June 2011

Shortly after 9 p.m. on May 30 a man walking on 20th Ave S.W. between Kenyon and Holden streets noticed two black males around 18 years old walking very closely behind him. He turned around to look at them and one suspect asked what he was looking at while the other tried to grab his black messenger bag. The victim held on tight so the suspect reached inside the bag to gather some loot, ripping out part of the bag’s liner instead of any valuables. The suspects ran westbound on S.W. Holden and handed the torn liner off to a third male walking down the street (not associated). The third male told the victim he thought the young robbers lived in a nearby apartment complex, but he did not know them personally.

The Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society will hold an open rehearsal and 'backstage' tour for its newest production, Ruddigore, at the Crown Hill center.

They will feature a look at the drawings and model of the sets, a tour of the actual set under construction, and a musical with a cast of 37.

The free tour and peak into Ruddigore will take place this Thursday, June 9th at 7 p.m. at the Crown Hill Center, 9250 14th Ave N.W.

For more information, call (206) 682-0796.

By Alex Peery, UW News Lab student

A restored wooden boat and a caged piranha hanging from the ceiling might be the first sign that Paratii Craft Bar is not your average establishment.

“I just dreamed of a place like this,” said owner Samir Hassan.

The boat, which ties together the maritime-themed Brazilian bar, was brought back to life by Hassan. He recalls painstakingly cleaning every copper nail one by one. In fact, practically everything in the bar was built by Hassan and his team.

“It's our joke here,” he explained. “I said I can restore it in 10 hours, so people now realize 10 hours in Brazil means 90.”

Paratii is the namesake of Paraty, a historic coastal town in Brazil. Once Hassan thought of the name, the rest was easy.

“We have to go maritime. We have to go cachaca,” said Michael Kostin, bar manager and bartender at Paratii.

While the Brazilian liquor is an important part of the menu, both men stressed that they are more than just a cachaca bar.

The first year commercial photography class at Seattle Central Community College , which is a nationally ranked program, took over the Luna Park Cafe at 2918 s.w. Avalon Way, Sunday evening, June 5 and went into the wee hours of June 6 all in pursuit of a single photograph.

TO SEE A LARGER VERSION OF A PRODUCTION STILL FROM THE SHOOT CLICK THE LINK ABOVE

The assignment given to the class by instructor Alejandro Tomas was to create a single photograph in the style of famous art photographer Gregory Crewdson whose photos are elaborately staged and surreal scenes of American homes and neighborhoods.

His work, which sometimes sells for over $100,000 an image, involves a large crew, and elements that are intricately arranged and lit.

When Eirik Rice rode his motorcycle down Avalon Way April, 30 he was outfitted with all the right safety gear. "My dad always taught me, don't go riding unless you have all the right gear." His father gave him good advice.

As he neared the Luna Park Cafe he noted that a car had pulled up to the stop sign at the end of s.w. Manning Street, an S-shaped jog of a street that links Admiral Way to Avalon.

"He must have thought he could beat me or he didn't see me, but it was very quick. I ended up hitting him," as the car came out on to Avalon. Rice skidded for only 10 feet but the impact was enough to break his right leg in four places, at the thigh with bones protruding, his knee, his shin and his foot. He was taken to the hospital and since then has had surgical work to add metal plates and screws. "I can't go through a metal detector at the airport anymore," he joked.

press release:
Over the weekend, the Water Taxi crew discovered a small crack in the hull plating of the Rachel Marie. The King County Marine Division has made arrangements to use another vessel, the Victoria Express, while the Rachel Marie is being repaired.

The Victoria Express is a mono-hulled vessel of similar passenger capacity to the Rachel Marie and Mellisa Ann, but it travels at slightly slower speeds and its length is better suited for the Vashon dock than the Seacrest dock in West Seattle.

So beginning on Monday, June 6, the Victoria Express will be put into service on the Vashon Island/Downtown Seattle route, and the Melissa Ann will provide service on the West Seattle/Downtown Seattle route.

Mayor Mike McGinn and Seattle Police Chief John Diaz will promote uniformed police visibility in areas with high concentrations of people enjoying Friday and Saturday nightlife opportunities this summer, at Don Armeni Park at 3:30 pm on Monday, June 6.

The park is located at 1222 Harbor Avenue s.w.

A similar initiative was announced last June to provide a higher police presence in Bell Town and other areas prone to potential problems.

VANCOUVER - After rallying past higher-seeded teams to reach the Class 3A state tennis tournament, the Mount Rainier duo ran into extremely tough competition at the Vancouver Tennis Center on Friday, May 27.

"We lost two and that was the end of our day," said Ram head coach Tim Lee.

Mead's girls doubles team of Elise Ellingsen and Chelsea Motzer dropped the hard fighting Mount Rainier pair, 6-4, 6-3, in the opening round.

District 1 champions Alyssa Gilbert and Jenna Gilbert of Kamiak then controlled the action in a 6-0, 6-2 defeat of senior Shannon Wong and junior Alexis Gregerson.

Brittany Ellingsen and Anna Romanovsky from Skyview of the Greater St. Helen's League survived a third set tie-breaker to win the championship in a 6-2, 6-7, 7-6, three-set battle against Kentwood's Tess Mantou and Eliana Spero.

Mantou and Spero were up 5-1 in the third set and serving for the title, but Skyview roared back to tie the set at 5-5. After the Kentood pair went up 6-5, the Storm rallied back to force a tiebreaker.

The tiebreaker was knotted at 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6 before a Kentwood shot hit the net tape and rolled back onto the Conqueror side of the court.

KENNEWICK - It took two and one-half hours, but in the end the Kennedy Catholic boys doubles team of brothers freshmen Jamie and junior Mitch Thorp finally outlasted the hard serving Seattle Prep team up of identical twins Evan and Drew Beckman, in a three-set final, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, Saturday, May 28, at the Tri-City Court Club for the Class 3A boys tennis championship.

"They had good serves and net games," observed Mitch Thorp. "We had to be more consistent on returns and get more communicationion. Once we got into the points, we were more consistent on baseline rallies and they made more errors. Good chemistry also got us through the tournament."

After winning the first set, the Thorp brothers were leading 5-3 in the second set and serving for the match, but Seattle Prep broke serve and reeled off four consecutive games to earn the set victory, thus extending the match to a third and deciding set.

Regrouping after losing their only set of the season, the Kennedy Catholic Lancer pair were deternined to close out the third set on the indoor courts and finish unbeaten at 22-0.

NOTE: Please enjoy these awesome photos of our athletes at this meet in a slideshow by Kurt Howard.

TACOMA--It was a banner weekend for Darian Brooks of Kennedy Catholic High School at the state Class 2A/3A/4A track and field meet held at Mount Tahoma High School in Tacoma.

Brooks won the Class 3A 100-meter dash in a time of 10.71 seconds also bagged the first place trophy for the triple jump with an effort of 48 feet, 06.75 inches.

His second place finish came in the long jump with a measurement of 22-02.25.

It was also a good day for anyone from Highline High School by the name of Stolz.

Michelle Stolz won both the 300-meter hurdles (43.41) and 100 hurdles (19.27) and sister Tracey Stolz took 10th in the 800-meter run in 2:20.27.

For Mount Rainier in the in the Class 4A competition, Kathleen Mulligan won the triple jump at 39-01.50 and also took seventh in the long jump at 16-06.00.

Jordan McPhee of the Rams captured second in the girls 3,200 in 10:52.08 and placed third in the 1,600 in 5:01.79.