April 2015

The West Seattle Hi-Yu Spring Tea and Silent Auction will be held on Sunday, May 31st from 2-4:30pm at the Hall at Fauntleroy.

Enjoy great tea, company and delicious food provided by caterers and businesses in our community as well as a fun silent auction to help raise funds for our scholarship program and building the float that represents West Seattle in parades throughout the Puget Sound.

This year we will also be crowning the new West Seattle Hi-Yu Senior Court Queen.

Tickets are $25 a person or bring your friends and fill a table of 10 for $250.

For reservations call 206 935-6517 or email info@westseattlehiyu.com.

Radio station STAR 101.5 surprised West Seattle Elementary School teacher, Ms. Taylor Schneider on Thursday, April 23 presenting her with the STAR 101.5 Elementary Teacher of the Week award.

In a local contest conducted by the station, Ms. Schneider, a 2nd grade teacher, was nominated by her student, Laela Johnson. STAR 101.5’s Afternoon Show Host, Curt Kruse, made a surprise visit to Ms. Schneider’s West Seattle Elementary classroom.

Each student got a goody bag full of prizes from McDonald’s, Dairy Farmers of Washington, KOMO 4, and STAR 101.5! Ms. Taylor Schneider received a personalized plaque from Trophies2Go and a $100 check. Plus, a makeover courtesy of Blanc N’ Schwartz Salon in Kent.

http://spdblotter.seattle.gov/2015/04/23/police-searching-for-suspect-a…

by Detective Drew Fowler

Police are searching West Seattle for a man who groped a middle school student Thursday as she was on her way to school.

School officials called police around 11 AM after a student reported that a man had followed her off a bus near California Avenue and SW Stevens Street and grabbed her from behind.

The suspect is described as a black male, in his mid 20’s, with short dreadlocks, wearing a black sweatshirt and black jeans. He reportedly boarded a bus in the West Seattle Junction neighborhood after the incident. Seattle Police are working with King County Metro Police and school officials to identify the man and ensure the safety of students.

If you witnessed this incident or have any information about the suspect, please call 911.

By Amanda Knox

Tonight at 7:30pm ArtsWest Theatre will open its production of Angry Housewives. Written and originally produced by Seattleites A.M. Collins (book) and Chad Henry (music and lyrics) in 1983, the punk-rock musical was a cult phenomenon that ran over six years at the Pioneer Square Theatre until the theatre’s closure in 1989. While Angry Housewives has since been produced elsewhere, ArtsWest will be the first to revive the show in its original Seattle setting.

This will also be ArtsWest’s final show in its 2014-2015 season, so the desire to send out the season with a bang, coupled with the pressure to live up to the show’s legacy, means that the Angry Housewives production team is feeling the heat from multiple directions.

Yesterday, after the audience rollicked into the night after a pre-show fueled by $1 beers courtesy of Elliott Bay Brewery, director Shawn Belyea stayed late into the evening with his team giving copious notes. Artistic director Mathew Wright let me in the back for a privileged glance of Belyea’s team hard at work.

On April 17 the King County Prosecutor’s Office filed charges of theft, domestic violence, and forgery against Michael John Rule and Andrew Stack Rule, the two sons of famed writer Ann Rule. Much like something out of one of the world renowned author’s own stories, the two sons are accused of abusing and stealing from their wealthy mother for years.
According to the charging documents the allegations were brought forward by Ann Rule’s son-in-law, Glenn Scott, on March 2 through an email to the Prosecutor’s office. These suspicions were then handled in a joint investigation by the Inspector General’s office, the King County Sheriff’s Office and Normandy Park PD. After interviewing Rule, her family, caretakers, friends, and combing through financial documents ample evidence was found against the two sons.

The trouble with Andrew

For years Ann Rule, now 83, has paid a combined monthly salary to her four children of $25K through her company Rule Enterprises, LLC. Michael was often paid the highest portion between the four since he acted as a daily caregiver to Rule while living next door to her.

When Westside School chose to move to their newest location, the former Hillcrest Church in Arbor Heights, it meant one thing. How to repurpose an existing structure and aim it at the future for children for decades to come?

The school, founded in 1981, has been in several places in the community, sharing space with Explorer West for a few years, before moving to E.C. Hughes for the last five years. Now after 13 and a half months of construction and many months in planning before that, and $15.5 million, it's getting ready for next fall when some 350 students will arrive. The administrators expect this to be Westside School's permanent home. They get their certificate of occupancy on June 12. The new school is located 10004 34th Ave. SW.

A selection of rental housing properties will receive safety inspections starting this month. These inspections are taking place under the Rental Registration and Inspection Ordinance (RRIO), which was established by the Seattle City Council to help ensure that rental housing properties in Seattle are safe and meet basic housing requirements and safety standards.

“Over half of Seattle’s population lives in rental housing, yet an estimated 10 percent of rental homes have moderate to severe problems,” said Mayor Ed Murray. “No one in Seattle should be forced to live with a roof that leaks, a toilet that doesn’t flush, or an unreliable heating system. By registering rental properties and conducting random inspections, we can help ensure that these properties meet the basic standards that any of us would expect.”

Historically, Seattle relied on renters calling the City about rental problems when they were not fixed by the property owner. But not all renters knew they could call, or felt comfortable complaining about issues with their landlord.

by Georgie Bright Kunkel

If you lived in a little village in the last century you would associate with a few people living close by and news would travel by word of mouth from village to village.
The rich landowners and the peasants made up the population. There was no middle class as we know it today. Only those who were born into means lived in great houses. The lower classes lived in hovels that we would not regard as houses today. Workers had no laws to protect them from virtual slavery just to survive. It wasn’t until late in the 20th century that labor laws began to protect workers and then it was a nine hour day or even a longer work day.

Christianity brought to the western world a Sabbath which saved the workers from continually working without respite. Everyone worked, even young children. Granted, children need to learn to work as they grow up but when they slaved away alongside their parents for many, many hours each day it was not learning but drudgery.

Early this afternoon Jeanette Burrage, the former King County Superior Court judge and Des Moines City Councilmember accused of slapping an autistic 6-year-old, resigned from the city council.
Her resignation came in the form of a letter addressed to the city council and the public. It reads:

Dear Mayor, City Councilmembers, and People of Des Moines,
It is with a heavy heart that I resign my position as a Des Moines City Councilmember. The City Council has important work to do and I anticipate the only way I can minimize the distraction to the City Council, caused by the recent school bus incident, is to resign effective immediately.
Sincerely,
Jeanette Burrage

“I appreciate the fact that councilmember Burrage took into consideration the impact her situation would have on the council being able to conduct the business it needs to do and took the steps necessary that would be able to do it,” said Mayor Dave Kaplan of the announcement.

62-year-old Burrage was not only a councilmember but was also driving a school bus for the Highline School District.