May 2012

The Ballard Track and Field Team and had a great showing at the KingCo Championships this past week. Five Ballard student-athlethes became Kingco Champions with first place finishes, and a total of sixteen athletes will be moving on to the district championships against Wesco on Wednesday, May 16 and Friday, May 18 at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.

Ballard's Emma Suchland broke the school record for the 200 M, and the girls 4 x 400 team broke the school record as well. The girls team finished 5th overall and the boys took 9th.

The following athletes were Kingco Champions:
Emma Suchland 100 M and 200 M (new school record for the 200 M)
Mia Wrey 800 M
Alex Bowns 3200 M
Stuart Thomas 300 M Hurdles

The following athletes are going to Districts:
Alex Bowns 1600 M and 3200 M
Stuart Thomas 110 M Hurdles and 300 M Hurdles
Robert Meyer Shot Put
Matt Kelly Javelin
Carolyn Birkenfeld 100/200/400/4x400
Emma Suchland 100/200/4x400/4x100
Cora Davis 800 and 4x400
Chase Hagar 4x100
Maria Culp 4x100
Taki Horiuchi 4x100
Lauren Kangas 4x400
Rachel Livengood 4x400
Maria Volk 4x100

press release
Seattle Public Schools has scheduled a second public hearing to accept comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Building Excellence Program IV (BEX IV). The hearing will be held on Tuesday, May 22, 5:00-6:00 p.m. at Roxhill Elementary School, located at 9430 30th Ave SW in Seattle.

In addition, Seattle Public Schools is extending the comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The comment period, originally scheduled to end May 9, has been extended through May 25.

Written comments should be directed to:

Noel Treat, SEPA Responsible official
John Stanford Center for Educational Excellence
2445 3rd Avenue South
Seattle WA 98134

Or by email to: jawolf@seattleschools.org

Baby monitor saves the night
Around 3 a.m. on May 4 a mother on the 5200 block of 21st Ave S.W. woke up to a strange sound emitting from the baby monitor in the room where her two children slept. She went to check on the kids and realized their bedroom window was shaking, as if someone was trying to jar it open. She gathered her kids and her husband called 911. After a moment of silence they heard someone trying to open the back door, which was secured with a deadbolt. They saw a male suspect at that point and watched him walk back to the window for another failed attempt before sauntering across the street to attempt breaking into a neighbor’s truck. Two Southwest Precinct officers arrived and arrested the18-year-old male for attempted burglary.

It must be your dad

Drawn by a stunning water view, community and a desire to give back , nearly 100 people joined the Ballard Elks last year - a most welcoming development.

For decades, they've been struggling with recruitment.

"Nationally, Elks have an image problem," said Anthony Gibbs, Exalted Ruler of the Ballard Elks. "And usually that problem is being out of sight."

The Ballard Elks, more formally known as Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge #827, is part of a network of Elks lodges that collectively make up one of the leading fraternal orders in the U.S.

Founded by a small group of actors and entertainers in 1868, the Elks started as a private social club named "Jolly Corks". They later added a sense of purpose and opened their memberships to allow other professions, people of color, and women.

It has an impressive list of famous members which include men like former presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy as well as actors like Ben Affleck and athletes such as NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback and MLB Player, Ace Parker.

By Elizabeth Wang, Intern

Though being a mother is a full-time job, Joanna Gilchrist still finds the energy to spend six days out of the week to be a personal trainer, without ever having to leave her 14-month-old daughter alone.

As the franchise owner and only instructor for the Ballard-region Stroller Strides program, Gilchrist spends most her time with helping other moms get into shape while sharing helpful parenting tips.

The Ballard Stroller Strides had its grand opening in March and since then, Gilchrist has seen more and more moms sign up for her classes.

“It’s been great,” Gilchrist said. “It’s been growing by word of mouth. And moms love it, they tell their friends and they tell their friends.”

The three classes that Gilchrist teaches are the Stroller Strides fitness program, the Running Club!, and the Fit4Baby prenatal-exercise class. For non-members, Stroller Strides offers a play group for moms to bring in their children to interact with one another.

By Katy Wilkens and Sarah Martin

When you follow a low-sodium diet, cheese can pack a salty punch. In fact, it’s one of the top 10 foods contributing salt to the American diet, and salt is a big problem for people who want healthy hearts and kidneys. But there are great low-sodium choices. You just have to know where to look.

