April 2012

Earth Day at the Duwamish Longhouse Cultural Center Saturday, April 21, featured a presentation by two teens, including the granddaughter of Cecile Hansen, Chairwoman of the Duwamish Tribe.

Alyssa Williams, 14, lives with her mother Cindy in Tukwila, and Cindy's mother, Cecile, Alyssa's grandmother, lives in Burien. In a digital story project, with the aid of stock photos of Duwamish River filth and their narration, Alyssa and Jack Trotman, 15, both Duwamish members, offer a plea to clean the polluted Duwamish River.

The Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, or DRCC, offered them technical assistance to help understand the polluted river's plight. The presentation will be shown again, in front of EPA representatives for the DRCC.

Umpqua Bank at 2620 California Ave SW in the Admiral District was the scene of a Pet Adoption event held Saturday April, 21 in support of Seattle based rescue matching service Saving Great Animals (SGA) Britni Curtis of SGA said, "We're hoping to bring awareness and introduce people to dogs that are available." SGA's website states: "Saving Great Animals has been working tirelessly as a no-kill, foster-based rescue for the last 8 years. In 2007, SGA became an official member of Petfinder and is now working with a wide network of foster homes and numerous shelters around the state to find permanent homes for animals that are deserving of love and a family. Many of the dogs and cats we rescue would otherwise face unnecessary euthanasia."

Sindy Staggers of SGA said, "We're 2500 adoptions strong," and explained, "We operate out of a foster system and the dogs need a place to kind of let their soul catch up with their body. We're sort of a matchmaking service."

The 8th Annual Gathering of Neighbors (GoN) event April 21 was in some ways an effort to be all things to all neighbors with representatives from almost every West Seattle community organization somehow represented and topics from conservation, to neighborhood engagement, to emergency preparedness discussed.

The attendance was fairly light, owing in part to the sunny day and many other options but those who came had a chance to meet with people from groups as diverse as the Delridge Produce Cooperative to South Seattle Community College during the resource fair portion of the event.

SLIDESHOW, Click on photo for more

The Senior Center of West Seattle's fiesta-themed Rainbow Bingo event last night produced a carnival atmosphere as a packed house of light-hearted, dauber-armed revelers competed for cash and gift baskets while raffle prizes of wine and other goodies were awarded. Dave Robertson was circulating with his circular tray of circular Jell-O shot molds of many colors, a fitting treat for those ordering a rainbow round of drinks.

West Seattle's newest celebrity, the brand new Trader Joe's store captain, Sean Greutert, called one of the games sporting a large sombrero.

Each time someone yelled, "Bingo!", boos from the crowd of "losers" erupted. Some even crunched their losing bingo sheets into a wad to hurl at strangers at other tables, all in fun, of course.

Update for May 10
An early design guidance meeting is set for May 24, the first official chance for public comment on a proposed 7-story mixed use apartment/retail complex to be built in the old Petco space in the Junction.

Date: Thursday, May 24, 2012
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Youngstown Cultural Arts Center Theater, 4408 Delridge Way S.W.

With the meeting announcement from Seattle's Department of Planning and Development comes a few more details on the project proposed by Urban Evolution out of Seattle and The Wolff Company of Spokane.

The proposal is for a new seven-story, 80 unit residential building with 18 live-work units and 5,000 sq. ft. of retail and/or office at ground level. Parking for 70 vehicles will be located below grade. Existing structure to be demolished.

PROCESS

Press release:

SeaTac investigators have determined that a fire, which destroyed a small travel trailer in the 3400 block of S. 167th Street was caused by oil overheating on a stove top and catching fire.

The fire, which was reported at 8:24p.m. Friday, April 20, was quickly contained by SeaTac firefighters within minutes of their arrival. Firefighters also used water to protect a home, which was close to the parked trailer. The unoccupied home was undamaged.

Fortunately, no one was hurt by the fire though two people have been displaced. They will be cared for by family and friends.

