July 2013

West Seattle won a wild one to settle the issue in one championship game at the age 9-10 District 7 Little League all-star tournament Saturday.

The West Siders, who came into the final as the double-elimination tournament's only undefeated team, put South Highline National away by an 11-8 score at their home field at the Bar-S complex above Alki Point.

West Seattle advances into the state tournament at Windjammer Park in Oak Harbor, opening with a bye for Saturday before playing the District 3 vs. District 8 winner at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

West Seattle also received a bye to open this past week's tournament and zipped through to the championship with a 19-6 win over Renton and a 9-8 win over South Highline National in the winner's bracket final Wednesday.

"We're pretty even," said West Seattle manager Steve Joseph of his team and South Highline National, which edged Pac West, 2-1, in Friday's loser's bracket final to reach championship play.

Joseph will not make the trip to Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island because of his mother's battle with an illness.

By Gerardo Bolong

It took a huge effort at the end, but West Seattle claimed the 2013 District 7 Little League Majors (age 11-12) All-Star baseball championship at its Bar-S Play Fields in West Seattle on a warm afternoon near Alki beach on Saturday, July 6.

Dylan Diggdone's walk off home run over the fence in straight away center field in the bottom of the sixth inning capped off a dramatic West Seattle comeback in an 11-9 provisional finals win against Pac West in a game that also served as a state championship qualifier. West Seattle will face a District 4 on July 13, at 4:30 p.m. at Luke Jensen Sports Park in Vancouver, Washington. The Park is located at 4000 NE 78th St., Vancouver, Washington.

"It looked like a fast ball," said Diggdone. "I was just hoping for a hit up the middle. It was more than I hoped for. and it looked like a fast ball. After he threw two balls and a strike, I expected a fast ball. I knew he was going to aim it."

Pac West starting pitcher Larry Siler held previously unbeaten West Seattle scoreless for the first four innings to lead once beaten Pac West to a 6-2 win in a championship round District 7 Little League Majors (age 11-12) All-Star baseball game at the Bar-S Play Fields in West Seattle on Saturday morning, July 6, to force an afternoon provisional final on the same day.

"I used the curve a lot, but really tried to mix the pitches and keep them off balance," Siler said.

Siler completed four innings, giving up four hits while striking out five batters. He had plenty of field support as Pac West played error less ball.

John Kemp opened up the game with fireworks for Pac West by torching a pitch for an opposite field home run over the right center field fence. The ball sailed and just kept carrying.

"I thought the pitch would be a fast ball because it was a 2-1 count," he recalled. "Th next pitch was right down the middle and I hit it over the fence."

While right handed Siler painted the corners of home plate with his sharp breaking curve, Pac West played the add-on strategy for the next two innings.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

West Seattle teams are alive in two ongoing District 7 Little League all-star tournaments this week.

The Westsiders are undefeated in the age 10-11 tournament being held at the PacWest complex in SeaTac, winning their first game by a 12-1 score over the host PacWest team that also represents Burien.

Next up was a 5-3 victory over South Highline National of Des Moines and Normandy Park, putting them into the 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 9 winner's bracket final against the Rainier District team from Seattle.

The winner goes into 6 p.m. Thursday, July 11 championship action needing to be defeated twice to be unseated. The second if-necessary game is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, July 12.

Rainier District won its opener, 15-1, over Renton and edged Seattle Central in its second contest, 1-0, to earn the right to play West Seattle in the winner's bracket final.

The tournament champion advances to state tournament play in Gig Harbor starting Sunday, July 21.
West Seattle finds itself in the loser's bracket final of the Junior age 13-14 tournament.

Almost four decades ago Seahurst Park, located on Puget Sound and now in the city of Burien, was established for the enjoyment and recreational use of residents of Seattle and the surrounding area. The park is forested except for the area close to the waterfront and contains miles of trails.

The viability of this beautiful park is now at peril because Westmark Development was recently issued a permit to construct a 179-unit housing development set at the top of the bluff above this park.

This project will clearcut 9.6 acres of the forested land of the ravine located above Seahurst Park and leave only 8 trees standing. The deforestation of these cliffs and ravines will have a devastating impact on the water quality of Seahurst Park as well as this part of Puget Sound.

