June 2011

Tuesday, August 2, 2011 is Night Out, a national crime prevention event that encourages blocks or neighborhoods to get out of their houses and into the streets for one night. It's about meeting and spending time with neighbors with a premium on having a good time. According to the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains, it is also a great opportunity to recruit new blockwatch members and verify everyone’s contact information for future communications about safety.

On Tuesday July 26, the Seattle Police Department converted their Twitter feed into a stream of every call they get and kept it up for 12 hours straight. They took the step to educate the public as to the sheer volume of calls received and to dramatize the need for public awareness of crime and crime prevention.

The tactic alienated several hundred followers but the point was made.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are proposing a few changes to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and its surrounding grounds and released a series of public notices today.

Changes will apply to the boathouse, Cavanaugh House and Administration Building, which are all listed in the National Register as part of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks Historic District.

According to the National Historic Preservation Act, federal agencies are required to notify the public regarding changes to properties on the National Register of Historic Places.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District, proposes to remove the boathouse, which was built in 1949. The boathouse is a significant member of the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks Historic District and is located at the east end of the Locks, along the sidewalk just north of the large lock. The district has classified the boathouse a danger to public safety, due to extensive damage to the ceiling structure.

Comments regarding this action are welcome and should be submitted to Mary McCormick, mary.e.mccormick@usace.army.mil or 206-764-6185 by July 19, 2011.

Press release:

The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation has donated musical instruments to four Seattle elementary schools, a middle school and a high school.

The Foundation, which donates new and refurbished musical instruments to under-served schools, community music programs and individual students nationwide, awarded $130,574 worth of instruments to the following schools: Bailey Gatzert, Concord International, Highland Park and Northgate elementary schools, Denny International Middle School and Chief Sealth International High School.

The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation was inspired by the 1995 motion picture “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and founded by Michael Kamen, who composed the music for the movie as well as countless others. In the last 15 years, over 13,000 new and refurbished instruments have been donated to 1,180 school and community music programs across the country.

"I was there and I was told by my God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to attack my enemies, and I did so," Isaiah Kalebu said under questioning by one of his lawyers, Ramona Brandes, in court this morning during the murder trial of the brutal rape and stabbing of South Park resident Teresa Butz July 19, 2009. Her partner, Jen Hudson, was severely injured, but survived. The judge asked Kabelu to repeat his statement, and he said, ""I was there and I was instructed (emphasis ours) by my God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to attack my enemies, and I did."

He stated that he had been seen by "several therapists" when asked if he was ever given a psychological evaluation. He repeated it because the prosecution said, "Objection" over his first time at it.

He then asked loudly to about four State Prosecutors about eight feet in front of him, "Did you kill my dog? Because you guys are always burning my a**."

At the point he was being readied to be wheeled out of the courtroom he said, "I hope you didn't kill my dog."

On Saturday, July 9, Seattle Tilth’s Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour will visit fifty unique sites throughout the Seattle area to showcase backyard animals and gardens.

Seattle Tilth has been organizing this community event for over a decade, originally to encourage people to raise chickens in the city. Since then, the event has expanded in both topic and turf to include urban and suburban sites, as well as a wide variety of animals and agricultural practices.

In Ballard, tour participants will get a look at mini dairy goats, chickens, vertical growing, rainwater harvesting, and more.

"Having chickens is absolutely doable in Ballard," said Ballard resident Wendy Barrington.

Nicknamed "The Barrington Farms" by their neighbors, the Burlington family has a flock of five chickens that they keep in their garage which has been retrofitted into a coop.

"We have a pretty small backyard so we used what we had to accommodate the chickens and make it aesthetically pleasing," Barrington said.

Barrington said she always wanted to "own a farm in the city" and that her children, age 10 and 7, wanted chickens.

The Internet publication la Repubblica, stepfather of West Seattle raised Amanda Knox, Chris Mellas, now inside the courtroom (at the time of this report,) and Janet Huff, Amanda's Aunt, the DNA on the knife, the alleged murder weapon prosecutors claimed Knox, her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, and drifter Rudy Guede used to murder Meredith Kercher is unreliable.

