October 2013

By Rachel M. Lusby

Did you know over 200,000 people each year are raped/sexually assaulted in the United States? Did you know over 40% of those people are under 18, and roughly 80% are under 30?

These statistics, according to RAIIN ,(Rape, Abuse, And Incest National Network,) also suggest every 2 minutes someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. (http://www.rainn.org/statistics)

The National Organization for Women says according to the National Crime Victimization Survey over 200,000 women in the U.S. are raped or sexually assaulted, which runs about 600 women every day. And the majority of those women are attacked by an intimate partner.

That number includes rapes that are not reported. FBI reports list lower numbers because they rely on agency reports.

(This is not to say men and boys are not sexually assaulted as often as women and girls.)

Jim Curtis, owner and instructor at Umibushi Self-Defense Academy in Des Moines, stresses the importance of self-defense in the classes he teaches and the seminars he holds at various locations in the United States.

To the Editor:

Many downtown Des Moines businesses were affected by the Water Dist #54 water shutdown, I would imagine most seriously the many small, family owned restaurants and coffee shops that had to close unexpectedly for several days. To make matters worse, it now seems that the closures may have been unnecessary. I would like to challenge those neighbors who can afford it, to add an extra trip or two to these establishments over the next month and spend a little more of your budget to help these businesses recoup their lost days. Show your support to downtown DesMoines!

Gwen House - North Hill Des Moines

To the Editor:

Hopefully some citizens are watching what is going on with the hiring of the Search Firm that is going to be searching for the next City Manager for the City of Burien(COB). While the wise thing to do would be to wait to hire this firm until the new Council is elected and on board, there are some Council members who want to do this now because those members may end up losing in this next election. So it appears their plan is to hamstring the new Council with a firm now that will select candidates that were as bad as Mike Martin was or to hire one of their old friend search firms before they leave office. As we all know, Mr. Martin was hired because a friend of Mr. Shaw’s had worked with Mr. Martin in Kent and knew he was having difficulties getting hired. So it was arranged to have a Search Firm bring Mr. Martin to Burien. The rest is history.

To the editor:

Dear Business Owner/Donation Coordinator,

We are contacting you on behalf of the Andy MacDonald Fire Services Scholarship. Set up by his family and friends, the scholarship was created in 2008 in loving memory of Andy MacDonald. Andy was a volunteer firefighter who, at age 19, tragically lost his life in the 2006 flooding of the Cowlitz River.

We honor his devoted aspirations of becoming a firefighter and his commitment to helping those around him by encouraging continued education in the fire service. Each November, we hold a fundraiser benefit to raise money for the scholarship. Last year more than 250 people attended and we raised $9,000.

The scholarship is set up with the Puget Sound Skills Center (PSSC) in the Highline School District, where Andy began his firefighting training. The scholarship assists cadets in the PSSC Fire Services program by offering scholarships to colleges or trade schools to continue their fire service education. To date, we have awarded approximately 16 cadets with the scholarship.

By Shara Wallace

Bank robberies
King County Sheriffʼs office detectives are actively looking for a white man who robbed the same bank twice in one week. On 9-23-13 around 12:50 p.m. the man entered the Key Bank in the 17800 block of 1st Ave. S. and passed a note demanding money. He was described as a white male, 30ʼs, 6ʼ0” tall, with a slender build. He was last seen wearing a dark blue rain jacket with a hood and jeans. On 9-30-13 around 3:45 p.m. the same man entered the same bank, simulated a weapon and demanded money. In this robbery he was last seen wearing a black hoodie with white writing and blue jeans. In each of the robberies the man fled on foot with an undisclosed amount of money.

Car break-ins, vandalism, prowlers and theft
1000 blk S.W. Seahurst Park, 1000 blk S.W. 122nd St., 12400 blk Ambaum Blvd. S.,
15900 blk Oceanview Dr., 800 blk S.W. 125th St., 2000 blk S. 112th St., 11700 blk 12th
Ave. S., 14400 blk 11th Ave. S.W., 12200 blk 28th Ave. S., 14200 blk 6th Ave. S., 12400
blk Ambaum Blvd. S., 13200 blk 2nd Ave. S.W., 12200 blk 16th Ave. S., 15400 blk Des
Moines Memorial Dr., 200 blk S. 156th

When Hey Paison!, Burien's popular neighborhood Italian sandwich shop of seven years closed suddenly in April, it left a void. Fortunately, the empty retail space didn't sit abandoned for long; this week, the Maven Mercantile will open in that space.

The Maven Mercantile is a walk-in eatery focused on providing nutritious meals made from scratch with high quality, natural and fresh ingredients.

The Maven Mercantile will also serve as the home base for Maven Meals, a fresh food home delivery service. Customers order selections from the rotating menus on the Maven Meals website and the meals are delivered to homes with final preparation instructions that allow for fresh, natural and gourmet meals to be ready in minutes. Menus are produced around seasons and what is available locally. Many gluten free, vegetarian and pescetarian options are offered and delivery areas range from south of Burien, over past Bellevue and even as far as north of Ballard.

By Matt Wendland

A 17-year-old burglary suspect was arrested in northeast Burien Friday, Oct. 4, after he allegedly fired a weapon multiple times towards an occupied vehicle.

According to Detective Stanley of the King County Sheriff's Department, at 12:45 p.m. on the 11400 block of Roseburg Ave. South, in northeast Burien, a Burien man who had recently reported his home burglarized spotted a teen who he believed may be responsible for the crime. When the man approached the teen, the suspect is said to have recognized him and the two began arguing. The victim told the suspect that he was going to call the police and returned to his vehicle. Before the victim could call the police, he looked into his rearview mirror and saw the teen pull a handgun out from behind his back and aim it at the vehicle. As the victim began to drive away, the suspect fired the weapon several times, hitting the vehicle at least once. Once the suspect drove to a safe distance, he called 911 and flagged down a deputy who was driving by.

By Matt Wendland

A busy evening in Olde Burien was interrupted Friday, Oct. 4, when three local teenagers allegedly attacked patrons in front of a local eatery and bar with skateboards, sending three between the ages of 46 and 66 to a local hospital.

According to Detective Stanley of King County Sheriff's Department, at just before 8pm on Friday evening, an argument broke out between a group of teens passing through Olde Burien and two customers in front of Mark Restaurant.

The argument is thought to have started after the 46-year-old female victim made comment to one of the teens about an event earlier in the evening where the teens were seen damaging or possibly vandalizing a vehicle in the area.

Speculating the she was under the influence of heavy drugs, witnesses claimed that a 16-year-old girl in the group started yelling at the woman, describing her statements as "erratic" and "nothing more than random words and sounds". When the woman attempted to calm the girl down, the girl is said to have grabbed the woman's hair and hit her multiple times in the face.

Update

Mayoral Candidate Sen. Ed Murray issued a statement clarifying his position on the Missing Link.

In the statement, he still supports the current Environmental Impact Statement process to take a "second look" at the route, and he still expresses concerns about the effect on industrial businesses along Shilshole. (Though, strangely, he calls them "Lake Union industrial businesses," when they are actually along Salmon Bay.)

Here's the statement in full:

Yesterday I made some comments to the Seattle Times expressing concerns about safety issues related to the fact that bikes and trucks will have to share a narrow roadway in Ballard under the cycling community’s preferred option for completing the trail. I want to clarify those remarks, because reading them over I realize that my tone came off as overly skeptical regarding that option.