Keep an eye on what you fry. Whenever you cook on your stovetop, stay in the kitchen. It is very easy to become distracted by children, the TV, and the phone. If you leave the kitchen, shut off the burners.

Also, make the area in front of the stove a “kids free zone”. Do not allow children into this area where they may be burned by hot pans, burners, or splattering oil. Turn pot and pan handles towards the back of the stove as an extra precaution against children bumping or grabbing them.

by Paul Moseley

The 3A West Seattle Wildcats hosted the 4A Ballard Beavers in an inter-conference game at Hiawatha field Friday, April 20. Ballard entered the game with a 7-6 (5-6 league) record looking to continue the move above .500 after a big 14-2 win over Garfield thursday. West Seattle is hovering in the upper section of the Metro league with an 8-4 (7-4 league) record. Both teams are working hard to stay in the top of their divisions in pursuit of post season play.

In a fast paced game, Ballard kicked it off in the 1st inning with a solo homer by Rory Graf-Brennen. West Seattle blanked in the bottom of the 1st, and both teams practiced defense in the 2nd inning, leaving Ballard up 1-0 after two.

West Seattle fought back in the third, keeping Ballard off the scoreboard and picking off a runner at first. Back on offense, West Seattle got a single from Luke Wiggins and followed a double by Jeff Freeman, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd. Ballard intentionally walked the next batter, loading the bases. West Seattle's Kyle Herard then hit a single driving in 2 runs and West Seattle was up 2-1.

By Kyle Howard

The Tyee Totems took on the Evergreen Wolverines on Tuesday, April 17 for their second matchup this season. Evergreen came out seeking revenge after losing to Tyee, 5-1, on March 20. Evergreen only had 11 available players for this game, meaning they had no substitutes available.

This game would prove to be nearly identical to their first matchup. Evergreen scored first and then from then on it was all Tyee, as the Totems scored four unanswered goals, beating the Wolverines once again -- this time with the score 4-1.

Evergreen scored 17 minutes into the game with a nice shot from Josue Grados 15 yards out, but that would prove to be it for the game. Tyee got things together at the end of the half when Jose Aguniga tied the game at one with just over three minutes left.

Tyee came out strong in the second half and scored quickly in just three and half minutes on a corner kick taken by Freddi Altamirano crossing the field into the box when Kevin Medina nicely headed the ball into the back of the net for the goal to take the lead 2-1.

Times are tough, no doubt about it. Jobs are scarce. That's why you have to scare them up. I've done that in spades--and with spades--for as long as I can remember. My first job was selling apples from our backyard tree. That worked out fine until my brother Russell and I started eating the apples--the good ones, anyway.

I piled wood around the neighborhood and tossed sticks down to basements so folks could keep their furnaces stoked. I picked brock (today known as "weeds") for our family salads, lots of berries and did plenty of chores.

Later I sold magazine subscriptions door to door. Housewives often fell for my well manicured sales pitches and gooey eye-rolling routine, but their husbands were often wary, slipping me a nickel to take my act on down the road. But when I did make a sale, I was rolling in the dough. Enough to buy my first Daisy air rifle, anyway.

When brother Albert brought home can after can of pork and beans from his CCC job, I flirted with the idea of selling any surplus--but they tasted so good that I had to keep them as samples.

Whoever said, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” obviously didn’t know what they were talking about.
Or, at the very least, they weren’t a woman with insecurities about her appearance.

Burien Little Theatre’s production of “reasons to be pretty” by Neil LaBute tells the story of how one tiny slip up can unexpectedly surface years of deeply held personal baggage. Told with humor, drama and fiery dialogue, this is a play that will definitely teach you that words do, in fact, hurt.

Greg (Gaelen J. Poage) is an average Joe who is having relationship problems with his longtime girlfriend Steph (Sarah Rose Nottingham). In casual conversation Greg lets it slip that he doesn’t consider Steph to be a great beauty, but it’s okay because he loves her anyway. This well-intentioned but foolish faux pas spirals into a hellish nightmare where Greg is hounded endlessly for this unfortunate admittance.