January 2011

Registration will start for West Seattle Little League Baseball on Tuesday, Jan 11 with a second chance offered the following week on the 18th.

First In-Person Registration
When: Tuesday January 11, 2011.
Where: West Seattle High School Library
Time: 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm

Second In-Person Registration
When: Tuesday January 18, 2011.
Where: West Seattle High School Library
Time: 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm

Please remember to bring a copy of your child's birth certificate along with copy of birth certificate and three proofs of residence.

Drivers License
Insurance Card
Voters Registration Card
Utility Bills (Only one counts towards the 3)
Cell Phone Bill
Property Taxes
Rent Receipt
Financial/Bank Statements

2011 Fees:
T-Ball & Coach Pitch: $120 per player
Minors – Big League: $140 per player
A $30.00 volunteer fee is included in the cost of registration. This $30.00 fee is refundable at the end of the season, upon your verification of at least 5 hours of volunteer work for the league. Scholarships are available.

While driving to a friend’s solstice gathering, my friend Vivien mused about the upcoming New Year. “I have a theory,” she said, “that whatever you do on New Years Eve is symbolic to how you’ll spend the rest of the year.” I thought back to how I spent last New Years with a friend, recently turned friend with benefits, and sure enough, that evening foreshadowed the rest of my year. I didn’t have any regrets about last year, but at the same time, I wasn’t sure I wanted a repeat performance this year.
After a few whiskeys at the solstice gathering, I found myself in the garage with all of the other moms smoking cigarettes. With Vivien’s prophecy in mind, I claimed I was no longer going to smoke. “You don’t smoke now,” my friends teased.
“I smoked my first whole cigarette the other night. And after I sucked that baby down, I wanted another one. Then I felt like shit in the morning and decided I was too old to be taking up such bad habits.”
They nodded, continued smoking, and continued to ignore my pleas of, “Isn’t it dangerous for us to be smoking in a garage? I mean, there’s spilled oil and gas every where.”

With KingCo 4A Championships only a month away, Ballard’s gymnastics team is looking strong.

A high school sports reporter at The Seattle Times even said that Ballard might have what it takes to unseat Woodinville as a State 4A Champ.

Woodinville has dominated as the 4A State Champ for the last four years and Ballard, Newport and Beamer are all looking to put an end to that.

Ballard senior Taylor Stern has been doing her best to put the team into a strong contender position.

She was fourth among 4A state all-around competitors last season and she owns the season's highest all-around score so far, with a score of 37.4 at the Dec. 16 meet. On Dec. 18, Stern followed up this score with a 36.75.

That evening, Ballard’s team collectively scored 170.4, the area's second-best this season.

Ballard’s next meet is on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Bothell. Their next home meet is Thursday, Jan 20, at 7 p.m.

On Dec. 31, the Herald ran a retrospective on crime in our area in 2010, covering the major crimes during the year and looking back at the best of the West Seattle Herald Police Blotter. Here is the link in case you missed it:

SLIDESHOW: The Year in Crime: 2010 saw major crimes in our area

The Herald asked Southwest Precinct Commander Captain Steve Paulsen to discuss crime in 2010 and challenges for the police and West Seattle community moving into 2011. Here is what Captain Paulsen had to say (his responses in italics):

Q: The major crimes of 2010 (as compiled by the Herald) include the beating and torture of Shane McClellan, the police shootout with Thomas J. Qualls, the Roxhill park murder of Bernard Martin and the Phan/Harm family shooting in White Center. You were away from the SW precinct for a while, but do you have any perspective on whether this year in West Seattle was more or less violent than in years past?

The Southwest Suburban Sewer District Board of Commissioners is inviting individuals interested in appointment to a vacant commissioner position on the board to submit a cover letter, commissioner questionnaire and resume.

The vacancy comes because of the death of board vice president Tony Genzale. He died Dec. 4 after a battle with cancer.

Mr. Genzale, a Burien resident since 1966, owned a produce stand at 35th Avenue Southwest and Southwest Barton Street in the Westwood area of West Seattle.

He previously owned Tony's Market at Southwest 128th Street and Ambaum Boulevard Southwest in Burien.
The current commissioners are president William Tracy and secretary Scott Hilsen.

Candidates must be registered voters living within the district boundaries. The district is generally located in Burien, Normandy Park and White Center. The boundaries map can be found at the district's website at www.swssd.com.

Board meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month, at 6 p.m. at the district office located at 431 SW Ambaum Blvd. in Burien.

The new 7-Eleven at 9200 35th Ave. s.w. is open and a grand opening celebration is set for Jan. 7 from 10:00am to 2:00 pm.

