October 2013

By Paul Moseley

The 1-3 Seahawks (1-2 conference) took on the (1-3) Franklin Quakers (1-2 conference) at Southwest Athletic Complex (SWAC) Friday night for the Chief Sealth homecoming game and their last home game of the season.

Chief Sealth gave the homecoming crowd a reason to celebrate.

After a game last week where nothing seemed to go right, the Seahawks demonstrated the power of positive thinking and played a consistent, hard hitting game for four quarters this week, winning the battle for turnovers, capitalizing on Franklin's mistakes and even getting a defensive score on a fumble recovery by Senior Linebacker Joe Kilgore.

High schools

Football

Evergreen will be at home at Highline Memorial playing Hazen in a 5 p.m. game Friday and Mount Rainier entertains Kentlake on the same field at 8 p.m. Friday.
Kennedy hosts Foster at 7 p.m. Saturday at Highline Memorial and Highline visits Lakeside at 2 p.m. that day.

Girls soccer

Evergreen visits Foster for a 7:30 p.m. match Tuesday and Highline hosts Lindbergh at the same time at Highline Memorial.
Kennedy goes to Renton, also at 7:30 p.m., and Mount Rainier takes on Thomas Jefferson in a 5 p.m. match at Valley Ridge.
Thursday's schedule has Kennedy at Highline at 7:30 p.m. at Highline Memorial and Foster entertains Lindbergh at the same time.
Mount Rainier hosts Kentlake for a 5:30 p.m. match at Highline Memorial.
Tyee goes to Renton at 5:30 p.m. that day and Evergreen to Hazen at 7:30 p.m. at Renton Stadium.

Volleyball

Kennedy will be in its own gym playing Highline at 7 p.m. Tuesday, while Evergreen hosts Hazen and Tyee entertains Renton.
Foster visits Lindbergh at the same starting time.

By Holly Brown

Anyone who's ever been to or hosted a dinner party knows that an exceptional experience is a result of good food and the ambiance created with decor, lighting, and music. New research shows that dinnerware, glassware, and the utensils we use impact our experience, including the taste of the food itself. According to an Oxford University study by Vanessa Harrar and Charles Spence, published in Flavour in June of this year, there is clear evidence that our tastes and sensory pleasures from food are not simply about what's going on in our mouths. It's about what's going on in our brains.

It turns out our brains maintain a tally of experiences that sends cues to our taste buds. When we eat, we're drawing from a rich database of experiential data that influences our reaction to the food. This data also affects whether we have a positive, neutral or negative experience to the event itself, which in turns gets stored in our brain, and impacts future experiences.

by Carole Smith

We called him “Walking Kitty”
Though we never knew his name
But every day like clockwork
From the alley out he came

To strut behind his owner’s dog
With such a noble air
That he’d been born a tabby cat
He seemed quite unaware

And when he’d stroll the gardens
In the place of chasing birds
He’d talk to anyone he’d meet
As if he knew the words

He made me laugh a hundred times
But only one time cry
That’s when I learned, for the last time
My house he had walked by

Speaking from the gymnasium where he "learned to shoot a jump shot" at Cascade Middle School, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced on Friday Oct. 4 that the state would become the 8th in the nation to adopt new science education standards. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) has been a pilot project at Cascade supported by Washington STEM.

NGSS is a set of internationally benchmarked standards, rich in content and practice that connect multiple science disciplines in a meaningful way. They include instruction from elementary through high school aiming to prepare students for college and careers. These standards now move statewide and include engineering standards embedded in them. The NGSS is based on the Framework for K–12 Science Education developed by the National Research Council.

Obituary courtesy of the family

Olaf Kvamme died peacefully on Sept. 27, 2013, in his sleep in his home at Horizon House in Seattle surrounded by his loving family. A remarkable man, he demonstrated charm, wit, integrity and intelligence while contributing so much to his family and to the community. He is considered an honorary Ballardite for his heavy involvement in the Nordic Heritage Museum. Olaf was a beloved father, brother, friend and colleague and he will be missed greatly. He was 90 years old.

Olaf was born on the family farm in Kvamme, the valley outside of Bergen, Norway on June 21, 1923. He came to the United States at the age of two months with his parents, Eli Alvhilda (Rivenes) Kvamme and Johannes Kvamme. His earliest years were spent in Tacoma in the Hill Top neighborhood where he attended public school through the third grade. One by one, his uncles from Norway came and boarded with them. It was from his family, and these uncles, that he learned the Norwegian language and the stories, nursery rhymes, and songs for which he was famous all his life.

St. Luke's Episcopal Church, supported by the Ballard Chamber of Commerce, has started a petition to keep the Ballard Commons Honey Bucket past its takedown date, Oct. 11.

The petition reads: "This honey bucket serves a critical public health function in downtown Ballard for all of us who visit and enjoy this heavily used urban park. The long term goal for downtown Ballard is to establish a permanent restroom for the general public in the Ballard Commons Park as is usual in other city parks. The current well serviced honey bucket is an important interim public facility for the community until the long term goal of building a permanent facility can be accomplished. ... Many folks from across our community are depending on your good will and civic spirit so that they will have a healthy place to “go” in downtown Ballard that preserves both their dignity and the public health of the community."

Architect firm broken into

Sept. 27, 11:39 p.m., 3900 Block of Leary Way NW -- An architect firm, Stannard Conway Architects, was broken into, but little if anything was stolen.

A resident of the basement underneath the business said he had heard a sound around 10:30 p.m., but didn't investigate it. He came out of his apartment later, shortly before police came, and discovered a ladder propped up to an open window to the office. However, he could see no one inside the business, which is inside a fully fenced and walled yard which contains other businesses.

The exterior doors were still securely locked and the alarm had not gone off inside the business. A drafting table inside the open window was broken. Nothing appeared to be missing and very little appeared to be disturbed.

The owner of the office said there was an alarm in the next room, so if the wouldbe burglar had gone any further, he likely would have tripped it.

Burglar steals laptop, makes a mess

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

What is it like to live a blessed life as some people call it? Just ask me and I will spew out all the special happenings I have experienced lately. The Columbia River and its majestic path through our state, the ocean’s frothy spray as it pounds on the shore, and the views from our own Mt. Rainier. It had been some time since I had ventured into the great rain forest of the Olympic National Park. Rain was expected on the Olympic Peninsula but for some reason when we drove into that vast region of greenery the rain decided to leave us dry. But walking into that forest of deep undergrowth and thick canopy overhead you would not think the sun was shining brightly. Even sounds of the occasional car driving by in the distance were muffled by the dense forest undergrowth harboring all manner of little creatures.

Vote NO on SeaTac Prop. 1

We’ve all heard the expression: “Read the bill.” SeaTac Proposition 1 is 9 pages of wage and employment standards that very much resemble a union contract.

This is a vote on whether the city should act as a union and would put the city between the employee and the employer. The City Manger would be responsible for establishing the minimum wage for the year and then monitoring and auditing private business. The City Attorney would represent over 6000 employees in any grievance against employers, at taxpayer expense.

It would create different classes of employees based on arbitrary thresholds; such as number of employees or number of hotel rooms. Two workers performing the same task at different companies would get significantly different pay, benefits, and city representation.

This establishes pay and benefits, not based on merit, but on the vote of the people. It does not take into account the profitability of the business or other dynamic market forces.