August 2012

In the above photo, the left arrow points to the northern portion of the giant Burien mural painted on the Dollar Tree store wall on 4th Avenue Southwest between Southwest 150th Street and Southwest 152nd Street.

Update for Aug. 29
A few more details from a followup conversation with KCSO Sgt. West:

Detectives are still leaning towards the probability the victim shot himself in the upper groin area based on physical evidence and the bullet's trajectory.

The victim refused to tell detectives what happened and no gun was found at the scene.

Original post at 8 p.m., Aug. 28
According to Sgt. Cindi West with the King County Sheriff's Office, a man in his twenties was shot in the leg on the 9600 block of 11th Ave S.W. (White Center side of Roxbury) on the evening on Aug. 28.

The victim had powder burns on his pants, a hole in his left front pants pocket, and a bullet hole in his upper left groin, leading deputies to investigate the "very likely" possibility the wound was self-inflicted, West said.

Witnesses at the scene claimed they saw a white Jeep leaving the scene, so deputies are investigating the possibility of a shooter as well.

This story will be updated with more details as they become available.

Update for Sept. 1
Information from King County Prosecutor's Office:
A charge of Murder in the Second Degree was filed today against Jaspal Gill, who is accused in the shooting death of an unarmed man in Burien on August 28. Gill argued with the victim, Harjit Singh, and then shot him multiple times. Prosecutors also added a Firearm Sentencing Enhancement to the charge. If convicted as charged, the defendant’s sentencing range is 15 to 23 years in prison. Gill, 47, remains in jail on $3 million bail. He will be arraigned on September 13 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center, courtroom GA.

Update for Aug. 30
The 47-year-old man who turned himself into Burien police after fatally shooting a family friend of his ex-wife had a bail hearing on Aug. 9.

Bail was set at $3 million and the King County Prosecutor's Office has until Aug. 31 to file charges.

Original post on Aug. 28
A cab driver was shot to death in Burien at around 5:45 pm Tuesday evening in the 14000 block of 8th Ave South.

Seattle Parks and Recreation is bringing together multiple Parks staff at what they are calling a “maintenance jamboree” at Lincoln Park the week of September 17.

They define it as "a maintenance jamboree is a concentrated effort to take on multiple maintenance tasks with members of various Parks crews."

Workers will concentrate on maintenance tasks and small deferred projects such as installation of a light over one of the picnic shelters, bench and table repairs, and grounds maintenance projects.

Some prep work may take place the week before.

If you'd like to help out you can join the restoration effort led by Friends of Lincoln Park. The group meets the first Saturday and third Sunday of each month from 9 a.m. to noon at the north parking lot by the kiosk.

More information on what they will be doing is available by contacting Lincoln Park steward Sharon Baker at sabaker41@gmail.com.

For more information about the jamboree, please call 206-684-7457 or email Carol Baker at carol.baker@seattle.gov.

Neat Street a White Center based group dedicated to cleaning up graffiti, removing litter and washing windows will be organizing a neighborhood clean-up event on Saturday, September 8th from 10:00 a.m. to noon.

Gloves, garbage bags, and litter grabbers will be provided.

The organization will be picking up the litter and garbage along the sidewalks and streets in the White Center neighborhood.

If you'd like to volunteer for 2 hours to do something good for the White Center community meet the group in the alleyway behind 9229A 17th Ave SW between 9:45 -10:00 a.m. to get your supplies, and an assignment as to where you can help.

Press release
The King County Water Taxi's West Seattle route will be running its extended sailing schedules for this Thursday's Seahawks game on August 30 and for Saturday's Huskies game on September 1.  In addition to the final scheduled departure at downtown Seattle's Pier 50 at 10:30 pm, we will run one additional departure from Pier 50 at 11:00 pm each night.  The final two departures from Seacrest Park those nights will be at 10:45 pm and 11:10 pm. 

Last night, curious neighbors may have heard a boom and a fire as a locked, empty minivan apparently fell victim to spontaneous combustion.

Around 9:50 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 27, the Seattle Fire Department responded to a call about a car fire at the 5700 block of NW 58th St. Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames in ten minutes, but the fire had already crawled up the side of a four-story condo building, damaging one of the windows. The damage is estimated to be $8,250.

Investigators believe the fire was accidental and caused by an overheated electrical system. There were no injuries, but someone lost a minivan.

Update for 6:10 p.m., Aug. 28
In a major bust of a prescription drug trafficking operation spanning from Northern California to Puget Sound, over 100 federal and local law enforcement officers and agents raided 16 different locations and arrested 24 people in the early morning hours of Aug. 28, including an alleged mid-level dealer living in West Seattle.

FBI Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Steven Dean, in a press conference after the busts, said among those arrested was Herman Roche, 43, of Kent – the alleged ring leader of a massive operation that smuggled thousands upon thousands of oxycodone pills from Northern California to the streets of King County for resale.

“In this criminal enterprise, he was the man, he was the top,” Dean said. “He was the head dog, and we took the head dog out.”

For many recent weeks local golf addicts have been glued to the tube watching the worlds best professionals competing for honors on some of the worlds toughest golf courses.

As I have given up the game and joined the televised slicers and hookers I have to admit I am an ardent fan of the young Irish Rory McIlroy.

He became my hero simply because my own father, though never a golfer to my knowledge, was born and raised in the same county as Rory. Dad made his way to Canada and eventually to New York.

He eventually married my mom who never played golf either but did work for Thomas Edison in New Jersey and she once talked to the great inventor when he stopped by her work bench (she was very pretty) and chatted with her.

She knew nothing about golf but her own dad (a pattern maker ) invented a machine that wound the continuous rubber band that is inside golfballs.

Where was I... ?

Oh, yes...

Things have simmered down a bit since the primary elections, when Port Commission President Gael Tarleton and Majority State leader Noel Frame won out over a packed race of hopefuls. Now, the field is decidedly more condensed, simplistic and, as a result, may gear up to be much more competitive.

Yesterday, Tarleton unleashed a batch of endorsements which she reaped from the losing candidates. From Brett Phillips' camp, she received the endorsement of King County Assessor Lloyd Hara and former Seattle City Councilmembers Jan Drago and Peter Steinbreuck. From Fathi, Monisha Harrell, Al Garman, Yusuf Cabdi and Crystal Fincher.

Also keep in mind that Tarleton has already won the endorsement from the person she hopes to take the place of, Mary Lou Dickerson, D-36.

Frame for her part has the endorsement of the exiting governor, Gov. Christine Gregoire, Progressive Majority (where she is State Director), Washington Bus (of which she is a founding board member), American Federation of Teachers, King County Labor Council progressive Fuse Foundation, the Sierra Club, Former King County Executive Ron Sims and Bob Hasegawa.