August 2012

Sam Wolf is no ordinary child. He possesses strange powers, is the proper heir to a fantastical kingdom, and finds himself traveling the world to a magical, far-off land called Rasha-sharan. Oh, and he has golden eyes.

Well, at least his doppelganger in the book series, "The Boy with Golden Eyes" (www.theboywithgoldeneyes.com), can do all that. And he will continue to do all that in the second book in the series, "The Boy with the Golden Eyes, Book 2: The Prophetic Journey," which is set to come out soon.

The real-life Wolf -- who is the cover art subject and the inspiration for the books' protagonist, Rupert -- is a fairly normal kid for his age. He doesn't have any strange powers or golden eyes (sorry to disappoint), but he likes math, has met Bill Clinton, and has a self-proclaimed psychic/healer for an aunt -- Ballardite Marjorie Young, author of the book series. (Full Disclosure: Young also pens Ballard News-Tribune's monthly column, "Psychic View.")

While some might be bummed that Wolf might never be the hero depicted in Young's "non-fantasy fantasy" novel, there is still a lot of potential in his future.

Larry Rocz (pronounced "ross" and his wife Jocelia (just newly arrived from Brazil five months ago), got their dog Callie in Richland, Washington. "We went online and looked and looked and looked and prices were crazy," said Rocz. They were looking for Bichon-Frisee and found Callie who is a mix of Bichon and Shih tzu.

She's only one year old.

They bought it from a private owner, not a breeder. "He had gotten it for his daughter, but his daughter went to college and did not have time to take care of her."

They feed her a dry food diet of standard dog food but her treats are special. "Bone," said Rocz, "a steak bone. More than anything in the world. You give her a steak bone and she will work on it for a month. She loves it."

Callie's nickname is Houdini the couple said. "When we leave her in the house I've got to lock the cat door because she will go out. There was a window we had open that was ten feet up, and I forgot to close it. She knew it was open and she went out of it, jumped down ten feet. She will go no matter what. She goes out looking for children to play with." said Rocz.

Seattle reLeaf's 2012 Trees for Neighborhoods program is providing people with up to 4 free trees per household to plant in your own yard.

In addition to free trees, participants in the program receive free watering bags, training on proper planting and care of trees, and ongoing tree care support. Street tree applications will be due September 1 and yard tree applications will be due October 21. The city cautions though that many species sell out quickly.

To check out the tree species available and application information go to www.Seattle.gov/trees/treesforneighborhoods.htm

With grass-fed beef and veggie burgers sharing the grill, refreshments in hand and layers upon layers of Puget Sound blue playing in the background, members of Sustainable West Seattle gathered at Lincoln Park on Aug. 20 for their annual potluck to celebrate five years in existence and honor their 2012 Sustainable Hero of the Year: Cate White.

Cate White, founder of Tox-Ick.org
Backed by the body of water she’s worked so hard to protect, Cate White was named Sustainable Hero of the Year for 2012 by SWS president Christina Hahs.

White took on SWS’s storm water project by, well, storm; procuring $30,000 in grants and founding/running the “Don’t Feed the Tox-Ick Monster” campaign, aimed at educating the community on ways they can reduce personal contributions to Puget Sound pollution.

Watch out bus riders, King County Metro will be cutting five stops going each way on Route 44. The cut is estimated to be happening sometime in September of this year (next month!).

By reducing the number of spots the bus has to stop, Metro expects service to be faster and more efficient, making it more timely and reliable. Metro will be cutting ten stops total, increasing the space between each from 900 feet to 1,050. Currently the bus makes about 30 spots going one way from Ballard to U-District.

However, Metro predicts about 7 percent of riders will have to catch the bus at a different stop than they are used to.

The following stops are slated to be cut:

• 26th Ave NW, eastbound and westbound
• 17th Ave NW, eastbound and westbound
• 14th Ave NW, eastbound and westbound
• 6th Ave NW, eastbound
• 5th Ave NW, westbound

NE Pacific St, northbound and southbound

Watch out bus riders, King County Metro will be cutting five stops going each way on Route 44. The cut is estimated to be happening sometime in September of this year (next month!).

