November 2012

No surprise if you're awake (which, if you're reading this, you probably are) -- it's raining. A lot. And it will for the rest of the week.

As of 10:45 a.m., 1.29 inches of rain have fallen at NOAA facility at Sand Point on Lake Washington. 1.43 inches of rain fell at Seatac.

Lowland areas of Western Washington could see 2.5 inches of rain Monday, and Mountain areas could get up to 5 inches, according to a weather statement issued at 4 a.m. today.

According to the Seattle Times: "A brief respite from the rain is likely early on Tuesday before another system moves in, with rain continuing through Wednesday morning. Thanksgiving Day could bring another break, with showers instead of steady rain. By Thursday evening, the rain should be back, Mass said."

Commuters, if this morning has been any indication, should expect for slow, careful driving throughout the week. It's important to not take any chances when roads are slick and slippery like this, and when puddles can cause hydro-planing.

Ballard's new baseball head coach has got a lot of Beaver pride.

Doug Montgomery, who will be taking over for now-former head coach John Lamm, is a second generation Ballard High grad (his dad graduated in '76) and has been in the community all his life, according to a Ballard Athletics press release. He's also been playing baseball all his life thanks to his dad, who was president of the Ballard Little League.

Montgomery couldn't see himself coaching anywhere else.

“Ballard is the only school I’d coach at," he said. "I’ve got so much pride in this school, and this community. I even tell people I’m from Ballard, WA.”

Montgomery graduated from Ballard in 2003 and played two years of baseball at Shoreline Community College, where he was team captain and "Male Athlete of the Year" his sophomore year. He went on to get a business degree at University of Washington Foster School of Business, but had just one more year of semi-pro baseball after getting a torn labrum. For his day job, Montgomery is a financial analyst for a downtown company that develops and licenses financial products for banks and credit unions.

Remember last summer's 81 days without rain? Well, the flipside has arrived at least for this week as heavy rains came to the Seattle area on Nov. 19 with flood warnings in effect for area streams and rivers.

The National Weather Service issued a Special Weather Statement that said rain would be "up to 1.5 inches with localized amounts near 3 inches."

They said the risk of landslides, a common occurrence in West Seattle along Beach Drive and Alki Avenue had increased with the heavy rain and would continue even after the rain subsides.

The statement said, "cumulative rainfall over the last week has soaked soils to the point where the Washington landslide risk level was moderate. the predicted rainfall could raise the level to high."

Rain is in the forecast for the next week according to the service.

Over the weekend, the Nordic Heritage Museum held it's annual Yulefest, the time of year where Scandinavians gather together in Ballard to celebrate the holidays. Whether it was food, music or all sorts of interesting trinkets, there was something for everyone.

In case you missed it, our photographer Heather Nelson was on the scene with her camera. You can view a slideshow of her photos either by clicking the photo above or looking at the thumbnails below.

If you were wondering, the word "yule" is used for the Christian Christmas in parts of Northern Europe (read, Scandinavia) and German-language speaking areas.

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By Kyra-lin Hom

The new movie Looper is awesome! It's a science fiction-action film set 2 and 32 years in the future (got to love time travel) that honestly defies summary. The official logline is, “A killer who works for the mob of the future recognizes one of his targets as his future self,” but that barely scratches the surface. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, playing the younger counterpart of Bruce Willis's character, is absolutely amazing. He nails Bruce Willis's voice, body language and mannerisms. It's clear to see whose acting chops the director, Rian Johnson, decided to lean on there. Plus, though the film isn't exactly plot hole free, it at least stays consistent with its own rules on time travel – something that is irritatingly rare in film and literature. Anyway, go see it. It's a great time.

Another Hole Foods construction project in West Seattle. Really? Could they at least take the dirt from the new hole and put it in the old hole?

Bill Younger
West Seattle

King County has made it clear over the last 10 years that they are not in a position to provide services to urban areas, and slowly but surely services have been cut to the North Highline community. Abandoned buildings sit derelict, covered in graffiti. Neighborhood parks get bare bones maintenance and playground equipment sits rusting.

Residential streets go unmaintained, and this winter we will see how well we fair with virtually no snow or storm response. Our fire department is facing critical financial challenges. There is a lack of business development and a cohesive plan for the overall growth of this community. We watch people struggling on our streets. We watch people openly drinking and dealing drugs. We have no ability to thwart the escalating crime and poverty. Policing levels are dictated by budgets, not the needs of the community. We lack influence in state and county government.

To all of our supporters, friends, neighbors and business owners in Area Y (White Center, Top Hat, South Park) the Independent White Center PAC would like to take this time to thank you for voting in the November 6, 2012 election. Voting is a great American tradition that keeps our democracy going. As one of the leaders of our PAC, I thank you for such a strong vote to keep White Center independent. Two out of every three voters voted against Burien annexation.

White Center has a history of being fiercely independent and unique. We have sponsored the White Center Jubilee Days for 88 years with strong business community support. And we have dozens of businesses, like mine, that have been here for many decades.

We are proud of our community improvements in recent years. This growth has come from the efforts of many of our community service organizations as well as our business owners. We look forward to even a brighter future for our community by all working together toward our common goal of improving our neighborhoods and our business district.

By David Rosen

The Shipwreck Tavern at 4210 SW Admiral Way closed its doors for good on Sunday, November 18, 2012.

Approximate 50 people came by to wish a farewell and to recall the fond memories they had before bidding a final goodbye.

Two bands performed for the closing, Daughters of the Dead Sea and Hobosexual.

Chris Long, Owner of The Shipwreck Tavern spoke with the West Seattle Herald.

"The Shipwreck Tavern opened back on October 10, 2009. The building was vacant for 5 years before that and TNT's was running the place. The reason why it's closing is because of money issues. As far as the future goes, I have a masonry business on the side already so I'll probably focus on that and then I was a chef for a long time. I was a chef at the Hyatt in Bellevue and then the Homestead that burned down. As far as my feelings for the place it went pretty good, everyone's being very supportive tonight and it's really fun and it was a great run while it lasted."