February 2016

By Greg Whittaker

Hope you snow lovers have been getting up in the mountains during the last week. If you haven’t, it’s time to reconsider your priorities. We have had it all from sun to snow to groppel to fog to freshies to ice, and all of it has been fun.

Those of you new to the sport, whether you are “groms” (pre-teen) or just a new skier or snowboarder, have had breakthrough days where everything comes together. With the good visibility and the consistent snow conditions, those learning are starting to take their appreciation and skills to the next level. Keller my 5 year old is now able to navigate all blue runs at Alpental with the power wedge, and is incorporating the hockey stop at the bottom of the hill so he can white wash me.

With a warming trend and HEAVY rain earlier in Feb, we had a great consolidation of the snowpack, and the snow that fell last weekend definitely was needed and freshened up the turns. 28” fell at Crystal, and now we have beautiful groomers and sunshine up there today.

by Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Bowen McConville of Kennedy Catholic and Daron Camacho of West Seattle took two of the top three spots in the 195-pound weight class in the state Class 3A boys wrestling competition at the Tacoma Dome Saturday.
McConville placed second, reaching the championship match but taking a loss to Chance Stolz of Peninsula by pin in a time of 3 minutes, 39 seconds.
Camacho was upset, 4-3, in the quarterfinals but rebounded to capture third place.
Camacho won the third place match by a 4-2 score over Colton Paller of Shelton.
McConville and Camacho never faced each other in the state competition held Friday and Saturday.
Luis Cuellar of Foster finished sixth in the Class 2A competition at 126 pounds, losing the fifth place match by a 5-4 score in overtime.

Highline's Kevin Romero came in eighth in Class 2A at 106 pounds, dropping the match for seventh by a 3-1 score.

State boys swimming

information from SDOT

The Neighborhood Street Fund (NSF) Large Project Program is now accepting applications for the first round of funding from the Levy to Move Seattle. Approved by voters in November 2015, the 9-year, $930 million Levy to Move Seattle Levy includes $24 million to continue the Neighborhood Street Fund – a program that supports community prioritized transportation improvements. The NSF program will have three 3 year cycles as it has in the past, for selection, design, and construction of projects. The application must be completed by April 17, 2016 and is available at www.seattle.gov/transportation/nsf.htm.

Projects qualify if they meet the following criteria:
• Large, but not too large (generally between $100,000 and $1 million to design and construct)
• Related to transportation
• Located within SDOT right-of-way (city streets and sidewalks)
• Have the support of their local neighborhood District Council

By Tim Clinton
Sports Editor

High schools
Boys basketball
Renton High School will host three area boys state regional basketball games this coming Saturday.
Seattle Christian meets Hoquiam at 12 p.m., followed at 2 p.m. by Shorewood Christian against Naselle.
Seattle Lutheran waits until 8 p.m. to play Columbia Adventist.
Kennedy Catholic, meanwhile, will go on the road to Spokane to play Shadle Park at University High School. Game time is 4 p.m. for the Lancers.

Girls basketball
West Seattle's Wildcats will be going to Mountlake Terrace to take on Lynnwood at 2 p.m. Saturday as Seattle Lutheran travels to Mount Vernon High School to play Mount Vernon Christian at 12 p.m.

Pros
Stars
Tacoma plays its last regular season men's indoor professional soccer game of the year Friday, hosting the Ontario Fury for a 7:35 p.m. match at the Showare Center in Kent.

Thunderbirds

The West Seattle Garden Tour has announced the winner of their annual poster contest. The winning design is entitled “Wild, Wild Flowers” Cut paper, gel medium, acrylicon canvas board, by West Seattle artist Cynthia Turner. Her collage will be on display as part of the West Seattle Art Walk (June 9, Windermere), and will be available for auction on tour day. She won a $500 cash prize.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am drawn to clean, graphic images as well as modular design. I also tend to like limitations and parameters since they spark my imagination. Using my personal ethos of using mostly up-cycled and repurposed materials, as well working within the West Seattle Garden Tour’s theme of “The Art of Gardening”, I set out to make a piece that was slightly mid-century in feel, using paper that I found or already had on hand.

information from SWSHS

West Seattle native Dan Raley is an award-winning writer and the author of a new release entitled "How Seattle Became a Big-League Sports Town: From George Wilson to Russell Wilson" by Seattle's Fairgreens Publishing. According to Raley it's the "consummate Seattle sports bible", all about the city's heroes and scandal-makers including the UW contract-hit proposal, the cocaine moment at the Rose Rose Bowl and the Sonics' Sharon Stone-like court-side tease. The book contains 100 stories and more than 200 photos, with a definitive 'Where Are They Now' theme.

