March 2015

by Pat Cashman

The ”Year of the Goat” began on the Chinese calendar a few weeks ago. Yet, I still habitually find myself writing ‘Year of the Horse’ on my checks.
Back during the Year of the Rat, The Wall Street Journal---a newspaper that costs substantially more than this one---ran a story on how rats are becoming a popular food item. Maybe not in West Seattle so far, but vermin is good eats in places like Vietnam and Thailand right now. In fact, rat recipes go back 150 years in Vietnam’s farm country, and have been passed down for generations. In this country, it would be harder to imagine:

Mom: “Maggie, I want to give you this recipe for Rat Pot Pie.”
Maggie: “Gee, Mom, you shouldn’t have.”
Mom: “My aunt gave it to me, so now I pass it on to you.”
Maggie: “Isn’t that the aunt that died of food poisoning?”
Mom: “Bad fish, bad rat. It could have been anything.”
While rat used to be mostly eaten in rural Vietnam, it’s now starting to catch on in the big cities too. However, bear in mind that Vietnam’s big city restaurants also specialize in serving snake.
Diner: “What is your catch of the day?”

Seattle police have more details in the “puppy cam” burglary case that occurred in Ballard last week.

According to the Seattle Police, on Feb. 25 a Ballard woman’s pet monitoring camera system recorded the thief as he kicked in her door, walked past her two small dogs and took a vintage jewelry box.

The resident watched the burglar via live feed through her pet camera system. When the suspect was inside the residence, the home alarm system was tripped, and the thief quickly fled.

The resident went home and called police. She was able to promptly provide the video footage to officers.

So far, the burglar has not been identified, but Officer Dane Jones, the officer at the scene, has a hunch for who the suspect is.

A neighbor of the victim told police that he saw the suspect and that he looked like a man that has “checked in” on an RV parked in the neighborhood. Officers ran the license plate of the RV and found a potential name. They crosschecked the name with the SPD crime database looking for a white male of medium build in his later 20s.

After security footage caught a violent burglary at a Ballard convenient store on the morning of March 1, the police report has been released and it reveals details that are similar to at least four grab-and-dash burglaries at convenient stores in Ballard that have happened in the last six months. The running nerve in all the incidents has been the theft of cigarettes---lots of them.

The most recent burglary occurred around 2:15 a.m. at a convenient store located on the 8000 NW 85 St. The security footage and police report revealed a suspect used a pry bar to open the front doors of the store. Once opened, the suspect made a b-line to the cigarette counter and pulled a large garbage bin behind him. The suspect grabbed rows of cigarettes down from above the counter, amassing cartons in his bin. Then like a raging bull the suspect ripped the till away from the counter, and dragged most of the counter contents onto the floor. Then the man gimped out of site with the smokes.

Seattle Police have arrested a 19-year-old man in Crown Hill for assaulting a 41-year-old woman on Aurora Avenue.

On March 8, an officer saw a woman not wearing jacket walking on Aurora Avenue late in the evening. The officer had talked with the woman earlier that day and at that time she was wearing a jacket. The night was cold, and she was only wearing tights and a sleeveless t-shirt. The officer was concerned and stopped to talk with the woman. She immediately told him she had been robbed and assaulted.

She said a man had picked her up and drove behind an Aurora business. He assaulted her and then pushed her out of the car. He drove away with her belongings inside the vehicle.

The victim was able to describe the suspect’s car. Police found the vehicle at a home located near Northwest 85th Street and 17th Avenue Northwest.

Officers made contact with the 19-year-old man in the home, and they confirmed he was the attacker.

The suspect was booked in King County Jail for investigation of rape, robbery, assault and a $50,000 felony warrant. Police are working with prosecutors to bring charges against the man.

information from Futurewise

Futurewise announced State Representative Joe Fitzgibbon as its 2015 Community Champion, honoring his advocacy and environmental leadership in Olympia. His efforts to clean up Puget Sound, expand transit, make walking and biking safer, conserve our agricultural and forest lands, and protect and improve our land use laws is commendable. Join Futurewise on March 17th at The Westin Hotel at Noon for the Annual Spring Awards Luncheon where Rep. Fitzgibbon will receive his award. The Community Champion award recognizes an individual who demonstrates an inspiring commitment to protecting our environment and building communities for which we can all be proud.

By Bob Sims

Kennedy grad Alli Madison, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, scored eight points in the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves' 71-58 win over Western Washington in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title game on Saturday in Billings, Mont.

Western sophomore guard Kiana Gandy, a Mount Rainier graduate, had two points and two rebounds in the Vikings' loss. Western finished its season at 21-9.
Alaska-Anchorage (29-1) are winners of 17 consecutive games and has been voted the nation's top-ranked Division II team in the latest USA Today Sports/NCAA II Top-25 Poll.

The Seawolves will host an eight-team NCAA Dvision II regional for the first time in its existence this week.

Alaska-Anchorage faces Point Loma, Calif. (19-11) on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in its tourney opener.

Seattle-Pacific (21-6) will square off against Humboldt State (23-5) at 1 p.m. Freshman Jordan McPhee, a reserve 5-foot-10 guard who is a Mount Rainier graduate, plays for the Falcons.

By Bob Sims

Mitch Penner, a Kennedy Catholic graduate, hauled in a game-high 11 rebounds and scored 12 points to help propel Seattle Pacific University to an 81-68 win over perennially tough Western Washington (20-12) in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship game on Saturday night in Billings, Mont.

With the win, the Falcons (24-7) clinched an automatic berth in the NCAA Division II national tournament next week. It marked the 11th consecutive year SPU has qualified for the national tournament, the longest streak in the country.

Penner, a 6-foot-5 junior power forward, is strong, quick and athletic. He is scoring 13.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and two assists a game.

He is one of Kennedy's all-time greats, averaging 19.2 points and 8.1 rebounds during his prep career. As a junior, he averaged 22.8 points and 10.6 rebounds a game for the Lancers. He was one of the top 25 state recruits being pursued when he was a senior.

By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

TACOMA - Two teams with decidedly different callings and publicity clashed in the WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington/Les Schwab Tires 2015 high school 3A boys state tournament Hardwood Classic on the quarterfinal round held at the Tacoma Dome on Thurs., March 5.

In one corner were the No. 3 state poll standing Garfield Bulldogs, who were part of the much heralded and well-represented Metro League. Their opponents were the Seamount League Kennedy Catholic Lancers, who were never in the regular season top 10 of polling.

Kennedy stayed well under the radar most of the way as it worked its efforts toward the Elite Eight of the state quarterfinals.

At the West Central/Southwest Washington bi-district tournament, Kennedy Catholic was on the verge of elimination several times, beginning with an opening round comeback 46-45 win against Prairie (Vancouver). In this game, The Lancers' only lead was at the very end.

By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

TACOMA - Frigid shooting and missing energy cost Kennedy Catholic dearly in a season-ending 67-48 boys basketball loss to Lakeside (Seattle) on Fri., March 6, at the 2015 WIAA Dairy Farmers of Washington/Les Schwab Tires state Hardwood Classic held on the court of the Tacoma Dome.

"We didn't come with energy," said Lancer head coach Don Hoffman. "In the first and fourth quarters, we didn't execute well. We played well in the second and third quarters, but a game is four quarters."

In almost an antithesis of the previous game, the Lancers were ice cold from the field from the outset with their shooting percentages and never truly got a strong flow of strength.

With quick, snappy team passing and leadership from Isiah Brown on both ends of the court, the Lions sped to an 18-10 lead after one quarter.