January 2015

By Cooper Inveen

OLYMPIA--Two years after Washington voters ended pot prohibition lawmakers are wading through a thicket of proposed reforms that aim to stabilize an industry struggling to get off the ground.

“Right now I call it the wild, wild west,” Senate Democratic Leader Sharon Nelson, D-Maury Island, said during Thursday’s annual Associated Press Legislative Preview. “We’ve got incongruities in this law that we need to solve.”

With seven new cannabis-related bills pre-filed so far come seven new opportunities to shape Washington’s unprecedented cannabis experiment. From a complete overhaul of medical marijuana to giving those charged with misdemeanor pot crimes a chance at a clean slate, little related to the marijuana issue seems to be off the table.

The possible impacts range from subtle to sweeping.

Yusuf Ali-Halane has earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the Highest Award a boy can earn in Boy Scouts. He is the son of Anab Abdullahi and has two brothers who are also in Boy Scouts. He is a member of Troop 352, sponsored by Highline United Methodist Church in Burien. Yusuf earned the rank of Eagle Scout on
October 17, 2014.

There are many requirements to earning Eagle which includes earning at least 21 merit badges, including 11 required merit badges. Yusuf earned a total of 36 badges on his way to Eagle.

Yusuf started his scouting career as a Tiger Cub in Pack 240 at St. Bernadette’s. The highest award you can earn as a cub scout is the Arrow of Light. Yusuf achieved this as a cub scout.

Yusuf’s Eagle project was to repair a trail at the Kubota Garden for the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department and he is a brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow.

Yusuf will be honored on January 10, 2015 at 2 pm at Highline United Methodist Church in Burien.

Emotion is a strange monster. We villainize rage as a bad temper, typecast bouts of extreme sadness as depression, and label boredom as an attention deficit. Yet we also revere heroic vengeance, dramatize traumatic grief and exemplify the arrogance and impatience of genius. I'm not speaking medically, I'm talking about our attitudes as layman, civilians, non-medical personnel and, particularly, the producers and consumers of media. All of this sends a very mixed message.

We're taught, especially in the Northwest, that emotions are to be contained. We are allowed to feel happy, inspired, interested and even a little upset, but negative emotions are not socially acceptable. True anger, jealousy, anxiety, regret, despondency – you get the idea – are viewed more as indulgences with social consequences. Or to be more precise, the expression of such 'negative' emotions is ill-desired by our social standards. That's one of the reasons violent and melodramatic books, TV shows, movies and games are so popular. They are cathartic, vicarious experiences for us civilized folk.

By Tim Clifford

The list of charges that one Burien criminal may soon face seems unfathomable given that they all spring from one simple traffic stop.

On Jan.5 at around 8 p.m. a deputy with the King County Sheriff’s Department noticed a vehicle being driven erratically and began following it in order to make a traffic stop. The driver, a 29-year-old man, finally decided to stop the car in the driveway of his home on the 12000 block of 1 Ave. S. The suspect was promptly arrested after the deputy ran his back license plate through the system and discovered it was stolen.

After running a check of the suspect’s name a warrant for arrest also came up due to a driving offense.

While investigating inside the car the deputy discovered that the vehicle itself had been reported as stolen out of Tukwila. During a quick sweep through the car a handgun was recovered which had been reported as having been stolen in a burglary earlier that day at a residence in Auburn.

Next, while inspecting the front of the vehicle the deputy discovered another different license plate which also had been reported as stolen.

The Highline Historical Society is hosting a “Now and Then” presentation by popular documentary photographers/historians/authors Paul Dorpat and Jean Sherrard on Saturday, January 24, 2 PM at SeaTac City Hall.

Dorpat has written his popular column for The Seattle Times’ Sunday magazine since 1982, and has published a dozen books, including three volumes of regional now-and-then photographic comparisons drawn from his column, and “Building Washington,” an illustrated encyclopedic study of the state's historical development that he co-authored with Genevieve McCoy. Dorpat's collaboration with Jean Sherrard began in 1999 with the production of bumberchronicles, a video history of Bumbershoot, for KCTS-9. In 2004, Sherrard began helping with the “now” photographs for Dorpat’s column.