Sponsored by the Southwest Seattle Historical Society, this FREE installment of “Words, Writers & West Seattle” begins at 5 p.m., Friday, March 4th, 2016 at Barnes & Noble/Westwood Village. All purchases made by those attending the talk that afternoon and for the next five days will result in a contribution of ten percent of proceeds to the Southwest Seattle Historical Society under the Barnes and Noble's Book Fair Program. .

This week I found myself in a state of agitated pause. I had hurt my friend’s feelings, and my friend had hurt mine. What had taken place—a disagreement—had been mangled by something else—a misunderstanding. In the moment, we hadn’t been clear-headed enough to clarify. Now we were taking space from each other, at a loss for how to bridge the gap. I started a draft of an email.

I love you. How many ways can I say I love you? And why?

My first impulse was to tell my friend exactly how they had hurt me. Not in a judgmental way, or in a vengeful way, but in a useful way. For the sake of clarification. In the future, when we’re still friends, we can avoid misunderstanding by avoiding X, Y, and Z. By acknowledging the source of my hurt and resolving it, I could bridge the gap between me and my friend. Done deal. Still, I held off on pressing SEND. Every message merits a pause for breath.

There was a time when a husband beat his wife to show he loved her. The reasoning was: I am invested in you, so you will conform your will to mine. I exercise force on you because I really care.

The proposal to replace and expand the Seattle Housing Levy which is expiring at the end of the year is the subject of a community meeting Tuesday Feb. 23 6:30pm to 8pm. The meeting at the Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon Street) will have City staff on hand to answer questions such as:

What has the levy done?
What is proposed and why?
What have we learned?
What are your priorities?

Learn more at Seattle.gov/housing/levy

The City of Burien is preparing a Downtown Mobility Plan, and we want to hear from you! The Plan will focus on how you get to Downtown Burien and how you get around it once you're here. It will drive how we improve the overall look and feel of our city's core. And you're invited to share your insights at our Storefront Studio later this month.

WHEN: anytime you're free on Wednesday, February 24, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
anytime you're free on Thursday, February 25, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

WHERE: Discover Burien, 427 SW 152nd Street

The Storefront Studio provides you a chance to drop in, speak directly with staff and consultants, see work in-progress, learn about the process, take part in activities, and make suggestions to influence the Plan.

Walking Tour

Want to learn more about mobility in Burien? Each day, we'll lead a walking tour to see and evaluate downtown opportunities

WHEN: Wednesday, February 24, noon to 1:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 25, noon to 1:00 p.m.

Mobility Workshop

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

High schools

Gymnastics
The state gymnastics meet takes place at the Tacoma Dome Exhibition Hall this Friday and Saturday.
Class 1A/2A/3A action starts at 8:30 a.m. Friday with the 4A starting at 5:50 p.m. Friday.
Individual finals get underway at 11:20 a.m. Saturday.

Boys swimming
State boys swimming and diving action is taking place at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way this Friday and Saturday.
The 2A starts off the day Friday at 9:45 a.m. with the 3A at 2 p.m. and the 4A at 6:30 p.m.
Finals take place Saturday, with the 2A starting at 9:30 a.m., the 3A at 2:15 p.m. and the 4A at 7 p.m.

Wrestling
Wrestling state action for boys and girls will be hosted at the Tacoma Dome on Friday and Saturday.
Session 1 runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday with Session 2 from 4-9:30 p.m.
Session 3 is from 10 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. Saturday with finals getting underway at 5 p.m. with awards at 9:30 p.m.

Girls basketball