June 2014

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem, “Kubla Khan,” is considered by many as an ode to the opiate. The alluring substance has plagued and inspired humans for most of recorded history, and maintains an enthralling grip on people today, especially in Seattle.

Summer has finally come. The air is warm and vegetation riots from the earth throughout the region in primal, dynamistic fruiting: a party for plants. Among them are poppies. The plant is a fairly tall, both annual/perennial (depending on variety) flower with large seedpods and beautiful vibrantly colored, plumbing petals.

Among some circles -- those in the know -- admiration for the poppy is not limited to its beauty, but also for its alkaloids veining inside that make up opium, the “milk of paradise.” In fact a sect of green thumbed North Seattle residents report cultivating or foraging opium to treat pain and for recreational use. Moreover, some resourceful individuals have also made heroin from poppies found in Seattle.

By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Not much to say except what West Seattle Little League's Nationals Manager Isaiah Brent said so well, and what players on the team repeated, after this group of 9 and 10 year old boys nearly won the Minors Tournament of Champions championship game in a 12-11 loss at Normandy Park City Hall Park Monday.
"Those kids can hit," said Brent. "I'm shocked they have 13 players that hit the ball so well."

But, besides classy accolades to the champion South Highline National Reds, Brent said more.

"But they almost did it, almost had a chance," said Brent of his team. "They got on us early, but, you know what, these Nationals came back from deficits two times. So close, in the end. It was a dream season. I thought we had something special. And, we did."

Just one of those games that iron sharpened iron and the Reds came out on fire early, offensively, and, certainly, defensively, too, as the Reds were not the only one hitting the ball hard.
In the top of the first, no question the Nationals were at the top of their game.

Check out the fun at the Nordic Heritage Museum!

LEGO Workshop
Tuesday, July 1, 2014; 10am-12pm

The Museum’s summer exhibition is Danish Modern: Design for Living, and what is more Danish than LEGO! Come join us for a fun morning of LEGO building with local LEGO expert Dan Parker - back for a fifth year at the Nordic Heritage Museum! Spend time creating on your own with the large supply of LEGO bricks and specialty pieces, or join one of Dan’s break-out classes on LEGO tricks and techniques. Explore various aspects of LEGO design along with other LEGO enthusiasts!

Ages 5 to 12, $25 for Museum members, $35 for non-members.

Nordic Stories
First Thursday of the month; 10am-11am

Join us for our seventh year of Nordic Stories, geared toward preschool aged children and their grown-ups. Held the 1st Thursday of each month from 10am to 11am, Nordic Stories features children's stories from the Nordic countries, along with fun craft projects. This is a free program, no reservations are necessary. Please note: This program is not intended for large groups.

Coming up:

Dear Editor,
I wish to respond to the article in the June 13th edition of the Westside Weekly, “Where will the LIHI Urban Rest Stop reside?”

I was surprised and concerned at the number of inaccuracies and misconceptions contained in the article—I found it altogether misleading as to the facts and even the tone of the DPD meeting the article covered.

The two issues of substance are parking and what is called dispersion. Both require findings to be made by the City.

Regarding dispersion: It is not a code violation to have 2 community centers within 600 feet of each other as your article would lead one to believe. How would the new library have been able to build on a site so close to St. Luke’s Church if this were true? Rather, an application for a community center in close proximity to others triggers an administrative review, which allows findings to be made. I am sure this is because the category of ‘community center’ is such a broad and catch all use.

Ballard High will be hosting a youth football camp July 7-11. Each camper will work directly with the Ballard High School coaching staff. The Ballard High School (BHS) Youth Football camp is committed to a planned program of football development for your son, including blocking, tackling, passing, catching, kicking, and other specialties in a safe, non-contact football environment. Athletes will learn the BHS Football fundamental drills, offense, and defense.

Campers,

This is a great opportunity to learn football fundamentals, meet the BHS coaching staff, and enjoy a great sport.
Our staff has high school, collegiate and professional football experience—we love the
game. My staff and I are committed to not only making the players better on the field but also better young men.

Coach Thomas

Camp Location
BHS Football Field
1418 NW 65th St.
Seattle, WA 98117

Open to grades K-8
9:00 am to 12:00 pm
Check-in 8:30 am
Ballard High School Field

Cost
$100. (includes camp T-shirt)
Make checks out to BHS-ABC Football

Registration form is available online.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray was joined today by Seattle City Councilmembers and for-hire industry representatives to announce a historic agreement that provides a framework to enable all parties in the for-hire industry to compete fairly to serve the needs of the public.

“The agreement honors the taxi industry’s historic role in Seattle as a key component of the city’s transportation infrastructure and as a vital source of jobs, particularly for Seattle’s immigrant communities. It also embraces this rapidly transforming industry and recognizes that Seattle must stand at the forefront of innovation and not impede new ideas or add the burden of unnecessary regulations,” said Murray. “I am grateful for the willingness of all of the parties to come together in the spirit of compromise and consensus in order to find common ground.”

Thief preps for carpentry apocalypse, takes company van with tools

June 10, SPD officers were dispatched to a burglary/forced entry report at a business residing at the 700 block of 15th Avenue Northwest. The suspect gained entry by rampaging through a side door. The suspect loaded air tools and other items into a company van that was parked in the garage, and then fled with the bounty. No fingerprints were recovered.

Suspect plays Mozart on squad car, assumes arrest after altercation

By Emile Monte

The Stranger is notoriously supportive of the arts, profiling up-and-coming artists and putting together a schedule of the entire city’s events related to local artistic production every week. This attention culminates in their annual Genius Awards, in which the arts are divided up into 5 categories—Visual Art, Performance, Literature, Music, and Film—and the pool of talented local artists is identified and painstakingly narrowed to just 15. Ballard lays proud claim to Shin Yu Pai, the one and only poet to be nominated this year.

By: Christy Wolyniak

The Humane League joined Seattle residents and local mom, Megan Murphy, in delivering petitions with over 1,500 signatures in support of Meatless Mondays to the Seattle Public School District’s nutrition department on Wednesday, June 11.

A growing international campaign, Meatless Mondays promotes vegetarian and healthier options for students one day a week while also decreasing the carbon footprint on the environment and perhaps sparing a few factory farm animals in the process. The Humane League calls it “taking a vacation from meat.”

“For most of us, the week begins on Monday –not just for kids but for people who go to work. Studies suggest that we are more likely to maintain behaviors on Monday and carry those throughout the week, which makes Monday the perfect day to change health and any sort of habits,” said Seattle Director for The Humane League, Rachel Huff-Wagenborg. “We have a three- pronged approach to benefiting health, humans, and animals.”

By Matt Parker

With international debate about the uses of drones, you might be skeptical of local artists testing the limits of drone media. One artist, however is exploring the power of drone technology with local real estate brokers from Keller Williams offices in South King County.

Drones are widely described as unmanned aerial vehicles. They have been primarily used by the U.S. military for years for surveillance and now air strikes. They range in size from about one foot in diameter to a "small plane." The drone used by local artist Erik Vision, Phenix Films, is a 16" diameter helicopter with four rotors. It travels in any direction the operator wants and has a range of about 1,000 feet.

"Phenix Aerial takes seriously the responsibility of discovery with morals. We will not produce media for you if you do not have permission to capture that media. We will not explore air space near or in forbidden air space."