February 2014

By Scott Anthony

Whether you realize it or not, your toilet is out to get you. That simple porcelain fixture in your bathroom is not just a quiet, humble servant. It has ulterior motives. While you sleep it is gurgling up it’s game plan. It holds no love for you, and you can hardly blame it. Cleaning one is rarely on the top of the list of chores, much like the oven. But the oven is another critter altogether. At least it gets a bit enjoyment in the dishes it creates. No, the lowly china apparatus is angry, and it knows how to hurt you where it counts.

As a sometime remodeling contractor, I have been privy to all sorts of toilets. Hardy lowboys, high-fashion designer water closets, antiquated loos, trusty thrones, creative comfort stations and hardly-working heads. They have one thing in common. At some point in their careers, they will all malfunction and I will often get the exasperated phone call. It is only by sheer will that I have managed to keep my head above water.

By Ann Kendall

It might be on a wandering walk through Lincoln Park, or in watching the soil in her backyard tumble upwards as a mole breaks free in the dusk or possibly from the plunking of cherry pits onto her backyard tent in the summer that West Seattle writer Lyanda Haupt finds her inspiration. Her daily experiences in and around our beautiful and sometimes wild corner of the world sustain a layered background for her work as a writer and eco-philosopher. Lyanda’s literary style combined with her love of nature and ecology bring the urban wilderness easily into focus for readers in each of her four books. Her most recent, The Urban Bestiary: Encountering the Everyday Wild (2013 Little Brown and Company) will be the focus of her reading on Fri. Feb. 7 at 4 - 6 p.m. at the Westwood Barnes and Noble as part of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society’s series “Words, Writers & West Seattle.”

By Ann Kendall

It might be on a wandering walk through Lincoln Park, or in watching the soil in her backyard tumble upwards as a mole breaks free in the dusk or possibly from the plunking of cherry pits onto her backyard tent in the summer that West Seattle writer Lyanda Haupt finds her inspiration. Her daily experiences in and around our beautiful and sometimes wild corner of the world sustain a layered background for her work as a writer and eco-philosopher. Lyanda’s literary style combined with her love of nature and ecology bring the urban wilderness easily into focus for readers in each of her four books. Her most recent, The Urban Bestiary: Encountering the Everyday Wild (2013 Little Brown and Company) will be the focus of her reading on Fri. Feb. 7 at 4 - 6 p.m. at the Westwood Barnes and Noble as part of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society’s series “Words, Writers & West Seattle.”

Help send local girls to their prom in style
February is Community DRESS DRIVE Month

Project PROMise™ is Highline School’s Foundation’s outreach program in which new and gently used formal dresses are collected from our community and given to local students in need so they can attend their prom in style!

For the 6th Annual Project PROMise™, the Highline Schools Foundation is collecting beautiful new and gently worn formal dresses and gowns, shoes and accessories from throughout our community. Highline School District high school students in need will be invited to “go shopping” this spring, for the perfect dress and accessories for their prom. The dresses are offered to the girls to keep, or they may return them to the Foundation to be used the following year.

Clean, new or gently used prom dresses, jewelry, and shoes can be dropped off at the Highline Schools Foundation office (located inside ERAC) or the following schools and locations by March 1, 2014:

· Burien Community Center: 14700 6th Ave SW, Burien
· HomeTask: 611 SW 152nd St, Burien
· Lucky U Consignment & Boutique: 915 SW 1652nd St, Olde Burien

If you have a non-profit event announcement you want to see here, please send it to Calendar@robinsonnews.com

Discovery Shop
4535 California Ave. S.W.
206 937 7169
Blue tagged items are $1.00 starting the Jan. 28th, yellow tagged items are reduced 50% starting February 1 and men's wear is 40% off every Sunday.  We depend on your patronage, your donations and your time to help us meet the goal of ending cancer.  Please consider volunteering with us processing donations for the sales floor, cashiering or using your talents to repair small appliances.  In just a 4-hour shift a week, you can make an important difference.  The all volunteer run, non profit American Cancer Society shop is open Sundays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and all other days 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Follow our blog at www.discoveryshopwestseattle.org and LIKE us Facebook where we look forward to your comments.

