance due to her condition. The firefighters improvised by requesting Marine 26 to the scene. The patient was then carried to the boat and transported to the Redondo Boat Launch. There the patient was loaded into an ambulance for transportation to the nearest hospital. Due to privacy laws, the patient's outcome is not known.

False police report

A woman is suspected of texting a false request for help to 9-1-1. She reported that she was being held hostage. Police completed a welfare check on her and found she was fine. The woman denied making any contact to 9-1-1.

Man causes a scene at police station

Look out, concerned citizens of America! It will corrupt your children, tear your family apart, endanger innocent civilians, even make you sell your babies! It's Reefer Madness!

Burien Little Theatre celebrates its 30th birthday with a bang with the cult hit "Reefer Madness," a satirical musical romp inspired by the infamous 1936 propaganda film that warned us of the dangers of smoking marijuana.

Written by Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney, "Reefer Madness" stars Brad Walker as Jimmy Harper, the clean-cut All-American 16-year-old kid who is dating the lovely and beautiful Mary Lane (Sophia Federighi). Jimmy and Mary look as though they came straight out of "Happy Days," as they should.

The show opens with a stern warning from the Lecturer (a perfectly cast Russ Kay) about the evils of "Mary Jane" and how it is as big a threat to Americans as socialism. The Lecturer appears periodically throughout the show (sometimes as different characters) and acts as the narrator.

Dear Editor,

The real story here is the grand hulabaloo made by neighbors who interfered in a private property owners decision to change his landscape. As the author himself states that the tree in question was " on the border of the exceptional tree size ". In other words, it didn't quite qualify. Perhaps another year or two of life and it might have. But why should it be allowed to? The interference with power lines is reason enough for removal, consider also the sunlight reaching the residence, the constant debris on structure and yard, root interference in the landscape, the view of residence AND neighbors. All are valid reasons for removing this out of place tree. This tree was by no means a landmark.

Seattle has a terrific urban forest and under Mayor Greg Nickels hundreds of trees have been added and protected as a City policy.

My point to Mark Schletty is this: lighten up. Let's save the effort for bigger enviromental battles. As he pointed out himself, the only crime being committed was his trespassing!

By Susan Goding
HIGHLINE SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER

There is a base of information that forms the cultural references of our lives as Americans that is the essence of education.

About 10 years ago, in response to pressure to raise student test scores, the Highline School District increased time students spent learning reading and writing.

Intuitively, this seems like a good thing; students can learn any subject by reading. Unfortunately it has not turned out that way. Despite the increased time on reading, students are not spending the day reading significant or historic literature or even sentences where the content has meaning.

No one can argue that test scores in reading have not improved but the increased time in reading has crowded out other subjects.

Math and science test scores are static. Our children need history, art, foreign language and many other subjects but there is little to no time for those subjects.

Stella Chao, Director of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods sent a letter detailing the budget cutbacks impacts on her department. In her detailed and comprehensive list that follows she points out that one full time Customer Service Representative position will be cut as a result of the closure of the West Seattle Neighborhood Payment and Information Services office. The proposed reductions (subject to a City Council review and vote Nov. 22) result in a 16% cut for the Department of Neighborhoods programs and services and would mean the loss of ten jobs.

Stella Chao's letter:

Mayor McGinn's Proposed 2011-2012 City Budget was presented today (Sep 27) to the Community at noon, and to City Council at 2pm. While the Mayor will not be discussing all of the specifics of the proposed budget, I want to share information as it relates to Seattle Department of Neighborhoods (DON).

On Thanksgiving Eve, Nov. 24, 1971, a middle-aged man boarded a Boeing 727 in Portland enroute to Sea-Tac International Airport and sat alone. Unbeknownst to the flight crew and other passengers, they were about to witness one of the most curious crimes in U.S. history.

The Highline Historical Society has set up a display at SeaTac City Hall, 4800 S. 188th St., remembering the events of that day, and the man who committed the crimes of extortion and hijacking-D.B. Cooper.

The exhibit is scheduled to run through November.

The man of mystery was never caught, and his true identity never discovered. He boarded the plane in Portland, asked a flight attendant to have a seat next to him and handed her a note. The note demanded $200,000 in ransom and four parachutes.

The flight attendant, known as Ms. Schaffner, also says she saw a red cylinder in the one suitcase Cooper had, according to Nancy McKay, curator of the Highline Historical Society.

Schaffner passed the note along to the commander of the plane, Captain William Scott, while another flight attendant, Tina Mucklow, took a seat next to the "mystery man."

For anyone whose fall schedule is already feeling overwhelming and they're feeling the need to re-energize on a regular basis, I'd like to suggest the Matt Griffin YMCA.

It's been one year since the new Y opened on South 188th Street in SeaTac, and I've watched it become a thriving community center for Highline area youth and adults.

I happened to be the first member in the door and I've visited about 250 times since, so I've seen its value to our community since day one.

We live in a time when people are often more focused on their mobile devices than on one another. We all do it! Fortunately at the Y, you can have your "me time" with your music and exercise while still getting opportunities to socialize and interact with others. It's a hive of activity with something for everyone - basketball, swimming, cardio/weights, etc. - in a comfortable atmosphere that fosters connections.

For example, I met a neighbor at the Y that lives only a few doors away from me, but we never really spoke until meeting there.

He's one of the many nameless faces that we see standing near the intersections with cardboard signs.

Most of the signs are short and sweet "Need Food. Please Help. God Bless", "Homeless Vet. Please Help" or "I won't lie, I just want enough $ for one beer."

They come in all shapes and sizes, but the one thing they have in common is that they are someone's daughter or son and never thought that it would turn out this way.

I've driven by many of them on the street and wondered where they came from, what happened that landed them on the street, if they had family and where do they stay at night?

I've repeatedly seen this one older fellow, on the same corner, so I stopped and invited him to walk over to the closest hamburger joint and told him that I'd buy him dinner.

I drove to the parking lot and watched as he folded up his sign, loaded up his basket and made his way across the street. As he was walking towards me, I thought, "They're probably going to find my body in the trunk of my car," but then I remembered something that my grandmother once said, when I was a young kid.