April 2014

Bing Dahl, a longtime coach at Washington state high schools who played basketball at University of Washington and Washington State College, will be honored as the Old Timers Man of the Year Wednesday, May 7, at the 62nd annual Basketball Old-Timers Banquet at the Ballard Elks Lodge in Seattle.

Dahl's high school coaching career included coaching basketball, football and baseball for three years each at Colville and Kent Meridian high schools and for 30 years as a coach and counselor at Evergreen High School in White Center.

Previous winners of the prestgious award were Walt Milroy, Rod Belcher, Roman Miller and Irv Leifer.

Eldridge Recasner, a former University of Washington basketball player who played in the NBA from 1994 through 2002, will be the banquet speaker. Recasner was a three-time all-Pac-10 Conference guard who played for the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets ad Los Angeles during his NBA career.

The Pacific Jazz Institute at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley welcomes The Ballard High School Jazz Bands and Vocal Performers for one night only! Doors open at 5:30pm and show starts at 7:30pm.

The Ballard High School Music Program has recently gained local, regional and national acclaim for its ensembles and performances. The Jazz program is one part of a comprehensive music program that includes over 300 students who participate in two concert bands, three concert choirs, one orchestra, percussion ensemble, two jazz bands, one jazz choir and multiple chamber ensembles.

The top ensembles at the school have traveled to festivals and performances across the country and have won multiple awards and recognitions for their high level of music-making and outstanding performances. In conjunction with the drama department, the school’s musicals have been nominated for (and won) several 5th Avenue Theater Awards including Best Orchestra, Best Costumes, Best Chorus and Best Overall Musical.

By Matt Wendland

After taking first place in the Pacific Northwest District Championship FIRST Robotics competition, Raisbeck Aviation High School’s robotics team, Skunk Works Robotics, progressed on to the world championships as the sole Highline School District representative and returned home on Sunday as one of the highest ranked teams in the world.

FIRST, which stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, is a not-for-profit organization that was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, an American inventor who is best known for his development of the Segway. According to the FIRST website, “Our mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.”

Author: Eric Minor
Contact: eminor@diamondfalls.com, 253-970-3724 (cel)
Copyright: This opinion piece is the intellectual property of Eric Minor and shall not be published in whole or part to any medium, including Facebook or a blog, without Eric Minor's express permission.
Short Bio: Eric Minor is a software consultant based in the greater Seattle area. He also owns Animal Crackers Kid's Store in Gig Harbor, WA.

The $15 per hour minimum wage proposal being considered by the Mayor and the Seattle City Council is, in a word, disastrous. Many economists agree that minimum wage laws do more harm than good as they make it impossible for young and low skill workers to find jobs. Washington State already boasts the highest state-wide minimum wage in America at $9.32 per hour, though several localities such as San Francisco and SeaTac have recently enacted local ordinances that raise their minimum wage above their state levels a little or a lot.

The Port of Seattle Commission today awarded the fourth annual Green Gateway Environmental Excellence Awards at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, honoring airport business partners who best champion sustainability. Airline, airport retail and dining tenants received kudos for projects that save fuel, reduce carbon emissions, waste and energy consumption at today’s Port of Seattle Commission meeting.

“We’re excited to honor our airport tenants and employees for creating new standards of environmental excellence in our region and industry,” said Commission Co-President Courtney Gregoire. “We applaud the efforts of our award-winning partners to create and implement out-of-the-box sustainable solutions as we move forward with the Century Agenda and our goal of being the greenest and most energy-efficient port in North America.”

Three companies received recognition for their environmental leadership in implementing a wide variety of projects that range from electrification of ground support vehicles, fuel-saving satellite-based aircraft descent approaches, energy efficient lighting and waste reduction through food bank donations and reusable food service ware.

By Eric Mathison

The Burien City Council held a reception April 21 honoring its Citizens of the Year and outgoing citizen advisory committee members.

Recognized as 2014 Citizens of the Year were Walk/Bike Burien (WABI) president Maureen Hoffmann, artist Betty Olson Vacca and the group, Neighbors of Seahurst Park.

Chestine Edgar, Melessa Rogers, Toni Lysen, Janis Freudenthal and Brain Stapleton represented the Seahurst Park group.

Hoffmann was a founding member of WABI, which hosts events and advocates for walking and biking activities.

Hoffmann began monthly Walk-n-Talk events, that she leads every first Sunday of the month—rain or shine without using city money or staff time.

