June 2011

Just before 3:30 p.m. on June 26 two girls, ages 13 and 14, and their 8-year-old brother were “flashed” by an unknown male suspect walking by as they played outside a relative’s home near the corner of 44th Ave S.W. and S.W. Hanford St.

According to police, the suspect exposed his genitals and waved to the children before walking away eastbound on S.W. Hanford.

The children ran inside and called police. Police believe the suspect may have boarded a Metro bus to leave the area.

SPD describes the suspect as a middle-age (30-45) white male, nearly six feet tall with a goatee shaved in the middle creating triangles on both sides of his face. Please call 911 with any suspect information.

If a congestion reduction charge is approved by the County Council or voters, it is likely that only small service adjustments to achieve efficiency and productivity targets would be needed over the next two years.

If the congestion charge is not approved, a series of reductions in bus service would take place in 2012 and 2013. A total of up to 600,000 annual service hours, or 17 percent of the current Metro system, could be eliminated.

If Metro does not receive additional revenue for the 2012-2012 budget, it must begin cutting service as soon as February 2012. Without more funds, a total of 600,000 hours of transit service would be eliminated over the next two years. This is about 17 percent of Metro's entire system and would affect up to 8 percent of bus riders.

This means that as many as four out of five people will have to walk futher, wait longer, make an extra transfer, and stand on the curb and see fully-loaded buses pass them by.

King County Executive Constantine has submitted a package to the council that includes the first round of service cuts — a 100,000-hour reduction that could go into effect as soon as February 2012.

Update 3 for 6/29
Det. Renee Witt with the Seattle Police Department said the man arrested for suspicion of arson was the same injured man who emerged from the blazing house as firefighters arrived on the scene. Furthermore, Det. Witt said the man's injuries were consistent with an attempted suicide. The arson suspect (who will not be named by the Herald until formally charged) is a co-owner of the home.

Update 2 for 5:30 p.m.
Seattle Fire investigators have determined the fire was a result of arson (no further details were released). The fire resulted in $75,000 worth of structural damage and $30,000 in content loss.

Update for 12 p.m.:
Investigators have told KOMO TV they suspect the single family residence fire (that has been put out by firefighters) may have been intentionally set.

When firefighters entered the home on the 7100 block of 39th Ave S.W. they found three separate fires - two in separate bedrooms and one in a kitchen.

The relationship of the injured man taken to the hospital to the home is unknown at this time. KOMO reports the man's injuries were not fire-related.

Arson investigators are working the scene now.

Traveling somewhere this Independence Day weekend? The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) offers information and tools to keep holiday travel headaches to a minimum.

Delays:

Drivers should expect congestion and delays on Interstate 90 over Snoqualmie Pass, US 2 over Stevens Pass, Interstate 5 near the U.S./Canadian border and I-5 between Olympia and Tacoma this weekend.

While work at most construction projects around the state will move off the highway from noon Friday, July 1, to Tuesday morning, July 5, drivers should still prepare for shifted lanes, roadway detours and reduced speed zones in places.

Drivers should expect longer-than-typical wait times at ferry docks and Canadian border crossings for most of the holiday weekend.

Washington State Ferries:

Tonight, the second annual Spoke & Food event invites you to eat out to dinner and to forgo your car by biking to a local restaurant.

"In doing so, you'll get the opportunity to better connect with your community and surroundings, you'll do something healthy, you'll have fun and most importantly, you'll help raise some funds for a well-deserving local non-profit," the website states.

This year the Spoke & Food event raises money for the Children's Garden Education program at Seattle Tilth, a program in which children learn to care for themselves and other living things through gardening activities  in Seattle Tilth’s garden education programs.

Funds are generated by the kind donations of various host restaurants throughout Seattle who have agreed to donate 20% of their total revenues from tonight to the non-profit benefactor,
 

A Terrible Beauty Irish Pub is about to open on June 28 and the owners Jenna Shannon Garvey O'Brien and Paddy O'Brien threw an invitation only preview party for friends, supporters and the media Tuesday, June 27.