This project was set in motion more than 15 years ago, before building permits were required to undergo the careful environmental impact reviews that we have now.

The High Point Farm Stand (32nd Ave. SW and SW Juneau Street) will open Wednesdays from July 10 to October 9.

It's joined by the New Holly Farm Stand down on South Holly Park Drive and will offer fresh organic produce picked right from the P-Patch Market Gardens.

Fresh right now are spinach, carrots, leafy vegetables, new onions, peas, turnips, and radishes, to name a few. The hours of operation are 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Both farm stands accept EBT cards and participate in the new Fresh Bucks Project which doubles consumers’ first $10 spent on the card.

Seattle P-Patch Market Gardens is a program of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods P-Patch Community Gardening Program in collaboration with the Seattle Housing Authority and P-Patch Trust to support low-income gardeners and neighborhoods. Its mission is to establish safe, healthy communities and economic opportunity through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and farm stand enterprises.

To learn about the Seattle P-Patch Market Gardens, visit www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/ppatch/marketgardens/.

No one likes to pay the piper but our state is in dire need of some rehab on our bridges and roads. I don’t mind paying to cross Lake Washington or even the Narrows Bridge to get back from Gig Harbor. With all the talk lately of tolls and Good-To-Go passes on area bridges it reminded me of an earlier time.

As a Portland boy born and bred I am familiar with the ancient steel bridge which connects Vancouver with my home town. As part of Highway 99 it was the only way to get to an occasional Sunday picnic alongside a rippling  stream called Salmon Creek, about three miles from Vancouver. My dad had a battered 1918 Buick four-door, soft top sedan. 

       He and Mom sometimes took me and my nine-year old brother and little sister on Sunday picnics. 
I don't know the year but one Sunday, as our dad ordered, my sister and I to hunker down on the floor in the back seat under a tattered blanket as we stopped at the Portland toll gate. Brother Russ was in the back seat with his legs and feet concealing our bodies.

 Dad saved ten cents on each of us. It was a little lumpy looking I suspect but the toll guard waved us through. 

It takes a whole community to make a wonderful and memorable Fourth of July Parade.

I want to especially thank Ashley Fosberg, executive director of the Highline Schools Foundation, for helping out the three young women who rode in the parade car for the Fourth of July event. The Highline Schools Foundation, Project PROMise loaned the young women dresses so that they could participate in this event and be elegantly dressed. It gave them the opportunity to be beautiful and glamorous looking for the event.

The Project PROMise program gets its funding and dresses from citizens. In the foundation’s own words, “Highline Schools Foundation (Project PROMise) collects beautiful new and gently worn formal dresses and gowns, shoes, and accessories from throughout our community and invites high school students in need to ‘go shopping’ for the perfect dress for their prom. The dresses are offered to the girls to keep, or they may return them to the foundation to be used the following year.

Press release:

Local public health officials have learned of a confirmed case of measles in a contagious traveler who arrived at Sea-Tac airport on July 4, 2013. Measles is a highly contagious and potentially severe disease caused by the measles virus. It is mainly spread through the air after a person with measles coughs or sneezes.

Because most people in our area have immunity to the measles through vaccination, the risk to the general public is low. However, people who were in the same locations at Sea-Tac Airport around the same time as the contagious traveler should be aware of their immunity status, monitor themselves for symptoms, and call a health care provider promptly if they develop an illness with fever or an unexplained rash illness sometime between July 11 and July 25, 2013.

People at highest risk from exposure to measles include those who are unvaccinated, pregnant women, infants under six months of age and those with weakened immune systems.

A stray bullet hit a rental car stopped at a red light in SeaTac on July 4.

The bullet nearly missing a couple and their young daughter who had rented the car at Sea-Tac Airport to visit relatives in Tacoma.

Sgt. Cindi West with the King County sheriff's office said it's almost impossible to find the gun because the stray bullet could have traveled more than a mile from where it was fired.

She noted Fourth of July celebratory gun fire is pretty common.

The busy intersection where the shooting happened is just outside the airport.