February 2014

By Traci Bruckner, tracib@cfra.org, Center for Rural Affairs

On February 7, 2014, President Obama signed the Farm Bill into law in East Lansing, Michigan.

The Center for Rural Affairs opposed the final Farm Bill that came out of the Conference Committee because the conference report stripped out bipartisan reforms, which passed both House and Senate, and would have tightened the definition of being “actively engaged” in farming. The current definition has been a loophole that mega-farms use to gain additional payments by defining passive investors as qualified farmers, even though those investors provide no real labor or management on the farm.

Not only did the Conference Committee leaders actually increase farm payment limits from $50,000 to $125,000 for the primary commodity program, they turned aside real reform passed in both House and Senate, to essentially create a commodity program that will provide unlimited payments to mega-farms, no matter how large they get, as long as payments flow to family members.

Saturday, Feb. 8
Gymnastics
SPSL 4A meet
Mount Rainier took eighth place in the Class 4A South Puget Sound League meet held in their own gymnasium Saturday.
The Rams scored 153.1 points with Ava Welch taking third in the individual all-around with 35.4 and Regan Hunt 10th in the all-around with 34.0.
Welch won the vault with a 9.4 score and also took 10th in the bars with an 8.4.
Hunt was sixth in the bars with an 8.85 and also broke the top 10 in the floor exercise, coming in ninth with a 9.275.
Swimming
Seamount League
Kennedy Catholic splashed to a third place team finish in Saturday's meet, scoring 277 points.
Highline was fourth with 134, followed by Tyee with 57 and Evergreen with 10.
Tommy Thach of the Lancers won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1 minute, 53.74 seconds and he took the 100 butterfly in 50.94.
Teammate Jeff Kasahara captured first in the 100 breaststroke with a 1:05.75 effort.
SPSL
Mount Rainier came in fourth as a team with 197 points in Saturday's meet held at Rogers High School in Puyallup.
Wrestling
Seamount League

By Betty Rose Cortes

The town of Burien is getting local and national recognition with the help of WABI Burien, the city’s resident organized Walk Bike (WABI) community group.

Last week Washington D.C.’s Rail’s to Trails Conservancy listed WABI’s efforts in Burien as the 8th “Ten Great things happening in Washington state ” (railstotrails.org). And just this past Saturday, WABI put Burien on the list of Seattle’s walking group Feet First’s Second Annual Staircase walk (feetfirst.org), leading WABI and Feet First regulars down and back up 289 steps at the town’s infamous Eagle Landing Park.

Maureen Hoffman is the President of WABI Burien, which was organized by local residents of the community. “This all began in 2010 to encourage people to walk,” Hoffman said, “In 2011, we were recognized by the state and in 2012 we were recognized by the Federal Government.”
Hoffman and the team of volunteers that keep WABI running have made many strides to help make the town a more “walkable” and “bike-able” community.

Pros
Thunderbirds
The Seattle Thunderbirds will host the Tri-City Americans for a 7:35 p.m. Western Hockey League match at Showare Center in Kent this coming Friday.
Seattle goes to Everett for 7:05 p.m. action Saturday before coming back to Showare to play Prince George at 5:05 p.m. Sunday.

Mariners
Pitchers and catchers report for spring training in Peoria, Ariz. this Wednesday with the first workout on Thursday.
Remaining position players report on Monday and the first full team workout will be next Tuesday.

Colleges
Men's basketball
The University of Washington Huskies host Stanford for a 6 p.m. Wednesday before getting a noon visit from California on Saturday.
Wednesday's game will be aired on ESPN 2 and Saturday's on the Pac-12 network.
Washington State University, meanwhile, will host California at 8 p.m. Wednesday on ESPNU before Stanford visits at 4 p.m. Saturday on the Pac-12 network.
Gonzaga entertains Pepperdine at 6 p.m. Thursday and Loyola Marymount at 5 p.m. Saturday with both games on ROOT Sports.

Friday, Feb. 7
Gymnastics
Metro League
West Seattle finished fourth in last week's tournament with 136.77 points and Chief Sealth came in sixth with 122.10.
Olivia Christopher of West Seattle was the top local individual finisher, placing ninth in the floor exercise with a 7.95 score.

Boys basketball
Foster 54, Evergreen 42
The Wolverines went down to defeat at the hands of Foster on Friday.
Seattle Prep 61, Chief Sealth 46
Chief Sealth's Seahawks were stopped by Seattle Prep in Friday action.
Shorewood Chr. 54, Evergreen Luth. 47
Shorewood Christian came away with a victory against Evergreen Lutheran on Friday.

