January 2015

The 1300 block of Alki Ave. SW has been a slide prone and water filled hillside for decades and on Sunday Jan 18 as the morning winds were howling at 1:20AM, it lived up to its reputation. Trees came down, split and filled up the area behind the apartments at 1370 Alki Ave. SW.

Building tentnat Suzanne Ulloa describe what happened, "it was about 1:20am, had been very windy, and rainy. I heard a big crack, then a sound of something heavy hitting the ground hard, and wasn't exactly sure what exactly happened.

After getting downstairs into the downstairs apartment of the older man downstairs, the glass sliding door in his living room was broken all over and had several feet of tree in it. And the whole patio area had tree limbs etc on it.

The firemen came and chain sawed the tree, and then put up a plastic type barrier for the doorway to keep out the cold.

It wasn't until daylight that could see that one very large tree had cracked off, and as it evidently in it's fast slide down the steep hillside, caused other trees to crack off too. Some went onto the other two neighbor's residences on either side of our apartment building."

According to the Seattle Police Department, last Friday, January 16, Seattle Police Officers arrested a man for stabbing someone during a bar fight at a bar in the Interbay neighborhood.

Officers were dispatched around 10:30 pm after there was a report of a man harassing a woman at a bar on the 3400 block of Gilman Ave. West.

A patron at the bar saw the suspect harassing the woman and intervened, which caused an argument. The suspect struck the man in the chest. The victim thought the blow was a mere punch but then realized there was a lot of blood coming from his chest; the suspect had stabbed him with a small blade.

Witnesses report the suspect fled the bar and tried to jump over a patio wall, but broke his ankle in the process. He scrambled to a vehicle -- still carrying the knife -- where his wife was waiting for him. Patrons of the bar followed the suspect and managed to remove him from the vehicle. They sustained minor cuts to their hands in the process. The victim was also wounded in the struggle.

Officers were there in minutes and arrested the suspect. The suspect’s vehicle was impounded so officers could recover the knife.

By Katy Wilkens, MS, RD
Nutrition and fitness manager, Northwest Kidney Centers

After Thanksgiving, the second biggest eating holiday is Super Bowl Sunday. Most game day snacks served to guests in front of the TV are loaded with sodium. That’s hard on your heart and kidneys. Score a touchdown with your family and friends by serving them healthy food that tastes great.

Savory popcorn

Instead of salty chips, serve savory popcorn with a tasty spice mix.

1/4 -1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons dried chili flakes
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon grated lime peel
Juice of one lime

By Gwen Davis

It is official: West Seattle’s first charter school will open soon.

The school will be constructed at the north edge of Arbor Heights, on the Freedom Church/Jesus Center property at 9601 35th SW. The existing building will be redeveloped, and additional construction will commence to accommodate future expansion. The school is slated to open in 2016, and will eventually ramp up to 400 students.

The school is supported by the Washington Charter School Development (WCSD), a subsidiary of the nonprofit Pacific Charter School Development (PCSD).

Reportedly, WCSD is under a contract to buy the entire 2 1/3-acre Freedom Church site. The county values the land at $3.2 million. The sale is expected to close in three months. PCSD is working with the Gates Foundation to open other charter schools in the state.

Additionally, the school’s operator will be Summit Public Schools. According to PCSD, Summit Public Schools plan to open more charter high schools in the International Chinatown District and Tacoma, which will open next fall. WSCD reportedly bought the Asian Resource Center in the International Chinatown District for $4 million.

Twelve-year-old Cass Huff was at home recovering from her 33rd spinal surgery when she decided to organize a fundraiser for the special education classmates she tutors. In less than two months, Huff raised enough money to buy seven iPads, shatter-proof cases, and voice recognition apps for an entire special education class at Sylvester Middle School.

The seventh-grader surprised her classmates at a school-wide assembly on January 16.

Cass was the first student selected at be part of the school’s new Peer Tutor program. For one period a day, she tutors special education students. Cass was so successful that the school rapidly grew the program to several periods a day.

