January 2011

By Anne-Marije Rook and Kate Ganiron, Web Intern

Despite the economic downturn, Ballard has seen condominiums and apartment complexes go up quickly in the last three years and developers are proposing more. The housing market in Ballard, it seems, is climbing out of the recession hole.


“The prices are down 15 to 20 percent from three years ago, but not all across the board,” said Greg Stamolis, Windermere Ballard real estate agent.

“Activity level is stronger in Ballard than in some of the other areas in Seattle."

Jeff Menday, real estate agent at RE/MAX Northwest Realtors echoed Stamolis stating that the housing market in Ballard and in-city Seattle was up considerably in 2010 from 2009.

“Ballard sold 52 homes in December 2010, while only selling 35 homes in December of 2009. This is up nearly fifty percent,” he said.

But that increase wasn't all across the board either as Sam Debord, Managing Broker at SeattleHome.com, said the Ballard real estate market had been slightly down in 2010.

A fundraiser for John Peck, uncle of Jeremy Peck, hit the $2000 mark as more than 140 people showed up at the Chelan Cafe Sunday evening, Jan. 30.

Jeremy disappeared in the early hours of Christmas Eve, 2010, then some three and a half weeks later his body washed up on the shores of Bainbridge Island.
The King County Medical Examiner has said the cause of death will be announced in the next 7 to 9 weeks after tests are conducted.

People brought food to the event and the cafe was kind enough to donate the space in their dining room for the occasion that saw friends young and old crowd in to give hugs and share more memories in effort to help defray the costs for the final arrangements for Jeremy.

$5 raffle tickets were sold for those attending to win a $25 gift certificate at the Puerta Vallarta Restaurant, two $60 gift certificates at Royal Blue Tattoos in the Admiral District, a $50 gift certificate from Illusions Hair Design on California Ave., a $75 gift certificate from Burien Chiropractic and a $25 gift certificate from the Rocksport Bar & Grill. Also raffled were commemorative T-Shirts.

9:16 a.m. on January 23rd. 82nd block of Seaview Place N.W.

On Sunday morning, a man was tackled and attacked by another man in the overflow parking lot of Golden Gardens. While wrestled on the ground the suspect than continued to beat the man on the head with a large rock. An onlooker grabbed the suspect off the victim. A witness stated that after two or three blows to the face the victim was confused.
911 was dialed and Seattle Fire, SPD and an AMR ambulance all rushed to the scene.
"I was losing it and thought he was going to kill me," the victim stated while in the back of an ambulance. The suspect was caught and identified and the victim said he had had no previous contact with the suspect.
The victim was transported to Swedish Hospital for medical attention.

Check out our updated story of the tour group's safe arrival home here:

http://www.westseattleherald.com/2011/02/01/news/cairo-stranded-west-se…

UPDATE 4

The entire Alki Tour Group is safe and sound at a hotel in Athens after being evacuated from the Cairo, Egypt Airport.

Claire Nolan, owner, Alki Tour, told the West Seattle Herald that the group was scheduled to fly out at 2:pm their time, 4:am our time.

"At 5am we did not here, then heard from Tysen when they arrived in Athens, Nolan said. "We heard they aer safe and sound in Athens and treated really well.
We will be shuttling them from the airport in Seattle to their homes tomorrow."

According to Douglas Prior, owner, Alki Tours at the Morgan Junction in West Seattle, 35 people from Puget Sound, 9 from West Seattle, mostly seniors, are stranded at the Cairo airport waiting to leave troubled Egypt tomorrow. Three others in the group were able to leave for Amsterdam. The West Seattle Herald contacted Prior and will continue with updates.

Des Moines Police Guild President Russ Stuth has announced he will not run for Police Guild President again after his term is up at the end of February.

Stuth said the shooting death of Rosie in November- and the subsequent letter from the guild asking for Mayor Bob Sheckler’s resignation- was not the reason he is choosing not to run.

“It’s time to retire from law enforcement. It’s time for someone else to step up (and lead the guild),” Stuth said.

Stuth has been a police officer for 31 years, and a part of the Des Moines Police Guild since it was created in 1995.

Before the end of the year, Stuth, acting as the guild president, sent a letter to Sheckler demanding his resignation from the city council because of comments he made to the media regarding the investigation into the shooting death of a dog by Des Moines Police.

In a cover letter to the resignation letter Stuth said, “it is important Bob (Mayor Sheckler) knows how the majority of the guild feels about his talking points to the media.”

We are blessed in West Seattle with so many views, and sunsets can almost be something we take for granted, especially given the number of cloudy days we have. But late January can produce some stunning color displays if the air is cool, and the sky with a few clouds creates a back drop with some texture.

Here's a clever animation from the University of Nebraska -Lincoln of the sun's position at sunset on days throughout the year. While your position on the earth will obviously change how you see this, this is still an interesting illustration of the sun's relative position.

In late December the Winter Solstice marks its furthest point south on the horizon.

http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/coordsmotion/horizon.html

Is this story just a bit of an excuse to share a beautiful sunset photo with you? Yes.

To see and download a larger version of this photo click the link above.

Even on a rainy day in January, West Seattle's Schmitz Park is beautiful. You might have to put on a yellow rain coat, and take your umbrella but if you've got someone to walk with, and you hold their hand, it's always fun.

To see a larger version of this photo click the link above.

By Steve Shay

At 2:00 am Friday morning, Jan. 28, 886 volunteers counted 2,442 people living (sleeping) outside in King County. Each January, volunteers count men, women, and children who are outside during one winter night. The One Night Count sets in motion a full year of education, engagement, and action for Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness (SKCCH, pronounced “Skitch”).

The Decatur High School Cheer Team has been taking part in cheer competitions around the state, and qualified to compete in the WIAA State Cheer competition that was held Jan. 22 in the Comcast arena. Decatur went into competition with the highest scores for the 2A/3A non tumbling division in the state. There were 52 teams that competed Saturday and Decatur came in first place in the 2A/3A division. These girls practice at the least three days a week, two and a half hours each day, cheer at all sporting events at the school and maintain good grades. Their cheer coach is Laurie Beaver, who has been coaching cheer for 20 years and this year was nominated by the WIAA as the Washington state Coach of the Year.

First impressions proved to be lasting impressions in Mount Rainier's 56-33 ransacking of home-standing Auburn in Thursday, January 27, Class 4A South Puget Sound League North Division girls basketball action.

Mount Rainier (14-3, 10-3 league) holds a two-game clearance over the fourth place team in the North with three games remaining in the regular season and seems a solid lock for solo third place in the league playoff structure.

"We're pretty well positioned for third place," said MR head coach Bob Bolam. "I'm fine with this. We're just working harder on what we're already doing. Our goal is to work hard to be better on our execution. I'd like to have a win against a team that's ahead of us in the standings and be playing well going into the playoffs."

Only first place Kentwood (11-0) and second place Auburn Riverside (11-1) have defeated the Rams in close battles. Mount Rainier had one more chance against the Conquerors on Saturday.

In essence on Thursday, both teams played strongly, with Mount Rainier holding clear advantages in skill level, experience and depth.