March 2011

We want to thank the paper for giving Kevin Fitz this year's Robby award. We were customers of Kevin since he opened Meal Makers.

Meal Makers was a family headed by Kevin for the employees and the customers. When you walked into Meal Makers your coffee was waiting for you at a table.

He always talked highly of Burien. His wife, Kathy, and their boys were as wonderful as Kevin. Every one we know that went to Meal Makers miss Kevin and his family. Thanks.

Rita and Harold Askay
Burien

One lucky Albertsons shopper can count on a new kitchen makeover for 2011. As the winner of the Albertson's Joy Rewards promotion, Kelley Fisher of Burien will receive $10,000 towards a kitchen makeover - making cooking, baking and entertaining that much more joyful throughout the New Year.

The promotion was developed in partnership with ConAgra Foods and the company's Hunt's(r) and Marie Callender's(r) brands.

"Our holiday Joy Rewards program was a great way to thank our shoppers and bring them a little joy," said Spike Scherer, Albertsons store director. "We are very excited that one of the grand prize winners is from our Burien Albertsons store."

"ConAgra Foods was excited to have the opportunity to co-sponsor this event with Albertsons," said Evan Cross, director of shopper marketing, ConAgra Foods.

The Joy Rewards game, which ran in select markets throughout November, rewarded shoppers who spent $50 or more on qualifying purchases with a special game card and the chance to win thousands of prizes instantly, including store gift cards, products and coupons.

Bank robbery suspect in Spokane jail
A convicted pimp suspected of robbing nine banks in Oregon and Western Washington is in a Spokane jail. Kevin Antoine Jones, 23, was arrested in Pullman and appeared in U.S. District Court the following day. He's awaiting transport back to Seattle. Jones is charged with four counts of bank robbery for hold ups Oct. 16 at U.S. Bank in Tukwila and Wells Fargo in Des Moines, Oct. 18 at U.S. Bank in Seattle and Oct. 19 at Chase Bank in Des Moines. He's also suspected of robberies Nov. 5 at a U.S. Bank in Portland, and Nov. 6 at a U.S. Bank in Gresham, Bank of the West and Wells Fargo in Troutdale. Also suspected is Isaiah Jordan Summers, who is in custody. The two were arrested after a robbery at Columbia Bank in Milton, Wash, on Nov. 8. It's unclear why Jones was released from custody, but he was featured on "Washington's Most Wanted" TV show Feb. 25 and 26. A viewer's tip led to his arrest at an apartment in 1800 block of Northwest Lamont Drive in Pullman after a brief SWAT team standoff. Jones has prior convictions for promoting prostitution and gun possession, according to Washington's Most Wanted.

So now Highline has something in common with our big neighbor to the north-we're both looking for a new permanent school superintendent.

Highline Public Schools Superintendent John Welch announced March 17 that he is leaving to head the Puget Sound Educational Service District over in Renton. We lost the service district headquarters a couple of years ago when they moved away from the spot where the Burien Town Square is now. Burien replaced its fourth largest employer with a project that, so far, hasn't panned out economically.

The Puget Sound service district is one of nine agencies in the state that provide instructional and administrative support to public schools and direct services to students and families.

Heading that district sounds a lot less stomach-churning, insomnia-inducing than being chief of a low-income, highly diverse urban school district with major money woes and, at times, seemingly intractable academic achievement problems.

Welch lasted six years and is leaving on his own terms. That's a lot better than the revolving-door situation in the Emerald City. The last Seattle superintendent was fired while out of town caring for her sick mother.

From the SPD Blotter:

On Saturday evening at approximately 8:50 p.m., a man was walking on N.W. 70th Street approaching 16th Avenue NW when he was approached by two suspects. One of the suspects demanded the victim’s wallet while the other suspect stood with his hand in his waistband, indicating he had a weapon.

The victim threw his wallet at the suspects and ran. A witness observed the victim running from the suspects and stopped to assist him.

The victim was able to call 911 and the victim and witness were able to positively idenitify the suspects when officers arrived.

The suspects were arrested, and a K9 responded to conduct an evidence track, locating both the stolen wallet and a ski mask.

No weapon was recovered.

The two suspects, ages 18 and 22, were later booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Robbery.

Wednesday, March 16

Mixed tennis

Kennedy 5, Hazen 0
Rain prevented Wednesday's match to be completed, but the Lancers already had enough wins to clinch an overall win.

Chloe Miller won the girls singles match, 6-2, 6-1, and Mitchell Thorp and Jamie Thorp combined to win the boys doubles match, 6-2, 6-0.

