November 2015

An emergency preparedness training exercise at Terminal 5 in West Seattle that will include multiple helicopters, involving the Port of Seattle, Seattle Fire, along with King and Snohomish Counties will be staged Monday Nov. 16

The operations conducted at Terminal 5 will give the participants better training for rescue situations such as those that took place after the Oso mudslide in 2014.

The helicopters will be moving heavy loads of equipment and personnel beginning at 11 am, and ending an hour later at noon.

Entering its second winter season, regional non-profit Nordic ski program Entering its second winter season, regional non-profit Nordic ski program Momentum Northwest is breathing new life into the sport’s local community.
Momentum Northwest utilizes a group of experienced volunteer coaches led by program director and head coach Sam Naney to foster ethics of individual accountability, goal-setting and stewardship in young athletes ranging in age from six to 18.

“The beauty of Nordic or cross-country skiing lies in how it challenges us as individuals,” says Naney, a former Dartmouth ski team captain and retired professional racer. “Our goal from the beginning has been to instill in our skiers not only a sense of competition with their racing efforts, but also a recognition of the value in taking care of our local outdoor venues and appreciating what’s available to us.”

Skiers in the program regularly combine long trail runs at regional locations such as Tiger Mountain with trash pick-ups, and several times each year they conduct multi-hour trail work sessions alongside groups such as the Washington Trails Association.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Tuesday, Nov. 10

Girls soccer
SCS 3, Overlake 1
Seattle Christian advances to the state quarterfinals this Saturday after defeating Overlake on Tuesday.
The Warriors will play Seattle Academy at 4 p.m. at Shoreline Stadium just north of Seattle.
The state semifinals and finals will also be held there Nov. 20-21.
Tuesday's state Class 1A opening round match took place at French Field in Kent.

Black Hills 6, Highline 4
Highline was eliminated from state Class 2A tournament play in an unusually high-scoring soccer match at Highline Memorial Stadium on Tuesday.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Tuesday, Nov. 10
Girls soccer

SCS 3, Overlake 1
Seattle Christian advances to the state quarterfinals this Saturday after defeating Overlake on Tuesday.
The Warriors will play Seattle Academy at 4 p.m. at Shoreline Stadium just north of Seattle.
The state semifinals and finals will also be held there Nov. 20-21.
Tuesday's state Class 1A opening round match took place at French Field in Kent.

Black Hills 6, Highline 4
Highline was eliminated from state Class 2A tournament play in an unusually high-scoring soccer match at Highline Memorial Stadium on Tuesday.

information from King County

King County employees would become eligible for up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave upon the birth or adoption of a child, under a proposal King County Executive Dow Constantine sent this week to the King County Council.

"Science shows that newborns' earliest experiences are the most important to their long-term success. For children to flourish, they need time to bond with their parents," said Executive Constantine. "This measure places King County on the forefront of a growing national conversation about the well-being of children and families, and the expectations of a 21st century workforce."

by Greg Whittaker

Time to dust off your winter friends. I grew up skiing Alpental, and have a crew that I annually ski, tour, and snow dance with that have been missing from my life since last March. Typically the season ends in May, but with the poor late snow year in '14-'15, I was done by the end of March and transitioned to paddling out here in Elliott Bay and off Alki.

This year is shaping up nicely with a number of storms that have started filling in the upper elevations. Yesterday Mt. Baker had 13" fall at the base, and they only need another 8" to open. Snow pack at Crystal, Upper Alpental, Stevens Pass, Mission Ridge, and White Pass is up for the week as well. We have a warm front hitting right now with this windy weather, and the snow level has shot up to 7K feet, but a cooling trend is following the warm front which could lead to enough snow to open Mt. Baker and Green Valley at Crystal Mountain in the next week. All areas are staffed up and ready to go, and we are awaiting mother nature to provide us the right conditions.

In the meantime, it's time to go through your gear bag!

Ballardites and gobblers alike are trimming their feathers and training their trots for the ninth annual Seattle Turkey Trot set for Thanksgiving morning (Thursday, November 26).

The event is a 5K run/walk devoted to raising awareness and funds for the Ballard Food Bank. The race starts at 9:00 a.m. and racers will start at 32nd Avenue NW and NW 85th Street and finish at Golden Gardens Park.

“The work we do at the Ballard Food Bank is a community effort. The Turkey Trot is a great way for all of us to come together as we run, walk, or trot for hunger. It’s also a fun event to kick-off Thanksgiving with friends and family,” said Jen Muzia, Ballard Food Bank Executive Director.

According to the Ballard Food Bank, over 3,500 people participated in the run last year and raised over $110,000. The first year of the event was back in 2005 and 50 participates made the trip to trot. In the last few years the Turkey Trot has been growing in increments of close to 500 runners per year. Two years ago 2,500 trotters traversed the course and raised over $90,000. BFB anticipates over 4,000 participants trot the track to Golden Gardens.

information from SDOT

Crews from the Seattle Department of Transportation have been installing new, upgraded traffic cameras on the West Seattle Bridge and Spokane Street Viaduct between Southwest Avalon Way and I-5 and expect to complete the work this Saturday. Drivers can expect rolling lane closures both in eastbound and westbound lanes on Saturday from 5 a.m. until the work is completed, now estimated by midafternoon.

Once installed, the upgraded cameras will then need to be connected to the internet. Traffic engineers expect to have them up and operating by the middle of next week.

The public will be able to access both still and streaming images from the new cameras once they are operating. Links to the views will be available on SDOT’s Traveler’s Information web page.

Brewing and distributing beer has evolved dramatically. As one of the oldest libations made, the flavor, consistency and styles of beer have been mastered and sometimes changed. Following the beer, brewery branding has changed, too. The symbols breweries use to tell their stories has transformed, along with the vessels used for distribution. A Ballard author has documented these changes his book, “Oh Beautiful Beer: The Evolution of Craft Beer and Design.”

Author Harvey Shepard has been living in Ballard for the past two years. He is originally from Massachusetts and works as a graphic designer. Shepard started a blog in 2011 called, “Oh Beautiful Beer,” devoted to celebrating the evolution of design in the craft beer industry. Since then he was written over 750 posts. What he didn’t know then was that his blog posts would soon become a book.

“It started out as kind of a goofy project,” said Shepard. “But I wanted to put together some topics that designers would be into and regular people would be in to, and then I thought beer makes a lot of sense — beer labels. So I started putting a pile of labels together for blog posts, and I got way, way too into it.”

The Board meeting of the Senior Center of West Seattle is set for tonight, Thursday, November 12 at 5:30 pm at the Senior Center. A main topic will be the issue of relinquishing local control of the Senior Center to the downtown agency Senior Services. The center is located at 4217 SW Oregon Street.

Senior Services is asking the Board to dissolve and to become an advisory committee.

This was discussed at a Town Hall meeting last Veterans Day (11/11/14) and the consensus of the people in the community was for the Center to maintain its independence.

The topic also pivots on the issue that the Sisson Building (in which the Senior Center is located) is owned free and clear by the Senior Center, and is a significant asset paid for by the people of West Seattle.

Senior Services is requesting control of the building.