Girls basketball
Evergreen 46, Foster 42
Evergreen finished its regular season with a close win over Foster on Friday and earned its way to both the 2A West Central sub-district tournament and the West Central District tournament.
Seattle Prep 55, Chief Sealth 47
Chief Sealth's regular season ended on a losing note Friday.
Evergreen Luth. 48, Shorewood Chr. 26
Shorewood Christian was stopped by the defensive play of Evergreen Lutheran in a Friday game.

American Sewing Guild Monthly Meeting
The Kenney
7125 Fauntleroy Ave. S.W.
Saturday, Feb. 15, 10 a.m.-Noon. Elizabeth will present her program on Color. She’ll bring us through the basics to the not so basics of incorporating color into our sewing. Don’t forget your Sew & Tell along with your questions. For more information: Claudia at 937-5774.

“Moon Girl” Concert
Hiawatha Community Center
2700 California Ave. S.W.
206-935-2162
Sat., Feb. 15, 7-8:30 p.m. Come enjoy this Seattle based, acoustic indie-folk-rock band featuring Phyl, Chuck and Donni. Concert proceeds to benefit Seattle Parks Lifelong Recreation program offerings and is co-sponsored by the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop of West Seattle. Fee is $4/pre-pay or $5/at the door.

Discovery Shop
4535 California Ave. S.W.
206 937 7169

Beast Mode
For one Seahawks fan Super Bowl Sunday ended up being not so “super” after a brawl that left the victim with a broken arm. On Saturday Feb.1 at about 2 p.m. police responded to reports of a man who was bleeding and claiming to have been stabbed at a bus stop at the corner of S.W. Alaska St. and California Ave. S.W. Responding officers found the victim, a white male wearing a Seahawks jersey, lying on the ground splattered with blood, cradling his arm, and being assisted by another man. Upon further inspection the officers noted that the bone in the victim’s arm was sticking through the skin and that the victim had not been stabbed but had had his arm broken.

The victim was clearly intoxicated and could not give a clear account of who had broken his arm or why. All that he would say was “I got jumped” and “I got beat up for being a Seahawks fan”. According to witnesses however a brawl was started with the victim and 6 or 7 other males inside a nearby bar when the victim’s Seahawks hat was stolen off his head. The brawl moved outside to the bus stop and seemingly ended once all involved realized the victim’s injury.

King County Executive Dow Constantine delivered the State of the County address in White Center today, marking the first time that address has been given in unincorporated King County.

In a press release from his office the thrust of the speech was outlined:

Building equity and opportunity and confronting climate change are the great generational challenges of our time, and the framework for King County Executive Dow Constantine’s agenda for his second term in office.

“A growing body of evidence shows that places with greater social and economic equity have greater economic growth and overall prosperity. We are all better off, when all of us are better off,” said Executive Constantine. “Our resolve on equity must be matched by our willingness to protect the environment, and to confront the changes in climate that already threaten our planet and our community.”

Speaking at White Center Heights Elementary School, the Executive presented the first State of the County address ever delivered from an unincorporated area of King County.

Building equity and opportunity

Information provided by Seattle Parks and Recreation

Wrangle up your family and work up your appetite, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 2, 2014 the Loyal Heights Community Center is offering breakfast with a side of goodwill.

The annual all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast is the community center’s biggest fundraiser. Tickets are $5 per person and all proceeds go to the center’s scholarship fund benefiting families in need by providing them with opportunities to participate in programs and activities throughout the year.

Breakfast includes a stack of pancakes, eggs and sizzling sausage. Tickets are available now at the community center and can also be purchased at the time of the event. Children three years old and younger eat free.

For more information or to volunteer, call the Loyal Heights Community Center at 206-684-4052 or visit the center’s website at http://www.seattle.gov/parks/centers/Loyalhtd.htm#/?i=1.

The Loyal Heights Community Center, at 2101 NW 77th St., offers a wide array of activities and special events for families living in the Loyal Heights, Ballard and Crown Hill neighborhoods.

The Fishing Vessels Owners Association (FVOA) is celebrating their centennial this Saturday Feb 15. and in their honor the Center for Wooden Boats will showcase the boats of the era with a new exhibit.

Nine eighty-foot power-schooners of Seattle’s halibut longline fleet will be showcased along the waterfront near the Museum of History and Industry for a few days. There will be a parade for boats leaving Fishermen's Terminal dock 3 at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 13.

Most of boats will remain in front of MOHAI for a couple of days and will usher in the Center for Wooden Boat’s exhibit called Highliners: Boats of the Century. The exhibit covers the evolution of the halibut schooners and their role in the maritime industry. They have collected over 200 interviews from current fishermen and “old timers” who fished in these power schooners. The exhibit opens February 14th, 2014. For more information on CWB website visit http://cwb.org/events/highliner/.