September 2011

J.P. Patches made his final public appearance, arriving at noon today at Fisherman’s Terminal for the Fall Fest there. He has appeared at the Fest annually, but had been cutting back appearances due to health reasons. He has been an annual participant in the West Seattle Grand Parade but did not appear this year.

Although Julius Pierpont Patches, the alter-ego of Chris Wedes, 83, was diagnosed with acute myeloma in 2007, he seemed to still have a spring in his step and sass in his shtick. He playfully taunted kids and adults on stage playing "Simon Says" and other games in front of a cheering cast of thousands, well, several hundred easily. Many sported round red clown noses and wore T-shirts with his likeness. After the show, he marched over to a booth selling bobble heads, bumper stickers, coloring books and t-shirts of Gertrude and him, and he patiently autographed these items, plus vintage novelty items Patches pals brought. At least two hundred fans stood in line to say "Hello", "Goodbye", and "Thank you" to a Seattle icon and father figure and hero to many.

Crew members from the Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch signed autographs and chatted it up with fans at Seattle's Fishermen's Terminal today, Sept. 17, during the annual Fishermen's Fall Festival there. A long line formed to greet Captain Keith Colburn, Gary Soper, Lynn Guitard, Freddy Maugatai and Danny Maki, get some autographs and hear some stories. (Time Bandit crew members were scheduled for tomorrow's West Seattle Junction Car Show but had engine trouble in Dutch Harbor and will not be present.)

"Right now we're down here in Fishermen's Terminal supporting Fishermen's Fall Festival for the Seattle Fishermen's Memorial," said Captain Keith. "Everybody wants to go on the boat but the boat's in a major reconstructive surgery mode right now with the deck, new crane, a lot of new hardware. Season 8 is going to be shot when we're in Alaska. What's going to happen? Your guess is as good as mine."

In a non-conference game played at the West Seattle Stadium on Sept. 16, O’Dea came out on top 52–8.

With a much deeper bench and a #9 ranking in the Washington State, the Fighting Irish were too much for the Wildcats to hold off on Friday night.

It began with the Irish’s first play from scrimmage, a 58-yard touchdown pass, and they never looked back offensively in racking up 52.

After a Wildcat interception in the first quarter, running back Pablo Nikko Emm ran one in for West Seattle’s only touchdown on the night.

Wildcat quarterback Isaac Johnson was consistently pressured from a dominating Irish defensive line, making it difficult to get his passing game going.

There was a scary moment for the Fighting Irish when a special teams player was laid out by a Wildcat block on a punt return to start out the second half.

The young man was taken away by ambulance as players from both teams dropped to one knee in prayer. He was showered with cheers and applause as he left the field.

In other West Seattle football news, Chief Sealth lost 20-19 at home against Cleveland.

Chris Foster, Intern

It was a tough night for the Beavers at Memorial Stadium on Friday as they lost to the Issaquah Eagles —the 10th ranked team in the state— by a score of 55 to 15. The Beavers fought hard throughout the game but Issaquah’s stellar defense was too much to overcome.

After a back-and-forth first quarter the game was still close, with Issaquah leading 7 to 0. The Eagles’ special teams started to affect the game late in the quarter however, as they returned a punt to the Ballard 21-yard line after a Beaver three and out. Issaquah’s return unit proved to be a game changer, with the Eagles constantly finding themselves in great field position.

Trailing 27 to 0 late in the second quarter, the Beavers found some magic of their own on special teams, as Dominic King returned a kick to the Eagles’ 39-yard line. Building off of the momentum, the Beavers put the ball in the end zone on a 1-yard touchdown run by Justin Simon, set up by a beautiful 34-yarder from Verduin to Deehring. But the Eagles put up two more touchdowns before half time to make it 41 to 7, capitalizing on Ballard turnovers.

At the risk of encouraging hundreds of others in West Seattle to follow suit, the West Seattle Herald got a tweet from a family that included for the first time (that we've seen) a video preview using TwitVid.

That's a function of the messaging service Twitter that allows you to share a video.

The video is pretty quick. You might have to pause it and look hard to get an idea of the DVD titles the family is selling but it does give you a good idea of what's available.

Is this the future of garage sales? Possibly, but check it out for yourself. You might even want to stop by and buy something. There's the usual array of books, movies, art supplies, household, and sporting goods.