Almost all cheeses, with the exception of Swiss, mozzarella, and fresh cheeses like farmer’s cheese or Mexican queso fresco, have lots of salt. Some aged cheeses like cheddar have as much as 200 mg per ounce. Processed cheeses, like American singles, can have as much as 600 mg per ounce. That’s a hefty hit against the daily 1,500 mg to 2,000 mg recommended for all Americans.

To help cut salt, we have been playing around with a soft cheese from India called paneer. Most brands are very low in sodium. The Nanak brand from Canada has only 5 mg of sodium per ounce. That is really low!

You can buy paneer in international grocery stores, Costco carries the Nanak brand, or you can make it following this simple recipe below. You can also substitute extra firm tofu in both of these recipes.

By Carmela Dellino
It was a warm, sunny evening May 11th, and a group of Roxhill parents and children came back to school for an evening of entertainment for families--entertainment without television, without computers, without videogames! Noted childrens’ book author and storyteller, Margaret Read McDonald, kept a group of 50-60 children and adults entranced for a full hour, sharing joyful folktales from all over the world.

This event, sponsored by the Roxhill PTA, was the culmination of a full day of storytelling by Dr. McDonald (her doctorate is in folklore!) in which every class at Roxhill participated. Margaret encourages audience participation and students and family members were only too happy to join in the songs, chants and movements as they worked their way through stories from Sierra Leone, Panama, Denmark and Borneo (just to mention a few of the more than a dozen countries represented by the stories.) It was a great finale to the MSP testing and a celebration of Spring!

Carmela Dellino is the Prinicpal at Roxhill Elementary School

By David Rosen

** Update as of 1:15pm **

Fire investigators determined that the structural damage was an excess of $5000.

Original Post
Seattle Firefighters quickly responded to a fire in the Alaska Junction around the 4700 block of California Ave SW shortly before 4am on May 14. The fire was reported to be on the back side of Poggie Tavern. About 14 units were dispatched as a normal routine for a fire in a building call, but some were eventually cancelled due to it being a small fire.

CLICK ON PHOTO ABOVE TO SEE MORE.

Battalion Chief James Hilliard of the Seattle Fire Department spoke with the West Seattle Herald. He said, " Engine 32 was the first engine to arrive to put out a dumpster fire and they had discovered that there was minor extension onto the exterior of the structure on the overhang so they cut holes in the roof to make sure the fire didn't spread. The inside of the business is fine, nothing suspicious was reported."

Press release:

A 9-11 call came in at 7:57 a.m. Sunday reporting heavy smoke and flames from the one-car garage of a one story single family home in the 20800 block of 4th place S in Des Moines.

Fire department units from two South King Fire stations in Des Moines were assisted by SeaTac Fire Department and the Burien Fire Department.

Units arrived and found flames well above the roofline of the home. Two adult males were home at the time, they evacuated safely from the house, but were later treated at the scene for smoke inhalation by King County Medic One. They were released at the scene.

The fire extended into the house and involved two cars parked in front of the garage. All were damaged by the heat and flames that came from the garage fire. No car was in the garage at the time of the fire, only storage items.

A German shepard at the home caused some concern for the firefighters, but was safely secured at the scene. A live overhead wire caused an obstruction until PSE arrived to de-energize the wire.

By Theresa Edwards, Intern
On Saturday, May 12, 36th district Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Representative Mary Lou Dickerson, and Representative Reuven Carlyle sat down for coffee and discussion with constituents during a Meet Your 36th District State Legislators Town Hall event.

The meeting was held at the Greenwood Senior Center and a small turnout allowed for a more informal meeting with the legislators, who each discussed their successes and disappointments of the past legislative session.

Representative Mary Lou Dickerson, who will be retiring next January, said that she was proud of efforts made on the Children Safe Products Act, a bill that would take harmful flame retardant chemicals out of many household products. She also mentioned accomplishments including the passage of the Evidence Based Practice Bill, which replaces ineffective medical practices.

Representative Dickerson expressed some disappointment in the current system of juvenile justice, and her hope that it can be changed to more effectively deal with troubled youth. Once she retires, she plans to start an organization that works to educate the public on the initiative process.