January 2011

Press Release:
Seattle Public Schools is proposing changes to its Transportation Plan for the 2011-12 school year, and the community is invited to learn more during an information meeting this Thursday, Jan. 27, from 7-8:30 p.m. at Aki Kurose Middle School, 3928 S. Graham St. Additional meetings will be offered in other parts of the city, and we will announce those soon.

ADDITIONAL MEETINGS ADDED
Two additional community meetings for families to provide feedback on proposed changes in the Seattle Public Schools Transportation Plan for the 2011-12 school year have been added to the schedule.
The newly scheduled meetings are:
-Thursday, Feb. 3, from 6:30-8 p.m. at Hamilton International Middle School, 1610 N. 41st

Due to scheduling conflicts, we have changed the location only of the Feb. 8 community meeting for families to provide feedback on proposed changes in the Seattle Public Schools Transportation Plan for the 2011-12 school year.
The meeting, originally scheduled for Denny International Middle School, will now be at Chief Sealth International High School, 2600 SW Thistle.

Monday, Jan. 17
Boys basketball
Chief Sealth 60, Bellevue 58
D'nique Harris-Welch and Keon Lewis scored 18 points apiece to lead the Seahawks to victory in the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Tournament held at the University of Washington. PePe' Hernandez added 13 points.
Bellevue was led by the 27 points of Nick Sikma.

Tuesday, Jan. 18
Boys basketball
Rainier Beach 68, Chief Sealth 64
Chief Sealth played a solid game against No. 1-ranked Rainier Beach team before coming up four points short last Tuesday.
Lakeside 68, West Seattle 61
The Wildcats absorbed a loss in Metro League action Tuesday.

Friday, Jan. 21
Gymnastics
Bainbridge-West Seattle- Chief Sealth
Bainbridge scored 149.3 points to lead the way Friday, while West Seattle racked up 127.95 points for second and Chief Sealth scored 82.25 for third.
Della Norton took second in the all-around for West Seattle with her total score of 82.25 points.
Norton won he bars with a 7.5 and tied for first in the floor exercise with an 8.1. She took second in the vault with an 8.35 score and placed third in the balance beam with a 7.75.

With spring coming soon the West Seattle Girls Softball registration process has begun.

Beginning January 24th – February 28th you can sign your daughter up for this year’s season. More details can be found at http://www.westseattlegirlssoftball.com .

The cost of registration includes a uniform for your daughter to keep and a trophy at the end of the season.
They are currently looking for new volunteers to be on the Board. Please contact their President, Shawn Herrera for more information.

The organization is also seeking any and all volunteers.

The public is invited to the next board meeting set for February 9, 7:00 pm at the West Seattle Eagles Club on California Ave SW, next to the Post Office. Please enter through the back door.

For scholarship details please contact Shawn Herrera at wssshawnp@yahoo.com

Dear Editor:
We are writing you today because we felt the need to let you know about an experience we had recently. We had a very special Wheaten Terrier named Fanny as our pet and companion for 12 years. This week we had to put her to sleep due to a prolonged illness. As you can imagine, this is a very difficult decision to make and a painful process to engage in.

We feel very fortunate now that Fanny’s veterinarian care has been with Dr. Johnson, Dr. Quincy and staff at the West Seattle Animal Hospital. On Fanny’s last day, Dr. Johnson and his staff were extremely professional, kind and sympathetic. They have been so kind and helpful to us during her lifetime and particularly at the end. West Seattle is a very fortunate to have people like this serving our community.

Sincerely,
Dan & Tamsen Spengler
West Seattle

Press Release:
Construction Reroute - Rts 5, 54 & 55. The ramp to northbound Alaskan Way Viaduct will be closed Jan 24-28, 10:00 PM-5:00 AM each night. The first stop in downtown is northbound on 3 Av just south of Madison St. Buses will not stop on Seneca St.

Interested in grabbing your Nikon or Canon and getting your own angle of the Leaning Tower of Pisa? Photography Travel Tours is seeking adventurous shutter-bugs to join their idyllic Tuscany tour this spring.

