May 2011

On May 25th from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., members of the Highline Forum will meet at the City of Burien's Council Chambers, 400 S.W. 152nd St.
Craig Kenworthy, executive director of the Puget Sound Clear Air Agency, will be presenting.
A Part 150 Noise Study update is also part of the agenda. The public is invited to make comments at the start of the meeting.
The Highline Forum includes the southwest King County communities of Des Moines, Burien, Normandy Park, SeaTac, Tukwila and Federal Way and the Highline School District and Port of Seattle.

By David Rosen

The West Seattle Sportsmen's Club kicked off their annual Kids' Fishing Pond on Saturday May 21 in the parking area of Seacrest Park for kids 14 years old and younger from 8:00 am - 11:00 am.

Around 900 cyclists stopped by the Ballard Bike to Work Day commuting station between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. this sunny morning on what appears to be the most popular Bike to Work Day yet.

With around 40 stations across the city, a Mayor's ride, and various incentives to ride to work today, thousands of people left their car at home and enjoyed the sunny weather while commuting to work.

BikeSport and Friends of the Burke Gilman Trail hosted the Ballard station beside Fred Meyer, handing out water bottles, Clif bars, patch kits, and home-made cookies.

"I love this event," said commuter Lisa Quinn. "It continues to get the momentum around biking and alternative transportation going."

Quinn, the Executive Director of Feet First, an organization that promotes walkable communities, said she lives a car-free life and gets around by bike, foot, transit and zip-cars if the destination cannot be reached by transit.

"It's very doable in Seattle," she said.

Crown Hill resident, Mary Jeffers-Schroeder echoed Quinn's sentiments. She worked downtown for years and one day decided to give up her parking space and start bicycle-commuting.

The world's oldest active Fuller Brush Man, Burien resident Arthur Pearson has died at age 93.
He was born on April 30, 1918 and passed away May 6.

Mr. Pearson sold Fuller products for 73 years, making him not only the oldest but also the longest selling Fuller Brush Man in the world. He started in 1938 at age 20 when another Fuller Brush Man stopped by his family's home.

All his customers knew him for his deep sense of dedication and loyalty. Many of his customers became friends he had known for years as he continued going door to door to see his customers and to sell his Fuller products.

In a 2008 Seattle Times profile Normandy Park resident Linda Cole recalled meeting Mr. Pearson 50 years earlier.

"I was 4 or 5 when I remember him coming around. He'd walk into the house and hang around for awhile. I used to sit on his lap."

Cole said she still hugged Mr. Pearson every time she saw him.

Highline Public Schools has adopted a new logo and tagline.

The new logo shows multiple pathways leading off to the future. The varying colors suggest the district's diversity.

Catherine Carbone Rogers, the district's director of communication and community relations, said the new logo is very contemporary and unique. Rogers added it is unlike other school districts' logos.

Under the logo appears the district's new tagline, "A path to success for every student."

Rogers noted the district's old lamplight logo was developed back in 1967. The Omega symbol, Greek for "excellence," is still relevant but the Evergreen tree denoting a suburban locale does not visually reflect the current community, according to Rogers.

The old 'lamp of learning" also projects an image of yesteryear and not an image of the future or forward positive movement.

"It is time we replace the lamplight," Superintendent John Welch commented at the May 11 school board meeting.

Since Highline is facing budget problems, the switch will be "revenue neutral." As letterhead paper runs out, it will be replaced with paper with the new logo. Electronic changes will be more rapid.

The Ballard softball team continued their playoffs journey with one loss and one win last night.

"Well like I said before they never like to make it easy on me," Coach Kyle Gray said.

They lost against Eastlake 8 to 1. The game was closer than the score indicates, Gray said.

The game was scoreless game until the fifth inning when Eastlake finally broke through Ballard's defense and scored two runs.

"Our offense still didn't wake up. Although we hit the ball hard we just hit it right at the them. We certainly had some opportunities early but were unable to capatalize," Gray said.