To celebrate the grand opening, the store will offer complimentary sandwiches, grill items, drinks, chips, and desserts plus the 7-Eleven corporation will be giving away prizes for all visitors as well.

This is the second 7-Eleven store to be owned by Nirbhai Singh who purchased the store at 9041 Delridge Way s.w. 7 and a half years ago.

His motivation was, "Just to be a success. I enjoy it and it's a good company to work with."

He has hired his relatives to work there including his cousin Talwinder Singh and another cousin's son Jassi Singh.

The new store has a brand new coffee storage and dispensary system with each flavor or brew in its own hotpot, with each one being brewed fresh every two hours.

A “coming soon” sign on the window of the little blue-framed shop on 3515 Fremont Ave N has been announcing Pie’s opening for months. Now, the moment is finally here - Pie will start serving their sweet and savory handcrafted hand-held pies Wednesday morning at 7 a.m.

“It’s been a working progress,” said co-owner Renee Steen. Together with Jessamy Whitsitt, the two have been laboring away since September to transform what was half of Frame-Up Studios into an inviting Pie shop and soon-to-be late night grab-and-go spot.

As the name suggest, Steen and Whitsitt serve pie - all kinds of pie.

“In addition to your sweet pies, we have savory pies - all sorts of meat pies, vegetable pies, ground turkey pie, a smoked salmon with goat cheese pie, and sausages in pie crust,” Whitsitt said, adding that she’s currently working on a root vegetable pie.

“We’re not just a place where you get your apple pie, although I make a killer apple pie.”

Whitsitt said she has been baking her whole life.

“My mom couldn’t get me out out of the kitchen,” she said. “And Renee grew up in an European household so there was always good food and things like streusel around.”

First quarter action capsulized the content of the entire game as Mount Rainier dominated Graham-Kapowsin, 59-26, in girls basketball action at the ShoWare Shootout presented by Allied Waste on Tuesday, Dec. 21.

Ram freshman Brittany McPhee took charge in the first quarter with 10 Ram points inside while Mount Rainier built a 17-1 lead before settling for a 17-3 margin heading into the second quarter.

"I just try to go hard the whole game and stay intense," explained the 5-foot, 10-inch player of the game. "We worked hard at rebounding."

For the duration, McPhee earned 21 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and five steals.

Mount Rainier's defense came out trapping to imprison the Eagles in back court while pilfering the ball regularly to set up high percentage shots. Adding control of the backboards, the Rams substituted liberally while cruising to victory.

TACOMA - Defending Class 2A champion River Ridge of Lacey capitalized in a big way on the short-handed Seattle Christian School girls basketball team to post a 59-16 verdict on Tuesday in the first round of the Girls' Northwest All-Stars Holiday Hoopfest held at Wilson High School.

With all-everything player Lexi Petersen (University of Oregon commit) out for the season with a torn ACL and starting point guard senior Carissa Doyle joining her on the sidelines after a season-ending knee injury in the Warrior's previous game, SCS gave it the best it had under the circumstances.

Seattle Christian managed to lead at 4-2 and was still within 7-6 after Catie Shelton's driving layin with 2:25 left in the first quarter. More than six minutes later River Ridge had torched SCS for 13 consecutive points and a 20-6 lead that turned into a 24-10 halftime advantage.

Once River Ridge applied extreme pressure on both sides of the court, Seattle Christian fell back for good, unable to execute its own offense or stop the perilous probes of the high flying Eagles. The message of how the game would end was as clear as if it was etched on the gymnasium floor.

TACOMA - Two vastly improved teams clashed with Class 3A Foster executing better in the stretch run to post a 53-49 decision against Class 4A Todd Beamer in Tuesday's first round of the Northwest All-Stars Girls' Basketball Holiday Hoopfest held at Wilson High School.

Locked in a 47-47 standoff with 3:01 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs took charge.

As 1:54 remained in the fourth quarter, 5-foot , 2-inch Chris Balangsang's three-point rainbow swhistled through the net to put Foster ahead for good at 50-47. This was Balangsang's only scoring for the night.

"I didn't hesitate," she said. "I was confident and just knew we had to work on defense more regularly."

Following a Foster steal Shantell Jackson drove for an inside basket with just more than one minute remaining.

Beamer freshman Makayla Sullivan countered with a 12-foot jump shot to draw the Titans within 52-49 with 56 seconds left. The Titans had an opportunity to draw even closer, but missed an inside shot and were forced to foul.

Bianca Benevides converted the second of two free throws with 11.3 second showing for the final points of the match up.