December 2011

By Kyle Howard

Tyee and Ingraham took the court for a non-league matchup Thursday night Dec. 22 at Tyee High School. Tyee’s defense would prove to be the key factor in their 43-22 win. Ingraham had no shot attempts through the first half of the opening quarter. Their only point came from a lone free throw as Tyee led 10-1 going into the second quarter. Ingraham’s first made field goal came at the 6:40 mark, 10 minutes and 20 seconds into the game. There would only be two made from Ingraham in the entire half.

Tyee forced over 40 Ingraham turnovers throughout the game, with 27 of them coming from steals. Tyee’s offense struggled in the first half, scoring just 16 points with lots of missed shots in the paint and shooting 0-for-9 from three-point range.

The Totems warmed up in the second half, scoring 27 points compared to the 16 they scored in the first.

The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement regarding heavy rains and wind expected across the greater Seattle area throughout the next few days.

Special Weather Statement
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
329 PM PST TUE DEC 27 2011

...ACTIVE WEATHER WILL CONTINUE FOR WESTERN WASHINGTON THIS WEEK...

A SERIES OF VIGOROUS FRONTAL SYSTEMS WILL MOVE THROUGH WESTERN WASHINGTON TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY.

THE FIRST SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH WESTERN WASHINGTON TONIGHT...BRINGING WIND WEATHER AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINS.

A SECOND SYSTEM WILL BRING MORE RAIN TO THE AREA LATER WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THIS SYSTEM WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF WINDY CONDITIONS TO THE AREA ALONG WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN.

A THIRD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA ON THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY. FORECAST MODELS HAVE BEEN INCONSISTENT WITH THE DETAILS BUT THIS SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE THE STRONGEST OF THE WEEK.
ANOTHER ROUND OF WINDY CONDITIONS AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN IS LIKELY. IN ADDITION...THE MOUNTAINS ABOVE 3000 FEET COULD SEE SIGNIFICANT SNOW DURING THIS TIME.

press release:
Coming at the end of this week are two significant changes involving our Ticket Vending Machines (TVM).

On Thursday, December 29, we will be installing a second TVM at the Seacrest Dock in West Seattle. This TVM will be located adjacent to our current TVM and is in response to our rising ticket demands.

On the same date, a new King County Ferry District fare policy will be implemented. Tickets sold through our TVMs will now show a sixty day expiration date on them. Please be aware of this change, as the ticket will not be valid beyond the listed date.

Poetry Bridge Poetry & Storytelling Readings

NEXT READING

(Updated with both bio's.)

The October 27th the Poetry Bridge sponsored storytelling and poetry reading will feature two artists at C&P Open Mic, Thaddeus Gunn and Leopoldo Seguel.

More information here.

Thaddeus Gunn is a creative consultant by trade and has worked on campaigns for everyone from Microsoft and T-Mobile to Nickelodeon and Disney. He was the recipient of a Seattle Award in 2005 for his work with AOL. His screenplay Hieronymous Deadband was optioned by Imagi Entertainment in 2009. He studied creative writing at the University of Southern California with PEN/Faulkner winner TC Boyle.

Two men are being treated for gunshot wounds after an unknown suspect opened fire during a fight outside a Tukwila bar around 1:15 a.m. on Dec. 27, according to Mike Murphy with the Tukwila Police Department.

According to Murphy, it began with a fist fight between two women in the parking lot of the Annex Tavern on the 10300 block of E. Marginal Way.

Someone opened fire and two men were hit. One man is in serious condition after being shot several times and another was shot in the leg and is expected to recover, according to Murphy.

By the time police arrived, minutes later according to Murphy, the suspect had fled.

It is an active investigation and we will update as more information comes in.

An increase in the solid waste disposal fees goes into effect Jan. 1 to help cover rising costs the Solid Waste Division of the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks said today in a press release. The higher revenues will also aid in modernizing the 50 year old solid waste handling system.

From the release:
"An average residential customer who puts out one can of garbage per week for curbside collection is likely to see an increase of about 82 cents per month in the garbage bill from their hauler to cover the new disposal fees.

The new fee applies to residents of King County who pay for curbside collection service or who use a County transfer station and live outside the cities of Seattle and Milton, which are part of separate solid waste handling systems. This is just the second increase in a dozen years, and King County’s disposal fee will remain lower than those in Seattle, Tacoma and Pierce County.

King County is in the midst of a modernization program that will update its 1960s-era network of transfer stations to meet the needs of residential self-haulers, businesses and garbage collection companies.

Myrtle came in to my life in 1999 via a colleague who was moving to Minnesota and couldn’t take her with him. I already owned a cat and figured why not add another one to my household so they could be “friends.” That never happened, to no fault of Myrtle’s, but rather the dominant princess attitude of the first cat.

The Ballard Elks club will be hosting their second annual Pledge or Plunge this Sunday, January 1st.

Last year, 11 volunteers braved the cold Puget Sound water to take a New Year's Day plunge and raise $3000.00 for Elks Charities.

This year many more people are taking pledging to plunge, according to the club.

The Plunge will be take place at 1 p.m. New Years Day at the beach next to the Ballard Elks Lodge, 6411 Seaview Ave NW.

Elks Charities include

- The Washington State Thereapy Program

Washington Elks Therapy Program for Children provides occupational and physical therapy services to children with developmental delays or physical disabilities. These services are provided under the direction of a physician and at no cost to the families. Priority is given to infants and young children who would otherwise go without services due to lack of resources, transportation, and health status. Services are provided in the home with the parent/guardian present

- Childrens Hospital

- Veterans

The king tides, a popular name for unusually high tides, primarily used in the southern hemisphere have returned and will recur for the next 30 days or so. Photographer David Rosen recorded the 12.8 tide looking north toward downtown Seattle from the Spokane Street fishing pier and another view looking east along the Alki Beach Promenade.

King tides are caused by the sun and moon’s gravitational pull as they fall in alignment with the earth.

A winter king tide is most commonly after dark and draws less attention. With longer days in summer, a king tide can bring many people out to witness it.

Last January the king tide reached over 13 feet and will not be as high again until next December 15.

The corresponding low tide was recorded at -3.1 on Friday, December 23, 2011 and Saturday, December 24, 2011 and Monday, December 26, 2011 at -2.8

You can look at the National Oceanagraphic and Atmospheric Adminstration tide predictions here http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/tide_predictions.shtml?gid=259

The Washington State Department of Ecology interactive map on this year's king tide is here
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/climatechange/ipa_hightide_map.htm

Controversies continued in 2011.

Most of them were left over from years past or flared up one again such as Burien annexation and the SeaTac Elected Mayor Proposition.

PLEASE CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE FOR MORE

Here is a month-by-month look back at what made the news in Highline this past year:

January
The Des Moines Police Guild demanded the resignation of Mayor Bob Sheckler because of statements he made shortly after a Des Moines police officer shot and killed Rosie, a Newfoundland dog, in November. Sheckler called the demand “absurd.”
Des Moines interim police chief John O’Leary said there would be no formal disciplinary action against the officers involved in the shooting.

Former Highline Times publisher Al Sneed and ex- White Center librarian Gertrude Finney both died in January.

Controversial activist Bill Ayers spoke at Highline Community College in Des Moines during Martin Luther King Jr. Week.

February