January 2011

Photographer Kurt Howard captured these images of Kennedy's 65-36 victory over Highline on January 28.

SLIDESHOW. CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO PLAY SLIDESHOW.

Photographer Kurt Howard captured these images of the Kennedy girls' 74-19 victory over Highline on January 28.

SLIDESHOW: CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO PLAY SLIDESHOW.

The Swedish Cancer Institute will start treating patients in its brand new TomoTherapy Radiation Treatment Center on the Ballard campus on Monday.

The centerpiece of the new community-based radiation treatment center is the TomoTherapy® Hi-Art® system, the first in the Seattle metropolitan area. TomoTherapy is a unique, unified medical device that combines CT imaging with full helical delivery of highly targeted, intensity-modulated radiation therapy designed to treat particularly difficult tumor targets as well as common types of cancers.

“It’s the Ferrari of radiation machines,” said Daniel Landis, M.D., Ph.D., SCI radiation oncologist and lead physician at the new center.

“It’s designed to treat complex tumor targets and it’s more versatile.”

Dr. Landis said he’s pleased to be able to offer the latest technology to his patients.

“We now have all the different technology options for radiations which means we can give our patients many options,” Dr. Landis said.

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Over 250 high-spirited participants gathered in the drizzling rain Saturday morning at Alki Beach near the bathhouse to celebrate the third annual Alki Polar Plunge for Special Olympics Washington. Things heated up at noon as nearly 125 plunged into the 46-degree water in two groups.

Beauty queens Miss Washington, Jacquie Brown and Miss Seattle, Lauren Kuhn joined law enforcement in the first dousing. Included were Southwest Precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen and other members of the department, plus Congressmember and former King County Sheriff Dave Reichert.

The general public joined in on the second plunge, although some dedicated swimmers from the first group gave it a second go.

KING 5 is reporting that a shooting happened at the Wah Long Palace on the corner of 153rd and Ambaum Boulevard at approximately 1:30 am Sat. Jan. 29.

The actual address is 15220 Ambaum Boulevard s.w.

The gunman at last report was still at large.

More details as they become available.

The Ballard basketball teams hosted the Woodinville teams last night.

It was the girls' Senior Night but the Falcons didn't go easy on them on the celebratory event. The Lady Falcons are one of the better teams in the state and that was apparent in the 82 to 35 loss.

Senior Theresa Moriarty lead the Lady Beavers with 12 points and Senior Elena DeWeese added 11. The Lady Beavers next play again on Wednesday night at Garfield.

The good news is that the boys' team won their sixth straight game beating the Falcons in overtime. In the last quarter, the Beavers were down by four with only two minutes left on the clock when they made a come back and took the lead before Woodinville tied the game again.

Senior Salim Gloyd had a key block in overtime that lead to a momentum changing dunk by Sophomore Seth Berger. Sophomores Johnny Verduin and Stuart MacGeorge both had 5 points in overtime. Salim Gloyd lead the Beavers with 14 rebounds and 22 points for his 11th double-double of the season.

In a few weeks St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Ballard will launch a community garden project, which may impact the people of Afghanistan.

St Luke’s Episcopal Church is offering 30 100-square foot plots on NW 58th Street for growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers.

The lot on 2025 N.W. 58th Street has stood empty for decades, said Gary Linden, owner of Linden Landscaping and the resident gardener at St Luke’s Episcopal Church.

“We’ve got 5000 square feet for about thirty plots and hope to build a shed,” he said.

The lot is surrounded by apartment complexes and Linden said he hopes to get the community involved. An informational meeting will be held at the church on Saturday, February 19th at 10 a.m. for anyone interested in renting a plot.

“It will be great for the neighbors to have a place to put their hands in the dirt. To grow vegetables and some flowers,” Linden said.

The community garden program will be modeled on Seattle’s P-Patch Program and overseen by St Luke’s members and neighbors.

When Pat and Jim Hoyt moved to Ballard Landmark Senior and Assisted Living two years ago, Pat was bound to her wheelchair.

They moved to Ballard to be closer to their son and Pat needed constant assistance.

“She couldn’t shower or dress herself. She couldn’t do anything independently,” said her husband, Jim.

Pat has Parkinson’s Disease, a neurodegenerative brain disorder that impairs motor skills and cognitive processes. The most noticeable symptoms are motor-related, tremors, rigidity, slowness of movement, and postural instability. Other symptoms can include sensory and sleep difficulties and dementia.

“A pain in the butt is what it is,” Pat said.

The young Pat was an avid skier, hitting the slopes anywhere from Schweitzer in Idaho to the world-class ski areas of Austria.

Ten years ago, at age 71, Pat was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

“First, she’d fall occasionally. Then it got worse and she’d fall four to five times a day,” Jim said.

“Her arms are all banged up, she broke her ribs one time and also banged her head. She now wears a filter against blood cloths near her heart.”

Pieces of the puzzle may be coming together in three assaults over the last six months in West Seattle’s Lincoln Park.

Duane Starkenburg, 46, was arrested for allegedly trying to tackle a female jogger in the park on Tuesday, Jan. 25. The jogger called 911 immediately after the incident and Starkenburg was apprehended by police when he attempted to cross Fauntleroy Way s.w.

Starkenburg is now under investigation for two similar incidents in the park that occurred in August and December and King County Prosecutors have until the end of day, Jan. 27 to file charges against him in those attacks.

According to a probable cause document released by the Seattle Police Department and published by the Seattle Times, the victims in those attacks positively identified Starkenburg as their attacker from a photo lineup.

The information below comes from the probable cause document:

In a hugely positive meeting on Jan. 28, the two architects hired to create the restoration plan for the Alki Homestead met with the 10 member Architectural Review Committee of the Landmarks Preservation board. This is in keeping with the purpose of the committee and the larger board whose "goal is to manage change, not to eliminate it."

Greg Squires and Mark Haizlip of Alloy Design Group had previously shared with the members of the committee via email what they intended to present, but the standard half hour allotted for such presentations, still grew to over an hour as any initial questions about the removal of non-historic elements of the existing structure were easily answered and the focus shifted to how the restoration might be accomplished. The non historic parts of the structure, one added in 1961 and a second in 1985 predate the designation of the building as an historic landmark.

Squires made it clear that since this was the first meeting based on this new plan they were "taking the view from 20,000 feet."