June 2015

Courtesy article by Gerardo Bolong

RICHLAND - On the morning of Sat., May 30, District IV Southwest Washington No. 2 Montesano struck early and stifled West Central District III champion Seattle Christian bats for a 10-1 WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington/Les Schwab Tires 1A state softball semifinal victory against Seattle Christian on Sat. morning, May 30, to stop the Warrior bid for the 2015 championship. Montesano's Bulldogs moved on to defeat Evergreen Conference rival and District IV title holder Hoquiam 7-1 in the title matchup while Seattle Christian faced Connell later in the day for a chance to qualify to the third/fourth place game and state hardware opportunity.

"We could never get anything going offensively," Seattle Christian head coach Rick Ronish said. "It was a good pitching performance from Montesano. They put the pressure on us defensively from the very first hitter. They proved to us why they were the best team in the state."

Montesano arose and shined quickly in the 9 a.m. confrontation with a two-run first inning salvo.

Courtesy article by Gerardo Bolong

RICHLAND - The chronicles of the 2015 Seattle Christian softball team came to an end in the last battle on the afternoon of May 30 at the Columbia Playfields in Richland.

District VI SCAC champion Connell outlasted District III champion Seattle Christian 13-11 to leave the Warriors as a top six 1A state participant out of 16 entries -- one win away from playing for third place/fourth place hardware -- with a final record of 18-6 following a 2-2 performance against the best in the state.

"We started slowly," said Seattle Christian head coach Rick Ronish. "It was a little bit of a left over from the semifinal loss."

Connell's Eagles fired off 13 runs against the Warrior's one entering the bottom of the second inning.
Systematically working its way back into contention, Seattle Christian nibbled away at Connell for single runs in each of innings two through four to trail only 10-4.

Continuing the road back, the Warriors touched the Eagles for a pair of fifth inning runs to draw within 10-6.

Courtesy article by Gerardo Bolong

Pitching dominated in a Seattle Christian 4-2 state 1A softball victory against Southwest Washington state title contender La Center in Fri., May 29, afternoon action at he Columbia Playfields in Richland.

With the win, the persistent Warriors qualified for a Saturday morning, May 30, winners bracket semifinal against Southwest Washington No. 2 Montesano.

Seattle Christian grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning and never trailed, although the Wildcats kept it close through the duration.

La Center fired back with a single run in the bottom of the second inning to notch the exciting encounter at 1-1.

As the tenseness tightened up, so did the field action.

The Warriors earned a 2-1 edge on a third inning tally only to have the Wildcats work their way back into a 2-2 deadlock that held through four complete innings.

Senior Alyssa Baucom gave Seattle Christian the lead for good by blasting a towering solo home run over the left field fence for a 3-2 Warrior lead that was enhanced by a seventh inning SC run.

Save the date, June 20-21 marks a sacred annual tradition in Burien, The Wild Strawberry Festival! Downtown Burien will once again be transformed as we gather to celebrate together as a community. The festival will include a stage with live music and dancing, wandering street performers, arts and crafts, and of course great vendors and spectacular food.

New this year is the addition of the Touch a Truck event on Saturday. Kids of all ages will have the opportunity to explore, and learn about a variety of trucks. For more information on all the activities and events at the Wild Strawberry Festival please visit www.burienstrawberryfestival.org.

Across the River Arts in partnership with the Fremont Abbey Arts Center and Seattle Art Museum presents emerging teen artists exploring the theme of Breaking Free. This one night showcase is curated by members of the Expressive Arts Class at the University District Youth Center, an Interagency School. Breaking Free features a wide variety of original works by nine innovative local teen performance groups ready to extend their reach. Spoken word artists, musicians, dance choreographers, and every style in between will make up this special show giving the community an opportunity to meet these talented individuals and experience their captivating work.