“The fact that Cass saw a need for communication devices in the class where she tutors and took it upon herself to fill the need in a few short weeks is amazing,” said Assistant Principal Robin Furlan. “Cass is one of those amazing students who inspires you to be a better person just by knowing her. She is courageous, selfless, and wise beyond her years.”

Born with a rare dwarfism syndrome, Cass regularly has spine surgeries.

At approximately 5:30 p.m. tonight a King County Sheriff’s deputy attempt to pull over a stolen Honda ended in a chase and collision.

The deputy spotted the vehicle on International Blvd. and a pursuit was begun along S. 200th St. The chase lasted 90 seconds when at S. 200th St. and 8th Ave. S. the stolen Honda collided with another vehicle. The vehicle that was hit had one man and his two children.

The male driver was seriously injured and was taken to Harbor View. Both children were uninjured and were treated at the scene.

The suspect fled from the wreck on foot. A K-9 Unit was deployed to pursue the suspect without results.

Detectives with the MARR (Major Accident Response and Reconstruction) Unit are currently conducting the
investigation.

(Tacoma) Tacoma-based CHI Franciscan Health has announced that it is expanding Virtual Urgent Care to serve patients in the service areas of Bremerton’s Harrison Medical Center and Burien’s Highline Medical Center. Virtual Urgent Care allows patients to receive care 24/7 via phone, webcam, smartphone, tablet or PC.

CHI Franciscan Health affiliated with Harrison and Highline in 2013. The expansion will bring Virtual Urgent Care to patients on the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas as well as north into King County.

“The expansion of Virtual Urgent Care is an important part of our goal to create accessible, reliable consumer-focused heath care options for our patients,” said Mark Adams, MD, Chief Medical Officer, CHI Franciscan Health. “Expanding Virtual Urgent Care to our Harrison and Highline service areas helps us ensure that all our patients are free to decide how, when and where they access their medical care.”

There are numerous appreciation days celebrated in this country--
Veterans Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day just to name a few. But in a society that reveres the fat cats of the world, it is unusual to appreciate the day to day worker who puts in eight or more hours to contribute their share to serve humanity. Just think of the hours that line workers put in after a storm, those who are on rescue crews in mountain areas, or those who police the highways especially during busy holiday time. It takes many people to keep our society running smoothly. It isn’t often that we stop and thank those who serve us in so many ways.

Just the other night a storm hit the northwest. While I was safe and warm in my bed there were many workers mopping up after downed trees and telephone poles. Many remember the times when areas of West Seattle were out of power. During one particularly long power outage I had even emptied my freezer and brought the contents over to my neighbor whose power was fortunately not affected by the outage.

So much is taken for granted until suddenly our modern way of life is disrupted.

The state Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) has launched a formal investigation into Sensible Spending on Schools (SSOS) for illegally operating a campaign. Last fall, SSOS launched a campaign to defeat Highline’s capital improvement bond on the November ballot, but never filed financial records with the state, as required by law.

SSOS is accused of “failing to register and report as a political action committee in its efforts to oppose a Highline School District bond measure,” according to Philip Stutzman, PDC Director of Compliance.

State law requires individuals and groups that engage in political campaign activities to report revenue and expenditures as public records, so voters know who is backing or opposing measures and candidates.

“SSOS is hiding information from voters and violating the principle of free and fair elections,” said Lois Schipper, President of Highline Citizens for Schools. “It is time for SSOS to come out of the shadows and let voters know who they are and what they stand for.”

As your elected school board, we are concerned about the recent repetition of
misinformation and misstatements of fact regarding school district budgeting and operations. We want to give you the facts on two frequently repeated, but inaccurate statements.

Superintendent’s salary.” The school board’s most important job is to hire an excellent superintendent, and we take this responsibility very seriously. In 2012, the school board launched a national search for a new superintendent and selected Susan Enfield as the best person to lead our schools. We chose a leader who is highly respected in her field and recognized as an outstanding education leader on regional, statewide, and national levels. We made the right choice for Highline, and we remain as supportive of Dr. Enfield today as when we hired
her.