October 2011

You know that everyone has a passion for something. Some people watch football. Others collect stamps. So let me have the fun of browsing and buying when the sun is out and great bargains are in full display at a yard sale down the street. There comes the day of reckoning, however, when it is time to donate the overflow to some needy charity. Just the other day I went through my four closets of clothing purchased over the years and decided to get rid of anything that I hadn’t worn for at least a year. I had already donated everything that I had outgrown except for that long gold yellow voile dress with the butterfly sleeves which will not allow me to close the zipper but I still can’t bear to part with it.

Digging deeper into one closet I found the fox fur with the head and tail still intact that is a family heirloom. Once I showed it at an antique display at school when I was a teacher and I distinctly remember another teacher telling me to take it out of the display because it was a prime example of animal cruelty. No one is perfect. That teacher happened to be wearing leather shoes at the time.

press release:
The weekday commuter additional sailing schedule for next week's Alaskan Way Viaduct closure and the new winter sailing schedule for West Seattle that starts October 31 are both now available on our schedule page at the King County Water Taxi website.

http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/WaterTaxi/WestSeattleRou…

You can also click the link above to display a copy of the viaduct closure schedule from Oct. 22-30 that you can print out.

Photographer Kurt Howard captured the Burien Brat Trot races and festivities on Oct. 9.

Please click the photo above for 19 more photos.

Here is the summary from the Brat Trot website:

We had more than double the amount of registered runners this year - nearly 1,000! Over 1,500 runners and spectators enjoyed a great community day! Thank you to our sponsors and to The Tin Room for this great event! All proceeds benefit two important local organizations—Highline Schools Foundation and Safe Kids King County South!

UPDATE: Compliant dismissed.

The complaint filed against Cascade Bicycle Club by Gene Hoglund on behalf of Citizens Against Raising Car Tabs was dismissed by the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission today.

Hoglund filed a complain with the SEEC earlier this week claiming that Cascade Bicycle Club and Transportation Choices Coalition improperly used taxpayer funds to substantially underwrite Streets For All Seattle and that the groups used hundreds of thousands of city dollars for the Prop 1 campaign.

"It really was a frivolous waste of taxpayers' money. [The opposition] had absolutely no foundation in facts or reality."" said Craig Benjamin,
Policy and Government Affairs Manager at Cascade Bicycle Club.

Discovery Shop Sale
4535 California Ave, S.W.
206 937 7169
Blue tagged items: 50% OFF, continues through Saturday, October 22nd. Pink clothing: 50% OFF, .each Tuesday in October. 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.

Continuing Education Classes
South Seattle Community College
6000 16th Ave. S.W.
Register now: 206-934-5339 or www.LearnAtSouth.org

Hidden Wine Gems for Affordable Prices
Friday, Oct. 14, 6-9 p.m. Discover how to find incredible wine at your local store by learning how the industry markets and packages their products. Savor wine made with non-traditional grapes and open up a whole new world of enjoyment! Cost: $29 + $10 materials fee.

Facebook Fundamentals
Saturday, Oct. 15, 9 a.m.-noon. New to Facebook? Have an account but aren’t sure what to do next? Learn to set up your account safely and use features to enhance your enjoyment of this incredible communication tool. Cost: $29.

Fall Rummage Sale
Tibbetts United Methodist Church
3940 41st Ave S.W.
932-7777

“The police have already been called!”
On Oct. 3 at 11:20 a.m. a woman living on SW Andover St was talking on the phone with a friend when someone started knocking on her front door and incessantly ringing the doorbell. She saw a tall black male with braids at the door and, not knowing the man, decided to call her brother who lives across the street. She quickly decided to call the police instead and as she was making the 911 call, heard the glass of one of her windows shatter. She screamed, “The police have already been called!” and saw two suspects run away. A witness observed the “doorman” ringing and knocking at the front door while his accomplice broke a basement window in the rear of the house. He gave chase after one of the suspects and saw him escape in a maroon Chevy Tahoe with a black hood.

Time for new friends

Click on image to start slideshow.

It was still dark when members of the Ballard High School SLAM club arrived at Ballard High School this morning to chalk messages of acceptance on the pavement.

But with enthusiasm the students got to work, writing messages like "All kids are important", "SLAM loves you", "Peace, Love, Acceptance", and even some David Bowie song lyrics from "Rock 'n' Roll suicide" on the school grounds,

The SLAM students were participating in the You-Are-Loved Chalk Message Project, a nationwide suicide-prevention awareness project that combats hateful rhetoric toward the LGBTQ community through the use of positive, uplifting chalk messages.

SLAM, which stands for Student Lives Always Matter, is Ballard's suicide prevention club. It was started by the friends of Maren DeVries, a student who committed suicide by jumping off the Aurora bridge in 2006. The club spends its time doing educational outreach to help students who need it and to let students know how to help their friends.

A Phinney resident reports that two bikes were stolen from his Phinney Ridge shed early Saturday morning.

They were attached with a cable lock to a heavy metal grate (from the old Greenlake School), which was taken as well.

The bikes were a 56 cm 2009 Pinarello CX Carbon Cyclocross and a 2010 Kona Paddy Wagon, size 56 with fenders and a white ISM Adamo saddle.

If you know of anything related to this theft, please call Lee at 206-783-3839

With the November election day just weeks away and another big election year around the corner, Republicans and Democrats are fighting for your attention.

Fighting even harder are the minor parties you don't hear about.

But Ballard happens to be the home of two leading ladies of third parties.

Neighbors in residence and politics,  Jody Grage has been the face of the Green Party in Seattle for years and Linde Knighton represents the Progressive Party.

A retired special education and math teacher, Grage is as busy at 76 as she's always been. She's a well-known local community activist, a voice for the Sustainability Movement, a recognized expert on Norwegian folk costumes and needlework, and she has been a leader in the local and national Green Party since leaving the Democratic Party decades ago.

The daughter of a Republican mother, Grage said she first became politically active when John Anderson ran for President.

In the early 1980's, Grage joined the Green Party.

press release:
Join Sustainable West Seattle for a unique film event: “The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil.” The screening will be 7 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Admiral Theater.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba’s economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens.