June 2013

Sunny days and warm winds put me back in time to days spent pestering fishes on the region’s lakes, streams and saltwater.

One memorable trip was to Neah Bay with a friend and his son and my son, Ken. The boys were about 14. We rented a 16-foot kicker boat and headed out toward Tatoosh Island near the mouth of the straits to chase silver salmon.

My friend, Jim Cardwell, was as ardent an angler as I. Ken and I soon began getting hookups with bright, frisky silvers. Cardwell could not seem to get a bite. He was running the motor, looking downcast and eating butterscotch cookies from the package without using his fingers. In frustration, after a couple of hours of watching us reel in our catch, Cardwell grumpily insisted we move to shallower water so he could at least dredge up some bottom fish.

It wasn't long before he was able to demonstrate his fishing skill and prove his manhood. too by hooking and bringing to the boat a big halibut. He wore a grin like a Cheshire cat as he gaffed the big fish and dragged it onboard.

It was beginning to look like his day after all. Then, luck betrayed him.

Gigabit Squared, the ultra fast internet service provider that announced it would lease some of Seattle's fiber optic network capacity late last year has announced its pricing plans but for most of West Seattle, it will be some time before they can become a customer.

The technology will be offering gigabit speeds that are 1000 times faster than the typical high-speed connection. Different than current local internet providers the service will be symmetrical (equal upstream and downstream data rates) to enable interactive services that require two-way sharing of video, audio, images, and other large files in real time. Typically upload speeds are far slower than download.

Gigabit Squared’s pricing plans for Seattle will be structured as follows:

. Installation Charge:  Installation charges will be waived for customers signing a one-year contract for 100 Mbps service or greater.  Otherwise, a $350 installation fee is required.

. Service Plan Options:
Plan A:
5 Mbps download/1 Mbps upload: No charge for 60 months
5/1 Mbps services are transferrable to new renters or owners

Three great things are coming together in one event in July: beer, cornhole and the Boys and Girls Club.

At the Pyramid Ale House in Sodo, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., July 6, a cornhole tournament will be held to benefit the King County Boys and Girls Club’s Keystone Teen Leadership Fund, which funds teen programming to help youth stay off the streets, learn leadership skills through summits and conferences and become involved in the community.

The tournament, while not based in Ballard nor funding the Ballard club in specific, is the brainchild of two lifelong Ballardites: Katrina Sigurdson and Stephen Howey. Both grew up in the neighborhood and both went to and are still involved in the local club.

“Some of these clubs are in low income areas and it really is a safe place for kids to come and stay off streets. This is their family, their parents, in a way,” Sigurdson said.

UPDATE 7:30pm
Power is back on for most of the 4803 that were without service on Tuesday evening. The Herald spoke to the City Light crew working on a feeder line near 50th SW and SW Alaska Street. A crew member said, " We had about 15 to 20 transformers fail due to lightning strikes. We've heated up the feeder line so most people are back with power but it will be an all nighter to replace all those transformers." About 79 customers were without power around 8:45pm.

Full restoration of all equipment and power is expected by tomorrow.

Original Post
A series of seemingly close lightning and thunder events that came as a squall passed over West Seattle around 5:30pm knocked out power for 4800 City Light customers primarily along Beach Drive.

The outage extends from Alki Point south along Beach Drive SW, up through the Seaview neighborhood and east into Hight Point. Homes and businesses north of the Morgan Street Junction as far north as SW Juneau Street were also affected.

(thanks to Charlene Kahn for fixing our errors earlier!)

Starting today, the new Stoneburner restaurant in Hotel Ballard (5216 Ballard Ave NW) is officially open.

The restaurant is run by the executive chef from Bastille Cafe and Bar, Jason Stoneburner, who, as Seattle Met's Nosh Pit once reported owner Deming Maclise saying, "was born with a pretty damn good last name." So, why not name a restaurant after him and let him run it? (We hear he's a "pretty damn" good chef, too.)

Stoneburner describes the menu as "Kind've Italian, but not too Italian." He said they basically depend on the Ballard Farmers Market for their ingredients so it's all fresh and locally curated. There's a focus on seasonal handmade pizzas (for which there is a stone hearth oven) and pasta (which has an open pasta station).

There's also an impressive amount of wine on display in one of the corners of the restaurant, with mirrors that make it look like a wonderful magical endless rack. The wine program focuses on wines from the Pacific Northwest, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

Not to worry, though, Stoneburner has not left Bastille. He'll be splitting his time between the two Ballard Ave locations. (The close proximity makes that fairly easy, we imagine.)

If you wait every year to get your strawberries from the West Seattle Rotary Club you are in luck because the date is sooner this year.

The Strawberry Sale date has been moved from July 12th and 13th to NEXT weekend, June 28 and 29.

Friday, June 28th from 1:00pm - 7:00pm
and Saturday June 29th from 9:00am - 7:00pm

The sale is being held at West Seattle Produce 4721 Fauntleroy Way SW

Contact Len Burton - Hardin for more information at 425-248-5696 lenrb3@hotmail.com

Do you have volunteering superpowers like Ballard's hero, The Anchor?

Well, the City of Ballard may need you then. SeafoodFest, which takes place over the weekend of July 13-14, is looking for volunteers.

"We are looking for help with set-up and tear-down, selling raffle tickets, staffing donation stations, and ice wrangling," says Volunteer Coordinator Karen Smith. "Also, please join our group on Facebook to see all the fun activity planned of this fabulously fun festival and long-time Ballard tradition."

Interested volunteers can email Karen Siscel Smith at seafoodfestvolunteer@hotmail.com.

Follow Ballard News-Tribune on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ballardnewstrib

And Twitter at http://twitter.com/ballardnewstrib

The West Seattle High School Cheerleaders are having a party! This one is for elementary school age kids and it's a Pajama Party taking place Friday, June 28 at the West Seattle High School Gym, 3000 California Ave. SW.

Those attending will eat pizza, play games, dance, make art projects, watch a movie and much more.

This is a fundraiser so there's a cost. It's $30 per child, with every sibling only $15 more. You could drop the kids off and go out yourself, since this is an adult supervised event.

For more information or to register contact Beverly Corey coreym_b@comcast.net .

Information from the City of Seattle

Delridge area residents have two current opportunities to provide input about the location of a future neighborhood greenway and natural drainage project on the east side of Delridge Way SW. The routes being considered would make it safer and easier to walk or ride a bike from SW Andover Street to SW Roxbury Street. Residents may provide their input about the choices via a survey arriving in mailboxes along the potential routes this week or by attending a community meeting on July 9, 6-7:30 p.m., at the Highland Park Improvement Club, 1116 SW Holden St.

By Maggie Nicholson

Ray Sargent was a boy during the Great Depression. He lived on the yellow fields of a dairy farm in Tacoma, Washington. He and his mother moved to the farm, run by his grandparents, after Ray's father left the family. Ray's mother was named Josephine. Everyone called her Josie. She went to work in the city. Ray helped out on the farm alongside his many uncles and grandfather.

Ray was interested in the cars that careened over dirt roads, chased by wakes of dust. He was a child when the Ford Model T was chugging along through the streets. Josie and Ray were very close. She raised him, and when she grew older, he took care of her.

Ray's life creed was short and honest: "Ain't bad unless you make up your mind." His clouds were silver through and through. Ray pocketed his childhood friends and carried them the whole way through his life, collecting others along the way. He went to Bellarmine High School in Tacoma and then to Bates Technical College, where he trained to be a mechanic. He served for a time as a mechanic in the war, and then landed a career at RW Rhine Demolition.