February 2014

By Matt Wendland

Four suspects were arrested on Feb. 6 after police say they witnessed a Burien man be beaten and robbed as he attempted to sell the group Seahawks merchandise just days after the after the team's victory at Super Bowl XLVIII against the Denver Broncos.

19-year-old Ryan Woods, 22-year-old Jeffrey Hawthorn, 23-year-old Eric Ramirez and 24-year-old and Rosita Hernandez were charged with first degree robbery by police following the incident.

According to the King County Sheriff’s Department, police were surveilling Eric Ramirez in connection to an open fraud case when they witnessed Ramirez, Hawthorn and Woods exit a Lexus SUV driven by Rosita Hernandez and attack a man near the intersection of the S.W. 153rd Street Alley and 4th Avenue S.W. in Burien. The men are said to have beaten the victim with what appeared to be a black handgun before stealing a bag the man was carrying and fleeing to the waiting SUV.

The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is currently reviewing an application to divide two parcels of land into eight individual parcels, likely for the purpose of construction on 24th Ave. S.W. in what is known as an environmentally critical area. A public meeting is set for Thursday, March 20 at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center at 7pm to gather comments on the proposal.

The area is according to DPD

• Floodprone
• Riparian Corridor
• Salmon Watershed
• Wetland

The plan has already gotten negative reaction such as this letter from Vicki Schimtz Block:

"I am writing to notify you of my opposition to this proposed lot subdivision at 6536 24th Ave SW. It appears that will be serious and negative impacts to Longfellow Creek, and to the salmon restoration programs that are underway throughout West Seattle and the greater Puget Sound region. I live adjacent to Fauntleroy Creek and am actively involved in protecting its salmon habitat function.

West Seattle fast food workers, fast food customers, and other supporters will launch boycott lines outside the Admiral McDonald's on California Ave. on Feb. 20 at 5:15pm as part of the citywide call to Boycott McPoverty in support of $15/hour for fast food workers and all workers.

The West Seattle boycott line is part of a major citywide event that includes boycott lines in multiple locations across Seattle, and a lunchtime presence outside all 25 McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s outlets in the city (including all 3 McDonald’s in West Seattle) — fast food workers & supporters want to make sure they reach as many potential customers as possible with the message to Boycott McPoverty and support $15 for Seattle.

More information from the organizers:

UPDATE 1:25pm
Power has been restored after City Light crews removed fallen trees which caused the outage earlier this morning.

UPDATE 7:33am
Seattle City Light crews have managed to restore power for more than 7000 customers who suffered an early morning outage on Feb. 20. As of 7:30am the outage was affecting 835 customers with full restoration still expected by noon.

Original Post
A tree fall has knocked out power for 7886 Seattle City Light Customers in the North Highline area extending from nearly West Seattle to S.W. 152nd Street. North of 128th the outage affects customers east of Hwy 509 in South Park over to W. Marginal Way with pockets of outages extending past South Barton Street.
Crews should have the power back on by noon. It's actually three individual power outages that are affecting the area.

Seattle Public Schools are on Mid-Winter Break so it has not affected attendance.

To check the status of power outages from your smartphone or mobile device check here:

http://www.seattle.gov/light/sysstat/

Seattle based Homestreet Bank celebrated its West Seattle branch grand opening Feb. 19 with a gathering that saw customers, local business leaders and others attend to meet the bank's people and get acquainted with what Homestreet offers.

The new branch at 4022 Alaska Street, is the same location as American West, and prior to that Viking Bank. According to Homestreet officials American West chose to move more in a direct small business support direction and chose to sell the West Seattle and Bainbridge Island branches to Homestreet.

"We looked for over two years for the right West Seattle location," said Homestreet's CEO Mark Mason," because we knew we had to be here." Branch Manager Melodie VanHouten echoed his comments and added, "We have a community involvement focus and I think we are good fit for West Seattle."

As part of the celebration, Homestreet presented a check for $4000 to West Seattle Helpline which was accepted by Executive Director Tara Luckie.

Homestreet offers a full range of financial services including:

• Personal banking
• Commercial banking and cash management
• Commercial lending
• Mortgage lending

Editor’s note: Last week we ran part one of this story, detailing the change in graduation rates for Highline District students.(Part one)

by Ann Kendall

What does this mean for teachers?

Dominique Gaillard and her children, Jackendy (on mom's hip) and Kaeli. The kids were a little apprehensive at first but soon warmed to the big dogs. Mo Simon walks dogs for clients, but also works at the Tin Room Bar and Grill.

By Matt Wendland

McMurphy’s Pub robbed and computers wiped clean
According to the King County Sheriff’s Department, McMurphy’s Pub was robbed by a customer and employee on January 31st. Police believe that the suspect used their own padlock to secure the bar’s front door instead of the store’s normal lock. This enabled the suspect to return and gain entree once the bar had closed. The suspect and an unnamed employee are believed to have emptied the safe and wiped the bar computer of all files before fleeing the scene.

Mysterious safe found in SeaTac
SeaTac Police report responding to a tip of an abandoned safe in the road near the intersection of S. 166th St. and Military Rd. S. on Feb. 2. Upon arriving on the scene around 1pm, officers found an open safe in the ditch next to the road. The safe did not appear to be damaged by explosives, power tools or any kind of prying device. Within the safe was a single $50 bill. No robberies involving a missing safe matching the description have been reported in the area and police do not report having any leads on where the safe came from.

Deadline for receiving items for Community Calendar is 5 p.m. Wednesday for the following weekʼs 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.

King County Water District No. 20 Board of Commissioners
Regular meetings are on the first Wednesday and third Tuesday of each month at 10 a.m. at the district office located at 12606 1st Avenue South, Seattle. For more information, please call 206-243-3990.

Boulevard Park Library February Events
12015 Roseberg Ave. S. 206-242-8662

Children & Teens:
Study Zone ~ Mon.—Wed. when school is in session, 6-8 p.m. Grades K-12. Drop-in for free homework help from trained volunteer tutors.

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.

By Kyra-lin Hom

Let’s take a break from the recent film binge and talk about something we all use every single day. No, I’ll go further and say this is something we use nearly every single hour of every day. In 2010, the world produced 330 million tons of it. In 2011, the US alone produced 32 million tons. It can be soft or sturdy, clear or transparent. And it can survive relatively intact for up to 400 to 1,000 years. That’s right, let’s talk about plastic.

In 2011, of that 32 million tons produced in the US, 7 million were what is called “nondurable goods.” These are products destined for single-use such as plastic spoons and those infamous red party cups. 14 million tons were dedicated as containers and packaging materials like your yogurt cups, Barbie doll packaging or ready-to-eat food wrappers. That means that 66% of the plastic produced was made to be used once and then thrown away.

This is a nearly indestructable manmade polymer being used for single-use products. Yeah, think about that one.