October 2014

By Amanda Knox

Two years ago, when Malaika Stevenson was diagnosed with eczema and prescribed a diet devoid of lactose and gluten, little did she knew that it might lead to the key to her future. Having turned five only last week, she still doesn’t know it. But her parents do. Or so they hope.

West Seattle locals Lynnette Mathias and Adam Stevenson—Mom and Dad—are about to embark on a Kickstarter campaign this Sunday to raise funds for NuTiger Organics [http://www.nutigerorganics.com/] Cashew Milk, quite literally a product of love originally and optimally designed for Malaika’s health which they are now seeking to extend to the community.

Before making cashew milk her personal business, Lynnette says that, when on the hunt for milk alternatives, everything she found was “full of stabilizers and preservatives. For one thing, it’s not clean. It’s not a whole food if you’re having to add stabilizers. And secondly, carrageenan and the different gums can cause or irritate digestive issues. 80 percent of your immune system is in your gut so, for me, that just wasn’t okay to give to Malaika.”

The West Seattle Harvest Festival featured veggie vendors, trick or treaters, the West Seattle High Schoo marching band, a chili cook-off featuring area restaurants and much more on Oct. 26. The windstorm from the night before was still blowing through as the festivities got underway, blowing street barriers around and at one point bringing in a very blustery rain squall that sent those attending, under tents, umbrellas and awnings.

Junction merchants offered candy for trick or treaters and despite the rain, everyone was in good spirits as thousands filed the street.

information from King County

A strong windstorm knocked out power that led to overflows at King County's Murray and Richmond Beach pump stations.
An overflow at the Murray Pump Station, located at 7015 Beach Drive S.W. in West Seattle, began at 9:40 p.m. and lasted about 80 minutes. Crews deployed a mobile generator and restored normal operation. A project to upgrade the aging pump station is under way and will include an on-site emergency backup power system.

A brief overflow at the Richmond Beach Pump Station, 2740 N.W. 198th Street in Shoreline, occurred for nine minutes. Crews quickly stopped the overflow and engaged an emergency backup power system.

Both stations are operating normally.
King County will notify health and regulatory agencies, sample water quality and post affected areas as closed to protect public health.

Update 6:30 am
Power was still out for more than 500 people in the West Seattle/ White Center area after a powerful wind storm blew through the area overnight reaching gusts of up to 60mph and knocking out the electricity for 47,000 people in Seattle. City Light crews and Seattle Fire and police were busy all night as downed trees fell across roads and brought down wires. Most of the power for West Seattle's Arbor Heights was back on by 3am but more than 5000 still had no juice at 7am. Persistent outages above Alki and along Beach Drive SW were expected to be resolved before noon.

Update 12:10 am oct 26

Power was out for more than 4700 city light customers after high winds hit the Arbor Heights neighborhood and other parts of West Seattle Oct. 25-26. Power was out for more than 47000 across the city.

In West Seattle the outage extended from 122nd to the south and north including Fauntleroy Way SW up Beach Drive to Juneau Street SW. The western reach of the outage extended nearly to 39th SW. A block on Kenyon Street SW was also out between 39th and 41st streets SW.

by Paul Moseley

It took a while, but West Seattle put four solid quarters together on a rain-soaked SWAC field and got their first win of the season...with an exclamation point. The Wildcats took on the Franklin Quakers and dominated the game, winning 56-12.

The Wildcats kicked off their offensive in the first quarter. Running back Austin Hall had a 35 yard run down to the two yard line. Human tank Fynniecko Glover powered the ball into the end zone on the next play to put West Seattle up 7-0.

Still in the first quarter, Glover kicked off a drive with a 20 yard run to the Quaker 40. Then Gavin Garcia-Penor, who had a great night knocking defenders out of the way, steamrolled the ball down to the 4 yard line, setting up a scoring run by Johathan Cheth (his first of two TD's on the night). 14-0 West Seattle.

In the second quarter, Carter Golgart and John Ursino both had grabs for scores, taking West Seattle into half-time with a 29-0 lead.

In the third quarter, Glover ran for 35 yards, setting the Wildcats up on the Franklin 25. A couple plays later, half back Trifon Papahronis got the call and ran 15 yards for a score.

Des Moines, Washington, 23 October 2014 – On Saturday Greenside Recreational will be the newest addition to the growing Cannabis industry in Washington.

Mayor Dave Kaplan of Des Moines will be in attendance to provide his support as a guest of honor at the ribbon cutting ceremony, which takes place at noon on Saturday the 25th.

When a Des Moines bartender was asked her opinion on the new recreational cannabis store, she gasped before exclaiming, “Wait, a pot store down the street? Saturday is my day off, I will be there for the opening!” That is the general sentiment around the community, where vape and pipe stores are a common sight.

Greenside’s focus is to provide a wide variety of products to suit the cannaoisseur, a Cannabis enthusiast. The Product Specialist is none other than Alison Draisin, a Cannabis expert. Draisin is a member of the Women of Weed, a trade organization, she resides on the judges panel for the High Times Cannabis Cup and is the owner of Ettalews, an award winning medible company.

During the October 2014-June 2015 closure of Ye Olde Curiosity Shop on the downtown waterfront due to city seawall reconstruction, the Southwest Seattle Historical Society is hosting a focus-area exhibit on the long time Seattle waterfront attraction. At a special presentation on Friday Oct. 24 members of the James family who have owned the shop for decades were in attendance at the Log House museum to recall memories and answer questions. Representing the family were Joe James, Andy James, and Neil James.

Joe James described the mission of the shop as,"We try to handle items that were curios as well as things we believed had some practical value. It just seems that everybody is interested in the odd things.The shop appeals to people because of the variety of odd things from all over the world."

information from King County

The West Seattle route of the King County Water Taxi will switch to its winter schedule beginning Monday, Oct. 27. The West Seattle Water Taxi will operate Monday through Friday during morning and evening commute hours only. There will be no mid-day weekday service, weekend service, or extended sailings for special events.

The summer schedule will resume next April. See www.kingcounty.gov/watertaxi for sailing times and more information.

The Kenney announced today that the West Seattle retirement community that their current lender has offered them an opportunity to reduce its total debt by 50%, provided it is refinanced by the end of 2014. Total face value of the debt is $21 million. The Kenney is pursuing the opportunity to reduce the debt to $10.5 million by seeking a new sponsor or lender. The Kenney is meeting all of its financial obligations and is current with its loan.

Moraine Byrne, President, Ontrac Management in charge of The Kenney said, "It is our goal to be transparent with residents and staff about The Kenney's financial picture and we met with both today to share this news. As this progresses and we have information to share about potential new sponsors, we will let residents, staff and the community know.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray thanked Office of the Waterfront Director Jared Smith for his leadership on the waterfront redesign after Smith officially tendered his resignation today.

“Jared has done great work this year to improve coordination within city government and with our many partners on the Seattle waterfront redesign,” said Murray. “I am especially grateful for his work to update our strategy to reconnect downtown to the waterfront while managing shifting timelines. He leaves the program with a much more strong vision and realistic budget.”

The Office of the Waterfront works with the City’s transportation, planning and parks departments, as well as City utilities and other agencies to coordinate the many components of the major redevelopment project. The office works closely with the Washington State Department of Transportation, the Port of Seattle, waterfront businesses, other community and government organizations, and the public on City’s waterfront redesign.