December 2015

Last week the Associated Press released a report that revealed most shrimp eating Americans have been consuming a product processed and cleaned by slaves in Thailand.

AP reported that slaves are imprisoned by their captors and forced to work up to 16 hours a day deveining, peeling and cleaning shrimp in “shrimp sheds” attached to distributing plants. Some slaves — including children — have been processing shrimp for over a year, with little or no pay, fueling a $7 billion export industry. According to AP, much of the shrimp distributed in the U.S. made its way via supply chains of companies like Kroger, Aqua Star, Waterfront Bistro and Chicken of the Sea and end up in popular grocery stores across the nation. The AP based their findings on U.S. Customs reports, which listed over 40 companies distributing slave-tainted shrimp. They also reported that they found shrimp linked to forced labor in grocery stores in every state in the U.S. The product also made its way onto plates in restaurants like Red Lobster and Olive Garden.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Saturday, Dec. 19
Girls basketball
West Seattle 56, Kentridge 37
West Seattle ran its overall record to 8-0 with Saturday's non-league win at the Showare Center in Kent.
Grace Sarver led the Wildcats with 15 points and 6-foot, 7-inch University of Oregon signee Lydia Giomi was next with 14.
SCS 46, Lindbergh 43
The Warriors rose up to beat the Eagles of Lindbergh on Saturday.

Boys basketball
Foster 64, SCS 53
Foster fended off the Warriors in non-league action Saturday.
Clover Park 52, Evergreen 47
The Wolverines were dealt a narrow defeat in a non-league game.
Bethel 57, Mt. Rainier 53
Mount Rainier was edged in a South Puget Sound League crossover Saturday.

Friday, Dec. 18
Boys basketball
Shorewood Christian 63, Christian Faith Center 15
Shorewood Christian of West Seattle scored a lopsided SeaTac League win Friday.
Seattle Lutheran 60, Bear Creek 37
Seattle Lutheran won big against Bear Creek.
Mt. Rainier 56, Decatur 53

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

High schools
Boys basketball
West Seattle will host Thomas Jefferson for a 6:30 p.m. game Wednesday, then Kennedy will host its own Christmas Classic tournament starting at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
The tournament continues Monday and Tuesday, when Seattle Christian will be playing at a tournament in Port Townsend.
Seattle Lutheran will see tournament action at Northwest on Tuesday and Wednesday as West Seattle plays in the MountlakeTerrace tournament.
Shorewood Christian pays a 6 p.m. visit to Lummi Nation Tuesday.

Girls basketball
Mount Rainier will see action Wednesday, hosting Auburn for a 7 p.m. game.
Kennedy Catholic is putting on its Christmas Classic tournament Monday and Tuesday, with Tyee opening tournament action at the Meridian Holiday Tournament starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday and continuing Wednesday.
Highline hosts Interlake at 7 p.m. Tuesday and West Seattle visits Olympic at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Wrestling
Highline will be competing at Hanford along with Sunnyside starting at 9:30 a.m. Monday.

Pros

By Zach Watson

Over the last month I’ve been getting emails from Healthcare.gov nearly everyday, reminding me that the deadline for healthcare was arriving on December 15th and that I needed to sign up in order to avoid the fine for 2016. They’ve extended this deadline to today, December 17th, and still I’m letting the hours slip away.

I have a particular case. I am a healthy thirty-one-year-old single man without children and I work for a small bar that has less than ten employees. So it is up to me to find my own health insurance.

Okay, all well and good.

I went to my email, clicked on the icon, went to my account and found my way to the state of Washington Marketplace. I typed in my zip code, my age and my annual income and hit okay. This took me to the next page, a list of private insurance companies and the plans they offer conveniently arranged in price from lowest to highest.

I put that I made $30,000 a year, a fair estimate. The cheapest plan came up with no government aid at $178 a month, $2136 bucks a year, or about 7% of my annual salary.

By Amanda Knox

Yoga taught me that a full breath comes in four parts. Breathe in, pause, breathe out, pause. The all important pauses are ever easily glossed over by the eager amateur, like myself.

It’s a weakness of mine, especially when it comes to making decisions about change. It takes courage to acknowledge the feeling in your gut, to sort it all out, to realize a conclusion and implement it against the momentum of the things that are already. After all of that work, I get so excited that I’ve made it that far that I often forget to pause to examine the new stillness in my life before setting off in a tantalizingly different direction.

