December 2014

Thieves ransack home in search of marijuana joints

Dec. 12, Seattle Police responded to a burglary at a residence located on the 5500 block of Seventh Avenue Northwest. The complainant told officers that when he arrived home he found the back door, which was made of glass, had been shattered. At first he thought the wind had blown it open and caused it to hit the refrigerator and break, but then he notice things missing around the house. $400 in cash, a GoPro camera and a collection of quarters was missing. The complainant told officers that he believes the thieves could be friends of his son’s because they rifled through the top lining of his helmet, a place where he used to keep his marijuana “joints.” Police found no fingerprints or joints and have no leads.

Artwork and cash taken while on trip to the Big Easy

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

It is becoming increasingly more difficult to mingle with all ages in our urban culture. The extended family of the rural community is fractured by segregated urban living. You have read my complaints about this many times and I personally try to rectify this problem. When the young are cooped up in schools without older people around and older people are often cooped up without younger people around it takes ingenuity to change things.

Bill Davidson of Davidson Cycles and Maxwell Kullaway of 333fab are excited to announce the opening of their new shop, Davidson-Kullaway Custom Bicycles.  Slated to open in early 2015, the shop will be located on 3425 Stone Way N in the Fremont/Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle.  With a focus on offering complete custom bicycles, the shop is set to include a showroom, service area and a fabrication space.

A bike-building legend, Bill Davidson is a pioneer of the bicycling industry in Seattle, and has been building ‘Davidsons’ since the early 1970s.  He and his former partner, Bob Freeman, recently closed their long-running shop, Elliott Bay Bicycles, so that Davidson could refocus on bike design and fabrication. 

“What really motivates me is creating the perfect bicycles for my customers,” said Davidson. “With the new shop, things will be simplified and we’ll be focused on just that:  creating great bikes.”  

On Dec. 19, pizza lovers showed up in droves for MOD Pizza's big opening celebration in Ballard.

The new store is located on 15th Avenue Northwest, where Ivar’s used to be (6010 15th Avenue NW).

The ribbon cutting ceremony was at noon, and spectators got in line to have a look at the refurbished building and to taste MOD specialities.

To celebrate their arrival to the Ballard community, MOD donated 100 percent of their opening day pizza sales to the Ballard Food Bank.

“We have worked hard to create a great gathering spot for the Ballard community and we can’t wait to share it,” said Scott Svenson, co-founder and CEO of MOD Pizza. “MOD is a place where families and friends come together in a friendly, cool and locally-inspired environment. More than anything, we are committed to making a positive impact in our communities with as many people as possible, beginning with our amazing employees – the MOD Squad – and continuing with the Ballard Food Bank.”

The new store is the 15th MOD location in Washington and the 30th nationwide. MOD will employ 25 people at the news shop.

So why Ballard?

By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

FEDERAL WAY - Steadfastness without a call to retreat kept the Mt. Rainier boys basketball team in the hunt until it rallied to post an 83-79 SPSL 4A Northwest win at Decatur on Fri., Dec. 19.

With the win, the Rams' league record improved to 1-2 league and 3-5 overall. For the hard fighting Golden Gators, their league and overall records fell to 0-4 and 0-6, respectively.

"We never gave up," said Ram head coach Ken Bush. "The guys made free throws at the end. It was a game of attrition. We worked hard and Decatur worked hard. Different people stepped up and they made a great team effort. Trey Tolbert was huge for us (with 18 points and 18 assists). Scoring was balanced after Tolbert and Christian McClain (17). Their press gave us a lot of trouble for 18 turnovers."

Trailing 79-78 with eight second left in regulation time, Mt. Rainier came back quickly on some unlikely events that occurred regularly in this wild and evenly fought contest.

By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

FEDERAL WAY - Early season gymnastics has proven to be favorable to Mt. Rainier High School (Des Moines).

All around runner up Ava Welch led the Mt. Rainier girls gymnastics team to its second meet win in two tries this season at the Todd Beamer gymnasium on Wed., Dec. 17.

Welch posted top meet scores on the vault (9.2) and the uneven parallel bars (7.9). Coupled with a 9.5 second place on the floor exercise and third spot on the balance beam at 8.3, the Ram athlete claimed second place on the all-around competition, scoring 34.9 points, which left her only two-tenths of a point behind Kourtney Belarde of North Thurston (35.1). Belarde captured the floor at 9.55 while Sam Sperbeck of Decatur built her third place AA score of 32.35 on her first place beam total of 9.1.
"Tonight, I was good on the vault and the floor. I was getting great height. Since last year, I've improved on the floor and bars. Now, I've added a lay out twist and giants to my routines, although I didn't use them tonight. I want to do well at district and go to state."

By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

No one has stayed with the Highline wrestling team so far this Seamount League season.

The Pirates blew past Kennedy already and now, in their most recent wins, they left Tyee and Evergreen in the dust by 78-4 and 72-9 scores, respectively, on the road in the Wolverines' gymnasium Thursday.

"Still moving," said Highline head coach Casey Rice.

And those wins spoken of above do not include their non-league match victory against the Fife Trojans, a team that's made runs at state titles in 2A in the recent past.

The Pirates handed the Trojans a close loss, 39-38, Wednesday, Dec. 17, a day before the Tyee/Evergreen match, so that's more company added to the Pirates' speedy start to the season so far.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Thursday, Dec. 18
Boys basketball
Seattle Luth. 72, Cedar Pk. Chr. 29
Seattle Lutheran won big in a battle with Cedar Park Christian on Thursday.

Wrestling
Renton 58, Foster 9
Foster was pinned with a loss by the Indians this Thursday.

Boys swimming
Hazen 110, Kennedy 73
Hazen's Highlanders got the best of the Lancers in Thursday action.

Wednesday, Dec. 17
Boys basketball
Foster 79, Evergreen 49
Foster topped Evergreen by 30 points Wednesday.
Kennedy 52, Lindbergh 39
The Lancers came away with a lopsided win on Wednesday.
Hazen 67, Highline 55
Highline was hammered by Hazen this past Wednesday.
Renton 64, Tyee 48
The Indians got the best of the Totems in Wednesday action.

Girls basketball
West Seattle 59, Lakeside 43
The Wildcats continued to stomp their opponents this year, with the latest victim being perennial power Lakeside.
Evergreen 48, Foster 36
Evergreen emerged victorious over the Bulldogs on Wednesday.
Kennedy 56, Lindbergh 27
Kennedy Catholic cruised past the Eagles in Wednesday's game.
Hazen 41, Highline 20

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

It is becoming increasingly more difficult to mingle with all ages in our urban culture. The extended family of the rural community is fractured by segregated urban living. You have read my complaints about this many times and I personally try to rectify this problem. When the young are cooped up in schools without older people around and older people are often cooped up without younger people around it takes ingenuity to change things.

As the Superintendent of Highline Public Schools and a resident of the Highline community, I feel compelled to write this open letter. I am grateful to those of you who supported our bond measure last month, which fell just short of the 60% supermajority needed for passage. For those of you who opposed the bond, I also appreciate that you took the time and effort to engage in the democratic process and express your views.

On December 17, the School Board approved placing another bond proposal on the February 10, 2015 ballot. We are taking this step because in order to best educate our children, we must replace aging buildings and relieve the crowding in our schools. The proposal includes some savings gained from, among other things, eliminating the need for middle school interim sites, thus ensuring that our middle school students will not have two transitions during their middle school years.