May 2013

On May 22nd from 2:30-4:30 p.m., members of the Highline Forum will meet at Burien’s City Hall Council Chambers, 400 S.W. 152nd St. The public is invited to make comments at the start of the meeting. The city of Burien is hosting the meeting and the theme is education with a larger focus around regional partnerships.

The Highline Forum includes the southwest King County communities of Des Moines, Burien, Normandy Park, SeaTac, Tukwila and Federal Way and the Highline School District, Highline Community College and Port of Seattle.

TACOMA - Darian Grimm's walk off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning delivered a 5-4 Class 3A non league fast pitch home softball win for defending Class 3A champion Wilson against current Seamount champion and undefeated Kennedy Catholic on Wednesday, May 8, as both squads built momentum for post season play.

"We try to schedule quality non league opponents," said Lancer head coach Dino Josie. "Wilson is always well coached. "This was a well played game. There was good defense, pitching and hitting. We have seven freshmen and three sophomores, so this bodes well for now and in the years to come. I feel very good about how the girls competed well. They showed lots of toughness and had quality at bats."

Kennedy Catholic wielded the hammer early. With one out in the top of the first inning, Miranda Goff drew a base on balls to bring Sierra Baines to the plate. Seeing a pitch to her liking on a 1-and-1 count, Baines turned on the ball and connected for home run that was gone on contact with the ball rising over the left field fence to send the Lancers into a 2-0 lead.

For many meat-eaters in West Seattle and White Center, it’s a given that Zippy’s Giant Burgers in White Center serves up a transcendent bite of freshly ground chuck and fresh cut veggies that is simply hard to beat.

I have personally heard more than one person attest, “It’s the best burger I've ever had.”

So while Zippy’s certainly has the hype and following locally, it never hurts to have a few citywide news anchors join in the praise.

Q13Fox (West Seattle Herald/White Center News news partner) recently sent their two morning anchors out to test a list of five burger joints voted by their viewers as the best in Western Washington.

Going up against Dick’s, Red Mill, Five Guys and Frisko Freeze, anchors Bill Wixey and Kaci Aitchison gave Zippy’s the nod as their favorite with a 9.5 out of 10.

The king of burgers was followed by Frisko Freeze in Tacoma, Red Mill, Five Guys and Dick’s (as Wixey put it, they are much better after a night out on the town).

“Obviously, they spent some time grilling this up,” Wixey said as he bit into a Zippy’s.

Compiled by Eric Mathison

Deadline for receiving items for Community Calendar is 5 p.m. Wednesday for the following week’s Times/News. Events are published based on timeliness and space availability. Email submissions to: hteditor@robinsonnews.com Items can be accepted from nonprofit groups and government agencies only. Others may call Dona Ozier at 206-708-1378 for inclusion in our “Out & About” advertising section.

Art Exhibits

Artists United May Spring Show--Burien Community Center, 14700 6th Ave. S.W. Through June 7. Recent paintings & photography by Marta Creswell, Nancy Fulton, Chris Gonvers, Alina Gridley, Stan Lane, Janet Price and Liz Simpson.. http://www.artistsunitedclub.com
Burien Community Center--Drawings and paintings by West Seattle artist Kelly Lyles. Through May 31. Monday-Thursday, 8:30 a.m.-8 p.m, Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. 14700 6th Ave. S.W. 206-988-3700. www.kellyspot.com

Auditions

A little over a year ago I ran into then Ballard News-Tribune news reporter/online editor Anne Marije Rook at the Ballard Bartell’s. I pulled out my camera, already considered vintage digital, and showed her a photograph of the Egan’s Ballard Jamhouse marquee from the night before, upon which was written in large, “Ballard Writers.”

“I feel like a proud mama,” I said. Inspired by friends who would mention other friends who were writers, I had launched the Ballard Writers Collective. Despite the events already under our belts, nothing means more to a writer than seeing their creation in really big letters.

“Are you going to write about it?” Rook asked. It hadn’t occurred to me. I just wanted to show everyone the photograph. Contrary to what my family and neighbors may fear I really don’t write about all aspects of my life. I happened to be present at the birth of Ballard Writers but they don’t belong to me; however, I am exceedingly proud of the connections that happen when we share our stories.

For the residents around NW 52nd St in East Ballard, the last thing they expected was for them to be the victims of a string of car break-ins. Everyone interviewed said they lived on one of the safest blocks in the neighborhood.

