November 2010

On Thursday, Nov. 25, at approximately 2:07 p.m., a woman was struck by an AMTRAK train near Golden Gardens, the Seattle Police Department reports.

Preliminary investigation revealed that the woman was walking on the southbound tracks near NW Neptune Pl and NW Blue Ridge Dr. and didn’t hear the train coming because she was wearing headphones.

The train engineers of the Amtrak Train #7, which is the Chicago to Seattle Empire Builder, started the emergency stop procedures and sounded the air horn repeatedly. 

The train was traveling approximately 38 to 40 MPH.  The person continued to walk southbound down the center of the tracks and did not react to the air horn.

The train struck the person approximately 75 yards south of the west side entrance to the Blue Ridge park, which is located at NW Neptune Pl/NW Blue Ridge Dr & Triton Dr NW.

The King County Medical Examiner responded to gather additional evidence and recover the body of the 41- year- old female.

There are many talents at Teatro ZinZanni but there’s one who stands out for being equally loved by the audience as she is feared and that’s Ballard’s very own Christine Deaver.

Born and raised in Ballard, Deaver now lives in Los Angeles and works as as an actor, singer, writer, director and voiceover artist. For four months out of the year she comes back to her hometown and performs under the Spiegeltent at Teatro ZinZanni.

In the current production “Hearts on Fire”, Deaver performs as three hilarious and salascious characters.

“I developed three different characters and the umbrella of the characters is that she’s considered the spirit of the party and her overall goal is to bring fun and frivolity to the tent,” Deaver said.

The characters are Penelope Wilde, a crazy psychic; Voluptuous Panic, a German dominatrix; and Juliet in search of Romeo through a game called Elizabethian Elimidates.

“ZinZanni is Cirque the Soleil meet Moulin Rouge,” said Deaver.

With some people in line since 6:00 pm on Thanksgiving Day the shoppers were lined up at the Target Store in Westwood Village in large numbers on Black Friday, Nov. 26.

Target offered deals on the usual electronics and more but a corporate spokesperson said their best deal was the $10 bathrobe.

The sometimes steady rain did not keep people from lining up to get the best deals of the season. The line snaked around the edge of the building extending at one point just before the 4:00 am opening down and around the northeast corner past Wyatt's Jewelers.

Deanna from Jamba Juice who had a tent set up serving hot chocolate and vanilla lattes said she had run out of drinks three times and then the line suddenly swelled between 3:00 am and 4:00 as people dragged themselves out of bed to hurry down to the shopping center.

Press Release:
Most Metro Transit buses will be off snow routing by Friday morning, but bus riders are reminded the system is on a reduced schedule for the day after Thanksgiving.

After battling snowy and icy roads for four days, most buses will be on regular routes. There may be a few exceptions where the roads are still slick or closed. If driving is difficult in your neighborhood, there is a chance buses could still be on snow routes on Friday morning.

The long holiday weekend includes already-scheduled changes for Metro service:

• On Friday, there is a reduced weekday schedule which features more service than weekends but less than a regular weekday. This is done during holiday periods when Metro traditionally sees 20-40 percent lower ridership . Details on the reduced weekday schedule can be found online;

• There are many holiday events in Seattle this weekend that will cause temporary reroutes and delays for bus service including the downtown Macy’s Holiday Parade on Friday morning, the Friday evening Westlake Tree Lighting ceremony, the Seattle Marathon on Sunday with related events on Saturday, and the Seahawks game on Sunday.

Boeing's historic Plant-2 building, once churning out hundreds of B-17 Flying Fortresses a year in its heyday that helped win WWII is now a weathered and obsolete eyesore hugging and hanging over half a mile of shoreline along the polluted Lower Duwamish River while slowly being demolished.

Stand across the river from the faded, mustard-colored plant, directly south and upriver from the now-defunct South Park Bridge and what you see is a handful of workers cautiously disassembling a portion of the 1.8 million square-foot building.

As bad as it appears, it's what you don't see that is the major problem, a toxic soup of chemicals settled on the river bottom. Plant-2 is nestled upon the Superfund Site, and plans are in play to soon restore the shoreline with wetlands and salmon habitat once the plant is uprooted.

By P.J. Glassey

Great question, huh? I bet you know my answer already. Of course it’s better! Science has proven it over and over. Science has also shown that Prozac is about as effective as a placebo, so it’s not hard to beat that over-used drug for elevating your mood. Even so, exercise is definitely the king for getting you happy, and curing depression.

The reason exercise works so well is because it is better at changing your brain chemicals than anything else you can do. Ever wondered why? God created us to move and to keep moving all day. Our modern society however, requires most of us to sit down all day instead. This unnatural lifestyle screws up the chemical balance in our brains and causes a downward spiral of depression, junk food cravings, more sedentary choices, obesity, etc., etc., until we are dead (10-20 years earlier than we have been).

By Ken Robinson
Watching a garage fully involved in fire from the perspective of a TV helicopter the other day I saw something familiar but which many of us take for granted. It was the sight of a firefighter moving purposefully up to the face of the garage with a fire hose to douse the flames. It looked like he was within fifteen feet or so of a fire that was terrifyingly big and hot. Behind him was another firefighter helping manage the snaking hose.

While this scene took place in another nearby community, it has been repeated in various degrees in our own town many times. What struck me about this particular incident was the determination and grace with which the firefighter approached an extremely dangerous situation as part of his everyday work. We forget, I think, about the peril in this work. Same goes for police officers and highway workers who leap into the breach on our behalf when danger is present.

A new sign popped up in the alley between Shilshole and Ballard Avenue announcing the arrival of a new artists’ collective in Ballard.

Fifty Four Sixteen brings together a broad range of visual arts media and fosters a creative environment.
It houses a glassblowing hot shop, a 1906 letterpress and screen printing facilities.

“We’re all young people in our twenties starting a career in a time when lots of studios are closing,” said glass artist Gregg Clark who is responsible for creating 5416.

“There’s certainly a bit of risk in starting a new business in this time,” Clark said. “We’re banking on the future.”

The collective exists of Brent Rogers, Granite Calimpong, Jenny Wittlinger, Ellie Bemis, John Hogan, and Kris Rumman.

“We’ve all spent our lives in and around Ballard,” said Clark. “We love it here.”

Clark said that in glass blowing, artists usually rent studio place. Having your own space in an artists’ collective creates “efficiency in the numbers”.

“There are mixed feelings regarding the direction in which Ballard is going but I think it’s the natural progression of things and I like it,” he said.

Click on image to start slideshow.

Snow and freezing temperatures did not keep runners away from the annual Seattle Turkey Trot in Ballard.

The money raised at this event goes to the Ballard Food Bank. Last year 1,100 people participated and raised over $19,000 for the Ballard Food Bank. This year, organizers were hoping to do even better.

"The snow only added an extra wrinkle and though process but it's going well," said Nancy McKinney, Director of the Ballard Food Bank at the starting line.

"Everyone is in great spirit and 1,500 people signed up,"

David O'Neal, one of the organizers of the Turkey Trot said that the food bank supports 800 families in Magnolia, Ballard and Queen Anne.
"The cool thing about this event is that for every dollar donated, we donate $3 worth of food," he said.

This event is a casual run/walk. There's no personal timing and no exact 5k course.

For many participants it's more about doing something fun with family and friends than it is about shooting for a personal best.

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Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

The staff and management at Robinson Newspapers