April 2012

The Ballard High School's girls lacrosse team is currently in second place in their conference, according to a Washington State Prep Lacrosse listing.

With eight games played, the team has won four games and lost four, and is tied for second place with Kennedy High School.

And as of April 17th, Ballard High School junior Sophie Mora is ranked fifth in the Washington State Prep Lacrosse listing of girls varsity scoring leaders.

The ranking methodology took in account the number of games played and the number of goals and points scored as well as the number of assists.

In the eight conference games played, Mora scored 36 goals for Ballard for a total of 46 points, averaging 5.75 points per game. She also made 10 assists.

There’s a couple garden plots left at Burien’s Community Garden.

The garden plots, open to Burien residents, are located just west of the Burien Community Center Annex at Southwest 144th St. and 4th Avenue Southwest.

To sign up for a plot or for more information, contact Burien Parks at 206-988-3700.

Press release:

Find fresh-from-the-farm produce, locally crafted food products and unique handmade wares at the Burien Farmers Market opening Thursday, May 3.

The market operates every Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through October 25 in Burien Town Square in downtown Burien.

Fresh and local are the market’s produce mantra. Just-picked produce is sold directly by farmers from Western Washington, plus a few from the other side of the state. Buying from the farmers themselves means better prices for fresher food, according to Debra George, event manager for the Discover Burien Association.

Among the market’s new edibles are fresh fudge and Washington wines from Piccola Cellars. Seattle Bagels and raw honey will join the many returning vendors offering items such as organic produce, freshly baked goods and one-of-a-kind handicrafts.

Enjoy a lunch of affordable eats from the market’s hotdog cart and other market vendors. Dine at one of the market’s patio tables to live music by Eric “Two Scoops” Moore from noon to 3 p.m.

The next Recovery Night for B-Town’s Recovering Youth in Motion is set for Wednesday, April 25 in the King County Library Multipurpose Room, 400 S.W. 152nd St.

The event is from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Young people 13-25, who are recovering from drug or alcohol addiction, are welcome.

There will be music, games, movies, prizes and pizza.

For more information, call 206-251-9171.

Tuesday afternoon, April 17, the websites of the Robinson Newspapers, www.westseattleherald.com, www.highlinetimes.com, and www.ballardnewstribune.com were the victim of an internet attack.

Known as a Directed Denial of Service attack, the intent was malicious and took all our sites down for over an hour. Since we had inquiries about this problem we felt it was important to explain what a DDOS is.

In an attack of this type, typically groups of computers are unwittingly recruited through the use of a worm that allows the person, group or company directing the attack to take control of unprotected systems. That control is then used to bombard a particular website server with requests, very quickly.

This means that the websites effectively shut down.

We were able to successfully repel the attack and want to assure all our readers that at no time was there a chance that any harm might come to your system. No viruses, worms or other harmful software is ever sent by or made possible through our websites.

We have not yet identified who might want to damage or harm our websites but are working to learn more. We do know that the attack came from the United States.

5-12 UPDATE WITH SLIDESHOW. CLICK ON PHOTO FOR MORE
Cash Mobbers left the Round Table Pizza parking lot on 1st Avenue S. at 3:00 p.m. Saturday, May 11, and hiked a block and a half to Lasting Legacy Antiques, 101 SW 160th St. at 1st Av.The mobbers were small in number, but large in spirit, as each spent at least $20 at the local business. The shop offers items from 25 purveyors. On March 24 mobbers converged on Goodie Gumdrops Toys, Games, Books & Candy, 816 SW 152nd St. The regular event highlights area ma & pa businesses and encourages people to shop locally.

"I am very thankful that people came out today," said owner Kimberly Gray. "I think it's a great message that if every person in the community spent $20 in a small business it would make a big difference."

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Press release from Cash Mob Burien:

Man we have an awesome community! Way to go Friends and Fans! Here's the info you've all been waiting for...

BREAKING NEWS: Cash Mob Burien

The 2012 Cove to Clover event has raised $85,600. Of that amount, $47,500 was in cash donations, $12,500 came from the sponsored student runner, and $25,600 from Brooks Shoe Donation.

Here is the approximate breakdown of recipients:

Highline Area Food Bank $ 14,000
Highline Schools Foundation $ 9,000
YET Club $9,000
School PTA's $3,000
Hospitality House $3,000
New Futures $3,000
Para Los Ninos $2,500
Normandy Park Lions Club $2,500
Bridge School $500
SeaTac Explorers $500
Highline Hardball $500

"Gunnar is the third pup we've gotten through the German Shepherd Rescue Program," said his owner Kevin Nolan. Gunnar joins two other older dogs in the Nolan home.

The Washington State based organization's mission statement reads,"To find loving homes for surrendered, abandoned or neglected dogs and puppies. Washington GSD Rescue hopes to ease the problem of the population overflow occuring in many of our shelters today. We educate the individual on the importance of sterilizing the pet and providing superior care."

"They do their best to find homes for German Shepherd dogs," said Nolan," and puppies are very rare but evidently they had a breeder that got sick and couldn't take care of her dogs. She had one last set of puppies before she closed down her business."

At seven months Gunnar weighs 60 lbs. so, "he's going to be a big boy," Nolan said.

"It was time to bring in some new blood," Nolan explained because the the older dogs, at 13 and 9 are, "getting up there in age." German Shepherds typically live around 15 years maximum.

Seattle Police Southwest Precinct leadership and Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendant Christopher Williams swung by the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting on April 17 to talk safety in our parks and general crime trends for the area.

Safety in our parks
Seattle is known for its ample green space, and along with those open spaces comes hiding spots naturally provided by plants and trees. Our parks are also home to crime, from the nuisance behavior of teenagers drinking beer at night in Lincoln Park to serious criminal acts including the still-unsolved murder of Greggette Guy at Me-Kwa-Mooks Park in March of this year.

Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent Christopher Williams, an ’82 Chief Sealth alumni who grew up in West Seattle, discussed how his department works with SPD to increase park safety.

He said it is a multipronged approach, including:
1) CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) and landscaping to ensure hiding spots are kept to a minimum and clear lines of sight are available for visitors.

The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce honored Pete Spalding as West Sider of the Year and AmericanWest Bank as Business of the Year at their annual Awards Breakfast Wednesday morning April, 18.

Also honored were The Grove West Seattle Inn as Emerging Business of the Year and the West Seattle Garden Tour as Westside Not-For-Profit Business of the Year.

The Chamber cited Spalding's work as a "tireless advocate and civic leader for West Seattle. Pete has been an active member of the West Seattle Food Bank board, serves on the Southwest Precinct Advisory Council, the Pigeon Point Neighborhood Council and other community groups." In thanking the Chamber for the award Spalding mentioned that he tries to live up to the phrase from Mahatma Ghandi who said, "be the change you want to see in the world."