The sale is at 3722 SW Monroe St. 98126

You can see the video here http://t.co/j637L7av

School Zone emphasis patrols

Posted by Detective Jeff Kappel-From the SPD Blotter

On September 15th officers from the Aggressive Driver Response Team conducted school zone emphasis patrols and issued the following citations:

(all school zones have 20 mph speed limits)

Highland Park Elementary school:

1 @ 34 mph

2 @ 31 mph

1 @ 32 mph

1 @ 28 mph

Arbor Heights Elementary school:

1 @ 32 mph

1 @ 30 mph

Roxhill Elementary school:

1 @ 37 mph

1 @ 32 mph

7100 block of Highland Park Way SW – 30 mph zone

1 @ 55 mph

1 @ 48 mph

1 @ 50 mph

1 @ 46 mph

1 @ 52 mph

8100 block of 1st Avenue South – 30 mph zone

1 @ 45 mph

1 @ 44 mph

3 @ 43 mph

1 @ 42 mph

1 @ 41 mph

West Seattle Bridge – 45 mph zone

1 @ 75 mph

SW Admiral Way – 30 mph zone

1 @ 50 mph

Miscellaneous citations:

2 Speeding

6 No Proof of Insurance

3 Expired Vehicle Tabs

By David Rosen

The Seattle Fire Department quickly responded to a small fire outside of JF Henry and Company located at 4445 California Ave SW shortly after midnight on Sept 17.

The fire began on the backside of the building with no extension or damage to the interior of the building and was put out.

Tom Henry, owner, received an alert that his burglar alarm had been tripped. When he arrived he saw that the fire department had broken through the back door.

The West Seattle Herald spoke with Tom and he provided an update. He said " About 12:15 am I got a call from my alarm monitoring system saying that there was an open back door. The open back door was from the firefighters opening the back door, so they were already here. My business will be open today despite the small stench of smoke. I don't plan on having a fire sale because there isn't much damage in here but there is still smoke.

The White Center Community Development Association held its dinner and live auction gala Friday night, September 16 at South Seattle Community College in the Jerry Brockey Center. Over 200 guests are planning on attending to celebrate White Center’s global families and the work of the CDA to improve our community.

The fundraiser is for the White Center CDA and all their various programs including Family Connections, neighborhood revitalization, and community building.

One intriguing auction item was "Barista For A Day!" at Dubsea Coffee, 9910 8th Ave. SW, where two friends can go behind the counter and learn the art of making the perfect latte.

Aileen Balahadia is the Executive Director, White Center Community Development Association, or CDA.

The Chief Sealth Seahawks fell one point short in their battle with the Cleveland Eagles on Friday Sept. 16 at the Southwest Athletic Complex

The two teams were evenly matched coming into the contest with matching records.

The scoring breakdown by quarter:

End of the first quarter, Chief Sealth 7, Cleveland 6

End of the second quarter, Chief Sealth 7, Cleveland 6

End of the third quarter, Chief Sealth 13, Cleveland 12

Final score Chief Sealth 19, Cleveland 20

Sealth rushed for a total of 112 yards on 34 attempts, with the longest run being 13 yards by Vinny Chase.

The passing game saw 66 yards gained on 7 receptions with the longest being a 30 yard strike from quarterback Max Sarver to Isaac Trefzfeger.

Sealth scored as follows:

Isaac Trefzfeger with a PAT for 1
Trevor Forsell with a TD for 6
Maxwell Sarver with a TD for 6
Vinny Chase with a TD for 6

Sealth committed one fumble.

On the defensive side, Sealth tacklers were led by Jake Tofilau and DeShawn Aitkens both with 3, followed by Motu Tupuola with 2 and Aiden Behar with 2. Motu Tupuola also made 5 assisted tackles.

The Port of Seattle is hosting their annual Fishermen's Fall Festival on Saturday at the Fishermen's Terminal.

Starting at 11 a.m., the free event will include activities such as oyster slurping, musical performances, the Reptile Man, and a lutefisk eating contest.

At noon, the famous clown J.P. Patches, Mayor of the City Dump and beloved friend of many in the Northwest, will make his final public appearance. The Port invites people to come and thank J.P. Patches for the terrific memories he's brought to so many lives.

The festival will also feature a special book launch aboard the historic steamship, the Virginia V.
The port is launching its new historic book about the port’s hundred year history titled "Rising Tides and Tailwinds: The Story of the Port of Seattle 1911-2011" by Kit Oldham.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase and a documentary about the port’s first century, Voices of the Port, will be shown aboard the vessel throughout the afternoon.

For more information about the festival, visit http://www.fishermensfallfestival.org.

The Fishermen's Terminal is located at 3919 18th Ave. W.