August 2011



By Lauren DiRe, 
Intern

On Wednesday, August 17, I attended Ballard Fit Club, a new fitness group in the area that meets every Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Calvary Lutheran Church, 23rd Avenue NW and NW 70th Street.

After being persuaded to join the workout (instead of just standing by to watch), I was surprised to find myself laughing and really enjoying myself 30 minutes later.

“The real idea, basically, is to meet people socially, who are doing the kind of thing that you need to do to be healthy,” said participant Robert Du Beau.

Before attending last Wednesday night’s class, I had no idea that there were several “fit clubs” around the Seattle area.

Apparently there are.

After the fit club in Magnolia recently shut down, Debra Davies decided to start one closer to home - in Ballard. She called churches in the area, which offer cheaper rent space, and found the one on 23th Avenue Northwest.

They’ve been meeting for four weeks now, but Davies wants to get the word out about what they’re doing.

“We want people to come,” Davies said. “And it’s free. There’s no free workout anywhere I know of.”

Join Woodland Park Zoo as they host the International Vulture Awareness Day on September 3 and discover how vultures fill a vital ecological niche as nature’s clean-up crew.

Vultures are often depicted as harbingers of death, yet many vulture populations face threats of their own with some species facing extinction.

Vultures, like the turkey vultures housed at the zoo, are scavenging birds that help recycle and prevent the spread of disease.

Turkey vulture numbers declined in the 1950s and 1960s, most likely due to the mistaken belief that they spread diseases. Shooting and poisoned baits often targeted these useful birds. Populations have increased in recent years, due to less persecution and safer use of pesticides. Contaminants and habitat loss continue to threaten other vulture species, particularly in southern Asia, where some species have been nearly forced to extinction.

On September 3, the Zoo provides the public with an opportunity to learn about the international efforts underway to help protect these often misunderstood birds.

The following activities will take place at Woodland Park Zoo’s Raptor Center in honor of International Vulture Awareness Day:

Both the large and small locks at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard will be closed to all marine traffic from 9:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. on August 23.

The closure will allow construction crews and dive teams the opportunity to inspect the salmon exclusion structure immediately upstream of the locks. The staff will make maximum efforts to complete the work as soon and as safely as possible.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District, which operates the locks, installed this interim structure to prevent salmon from being trapped in the saltwater return system.

“The exclusion structure is working well,” said Chuck Ebel, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District, fish biologist, in a press release. “Since it was put in use three years ago, we only observed one chinook and one coho in the diffuser well.”

The structure prevents salmon access to the locks’ saltwater return system and improves the viability of the salmon runs, which use the fish ladder to return upstream to their spawning grounds. The design allows for the doors to be manually closed to screen fish during migration and opened when the salmon are not migrating.

Ballardite Karoline Morrison released her memoir, "Twilight of the Blondes", last month and has since been promoting her book throughout the greater Seattle area, even starring in a segment for a documentary film about her days as a model at the Seattle World's Fair.

Written with flare, Morrison's tale is a bittersweet one.

The Marilyn Monroe era and glamourous years of the Hollywood Strip serve as the backdrop to her unique coming-of-age story.

After falling head-over-heels for a talented pianist, a young and at times naive Karolin Morrison leaves Seattle for the glamourous Hollywood to help her unfaithful husband become a star and to fix their broken marriage.

While her husband continues his affair in Seattle, Morrison becomes a cigarette girl at the historic night club, Ciro's.

Focused on rekindling her marriage by finding him a career in Hollywood, Morrison oversees her own talent and value. It takes multiple heart breaks and stumbles to see the reality and start living for herself.

The Seattle Police Department, Seattle Police bomb Squad, the 10th Civil Support Team, and USARNORTH-Bravo Division will be on the campus of South Seattle Community College Tuesday August 30, 2011 conducting a response exercise. It's called Exercise Seattle Storm (but has nothing to do with the WNBA team).

The Chan Center/LHO parking lot will be closed off along with approximately ¼ of the north parking lot.

This exercise is scenario driven and focused to support the 10th Civil Support Team response objectives when faced with the potential of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

“I am just being stupid”
A woman returned home to her SW Webster St home shortly after 11 a.m. on Monday, August 8 and headed outside to do some yard work. As she stepped outside she came face-to-face (a few yards away) with a man standing inside her garage. There were several items stacked at the door and he was holding a machete under his arm. The woman asked, “What the hell are you doing?” to which he replied, “I am just being stupid.” He put the machete down and ran away. The victim described the suspect as “sweating,” with eyes “kinda” close together and a “boyish look.” She was certain she could identify him if she ever saw him again.

The Big Red Bag

Discovery Shop
4535 California Ave, S.W.
206 937 7169
50% OFF EVERYTHING in Store-wide Sale: Thursday, Sept 1 thru Sunday, Sept 4. Antiques and Collectibles Annual Event continues thru August. Yellow tagged items: $1, thru Wednesday, August 31. The American Cancer Society Shop is open Sundays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. All other days 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Guitarist Del Rey at Village Green Nursery
10223 26th Ave. S.W.
Sunday, August 28, 2-4:30 p.m. Del Rey plays concerts world wide and also presents a concert/lecture on women musicians called Women in American Music.

Street Fair
Holy Family Parish
9820 20th Ave. S.W.
206-763-0886
Sept. 10 and 11, 9-5 p.m. Food, crafts, kids entertainment and more! Salsa cook-off Sunday. There will be a diaper drive for West Side Baby.

Seniors Making Art
Delridge Community Center
4501 Delridge Way S.W.
206-935-2162
Tuesdays, beginning Sept. 13 from 1-3 p.m. Free 7 week drawing class for ages 50+. All supplies are free. Call to register.

Singers needed

Christy Wolyniak, Intern

Farmers and gardeners alike plodded through the community garden known as the Ballard P-Patch for the 11th annual ‘Art in the Garden’ event on Saturday.

‘Art in the Garden’ began eleven years ago, growing along with the garden’s bounty of organic produce and flowers.

Event Chair Kelly Ryan joked that the community garden helps him learn how to be social with his neighbors. Ryan was grilling up bratwursts in the beer garden, courtesy of Maritime Pacific. Rolls were donated by Tall Grass Bakery.

“My mom taught me how to garden. They say if you teach kids how to garden, you teach them how to garden for a lifetime,” said Ryan, who waited eight years before he could start his garden in the Patch.

Several bluegrass bands played on a makeshift stage while both young and old trudged between rows of brightly colored flowers, lettuce, squash and other fresh foods.

“There’s something to be said about the great local produce [here],” said Jimmy Baker, who has been gardening for forty years. “It serves the needs of people how don’t have gardening space as well donating [food] to people who don’t have it.”

The beach at Lincoln Park has been closed now for about ten days due to marine biotin which means you cannot dig for shellfish there.

The beaches are closed for clams, geoduck, scallops, mussels, oysters, snails and other invertebrates.

A sign posted at the north end of the park states, "Shellfish in this area are unsafe to eat due to biotoxins paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) and/or amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP).

You can learn more about it and keep in touch with the issue on the shellfish page for the State of Washington here.

You can also call the biotoxin hotline at 1-800-562-5632