November 2011

The fifth annual Seattle Turkey Trot is coming up this Thanksgiving Day. What better way than to kick of Thanksgiving with this fun, family-friendly event to benefit the Ballard Food Bank?

The fifth annual Seattle Turkey Trot is a 5K fun-run or walk that takes people from 32nd Avenue NW and NW 85th Street down to Golden Gardens, helping them burn some calories before consuming all that indulgent Thanksgiving food.

Plus, all proceeds from this event will benefit the Ballard Food Bank as they prepare for the cold and busy winter months.

Last year, 1,100 people participated and over $19,000 was donated to the Ballard Food Bank. This year, organizers are expecting around 2,000 participants.

“During Thanksgiving, people spend a lot of time thinking about food. We want to raise money for those in our community who are helping the hungry,” says Matt Ramme, one of the event’s organizers. “We chose [to support] the Ballard Food Bank because it is a local Ballard non-profit and people can connect the run with a nearby organization.”

The Seattle Turkey Trot was started by Ballardites Erin Fortier, Matt Ramme, and John O'Brien.

By Christy Wolyniak, contributor

Young and old squeezed through the halls of the Nordic Heritage Museum for the annual Yulefest last weekend. Fiddle music and delicious smells wafted through the halls, welcoming the many quest into the holiday spirit.

The Nordic Café transformed the museum auditorium into a hall of feasting and mingling.

Live entertainment from the TinnFelen Hardanger Fiddle Ensemble played folk fiddle songs of Norway.
Tasty foods were served such as Scandinavian open-faced sandwiches, some being herring and boiled egg while others were egg salad or meatball. There were small potato and traditional lefse, filled with cinnamon and sugar. Tabletops were covered with tiny treats and holiday cookies, and if you were one of the lucky winners, your $2 raffle ticket might have won you tickets to Iceland.

In every room, some interesting and mouth-watering food was being prepared. Danish Ebleskiver –small, round waffle-like balls dipped in powdered sugar and jam lured people in while olunteers tenderly turned the batter with a long stick in an Ebleskiver griddle until they became fluffy round shapes.

By David Rosen and Patrick Robinson

The most spectacular Christmas lights in West Seattle, at least as far as animation, music and sheer amazement goes are back bigger, brighter and even more astounding than ever before. The West Seattle Herald brought you the story last year. Called the Helmstetler Family Christmas Spectacular it is a highly choreographed, musical and interactive display at at 3908 s.w. Charlestown Street.

The Herald got a sneak peek at this year's show with some remarkable lighting choreography to a jazzy version of We Three Kings by Go Fish (Watch the video to see and hear this one song preview). The big show gets underway at 7pm on Saturday Nov. 26 when a special member of the Seattle Sounders, Zach Scott will literally kick things into action.

CLICK THE PHOTO ABOVE TO SEE MORE

Donna O'Steen's sister, Shirley Lacy, has cut out every article that mentions the murder of her sister. She keeps them in scrapbooks, which after ten years are filled with dozens upon dozens of articles, obituaries, vigil flyers, and pictures.

November marks the tenth anniversary of Donna’s brutal murder and today the family knows as much about the person and motive behind the murder as they did ten years ago – nothing.

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think, ‘why her?’,” said Richard Haynie, Donna’s ex-husband. “We always hope that someone will be remorseful and come forward.”

Donna O’Steen-Haynie was killed on Thursday, November 8, 2001 in the master bedroom of her Shilshole home. The weather was cold but clear and Donna had just dropped her daughter, Morgan, off at her piano lesson. She was in a bad mood and briefly talked to her sister, Shirley, on the phone.

Less than half-an-hour after that phone call Donna would be dead, slashed 13 times around the neck and chest while her hands were duct-taped behind her back.

The Nordiska Folkdancers performed at the Nordic Heritage Museum’s annual Yulefest on Saturday, Nov 19. These two men were performing a humorous dance in which two men brawl in tune with the music.

