December 2013

Deadline for receiving items for Community Calendar is 5 p.m. Wednesday for the following week’s Times/News. Events are published based on timeliness and space availability. Email submissions to: calendar@robinsonnews.com
Items can be accepted from nonprofit groups and government agencies only. Others may call Dona Ozier at 206-708-1378 for inclusion in our “Out & About” advertising section.

Free Community Dinner
Grace Lutheran Church
22975 24th Ave. S.
Every 2nd Tuesday of month, 5-6:30 p.m. Bring your family and friends. All are welcome.

Highline Historical Society Hosts “It’s About Time” Workshops
Pop-Up Museum
216 S.W. 153rd St.
Thursday evenings from 6:30-8 p.m. Register now at www.wahopeinhardtimes.net.
Dec. 12: “Preserve Your Family Collections” - led by curator Nancy Salguero McKay.

Boulevard Park Library December Events
12015 Roseberg Ave. S.
206-242-8662
Children & Families:
Family Story Times ~ Wed., Dec. 11 & 18, 6:30 p.m. All ages welcome with adult.
Spanish Story Times ~ Sat., Dec. 7 & 14, 4 p.m. All ages welcome with adult.

By Ann Kendall

In every novel, inevitably there are a few strains of real life woven into the story. For 1995 Highline High School grad Eliot Baker, his debut novel The Last Ancient provides hints of boyhood pastimes and his time as a science journalist In Nantucket. The inscription on the inside cover of the book reads, “To Sharon Baker, for inspiring; to Gordon Baker, for believing.” Now living in Finland with his wife and two children, Eliot was led into the writing life by his mother Sharon, also a published novelist and noted speaker at local writers’ conferences. Summers spent sailing the San Juan Islands while watching his mother tap out narratives on her typewriter gave Eliot the spark that would lead him to today and the nearing publication of his first novel.

By Shara Wallace

Men arrested in Tukwila
Seattle Police Department and King County Sheriff's office arrested three men believed to be behind several recent robberies in Seattle and King County. Two men attempted to rob a West Seattle convenience store at gunpoint before being scared off by the clerk's "bigger" gun. Two men entered the store and pointed a gun at the clerk. The clerk drew his own gun and the men ran out of the store. They drove away in a white Ford Explorer with a rear bumper held together by duct tape. The next night the Sheriff's office deputies were called to Military Road South in Tukwila after two men stole a woman's purse and cellphone and drove away in a White Ford Explorer with duct tape holding the bumper. The deputies found the Explorer crashed in a nearby ditch and the two suspects near by and arrested them. After the detectives interviewed the men, a third man was also arrested and booked into the King County Jail for robbery.

Car break-ins, vandalism, prowlers and theft

Vincent Viloria of Kennedy Catholic took home Athlete of the Year honors for Seamount League boys tennis this fall, while his coach -- Maryann Thorp -- was named as the Coach of the Year after the Lancers won the regular season title.

Joining Viloria on the first team for the Lancers were Taas Sribhibhadh, Jamie Thorp and Haydon Clifton.

Wyatt DeMulling and Justin Kemp both made the first team from Highline.

Gregg Furumasu was named as a first team player for Hazen and the remaining positions went to players from Lindbergh in Sam Bayna, Jeremiah Bayna and Alan Kwiatkowski.

Tyee took two second team positions with Brooke Neguise and Keanu Terrado, while Jason Hewett earned a second team spot from Highline.
Alex Mackenzie of Kennedy and Jason Hewett of Highline were also among the second team picks.

Renton second team players were Kapkyi Lwai, Angelo Ocampo and Benny Sonriyadeth and Lindbergh second team players were Donovan Dang and Peter Vu. Son Lam Nguyen was selected from Hazen.

Halquist Productions’ CageSport MMA will be returning once again to the Emerald Queen Casino on Saturday, Dec. 7 for another round of professional MMA. Headlining CageSport XXVIII is Burien's Brent “Mankill” Knopp, who will attempt to defend his middleweight title against StrikeForce veteran, Cory Devela.