Knox's defense team has always claimed that the knife did not have proper DNA testing, that the stab wounds on Ms. Kercher were inconsistent with the size of the knife, and that, during the current appeal process, it would be these findings that would most likely set Knox free. Information is still coming in.

Huff emailed the West Seattle Herald, "Great news this morning!! Just spoke with Edda and Chris. "DNA report shows NO evidence of Amanda or Raffaele on any of the items (knife, bra). Strong probability of "contamination" which is Italian speak for police planted it. No proper collection procedures were followed(...) Italian press is going berserk over there. Stay tuned."

The Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs and the Seattle Department of Transportation are looking for an artist or artist group to develop a permanent, multi-site outdoor artwork at two to five select points along the Burke-Gilman Trail.

"Each part of the installation will enliven its location on the trail and collectively create a larger cohesive artwork," according to the website.

The application is open to established professional artists living in Washington state. The artist(s) will have a $80,000 budget to work with, inclusive of all costs to design, fabricate and install artwork.

The application is available, here, and is due Monday, August 1st.

For more information, contact public art project manager,Jason Huff, at (206) 684-7278.

Chalk this championship up to the number three.

West Seattle manager Mark O'Neal did after his team won its third-straight game to capture the District 7 age 10-11 Little League tournament title.

"We had three games of outstanding pitching, three games of outstanding defense and all three games enough of our hitting came together at the right time." said O'Neal, whose team clinched the crown with a 6-2 victory over host PacWest on Tuesday, June 28.

The team opened the tournament with a 9-0 victory over the same PacWest squad close under the SeaTac airport flight path on Saturday, June 25 before beating Rainier Beach, 12-1, in the winner's bracket semifinal Sunday, June 26.

That set up the rematch with a scrappy and come-from-behind minded PacWest team Tuesday. PacWest needed to win that game to force action for all of the marbles the next night -- but it never happened.
After the opening loss to West Seattle, PacWest of Burien defeated South Highline National, 15-1, before eliminating Rainier Beach, 13-2, in Monday's loser's bracket final.

Bianca Knitter got her dog Oskar a pure bred Saint Bernard as a rescue dog and he came to live with her when he was just over 7 months old from Saint Bernard Rescue. "He's actually from Oregon. I drove down to Tillamook to pick him up there."

They spend a lot of time walking in Lincoln Park because it's close by.

"He's very playful and he loves squeaky toys, and he slobbers a lot, which you get used to after a while. But he's an awesome dog."

Oskar also makes it to the WestCrest, or SandPoint dog park "like four times a week" where he meets up with a lot of his canine friends said Knitter.

He really is a gentle giant preferring play to confrontation. "when a small dog barks at him he lays down," Knitter said, "He's not very Alpha."

He does not have a special diet, and isn't fussy about his appearance. "I take him to the WashDog once a month because he gets dirty because he's outside so much."

Oskar enjoys walking with a large size tennis ball in his mouth and he loves to fetch and he loves "anything that moves," including squirrels.

Over the years I’ve confessed to a slight obsession with anniversaries. Especially for the first year after a major life change I feel like I’m caught in the rip tide the life guards warn about when swimming; the more you fight it the deadlier it is. Just swim parallel to the shore and eventually you’ll escape it, they counsel. That’s how I feel about anniversaries, whether of my daughter’s birth or a friend’s death, swim with it.

Ever since my dad’s stroke three weeks ago I’ve had trouble concentrating on much beyond reading about brain disorders, interrupted by informing anyone in earshot of the dangerous cholesterol count of food they are eating (don’t ever consider pound cake again). I am also trying to help my colleagues plan a community event in honor of automating the Ballard Bell (just be there July 5th at 5:30 p.m. for a great party and spare me further effort). I’m so distracted I left Bartell’s with one of the shopping baskets (empty thank goodness) still hooked over my arm, and I wasn’t parked particularly close by.