Madison Holodaas and Alex Quackenbush scored a 6-3, 6-4 girls doubles victory.

Taas Sribhibhadh was not able to finish his boys singles match because of rain and the mixed doubles team of Cody Huynh and Ellie Burns also did not finish.

Thursday, March 17

Boys soccer

Foster 3, Renton 0
Kamao Gulaliyev earned the shutout on goal for the victorious Bulldogs this past Thursday and also scored an assist.

Zak Omar scored Foster's opening -- and eventually winning -- goal at the 31-minute mark on an assist from Florian Ferencak and Gulaliyev assisted Ferencak in the 47th minute.

Masse Gashay struck for the third goal on an assist from Kaelum Poulson in the 64th minute of play.

Friday, March 18

Track and field

Seattle Christian

TACOMA -- Vincent "Vicious" Thompson finished work early on Saturday night.

He punched out at precisely 1:26 of the second round, scoring an easy TKO victory over journeyman Ryan Shay at a packed Emerald Queen I-5 Casino showroom.

The Federal Way heavyweight fighter, now unbeaten in his first seven pro fights, unleashed a barrage of howitzer hooks to Shay's soft midsection late in the first round and most of the second, forcing his opponent to take a knee five times to avoid more punishment.

"There's that saying, 'kill the body and the head will die,'" said Thompson's trainer Jack Stafford, a staunch believer in body punching as an effective boxing technique. "Proven point right there tonight."

Shay (5-12, 4 KOs), a former South Carolina Golden Gloves champion, couldn't solve Thompson's strategy of firing combination punches off his right jab and changing up with hard left leads early in the first round.

Shay then began ducking and covering his head, leaving his ribs exposed. Thompson took advantage, hurting Shay with combinations to the body late in the first round. Shay had to take a knee.

By Paul Guppy

As a parent with children in Seattle Public Schools, I've seen firsthand how deeply teachers care about their students. And as foster parents, my wife and I have spent countless hours working with concerned teachers to get troubled kids the services they need. Yet, like most public school parents, what we experience is a plodding, top-heavy district system that doesn't give teachers the support they need.

Only 59 cents of every education dollar reaches the classroom, and during layoffs the union requires, with few exceptions, that the youngest teachers be fired first. Local principals do not control their budgets and union work rules deny kids access to the best teachers. Every school parent knows "The List," the lengthy catalog of items you must buy each year for your local school. These are only examples. The district's problems go far beyond simple mismanagement of public funds.

By Kate Ganiron, Intern

Starting today, a new food truck will be roaming the streets of Seattle but put your wallet away because this isn’t your ordinary food truck.
 The Couscous Caravan will be launching its new campaign promoting Near East couscous with free samples of couscous in different parts of Seattle.


Five of the couscous recipes on rotation were created by Chef Jason Wilson of Crush Restaurant and he based his recipes on different areas of Seattle including Ballard.


“It was a unique and fun challenge for me because I get to somehow interpret different recipes for areas and regions of Seattle,” said Wilson, who will also be featuring couscous recipes at Crush. “Ballard was easy. That’s where the boats from St. Jude’s come in, so we use albacore at the restaurant, we use albacore at my house, and for different consulting I’ve done as well.”


The Ballard-inspired recipe is the Pacific Albacore Tuna couscous (see below). Chef Wilson said that his inspiration for the dish came from the fact that Ballard is home to Seattle’s fishermen but also from Ballard’s greenery.


Softball team crushes Sammamish

The softball team played against Sammamish at Lower Woodland Park and the Beavers cut the game short to five innings due to a 10 point lead.
The Beavers came out strong scoring 13 points in the first four innings. Sammamish struggled and only managed to get one point up on the board.
Sammamish had no hits.
Ballard had 10 hits, three of which came from Brittney Blokker who had 3 RBI and 1 double.
Bernie Cardon added another two RBI and Katie Sibel had two hits.

Girls lacrosse team loses to Klahowya

Ballard girl lacrosse lost 14 to 9 on Monday against Klohowya at Central Kitsap Junior High in Silverdale.  Klahowya got ahead with a 5 against 3 lead at halftime and continued to build on it through the second half. Ballard's Jayne Barnes scored 4 goals and Maddie Soukup netted 3 while Hannah Breton had 24 saves.  Ballard plays again on Friday against Bellevue East at Ballard High School.
 
Baseball team wins against Seattle Lutheran

The baseball team hosted Seattle Lutheran for a non-league game. The Beavers won 4 against 2. The Beavers scored all their runs in the fourth inning.