January 2013

SLIDESHOW: Ballard wins Les Schwab Chistmas Classic

BURIEN - Ballard controlled the tempo early and kept the pace throughout in a 53-38 victory against John F. Kennedy Catholic in the boys division championship game of the 2012 Les Schwab Christmas Classic tournament held at Kennedy High School on Saturday, Dec. 29.

Winning this tournament reaped timely benefits for the Ballard contingent.

"It was fun to come here," said Beaver head coach Billy Rodgers. "I'm proud of our team. We came and won three games, focusing on three different styles of teams. The team made nice adjustments. Each game a new leader stepped up. The seniors stepped up well. Nate Ravda was a great player who is often not noticed. He had great defense. Our team lost three games in a row (before the tournament). They really wanted to win a tournament."

Ballard went on attack mode right from the outset with its defense defining the terms in a 14-7 first quarter advantage

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SLIDESHOW: Kennedy dominates swim meet at Evergreen Pool

Sometimes schools with smaller teams must pool their resources to compete at an event.

That’s what went on at the Evergreen Pool when Evergreen, Highline, and Tyee joined together to face the always tough Kennedy High School Swim Team.

On this day it was the Kennedy Lancers that showed why they’re so dominant, defeating the other three teams by a combined score of 414-41.

The Lancers could be renamed the Sharks because of their relentless pursuit of every other swimmer in the pool, winning all but one event of the day.

Lancers senior Thane Maudslien is attempting something this year that has never been done in Washington State history by winning a fourth straight state title in the 100 meter butterfly this February at the King County Aquatic Center. Maudslien has won the event in his three previous years for Kennedy.

Highline standout Nate Williams was the only non-Kennedy swimmer to win his event, taking the longest race of the day, the 500 meter freestyle, with a time of 5:17.

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Lancer girls improve during loss

Third quarter missed opportunities plus turnovers by Kennedy Catholic enabled Edmonds Woodway to break free from a close girls basketball game en route to a 57-40 third place-fourth-place Les Schwab Christmas Classic tournament win at Kennedy High School on Saturday morning, Dec. 29.

"The girls played much better than yesterday," said KC head coach Greg Caldwell. "The first half, especially, was the best defense we've had so far. There was talking on defense, which is what we've stressed for communication."

Kennedy Catholic displayed good, scrappy play with nice ball movement to prevail 13-9 in the first quarter following Miranda Goff's lay up and a Maggie Gallagher short-range jump shot. Edmonds Woodway experienced outside shooting difficulties and rebounding weaknesses, but the Lancers were unable to convert on numerous short range shots.

After trailing 23-18 at halftime, the Lancers closed within 23-21 as a result of Miranda Goff's close-in hoop and a Nikki Miller free throw.

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Lancer comeback secures victory

Josh Sierhuis of Kennedy Catholic produced great plays throughout the boys basketball match up against Kent-Meridian on Dec. 28, but it took one big time effort at the end to nudge the Lancers ahead for the final time at the 2012 Les Schwab Christmas Classic tournament held at Kennedy High School.

With 53.9 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Sierhuis was fouled after claiming a defensive rebound and then converted both ends of a double bonus free throw chance to send KC ahead 57-56.

The Lancers still had to survive some scrambling final moments of competition. Kent-Meridian's Royals had one more chance for victory following a turnover exchange that gave KM an inbounds play from the baseline behind their offensive basket as 12 seconds remained.

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Kennedy Catholic runs into buzz saw

It was an introduction to high level basketball that turned into another learning experience on the way to future success at the 2012 Les Schwab Christmas Classic basketball tournament on Dec. 28 at the John M. Goodwin Memorial Gymnasium court on the Kennedy Catholic High School campus.

Girls third-ranked Class 4A Inglemoor demonstrated top level skills at all positions to go along with talented tallness (five players at six-feet or taller on the roster) to cut down Class 3A John F. Kennedy Catholic 64-24 in the opening round of the girls division.

"I'm proud that our girls really played hard," said first-year Lancer head coach Greg Caldwell. "The effort was great and the girls got better in trying to do what we wanted. They improved in trying to do what we put in for our new system."

Showing good ball handling skills as well as steady shooting when given open shots, the Vikings shot out to the first 11 points by capitalizing on KC turnovers.

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Sound Transit Route 560 (with service to SeaTac Airport) changes kick in June 8

Update for May 30
Sound Transit's Route 560 changes go into effect on June 8. The new schedule is available for viewing in this Sound Transit Guide, starting on page 99.