Tickets for CageSport XXVIII are available and can be purchased at the Emerald Queen Casino box office or through Ticketmaster. Prices start at $35. Fans are encouraged to buy tickets early as CageSport MMA has become the hottest ticket in Northwest combative sports.

Middleweight champion, Knopp (4-0), has run through the Northwest middleweight class, keeping his record perfect while finishing all of his opponents before the third round. He acquired the title back in February with a first round TKO victory over Darrio Mobley in what was a rematch between the two where Knopp defeated Mobley via second round TKO in their first meeting.

By Kathryn Hunter

Frank Gross loves guitars.

Influenced by his late father, also a musician, Frank involved himself in rock music. His knowledge of vintage guitars began while working for Guitar Center and later managing Emerald City Guitars in Pioneer Square. He played in bands as early as the 6th grade, and after high school toured the world with his Victory Records rock band, “On the Last Day.” Today he plays lead guitar in his current local band, “Torch Burner.”

Last year, Gross decided to give small business a try to create a more stable lifestyle that still involved his passion for guitars and music.

“I always found it odd that our community didn't have a music store, especially considering how many musicians live over here,” Gross said.

“When the day came to open a storefront, I knew it had to be in West Seattle where I grew up. I wouldn’t want it to be anywhere else.”

By Kyra-lin Hom

Happy post-turkey day, everyone! I hope your Thanksgivings were satisfying and that Black Friday found you well rested and untrampled. Have you seen the videos on Youtube yet? I don’t think anything about a DVD player could ever get me that excited. I know the average American gains two pounds on Thanksgiving and keeps it, but there has got to be a better weight loss plan than aisle mobbing.

Oh wait, you didn’t know that about weight gain and Thanksgiving? It’s okay, don’t stress – or do stress actually. It turns out that stress isn’t quite the devil we’ve made it out to be. Health psychologist Kelly McGonigal (yes, that name really exists outside of the Harry Potter verse) explains in a recent Ted Talk that stress is apparently only bad for you if you think it is.

One of the major studies (but not the only one) backing this new theory involved 30,000 average American adults and 8 years of public death records. These 30,000 individuals were all asked a) how much stress had they experienced over the last year; and b) if they believed stress was harmful to their health.

It does not seem so long ago that I left my job as a test electrician at Boeing (they went on strike) in 1946.

Curly Witherbee, shop foreman, said we'd be back in three weeks.

Six months later they were still "out" and I needed work for my growing family.

With three kids in a 750 sq ft house in McMicken Heights, I knew I had to do something! We might be called the "Greatest Generation" by a number of folks but I only know, without a job, you don't eat.

A friend mentioned some excavating and cement work not far from our house.

Near the old Lewis & Clark theaters a crew was putting in a meat locker with cold storage. The hole had been dug, the 14 foot deep frame was in place and cement was pouring in when the whole form caved in. It was my job, with others, to muck out the wet cement so the crew could start over the next day.

I was not built for this kind of back-breaking work but it was work. I lasted a day and what a day it was. My scrawny frame was exhausted as I traipsed dirt and muddy cement boots into my house. My wife shrieked like she did not recognize me.

From Victims to Heroes
As reported on our website, an attempted bus robbery was thwarted by brave passengers around 6 p.m. on
Nov. 25 at the 6000 block of California Ave. S.W. The suspect, a 19 year old black male, boarded the metro bus at 3rd Avenue and Pike Street and quietly rode the bus with his hoodie up and a stocking partially over his face until the bus reached the stop on California Ave S.W. At that point the suspect stood up, began approaching passengers with a handgun and demanding their cell phones. Witnesses claim that cell phones seem to have been his primary focus. When the suspect approached one male victim and brought the gun up to his face the victim grabbed the gun and the suspect’s arm. The victim put his finger in the trigger to stop the suspect from being able to fire and began wrestling him to the ground. Other passengers joined in hitting and tackling the suspect, bringing him to the ground where four passengers held him down till police arrived.

Once police arrived and apprehended the suspect, he began lashing out belligerently at passengers and