September 2013

Six ambitious hikers embarked on the Third Annual Dick’s Walkathon on Saturday, Sept. 14, to hit all six Dick’s location: Edmonds, Lake City, Crown Hill, Wallingford, Capitol Hill and Lower Queen Anne.

The two founders, Lars Phillips and JP Osseward, are old chums from Ballard High School who started the walkathon because they enjoy hiking in all forms, both in the mountains and right here in the city. (Urban hikes have an added bonus because they're cheap, local and still a great form of exercise and fun.)

On the most recent walkathon, they picked up more participants as they hit the different locations and even met Saul Spady, the grandson of Dick Spady. The coupons and t-shirts they received were a nice bonus, too. The walkathon was 22 miles long.

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Eight years ago, when Ballardite Marla Smith-Nilson started Water 1st International, a nonprofit which implements water projects and infrastructure around the world, she envisioned doing plenty of good: bringing safe drinkable water to families, allowing children to go to school instead of carry water for miles and advancing general public health.

What she didn’t envision was what took place last week.

She appeared on NBC’s nationally-viewed “Today Show,” squashed between “Scandal” actor Katie Lowes and “Self Magazine” editor Lucy Danzinger, and being talked at by wine-drinking hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb.

It was for Self Magazine’s Sixth Annual Women Doing Good Award. Smith-Nilson is the first woman ever from the Seattle area to win the award. And, being stacked up against other awardees such as Lowes, Shakira and Padma Lakshmi, she may have been the most credible winner as well.

Though she enjoyed meeting all of the celebrities -- The Ballard News-Tribune overheard her say in a meeting that Lakshmi “just smells pretty” -- Smith-Nilson said the experience was “a little weird.”

Tigest Beyene, a 25-year-old Highline High School grad, was shot in the abdomen Thursday, Sept. 12 in SeaTac by her former boyfriend, 26-year-old Samson Berhe of Lynnwood, who later turned the gun on himself, according to police.

The incident began in SeaTac shortly after 4 p.m.

According to documents filed with the King County Superior Court: "The defendant (Samson Berhe) and the victim (Tigest Beyene) ended their three-year relationship last month. According to the victim, the defendant's behavior over the last few weeks has become unusual. In this incident, the defendant suddenly started following the victim home. As they were driving in separate vehicles, the defendant shot at the victim, multiple times, threatening to kill her. When the victim tried to escape on foot, the defendant continued to pursue the victim, shooting as he ran after her. The defendant shot the victim once in the lower abdomen. As she was cowering in fear, the defendant attempted to reload, telling the victim again that he was going to kill her and that her daughter would have no mother while he pointed the gun at her head."

 When I think about the bounty on our table each fall, I am reminded of the beauty of nature. From seeds or starts we harvest from our own gardens a wonderful array of fresh vegetables and fruits.

 Each year I would begin the growing season in late April, toiling in the soil with my tomato starts and pepper plant seeds. As in my youth, to give the plants a boost, we often used chicken manure in small doses, mostly because it was cheap and available. We always wanted the biggest and reddest tomatoes on our block.

As an adult I continued the tradition. It was game on by mid-May between my brother-in-law in Portland and me here, in Seattle. In this game there are no rules. Biggest wins.  I grew up in Portland so I know about the hot summers. Perfect for ripening tomatoes quickly. But April is my birthday month. The brother-in-law was always kind enough to drive my little sis Norma, up for the event.  Norma's hubby was clearly not thinking about our contest so early. Often he would revel with joy when he was able to produce a bulbous beefy boy tomato in our annual contest. Of course that would not happen until late August.

By Kyra-lin Hom

In the iconic words of Jubal Early, as he floats through space untethered, and the final line of Firefly's TV run, “Well... Here I am.” Hopefully, I'm not slowly drifting to death in an endless frozen vacuum, but I do have a lot more in common with Jubal right now than is what can be termed comfortable. In this new and surprisingly foreign place, I have no connections. I have no job as of yet. And I know no one besides my boyfriend and me. I thought that college in LA would have prepared me for this feeling, but it turns out that moving out of state for school and just moving out of state are very different games.

