December 2014

King County: Washington State Patrol detectives are investigating a collision that occurred Saturday, November 29, 2014 on I-5 just north of I-405 at approximately 6:00 pm. The collision involved the injury of an on-duty, Tukwila firefighter who was attending to the driver of a previous collision involving a white pick-up truck. The firefighter was struck during a second collision involving a red Ford Mustang and the same white pick-up truck.

Detectives are requesting information regarding the collision and/or any observations of the vehicles prior to the incident.

Anyone with information regarding this collision is asked to contact WSP Detective Sergeant Jerry Cooper atjerry.cooper@wsp.wa.gov or 360-805-1192 or Detective Ruth Medeiros at ruth.medeiros@wsp.wa.gov or 425-401-7719.

By Gerardo Bolong
Contributing Writer

Senior Simone Johnson's driving lay up just 48 seconds into overtime gave the South Puget Sound League 4A Mount Rainier girls the lead for good at 39-37 in a 43-39 edging of visiting Seamount 2A Evergreen in a non-league girls basketball game on Sat., Dec. 6.

In the final minutes, Evergreen turned the ball over twice before Ram athlete Kenzie Gandy converted the first of two free throws to get MR to 40 as 2:19 remained in the overtime.

"It was a team effort," said Johnson. "Everyone was aggressive on offense and defense."

Twenty five seconds later, Maria Martinez brought the Wolverines within 40-39.
Both teams scrambled briskly on the court with opportunities until Mt. Rainier's freshman point guard Madison Lommen received the inbounds to hit nothing but net on a right side 3-pointer with 21.4 seconds left.

"I was open and just shot," she said.

Lommen closed out the game with 11 points.

Forced into shooting from outside due to time constraints, the Lady Wolverines were unable to score again in game that was tightly contested throughout.
First year MR head coach Salvo Coppa had his observations.

By Gerardo Bolong
Contributing Writer

South Puget Sound League 4A Mount Rainier rebounded from a loss to Auburn Riverside by storming by visiting Seamount League 2A Evergreen 76-33 in non-league boys basketball action on Sat., Dec. 6 with a full team intensity.

"We're young," said Ram head coach Ken Bush. "Every game we're getting a little bit better. The boys are working hard on building energy as a team."

Energy was apparent early when the Rams utilized rebound, steal and run tactics to charge from a 5-5 tie and establish a reign of terror within the first three minutes for a 19-5 lead.

"We were aggressive on offense and defense," said senior Ram guard Austin Sharma, who tied with teammate Talcum Cola at a game high 18 points. "As a team, we attacked right from the start."

This pattern just continued for the game's entirety. Mt. Rainier built four leads of 43 points, including the final score, and necessitated brief moments of a running clock.

"We weren't prepared to play," said Wolverine head coach Tony White. "Give Mt. Rainier credit. They really played well."

By Gerardo Bolong
Contributing Writer

FEDERAL WAY - In the compact gym of the Ex 3 Ron Sandwith Center visiting Seamount League 2A Tyee exerted its strength early before on its way to a 71-41 non league boys basketball victory against SeaTac 1B Christian Faith on Fri., Dec. 5.

"We got to finally run our man-to-man defense," said Tyee Totem head coach Brandon Horstman. "The whole team got reps and we worked on our half court offense. We have to adjust to the hand checking rule and remember to move our feet quickly. It was a good effort. League wise, our goal is the playoffs."

Leading 4-2 in the first quarter, the Totems grounded the game Eagles to take an 18-5 first quarter lead before blowing away to margins that reached 30 points twice. Abdi Mohamud earned 20 points, six rebounds and five assists. Deion Williams notched 10 points with six rebounds and Yonas Gedlu added nine points and nine caroms. Austin Wiebe added eight points.Guard Ignatius Medani was a force for the Eagles with 20 hard earned points.

By: Tim Clinton

Wednesday, Dec. 3

Boys basketball
Kennedy 56, West Seattle 49
The Lancers of Kennedy Catholic handed their neighbors to the north a defeat in non-league action Wednesday.

Interlake 53, Evergreen 50
Evergreen was edged by Interlake in Wednesday action.

SCS 62, Steilacoom 47
Seattle Christian School scored a win over Steilacoom on Wednesday.

NW School 80, Seattle Lutheran 65
Seattle Lutheran was outscored by Northwest School in Wednesday's game.

Girls basketball
Issaquah 57, Mt. Rainier 19
The Rams of Des Moines were dealt a non-league defeat Wednesday.

Interlake 68, Evergreen 42
Evergreen's Wolverines also dropped a non-league contest Wednesday.

