February 2015

By Tim Clifford

Two armed robberies in two days on Delridge stairs
Two armed robbery incidents were reported on the same stairwell located between S.W. Holden St. and Delridge WY S.W. within two days of each other. Both incidents involved teenage girls being accosted by suspects with handguns.

The first incident occurred at 7:10 a.m. on Jan. 29 while a middle school aged girl was walking to school. As the victim approached the first landing of the stairs a black male came towards her with the gun pointed and demanded she give him everything. After going through her backpack the suspect began pulling up the young girl’s shirt and searching through her bra, pulling out her pockets, and demanding she give him her cell phone. After being informed that the victim’s parents hadn’t given her a phone the suspect told the victim to leave.

Police were contacted by a school security officer roughly three hours later.

by Pat Cashman

Valentine’s Day is named for a man: Saint Valentine. That was his name. Valentine. When he was a kid, he got beat up a lot.

He wasn’t Saint Valentine at first, of course. He would have gotten beaten up even more often if he were. No, the “Saint” part always comes later---and unfortunately long after the canonized one is dead and gone.
Although I know a guy whose first name IS actually Saint. His parents obviously had high hopes for him. He grew up with three siblings: Angel, Pious and Spotless.

Years later, Saint’s parents must have had a change a mind when a fifth child came along: Beelzebub. He turned out to be the nicest kid in the family, so you never know.
But what a great first name Saint is! It sure would look good on a job resume.
INTERVIEWER: “So it says here that you’re a saint?”
SAINT: “Yea, I am. But that doesn’t exactly pay the bills.“
INTERVIEWER: “Well, we’ve got an opening in our sales department. You interested?”
SAINT: “I’ll give it a try---just don’t expect miracles.”
INTERVIEWER: “Hmm. Some saint.”

By Matt Wendland

Fight escalates into shooting at Westfield’s Southcenter Mall
According to the Tukwila Police Department, four were taken into custody and a handgun found after reports of someone being shot at Westfield’s Southcenter Mall in Tukwila. The incident took place at about 5:00 p.m. on Monday, January 26th, after a fight escalated into a shooting near the north entrance of the busy shopping center. Two officers from the police department were already at the mall and arrived on the scene within one minute of initial calls. Additional officers arrived within three minutes. Four male youths were detained and a handgun, that
was believed to have been used in the shooting, was found in the parking lot. Emergency responders treated one of the four youths for a minor wound in his hand believed to have been caused by the single shot fired in the fight. All four youths were later released from custody after questioning. Police have yet to release a description of the shooter. No bystanders were harmed in the shooting.

Neighbor calls police after fireworks and gunfire with each Seahawks touchdown

By Tim Clifford

On Feb.2 the King County Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against Darcy Smith, a 41-year-old teacher at McMicken Heights Elementary School, with three counts of Rape of a Child in the Third Degree.
Smith is accused of having a sexual relationship with a former student for years while he lived in her house. The victim was 14-years-old when the relationship began.
The victim, now 19, came forward to detectives in the King County Sheriff’s Office on May 2, 2014. Officers informed the school district of their investigation in August at which point Smith was placed on paid administrative leave. She will stay on paid leave until the case is resolved.
In the charging documents the victim is referred to by the initials “B.S.” with a birthdate of Sept.20, 1994.

By Tim Clifford

Before the Super Bowl on Feb.1 at 8 a.m. the King County Sheriff’s Office received notice of an accusation of domestic violence against one of their deputies. The accused deputy is identified only as being 34-years-old and
having been with the department for 9 years.

King County Sheriff’s Office deputies along with detectives from the Major Crimes Unit assessed the case and found probable cause to arrest the deputy.
Little information has been released as to the exact nature of the incident but what is known is that the deputy committed the crime against his girlfriend at their residence in Issaquah. She is also an employee with the Sheriff’s office.

The accused deputy was booked into the King County Jail on investigation of felony harassment. Bail was set at $50K and the he has been placed on administrative leave. The deputy managed to post bond and was released later that night.

Today, National Signing Day, Kennedy Catholic High School honored 9 seniors for signing with colleges and universities to play soccer, football, baseball and to
swim next year. They include:

Marco Calderon – Baseball: Western Nevada College
Sebastian Ferraro--Football: either Montana Tech or Whitworth
Dartanian Henry--Football: Scottsdale College
Manase Kamoto--Football: Scottsdale College
Jr. Ngauamo--Football: Scottsdale College
Ryan Schaefer—Soccer: University of Denver
Tommy Thach--Swimming: Texas Christian University
Jacob Thurber—Baseball: Washington State University
Mary Witkowski – Soccer—University of the Pacific

[Issaquah, WA] Spring is just around the corner…and so is tax season. As you get ready to prepare your tax return, here’s a tip to help you smooth the process, get the materials you need, and avoid that last-minute scramble to meet the April 15 filing deadline.

Budget cuts for the IRS mean there will be fewer tax forms—and no instruction books—available in public libraries. All 48 King County Library System (KCLS) libraries will have limited quantities of the three most commonly used IRS Tax return forms:
• Form 1040
• Form 1040A
• Form 1040 EZ

All forms and instructions are available online from the IRS website. Free online filing forms and instructions are also available online at IRS FreeFile.
If you’re in the library, you can print forms yourself—up to 72 pages per week—from a public computer, or ask staff for assistance. The instruction books are too large to print at the library, so your best option is to find the instructions online, or request the instruction book directly from the IRS through their toll-free number 1.800.829.3676, or online www.irs.gov/orderforms.
Whichever approach you choose, take care of it early, and avoid the crunch.

Ms. Michelle Beattie has been named Head Coach—Girls’ Soccer at Kennedy Catholic High School. Coach Beattie began her career playing soccer at age 5 and competed for Emerald City FC, Bishop Blanchet High School and Central Washington University. While a collegiate student-athlete at Central Washington she was named captain, garnered All-Conference (GNAC) honors, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and Health.

Following graduation, Michelle pursued her love of coaching soccer at Emerald City FC, Seattle United, Eckstein Middle School, Roosevelt High School, Ballard High School, Bellevue College, and Peter Fewing Soccer Camps. In June of 2012, Michelle earned a Master’s of Education in Intercollegiate Athletic Leadership from the University of Washington. Throughout her graduate program she interned at Seattle University as a Student-Athlete Academic Advisor and earned a position as the Director of Operations for the Seattle University Men’s Soccer team, which she held for two years before leaving to follow her other passion of teaching.

Michelle is a Health and Fitness teacher at Kennedy Catholic.

The results from the boys's Metro wrestling competition are in. The following boys will be representing Sealth at Sub-Regionals to be held at Chief Sealth International High School on 2/14/15

• Darron Camacho placed first
• Antonio Childs placed third
• Frank Brown placed fourth
• Ryan Davis and Herberto De Luna both placed seventh in their weight class

Gonzalo Guzman, Anthony Mallard and Tommy Bui are alternates.

18 teams will be at Sealth to compete for the opportunity to go to state.

Sealth Parking lot will be closed off and filled with food trucks including Extreme Thai.

by Paul Moseley

Accolades for the the West Seattle girls basketball team continue this week as both its Head Coach and Center take top honors in voting among league coaches.

Coach Sonya Elliott was named the 2015 Coach of the Year for the Metro League. This is Elliott’s second coach of the year award in three years. Now in her fifth year coaching the Wildcats, Elliott has progressed the team from a 3-15 record her first year to a 17-2 record this season. The West Seattle girls went undefeated in the Metro this year, ending the season a perfect 14-0. Going into the State Tournament, West Seattle is ranked 2nd in the State by MaxPreps and 3rd by the AP.