In a nutshell, the changes will have 560 running from Westwood Village to SeaTac Airport, Renton and Bellevue seven days a week. The service from West Seattle's Alaska Junction to Westwood Village will be cut.

Speaking with Sound Transit spokesman Geoff Patrick earlier this year, he explained:
“This is personal for me as a West Seattle resident, this route is the main Sound Transit route I have an opportunity to use so there is a real net improvement here. There is a truncation involved in having the service run between the growing transit hub that is located at Westwood Village and the airport and on to east side (after the airport, 560 travels to Bellevue), but the positive for West Seattle that is going to make it much more accessible is that where as before the route was peak hours only, it is going to operate seven days a week.”

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Letter--4 more years of Imperial Presidency

At the beginning of the new year we are faced with four more years of an Imperial Presidency voted into power by those not really aware of his agenda and followers who continue to think he really cares about you.

My hat is off to this newspaper that seems to print letters about any subject in comparison to the Seattle Times who are very reticent about any letters that denigrate this administration.

Gun control is a big thing in the news now. Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Hamilton put the Second Amendment in for a reason.

Hitler, Castro, Stalin, Amin, Lenin and bow Obama and those like Sen. Feinstein want to confiscate in spite of what they say.

In the United Kingdom it is illegal to own a gun and handgun homicides have doubled because the bad guys don’t care about your silly laws.

Re. Now the Gulf Oil Spill where Obama shut down drilling and sent the rigs to Brazil and, as it turns out, to George Soros-controlled leases—hmm.

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Recycle your Christmas tree at Burien's Five Corners this Saturday and Sunday

Press release:

Boy Scout Troop 375 will host its annual Christmas Tree Recycle this Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 5 and 6 from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. at Southwest 160th Street and 1st Avenue South (the Herr lumber site) in Burien.

We ask for a $5 donation per tree. Funds go to our scout camp and other troop activities so that all our 28 boys can go to summer camp regardless of their family economic situation.

Free hot chocolate will be served. And our polite boys will remove your tree from your car and share a smile.

Free bags of our "Good Karma Christmas Tree Compost" are available for the asking. Bring a bag!

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Ballard tops Austrailian Penrith Panthers in International Exhibition

By Christopher Duclos

Wednesday was a special night for Ballard High School as the boys and girls basketball squads hosted Penrith, a team from Austrailia.

Ballard’s varsity girls took the tipoff following the first game with junior varsity girls. Both teams scored heavily in the first quarter with the Austrailian girls keeping it close to Ballard’s 19-14 lead. The lady Beavers began to break away in the 3rd quarter, outscoring their opponents 23-8. Final decision of the game was a 64-42 routing by the Ballard girls squad.

Junior guard Beverly Verduin showed her skills Wednesday night as she sank 21 points. Junior forward Nancy MacGeorge also showed up big, netting 12 points.

Boys varsity was up next to take on the Aussie Panthers. The Beavers dominated from tipoff, outscoring the Aussies 33-9 in the first half. The boys let up in the second half, allowing the Aussies to outscore the beavers 11-5 in the 4th quarter of regulation. Final score: 55-30 Ballard.

Senior guard Stuart MacGeorge led the team in scoring with 18. Seth Berger and Johnny Verduin trailed behind with 11 and 8.

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Owner of Ballard Smoke Shop passes away

The owner of the Ballard Smoke Shop (5439 Ballard Ave NW), Anastasios "Tommy" Economou, passed away recently. His daughter said he had been "healthy as a horse" when he came down with the flu, which eventually turned into pneumonia.

As for the Smoke Shop -- a long-time establishment with a loyal following of locals -- it will continue on under the reigns of daughter Angela Economou, who had already entered a partnership with her father about two and a half years ago, letting her father enter semi-retirement.

When asked how long she planned to run it, she answered flatly, "Forever. There's no plan to change anything. Literally the last thing my father talked to us about is, 'I want this to last.'"

Tommy had owned the Ballard Smoke Shop for 42 years (which was at one time an actual smoke shop, but that was even before Tommy) and he is thought to have owned a single business for the longest consecutive amount of time in all of Seattle. Considering how every other restaurant along Ballard Ave is constantly changing names and exchanging owners, it's not hard to believe.

"This was his legacy, this was his baby," Angela said. "He wanted to make sure it stayed in his family."

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