March 2011

Tennis:

Redmond 6, Ballard 0

Singles:
Sarah Du beat Mokomo Osuga, 6-0, 6-0
Raluca Infrim beat Maya Voelk, 6-0, 6-0
Sophia Xu beat Leah Schildkraut, 6-1, 6-0
Dana Simmons beat Emily Rager, 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles:
Darien French Owen-Jeneal Carter beat Laura Jackson, 6-4, 6-1
Marissa Craig-Sara Boyle beat Katie Harrylock-Tisha Trongtham, 6-2, 6-2

Baseball:

The Inglemoor Vikings came out strong at Whitman field last night, hitting a two-run homerun against Ballard pitcher Joe Jacobsen in the second inning.By the second half of the sixth inning the Beavers were still scoreless and behind by seven points. Ballard managed to get a couple runs crossing the plate but it wasn't enough. Beavers lost 9 to 2.

Soccer:

O'Dea hosted the Ballard boys soccer team for a non-league game last night. The first 35 minutes of the game were scoreless but then O'Dea broke through the Ballard defensive and scored three goals within the last ten minutes of the first half. Ballard's Devin Day managed to put one in the net as well. O'Dea scored another goal in the second half for a 4 to 1 defeat.

Track:

One man and two juvenile males are in jail following an attempted robbery of GAME Collective on March 19 where two employees, including owner Brionne Corbray, and three customers were forced to the ground at gunpoint and had their hands bound with plastic zip-ties while the suspects loaded money and marijuana into their backpacks before taking off on foot.

To read a Herald article on West Seattle’s GAME (Green Piece Alternative Medicine and Education) Collective, please check out West Seattle’s own medical marijuana outlet tailors to a thriving market.

Photographer Kimberly Robinson saw this cloud passing by, south of Westwood Village and noticed the curtain of rain falling as it moved slowly east. The air was reasonably still.

West Seattle is known for micro-climates. Seattle is on the southeast edge of the rain shadow from the Olympic Mountains. The center of the rain shadow is about 60 miles northwest of Seattle, near Sequim, which gets 1/3 the rain of Seattle. Port Townsend and Oak Harbor for example get half the rain of Seattle.

Despite our city's reputation for rain, Seattle ranks 44th among US cities for rainfall with an average yearly rainfall of 36.2 inches.

She said, "I expected it to come my way but it never did."

She shot the photo at approximately 6:15 pm Thursday, March 24.

From the SPD Blotter:

On Thursday, March 24th the Aggressive Driver Response team (ADRT) conducted enforcement around the city in accordance with their mission to promote traffic safety through the vigorous enforcement of city and state traffic laws. Some of the high speeds and other violations detected by ADRT officers today include:

On Highway 99, a 50 mph zone, one at 85 mph and one at 80 mph.

On the West Seattle Bridge, a 45 mph zone, one at 71 mph, one at 70 mph, one Bus Lane violation and one No Proof of Insurance ticket.

On SW Admiral Way, a 30 mph zone, one at 55 mph and one at 51 mph.

On the 1st Avenue South Bridge, a 45 mph zone, two at 71 mph, two at 70 mph, one at 68 mph, one at 67 mph, two at 66 mph, one Cell Phone violation and one HOV Lane violation.

The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, in addition to its regular meetings often holds "after hours" networking events and Thursday. Mar. 24 the host was Dignity Memorial Forest Lawn who with a touch of dark humor held an event called "Death by Chocolate."

Catered by West Seattle company Of Grape & Grain the menu was exotic featuring Chocolate Torte, Walnut Chocolate Genache Cake, Chocolate covered strawberries, Chocolate Lave Cake, Eclairs, Fondue, Cannoli, Chocolate cups with white chocolate mouuse, cookies and chocolate cupcakes. But that's not all, since some protein had to be part of the offering so also available were cajun chocolate shrimp, Chicken boursin with chocolate bearnaise, and Beef with mole sauce on a crostini.

Caterer Shawn Sisson said it took two days to prepare and about two hours to set up. Of Grape and Grain handles weddings, parties, wakes and many other events he said.

The Highline School District will have an interim superintendent for about a year before a permanent replacement is picked to take over for John Welch, board president Sili Savusa announced March 23.

The board hopes to name a new superintendent by spring 2012, according to Savusa. She said more details of the board's selection process will be sent to parents in the next few weeks.

"We want a process that is thoughtful and respectful," Savusa noted.

Welch has announced he will leave the Highline district in August to become superintendent of the Puget Sound Educational Service District. He joined the district as deputy superintendent in 2002 and was promoted to superintendent in 2005. He has two daughters in district schools.

Puget Sound is one of nine regional educational districts that serve public and private schools in the state. The agency used to be headquartered in downtown Burien but moved to Renton.

Welch will share Puget Sound superintendent duties with Dr. Monte Bridges until Bridges retires on June 30, 2012.

Baby wallaroo, Joey, took a jaunt outside the comforts of mama's pouch. While Joey still spends most of its time in mama's pouch, the optimum time to catch a sighting of him out of the pouch is during feedings in the mornings and end of day, about 3:30/3:45…with a lot of patience.

In light of the recent tsunami in Japan and the likelihood of earthquakes in Seattle, Sustainable Ballard will offer a workshop on Home and Personal Preparedness.

"Knowing that you are prepared to protect yourself and your loved ones, and have the support of your neighbors in doing so, also goes a long way in protecting your peace of mind," read the Sustainable Ballard newsletter.

And that's why they gathered a comprehensive list of resources to help you and your neighbors get started putting together your disaster kit and neighborhood plan. They will go over this list during the Home and Personal Preparedness workshop on April 13th.

In addition to Sustainable Ballard's Home and Personal Preparedness workshop, the Sunset Hill Community Association will host a follow up workshop on Neighborhood and Community Preparedness on May 18th.

"The recent disaster in Japan reminds us how important it is to do everything we can to prepare in advance for such an occurrence. According to the City of Seattle's Office of Emergency Management (OEM), we need to prepare as individual households, as neighbors, and as a community," the newsletter states.

As part of a global call for action on climate change, King County will join hundreds of millions of people and tens of thousands of organizations by turning off its non-essential facilities for one hour from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 26.

From the press release:

"Turning off the lights for one hour is a positive gesture to call attention to the relationship between energy use and climate change,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “The real challenge is translating this gesture into earth-friendly actions we can take at all hours of every day.”

Executive Constantine signed a proclamation in support of Earth Hour 2011, a global climate event led by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). From King County, to London, to Australia, skylines will go dark for one hour as individuals, businesses, government buildings, schools, and major landmarks turn off non-essential lighting in what is billed as the largest climate awareness event in history.

The former Emergency Department director at Highline Medical Center, who has been barred from providing low-cost sports physicals or volunteer coaching at Highline High School, says the district’s new athletic program leadership “is doing truly bizarre stuff.

“It is a universal problem with the athletic directors in the district,” Dr. Jim Rice declared. “I’m the poster boy for getting everybody into sync.
“The new regime is doing things that are not in the best interests of the kids. They are compromising the kids’ ability to participate in sports and attend games.”

Rice, who has been giving low-cost physicals at Highline High in Burien for 25 years, has been told by district athletic director Terri McMahan that he can no longer give low-cost physicals at Highline High. He has been charging $10-$30 for physicals for the past 25 years. The normal charge is around $140, according to one Highline parent.

Teachers and coaches have also been told they cannot directly refer students to him for a physical, according to Rice.

Rice has also been told he cannot volunteer as assistant wrestling coach at Highline when the new season starts in November.