June 2015

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

West Seattle reigns as the champion among champions after winning the Intermediate title at the District 7 Little League Tournament of Champions.

The Westsiders won the title for the 50-foot pitching mound distance and 70-foot basepaths division sandwiched between the Majors age 11-12 and Juniors age 13-14 divisions by posting a 21-8 victory over South Highline National on Saturday.

The tournament for regular season teams who won their respective charter championships was played at the Steven J. Underwood Memorial Park in Des Moines.

It featured a single elimination format, while the all-star tournaments that begin Friday, June 26 and run through Friday, July 10 are double elimination.

All District 7 baseball all-star action will take place at the PacWest complex located between Burien and SeaTac.

All-Star divisions will be age 9-10, 10-11, 11-12, 13-14 and Intermediate.

West Seattle High School is excited to announce Darnelle Taylor as its new head girls basketball coach.
Taylor currently works for Emerald City Basketball Academy in Seattle.

Taylor played college basketball at Western Washington University from 2000-2002.
Taylor was the assistant girls basketball coach at Liberty High School last season where the team won the District 2A Championship.

Prior to coaching at Liberty, Taylor was the assistant basketball coach at Mercer Island HS from 2007-2012. During that span the team went to state in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

If your neighborhood needs funding to participate in the 31st Annual Night Out on August 4, the Neighborhood Matching Fund may be able to help. However, you’ll need to apply now to its Small Sparks Fund because the deadline is Monday, June 22 at 5:00 p.m.

The Small Sparks Fund provides matching dollars for neighborhood-initiated projects that promote community engagement. Community groups can request up to $1000 to help fund Night Out planning efforts and activities such as outreach efforts, educational fairs, bike parades, and neighborhood cleanups, to name a few. Even though the deadline for applications is June 22, you’ll need to register first in our web-based application system by June 19.

For information on the application process, visit seattle.gov/neighborhoods/nmf/smallsparks.htm or call 206-733-9916. The Small Sparks Fund is open to applications year-round.

Night Out is a national crime prevention event designed to heighten crime prevention awareness, increase neighborhood support in anti-crime efforts, and unite communities. To learn more about Night Out, visit www.seattle.gov/police/Nightout/.

Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency met environmental groups and activists at Fremont Brewery on June 1 to toast changes to the Clean Water Act.

The Obama Administration released the Clean Water Rule last May, and Regional official of the EPA, Dennis McLerran, met with Sara Nelson, co-owner of Fremont Brewery, Larry Phillips, King County Council Chair, and Bruce Speight, an official of WashPIRG, to discussed what the new rule means for businesses like Fremont brewery who rely on clean water.

“The Clean Water Rule restores federal Clean Water Act protections to streams and wetlands that have been vulnerable to development and pollution for nearly 10 years,” said Speight. “It is so important that we do everything we can to make sure we protect those natural resources we have in the Puget Sound area and Washington, but these water ways depend on the streams that feed them and the wetlands that keep them clean. What happens upstream doesn’t stay upstream.”

So what does the new rule mean for Washington?

Team Elsie Piddock took first place in the first ever Race to Alaska last Friday afternoon (June12) and won the $10,000 prize by sweeping the race.

The team, made up of Al Hughes, Graeme Esarey and Matt Steverson, finished the race from Victoria to Ketchikan in five days and 55 minutes. The crew sailed a F-25c Trimaran – a 25-foot multihull sailboat.

The Race to Alaska is a 750-mile motorless boat race from Port Townsend, Wash. to Ketchikan, Alaska. It has very few rules except that racers cannot use an engine. That leaves human powered propulsion systems and wind to get them to Alaska.

One Ballard racers says that although there is a winner to the race, all the racers and the Northwest Maritime Center — producers of the race — came in first.

“The Northwest Maritime Center did a first class job and kept a great perspective on the race and introduced their version of sailboat racing to the world,” said Joe Bersch, co-captain of Team Pure and Wild.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Little League
Tournament of Champions
The District 7 Junior Little League Tournament of Champions is scheduled to take place Saturday at the Des Moines Fieldhouse.

West Seattle opens against Rainier District at 9 a.m. with the winner playing South Highline National at 3 p.m.
PacWest plays Renton at noon and the championship takes place at 6 p.m.

The championship would be pushed to noon Sunday if West Seattle or Rainier Beach are involved since the 6 p.m. Saturday game would be their third game of the day.

The T.O.C. is a single-elimination tournament for regular season in-house league champions.

Semipro
Highline Bears
The Highline Bears will be at home at Steve Cox Memorial Park in White Center playing the Everett Merchants at 7 p.m. Thursday before entertaining the U.S. Military All-Stars at the same time and place Friday.
Highline carried a 4-4 record into a 7 p.m. home game against the Seattle Studs on Tuesday, including an 8-7 victory over the North Thurston Senators on Sunday.

A fire of as yet uncertain origin in the apartments at 4744 41st SW drew a heavy response from Seattle Fire around noon. A ladder truck was deployed and fire fighters said the fire was out quickly. No one was hurt.
The incident commander confirmed that no "hot work" meaning tar on the roof was being done and said investigators were coming to the scene.

Traffic was blocked on 41st SW.

Vacation cut short after burglary

A Ballard couple had to cut their vacation short after a burglar broke into their home on the 8300 block of 29th Avenue NW. On June 1 police arrived on the scene after someone reported a neighbor’s home was burglarized. The complainant told police that she was watching over her neighbor’s home while they were on vacation. She went to water the plants and noticed the back door was standing open and the locks were on the floor. The door had been forced open with a pry bar. There was a towel on the motion light on the porch. Rooms were rummaged through and jewelry boxes were disturbed . Police believe jewelry was taken but there was no way to know for sure because the residents were not there to confirm. The neighbor said that the couple decided to cut their vacation short and were on their way home. The neighbor told officers that the son of the couple was on his way to secure the door. Police found no latent fingerprints.

Homeowner foils burglary

information from Highline Public Schools

Highline children can eat free breakfast, lunch, and snacks during the summer through the federally funded Simplified Summer Food Program (SSFP). The program provides funding for 17 Highline schools to serve children living in South King County in partnership with six community organizations.

Meals will be free to children 18 years old and younger. A child does not need to be a Highline Public Schools student to participate.

Registration is not required. There are no forms to fill out and no names are written down. Food cannot be taken off the premises.

The list of locations where the program will be in operation is at the link above.