“I have been here for 5 years and this is the first time I have experienced anything like this,” Nicole Matuska wrote to the Ballard News-Tribune. “I brag to others about the safe and wonderful neighborhood in which I live. Now I am starting to be concerned about staying here if this doesn't change, especially as the block seems to be targeted night after night right now.”

While Matuska’s car was broken into and her belongings rifled through, she did not have anything actually stolen. Other neighbors have reported the same strange incident.

But things began escalating last week. On the night of Sunday, May 5, Angie Calvetti’s woke up in the middle of the night to her daughter’s car alarm going off. The suspect or suspects had broken into the car and stolen her daughter’s wallet. Nearby neighbors reported seeing a man, apparently spooked, run away and jump on a bicycle.

The GiveBIG event today, May 15, has a number of West Seattle and White Center based non-profit organizations who hope to get some financial assistance from donors. All credit card donations made through their website until midnight will be "stretched" thanks to $850,000 in support for GiveBIG from the Seattle Foundation and GiveBIG sponsors.

Donors will be chosen at random throughout the day to have additional funds given to the charity that they chose. These are worth $1,000 with additional prizes awarded for both the organization and the donor. The organizations can win roundtrip airline tickets courtesy of Alaska Airlines and donors can win $100 Starbucks gift cards.

You can dine out tonight and help too. White Center 2013 Dine Out participants include: Zippy's Giant Burgers, Proletariat Pizza, Meanders and Company. These establishments will be donating a portion of their proceeds to the White Center Foodbank via GiveBIG.

Café Delia (inside Proletariat) and DubSea Coffee (in Greenbridge) will be hosting donation stations so you can donate easily.

By Shane Harms

At approximately 6:14 p.m., the Seattle Fire Department responded to a small fire in Fisherman's Terminal that occurred while crew members were making repairs on Oceanic Cape, a 100 ft., thirty-year-old fish processing ship.

The fire was caused when a fuel line was accidentally cut by welding and less than five gallons of residual diesel fuel spilled into a vacant space below deck called the "void." Crew members flooded the room and were able to put out the blaze with fire extinguishers.

SFD Spokesman Kyle Moore said 27 units responded, including units from Ballard, Queen Anne, and Greenwood. Harbor patrol boats were also called.

"Ship, pier, and marine fires call for the most attention because these vessels are all very close together and full of fuel making fires spread quickly."

Moore explained that a commercial vacuum truck will remove the rest of the water and fuel mixture.

Captain Kieran Kelly said the fuel lines to the tank were dry so there was not a lot of fuel for the fire to burn. "We were lucky that the crew acted so quickly and that the responders got here when they did."

I was delighted to read the article on the Seahurst Post Office in the Highline Times and would like to add little history about the Seahurst Post Office.

The original building for the Seahurst Post Office had been built on the west side of 21st Ave. S.W., almost directly across from the original sanctuary of St. Francis of Assisi. The Seattle to Burien trolley, “Toonerville Trolley” some folks called it, turned from 152nd onto 21st and ended at about 153rd in a turnaround – the end of the line.

The post office was a small, wooden building catering to the mostly rural route folks and did not have boxes with keys as post offices have today. There weren’t a lot of well-maintained roads so even mailboxes had rural route addresses.

My grandparent’s address was: Henry and Amy Grant, Rural Route 2, Seattle. Eventually they had a street address, but their mailbox with that address stood alongside other boxes on 152nd and 24th SW until the 1960’s. All of our mail was addressed %Martin family, General Delivery, Seahurst, Wash, or just plain Martin Family, Seahurst, Wash. I have actually been a patron since I was 4.

By Rebekah LaSala
SPECIAL TO THE HIGHLINE TIMES

Brett Fish of Normandy Park is in a battle to fight for his cherished boyhood home, and to stop what he adamantly feels is flagrant misuse of the easement road that runs through his property.
Fish is the son of local born, well-loved journalist and writer, Byron Fish who passed away in 1996. Byron Fish was a former Normandy Park mayor.

It has been Brett’s personal mission to launch into a battle with the Southwest Suburban Sewer District that has become fraught with conflict stemming from the SWSSD’s alleged misuse of the road.

The controversy involves an agreement allowing the sewer district to use Fish’s road to access the district’s compost plant. Fish’s house and the plant sit near each other along Miller Creek, just south of Sylvester Road Southwest.

The easement agreement allows the district to use the road for trucks hauling compost and sludge.