September 2012

By Aya Hashiguchi Clark
SPECIAL TO THE HIGHLINE TIMES

The Hi-Liners, the magical musical theatre company who have artfully and wondrously put young performers on stage since 1966, have opened their 2012 Mainstage season with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “CATS.”

For those unfamiliar with the show, “CATS,” based on T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” is the love-it-or-hate-it musical that is heavy on the music and dance, but rather light on the plot. But audiences have mostly loved “CATS,” earning it the distinction of being the second longest-running show in Broadway history.

The plot is quite simple, really. At the start of the show we see a back alley, the domain of the Jellicle Cats. Munkustrap (Brandon Hell) introduces us to a cat named Victoria (Courtney Heinrich) who dances as the Jellicles assemble for their annual ball. One by one, we are introduced to many of the other Jellicle Cats.

Press release:

Adventurous Volunteers Needed
We are hoping for even more volunteers than last year – even people who can only survey every now and then. Please share this email with anyone you know who might want to volunteer.

Information for New and Potential Volunteers –
Be part of Miller/Walker Creek Stewardship
How many adult salmon return to Miller and Walker Creeks in Burien, Normandy Park, and SeaTac each year? This program is teaching us that the numbers can vary a lot! We also investigate how many of these fish are stricken by pre-spawn mortality each year, and thus how many are surviving long enough to lay the eggs of the next generation.

This week, the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) is starting another round of park cleanups to remove arsenic- and lead-contaminated soils from play areas at parks in King and Pierce counties.

The park play areas being cleaned up are at Dottie Harper in Burien, McMicken Heights and Sunset Playfields in SeaTac, Lake Grove in Federal Way, Dockton on Vashon Island, and American Lake and Kiwanis in Lakewood.

Although contamination levels in the parks are not high enough to cause immediate concern, the long-term health risk for children has made the cleanups a priority for Ecology.

Work is scheduled for a narrow window of time between the busy summer season and the onset of heavy rains. “We have a very tight timeline,” said Ecology’s cleanup coordinator, John Zinza, who will oversee the contractors. “Grass must be seeded by mid-October in order to survive the winter, and rain can make soil work more difficult.”

Park neighbors can expect construction noise and some truck traffic during normal work hours. Contractors will use dust control measures to minimize contaminated soil escaping the site.

HEY, I KNEW THAT MAN! He was my neighbor in 1928. He lived on Lombard street, a block away from our old house on Russet street in north Portland.

He had a boy my age; eight, who went to Hill Military Academy. He had a snazzy uniform. Which was way better than my scruffy cords.

His dad, in the poster above, was a famous flyer named Tex. He got that name, I guess because he came from Texas. He used to land his Waco airplane at an airport on the north side of the Columbia slough.

Rankin Field was small and used by a half a dozen flyers. We spent a lot of time there in the summer foraging scraps of rubber shock cord they used making landing gear.

Our house was under the flight path and he came down really low and waved at us. We were down at the airstrip one afternoon. Tex let a couple of us climb into the front passenger seat and taxi down the field and back. It was loud and scary.

I was allowed to brag to my Woodlawn grade school mates of having flown in an airplane. The airstrip was near the stockyards and the slough, too.

The persuasive skills of Mr. Chris Hansen, with support from his generous investors, will make Seattle history, when and if, they reach official approval to build a new professional teams basketball arena in the Sodo District. There’s little doubt he’ll sail right through it, although in negotiation changes happen."

Actual construction is further away. It will likely take a year to just go through paperwork requirements. Hansen deserves credit for his teamwork with Seattle’s decision makers and businesses.

As of Sept. 13, apparently few, if any issues, remain on the approval of this new $490 million project for approval. The city of Seattle and King County plan to add signatures now.

Some fans say, “Let ‘er Rip,” while other folks are scratching their heads and mumbling “Why?”

Rather basketball is your cup of tea (or beer choice) folks should give credit to Hansen’s teamwork for pulling this basketball stadium deal together.

24-year-old man stabbed in Burien
A 24-year-old man was stabbed in Burien early Friday, Sept. 14. The incident was reported at 1:51 a.m. and took place in the 1200 block of SW 124th Street according to police, who believe the man was also robbed. He is expected to survive.