Date: July 9, 2015
Time: 7:30-9:30 pm

Location: Fremont Abbey Arts Center, 4272 Fremont Ave N, Seattle

Event information:

Main website info: http://www.acrosstheriverarts.org/current-shows/
Tickets: http://july9.bpt.me/
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/376094982586441/

Public transportation in our region is preparing for the future. King County Metro Transit is looking ahead to make sure it can provide the right mix of services and connections to get people where they need to go as our communities grow. At the same time, Sound Transit will be engaging with residents as it develops a system plan for a proposed ballot measure.

That’s why the two agencies are teaming up for a series of joint open houses beginning June 16 to give King County residents a convenient one-stop opportunity to help shape both of these important long-range plans.

“Our ongoing integration of planning and operations at Metro and Sound Transit creates opportunities like this, to share public meetings and make it easier for people to help steer our shared transit future,” said King County Executive and Sound Transit Board Chair Dow Constantine. “It’s a pivotal time for both agencies, and we invite our riders to be a part of it.”

Meetings will be held:

Tuesday, June 16
5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Union Station
401 S Jackson St., Seattle

Tuesday, June 23
5:30 p.m. -7:30 p.m. Redmond Marriot
7401 164th Ave. NE., Redmond

Thursday, June 25

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) 2015 Field Day 
event is scheduled for the weekend of June 27-28. This is an 
annual, nationwide event during which amateur radio operators 
simulate operating their radio equipment under emergency 
conditions. Often times following disasters such as hurricanes, 
tornadoes, earthquakes and floods, the only communications in 
or out of the affected area is by amateur radio, and they are able 
to provide essential communications for their local police and 
fire departments.

The Highline Amateur Radio Club (HARC) will participate 
in this event, setting up radio towers and antennas above the 
lawns of Normandy Park’s Marvista Park, and operating their 
radios from inside the Park’s gazebo. Some of HARC’s radio
operators are also members of Normandy Park’s Emergency 
Operations Center, which is located within the City Hall.

By Tim Robinson 
 
          In the 1950-60's, along Ambaum Boulevard near W 118th St., for many years, stood a sign; “Fill Dirt Wanted”. The sign was posted by Clarence Gresset, long time resident and local historian who owned the property. The sign emphasized "clean-fill" so contributors would not discard their yards scraps. 
 
 We don't know if anyone actually ever dumped a load of good dirt for Clarence. It seemed an unlikely request that anyone would take the time to rid themselves of perfectly good dirt. What the sign did say was that Clarence Gresset was a man of opportunity and dreams of building a better community. 
 
         The  big sign was between White Center and the Green Center trailer park just before the Salmon Creek curve. Gresset was closer to Green Center but wrote about the history of White Center for good reason. Not much was happening in that old trailer park but White Center was a hub of activity sitting just across the Seattle city limit at SW Roxbury street.
 

For nearly 30 years the West Seattle Nursery has been the local landmark, go-to resource for plants of all kinds. Situated on the corner of S.W, Brandon Street and California Ave. SW. it's been dealing with limited space for a long time. So, plans were announced last year to remove the house next door where owner Mark C. Smith lived and expand into the space. He had paid it off.

They even offered to give the house away for free, but no one came forward to pay the $90,000 moving cost.

Regardless they moved forward with their plans to build a greenhouse, with other features (even an apartment for Smith) hiring local architect Parie Hines and Ventana Construction to prepare the plans.

Then a bombshell hit.

West Seattle author Conrad Wesselhoeft has just been awarded the 2014 "Reading the West" prize for young-adult fiction for the novel DIRT BIKES, DRONES, AND OTHER WAYS TO FLY. This is presented annually by the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association. (The novel is set in New Mexico.)

Seventeen year-old dirt-bike daredevil Arlo Santiago catches the eye of the U.S. military with his first-place ranking on a video game featuring drone warfare, and must reconcile the work they want him to do with the emotional scars he has suffered following a violent death in his family. ADIOS, NIRVANA author Conrad Wesselhoeft takes readers from the dusty arroyos of New Mexico to the skies over war-torn Pakistan in this young adult novel about daring to live in the wake of unbearable loss.