In the second game Ballard took on Newport and won 6-1.

"Our bats woke up early with two runs in the first," Gray said.

Karissa Marshall led the team going 3 for 3 with 3 RBI's. Bernie Cardon was 1-2 with 2 RBIs and Jamie Thelen was 1-3 with an RBI.

Andrea Jewett pitched all seven innings, allowing four hits and only one run.

"I was very proud of the girls ability to put the first game behind them and focus on winning the second game to keep their season alive and give themselves another opportunity to get to state," said Gray.

(Editor's Note: Mt. Rainier High School student Scott Ritchie wrote this op-ed piece as part of his senior project. We asked Scott, "Do you think your Highline School District education prepared you for college, career and citizenship. Why or why not?")

The purpose of schools is, and always has been, to prepare people for a productive life. In more recent times, higher education has become all but a necessity in order to live comfortably.

The Highline School District has responded to this change, and prepares each student for higher learning. Almost invariably, high school students announce proudly that they intend to move on to a university, vocational school, or community college. Those who don't have such plans are few and far between.

This is because, at every step, teachers are reinforcing the importance of higher education. Practically every day mathematics and English classes are devoted to imparting some new concept or skill that is explicitly stated to be required for college.

By Cassandra Baker, Intern

12:02 a.m. on May 16th. 3rd block of N Greenwood Cir.

At around midnight on May 16th, police responded to a complaint that four or five males were fighting in front of a residence. The complainant reported that the suspects left in a red two-door vehicle. Police interviewed the complainant and the victim at the scene. The victim said that he was standing on the corner of Greenwood Ave. N and N Greenwood Cir. when a red car drove up and several men got out of the car and began assaulting him. The victim said that one of the men tried to strangle him. The attackers stole the victim’s wallet, cell phone and iPod and then drove away. The victim told police that he may have been involved in an incident with one of the suspects about a year ago. He said that the suspect was angry with him because he was dating the suspect’s ex-girlfriend. The victim did not know that suspect’s name or recognize any of the other suspects.

5:00 a.m. on May 15th. 90th block of 1st Ave. NW

Today is Bike to Work Day and thousands of Seattlites are gearing up to ride to work this morning.

A Bike to Work commute station is located where 8th Avenue N.W and the Burke Gilman Trail connect. Sponsored by the Friends of the Burke Gilman Trail and Bikesport, the station will be open from 6 a.m. until 9 a.m. to offer free water bottles, bike assistance and information.

And, in recognition of Ballard winning last year's Hood to Hood challenge, KEXP is hosting "Ballard Day 2011" all day today, airing live from various places around Ballard.

Festivities include an all-day broadcast from The Sunset, a gallery of KEXP photography, live music, special afternoon acoustic performances at Cupcake Royale, a food drive for the Ballard Food Bank. and more.

Bands LIVE on KEXP from The Sunset:

7:00am - David Bazan

9:00am - Yuni In Taxco

11:00am - Point Juncture, WA

1:00pm - Buffalo Tom

3:00pm - Joan As Police Woman

5:00pm - Shabazz Palaces

6:30pm - The Black Crabs

8:00pm - Marshall Scott Warner

Bands at Cupcake Royale:

2:30pm - Jason Dodson of The Maldives

CLICK ON PHOTO FOR SLIDESHOW. PHOTOS PROVIDED BY OKLAHOMA! PRODUCTION OF THURSDAY NIGHT"S SPECIAL PERFORMANCE.

Here is our story on the production at WSHS of OKLAHOMA!

Included are photos the production wants to share from Thursday night's WSHS Drama Club special benefit event and performance. The event involved a lot of different programs at West Seattle High: the WSHS Orchestra performed during the event, the food was provided by our Pro Start program, and the cast and crew had a chance to mingle with community supporters before they saw the show.

Tickets:
$7 with reservation (call 206-252-8834 or email reservations@westsidedrama.com)
$12 at the door

About the Show: