August 2016

There’s an idea just above the trees near the Ballard Smoke Shop that says time is a flat revolving circle and that all past and future events have already happened. If that’s the case then the grand mal earthquake geologists have predicted will devastate the West Coast and Seattle has already happened and is going to happen again.

A gloomy scene, indeed.

However, there’s work being done, well, at least for buildings. The viaduct may slip into the ether, but Seattleites can rest easy knowing that the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) has identified all the buildings that are considered “high risk” and likely to crumble, “come down” should the Juan De Fuca plate bump uglies with the North American plate.

“Unreinforced Masonry (URM) buildings are the most vulnerable building type in the event of an earthquake. A typical URM is a brick building built prior to 1940 that lacks the steel reinforcement and structural connections between the floors and walls,” said Bryan Stevens, media handler for the SDCI. “We haven’t allowed these types of buildings for many decades, but there are roughly 1,100 of them in Seattle.”

On July 28th, the Des Moines City Council passed a motion to offer James Nichols the position of city manager.

Hiring Nichols now depends on the negotiation of his employment contract through Strategic Government Resources - the organization that the City of Des Moines hired to conduct and manage the nationwide search for a new city manager.

The City of Des Moines began the search for a new city manager in March, after current City Manager Tony Piasecki announced his retirement last year.

“We need somebody who’s going to be a great communicator, and through all the interviews and reviewing background and looking at skills sets, Jim Nichols fits the leadership and the communications skills sets above all others,” Council Member Dave Kaplan said.

Kaplan said that he was impressed with Nichols’ “work-alongs” where Nichols would participate in the duties of a job to learn more about it.

“When he’s learning about something, he doesn’t presume he knows everything,” Kaplan said. “he goes out and works with staff to learn the job.”

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

PacWest battled all the way back from an opening round loss to reach the losers bracket final and finish third at the state age 10-11 Little League baseball all-star tournament.

After taking a 15-8 loss to Marysville to open the action at the Asotin complex in Clarkston, the team from Burien and SeaTac won five straight in five days coming back through the losers bracket.

The run ended with an anticlimactic 13-2 loss to Mercer Island in the losers bracket final Friday morning.

The loss to Marysville came last Saturday, and was followed by a 9-5 win over Montesano the next day.

PacWest then pummeled Anacortes by a 13-3 score Monday and defeated Camas, 13-2, Tuesday.

The team then outslugged two opponents by identical 9-7 scores, beating Salmon Creek on Wednesday and Bainbridge on Thursday before running up against Mercer Island.

Each of the wins sent the other team home for the year.

PacWest entered the tournament as the District 7 champions.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Terao makes Area Code roster

West Seattle resident Jacob Terao of Seattle Prep High School made the Kansas City Royals' Area Code roster for the Northwest and will join the team for the Area Code Games in Long Beach, Calif.
They will run Aug. 6-10 with Terao playing catcher and standing at 5-foot-10, 200 pounds and batting and throwing right-handed.
Terao threw a perfect game for West Seattle Little League four years ago.

Kela back in action for Rangers

Chief Sealth graduate Keone Kela has returned to action in the bullpen for the Texas Rangers after being on the 60-day disabled list following shoulder surgery in April.
Kela has lowered his season earned run average to 6.57 and now has a 1-1 record with 21 strikeouts in 12.1 innings over 13 games.

Barnette lowers his ERA to 2.12

Thomas Jefferson graduate Tony Barnette is also a member of the Texas Rangers' bullpen and has lowered his earned run average to 2.12 to go with a 6-3 record.
Barnette has worked 46.2 innings in 40 games, striking out 34.

Ishikawa shows improvement

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Pros

Mariners
The retiring David Ortiz and the Boston Red Sox are in town for their only visit of the year this week, playing 7:10 p.m. games at Safeco Field on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim invade for a 7:10 p.m. game Friday, a 6:10 p.m. game Saturday and a 1:10 p.m. contest Sunday.
It will be Ken Griffey Jr. Hall of Fame weekend, with a bobblehead night Friday, Griffey's jersey retirement ceremony Saturday and a Griffey replica jersey giveaway Sunday.
The Detroit Tigers follow the Angels into town, playing at 7:10 p.m. Monday and Tuesday of next week.
All Mariners games can be seen on the ROOT Sports cable television network.

