November 2013

King County Executive Dow Constantine announced today that the County, while preferring the state legislature take action to pass a transportation package, would take measures on its own to forestall potentially dramatic cuts to Metro bus service. That means they would, before the end of the year present local legislation to fund transit.

Constantine was joined today by the president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 587 to announce tentative agreement on a new three-year contract that, if ratified, could preserve some bus service.

In a press release the county explained the actions and options:

Transportation benefit district

By Zachariah Bryan

The five seniors on the Ballard High School girls basketball team have big expectations this year.

After all, not many teams have a group like Shelby Bailess, Cailey Beckett, Beverly Verduin, Nancy MacGeorge and Imani Bender, who have been playing basketball together since the sixth grade. (And who have been playing separately even earlier, with the Ballard Boys and Girls Club.)

“There are very few teams who can say they have what we have,” Bailess said.

“I feel like we’re gonna go a lot further than last year. I think we can go all the way,” Beckett said.

“We’re in a determined-to-win state,” Verduin said.

It’s a story reminiscent of college basketball’s “Fab Five,” from Michigan University, a core group of talented players who have a family-like bond ready to take on the world. However, it’ll be up to the girls to not meet the same fate as the Fab Five, who had every expectation of clinching the championship but fell short in the end.

Information from SSCC

South Seattle Community College’s Aerospace Composites Technician Training Program has two upcoming open houses for potential students interested in joining the January 2014 session.

Open houses are from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 21 and Dec. 12 at South’s Georgetown Campus, 6737 Corson Ave. S

The Aerospace Composites Program runs for six months and provides graduates with a gateway into the aerospace industry. Students learn to manufacture, fabricate and repair composites, read blueprints, inspect composite structures, operate power and pneumatic tools and more as they earn 45 college credits, meeting six hours per day (30 hours a week). The skills learned are also applicable to marine, ground transportation, sporting equipment and medical device fields.

Quick Facts:
Open House Dates: Nov. 21 (7 p.m. to 8 p.m.) and Dec. 12 (7 p.m. to 8 p.m.)

Location: South Seattle Community College Aerospace Composites Technician Training Program
SSCC Georgetown Campus, Room B-131, 6737 Corson Ave. S., Seattle, WA

By Gerardo Bolong

LACEY - It was four sets to survival for the John F. Kennedy Catholic girls volleyball team in Fri., Nov. 15th, action of the 2013 WIAA/Les Schwab Tires/Dairy Farmers of Washington Class 3A state volleyball tournament in a loser-out match against Auburn Mountainview.

The Lancers and Lions fought furiously for the right to stay in trophy contention before Kennedy Catholic finally prevailed, 3-1, to move into Saturday trophy qualifying matches.

"We're exhausted and emotionally drained," said JFK coach Joanne Uhl.
"After the first match (against Mercer Island), we regrouped and decided just to work hard to get to the second day," said said JFK coach Joanne Uhl whose team improved to ( 19 - 3 ). "At the end of the third and fourth sets, we stopped swinging (hard). Maybe it was fatigue or just playing not to lose. Getting Apryll (Eneliko) on the front line gave us some extra spring where we could be more creative with our sets to give her chances against their right side blocker."

By Peggy Sturdivant

It is not an exaggeration to say that the pharmacists at Ballard’s Bartell Drugs have saved lives, and that is just within my own family. It was a pharmacist there who realized that an on-call doctor’s prescription could have caused my husband with lymphoma to bleed out. It was the pharmacist at Bartell’s who diagnosed the cause of my month-long unbearable headache to a manufacture’s change in the allergy medication.

They waited for me when I rushed there before closing, they rushed an order when a doctor said I needed to find my mother-in-law and get her the antibiotic immediately. Since I knew exactly the route she would take between her driveway and Bartell’s, as though it was the path between the house and the barn, I was able to try to intercept her.