She has also volunteered as downtown bike rack designer, Burien public art mapping project manager, Arts Commissioner, S.W. 153rd Banner Project designer and Vision of Burien Citizen Advisory Panel member.

Her children—Janis Kelly, Karen Rea, Diane Ryan and John Vacca, nominated Vacca.

Vacca, 85, has been a Highline resident her entire life. She met her late husband of 56 years, Tony J. Vacca while attending Highline High School.

By Gerardo Bolong

Clear skies appeared in the SeaTac sky on Fri., April 25, as the Seattle Christian Warrior fast pitch softball team closed out Eatonville 13-3 in a five-inning Nisqually 1A League game.

Eatonville took the lead in the first inning without hitting any balls out of the infield. Three consecutive infield singles to open the game loaded the bases. One strikeout later, a line drive glanced off the pitcher's mitt for an RBI single. The Cruisers later scored another run but SCS center fielder Makenzie May alertly threw to second base to force out a runner coming from second base to end the rally.

Seattle Christian quickly fought back in the home half of the inning. with Kelli Ronish getting hit by a pitch with one out. Lisa Kumasaka hit a right center field gap hit to triple home a run. Carlee Ronish eventually struck an infield ground out to tie the game.

As Warrior pitcher Kumasaka revved up her fast ball enough to surprise batters with change ups at selected spots, Seattle Christian began to draw away.

By Eric Mathison

On an April 23 evening when Superintendent Susan Enfield read a proclamation declaring “Teacher Appreciation Week” several teachers told Highline School Board members they did not appreciate district plans to possibly hire Teach for America (TFA) members to teach secondary math and science classes.

Teach for America is an organization that recruits recent college graduates to teach for at least two years in low-income school districts. In addition to a district salary, the recruits receive a stipend that can be used toward paying back student loans or further their education. Some TFA members are credentialed teachers.

What really riled the Highline teachers is that the TFA members are given alternative certification and placed in classrooms following a five-week summer training program. The teachers contrasted the TFA training with their extensive college and post-college courses along with ongoing professional development training.

District 7 Little League has announced its All-Star baseball tournament schedule, including the state Majors age 11-12 tournament it will host at the Bar-S complex above Alki Point in West Seattle from July 12-19.
"As volunteers, we will be busy," said West Seattle Little League financial advisor Jon Gearhardt.

District 7 all-star tournaments will be held June 28-July 5 at Pac West in Highline for ages 9-10 and 10-11 and at Highline American for ages 11-12.

In other state tournament action, Richland hosts the age 9-10 tournament July 12-19 and Southwest Washington the age 10-11 tournament July 19-26. The intermediate tournament will be July 5-12 at District 1 (Lynnwood north to the Arlington/Stanwood area).

At the end of the regular baseball season this spring, a handful of players ages 9, 10, 11 and 12 are picked for tryouts for the Majors All-Star teams as well as ages 9-10, 10-11 and Juniors age 13-14. From this select pool, teams of 12-14 players will be picked the managers of the respective All-Star teams.

Thursday, April 24
Track and field
Evergreen-Foster-Tyee
Evergreen, Foster and Tyee all went up against Lindbergh on Thursday and lost.
Evergreen only took a 98-36 loss to Lindbergh on the boys side but lost 118-12 on the girls, while the Fostr boys lost, 104-32, and the girls lost, 117-18. The Tyee boys were defeated, 112-15, and the girls lost, 125-10.
Highline
The Highline boys were defeated by Hazen on Thursday, 84-52, while they lost, 101-43, compared to Renton.
On the girls side, the Pirates lost to Renton, 101-38, and to Hazen, 114-25.
Baseball
Kennedy 5, Foster 4
The Lancers of Kennedy Catholic edged the Bulldogs on Thursday.

Wednesday, April 23
Baseball
Foster 7, Tyee 1
The Bulldogs defeated Tyee for the second time this year Wednesday.
Kennedy 7, Lindbergh 1
Kennedy Catholic clobbered the Eagles on Wednesday.
Hazen 6, Highline 1
Cedar Pk. Chr. 13, SCS 2
The Warriors were dealt a loss in a game with Nisqually League title implications Wednesday.
Fastpitch
Tyee 17, Foster 3
Tyee beat the Bulldogs badly on Wednesday.
Mt. Rainier 1, Kent-Meridian 0
The Rams blanked the Royals in Wednesday action.
Kennedy 15, Lindbergh 0