September 2012

Rick Ramage got his dog Henry, a Bassett Hound three years ago through Craigslist. "A friend of mine said, 'You need a Bassett Hound' , I had been talking dogs, and he got a couple of dogs and was looking at this one and found two labs." He went out to Kent and bought Henry from a private owner.

Henry has no special diet just kibble and canned food but sometimes gets a supplement of leftovers or "a bone here and there, but not too much."

Ramage said he gives Henry a fair amount of exercise, which is partially why he's slender but, "I just don't over feed him. If I did, because I live in a place with a lot of stairs he would end up with ruptured vertebrae. I had a Daschund like this and while he was overweight he ruptured vertebrae."

Ramage describes Henry as "inquisitive, sleepy, and wants to smell everything, then he'll go lay down and sleep for the next 20 hours."

The Seattle Police Department now makes it possible to track crimes down to your neighborhood using social media tool Twitter with Tweets by Beat.

You can follow or view a Twitter feed of police dispatches in each of Seattle’s 51 police beats, and find out about the flashing lights and sirens on your block, though with a bit of a delay.

Since putting information out instantly would potentially jeopardize crime victims, officers, and the integrity of investigations, calls will display one hour after a dispatcher sends the call to an officer. The feeds also do not include information about domestic violence calls, sexual assaults, and other certain types of crimes.

You can check out the beat for your area on the Seattle Police web page here http://seattle.gov/police/tweets/

That page explains:

WHAT ARE BEATS?

Again we wish to give many THANKS to Seattle Pacific University and the students of City Quest who gave up a day to clean up Lakewood Park and Hicklin Lake beach area (on Sept. 22, Herald coverage found here).

We gave some brief information on the polluted waters of the Lake and showed samples of the invasive weeds to remove. Then they broke up into groups and went to work. One group spread garden bark around plantings. A large truck load of invasive weeds was removed plus 4 sacks of litter. It was interesting to note around a Disc Golf Tee off Pad next to children’s play equipment we found and removed 62 cigarette butts. At the first Disc Golf tee off pad one hundred forty seven cigarette butts were picked up, plus tiny pieces of candy wrappers and debris, typical of all the tee off pads. It was also interesting that even though there were many Disc Golfers using these facilities that day, not one volunteered to help in this clean up. One student remark was “there sure is a lot of litter around here.”

The next few days will be bringing some possibly major traffic obstruction throughout several parts of Seattle, so make sure to plan your trips ahead of time to avoid getting stuck behind this parade or that festival. (And to keep from fuming out the ears, of course.)

The Seattle Department of Transportation sent out a rather handy, detailed list of what to expect. See the full release below for details:

---

SEATTLE – Tomorrow’s afternoon commute could get ugly. An expected 60,000 football fans will be attending the Thursday 6 p.m. University of Washington game against the Stanford Cardinals at Century Link Field. Traffic will likely be much heavier than usual throughout the SODO and downtown Seattle areas.

Remember the Waste Management strike back in August, Ballard?

Mayor Mike McGinn just yesterday announced that the city has reached a settlement with Waste Management totaling $1.24 million over missed garbage, recycling and yard waste collections due to last month's eight-day strike by Teamsters Union drivers, according to a press release.

Households and businesses will be receiving a modest share of that settlement. Residential accounts will receive a $10 credit on their solid waste bill for the November-December billing period; condos, businesses and apartments will receive a $50 credit per current dumpster account.

All of Waste Management's clients were affected during the strike, delaying pickup for 90,000 households, 2,200 apartments and 4,500 businesses. The company serves the Northwest and South regions of Seattle.

Coverage from Stacy Sayles

“Fire it up”…”Fire it Up” …was chanted loudly and proudly by students at Lafayette’s assembly on Sept. 25 to kick-off their annual Walk-A-Thon! Excitement generated from the building as students learned of this year’s theme for their biggest fundraiser of the year – Walk-A-Thon 2012 – “FIRE IT UP” A special appearance was made by one of Lafayette’s sponsors this year – Menchie’s! Students left the assembly fired up and ready to go out and help reach the 65,000 goal!

HELP US REACH OUR GOAL!

A number of items on the Mayor's proposed 2013-14 budget will affect the Ballard area.

The Ballard News-Tribune already reported on the mayor's proposed funding for the anti-youth violence programming initiative and extending high-capacity transit (e.g., trolley, light rail) from downtown to Ballard.

But that's not the whole story. Here are a few bullet points of what we can expect out of the mayor's budget:

• Funding for reducing storm water runoff -- Seattle Public utilities is expected to spend $215 million over the next six years on reducing combined sewer overflow, which primarily results from storm water events and is a major cause for pollution in the Puget Sound.

Police have caught a man suspected of sexual assault, according to the Seattle Police Department Blotter.

At approximately 9:30 p.m. last night, employees from the Carnation Massage Clinic at 602 NW 85th St reported to police that a customer who just walked in had previously sexually assaulted one of their employees.

During that incident, the suspect had brandished an edged weapon.

This time, employees first tried to detain and then chased down the suspect. He got away temporarily, but was caught a short distance away.

The victim gave a positive identification of him as the man who assaulted her. He was booked into the King County jail for two counts of Investigation of Rape. The investigation is still open and active under the Vice/High Risk Victims Unit.

By Christopher Duclos

Homecoming week has just begun at Ballard High School. While the spirits are high on campus, the team prepares for a week 5 clash with the Newport Knights. If you’re a Beavers fan, you’re probably very excited for the matchup on Friday night.

Among those preparing for the game, there is senior wide receiver/safety Nate Rauda, who has been nothing shy of astonishing during his senior season for the Beavers. If you are attending the game, look for Rauda to be hauling touchdown passes down the field. He proudly wears the number 1 on his jersey.

Ballard News-Tribune reporter Christopher Duclos had the chance to talk with Rauda and ask some questions concerning himself as well as his excitement for the upcoming game.

BNT: What got you into football? How long has it been since you started?

Nate Rauda: I always loved watching football and playing pickup games as a kid. I started playing organized football in 7th grade for the Ballard Knights. I wanted to play as a little kid, but I had to wait until my parents would let me switch from soccer to football.

West Seattle Nursery in cooperation with City Fruit is holding a benefit event for that organization called Every Apple Has It's Day! Sunday, September 30, 2012, from 12pm to 4pm
They are billing it as "an Apple Harvest and Cider Press Event to Benefit City Fruit!"

If you are unfamiliar with City Fruit here's their description of what they do:
"Urban fruit trees are a valuable community resource. Often fruit goes unused because people are not sure when to harvest it, how to eat it, or they are put off by damage caused by preventable disease and pests. We are reclaiming the urban orchard, showing people how to harvest and use what they need, and to share the rest with others."

They are urging people with apple trees to "bring a bushel of them over here and City Fruit will press it in their Cider Press and make the most delicious apple cider, just for you!"