Rainiers
Tacoma is in El Paso for 6:05 p.m. contests Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday before coming home to face Federal Way High School graduate Travis Ishikawa and the Sacramento Rivercats at 5:05 p.m. Sunday, 7:05 p.m. Monday and 7:05 p.m. Tuesday.
Rainiers games can be seen on MiLB cable.

Sounders

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Festivities abounded the night the Highline Bears beat the Northwest Honkers, 4-1, in their season finale Friday, including the induction of four White Center personalities into the team's new Hall of Fame.
The team inducted White Center's Todd Coughlin -- the team's first manager -- and Russ Pritchard -- the Bears' first president, along with the inductions of the late Mel Olson and Steve Cox who their home field is named after.

The event took place at Mel Olson Stadium at Steve Cox Memorial Park in White Center.

"That was a shock and an honor," said Coughlin, who used slip into then White Center Stadium as a youngster. "It's great to be involved in White Center history."

Pritchard helped fight the fire that burned the old stadium down in 1970 and has been involved in the community's sports for years, as were Olson and Cox. Olson's daughter was present to accept his award, and Pritchard accepted for Cox and is going to take the plaque to the police department where Cox served.
Coughlin led the team to an 18-14 record the first season and stepped down this year to serve where needed as Rich Lindros took over the helm.

Reviewing the years of her childhood, education, teaching and counseling, work as "Rosie, the Riveter" for Boeing, political activity with the National Organization of Women, community organizing, performing musical and comedic entertainment, Georgie Kunkel will talk about her book Color Me Feminist at "Words, Writers & West Seattle's" monthly book-talk series.

The Southwest Seattle Historical Society sponsors this free book-talk series on the 'First Friday' of each month. This presentation of Color Me Feminist, the 35th installment of the series, will take place at 5 p.m., Friday, August 5th, 2016, at Barnes & Noble/Westwood   Village.

by Wajid Hassan

There are many students who want to get ahead by attending a STEM school but many of these specialized schools lack the curriculum, have inadequately trained teachers, or are driven by ideology and not results. Students in Southwest Seattle attend the “best” schools only to find the classes are taught solely via online education or the teachers don’t understand the topic well enough to teach the curriculum however this at many time is because the school boards have enough funds to finance a top curriculum.

STEM is the term for the latest curriculum module that incorporates Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics into existing learning modules in schools throughout the United States.

People were looking at him weird
A caller on 118th and 16th Avenue S. told police some people were "looking at him weird." Upon investigating, it was determined the man was wanted on criminal warrants. He was arrested.

Suicide attempt
A male called police from a parking lot on S.W. 148th St. July 21 saying he wanted to harm himself. He said he planned to use a razor blade.

Commercial burglary
Someone broke into two storage units at 180th and Des Moines Way S. July 22 using bolt cutters or a Sawz-All but cutting the latch and bolt behind the lock without cutting the lock. Missing: two .22 cal. rifles.

Drunk on the ground
On July 22, a man was found lying on the side of the road at 134th and Des Moines Way S. He was drunk to the point of incapacitation. He was sent to Highline Hospital for detox. He also had a laceration on his forehead.

Crack in the case

This summer in Burien and the surrounding areas, 2,359 students in the Highline School District received 28,308 new books for summer reading.

Book Up Summer, a program of Page Ahead Children’s Literacy Program, combats summer learning loss by helping students at high-poverty elementary schools maintain their reading skills over the summer, and return to school in the fall ready to learn. Kindergarten, first and second grade students at the following elementary schools received books through the Book Up Summer program this summer:
Beverly Park Elementary, Highline School District, Seattle
Bow Lake Elementary, Highline School District, Seatac
Cedarhurst Elementary, Highline School District, Burien
Hazel Valley Elementary, Highline School District, Burien
Hilltop Elementary, Highline School District, Burien
Madrona Elementary, Highline School District, SeaTac
McMicken Heights Elementary, Highline School District, SeaTac
Midway Elementary, Highline School District, Des Moines
Mount View Elementary, Highline School District, Seattle
Seahurst Elementary, Highline School District, Burien
Southern Heights Elementary, Highline School District, Burien