December 2010

Nine works by students of the Ballard High School Video Production Program have been named semi-finalists for the 15th Annual Derek Freese High School Film & Video Festival. 

This prestigious festival draws competition from high school filmmakers throughout the nation and is judged by professors from Temple University's renowned film school, acclaimed filmmakers, and members of the Derek Freese Foundation.

“I’m really proud of them especially because the school is particularly known for its documentaries and six of our films are documentaries,” said teacher Matt Lawrence.

“Nine out of the 31 films selected as semi-finalists are from Ballard. I’m like ‘Wow!’ that’s really flattering.”

The jury is currently selecting finalists and will make an announcement next week.  

“If we look at the record, students from our program have taken prizes in the past so it’s certainly possible that we’ll win something,” Lawrence said.

Ballard High video students have been finalists in this festival every year since they began entering in 2004.  

A man who shot himself near the Burien Community Center Annex around noon Wednesday was taken to Harborview Medical Center and is in extremely critical condition, according to King County Sheriff spokesman John Urquhart.

Police closed streets around the intersection of Southwest 146th Street and Fourth Avenue Southwest after the man shot himself.

Burien police responded to a call about a suicidal man with a gun.

Video from a KIRO TV helicopter showed a gun on top of a sedan. Police told KIRO that the rear side windows were broken when police grabbed the man out of the car.

Young people frequent the skateboard park right next to where the man shot himself. Seniors attend activities during the day at the annex and the new Burien Community Center, about a block from the shooting.

The West Seattle Junction holiday decorations are nearly complete with wreaths being hung from lamp posts, likely done on Dec. 2.

The lighting you see along the top edges of the buildings and the wreaths are all the work of Hollywood Lights, hired by the West Seattle Junction Merchants to decorate the business district for the holidays. The company is used by many other shopping districts including, Pacific Place, Redmond Town Center, Seattle Downtown Association, WAMU 5th Ave Branch
and Westlake Park.

A worker, installing the wreaths, Chuck Gray said that there are 36 wreaths in the Junction and estimated there are 2000 lights atop the buildings.

For a complete list of holiday events in the junction visit their website at
http://wsjunction.org/2007/11/hometown-holidays-2010/

Zeke is a Brittany, a kind of spaniel and his owner Paul got him just over 7 years ago as rescue dog from a breeding kennel that was defunct. Zeke was on PetFinder in Whatcom County through the Alternative Humane Society of Whatcom County. "It was this breeding kennel that some guy had with Brittanys outside of Ferndale and I guess he abandoned it. His wife or girlfriend called AHS and told them she couldn't handle the dogs. They were all chained up outside, in December on separate posts. They couldn't touch each other and they had a little plastic barrel to get inside."

When they went to retrieve the dog, "We drove up to this loud braying of dog barking and everybody went home with a dog that day."

"We were driving home and his name came to me. He just looked like a Zeke," Paul said.

"They hunt birds," Paul said," but he's here so he hunts squirrels more often. "He likes to point squirrels and it's actually kind of touching because you are on a walk in the neighborhood and it's like he's in the wild. He's stalking something. He sort of creeps up on it and flip a paw back and just stand there frozen."

The next time snow or ice covers roadways in the Puget Sound area, the Washington State Department of Transportation and Washington State Patrol will employ new tactics and strategies to keep traffic moving.

Two, new Joint Response Teams, coupling a WSDOT snowplow and a WSP patrol car, will be deployed to priority collisions involving buses, semi-trucks or other large vehicles. The teams will work in the King County area and if the concept proves useful, it may be expanded to other areas of the state.

Among many accidents during last week’s snow, ice and sub-freezing temperatures, a series of collisions involving semis and buses on I-5 in Tukwila blocked all southbound lanes, stalling traffic for hours. The problem was compounded by deteriorating road conditions, the absence of passable shoulders, the inability of large sanding rigs to get through the traffic, and a shortage of Class C tow trucks capable of moving buses and semis.

During a 24-hour period Monday and Tuesday, the State Patrol responded to 1,044 collisions and 987 disabled vehicles in Western Washington – about 10 times the normal number. Many involved buses and trucks.

By Robinson Newspapers Staff
2010-12-01
The print deadline for calendar submissions is two weeks before the date of the event to be publicized. Email calendar@ballardnewstribune.com, or to get it posted online immediately, email anner@robinsonnews.com.

Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Comment Period
You can submit a comment to: awv2010SDEIScomments@wsdot.wa.gov from Oct. 29 - Dec. 13, 2010.

An evening of contemporary Celtic music to celebrate the season of Christmas
With Wyndham Hill/ArkMusic recording artists, Jeff Johnson, keyboards, Brian Dunning, flutes and whistles, Wendy Goodwin, violin.
Suggested donation $10.00
Saturday, Dec. 18 7:00 p.m.
Northminster Presbyterian Church
7706 25th Ave. NW
206.783.3402

Studio Holiday Show and Sale
There will be 21 artists' studios open, lots of small wrappable artwork,
holiday goodies and a jazz duo in the evening.
Noon - 9PM on Saturday, December 11th
Building C Studios
818 14th Ave NW

Fifty Four Sixteen Open house and holiday sale Sundays
New studio located upstairs at 5416 Shilshole Avenue NW.
November 28th and December 5th from 10am-5pm

Starting Dec. 1, anytime a car is stolen in Seattle, dispatchers will immediately post the basic information of the vehicle to their new Twitter account “Get Your Car Back” (http://twitter.com/getyourcarback).

This most recent step in utilizing social networking to better law enforcement was revealed at a press conference at the West Precinct on Dec. 1.

“A few short years ago we were number six in the nation (in car thefts), we’re now down to the 30s,” said Lt. Mike Edwards of SPD Investigation Procedures. “We are pretty proud of the fact that we really dramatically addressed auto theft in this region; however, there are still over 3,000 cars a year on average that get stolen in the city of Seattle. For us that’s still too many, so we are now looking for this technology to assist in one, not only reduce the number of cars stolen, but two, increasing our recovery of vehicles.”

Lt. Edwards, who has been on the force for 30 years, urged citizens who identify a stolen car to call 911 instead of contacting the driver of the vehicle themselves.

The West Seattle Entrepreneur Show is set for this Saturday Dec 4 from 12-2pm.
Several West Seattle business owners will be demonstrating their products.  
4502 California SW, between West Seattle Coins and The Stop & Shop (California/Oregon). 
Saturday, Dec 4 12:00pm-2:00pm.

Pottery Buzz Ceramics will be set up for kids (and adults too) to paint all kinds of wonderful holiday ornaments, plates and other items. 

Pottery Buzz will bring all supplies to your party, pick up the items, glaze them, and return them to you! Find out more at http://www.potterybuzz.com/

OOZ & OZ owner, Myrna Hoffman, will be showing her popular art projects. You can learn more about OOZ & OZ at http://oozandoz.com

Ginger Jewelry Design Owner Elisabeth Silver will be showing her amazing custom hand made custom jewelry.
Ginger Jewelry Design is also sold at Shanti Salon & Spa, 2138 California Ave SW.

For more information visit the WestSeattleFamilyZone site.

On Thursday, Dec 2nd, Female Asian elephant Chai will predict the the winner of the 2010 Apple Cup.
Crimson and gray or purple and gold don’t matter much to the elephants at Woodland Park Zoo, but apples do. Chai will choose a heap of apples from either one of two boxes decked out in Dawgs and Cougs gift wrap. The first apple the 31-year-old elephant takes a bite from marks her pick for the winner of the Apple Cup.

The pachyderm prediction is a part of the zoo’s special Apple Cup admission discount. Now through Dec. 5, Huskies and Cougar fans get half off zoo admission if they're sporting any gear from the University of Washington or Washington State University, such as a jersey, sweatshirt, hat or gloves, or by showing a valid student ID from either university.

The event takes place on Thursday, Dec. 2 at 2:00 p.m.

World Aids Day is dedicated to raising awareness about the AIDS pandemic and the spread of HIV infection. More importantly, it’s a day to encourage people to get tested.

According to UNAIDS reports, AIDS has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007 and an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide live with HIV.

The good news is that according to a new UNAIDS report, the epidemic has stabilized. Thanks to global HIV prevention efforts, the number of new infections is falling, as are AIDS-related deaths. Overall, 33 countries have seen their infection rate drop by more than 25% between 2001 and 2009.

The Washington State Department of Health reports that as of December 2007, 12,099 people had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Washington, around 64 percent of whom reside in King County. HIV disease has been a contributing factor in deaths of more than 5,400 people in Washington since the epidemic began.