By Katy Wilkens, MS, RD

Anyone who forages for wild mushrooms can attest to what a bumper crop we’ve had this fall. If you aren’t one to put on a raincoat and walk in the woods, head to your grocery store to pick up some local yellow or white chanterelle mushrooms. If they are too expensive, you can always use commercial crimini or Portobello mushrooms.
Mushrooms are a great way to add that elusive “umami” taste. Umami is the beefy, brothy taste most people associate with meat, but you can get it from lots of foods. Umami flavors help satisfy your palate with no need to cook with unhealthy salty ingredients, which can cause problems for your heart, blood vessels and kidneys.
Mushrooms and Parmesan cheese are two great low-salt ways to add umami, and less salt, to your meals. If you make the vegetarian pate below, you will have to explain to your friends the rich flavor comes from mushrooms and not meat. Mushrooms are also one of the few natural food sources of vitamin D, which our bodies will start to miss as we see less sun with the coming of winter.

Wild chanterelles in cream sauce
2 cups fresh chopped chanterelle mushrooms or other mushrooms

Join Twelfth Night Productions this holiday season for Miracle on 34th Street: A Live Radio Play.

The radio play is based on the holiday movie favorite of the same name and will be presented as a live 1940's radio broadcast. Miracle on 34th Street tells the timeless story of an old man who calls himself Kris Kringle and is hired as the Macy's department store Santa. His claim to be the real Santa Claus becomes a court case and a young child's belief could make all the difference. "Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to."

Showing December 6, 7, 13 and 14 at 7:30 and December 8 and 15 at 3:00 pm at Kenyon Hall, 7904 35th Ave SW. Tickets are $12 for students and seniors and $15 for adults and can be purchased at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/509548 or an hour before show times at the venue box office.

By Zachariah Bryan

A Ballard naturopathic clinic, Northwest Natural Health Specialty Care Clinic, has recently received a $560,000 research grant from a major pharmaceutical company -- Millenium: The Takeda Oncology Company.

The founder of the clinic, Dr. Dan Labriola, has been one of the leading experts on combining naturopathic methods with standard medical procedures for cancer. His clinic has been at its current location on Seaview Ave (the same building as the Anthony’s) for about seven years now, and before that it was in downtown Ballard.

“Most of the cancer drugs have some side effects, adverse effects,” Labriola said. “One of the things we do with cancer treatment, and keeping patients really strong and healthy while they’re being treated, is to make sure there are no interactions (between the naturopathic intervention and the standard medical procedure).”

The grant will fund a two-year trial which will focus on mitigating a potential side effect of Velcade, an FDA approved, targeted chemotherapy approved for the treatment of multiple myeloma and other cancers.

Assault on SW Alaska
Sage advice from childhood on how to deal with a bully always went “just walk away”. There are times in life when this maxim just doesn’t help.

The victim of an assault on s.w. Alaskan St. early in the morning on Nov. 10 was walking out of a bar when a suspect cut the victim off with his dark plum/navy colored Audi A8. The suspect, a black male in his early 30’s of medium build with a goatee and dreadlocks, began yelling at the victim and then pulled out a gun and began making threats to the victim along the lines of “I’ll smoke you”. The victim defiantly said “go ahead and shoot me in the back” and proceeded to turn his back and walk away from the suspect.

At this point the suspect exited the Audi and made his way to the suspect. The suspect, unable to be talked into calming down, grabbed the victim by the shoulder and struck him in the mouth with his fist, knocking the victim to the ground. The suspect then got in his Audi and drove off in an unknown direction. The victim was later treated at Harbor View Medical for his injuries, which included fracturing his jaw and bruising to the face. The suspect remains unidentified.

Hoping to influence the design process late in the game, community coalition Getting it right for West Seattle (GIRWS) in association with UCFW 21 presented what they see as more desirable design alternatives to the mixed use project aimed at 4755 Fauntleroy Way S.W. in a public meeting Nov. 18.

That project has passed through multiple design reviews, been held up due to the need for an alley vacation by Mayor McGinn and the site is now being prepared for future construction. The alley vacation covers north to south and east to west alleys on the site that currently exist, "only on paper" but would need to be sold to developers Lennar Multifamily & Weingarten Realty before construction could begin.

Elena Perez and Deb Barker presented two design alternatives that the coalition commissioned from architect Dr. Sharon E. Sutton FAIA.