Name released of woman found dead in Mallard Lake
The King County Medical Examiner's office released the name of the woman found dead in Mallard Lake near White Center. She was Victoria McMullen, age 22. The cause of death is still under investigation. McMullen was not from this area, according to the King County Sheriff's office. McMullen's body was found floating in Mallard Lake behind Coronado Springs Apartments shortly before 10 a.m. on Sept. 7.

Burien man arrested in Tukwila murder
Burien resident Asuan Santos-Valdez, 33, has been arrested for the murder of Orlando Soto at a Tukwila motel. At 10:28 p.m. on Sept. 1., Soto was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Knights Inn parking lot in the 14100 block of Tukwila International Boulevard in Tukwila. A single suspect was seen fleeing from the area on foot.

HEY, I KNEW THAT MAN! He was my neighbor in 1928. He lived on Lombard street, a block away from our old house on Russet street in north Portland. He had a boy my age; eight, who went to Hill Miltary academy. He had a snazzy uniform.Which was way better than my scruffy cords.

His dad, in the poster above, was a famous flyer named Tex. He got that name, I guess because he came from Texas. He used to land his Waco airplane at an airport on the north side of the Columbia slough. Rankin field was small and used by a half a dozen flyers. We spent a lot of time there in the summer foraging scraps of rubber shock cord they used making landing gear.

Our house was under the flight path and he came down really low and waved at us.We were down at the airstrip one afternoon. Tex let a couple of us climb into the front passenger seat and taxi down the field and back. It was loud and scary.

I was allowed to brag to my Woodlawn grade school mates of having flown in an airplane. The airstrip was near the stockyards and the slough too.

As dog people, Mrs. Anthony and I are fully familiar with the patterns of dog ownership, having raised them together and separately since we were pups ourselves. Once a doggy family member leaves for doggy heaven, we wait for a while and start pining for a new addition, partly to keep our other dog company but also because we feel comfortable with a ‘his and her’ sort of matched set.

Last time around, I picked ‘Zeke’ out from the rescue kennel and because he was my dog, we bonded and had great fun for the entire 12 years we were together. I say 12 years of togetherness, but Mrs. Anthony is quick to correct me, saying, ‘Remember…for the first three months, you kept Zeke in that box in the garage.”

It’s true, I did keep Zeke in a small enclosure next to the furnace, lined with newspaper and along with his water bowl and chew toy, it seemed to work out fine. I would let him out regularly into the yard to do his business or to play, but at night he slept on a raised platform, cozy in his little doggie corral.

Seattle Christian combined total team play with renewed enthusiasm for a 3-1 non league girls home volleyball win against Eatonville on Wednesday, Sept. 12.

SCS now stands at 2-1overall and 1-0 in NIsqually 1A League action. Eatonville moved to 1-3 overall.

"We've had some second set lulls, but the girls really fought back tonight," said first-year Warrior head coach Aubrey Fox.

In a hotly contested first set, Seattle Christian overcame a 4-0 deficit for a 4-4 tie. SCS later went on a four point surge that Eatonville countered to deadlock the set at 10-all. See-saw action resulted in six more ties en route to a 17-17 score.

With the Warriors clinging to a 20-19 edge, SCS powered to victory behind the serve of Molli Ronish. Ashley Schroder's lefty cross court kill moved the Warriors into a 23-19 advantage before Ronish boomed a big serve that resulted in a winner. Madelyn Weber's put away shot at net secured the set win for the home team.

TUKWILA - Strength of numbers and experience prevailed in a 7-0 Foster High School home court boys tennis Seamount League win against Renton on Friday, Sept. 14.

Foster's Bulldogs strengthened their league record to 2-2 and overall record to 2-3. Renton's Indians fell to 0-3 and 2-3, respectively.

"Renton is a young team, but they gave a great effort," said Bulldog head coach Sopheak Ngeth. "I told our players to work on their own weaknesses."

In this boys season, the four singles and three doubles format favors squads that have depth in numbers of rostered players.

For the invading Indians, this format resulted in the default of the trio of doubles matches due to insufficient numbers to field teams.

Foster is also waiting for eligible players, but coach Ngeth expects his team to compete well.