October 2011

press release:
Great progress by demolition and construction crews means the Alaskan Way Viaduct is expected to reopen midday Saturday between the West Seattle Bridge and the Battery Street Tunnel, a move expected to help relieve recent regional traffic congestion on Interstates 5 and 405 and local streets.

Starting this weekend, drivers will travel on a new, temporary construction bypass that will allow an estimated 110,000 vehicles a day to keep moving while construction on a replacement State Route 99 tunnel continues through the end of 2015.

Quick work by demolition crews allowed them to beat the scheduled Monday reopening of the viaduct by nearly two days.

“This project is six months ahead of schedule and today we’re again ahead of schedule,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said. “Thank you to the hard workers on this project, and the people of the region who were patient, found alternate routes and adjusted their schedules. Everyone showed a great spirit of cooperation.”

The Ballard Beavers have their last game of the Football season taking on the Redmond Mustangs at Memorial Stadium Saturday October 29th.  

Game starts at 2:00 p.m. and 12 seniors will be honored during the game:

◦ Captain Blake Sechler
◦ Captain Matt Kelly
◦ Captain Tony Meyer
◦ Captain Marcus Johnson
◦ Jesse Scott
◦ Eric Brake
◦ Eric Braga
◦ Chris Fong
◦ Jordan Christenson
◦ Kyle Kuenzi
◦ William Westgaard
◦ Taz Berkley

Track:

Running tomorrow at the Northwest Regional 4A Bi-District Championship at Lincoln Park are Seniors Alex Bowns and Victor Bailly and Juniors Matt Rusk and Anna Mirenzi. The boy's race is at 1:00 and the girl's is at 1:45. Runners will advance to the 4A State Championship if they finish in the top 25. 

Halloween weekend is upon us and there are events happening throughout the city starting this evening:

FRIDAY:

Seattle Parks and Recreation is offering numerous Halloween activities throughout the city this month. These events are either free or low-cost. In the Ballard area, Seattle Parks will be offering the following events:

- Haunted Bounce

Ballard Community Center, 6020 28th Ave. NW

Friday, Oct. 28, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

All ages

$2 per person


Join us for the Haunted Bounce. This Green Halloween event is kid-tested and parent-approved: no candy and all fun. Prizes are included

- Halloween Carnival

Loyal Heights Community Center, 2107 NW 77th St.

Friday, Oct. 28, 6 to 8 p.m.

Ages: 11 and younger

Free


Join us for a fright fest of activities. Show us your best costume and remember to bring a goodie bag. Festivities include Halloween carnival games, crafts, mini pumpkin decorating, cookie decorating, a cakewalk, and ghastly prizes. We’ll have a special area for tots.

- Teen Flashlight Pumpkin Hunt

Bitter Lake Community Center, 13035 Linden Ave. N


CLICK ON ABOVE PHOTO FOR MORE.

Fifth-graders from the Seattle Girls' School joined Nova High School students on the 39-foot Admiral Jack pontoon boat Thursday for a toxic tour of the Duwamish River. They left from Harbor Island Marina. The tour was sponsored by the Duwamish River Clean-up Coalition, or DRCC, and led by its director, James Rasmussen, a Duwamish River expert and member of the Duwamish tribe, and Alberto Rodriguez, with DRCC education and outreach. They were on hand to discuss the river's history, including its critical role in the lives of the Duwamish Indians, as well as causes for its pollution, and possible solutions. They also fielded a boat load of adult questions from the kids who apparently had done their homework on the waterway.

The fifth-grade teacher Jerda Smeltzer chaperoned her kids, and Stephany Hazelrigg her high schoolers.

Autumn Fest will come to a close with pumpkins for the animals, trick-or-treating, and live entertainment for little goblins and ghosts at Woodland Park Zoo’s popular Pumpkin Bash.

Pumpkin Bash celebrates fall with a repertoire of animal behavior as hippos, elephants, birds, bears and more crunch, smash or stomp on orange gourds of all sizes; trick-or-treating in the Pumpkin Promenade presented by Umpqua Bank; programs in Zoomazium’s indoor, nature play space; and crafts. Live entertainment at Pumpkin Bash includes Tribe, a children’s dance troop from Art Rise Dance School, and Thriller performances by Roosevelt High School. A schedule is available at: http://www.zoo.org/autumnfest.

Halloween-themed treats by Lancer Hospitality will be available for purchase in the Rain Forest Food Pavilion, including cupcakes, gourmet candy apples and cookies.