GriefShare Support Group
Grace Church
10323 28th Ave. S.W.
Saturdays, starting Sept. 7th for 13 weeks, 10 a.m.—noon. This international grief recovery support group is open to anyone who has lost a loved one to death. You can start at anytime and it doesn’t matter how long ago the death occurred. There is a one time cost of $15 for a journal. Contact: Barb at 206-932-7459 or Grace Church 206-937-8400.

Camp Long Dessert Auction-Coffehouse Concert Fundraiser
5200 35th Ave. S.W.
Thursday, Sept. 19, 7-9 p.m. Camp Long Advisory Council brings back this event. Come celebrate the beginning of fall at Camp Long. Listen to music from local musicians, Miles and Karina. Bid on desserts homemade or donated from local businesses. All proceeds go toward furthering Environmental Education via school programs and the Challenge Course. $10 will get you in the door. Info: 206-684-7434.

American Sewing Guild Monthly Meeting
The Kenney
7125 Fauntleroy Way S.W.

The Seattle Thunderbirds Hockey team is a group of young men familiar with high speed, athleticism, grace and raw power. But on Sunday, Sept. 15 they were out of their comfort zone in a visit to West Seattle. They came to Alki Kayak Tours for a team building exercise, to kayak out into Elliott Bay and down to the the Alki Lighthouse and back, in two man kayaks.

This was new for all of them and they were apprehensive. The morning was foggy, and lightning and thunder had preceded their arrival (appropriately enough) but as skilled as they are on skates, on the water they were untested. "I'm afraid of the animals," one of them said, perhaps alluding to killer whales, and others said they were unsure of themselves in the boats. When asked what it takes to be a hockey player, one said, "Brains and balls," which is likely the same combination required to get out on the water.

By David Rosen

Classic cars, trucks, hot rods, and motorcycles from 1979 and earlier rolled into the sixth annual West Seattle Car Show in the Junction on Sept 15. There was a limit of about 300 cars this year as they lined the streets from SW Genesee to SW Edmonds.

The organizers of the event gave out goodie bags for the first 100 cars and dash plaques for the first 200 cars.

The organizers had trophies for the best looking cars. A raffle to benefit West Seattle Rotary's Pencil Me In For Kids is part of the event every year.

Youth fashion, with a healthy dose of humor from host Nate Jackson was the focus of a show held Saturday night, Sept. 14 in West Seattle. Inner-city & at-risk youth were the beneficiaries of the event through the Unified Outreach Fashion Program. Tyrone provided the musical performance.

For over a decade designer Carlisia Minnis and the artists at MAC Fashion House have established themselves as a company whose brand is as unique as Seattle itself.

Recognized as an industry leader in custom clothing, handbags, and infant accessories; Carlisia and MAC Fashion House lent their talents to the Unified Outreach non-profit youth Arts program for the 2013 Celebrity Invite Youth Fashion Expose’.

On stage were 20 aspiring models from the Unified Outreach and working behind the scenes were youth from the City of Seattle work training in the Arts program.

By Paul Moseley

The Seattle Lutheran Saints hosted the Lake Roosevelt Raiders at West Seattle Stadium in their first Sea-Tac/Northwest conference game of the season. Coming off a solid win over Evergreen Lutheran last week, the hard-hitting Saints had good reason for optimism. The Raiders were fresh off of a 56-0 loss to Davenport last week, and made a 5-hour school bus trip over the Snoqualmie pass the morning of the game.

Early in the game, the Saints must have felt like they were in that Lindsay Lohan movie where she wakes up in Jamie Curtis’ body (before the good yogurt)…nothing quite worked like it was supposed to.

The Saints were missing running back/linebacker Abijah Smith, still recovering from his head injury from the helmet to helmet hit last week that took him out of the game, but still had clutch players including #5 Grant Doer and #13 Ben Sanders.

The Saints showed early promise with a 51 yard halfback pass to Isaiah Dowding-Albrecht that put them on the 3 yard line. Unable to convert, they went for the field goal that was blocked and never got close to the goal again.

It was all Lake Roosevelt for the next 3 quarters.