July 2012

press release
The YELS Program is located in the High Point community of West Seattle, a mixed income Hope VI neighborhood, serving over 1200 families. Currently, there is a diverse range of residents and home owners both ethnically and economically speaking. Our youth live in homes where spoken languages may include Somali, Vietnamese, Spanish, Khmer and English. Youth in our program are adolescents and have a varying degree of abilities, skills, and social competencies. We would like to encourage applications from young adults in the West Seattle/South Seattle area - who are a part of communities we serve.

Youth Leadership AmeriCorps - Love to eat? Cook? Snowboard? Want to change lives while doing all the awesome activities you love to do anyway? Our Youth Leadership AmeriCorps helps to develop low-income middle and high school student leaders through a wide range of killer service learning community projects.

Positions Available: 2
Locations: High Point, Rainier Vista

To Apply

Standoff ends with tasing
Police say two King County mental health professionals visited a woman’s 6300 block, 34th Ave S.W. apartment on June 30 with the intention of committing her for making numerous threats to others. When they arrived the woman armed herself with a knife. They called police and Southwest Precinct officers responded, but the woman continued to make threats to anyone who came near. After a crisis intervention team had no luck calming her down, SWAT responded and eventually breached the apartment and tased (non-lethal shock) the 49-year-old woman so she could be taken into custody and transported to the mental hospital.

Not pleased with the contract

If you love fireworks you have a large number of displays in King County to choose from for the 4th of July. You can of course watch neighbors and friends, or catch the biggest one the Family 4th being staged over Lake Union in person or on television.

The Washington State Patrol has published the list of public fireworks displays for the entire state so, if you'd rather take a drive and see what other communities have to offer just consult the list.

It's at the link above.

Here are the fireworks displays for King County:

Auburn
www.EmeraldDowns.com
Event: Emerald Downs Fireworks Spectacular Place: 2300 Emerald Downs Drive
Date: July 3rd
Time: Late evening

Bellevue
www.bellevuedowntown.org/events Event: Bellevue Family Fourth Place: Bellevue Downtown Park Date: July 4th
Time: Late evening (Radio simulcast)

Bothell
www.ci.bothell.wa.us .
Event: Bothell Freedom Festival & Fireworks
Place: Lake Washington at Kenmore's Log Boom Park, off Bothell Way at 60th Pl. NE. Date: July 4th
Time: 10 p.m.

Carnation

I am astounded by the  news that  the the new President at   Boeing  is  from  Renton and  started from the  bottom as a mechanic like  I  did many years  ago.

I might have been President if I had been more patient and worn a hardhat.

I was new there, working at the Marginal Way plant  drilling holes in the bulkhead structure . Right above me  was a girl as a rivet bucker for a riveter partner securing  the  pilot's housing  structure. Somehow the  girl above lost her grip on a heavy chunk of steel called a  'bucking  bar' and it fell directly on my hatless head , knocking me flat on the  floor, bleeding like a stuck pig from a crease  on my forehead. She looked down when I yelped and ran someplace for help.

Pretty soon  the  foreman and others crawled under the bloody scene, told me to stop howling got  me out , wiped my forehead and told me  go to a first aid station. The girl rivet bucker never did  come  down and  inspect what I thought was a fatal wound and would be disfigured and perhaps have a huge lump above my eye forever.

By Kyra-lin Hom
I started this column expecting to comment on the Supreme Court's recent okaying of Obamacare. However, once I'd begun putting fingers to keys, I realized there was a problem with my plan: I don't actually understand it. Well okay, I understand that by calling this uninsured person's fee a “tax” and not a “penalty” it's somehow no longer violating our constitutional rights. And I get that the idea of cheap healthcare for everyone is obviously well intended. All the little bits and pieces that make up this health insurance thing sit just fine with me. It's the big picture that just fundamentally boggles my mind.