You’d think it’d be easier to recognize the moment to pause with the many forms it takes throughout anyone’s life.

by Sarah Cecil

Here’s an interesting statistic: Over the past three decades, the centenarian population in the United States has grown about 66%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a good chance of living to 100 — but the possibility may not be as remote as it once was. In any case, if you do plan to retire in your mid-60s, and you are in good health, you may well have two, or even three, decades ahead of you.

To enjoy this time to the fullest — and to help prevent the possibility of outliving your financial resources — you will need to invest for income and growth throughout your retirement years. 

As a retiree, how much income do you need from your investments?

Discovery Shop
4535 California Ave. S.W.
206.937.7169
Choose one item, store wide, for half price from Dec. 26-30 as our thanks for making 2015 a successful year for the shop. Starting Dec. 28, all pink tagged items are $1.00. When you shop, donate and volunteer with us, you help in our commitment to funding a cancer cure and supporting services for cancer patients, including youth. Regular hours are: Sun., 11–3 p.m.; Mon.–Sat., 10–4:30 p.m. We will close at 1 p.m. Christmas Eve; closed Christmas Day; close at 1 p.m. New Year's Eve; closed New Year's Day. www.discoveryshopwestseattle.org / LIKE us on Facebook.

Chief Sealth Class of 1966 50-Year Reunion
South Seattle Community College
Brockey Center
6000 16th Ave. S.W.
Fri., Sept. 16, 2016. For details, contact Jim Starkey: james2647@msn.com or 425.641.2647.

West Seattle TOPS Meeting
Providence Mount St. Vincent
4831 35th Ave. S.W.

By Pat Cashman

‘Twas the night before Christmas, and it seems quite absurd
That somebody once decided that ‘twas’ was a word.

But that’s not the point, so let me get back to my tale
While I knock back a few pints of gluten-free ale.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of Playstations danced in their heads;

And mamma in a teddy, and I in the nude,
And suddenly this poem has gotten quite lewd.

When down on the porch there came such a knocking,
I threw on my pants and started fast walking.

Away to the front door I boldly went lopin’,
I reached for the knob and threw the door open.

On the porch stood an old guy in a suit and a beard,
He was sweaty and puffin’ and seemed kinda weird.

But his face was kindly and looked very sensitive,
I figured he might be an Amway representative.

But the red garish wardrobe and belly so thick,
Told me instead that this dude was Saint Nick.

But he lingered right there and seemed in no hurry,
Sorta looked like a bearded Mayor Ed Murray.

He spoke and said, “I don’t mean to be a pest;

By Greg Whittaker

The faithful are being rewarded for being prepared for a return of winter to the Northwest. All Washington ski areas are OPEN for business, and we are off to a fantastic start for what the NW needs and thrives on, a healthy snowpack in our majestic mountains.

Every day people are coming in our shop with stories of “my greatest day in 2 years!” The thin early season rocks have been covered by storm after storm. The active cool westerly flow from over the northeast Pacific should carry more weather systems across the Northwest through mid-week with snow levels staying low.

All this lines up for the holidays when families have time to spend with each other to explore and rediscover the fun to be had skiing and snowboarding. The collective ski industry is breathing a deep sigh of relief, and the culture of skiing is reemerging from the pits of doldrums to visit local shops, fondle the shiny trinkets, and froth over upcoming powder days.

information from King County Sheriff

Multiple people living near the area of SW Roxbury St and 12 Ave SW called the police Friday Dec. 18 after hearing cars racing in the area and shots being fired.

King County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the area after the 911 calls started coming in around 8:45 tonight. When deputies arrived they found an accident on the corner of SW Roxbury and 12 Ave SW, which involved one of the vehicles that had been chasing another car.

Witnesses told police that a grey 90’s Jeep Cherokee was northbound on 12 Ave SW with a red Ford Explorer chasing it. Occupants in the Explorer were firing shots at the Cherokee as it continued northbound. The Cherokee was able to safety cross SW Roxbury but when the Explorer tried to follow they struck a Chevrolet Tahoe that was driving eastbound on SW Roxbury. The Tahoe had not been involved in the chase and was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Witnesses saw 3 occupants in the Explorer jumped out of the wrecked car and get into a white Toyota car that had been following the Explorer. The Toyota then fled eastbound on SW Roxbury.