June 2013

Press release:

Link light rail will resume its normal nighttime operating schedule beginning Monday, June 10.

Sound Transit contractors have completed installing a new sound wall along the light rail tracks near the Duwamish River in Tukwila. The work forced delays through the area and was originally anticipated to last through July.

Now that the work is finished early, Link light rail trains will again run every ten minutes from 9 – 10 p.m. and every 15 minutes from 10 p.m. – 1 a.m. on weeknights.

Detailed schedule information is available here:
http://www.soundtransit.org/Schedules/Central-Link-light-rail

Burglar has a need to shred the gnar (As in, he stole a longboard, dude)

May 31, 12:52 a.m., 15th Block of NW Market St -- A victim reported to police that the lock on his storage was missing and that when he looked inside, his Arbor longboard was missing. (According to a quick Google search, Arbor longboards are generally over $100.)

While looking around his storage locker, the victim noted a pair of bolt cutters was left behind a concrete pillar next to his unit. He did not have any further suspect or witness information.

The responding police officer recovered the bolt cutters, placed them in property as evidence and provided the on-duty security guard with a business card.

No one was reported to have been "shredding the gnar" nearby.

Just give me my stuff back and "everything will be cool"

From SPD Blotter

Officers acted quickly to intercept a school-bound teen armed with a handgun this afternoon in Ballard.

At approximately 12:34 p.m. officers responded to the Interagency School located downtown in the 800 block of 3rd Avenue after receiving a report that a 15-year-old male student was enroute to the school with a handgun. The building was subsequently locked down by the property managers as officers continued to investigate. Initial reports about the incident did not indicate any threats made by the student toward classmates or the school.

Information developed during the course of the investigation indicated that the youth had several hangouts in the Ballard area. Patrol officers conducted an extensive area search for the student and located him in the 1400 block of NW 85th Street. He was detained and found to be in possession of an unloaded handgun.

Retired Seattle public school teachers and West Seattleites Donn and Jan Weaver are getting older (around the 80 mark), and have begun the conversation on moving out of their 48th Ave. S.W. home here soon for the easier option of an assisted living community.

Before they do so, however, Donn decided he ought to email the Herald and ask if we’d like to come over and check out “what I think may be the largest rhododendron in West Seattle,” during its two to four day showing of vibrant pink blossoms in peak bloom.

Finding myself in the Weaver’s part of town on June 4, and fresh off a visit to Whidbey Island and the Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens (53 acres of woodland full of a dizzying array of rhododenrens, from traditional to never-before-seen hybrids), I decided I needed to see this tree.

Donn had emailed me his address, but upon turning onto 48th and surveying the landscape I put down the notepad and went by sight as it was clear where I needed to go. In full bloom, the Weaver’s tree cannot be missed as it imposes its pastel presence well into public space.

A local medical marijuana facility has found itself propelled into the forefront of the drug’s push into normalcy in American society, joining forces with a business model and significant financial backing poised to get cannabis to the people through a unified brand and chains across the nation.

Sometime in the next 90 days the signage outside the nondescript Northwest Patient Resource Center (NWPRC) at the corner of 35th SW and SW Roxbury will change. It will reflect a yet unnamed - but likely to become - nationally known brand, representing the retail face of the medical cannabis industry.

Two branches of one company

Update: The ad hoc committee was tasked with trying to resolve four areas of contention between the city of Burien's originally submitted Shoreline Master Program and the state Department of Ecology. One of these areas was the buffer and setback requirements for the marine shoreline. The city and DOE had already agreed on the Lake Burien setbacks.

Here is our previous coverage

Yet another hitch appeared June 3 as Burien lawmakers appeared ready to approve a compromise shoreline master plan and resubmit it to the state Department of Ecology (DOE).

Three Burien council members voiced concern the compromise granted more lenient conditions for Puget Sound property owners over Lake Burien residents.

But the prospect of dragging the five-year-long process along for even one more council meeting caused two of the three dissenters to decide to approve the plan in hopes it may be amended later.

Councilmember Rose Clark commented that while the council has focused on the Lake Burien and marine properties shore plan, “the rest of the city has been ignored.”

The vote was 6-1 with Councilmember Jack Block Jr. the lone dissenter.

In a letter to the community Chief Sealth International High School Principal Chris Kinsey announced his departure from the job, a role he took on in 2011, following the departure of John Boyd.

Dear Chief Sealth International High School Community,

As we wrap up the school year and begin planning for next year, I am writing to you with a sense of pride and a heavy heart. I write to you with a sense of pride because of all the incredible programs, students, staff, and community that belong to Chief Sealth International. I write to you with a heavy heart because I have decided not to return to Chief Sealth as your Principal.

In my two years as your Principal, I have been extremely proud of how we have grown as a community, flourished as learners, and strengthened each and every program at Sealth -- ensuring academic and emotional success for ALL students. In my time at Sealth, I have enjoyed the incredible diversity, remarkable teaching, and the overall commitment and dedication to the students who walk through our doors each and every day. It has been an honor and privilege to work with the staff, students, and community.

Press release:

The Washington Aerospace Scholars program is pleased to announce that the following students will be participating in one of the four WAS Summer Residency sessions held in June and July at the Museum of Flight in Tukwila. Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS) is a competitive educational program, based at Tukwila’s Museum of Flight, for high school juniors from across Washington State.

Mahekdeep Singh from Burien, Aviation High School
Marie-Alexis Mayor from Burien, Bellarmine High School
Abigail Jarve from SeaTac, Aviation High School

These scholars are among the 160 students who qualified for the Washington Aerospace Scholars Summer Residency program from 283 students who applied in November. To qualify for the residency program, they spent five months studying a University of Washington and NASA-designed, distance-learning curriculum via the Internet and have been selected to attend one of the four residencies hosted at The Museum of Flight this summer based on their academic performance on the distance-learning lessons.

Earlier today, fishmongers from Pike Place Fish Market put their fish-throwing skills to the test when they fed Woodland Park Zoo's 750-pound grizzly bears.

"We love doing this kind of stuff," said Ryan Reese, a fishmonger and Ballard graduate of 1996. "It's nice to get out of the market, too. This is part of our program. Instead of tossing these fish and throwing them away what better thing to do than to save them and feed the bears. We are 100-percent sustainable and have been doing this since January, 2010."

Ryan Reese, fishmonger and Ballard graduate, puts on a show. Photo by Steve Shay

The toss was to promote the zoo's annual Bear Affair, Pacific Northwest Conservation, which will focus on bears, wolves, raptors and other Pacific Northwest wildlife. Bear Affair is a signature event of Seattle Science Festival, the largest celebration of science in the Pacific Northwest. For event details, visit www.seattlesciencefestival.org.

Press release:

The Holocaust Center hosts an annual, statewide contest entered by more than 800 students in grades 5-12. This year, students from Kent Mountain View Academy took 1st and 2nd place in the 5/6 art division, and a student from Parkside Elementary took third place in the digital media category. View and read their entries at http://www.wsherc.org/writingcontest/WAC2013_winners.aspx.
Winners will be honored at an award ceremony and luncheon Sunday, June 9 at Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Bellevue, Washington.

Art:
1st Place – Danielle Kim, 6th Grade, Kent Mountain View Academy, Des Moines. Teacher: Thanh Thu Do

2nd Place – Aria Saisslin, 6th Grade, Kent Mountain View Academy, Des Moines. Teacher: Thanh Thu Do

Digital Media:
3rd Place – Alyssa Vasquez, 5th Grade, Parkside Elementary, Des Moines. Teacher: Debbi Needham