January 2012

Longtime Seattle Seafair Pirate fans may recall the edgier era of those saber-rattling, masked men. Member Robb Zerr, was "Hurricane" from 1982-1990. He just wrote a new book, "Memoirs of a Buccaneer: 30 Years Before the Mast", a 432-page paperback, and Kindle. He recounts episodes of hooliganism, Caribbean travels, drinking, romancing the "wenches", and, well, more drinking.

He will sign his book at the Shipwreck Tavern, 4210 SW Admiral Way, Saturday, 4:pm-9:pm. (206) 420-4718. Other pirate "colleagues" of Zerr will also appear, all in costume for a festive reunion.

The Renton-born professional writer lived in West Seattle 15 years and now lives on Hutchison Island in Florida, north of Palm Beach, and a bit closer to the Caribbean Islands like a "good" pirate. He does corporate work for his Communicreations. He also writes a daily blog of musings called RobZerrvations.com.

The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory for Western Washington with winds predicted to gust up to 45 mph. The advisory will remain in effect until 10 am. Trees, whose limbs were damaged by the weight of this weeks ice storm may come down in these winds.

Wind Advisory
URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
303 PM PST FRI JAN 20 2012

...A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR MOST OF WESTERN WASHINGTON. A STRONG FRONTAL SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH THE REGION THIS EVENING...WITH A STRONG TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE REACHING WESTERN WASHINGTON AROUND DAYBREAK SATURDAY...

...WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 10 AM PST SATURDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED A WIND ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 10 AM PST SATURDAY.

* SOME AFFECTED LOCATIONS...EVERETT...SEATTLE...TACOMA...OLYMPIA.

* TIMING...SOUTHEAST WINDS WILL INCREASE AHEAD OF THE FRONT THIS EVENING. THE WIND WILL SHIFT TO SOUTHWESTERLY BEHIND THE FRONT.

By Nancy Woodland

With the snow melting outside my window, I think of the families served by local food banks, WestSide Baby, and other important social service agencies that have been closed by the snow. I woke this morning wondering what all the babies are doing without diapers. Snow is a fun treat and also a minor inconvenience for my family as we figure out whether we can get into work, whether the milk will be delivered and how to entertain our kids without having them watching a screen all day. It has much bigger consequences for our neighbors in poverty. For families that rely on the support of food banks, school lunch programs and diaper banks, snow is much more than a minor inconvenience.

In March of 2010 a small group of West Seattleites and members of St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church set out on a 9000 mile trek to build a secondary school in Mulundi Village, Kenya.

You can read about their trip here and here.

The inspiration for the trip came from St. John members Mike and Janet Johnson (Janet is from Mulundi and Mike met her there while working together on humanitarian efforts in the region in the 2000).

“The path is elementary school is probably the highest you will ever go in that village,” Janet said before the trip, estimating one in 600 elementary students in the region get the chance to attend high school. She said most students and their families cannot afford the fees associated with that next step in schooling that may lead to a college education.

Press release:

Due to weather, unsafe roads, and the condition of Seahurst Park, the Environmental Science Center regrets to cancel the Moonlight Beach Walk on Saturday, January 21st. We hope to reschedule the event in spring/summer. Please stay tuned.

Thank you for your understanding.

The media coverage (some might say frenzy) leading up to this week’s storm hit the airwaves hard by mid January. There were predictions of over a foot of snow hitting the region and anticipations of society coming to a halt as a result. "Snowmageddon", "Snowpocalypse" and other terms meant to both prepare and alarm people were used by media outlets everywhere.

While the predictions were ultimately off on the storm’s course, the predicted impact was spot on.

The snow showed up in scant amounts by Sunday, Jan. 15, but the real payload started dropping in the early morning hours on Wednesday, the 18th.

And it just kept dropping.

Public works departments fired up their snowplow fleets and hit the streets, but it was a tall order to keep up with the main arterials, let alone the side streets.

Traffic conditions across the region became treacherous, people were urged to stay home – some were simply unable to leave even if they wanted to, schools shut down, meetings and events were cancelled by the dozen and garbage collection screeched to a stop.

When Dawn Hemminger moved to Seattle in 1993, she lived in various neighborhoods before settling down in Ballard.

"At the time it was affordable and there was just something about Ballard that attracted me," Hemminger said.

Originally from North Carolina, the Georgia Tech graduate moved to Seattle for a job at Boeing. Little did she know that she would find more than just an affordable house in Ballard--she would find a sense of belonging.

After moving into her new East Ballard home just eight blocks from her previous house, Hemminger found a completely different community.

"East Ballard is a very different neighborhood," she said. "It's friendly and inviting."

At the time of the move Hemminger was in the state of her life where she "focused less on a career and more on what makes me feel whole.'"

Running, green space, and community were part of that.

press release:
Seattle Public Schools will hold classes on Friday, Jan. 27 as a snow make-up day.
No school was scheduled for next Friday, a professional development day for staff, but instead will be used as a make-up day for one of the three snow days this week, as outlined in the 2011-12 school calendar.

A determination on making up the additional snow days, most likely at the end of the school year, will be decided next week.

“It is important to get our students back in the classroom next week,” said Interim Superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield. “We know some families may have made out-of-town plans for next Friday, and we apologize for any inconvenience this causes.”

There will still be a three-hour early dismissal on Tuesday, Jan. 24 for a scheduled furlough day for teachers and staff represented by the Seattle Education Association (SEA). That day cannot be used as a snow make-up day.

For more information, please contact Lesley Rogers, Chief Communications Officer, at (206) 255-2811 or larogers1@seattleschools.org

By Shane L. Harms, Intern.

On any given day in Ballard, Tim Allen can be seen cleaning the sidewalks along N,W. Market Street in the company of his two Jack Russell Terriers, Rico and Zeta. Carrying a white five-gallon bucket for donations as he works a broom vigorously down the street from 15th Avenue all the way to 24th Avenue, it's apparent Tim is financial straights.

Last December Tim was laid off from painting and doing odd jobs for a local apartment owner. Since then Tim has been living in his Ford truck. With only a few dollars left to his name, Tim bought a bucket and a broom and started sweeping the streets.

“When I brought that bucket down there I thought, 'Hey, if I start cleaning the streets somebody might put some money in the bucket. The streets are always dirty’…I had no idea what to expect. It was a Sunday morning and I remember I had gone two blocks and somebody put a dollar in the bucket,” he said.

Tim said he sweeps the sidewalks because he needs to feel busy and deserving of any donations passerby's drop into the bucket.

Like slowing down to leer at a gruesome car accident, viewers seem fascinated with popular TV shows that take them inside hoarders' homes. We can't help but stare at those obsessed with hanging on to everything, decades-old paper napkins, opened cans of beans feasted upon by cockroaches, even bulky inflatable children's toys that have not held air since the Hindenburg disaster.

West Seattle professional organizer Karen Pfeiffer Bush helps hoarders unclutter their homes, inside and out. She works with therapists who assist hoarders with their underlying psychological problems that compel them to retain stuff they will never use that in some cases becomes a danger to themselves, and their kids, like out-dated foods, and heavy boxes stacked precariously to the ceiling.