By reducing the number of spots the bus has to stop, Metro expects service to be faster and more efficient, making it more timely and reliable. Metro will be cutting ten stops total, increasing the space between each from 900 feet to 1,050. Currently the bus makes about 30 spots going one way from Ballard to U-District.

However, Metro predicts about 7 percent of riders will have to catch the bus at a different stop than they are used to.

The following stops are slated to be cut:

• 26th Ave NW, eastbound and westbound
• 17th Ave NW, eastbound and westbound
• 14th Ave NW, eastbound and westbound
• 6th Ave NW, eastbound
• 5th Ave NW, westbound

NE Pacific St, northbound and southbound

Students from Whitman Middle School have done it again. At King County Library's "Read. Film. Win." contest in Issaquah on Sunday, which had a red carpet ceremony and everything, Whitman students placed in three of the five finalists.

The "Read. Film. Win." contest had teens read a book and submit original video trailers. First place went to a trailer based on the book, "The Running Dream," by award-winning author Wendelin Van Draanen. The movie was made by 7th-grade Whitman students Jesse Romero, Adrianna Mitalas and Alyssa Korth. Their prize was a trophy and a $100 gift card.

Whitman Middle School is one of few middle schools with a media literacy program, spearheaded by screenwriter and filmmaker Christopher King. The Ballard News-Tribune wrote a story on his work a couple of weeks ago.

Ever been sick and couldn't make it into work, but had to anyway? Or are you a small business owner just scraping by who is afraid if you can meet the costs of providing sick leave for your workers?

Then you should probably attend today's workshop on the City of Seattle's new paid sick leave ordinance. The workshop will be held at noon in Ballard at the Swedish Medical Center Ballard Campus (2300 Tallman Ave NW).

The new ordinance will take effect Sept. 1. There are a number of ways this will affect businesses, so learn how and prepare.

More information, visit: http://www.seattle.gov/civilrights/SickLeave.htm

Dear editor,

The owners of Matador, the new Kickin' Boot Whiskey Kitchen and third a soon-to-be seafood restaurant on Ballard Ave are making a point of destroying part of the historic Ballard neighborhood for their own financial gain.

Their new mega restaurant/bar venture, Kickin' Boot Whiskey Kitchen, is spewing toxic burnt wood smoke fumes into the Old Historic Ballard neighborhood. They have decided to ignore the pleas of nearby residents such as myself and continue to burn firewood in their giant meat smokers and mesquite grill day and night, 7 days a week. The smoke is so overpowering and pervasive in the immediate vicinity of the restaurant that we cannot open any windows or exterior doors without having our dwellings permeated by and reeking of burnt wood smoke. You could equate the degree of smoke exhaust and resulting smoke permeation and penetration into our residences to someone burning a wood campfire outside your bedroom/living room window.

Salt is hiding everywhere. It’s even lurking in foods you often eat that don’t seem salty.

One of the most significant sources of sodium in our diets is bread. Most bread has between 170 and 250 milligrams of salt per slice. If you have a bagel at breakfast (500 mg), a sandwich with two slices of bread (400 mg) for lunch, and a roll for dinner (200 mg), you will have consumed more than half of your recommended sodium intake for a day. Too much salt increases your risk of high blood pressure and heart and kidney disease.

Take care of yourself with the following tips to reduce salt in bread, bagels and rolls.

Shop wisely and read labels. Bread varieties vary a lot. Choose those with less sodium, like Ezekiel’s whole grain bread, Sarah Lee 45 calories bread, or Energy Foods’ gluten-free low-sodium breads.
Try “Sandwich Thins” type breads. Since they are thinner than regular bread, they are usually lower in sodium.

Use corn tortillas for a lunch wrap. They contain only 5-10 milligrams of sodium each.

If you buy bakery bread, which does not have a nutrition label, ask if nutrition information is available. If not, ask the bakery staff to request it from their vendors.