September 2013

The 2013-14 season local West Seattle theater opens with a bang in the form of a Co-World premiere of The Taming October 2 - 19.

The play written by Lauren Gunderson and directed by Tammis Doyle was initially inspired by Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew but has been given a completely modern spin by Gunderson.

In a press release the theater described the play:

"What do you get when you lock together a liberal political activist, a conservative senatorial aid and the sparkly Miss Georgia? The answer is a hysterical political farce with all the crackle and tension that can be packed into one hotel room.

Dishing up a good ole heaping of Southern fried politics, Lauren Gunderson's THE TAMING takes on America's overheated bombastic polarity, upends the historical truths of our founding fathers, and plays with the passions of three wacky women who may well be revolutionary geniuses in disguise.

It took a full year to get it completed but the Barton Street P-Patch (itself only 2 1/2 years old) fired up its community pizza/bread oven on Sept. 11 and fed many of the volunteers who made it happen. The oven designed by architect Chris Luthi and built largely by Luthi and Kate Farley is flanked by cement counters for food preparation, and an arbor that will become home for a vine in the future. The P-Patch is located at 34th SW and SW Barton Street.

Luthi who has built 12 others in people's homes said, "I've always wanted to do this. It's based on a French community oven, and I've built in backyards but really the place for it is in a public place. I think this is the first one in a public place in Seattle."

Farley said, "This is the culmination of a huge amount of effort, physical effort. We had a core of me and Chris including Mikael Donnelly, and others. Then when we needed a big crowd to build the countertops everybody pitched in."

The oven is not quite finished. Some stone facing needs to be completed and a few items need to be tidied up but it's absolutely in working condition.

Martita Chin is a Japanese Chin dog, who turned three years old on the 2nd of September. She lives with Angel Rivera, who is a retired military man and his wife Ixa

"She was adopted. There are only two breeders in Puerto Rico who breed this type of dog. She was born with a birth defect in her front paw and she could not be taken to shows so the breeder was frantically looking for someone to take the dog from him. We decided to take her."

It helped that she came at no cost but they quickly fell in love with her.

She has four names Angel said, "Pagoda Martita Sanchez Chin."

Martita gets dry food and loves going for morning walks but she's relatively new to Seattle. "She's just getting used to the weather here," Angel explained, "We moved from Puerto Rico to here about five months ago. She hasn't seen snow yet so we're getting ready."

She has a little cow and giraffe she got as a gift from their grandsons, who happen to be her favorite people to play with.

Angel noticed something he thought was an important sign about Martita's nature.

Seattle Police Department Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Mark Solomon has released his September newsletter, and this time it’s all about robberies: The fact that they are spiking citywide, and several tips on how to safeguard yourself and those you love from a dangerous encounter.

"Armed and Strong-Armed Robberies have spiked. Just for clarification: an armed-robbery is one in which a weapon or threat of weapon is used to get property directly from a person; a strong-armed robbery is one where physical force or threat of force – not involving a weapon - is used," Solomon wrote.

Good afternoon members of the committee, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for having me today. My name is John Urquhart, and I am the Sheriff of King County, WA.

Seattle is located in King County, and with almost 2 million residents, we are the 14th largest county by population in the United States. I have over 1000 employees in the Sheriff’s Office and a budget exceeding $160 million.

As Sheriff, I am therefore the top law enforcement official in the largest jurisdiction in the country that has legalized marijuana.

I have been a police officer for 37 years, and I was elected as King County’s Sheriff last year. During my career I’ve investigated everything from shoplifts to homicides. But I’ve also spent 12 years as a narcotics detective. My experience shows the War on Drugs has been a failure. We have not significantly reduced demand over time, but we have incarcerated generations of individuals, the highest incarceration rate in the world.

From St. Alphonsus Parish School

When the bell rang for the start of the school year at St. Alphonsus Parish School, a new face welcomed students, teachers and parents. Mr. Matt Eisenhauer is the new principal of St. Al’s, and the transition has generated a positive vibe all across campus that St. Al’s will not only continue to thrive as a quality Catholic school, but will strive to be innovative and unique in its approach to educating the whole student.

“This is an exhilarating time for the St. Alphonsus Parish School Community,” says Father Shane McKee, pastor of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church. “The addition of Mr. Eisenhauer fills me with hope and pride in our bright future together.”

Mr. Eisenhauer comes to St. Al’s from his former position as Vice Principal of Eastlake Catholic High School, and has been in the education field as an administrator and teacher for more than 25 years.

King County Sheriff John Urquhart was invited to Washington D.C. to speak before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for a hearing on conflicts between state and federal marijuana laws.

King County represents the largest local jurisdiction with legalized recreational marijuana according to Urquhart, and as the top cop for our area the Senate was interested in hearing his take.

Prior to the hearing on Sept. 10, Urquhart said, "I supported I-502 last year because as a former narcotics detective, I can say with full confidence that the War on Drugs as been a failure. There has to be a better way. And as far as marijuana is concerned, the citizens of Washington have decided legalization for personal use appears to be that ‘better way’. Law enforcement needs to respect their decision.”

Here is Urquhart's transcript from the hearing, provided by KCSO:

Good afternoon members of the committee, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for having me today. My name is John Urquhart, and I am the Sheriff of King County, WA.

By Peggy Sturdivant

My favorite farm stand visitors so far have been the Queen Anne couple killing time in the neighborhood because they were having their cat washed in Ballard. But we’ll come back to them later.

Like many others I’ve been giving away pounds of tomatoes this year, delighted whenever someone is pleased to be a recipient of my Sweet Millions, Sugar Lumps and Sungolds. (I am still hoarding my Purple Cherokees, Ivory Princes and Green Zebras).

Perhaps it was the scale that I found at a garage sale that reminded me of childhood, or the sight of shoppers still paying $5.00 for a pint of cherry tomatoes at the Farmer’s Market. As though it was in my blood I just had to set up an honor system stand on the front sidewalk and get those beautiful red orbs out of the backyard and into the public eye.

Coming up Sept. 16 the public is invited to join Sustainable West Seattle and Tox-ick.org for a presentation and panel discussion on the work being done by citizens, organizations and the government to keep Puget Sound healthy and restore the ecosystem.

We will examine the current state of Puget Sound, personal actions that individuals can take to keep the Sound healthy, City of Seattle incentives for the homeowner and government infrastructure projects underway.

"Diver" Laura James from Tox-ick.org (and winner of the SWS Volunteer of the Year Award 2013) will discuss the problem of stormwater pollution in Puget Sound and the simple actions people can engage in to help it.

A panel of experts from the community will follow up with a discussion on the steps we can take as individuals and a community to keep the Sound clean.

The forum is from 7-9 PM at the West Seattle Senior Center located at 4217 SW Oregon Street in Alaska Junction.

For more information go to www.sustainablewestseattle.org.