December 2016

As 2016 draws to a close and we move into the holiday season, you probably have a lot going on in your life. But it may be worth your while to take some time to explore a few year-end investment and financial moves that can potentially pay off for you when you file your taxes in April. 
Here are a few such moves to consider:
• Boost your 401(k) contributions. Unless you have a “Roth” 401(k), your contributions are made with pretax dollars – so the more you put in, the lower your taxable income. Ask your employer if you can increase your 401(k) contributions for the remainder of the year. (For 2016, you can contribute up to $18,000 to your 401(k), or $24,000 if you’re 50 or older.) Also, if you receive a bonus before the year ends, you may be able to put that toward your 401(k) too, thus deferring the taxes you’d have to pay on this extra income. 



By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Saturday, Dec. 17

Boys basketball
Seattle Christian 75, Lynden Christian 66
The Warriors were winners in non-league action Saturday against Lynden Christian.
Seattle Lutheran 58, Neah Bay 52
Seattle Lutheran came away from Neah Bay with a victory Saturday.

Girls basketball
Seattle Christian 76, Lindbergh 40
Seattle Christian scored a decisive victory in Saturday's game.

Friday, Dec. 16

Boys basketball
West Seattle 65, Blanchet 33
West Seattle was a big winner in Friday Metro League action.
O'Dea 85, Chief Sealth 79
The Seahawks lost a close one to the Irish on Friday.
Foss 83, Foster 18
Foster was flattened by the Foss Falcons Friday.
Mt. Rainier 70, Hazen 39
The Rams rallied for a North Puget Sound League win Friday.
Lindbergh 83, Evergreen 77
Evergreen suffered a close South Puget Sound League loss in Friday action.
Highline 62, River Ridge 61
The Pirates slipped by River Ridge in SPSL action.
Steilacoom 68, Tyee 53

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

High schools

Boys basketball
West Seattle meets Kentwood for a 7 p.m. game at the Showare Center in Kent this Thursday before travelling to Mountlake Terrace for a tournament starting Tuesday.
Evergreen goes to Franklin for a tournament that also starts Tuesday and Chief Sealth takes part in the Bothell Holiday Tournament starting with a 10:30 a.m. game against Bella Vista, Calif. that day.
Mount Rainier pays a 5:15 p.m. visit to Highline on Thursday and drops in on Auburn at 7 p.m. Friday.
Kennedy Catholic then hosts its Sterling Shootout Tournament beginning with games Monday and Tuesday and also involving Seattle Christian.
Tyee, meanwhile, goes to Lindbergh for a 7 p.m. game Thursday and Foster visits Cedar Park Christian at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Bothell.

Girls basketball
Chief Sealth visits Interlake at 3 p.m. Wednesday and Kennedy Catholic plays host to Holy Names at 11 a.m. Tuesday in the girls portion of the Sterling Shootout Tournament after visiting Auburn Mountainview at 7:15 p.m. Wednesday.

by Georgie Bright Kunkel
 
        The Hebrew  Bible states that the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates River was promised by God to Abraham and his descendants. My interest in all this came about after I recently viewed an old film about this time in history. I got to thinking about the Puget Sound region with its beauty and temperate climate. How fortunate am I to have been born into this wonderful part of the world.

Television brings views of war torn countries with famine and pestilence plaguing the population. But here I am in the best place in the world I could have chosen to live my life.

        West Seattle is still neighborhood friendly so I still know most of my close neighbors. In fact we will soon gather for a neighborhood meeting.

A fight at the fiesta
At 1:44 a.m. on Sat., Dec. 10, suspects followed a customer at Fiesta Del Mar restaurant, located at 12803 Ambaum Blvd. S., into the restroom where they attacked him, punching and kicking him.

Burglary on S.W. 173rd Place

A woman residing on the 2100 block of S.W. 173rd Place was attending her husband’s funeral at 10 a.m. on Sat., Dec. 10. While she was away, someone entered and burglarized her home. Officers believe suspects entered through an unlocked back door.

Drunken push-down at Wizards Casino
A man called dispatch just after midnight on Thurs., Dec. 8 to complain about security guards at Wizards Casino, 15739 Ambaum Blvd. S., pushing him down. When officers arrived they discovered that the man was highly intoxicated and had assaulted staff. He was kicked out of the casino for the night.

Attention drivers

By Lindsay Peyton

West Seattle resident José Iñiguez is not the type to back down from a challenge.

In fact, he has been developing the courage to pursue his passion since childhood.

Now, the artist who is equally at home with classical, opera and traditional mariachi music, has developed a unique singing style, in a dramatic tenor tone, and his career is taking off.

He recently performed in the Encanto Holiday Opera, an event he also organized, at the Moore Theatre. And he is currently planning for the year ahead, full of concerts and appearances across the country. He is also working on his first full orchestra album.

Looking back, he said he has come along way – from signing in the apple orchards to major concert halls.

Growing up in the small Washington town of Mattawa, as the son of a farmer with 10 siblings, was difficult at times. He faced discrimination for his ethnicity and his immigrant family’s income. But he also had developed a love of opera, which wasn’t easily accessible or popular among his friends and family.

By Amanda Knox
 
According to Wikipedia, the Cold War was “cold” because the U.S. and Russia never engaged in open conflict. Instead, they exerted their super political and military influence over lesser powers to outplay each other on a global scale, all the while upholding the threat of mutually assured destruction. It was a race of ideologies—West vs. East, capitalism vs. communism, democracy vs. dictatorship—with real stakes that were ever-present for everyone who was alive and aware between 1945 and 1991.
 
Not me, then. I was born in 1987, and the Cold War has always been a part of the past for me. I didn’t grow up with civil defense sirens, or get drilled in school about what to do in case of a nuclear attack. “The Russian threat” was a James Bond trope. In real life, I never felt like Russia was any more threatening than any other foreign country. The game was over. Democracy had won.
 

Caller I.D. is a pretty cool feature. It is helpful to know who is calling so you can:
1) Quickly answer the phone. Or,
Spend time practicing being delighted for a caller you cannot stand. Or,
3) Pretend not to be home at all. (Most convincing if you have a landline.)
I’m hoping that the next advance in phone technology will be TOPIC I.D. It’d be handy to know in things in advance like: “Annoying cousin is in town and planning to drop by.”
Or, “Co-worker is ill and wants to know if you’ll fill in for them.”
And especially: “Kid is calling from college and needs money. Again.”
Most of the time when my father-in-law would call, I would already know what the topic would be. “What’s it doing over at your place?” he’d say. He was referring, of course, to the weather. There is no single topic that is of greater common interest to all people. The fact that my father-in-law only lived a mile away did not matter in the least. “We got about three inches of snow over here,” he might say. “I would tell him, “We only have two.” He would sound triumphant.

Pearl Jam, intimately connected to West Seattle, by lead singer Eddie Vedder's home here will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame next April. The band was inducted in the Performer category.

The announcement came in a press release from the Hall Dec. 20:

"The 32nd Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, presented by Klipsch Audio, will take place on Friday, April 7, 2017 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the third time. Ticket on-sale dates will be announced in January. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2017 Induction Ceremony will again have its television premiere on HBO, and a radio broadcast on SiriusXM. Broadcast details will be announced in early 2017.

A limited number of pre-sale tickets will be available for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members in advance of the public sale date. To be eligible for the member pre-sale, you must be an active Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member by December 31, 2016. Additional public ticket details and presale offers will be announced in the future.

The special exhibition on the 2017 Inductees will open at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on March 30.