Award-winning travel photographer and West Seattle High graduate, class of 74, Jim Nilsen, is conducting a nine-day photography tour and instructional workshop in Tuscany, Italy, this coming May. The tour is designed for photographers of any skill level who wish to improve their photographic skills while experiencing some amazing scenery.

Nilsen, a world traveler who now lives in Edmonds, has exhibited at art fairs and gift galleries throughout the region. His customers say his images of landscapes and architectural details are distinguished by their intense saturated colors and keen compositions.

Press release from Sergeant John Urquhart with the King County Sheriff's Office:

Marijuana Haze Over White Center as Grow-Op Goes ‘Up in Smoke’

An early morning fire in a single family residence did more than burn up the house. It sent a good-size, illegal marijuana grow operation up in smoke as well.

The fire was reported about 1:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, January 23rd, in the 10400 block of 10th Ave SW (White Center neighborhood of unincorporated King County).

Responding firefighters called the Sheriff's Office after they found the marijuana grow operation in the basement of the residence as they were knocking down the fire. There were about 55 medium size plants, lights, timers, ventilation equipment, and other growing supplies in the house.

No one was home at the time of the fire and there were no arrests.

A fire investigator from the Sheriff's Office believes an electrical malfunction (!) was the likely cause of the fire.

Purple haze all in my brain
lately things don't seem the same
Acting funny and I don't know why
excuse me while I kiss the sky

- Jimi Hendrix

The Changing House
West Seattle Branch Library
2306 42nd Ave. S.W.
www.overdahlcain.com
Jan. 27, 6:30-7:30 p.m. Lidunn Overdahl Cain, a Graduate of the Oslo School of Architecture, will explore the possibilities of modifying a home to meet one’s changing needs - whether you just had a baby, want to grow old in your home, or the flow in your house just isn’t working. She brings a Scandinavian perspective to residential design.

Discovery Shop BOGO Sale
4535 California Ave. S.W.
206-937-7169
Pictures & Frames in many sizes & types: 50% OFF Monday, January 31 thru Saturday, February 5. Blue Tagged items $1: Sunday, Jan 23, thru Monday, Jan 31. Right now, bundle up against the cold in one of our warm, fine quality winter coats or jackets. A great variety of styles & most sizes. The Shop is open on Sundays, 11a.m. to 3p.m. All other days the Shop open for our valued customers & donors -- contributing goods, estates or financial support – from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Discovery Shop welcomes new volunteers with open arms.

West Seattle Garden Club Meeting at Daystar
Daystar Retirement Village

In March 2010, engineer John Olafson got into a disagreement with the engineers' union at Swedish Medical Center over a pension plan. Olafson was not a member of the union but was forced to participate in the union’s implemented Central Pension Fund.

"I'm forced into a Central Pension Fund I don't want anything to do with," Olafson said last year.

"I feel like I'm not being heard by the union I'm represented by but not a member of."

Despite not being a dues-paying member of Local 286, and therefore not getting a vote in any union matters, Olafson is still subject to its labor agreements under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

The Central Pension Fund was taking $250 from each of his paychecks to put towards a pension plan he didn’t want.

“They are taking food out of my kids' mouths as far as I'm concerned," Olafson said.

Our previous coverage on this issue sparked a debate and now, ten months later, the union’s dues paying members voted to reduce the withholdings.

On Friday, January 7th, Local 286 union members voted to reduce withholdings from 8 percent down to 3 percent.

Last Monday around 6 a.m. a Southwest Precinct officer was routinely patrolling the 2900 block of s.w. Avalon Way when he saw two males carrying bundles of copper pipe near a storage business. He doubled back and one of the suspects took off on foot. The other man stayed put and when questioned, told the officer he was waiting for someone to help him move (although he couldn’t provide the name of the person coming to help). Another officer arrived on the scene and they found several more bundles of copper piping, bound with royal blue electrical tape, and a grocery cart with a bag containing gloves and a hacksaw. A third officer searched for the suspect who fled and found him a few blocks away near Harbor Ave and Spokane St. “sweating and out of breath as though he had been running.” Officers recognized the sweating suspect as someone who has been arrested for copper theft in the past. Both men were placed under arrest and taken to the precinct. While collecting property from the suspects, police found the same royal blue electrical tape used to bundle the pipes. Police believe the copper was stolen from a nearby construction business.