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

With school out and summer officially here at last the already crowded highways are teeming with cars, trucks and travel trailers heading out in all directions. On the way over to Yakima where a family reunion beckoned to us we passed up new college graduates bicycling up steep canyon roads to test their strength. I thought that there wouldn’t be anything new to experience of the landscape as I had been over the passes at least once a year for many years. But just before setting out, I tuned in to a program covering interesting places around Washington State. I was entertained by visions of a garden started by a fellow who wanted to prove that cacti could survive outdoors year round in the Yakima area. And his cacti have survived through more than twenty five years of trial and error.

Earthrise Chamber Choir seeking new members
The Earthrise Chamber Choir is auditioning new members of all voice categories for our 2012-2013 season during July and August.

Membership requirements and expectations: a passion for vocal ensemble singing; a mind-set that promotes a spirit of success and confidence; the capacity to read music or to quickly and accurately learn music; a personal commitment to make the calendar a priority and come to rehearsals prepared to rehearse. Child care is available at rehearsals and concerts at no extra cost. Visit http://wsuu.org/earthrise_chamber_choir.php for more information.
Contact Bert Gulhaugen: music@wsuu.org or 206-851-3518.

Bike Helmet Awareness Day - Free Community Event
Roxbury Spine & Wellness Clinic
2656 S.W. Roxbury St.
206-937-2000

UPDATE: The Kickstarter campaign goal has been reached. The project will be funded on Wednesday. Pledges are still being accepted.

The Ballard Chamber of Commerce's Kickstarter fundraising campaign for SeafoodFest ends on Wednesday.

The campaign has raised $3,500 so far. However, if the $5,000 goal is not met by Wednesday at 1:57 p.m., organizers say they will not receive any of the pledged money, as per Kickstarter's rules.

"I know if we get the word out there, we can reach this goal and help pay for the free entertainment we offer at SeafoodFest," wrote Beth Miller, executive director of the Ballard Chamber of Commerce.

The Chamber is encouraging people to donate, spread the word and post the Kickstarter campaign's link on Facebook.

People can pledge any amount of money. In addition to "much thanks" and "undying gratitude," each pledge level offers complimentary gifts, including tote bags, buttons, salmon barbecue tickets, gift certificates and VIP seating for two at the Ballard Avenue MainStage.

11-year-old Mandelyn Risley-Smyth did not need her mother's help in preparing for the 2012 Seattle Miss Teen pageant. She just needed her mother's permission.

Risley-Smyth, a Whittier Elementary student who dreams of being a model, participated in her first pageant last month. She placed in the top ten of approximately 40 girls in her age group.

"She had a great experience," said Renelle Risley, Risley-Smyth's mother.

After receiving an invitation to the pageant in the mail, Risley-Smyth did her own research prior to asking her mother. Though Risley approved, she was not about to spoil her daughter.

"I told her that this was her adventure, not mine, and that I'd support her and help her, but that I would not do the work of getting sponsorships for her," Risley said.

Risley-Smyth did not disappoint. She approached several Ballard businesses to help her reach a sponsorship goal of $650. India Bistro, Childish Things and Salon Cool all contributed.

Filthy Rich, a retail boutique which offers authentic replicas of jewelry worn by celebrities, loaned her jewelry to wear during the formal wear modeling phase.

Have you ever seen a chain of small kites, flying in a way that suggests a dragon tail in the sky?

Erik Olivar was down on the Alki Beach promenade Sunday evening July 1 for the maiden Seattle flight of something called a Kite-Train that does just that. It is the product of a company called Kiternity that makes kites, linked together to form a multiple string numbering from 25 to 50 or more. According to Olivar the idea was created by himself and Massih Ebrihim and they have had only a little attention so far.

They sell the kite trains said Olivar from $40 for 25 kites and $80 for 50 (though the site lists slightly different prices).

The kites are made of plastic and fiberglass for very high strength to weight ratio said Olivar.

They come in a variety of patterns and they can be made to be in primary colors or in white only, to which stickers can be applied or for businesses they can print a custom message if the order is large enough.

To learn more visit their website http://www.kite-train.com/
or join them on Facebook here http://www.facebook.com/KiteTrain