Youth Basketball Free Throw Competition
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Life Center
3410 S.W. Myrtle St.

By Tim Clifford

Blood and broken glass
Police responded to a call about a possible assault at a residence on 34 Ave S.W. / S.W. 100 St. on Jan.22. It was about 11:30 p.m. when the victim knocked on the caller’s door bruised and bleeding from his hand and asking for help. Police immediately contacted the SFD to assist the victim with his injuries while he explained what had happened.

The victim had been out for a walk earlier that night when he saw a young man (the suspect) who he recognized to be living with a family in his mother’s rental home. The victim and suspect began walking together and chatting along the way. At some point in the conversation the suspect began talking about “blowing up a building” which he apparently found very funny. As they were walking along the suspect pulled out a white spray paint can and tried spraying the victim with it. When the victim tried to stop the suspect from doing this the suspect smashed the victim in the face with the can.

The agenda for the Westwood Roxhill Arbor Heights Community Council is out and their Feb. 4 meeting will look at "pedestrian retail areas" with a visit from Aly Pennucci of the Department of Planning and Development.

Westwood / Roxhill / Arbor Heights Community Council Agenda

Date: 02/04/14 Location: SW Library Branch, 9010 35th Ave SW
Time: 6:15pm - 7:45 pm Meeting Type: Public Meeting

Delridge Meeting: Youngstown Cultural Arts Center; 3rd Wednesday of the Month; 7:00 pm
Southwest Meeting: West Seattle Senior Center; 1st Wednesday of the Month; 6:30p

6:15-6:20: Introductions & Community News

6:20-6:25: Ratify Bylaws & Upcoming Elections

information from the City of Seattle

The Seattle School District is requesting a waiver (departure) from some City zoning regulations for the construction of a new Arbor Heights Elementary School for 490 to 660 students. The District plans to demolish the existing school and construct a new building. The School District is requesting modifications for greater than allowed height, less than required parking and an on-site bus loading. The process for considering this request includes hearings before an advisory committee composed of neighbors and School District and City representatives.

The Committee will gather and evaluate public comment on the departure request for the sign. The Committee can recommend waiver (departure) from some signing regulations and any relevant conditions to be applied to minimize its impacts on the surrounding neighborhood, or recommend denial. The Committee may make its recommendation following this meeting, or hold up to two additional meetings prior to making its recommendation.

The Committee has been formed and will hold its first public meeting:

Just after 8pm the male driver of a late model Audi, according to the witness who called it in, was headed westbound on 107th S.W. approaching California Ave. S.W. in Arbor Heights, just off Marine View Drive. "He was doing highway speed, and he nearly hit us," the witness said. The driver was attempting to turn right on to California Ave. S.W. but apparently lost control of the vehicle and impacted a rockery wall. The airbag deployed and the driver had no apparent injuries as he spoke to the police following the accident.

"We were just walking the dogs... and he came speeding down the road...then all of a sudden... I watched him and I thought he's not going to make the corner and he drove over here and I thought he hit a garage but it was so dark I couldn't see but he hit the wall," the witness said referring to the rockery.

"I tried to phone it in but the dog ran off and pulled the phone out of my hand so I ran across the street and knocked on the door, kind of frantically, so they could call 911 because we didn't know what shape he was in."

By Greg McCorkle

We love our technology. The ease in which we can communicate with each other has reached an amazing level. You can be half way around the world and send texts and emails to friends and family as if they were next door. Unfortunately digital information can be, and is, compromised at increasingly alarming rate. The ability to intrude on personal information has moved far beyond steaming open a letter sent by people you know. I experienced this just the other day.

I awoke to an email from a friend and former college classmate saying they were in trouble.

This is the text from that email…

“Sorry for the inconvenience, I am in a terrible situation right now and am going to need your urgent help. I am in Dublin, Ireland and at the moment and I misplaced my bag containing all my vital items, phone and money at the bus station. In am kind of stranded at the moment I may need a little help from you”.