January 2011

Former militant activist and college professor Bill Ayers spoke to a full room at Highline Community College for Martin Luther King Week.

He talked to a packed room about education reform, ignoring his activist past during the 60's and 70's as a leader in the anti-Vietnam War group the Weathermen. While in the Weathermen Ayers participated in bombing the United States Capital in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972.

Ayers is a retired University of Illinois at Chicago, where he taught, among other things, urban education reform.

Education reform was the topic for Ayers talk at Highline Community College. Ayers said he sees teachers and students as being pilgrims on a voyage, learning together. There is a current framework that says the teachers are knowledgeable and the students are ignorant Ayers said, and he doesn't agree with that.

"We get stuck in this idea that there is a fixedness to learning," Ayers said. "This notion of a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old and a 12-year-old who are all the same is a myth."

Did you ever wonder why we know so much about some things and almost nothing about other things? It all depends upon who is able to secure a research grant to find out. I know you have heard it from me before but here again it depends upon the man's world in which mostly men set research agendas. If you want to read research about whether Pluto is a real planet, you can find plenty on that subject. Even if you are looking for investigation on the tensile strength of cookies you will find it easily. After all, some corporation wanted to produce a cookie that would hold up well under packaging and transportation from factory to consumer and so this study came about.

But try and find out what effect soda drinks have on young children and you may have a problem. The big companies who distribute their soda drinks around the world
don't want anyone to know that such drinks are not hydrating and that soda in excess is not healthful.

The city of Tukwila will offer a free class for Tukwila residents on the care and maintenance of wetlands, streams and their associated buffers. The training will be held Wednesday, Feb. 23 from 6-9 p.m. in the Council Chambers at Tukwila City Hall. Participants may apply what they learn in class to an ongoing stream restoration effort at Cottage Creek on the grounds of City Hall.

Located adjacent to the Green and Duwamish Rivers, Tukwila contains over 120 acres of wetlands and more than 50,000 linear feet of streams. Wetlands, steams, and their associated buffers are important elements of the natural environment providing habitat, reducing pollution, and helping to reduce urban flooding.

Most of our urban streams provide habitat for salmon. The water in these wetlands and streams eventually finds its way to the Puget Sound.

"Salmon restoration and cleaning up Puget Sound starts at home", notes Mayor Jim Haggerton. "This class will provide homeowners and residents the basic understanding of how to be good stewards for and improve the wetland and stream environments on their property," he added.

To be safe, how can we know when people or pets really are brewing up a hurricane force of hatred &/or mental instability?

Miss Katrina, my Shih Tzu is a social butterfly. I've gotta watch that little girl every time we're in public parks or she'll be rounding up a bunch of equally excited 4-legged friends in no time for one happy, "Let's play" roundup.

You see she's very smart, yet, kinda too trusting as well, believing most other dogs love her that much also. Innocence dealing with other pets, people and parks has its good, and not so good influences and opportunities.

Then there was Rosie, the Newfoundland dog that made news around the world at her death.
As adults we know the important roll pets play in our life, yet there seems to be a lack of understanding of our pets and what is going on in their thinking process. They can't speak English and we can't read their minds.

Today, some dogs, such as pit bulls, are trained to be mean and ornery, but not Rosie. Miss Katrina and I only met Rosie once in the park about 2 weeks before she was killed. We found her gentle, although cautious.

How can we really know when people or pets are safe or not?

Shots fired at house party

A house party in White Center "went bad" early Sunday, January 16 when numerous shots were fired. A 20 year old Seattle man was hit in the torso and friends drove him to Harborview Medical Center where he underwent surgery. The house was located in the 600 block of S.W. 107th St. A fight broke out after one of the party-goers grabbed the butt of one of the female guests. Her boyfriend took exception and there was a fistfight. The grabber was asked to leave the home. An hour later several men came back to the house, pounded on the front door, and then fired several rounds from a handgun into the house. The suspects fled the scene and no arrests had been made at the time of the report. It is currently under investigation.

Car vs. pedestrian accident

The results are in from the recent Drive Hammered, Get Nailed enforcement campaign conducted during the Thanksgiving through New Year's holiday season by police officers from Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park, SeaTac, Tukwila and other jurisdictions.

In King County, 876 motorists were stopped and arrested for driving under the influence (DUI), and statewide, law enforcement officers arrested 3,577 drivers for DUI.__

The extra patrols were funded by a grant from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. __During 2009, impaired drivers killed more than half of the 491 people who died on Washington's roadways. The 264 impaired driver-involved deaths last year represent a decrease of nine fatalities compared to the previous five-year average.

