May 2014

South Seattle College held its annual Honor Roll Reception on May 7 and they had a special guest.
Former Seahawk Marcus Trufant was the key note speaker who congratulated the students for their achievement – and pointed out that he fell just short of reaching that accomplishment when he was a student at WSU.

This event recognized students who made the President’s List (3.8 and higher) and the Dean’s List (3.5 and higher) which totaled nearly 1200 students. The Brockey Center was packed with students and their supporters which included family, faculty and staff.

South Seattle College Alum ('13) Duyen Le has been selected as a recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship.

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship is the largest private scholarship for two-year and community college transfer students in the country. The Foundation provides as much as $30,000 a year for up to three years to the nation's best low-income community college students seeking to complete a bachelor's degree at an accredited college or university.

Le is only the second student in South's school history to receive the scholarship and was the only student selected from the state of Washington. With a nation-wide pool of over 3,700 applicants, Le is one of only 85 students to receive this award.

"South is like home for me," Le, who is originally from Vietnam, explained. "I couldn't have done this without the support of South, and I'm truly honored to receive the Jack Kent Cooke scholarship."
Scholars were selected based on high academic ability and achievements, persistence, leadership, and financial need.

A mattress fire in a single family residence at 5217 Delridge Way S.W. produced a lot of smoke and did some apparent damage to the home but no one was injured. Seattle firefighters arrived quickly in large numbers and handled the blaze very fast. No cause was yet determined and damage estimate will be produced later.

Northbound traffic was routed off Delridge Way at Findlay Ave., Southwest while the investigation was being conducted

At about 12:35 A.M. on May 8, a 28 year old Seattle man died from injuries sustained during a collision at SW 130th ST and 2 AV SW in Burien.

The driver, in an Acura sedan, was driving east on SW 130 ST crossing the intersection of 4th AV SW when his vehicle bottomed out in the intersection. The driver lost control of his vehicle as it left the roadway and collided with a light pole. The vehicle continued its course to his a large, parked construction truck and trailer making the sedan begin to roll. As the vehicle rolled, it then hit a power pole breaking it into several pieces.

The car’s roof was crushed due to the vehicle’s rolling, and the driver was ejected from the vehicle. The Seattle man sustained fatal injuries from the collision.

The King County Sheriff’s Office major accident reconstruction detectives are investigating the collision and the King County Medical Examiner’s Office will identify the man and provide cause of death.

The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is currently reviewing the application for the Urban Rest Stop in the lower level of the Cheryl Chow building (2014 N.W. 57th St.) and will hold a public meeting to gather comments on the project.

The Land use application is to allow the lower level, a 1,952 square feet space, to be used as a community center (hygiene center) at ground level in a 51 unit low-income elderly apartment building.

The project requires the following approvals:

Administrative Conditional Use to allow community center in a midrise zone within 600 ft. of an existing institution (Ballard Branch of Seattle Public Library).

Administrative Conditional Use to allow an institution in a midrise zone that does not meeting parking requirements.

PUBLIC MEETING

A public meeting to review this application will be held on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 at Ballard Community Center, 6020 28th Avenue NW, 7:00 p.m. Written and/or oral comments may be submitted at the meeting.

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

For some reason I have always found humor everywhere. Luckily my late husband had a great sense of humor and it was humor that interested me in my new fellow. Early on he brought me a whole box of jokes he had collected and I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I never borrow jokes but always draw from my own experience when going on the comedy stage. I must say, however, that all those jokes did stimulate my own sense of humor. Everywhere that we go my fellow has a new joke up his sleeve and he can tell one with gusto. The last time I went up on the comedy stage I invited my fellow to join me and we made quite a pair cheering up the audience. There is nothing like laughing at oneself onstage and we have age integrated the comedy stage bigtime.

By Gwen Davis

“Who remembers walking or biking to school?” asked Brian Dougherty from Safe Routes to Schools (SRTS) to the Southwest District Council on Wed. evening.

Many hands in the room went up.

But now, only 20 percent of students walk or bike to school, Dougherty said.
Which is why SRTS is at work making the many West Seattle school outside environments safer for children to walk and bike. Dougherty informed attendees about the past, present and future projects throughout the Southwest District.

Part of the effort includes informing community groups – such as the council – and parents about the construction and why it is important.

The funding comes from new speeding cameras and other initiatives.

“We need kids to realize that it’s fun to bike and walk,” Dougherty said. “We need the parents to see that, too.”

The effort has been underway for a year and a half, when Seattle authorized money for school improvements, such as making sidewalks and intersections safer.

425 magazine, a publication of Premier Media, held their annual "Best of" awards cocktail party last month at Sotheby's Realogics, in Kirkland. Salty's on Alki's representatives attended to receive the top honor of winning in THREE categories; Best Brunch, Best Lunch & Best Dessert.

However, after thumbing through the pages of the brightly colored issue, low and behold, Kathy Kingen's name popped out! "WINNER! Best Food Blogger!"

Of course, all of us at Salty's have known her talent for years, but now the greater Seattle area - Eastside, North side, West side, South side.....and soon the world will know her writing abilities and commitment to health. As one of our fearless leaders (co-owner with her husband Gerry Kingen), Kathy is a bright light whenever she enters a room. She is a soft shoulder, a tender heart and a you can feel her love of people the minute you begin a conversation with her.

"I am so very honored to receive the 425 magazine "Best Food Blogger" award. It just goes to show that the local community truly cares about their health and the benefits of clean eating. My heart is full." - Kathy Kingen.

Burien Police take down illegal marijuana production operation
According to the Burien Police Department, police were called to the 500 block of S.W. 128th Street on April 23rd by a United States Federal probation officer who suspected that one of his parolees who had previously done time for drug manufacturing, had returned to some of he previous ways. Upon arriving to the scene, detectives found and seized 83 marijuana plants, 30 pounds of drying product, and $8,420 in cash. The parolee was taken into custody and will now stand in front of a Federal Judge for breaking the terms of his parole.

Man destroys Burger King toilet in Burien
The King County Sheriff’s department is reporting that on the afternoon of April 16, deputies were called to the Burger King located just west of the Burien Transit Center on 4th Avenue S.W. by the store’s manager. Once on the scene, police found that an intoxicated man within the store’s restroom had begun pulling the toilet apart by hand. Burger King did not want to pursue charges against the man. Police removed the man from the property.

Man with fake gun assaults residents in North Highline

A single family residence that sent two people to the hospital on April 30 and was a total loss and caught fire twice reignited about 11:30am on May 7, drawing firefighters back to the scene and once again evacuating neighbors.

The home in the 10000 block of 39th Ave. S.W. was seen smoldering again by a neighbor who called 911.

Seattle Fire officials on the scene said a fire watch had been pulled on the home as of noon yesterday but the problem was that since they could not safely enter the structure, which suffered $350,000 damage, they were limited to spraying water on it until it could be deconstructed. No cause has yet been determined for the same reason.

They said that the process of deconstruction, using power saws and other tools would begin once they were certain there was no chance of the fire reigniting.