May 2012

The West Seattle Wildcats looked like they were going to be the team to beat when at their first at bat they were able to load the bases with one out. But two fly balls later the inability to bring runners home was their undoing.

The second inning remained scoreless and West Seattle pitcher Thomas Snow #18 kept the O'Dea Irish scoreless through the top of the third. The Wildcats came alive again loading the bases with one out, but once again West Seattle was unable to seal the deal. At the end of three the game was still scoreless.

The fourth and fifth innings saw O’Dea’s bats come alive. O’Dea scored two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth. That was enough for Wildcat skipper Vitalich. He pulled # 18 and brought in #17 Elias Tunison to pitch.

The change in pitching stemmed the O’Dea offense, but in the sixth inning West Seattle’s bat were still cold at crucial moments as the sixth ended there were two more Wildcat runners stranded.

A West Seattle Herald reader who chose not to be identified, shared this report of a hit and run on the 5300 block of Beach Dr SW at about 1pm Saturday, May 12.

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" Around 1 PM, a white Honda travelling south on Beach Drive SW, around the 5300 block, smashed into the front wheel of a parked Jeep SUV, breaking the SUVs front wheel, and the Honda's. The Honda proceeded about 40 feet, up onto the curb and into a residence's driveway, where it came to rest. The lone occupant of the white Honda, a white male in his mid 20's, unable to move the car, immediately left on foot south on Beach Drive with a black backpack. He was wearing a white tank top. He then went east on SW Shore Place, which is a dead end, and probably through the wooded hillside up to 49th Avenue SW. There were several witnesses who described the man."

West Seattle took out top-ranked Seattle Prep with late game run burst in the seventh inning at Mel Olsen Field/Steve Cox Park in White Center Friday night.

To that point the teams had been tied at 4 - 4 but the offensive effort proved to be the game and season ending score for Prep who, while prior to the tournament had been unbeaten, lost to Bishop Blanchet then West Seattle.

Sam Hellinger, Kyle Herard and Michael Wickham each went 2 for 4 for the Wildcats. Wickham drove in two runs. Hellinger's pitching allowed six hits.

Up next in White Center West Seattle faces O'Dea at 11 a.m. to battle for Metro's No. 3 spot in the upcoming Class 3A regionals set for next weekend. The loser of that game will be slotted at No. 4 in Metro rankings, and must win the next game against the KingCo 3A tournament runner-up which will be one of the three, either Lake Washington, Bellevue or Liberty on Tuesday to make it to the regionals.

Seattle Police reports that on Friday evening, a car thief led the police on a wild car chase through North Seattle, injuring two pedestrians.

The incident started at May 11th around 6:30 p.m. when a North Precinct officer recovered a stolen Honda Accord from the Greenlake neighborhood, and contacted the registered owner.The owner stated that they would pick it up from its location, but that they were coming from Tacoma. 

Just minutes later the officer observed the just recovered stolen car being driven down the street. It had just been stolen again. 

The officer broadcast this information and then attempted to pull over the stolen car.  That is when the suspect vehicle took off, starting a car chase through the Greenwood neighborhood.

At some point during the pursuit, both suspect and officers were stopped in traffic, and the suspect intentionally rammed a police car in an attempt to get away.

In his flight, the suspect struck a pedestrian at North 73rd and Greenwood Avenue North.  The male victim sustained a minor leg injury and was treated at the scene by Seattle Fire before being transported to a local hospital.

Admiral Distrct Neighborhood Association President Katy Walum shared this announcement Friday evening.

"Hi Everyone,

It seems that there's been a miscommunication with Metropolitan Market and it looks like they are not prepared to host us for tomorrow's (May 12th) Adopt-a-Street event. I am therefore canceling for now, and will keep you posted on the next available date I am able to confirm with them.

My apologies for any inconvenience to folks. Enjoy our beautiful neighborhood this weekend as the sun makes its long-awaited appearance!

Best Regards,

Katy Walum
President, Admiral Neighborhood Association"

Free whooping-cough booster shots will be offered tomorrow, Saturday, May 12, for adults without insurance and who cannot afford to pay, between 9: a.m. and 1: p.m. at the Group Health Burien Medical Center.