Tuesday, Dec. 2

Boys basketball
South Kitsap 65, Highline 48
The Pirates were sunk by South Kitsap in non-league action this past Tuesday.

Girls basketball
Seattle Lutheran 35, NW Christian 32
Seattle Lutheran of West Seattle edged out the opposition Tuesday.

Graham-Kapowsin 46, Mt. Rainier 29
Mount Rainier was topped by Graham-Kapowsin in a non-league game Tuesday.

Monday, Dec. 1

Boys basketball

Choral Music of the Season
Fauntleroy Church UCC
9140 California Ave. SW
Sat., Dec. 13, 7:30 p.m. & Sun., Dec. 14, 4 p.m. Free. The combined choirs of Fauntleroy Church and Peace Lutheran Church will present a concert of diverse seasonal music, from Handel to Sting, including new arrangements of old favorites. Co-directed by Bronwyn Edwards and Jon Lackey and conducted by David Yanacek, with brass and other instrumentalists.

The Junction’s Hometown Holiday Events
Downtown West Seattle
SW Alaska St. & California Ave. S.W.

Shop Late Thursday
Thurs., Dec. 11,18, till 9 p.m. Many Junction retailers are open late on these dates. Pair with happy hour and you’ve got a great night out!

Sun., Dec. 21, 10-2 p.m at Santa’s House in front of Key Bank.

Mule Drawn Carriage Rides
Sun., Dec. 7 & 14, 10-2 p.m. Take a carriage ride down California Ave. pulled by beautiful Belgium Draft Mules. A treat the whole family and friends will enjoy. Stop off at the Farmers Market for a complimentary hot apple cider.

Holiday Art Walk

by Pat Cashman

We bit the holiday bullet last year and bought an artificial Christmas tree. It looks genuine, but it’s entirely fake---sort of like a top-of-the-line toupee.

My wife had been pushing for the imitation evergreen for years, but I had always resisted.
“What about the wonderful romance of going out and cutting our own tree every year?’ I would say. “Or going to a lot? It’s a time-honored tradition.”

Then she pointed out that burnt toast, leaky pipes and hemorrhoids were also “time-honored” occurrences---but that doesn’t make them things to long for.
She was right, of course. All the cheery Norman Rockwell images I recalled of hunting for and decorating holiday trees were utter fiction.

Looking back at photos and videos of Christmases past, one thing becomes clear: Most of the trees I selected and erected wound up looking pretty lousy.

They all died in vain. Some were probably suicides.

By Kyra-lin Hom

As every Hallmark card proclaims, the holiday season is a time for families and feel goods. But the rest of us know that those things don't always come so easy. Forced dysfunctional family gatherings are even common fodder for many a comedy or drama. You know the trope: shove a bunch of grudge-bearing people who barely like each other into close quarters then sit back and watch the fires ignite. And though few of us are at those Weasley (before book seven) vs. Lannister levels of extreme, the point still stands: holiday stress is a real thing.

By Tim Clifford

Caught stealing copper
On Nov. 27, just after 3:20 a.m. police received a report of a burglary in progress from a security guard monitoring an industrial storage yard on 10 Ave. S. The guard had noticed a car idling on the other side of the chain link fence surrounding the yard and flashed his lights and honked at it.
The suspects came running out from a shed nearby and made their way to the car through a hole that had been cut into the chain-link. Before the suspects drove away the guard was able to note that one of the men had long dark hair and that their car had a Seahawks flag in the passenger side window.

Giving police these details and the description of the car, a K9 unit patrol car spotted a vehicle with the same Seahawks flag and pulled it over. Once officers made contact with the driver they saw that he matched the description of the suspect. The officers also noticed an ample supply of copper tubing and two pairs of wire-cutters in the back seat.

by Scott Anthony

After Dad passed this last spring, the task fell to us, his kids, to go through his belongings and sort out the items we wished to keep and those that might benefit charities like Goodwill.  In the garage this winter I packed the boxes of old paperbacks and glassware into the back of my brother's truck, the knickknacks and curios filled the truck, each one a small reminder of the 50 plus years I had coming into this house.   One big box left, I hefted into the truck and saw that it contained Christmas decorations. While I waited for my brother to get off the phone, I poked through the contents.

Old tinsel strewn glass bulbs, a string of tree lights that may or may not work and near the bottom, a tree topper in the shape of an Angel. I recognized the rough-hewn wood and paint work. Dad made it.  One wing was smaller than the other, the gown was painted white originally but was now flaking badly, and he made a bow out of twine. I don't remember seeing in place on his Christmas trees, so perhaps he thought it wasn't good enough.