A holiday tradition, Yulefest continues tomorrow, Nov 20, with hundreds of hand-crafted gifts, a jubilee of Scandinavian musical performances, and traditional Nordic cuisine that will inspire holiday cheer. Santa will also make a visit.

Yulefest’s traditional Scandinavian entertainment features fiddlers, singers, folk dancers and more.

Shop hand-crafted gifts from the many Nordic-inspired vendors, and enjoy Scandinavian food and drink available at several locations in the Museum.

The Nordic Café features open-faced Scandinavian sandwiches, krumkake, and lefse.

The Kaffestuga offers coffee, cookies, and pastries; and the Bodega, where guests enjoy special Scandinavian beverages such as glögg—hot spiced wine, a traditional beverage of the holiday season—and a selection of Nordic beers.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Seattle Police reports that on November 19th at approximately 2:05 a.m. officers responded to 911 calls of shots fired near 24th Avenue NW and NW Market Street.

Preliminary investigation indicates that a cab driver had been in a fare dispute with a customer (the suspect).

The suspect refused to pay and got into a vehicle and began to drive away. The suspect then stopped, pointed a handgun at the cab and fired one round. The bullet struck the driver’s side window of the cab. The suspect then drove off. The cab driver was not injured.

Responding officers conducted an area search however, the suspect remains at large.

This remains an active and on-going investigation.

Junction True Value Hardware and Northwest Art and Frame held near simultaneous open houses on Sat. Nov. 19 with the usual cider, cookies and coffee plus a chance to win a gas grill at the hardware store and visiting artists demonstrating their talents at the Art store.

Both events saw a lot of people show up to begin at least the exploration phase of the annual holiday shopping experience.

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On November 19 from 9 am until 7 pm, White Center Food Bank the Turkey Drive to collect donated frozen turkeys and chickens for Thanksgiving holiday distribution.

Warehouse Manager Joe Rice said the collection was going, "Great but if we could get more turkeys and more items for the holiday season we'd really appreciate it." He pointed out that stuffing, peanut butter, rice, yams, sweet potatoes, and "anything people would use at a holiday dinner," are what they are seeking.

The Food bank expects to serve over 1,000 families for Thanksgiving.

"The White Center Food Bank has seen record numbers of families this year. We did a senior distribution on Thursday and we saw 350 seniors, just on that one day."

The food bank is also looking forward to Christmas and doing another drive then but the need continues and any kind of food or monetary contribution to help hungry families in White Center would be appreciated.

Corwood Productions, creators behind the Seattle Based TV pilot, the Divine Marigolds, are shooting a new film titled All My Presidents Nov. 18 to 20t at two North Admiral houses in West Seattle. All My Presidents is a short film, created by West Seattle resident and executive producer Sarah Mackay as a tribute to her grandfather. According to the film's press release, "All My Presidents is about a young boy who, after losing his father, grabs ahold of the only thing left, the ideology of U.S. presidents. The film is set in 1954 through 1992 and explores the coming of age in a political world and finding your own voice."

Facebook link to this film: http://www.facebook.com/pages/All-My-Presidents/181999161885839

Producers/actors: Lisa Coronado and Alder Sherwood
Director: Connor Hair
Co-Producers: Lorraine Montez of Abundant Productions, Jeremiah Kaynor of Corvus Eye Productions, who works with Corwood Productions.

Director of Photography is Ryan Purcell and Rick Walters is 1st AD. Also starring David Hogan, Riley Donahue, Brian Sutherland, and other Seattle talent.

Roxhill Elementary 3rd graders had a surprise Tuesday, Nov. 15 thanks to Ralph Davis of the Seattle Rotary Club, and former NASA astronaut John Creighton. Mr. Davis and the Rotary Club gifted each 3rd grader with a dictionary, pens and pencils.

Mr. Creighton offered official autographed NASA photos. The students listened to Mr. Creighton describe life in space and hurriedly looked up words like shuttle, launch, and space station.

As third grader Victor G. reported, “I got a dictionary of my very own, and I met an astronaut! This is the best day of my life!”