December 2014

By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Seattle Christian Schools Warriors girls basketball is off to a rip-roaring start this season, improving to 5-0 with a 55-19 win over visiting Tyee Monday.

"We have a good group of seniors, and a very exciting freshman class, and, a real good nucleus of sophomores and juniors," said Warriors coach, Dave Jansen.

The game against Tyee started out fairly close as the Totems players were listening to their coach, Amanda Segerman, saying things like, "Get your hands up" that she never quit saying all game to her team on the court.

And, through the first six minutes of the eight-minute first quarter, it was the Warriors on top but not by much, 11-6, to that point in the game.

And Jansen noticed his team was not doing so well in his mind, and he took out his five starters and put in five reserves from the bench. They helped the Warriors keep Tyee at bay offensively the final two minutes of the first quarter and assisted in moving the score to 13-6 on freshman Madeline Fors' jumper to end the first quarter of play.

By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

FEDERAL WAY - Man-to-man pressing tactics finally forced the issue inside the Decatur High School Gymnasium in the visiting Seamount 2A Highline Pirates' unlikely 45-38 non league girls basketball win against the home Gators on Mon., Dec. 15.

This strategy was actually made expedient due to unsuccessful zone press tactics.
"The zone press was not good," said Pirate head coach Darrin Stolz. "We don't shoot well, but when the ball started going through the hoop, the girls got excited. We hit a couple of threes and just kept going."
Two minutes into the fourth quarter, Highline (Burien) had scored one standard field goal at the beginning of the stanza. The Gators quickly matched it and led 33-25 (the biggest lead of the game) with just more than five minutes left in regulation play.

Enter 5-feet, 2-inch freshman Britney Kinney who had not scored in the game up to now.

Woman held in SeaTac after failing to smuggle 23 Kilos of cocaine into Canada
A woman is being held at the SeaTac Federal Detention Center after a failed attempted to smuggle a car full of cocaine into Canada. The failed drug run took place on the evening of Wednesday, December 17th after U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in Blaine received a tip that a woman had been seen in Seattle loading drugs into a secret compartment in her Volvo XC90. When the same vehicle was seen approaching the Canadian boarder later that evening, officers decided to stop and search the vehicle. The result was 21 sealed packages of cocaine that together weighed in at 23 kilograms. The suspect, identified as Robyn Cortney Bell, is being held in SeaTac for suspicion of cocaine possession with intention to distribute. The cocaine is valued at $900,000.

Stolen car pursuit results in I-5 closer in Tukwila

The construction of the new Schmitz Park Elementary School at 5012 SW Genesee Street is now underway. with the first major concrete pour taking place on Dec. 16.

The Seattle School District has set up a time lapse camera on the site to allow the public to see the progress of the construction.

SEE THE VIDEO HERE
http://oxblue.com/open/SPS/Genesee

Using a site/service called Oxblue.com the video shows the prep work, rain or shine, on the site and the beginning of the concrete pour.

The original Genesee Hill building was built in 1948 and the $38.9 million budget allowed the demolition of the Genesee Hill building and construction of the new 500–600 seat elementary school designed to support best learning practices. The existing Schmitz Park building will be re-purposed to address current and projected elementary enrollment growth in West Seattle.

ABOUT THE VIDEO

· In the top left corner you will see a small calendar: click on any date to see progress and note you can click on the times of day for still shots.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Boys basketball
Evergreen plays a 7 p.m. game at Foster Wednesday as Kennedy Catholic entertains Lindbergh and Highline hosts Hazen. Tyee is at Renton at the same time.
Seattle Lutheran will be at home playing Cedar Park Christian at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Friday's schedule has West Seattle at home against Ingraham and Chief Sealth home against Ballard at 8 p.m.
Highline is at Evergreen at 7 p.m. as JFK visits Tyee and Foster goes to Lindbergh.
Mount Rainier is at Decatur at the same time as Seattle Christian travels to Overlake and Shorewood Christian to Neah Bay.
Mount Rainier visits Liberty at 4 p.m. Saturday and Seattle Lutheran travels to Darrington for a 6 p.m. game.
Seattle Lutheran turns around to host Tacoma Baptist at 6 p.m. Monday and Foster is at Seattle Christian at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Girls basketball
Evergreen pays a 7 p.m. visit to Foster Wednesday, with Tyee hosting Renton, Kennedy going to Lindbergh and Highline to Hazen.
West Seattle travels to Lakeside and Chief Sealth to Rainier Beach at 7:30 p.m.
Seattle Lutheran is at home playing Cedar Park Christian at 6 p.m. Thursday.

For the week of Dec. 17-23

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Boys basketball
Evergreen plays a 7 p.m. game at Foster Wednesday as Kennedy Catholic entertains Lindbergh and Highline hosts Hazen. Tyee is at Renton at the same time.
Seattle Lutheran will be at home playing Cedar Park Christian at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Friday's schedule has West Seattle at home against Ingraham and Chief Sealth home against Ballard at 8 p.m.
Highline is at Evergreen at 7 p.m. as JFK visits Tyee and Foster goes to Lindbergh.
Mount Rainier is at Decatur at the same time as Seattle Christian travels to Overlake and Shorewood Christian to Neah Bay.
Mount Rainier visits Liberty at 4 p.m. Saturday and Seattle Lutheran travels to Darrington for a 6 p.m. game.
Seattle Lutheran turns around to host Tacoma Baptist at 6 p.m. Monday and Foster is at Seattle Christian at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Girls basketball
Evergreen pays a 7 p.m. visit to Foster Wednesday, with Tyee hosting Renton, Kennedy going to Lindbergh and Highline to Hazen.
West Seattle travels to Lakeside and Chief Sealth to Rainier Beach at 7:30 p.m.

The most important fundraiser for North Seattle’s Boy Scout Troop 100 has been happening for the last few weeks at St. Alphonsus Church in Ballard.

The tree sale is the one and only annual fundraiser for the troop and has been a tradition for over 60 years in the Ballard community, and that fundraiser will come to a close Dec. 20.

Bill Dunnell, tree sale organizer, said that they sell about 2,000 trees every year and that varieties including Norway Spruce, Charlie Brown, Noble, Fraser and Grand Firs. Most trees sold during the holidays are cut and shipped in October, but not the troop’s, their trees are freshly cut and replenished every few days and are guaranteed freshness. Dunnel said the trees could last as long as February.

This year the trees come from Ed Hedlin and John Tillman’s farms in Satsop, Wash. Both Hedlin and Tilman have grown trees that were placed in the White House during past holiday seasons.

For Ballardites still searching for a tree, they had better hurry.

On December 7, Seattle Police arrested a 26-year-old man who was suspected of being involved in a hate crime against a cab driver in Magnolia.

According to Seattle Police Department, the cab driver picked up the suspect, two males and a woman in Belltown, just after 2 am. When they arrived at their destination (4200 block of 27th Avenue West) the cab driver began processing the suspect’s credit card. There was a delay with processing the card, which irritated the suspect. He told the driver to “go back to (his) own country,” then punched the driver in the head repeatedly. SPD reported that the suspect said to the 34-year –old cab driver, “You are a terrorist. …You should go back to your own country. … I will shoot you.”

The blows caused the victim to lose consciousness. His foot slipped off the brake, and the cab began rolling down a hill, striking several parked cars before finally coming to a stop at the stairs of an apartment building.

The Nordic Heritage Museum brings more than a dozen films from all five Nordic countries to Seattle for the Nordic Lights Film Festival on January 15-18, 2015, at SIFF Film Center located at Seattle Center.

“The Nordic Lights Film Festival is one of the Museum’s most compelling programs,” said Nordic Heritage Museum CEO Eric Nelson, “By screening films that are both critically-acclaimed and wildly popular in the Nordic countries, we are able to connect our community to this intriguing component of contemporary Nordic culture.” This is the sixth annual Nordic Lights Film Festival. Presenting feature- length films, documentaries, and shorts from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, this year's Festival begins Thursday, January 15 with a reception at SIFF beginning at 6:00 p.m., hosted by SWEA (Swedish Women’s Educational Association), followed at 7:00 p.m. by a screening of The Optimists/Optimistene, a Norwegian documentary that follows an extraordinary volleyball team in Hamar town, consisting of ladies between 66 and 98 years of age. Director Gunhild Westhagen Magnor and cast member Anne-Grethe Westhagen will be attending the screening and the opening reception.

By Tim Clinton

Kennedy Catholic High School graduate Mitch Penner swished in 26 points for the Seattle Pacific University men's basketball team in its 100-67 win over George Fox of Oregon this past Friday.
Penner is a 6-foot, 5-inch junior forward for the Falcons.

McPhee with SPU women

Mount Rainier High School graduate Jordan McPhee is in her freshman season as a 5-10 guard with the Seattle Pacific University women.

Petersen averaging 13.6 points

Lexi Petersen, a graduate of Seattle Christian School in SeaTac, is averaging 13.6 points per game for the University of Oregon women's basketball squad.
Petersen is a 5-11 junior guard who also has 10 steals for the Ducks this season.

Gandy contributing at WWU

Mount Rainier graduate Kiana Gandy is playing for Western Washington University as a 5-10 sophomore forward.

Gandy swished in si points for the Lady Vikings in their 75-64 victory over Portland State on Sunday to go with two rebounds, one assist and one steal.