December 2014

The Seattle Fire Department responded to a fire in a building located at 7000 Highland Park Way SW on Dec 7.

Around 9:50 pm, a call was dispatched and the first engine on scene reported smoke so they called for a full response. The MVU truck that contains a large fan on the back of it that is used for clearing smoke out was called in to ventilate the building.

The firefighters gained access to the roof as well and cut ventilation holes in it and determined there was no actual fire and that it was caused by equipment overheating.

Highland Park Way SW was closed but should be reopen shortly.

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.

The White Center Chamber of Commerce gathered volunteers and local businesses for the annual Christmas tree lighting event on Dec. 6. The event held in Triangle Park at the intersection of 16th SW, Roxbury Street SW and Delridge Way SW began at 6pm and Triangle Pub owner Geoffrey Mc Elroy played the part of Santa Claus.

The Salvadorean Bakery provided the sweets.

White Center's newest community officer Julian Chivington had the honor of lighting the tree

In an effort that stretched out across West Seattle Salty's on Alki joined the King5 Hometeam food drive to benefit Northwest Harvest and put together a donation of well over 1000 pounds of food.

Organized by Entertainment and Public Relations Manager Lennon A. Curtin, boxes went up in local businesses, and apartment buildings urging people to contribute. Some chose to give canned goods or other non perishable items but others donated cash amounting to $800.

That meant shopping was called for so Curtin and friends Lauren Blumenthal, David Wall, and Michael Johnson visited both QFC and Safeway stores buying as much as the money would allow, carrying it in the Salty's passenger bus. Additional support came from Mindy and Deverl Maserang.

Finally on Saturday Dec. 6 they brought it all to the Northgate Mall where Curtin was interviewed live on television by Jean Enerson and Dennis Bounds of King5 News. She gave credit to the whole team of helpers and all those who contributed.

By Amanda Knox

Remember those kids in high school who took part in all the choir and theatre productions and sang show tunes and choral harmonies from classroom to classroom between periods? Ever wonder what happened to them? What they might be up to five, ten, or twenty years later if they were to trade those locker-lined hallways for, say, the local pub? That’s the Inverse Opera.

Last year, when the troupe of twelve singers and performers was only two years old, they coproduced with Taproot Theatre a theatrical version of Handel’s Messiah just in time for the holidays and were so successful in selling out seats and charming audiences that Taproot asked them to perform again this year.

By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

The Evergreen and Tyee girls basketball teams played with a good beat throughout the game despite the final score favoring the Wolverines, 50-7, over the visiting Totems on Friday.

It was both teams' opening Seamount League games this season, so the Wolverines moved to 1-0 while the Totems dropped to 0-1.

"Good opening, good assessment," said Wolverines coach Natasha Hicks-McCray. "And Tyee played with a lot of heart. They played hard throughout the game, impressive, until the end."

Definitely not going down as the most competitive game in high school sports history, but both teams, not just the Wolverines, went at each other, fighting for the ball, scrambling for rebounds, the whole game. And that's despite the score being, 19-3, Wolverines after the first quarter, with the Totems' lone points of the first eight minutes of play coming on senior point guard and captain MaryRose Cadelina knocking in a three-point shot off the glass in the waning seconds of the first quarter.

For the 43rd year, the West Seattle Rotary club held its shopping spree to help children from around West Seattle, providing warm coats, socks, shoes and more to 100 children.

This year the event had to change venues from the Sears store at SODO which closed, to the Sears store at Westfield Mall in Southcenter and through the efforts of primary organizer Mike Galvin. "Once we figured out we had to change venues, it was logistics. How can I keep them close to Sears and still be able to feed them so I talked to the Rainforest Cafe," said Galvin. "I really can't say enough good things about the people at Westfield Mall, and Sears, they've all been fabulous, donating time and more."

Five schools provided the names of the children who took part including Arbor Heights Elementary, K-5 Stem at Boren, Highland Park Elementary, Sanislo Elementary, and West Seattle Elementary.

The event starts early, with organizers arriving at 5:30am to get the coats and socks ready, organize the more than 200 volunteers and prepare the area.

information from King County

King County contractors began pouring the concrete for the base of the facility’s underground storage tank on Friday, December 5 and the work will continue December 9 and 10.

The area around the site will be very busy on these days. About 20 trucks an hour will deliver concrete to the site on these days. Work hours will be 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., and could be extended later to complete each day’s pour. Two concrete pump trucks on the east side of the 7000 block of Beach Drive S.W. will pump the concrete into the hole. Trucks will enter the site from Lincoln Park Way S.W. and exit using 48th Ave S.W. Trucks waiting to pour will park on Lincoln Park Way S.W. between Beach Drive S.W. and Murray Ave. S.W. Trucks will remain running at all times to expedite entry to the site. Expect traffic delays and congestion in these areas during work hours.

Sports Roundup

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.