February 2016

By Lindsay Peyton
Concerned citizens in West Seattle are gathering signatures for an online petition seeking to protect air quality and reduce noise at Terminal 5 in the Port of Seattle.

The goal is to create a monitoring system, which will collect information and determine what controls may be required to safeguard area residents, Patricia Davis, who started the petition on Change.org, explained. She added that her main concern is diesel pollution.

“The impact of diesel on our health is profound,” she said. “It’s a brain toxin. You have immediate impacts and then you have long-term impacts. We need to get that air monitoring now, during construction, as soon as possible.”

Davis was involved in an earlier petition that called for the Port of Seattle to create an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on its construction of Terminal 5.

For the current petition, Davis explained that the focus is keeping tabs on both noise and air quality. She said that a third party -- the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency -- would monitor the data collected by the proposed system installed at the terminal.

By Pat Cashman

This year’s presidential campaign began with more characters than a Dickens’s novel. Yet, amidst all the debate, rhetoric and blather, not one aspirant so far has said a single word about the terrorism happening in our own backyard. And front yard.

These are terrorists undermining the dirt, sod and root structure of this country’s land---solitary outlaws who creep silently beneath the surface, arising only long enough to ruin the hard efforts of our best lawn care. These terrorists are destroying the very fabric of our America---assuming fabric can be made from grass.

These terrorists are the velvety-furred saboteurs known as moles.
These are not the kind that dermatologists can handle. Freckles, skin tags, seborrheic keratoses and benign lentigines are generally removable---like a drunk at a city council meeting.

But the intruding moles that leave dirt piles everywhere behave like members of a small mammal Mafia: The Talpidae Family, in this case.

And they kill. Lawns. Yours. Mine. Bill Gates’.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

High schools
Boys basketball
Evergreen hosts Kennedy Catholic for a 7 p.m. game Wednesday as Foster entertains Renton, Highline hosts Lindbergh and Tyee travels to Hazen.
Seattle Christian goes on the road to Northwest School for a 7:30 p.m. game Thursday and Tyee hosts Liberty for a 7 p.m. game Friday.
At 7:30 p.m. Friday Seattle Lutheran is at Evergreen Lutheran and Shorewood Christian at Mount Rainier Lutheran, while at 8 p.m. Chief Sealth is at Eastside Catholic and West Seattle at Franklin.
Shorewood Christian plays an 8:45 p.m. home game against Northwest Yeshiva on Saturday and Seattle Christian entertains Bellevue Christian at 7 p.m. Monday.

Girls basketball
West Seattle continues its quest for an undefeated season when it hosts Seattle Prep for a 7:30 p.m. game Wednesday as Chief Sealth entertains Holy Names.
At 7 p.m. Wednesday Kennedy hosts Evergreen and Tyee hosts Hazen as Foster travels to Renton and Highline to Lindbergh.

Destination Delridge: A Landmark Celebration Fundraiser
For the first time in five years, the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association is hosting a fundraiser! We celebrate 20 years of DNDA strengthening the Delridge community, and 10 years of youth and arts education at the dynamic Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. There'll be great food, live entertainment, art, games, and music by some of Seattle's finest! It all happens Fri., Feb. 26 at Metropolist in SoDo. Come and reconnect with 200 guests who are passionate about social justice and community-building! Ticket info and purchase: destinationdelridge.brownpapertickets.org. Questions, or to volunteer: DestinationDelridge@dnda.org. To donate: http://bit.ly/1YISS8z.

Discovery Shop
4535 California Ave. S.W.
206.937.7169

Suspects steals clubs, tees off toward neighbor’s house

By Ken Robinson
Managing Editor

Note to the grumpy lady who called about the police report for West Seattle: We have had some flux in staffing lately that resulted in not being able to gather the police report. When we got going again with a new guy, he told us the Seattle Police Department public information officer said they were having trouble getting the report done. This coincidence created the void in reporting you called about.

By Amanda Knox

Reality is better, certainly. At the end of the day, reality is what’s left when all enhanced realities are put away. It used to be easier to tell the difference—art, film, music, playstations—all of these enhanced realities were limited in their means and scope such that they could distract from, inform, communicate with, but not substitute for reality. Now technology has advanced and has become so integral to our personal and social lives that the line between enhanced reality and reality reality is blurred. Devices have become real extensions of our physical body in the virtual reality we’ve created for ourselves. Now there’s Pokemon Go.

This year’s presidential campaign began with more characters than a Dickens’s novel. Yet, amidst all the debate, rhetoric and blather, not one aspirant so far has said a single word about the terrorism happening in our own backyard. And front yard.

These are terrorists undermining the dirt, sod and root structure of this country’s land---solitary outlaws who creep silently beneath the surface, arising only long enough to ruin the hard efforts of our best lawn care. These terrorists are destroying the very fabric of our America---assuming fabric can be made from grass.

These terrorists are the velvety-furred saboteurs known as moles.

These are not the kind that dermatologists can handle. Freckles, skin tags, seborrheic keratoses and benign lentigines are generally removable---like a drunk at a city council meeting.

But the intruding moles that leave dirt piles everywhere behave like members of a small mammal Mafia: The Talpidae Family, in this case.

And they kill. Lawns. Yours. Mine. Bill Gates’.

By Amanda Knox

Reality is better, certainly. At the end of the day, reality is what’s left when all enhanced realities are put away. It used to be easier to tell the difference—art, film, music, playstations—all of these enhanced realities were limited in their means and scope such that they could distract from, inform, communicate with, but not substitute for reality. Now technology has advanced and has become so integral to our personal and social lives that the line between enhanced reality and reality reality is blurred. Devices have become real extensions of our physical body in the virtual reality we’ve created for ourselves. Now there’s Pokemon Go.

Sonic Boom, one of Ballard’s independently owned record stores, is for sale.

According to a listing in the Puget Sound Business Journal, the store at 2209 N.W. Market St. is going for $850,000. It was reported that the reason for the sale is the owner is moving out of state.

Sonic Boom was Rolling Stone’s 2010 list of the “Best Record Stores in the USA.”
The 2,200 square foot store pulls over $1.2 million a year in record sales. They also sell turntables, CDs, tickets and host local and touring artists.

Owners Jason Hughes and Nabil Ayers first founded Sonic Boom in 1997 in a 800 square space in Fremont. In 2001 they expanded to the Ballard location and another in Capital Hill. However, only the Ballard location remains after they closed the other two stores in 2011.

So far there are no reported interested buyers.

Sonic Boom will be hosting a free all-ages event featuring Danny Newcomb & the Sugarmakers on Sunday, January 31 at 4 p.m.