Group Health and Public Health – Seattle & King County have partnered to provide the booster-shot clinic. Health officials urge all adults, but particularly those who have contact with infants, children and pregnant women, to make sure they’ve been vaccinated, because whooping cough is at epidemic levels in the state.

Babies are particularly at risk for severe illness, hospitalization and death from the illness, also known as pertussis.

Adults and older children can experience symptoms ranging from cold-like illness to serious illness. But the biggest danger that they can spread the whooping cough to infants, pregnant women and others who aren’t protected.

The clnic is located at 140 S.W .146th St., Burien.

press release
There will be lane closures on the Spokane Street Viaduct and on surface streets next week for the viaduct widening project. All westbound lanes on the Spokane Street Viaduct will be closed at SR99 early on Tuesday morning and overnight on Wednesday, with traffic exiting at Harbor Island and continuing over the lower Spokane Street swing bridge to West Seattle. Then overnight on Thursday, westbound lanes of the viaduct will be closed between I-5 and SR99. All week the southbound SR99 off-ramp to West Seattle will remain open, however, providing the opportunity to avoid these westbound closures. On Thursday night, in addition to the westbound closures, the eastbound lanes of the viaduct will be reduced to one lane overnight. There will also be some surface street closures next week. Here are the closure details:

Monday, May 14 – Thursday, May 17

· The intersection of Sixth Avenue S and S Spokane Street will be restricted to one lane in each direction, both for north/south traffic and east/west traffic, from 9 p.m. each night until 5 a.m. the following morning.

Tuesday, May 15

The Rehearsal Room, playing at Chief Sealth International High School May 11, 12, and a special Mother's Day show on May 13 was written and directed by local teacher and theater professional Laura Drake.

It blends songs from the 60's to the 00's in a pastiche of comedy and dancing. The show is loosely patterned after the television show Glee in that songs arise out of the real feelings and circumstances that teenagers face.

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To get the underlying idea for the scenes, Drake first interviewed the potential cast members with a video camera seeking their take on issues in their life. From there she wrote a script and chose songs that would work with the themes that emerged.

Drake, who operates a West Seattle summer theater camp called Stage Struck has a long background in theater and dance is also a specialist at Highland Park Elementary where she has taught for the past 8 years. She has appeared in stage productions in Minneapolis, Seattle, Los Angeles and in major films and on television.

It is hard to imagine a better end to Civic Week at South Seattle Community College than to have U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) step to the podium under a warm spring sky and rally students in support of the Student Loan Interest Rate Act.

After spending time with President Obama on Thursday, Sen. Murray spoke to a SSCC crowd well over 100 strong on May 11; her remarks focused on slamming the Republican Senate for their May 8 filibuster of the bill that would keep student loan interest rates from doubling on July 1.

The current interest rate on federal student loans in 3.4 percent.

“We are not going to allow Republicans to jeopardize the future of America’s students,” Sen. Murray said. “We are here today because unless Congress acts interest rates for a lot of our students, for a lot of you in the crowd today, are going to double in 51 days.

“That is a tax hike on 107,000 students right here in Washington State, and as all of you know that comes at a time when our families and all of our students are fighting just to afford college as it is today.”

Fisherman poets and musicians participated in the 12th annual "Stories of the Sea" event at Fishermen's Terminal's Highliner Pub & Grill on Wednesday, May 9th.

Presented in cooperation with Pacific Marine Expo, the Stories of the Sea contest is part of the Seattle Maritime Festival and challenges story tellers, poets and musicians to tell the funniest, heart-warming, or harrowing tale about life at sea.

Each performer was given 10 minutes to perform and their performance was judged based on creativity, presentation, imagery and poetic design by a panel of guest judges.

This year’s judges were longtime local fisherman and professor of Anthropology at Seattle Central Community College Pete Knutson, commercial fisherman and professor of English and Journalism at Seattle Central Community College, Jeb Wyman, and Bruce Buls, editor-at-large for Workboat Magazine.

The house was packed and old favorites like Charlie Sheldon and emcee John Van Amerongen took to the stage along with many newcomers.