Like its sister restaurant in Renton the transformed space is done in a "proper Irish pub" style with a tall back bar, dark wood, highly polished bar, comfortable booths, and an extensive menu offering everything from a massive Reuben sandwich, to the Ploughman's Platter of greens, meats and cheeses. Their full lunch and dinner menu can be seen here, and their brunch menu, served on the weekend is here.

As an Irish pub they feature beers such as Guinness of course but also Smithwick, Kilkenny, and Boddingtons. The full list includes 28 beers on draft. On the whiskey side they offer a range including Jameson, Tullamore Dew, Bushmills and others.

Concerning the "First priority for lakes is not as human playgrounds" letter from Robert Howell, some clarification is in order. The personal attacks against a previous writer are unfortunate but some basic facts are what need to be addressed.

1. "There are hundreds of privately owned lakes in Washington state." Somewhat true but not really relevant. Weyerhaeuser alone probably owns the land around hundreds of lakes. They also grant access to the significant ones with no significant damage to the lake.

2. "While the water in these bodies belongs to the state, the state does not advocate (as the first priority for their use) opening them to the general public." "Public recreational access is the lowest priority for the use of the shorelines."

These are very misleading statements and essentially false. As stated in the letter, the cited R C W states that preferences should be given to uses which (my shortened versions):
1. Have statewide interests over local interests
2. Preserve natural character...
3. Have long term over short-term benefits
4. Protect ecology
5. Increase public access

A SAD DAY FOR BURIEN AND WHITE CENTER:

As Burien citizens return from their summer vacations in September, they will be surprised to discover that the Burien City Council has decided to annex White Center, with no public hearing and with no citizen advisory vote on this, the most important issue in Burien history.

The financial analysis they will quote to justify this will have been done by their consulting group which is in bed with the city council, the literal fox guarding the hen house. Joan McGilton will say it is all "revenue neutral."

They will do this in August so no citizens are around to know about it. Shortly thereafter, the good citizens of White Center will be asked to vote on whether they want to be annexed to Burien, and they will most likely say yes, because they feel Burien is their last port in the storm now that Seattle has said they can't even remotely afford the cost of supporting White Center.

Citizens will also discover the leader of the Economic Development Council has been fired by Mike Martin because of his views against annexation. The council accordingly will ignore the advice of their own business council NOT to annex.

(Editor's Note: Our own Times/New columnist Earline Byers has been chosen as a Grand Marshall for the July 23 Des Moines Waterland Parade. Congratulations, Earline.)

So bring in tall hotels, call in the tourists, develop new businesses on the marina floor and crank up high- tech communication. May sound good from a Chamber of Commerce viewpoint -- yet, maybe not from folks who love to walk in the marina.

I asked Harbormaster Joe Dusenbury, "Is it true building hotels within Des Moines Marina are being considered?"

He didn't say yes or no, yet did share the vision city committees are working on for the marina.

The committees will discuss the need to hire a consultant to identify preferred potential uses for selected sites. Second, are sites already suggested feasible? Third, present plan to City Council for approval.

When uses are approved, the next step is to identify accomplished business partners to move forward with the city in planning. Decision makers are in the infancy of considering marina retail feasibility options.

Now that Tiger Woods has perhaps shot himself out of golf stardom I was like a lot of his fans. Groping for a new hero.

Now that has been resolved for me.

My Irish Granddad was born in Northern Ireland, near Belfast, in County Antrim near Holyrood.
I don't know if he ever played golf but now comes Rory McIlroy from the same hometown, and he is the winner of the U.S. Open.

And I find myself entranced with this enormous golf talent.

Like most golfers, I have revered Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Portland's Peter Jacobson, Tom Watson and I even viewed with awe, West Seattle's Kermit Zarley and Rainier's ex-player Rory Rice.

As a long time member myself at Rainier since 1967 I still hold some remarkable records of my own. They have never been recorded for obvious reasons.

Here they are.

First person and probably the only member to ever land in the club swimming pool adjacent to the ninth hole. Way back in 19 something. Two of my sons can verify this and delight in detailing this magnificent event to friends. I did not attempt to retrieve the ball. I have my pride.