Pumpkins for animals are both days except as noted:

Jaguar at 10 a.m.
Gorillas 1 p.m., 1:20 p.m. (Sun. only)
Siamangs 10 a.m. (Sat. only)
Ocelots 1:30
Lion-tailed macaques 10:00 (Sun. Only)
Tigers 1:30 (Sat. only)
Hippos 10:30 a.m.
Snow leopards 1:30 (Sun. only)
Orangutans 10:30 (Sat. only)
Otters 1:30 (Sun. only)

UPDATE:

Officer Scott McGlashan informed us that the van was impounded and the registered owner is a person of interest. The investigation is still on-going.

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Crime news gatherer Jonah Spangenthal-Lee at PubliCola reports that a group of homeless men and women were brutally beaten in Ballard last Friday in what appears to be a random attack.

"The group was gathered on 15th Ave. NW and NW 56th St. around 4:00 pm on October 22nd, when a white Volkswagen van drove by and parked about a half-block away.

Four men exited the van a few minutes later and walked up to and attacked the homeless men and women, punching and kicking them before the suspects fled in their van.

The victims later told police they did not know the men who had attacked them. Officers were able to track the van to a home, where they found blood on a door handle. The van and its owner were not home at the time."

While Full Tilt celebrates the release of the Transformers pinball machine and a soft opening of their new Ballard location last week, they weren't officially opened as an ice cream shop due to final inspections.

But they announced on Facebook yesterday that they will officially open today, Nov 4, at noon.

"Ice Cream is loaded in the case," a post read. "It's official we are opening in Ballard tomorrow at noon. All inspections are done."

In addition to ice cream, Full Tilt will offer an impressive collection of sodas--all free of high fructose corn syrup-- and a pretty decent pinball line-up.

So far the Ballard location offers Transformers, Pinbot, Medieval Madness, Monster Bash, Whirlwind, Attack from Mars. Asteroid Annie, Charlies Angels, and more are coming in.

Full Tilt is located at 5453 Leary Ave N.W.

Previous article:

Full Tilt Ice Cream celebrates Ballard location opening with Transformers pinball tournament

On Saturday, Oct 29, the Seattle Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.

Last April, Seattle residents helped Washington state collect more than 8,535 pounds of unused or unwanted medicine (that’s roughly 4.25 million pills in a single day) during National Drug Take Back Day.

National Drug Take Back Day highlights the critical need for permanent safe drug disposal programs to reduce the rising rates of prescription drug abuse, overdoses, and accidental poisonings. In Washington state, drug overdose is the most common cause of accidental death, superseding car accidents, with an average of two deaths per day; and medicine cabinets are the new drug dealers.

By Cassandra Baker, Intern

9:30 p.m. on October 24th. 90th block of Greenwood Ave N

Residents at a Greenwood apartment answered a knock at the door on the night of October 24th to find a masked man who implied that he was armed. One of the residents recognized the man as an acquaintance. The suspect entered the apartment and took several electronic devices, then left in a waiting vehicle. Police later located the vehicle several blocks away, but the suspect was not in it.

At approximately 9:30 p.m. on October 26th, a North Precinct officer observed the suspect with a female at the 123rd block of 15th Ave NE and arrested the suspect. At the time of the arrest the suspect had a laptop and iPod similar to the devices that had been stolen. Officers also found that the suspect had a no-contact order with the female he was with at the time of his arrest. The suspect, 33, was booked in King County Jail on charges of robbery and violation of a no-contact order.

5:45 p.m. on October 22nd. 65th block of Earl Ave NW

Arson investigator Ronald Ready has pretty much seen it all when it comes to heat. Over the course of his 27 years with the Seattle Fire Department, 20 of those in the Arson and Fire Investigations Unit, he has investigated over 2500 fires and seen flames erupt in some very strange circumstances.

Ready brought his expertise to the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting on Oct. 18 to explain the science behind the Aug. 27 Arbor Heights fire on 41st Ave S.W.

The fire was ruled accidental by way of spontaneous combustion. Material left in a portable fire pit that had been stashed in a garage for two years suddenly burst into flame on a hot August day, fully consuming the house before firefighters were able to subdue it. The family was gone camping.

In the aftermath, questions were raised about sufficient water pressure to fire hydrants in the neighborhood. Responding firefighters were forced to spread their supply lines over a four to six block radius in order to get enough water (more on that later).

How the fire started