This program is free to Highline Historical Society members who can show their current membership card. An $8 donation is requested of all others. SeaTac City Hall is located at 4800 S 188th Street in SeaTac. Parking is free. For more information, visit www.highlinehistory.org

County crews were at work last week clearing brush on a six-acre site the County owns in an effort to reduce illegal drug and alcohol use. Last year the Sheriff’s Department responded to 913 complaints related to the site, and county crews and volunteers removed 8 tons of debris related to illegal camping on the site.

The County is also building a patrol road into the site for use by the Sheriff’s Department in addition to removing brush to increase visibility into the site for the deputies.

The site is located in White Center below what once was the White Center Heights housing project. The project was first built during World War II to house defense workers. It is now in its third revision. It is situated between Roxbury streets, the White Center Business district up to 15th Ave. S.W. and 100th Street.

The Firefly Cafe and Creperie at 4160 California Ave. SW is closing, effective Jan. 11. The cafe has been open over two years.

Owner Charell Estby shared the news via Facebook and offered an explanation and her gratitude to employees and the community.

Friends of Firefly:

It is with a very heavy heart that I make this announcement to friends and family...

As some of you may know, Firefly has been for sale since late July. I had come to the conclusion that while I've built a great foundation, experience and expertise beyond me is needed to keep my sweet little shop going and taken to the next level. I know my limits.

Having said that, we’ve had several potential sales fall through. I had to make a heart wrenching decision last Tuesday night (after hearing the most recent potential sale is not happening) to close my shop. Sadly, our last day will be Sunday, January 11th.

I have given my heart and soul to this precious babe of mine, but it takes more than that to keep a restaurant business going (any restaurant owner will get this!). Like I said, I know my limits.

information from King County

King County contractors plan to continue pouring the bottom of the underground storage tank on Monday, January 12. Work hours will be 7 a.m. - 6 p.m. Activities at the site will continue past 6 p.m. if necessary to complete work.

On pour days, up to 10 trucks an hour will deliver concrete to the site between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Activities at the site may continue after 6 p.m. if necessary to complete the work.
Two concrete pump trucks on the east side of the 7000 block of Beach Dr. S.W. will pump concrete
into the hole. Crews may continue working in the tank area after 6 p.m. if necessary. Local and
emergency access to Beach Drive S.W. and Lincoln Park Way S.W. will be maintained at all times.

Expect traffic delays and congestion on pour days.

Concrete pours for the underground tank are weather dependent. King County will provide notification via
email in advance of upcoming pours. If you would like to join the email list for the project, please email Doug
Marsano at doug.marsano@kingcounty.gov or call the project hotline at 206-205-9186.

Pour day details:

by Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

The Evergreen/ Tyee combined wrestling team received some good wrestles from its wrestlers, with the Wolverines girls, in particular, going about it with the most style, getting a first, a second, and, two third places, at the Highline Wrestling Invitational at Mount Rainier High School Saturday.

"Between the three girls I mentioned, they never have missed a practice, every tournament they're there to do anything I ask, they are pretty awesome, I couldn't ask for more," said Evergren/Tyee coach, Hip Nguyen.
Luana Tupa, a junior, took first place, and, Cecilia, Wu, a senior, took second, and, Lisa Nguyen, another senior, took third, these are the three girls that Coach Nguyen highlighted from his team.

"I could have, two, three, even, four go to state," said Coach Nguyen. And, the fourth wrestler, not yet mentioned, would be Diana Nguyen, who took third place, which is not bad at all for her being a first-year wrestler.

"All my girls are awesome, they are mentally set," said Coach Nguyen, also mentioning, the Tyee girl wrestler on the team of mostly Evergreen girl wrestlers, with that one, Reyna Zaldana-Paiz.

by Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

What Kennedy Catholic's got the Evergreen basketball team needs to find, get, have happen, on its team, said leading scorer, Joseph Thach, a senior, who led his team with 15 points and five assists, but, it wasn't nearly enough, as, the Lancers wrote this game's ending early, grabbing a 27-7 lead after just the first-quarter, en route to a 73-40 Seamount League win over the host, Wolverines, Friday.

And, what do the Lancers have that Thach's team needs to find?

"Teamwork, playing within a system," said Thach. "And, we are not going to just play as a team, we are going to play physical, bump the screen. I felt like that was the difference-maker. They played hard 'D' and switched off the screens. We have got to do that, too, get low, put a hand in their face, contest every shot"