For additional information about the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, visit www.wtsc.wa.gov._

The Chief Sealth Seahawks boys basketball team know they are good, it shows. To succeed, you need confidence, they have confidence. Going into a game knowing you have a better record than your opponent can sometimes be a letdown, it wasn't. Before the game the Seahawks were 7-3 conference, 11-6 overall while the Bainbridge Spartans on the other hand are 3-6 conference and 4-10 overall.

Good teams can sometimes play down to their competition, not this time. The Seahawks were at the top of their game with their swarming defense, sharp passes and driving offense. That swarming defense forced the Spartans into making many turnovers which turned into Seahawk points. As they say, defense can spark the offense.

The game up to halftime was actually pretty close with Chief Sealth leading Bainbridge 30-22. It was the 3rd quarter when the Seahawks pulled away outscoring the Spartans 21-5. Leading the way in scoring for Chief Sealth was senior guard Keon Lewis and senior forward Abdi Mohamed scoring 20 and 15 respectively.

By Sharon Hofstra Haugen

There were many businesses in Burien that defined the community and there were those that are still remembered by the owner's name, such as Bell's of Burien, Jaffe Shoes, Perry West, Al Imhoff's, and Duetz's Bakery.

But there is one business that helped to protect these properties by patrolling the back alleys and streets during the darkness, warding off and discouraging vandalism and burglaries not only during the night but during business hours. That is the Hi-line Police Patrol and owner Don Hofstra, along with his German shepherd, Cap.

Hofstra arrived in the Burien area with his wife, Alberta and daughter Sharon in 1952 from Chicago.

He had accepted a position with King County Parks as recreation director.

Hofstra had been stationed at Ft. Lewis during his stint in the Army, where he played on both baseball and football teams. The Northwest beckoned him from that time forward.

In 1955, Hofstra took over the merchant patrol business for the Burien area from Jim Lowry and the Hi-Line Police Patrol was born. Hofstra had served briefly with the King County Sheriff's Office when this opportunity arose.

Federal Way – South King Fire & Rescue fire investigators are again crediting fire sprinklers with saving a condominium building at 33020 10th Ave SW (Latitude Condominiums) on Sunday, January 23.

The sprinklers extinguished a stove fire in one of the units after the occupant left oil burning in a pan in the kitchen. She returned to find the pan on fire, as well as the above cabinets. She quickly evacuated her home with her daughter and pulled the fire alarm, which notified 9-1-1.

A single sprinkler head in the kitchen activated and extinguished the fire prior to fire department arrival. The sprinkler system not only allowed the family extra time to evacuate, but prevented major property loss. Damage estimates from the stove fire are approximately $5,000.

Investigators believe that had the sprinkler system not been in place, the fire could have easily spread to adjoining units, resulting in substantial dollar loss and possibly even injuries or death. Kitchen fires are the number one cause of fire in the fire district, as well as across the country.

Sports Roundup

Monday, Jan. 17

Girls basketball

Franklin 60, Foster 55

The Bulldogs were edged by the Quakers, 60-55, in holiday action Monday, Jan. 17 -- in spite of a 32-point, 16-rebound effort by Sahara Hill.

Holy Names 69, Kennedy 50

Jasmine Lemon hit 17 points and Ali Madison 15, but the Lancers still absorbed the Monday, Jan. 17 loss.

Tyee 51, Rainier Beach 32

Ameshia Smith scored 19 points and hauled down 10 rebounds as the Totems topped Rainier Beach last Monday.

Gymnastics

Highline-Hazen-Tyee

Highline won last Monday's meet with a total team score of 133.15 points ahead of the 122 of Hazen and the 60.75 of Tyee.

Mia Alvarez of Highline won the all-around title with 32.3 points ahead of the 24.85 score of Keisha LeBlanc.

Alvarez won the vault with an 8.0 with Blanc second (7.8). Alvarez also took the bars with a 7.9 and Laurissa Engelhardt came in second with a 5.5. Alvarez came in second in the beam with a 7.9 score and Bridgitta Fader was next with a 7.5. Alvarez won the floor with a 9.2 score and Marina Davies placed third with a 6.4.

Tuesday, Jan. 18

Girls basketball

Mt. Rainier 52, Tahoma 50