February 2011

A suspect in the ‘Polite Robber’ case was arrested Monday afternoon, Feb. 7, by King County Sheriff's detectives and a SWAT Team.
He was taken into custody without incident about 2 p.m.
The arrest took place at a residence in the Top Hat neighborhood of North Highline where the man was living. The location is not far from the Shell Station at 2805 S.W. Roxbury St. that he allegedly robbed on Saturday, Feb. 5th about 11:20 a.m. He was carrying what appeared to be a semi-automatic pistol during the robbery.
The video of the robbery, complete with sound, was released by the storeowner and has since "gone viral". Local media dubbed the robber ‘The Polite Robber.” The suspect was quickly identified from tips.
The man arrested is a convicted felon, including convictions for forgery and armed robbery. He is 65 years old.

The Chief Sealth girls basketball team lost its last regular season game in a close match against Rainier Beach, ending the game 55-52.

Chief Sealth went into that game after a win against rival West Seattle. Chief Sealth defeated West Seattle, 65-50, on Wednesday night, Feb. 2.

This ended a three game losing streak for the Chief Sealth Girls. In their last outing before West Seattle Chief Sealth was defeated by Bainbridge Island, 49-31.

West Seattle came into the game off of a loss against Rainier Beach, losing 48-39.

West Seattle ended its regular season with a losing conference record of 2-12 and an overall record of 3-16. West Seattle had a winning streak of three games, and then went on to lose rest of the games of the season for a 15 game losing streak. West Seattle is No. 12 in the Metro League standings, followed only by Ingraham.

Chief Sealth ended its regular season with a losing conference record of 3-12, and an overall record of 5-12. Chief Sealth finished their season No. 10 in the league.

King County Prosecutors have charged serial killer Gary Ridgway, dubbed the Green River Killer, with an additional count of Aggravated First Degree Murder in the death of 20-year-old Becky Marrero who came from White Center. Marrero's remains were found in December of 2010, giving prosecutors enough evidence to charge Ridgway in the murder he confessed to in 2003 (insufficient evidence prevented them from charging him at that time). Prosecutors said the death penalty will not be sought as a result of Ridgway's plea bargain. More information is posted below, coming from Prosecutor Dan Satterberg's newsletter.

From King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg's monthly newsletter, The
Prosecutor's Post:

Today, the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office (PAO) charged Gary Ridgway with Aggravated First Degree Murder for the death of 20-year-old Becky Marrero, whose remains were found in December of 2010 by three teenagers exploring a steep ravine near Auburn.

Update for Feb. 10 from King County Prosecutors:
A charge of Robbery First Degree was filed this afternoon against Gregory Paul Hess, who is accused of an armed robbery at a gas station south of Seattle on February 5. Hess, 65, who was dubbed the "polite robber," remains in the King County Jail on $250,000 bail. He will be arraigned on February 24 at 8:30 a.m. at the King County Courthouse, courtroom 1201.

Update for Feb. 8 from King County Prosecutors:
A bail hearing was held this afternoon for the suspect dubbed the "polite robber." The 65-year-old man was arrested yesterday and booked into the King County Jail for an alleged armed robbery of a gas station south of Seattle last Saturday. Bail was set at $250,000. The deadline for filing charges is February 10.

To see surveillance footage of the "polite robber," please click this YouTube link posted by CBS News:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMU9fd4QtNk&feature=player_embedded

Press Release:

From the SPD Blotter:

For over a hundred years the Seattle Police Department has had a Mounted Patrol Unit. Police officers working on horseback, performing basic police functions such as maintaining the peace, enforcing laws and ordinances, and protecting life and property. Mounted Officers are used in situations requiring mobility, especially in the 5,000 plus acres of City parks and other areas with limited vehicle access. They have proven successful in patrolling business districts and neighborhoods, including high crime areas. They are highly visible, approachable and draw the young and old alike to an open conversation with officers while discouraging criminal acts through their presence.

The horse teams are highly adaptable and work to create a force multiplier effect, enhancing the strategies of the bike and foot officers working crowd-containment situations.

The Mounted Patrol is led by a sergeant and consists of four police officers and a civilian stable manager. The unit has seven police horses named Justice, Harvest, Charlie, Tiger, Blaze, Jet, and Cody.

West 5, the retro-themed restaurant and lounge in the heart of the West Seattle Junction will celebrate its eighth anniversary in business on Tuesday Feb. 8. West 5 opened its doors at 4539 California Ave s.w. in 2003.
The occasion means a party is in order and they plan to celebrate with happy hour prices all day plus some giveaways and the sharing some of the history of the building's previous occupants.

Owners Dean Overton and Dave Montoure are both West Seattle natives, and have focused their energies on building a successful business that features unique iconic West Seattle artifacts and décor that they both ardently collect and display.

Montoure said, “This is a milestone I could not have imagined nine years ago when Dean and I quit our corporate day jobs to become restaurateurs. With so many changes in the Junction, it feels good to be known as the place that offers the quintessential West Seattle experience to residents and visitors to the area.”

Press Release:
The Seattle City Council today approved C.B. 117101 with a vote of 8-1. Today's action accepts the state-offered agreements that provide legally binding protections for the City of Seattle with the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). The City joins our regional partners in moving forward with replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct (AWV) with a deep bored tunnel solution.

"This action today demonstrates our commitment to protecting the City's best interests and taking the next critical steps in contracting with the state to advance the bored tunnel program," stated Council President Richard Conlin. "As we near the 10-year anniversary of the Nisqually earthquake, we recognize the last 10 years of a comprehensive public dialogue on this project and take pride in continuing this project's momentum."

On 49th Ave s.w. last week a burglary victim called police at 7:30 a.m. because his garage door had been kicked in the night before and someone stole a case of chocolate milk from the fridge. After securing his/her calcium fix, the burglar opened the car door, fled to the getaway vehicle and left fresh tire tracks in the victim’s lawn as he/she sped away.

Police responded to a burglary call at a warehouse on 17th Ave s.w. last week. The victim told police the suspect must have cut a thick chain to enter and stole around $1000 in goods, including old VHS tapes, Christmas decorations and the faucet from an old sink. Police described the warehouse as filled with junk suspected that the victim was a “hoarder.” They did a background check on the location and found the victim had called in four additional burglaries in the past two years that did not pan out as real burglaries and suspected this report was also false. “It seems very likely that (the victim) suffers from mental illness … he seems to be in healthy physical shape and appears able to care for himself,” the responding officer wrote in his report.

Two paddle boarders put in, just south of the Alki Bathhouse on a misty Saturday, paddling toward the Duwamish Head.
In the distance the M/V Kaleetan, a Washington State Ferry sails to Bremerton.

An excellent effort fell short for the Seattle Christian boys basketball team in last Friday's 59-42 home loss to Class 1A top-ranked Cascade Christian. The visiting Cougars are 17-2 overall and lead the 1A Nisqually League at 11-0. Seattle Christian dropped to 10-9 overall and 6-6 league.

"The guys were aggressive in going to play basketball," said SCS assistant coach Matt Althoff. "We weren't able to take care of the ball, and that led to some of their runs. At times, we tried to do too much. It was a great game and effort. We're really clicking, now. We're solidly in fourth place. We're happy with the effort we had tonight."

In the previous encounter in Puyallup, the Cougars blitzed the Warriors 82-48

For this match up, Seattle Christian trailed 8-3 before baskets from Richard Jensen and Chaise DeVries closed the gap to 8-7. Cody Miller drained a three-pointer to send the Warriors ahead and Mackinnon Simpson's three-point goal broke a 10-10 tie and gave Seattle Christian a 13-10 lead after one quarter.

The second quarter had the teams trading scoring runs en route to three ties, but the Cougars edged ahead 24-22 at the half.