April 2017

By Ken Robinson

Everybody wants to be mayor
Expect a fight from some patrons of the Highline School District if the board chooses to switch from the traditional semester plan to a trimester day. See Lindsay Peyton’s story on page 5. The issue has a lot of moving parts and you may not care unless you have kids in high school. Still, it is an important story.

Also important is the challenge by former mayor Mike McGinn to unseat beleaguered Mayor Ed Murray. It could be a tough fight as two Irishmen slug it out. Read Shane Harms on the subject on page 4. So far, seven other hopefuls have signed up to beat Murray. Cary Moon, who you may remember as an opponent of a waterfront highway once the viaduct is removed, also is gunning for the job.

Foamers on the loose again

By Lindsay Peyton

Principal Anne Reece at White Center Heights Elementary has been pounding the pavement for years -- desperate to find funding for a playground for her youngest students.

Now her vision is about to take shape. Construction crews are breaking ground on a playground for the school’s Early Head Start Program at the beginning of May. The project will be completed in time for the next school year.

Reece explained that she added Early Head Start to the campus to meet a need for additional instruction at an early age. The federally funded preschool program serves children younger than 3 from low-income families, meeting their early education, health and nutritional needs.

White Center Heights already had a preschool program for 3 and 4-year old children – but Reece felt certain there was more the school could offer.

“My data was showing that only 15 percent of the children were coming in kindergarten ready,” she said. “They weren’t meeting those necessary benchmarks. We were the lowest in the district, maybe even one of the lowest in the state.”

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

High schools
Baseball
West Seattle hosts crosstown rival Chief Sealth for a 4 p.m. game at the Hiawatha playfield Friday and Ballard travels to Rainier Beach at the same time.
Kennedy Catholic, meanwhile, will be at home playing Hazen at 4 p.m. Wednesday as Mount Rainier travels to Kentlake and Thursday Mount Rainier is at home against Kentlake and Kennedy at Hazen.
Mount Rainier visits Eastside Catholic for a non-league game Saturday, also at 4 p.m.
Foster travels to Franklin Pierce for a 4 p.m. game Wednesday and hosts Fife at the same time Friday.
Tyee is at home playing Eatonville at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and Highline travels to Steilacoom for a 4 p.m. game. Highline hosts Renton at 3:30 p.m. Friday and Tyee travels to River Ridge at 4 p.m.
Seattle Christian gets a 4 p.m. visit from Charles Wright on Wednesday and entertains Bellevue Christian at the same time Friday before hosting University Prep at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Warriors visit Bellevue Christian at 4 p.m. Monday.

By Peggy Sturdivant

After Sheila Kelly learned more about her family’s history in Treadwell, Alaska she realized after some years that she would need to do a book. Twenty years and a fully researched and published book later she had the idea of turning it into a play, perhaps a musical.

Even though Kelly had never written a play. So of course she took a playwriting class because the Kelly is as dogged as anyone who went to make their fortune in Alaska or work the mine in Treadwell. The class was just ending when Kelly had back pains and was diagnosed with lymphoma.

Almost two years later after aggressive treatment and recovery Kelly asked of herself the question posed in Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Summer Day,” ‘Tell me, what it is you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?’’

She knew the answers immediately. Spend time with her family, and turn her book into a play. Part of her impetus is that the 100th anniversary of the Treadwell Gold Mine Disaster was upcoming, and Perseverance Theater in Juneau was interested. “There was skin in the game,” Kelly said.

The Ballard lifeguard who allegedly set his cell phone to record female co-workers in their locker room at the Ballard pool last February has been charged with attempted voyeurism.

According to the King County prosecutors the charges were brought after the 19-year-old lifeguard, Rory Carlson, set up the cell phone camera in order to record female employees at the pool.

Seattle Police Department reports that after Carlson was arrested, he cried and told officers that he set up the camera because his girlfriend was out of town and that he “has needs.”

“He explained that his girlfriend has been gone for ‘so long,” say the charges.

The cell phone was found after a Ballard Pool employee noticed it in a pile of clothes on the floor as she was cleaning. She found the phone was recording, and when she played it back she saw Carlson back away from the phone after he set it.

Carlson’s arraignment is scheduled for April 27 at the King County Superior Court, and he remains out of custody. His summons was dispatched to his residence in Phinney Ridge.

By Lindsay Peyton

Highline Public Schools is considering making a change – to a trimester schedule for high schools in the fall of 2018.

The possible switch -- from a six-period semester schedule to five-period trimesters -- has stirred up concern in parents in the district, who point to rising costs and educational gaps that could accompany the change.

Catherine Carbone Rogers, chief communications officer for the district, explained that discussions about the trimester schedule come on the heels of new graduation requirements issued by the state of Washington.

The state mandated an increase in the minimum number of credits – from 20 to 24 – for seniors to receive their diplomas starting in 2021. The new requirements also increase the number of mandatory credits in world language, science and the arts.

“If we stay with the current six-period day, students will have fewer opportunities for electives (a reduction from seven to four electives) and no opportunity to make up for a failed credit in four years,” Carbone Rogers said.

The Seattle Department of Inspections and Construction has posted a notice for the permitting of a Shoreline Substantial Development Application to allow 38,560 cubic yards of grading for site remediation and installation of utilities in the 24th Avenue NW right-of-way at 5425 SHILSHOLE AVE NW.

Project includes installation of a new temporary pier adjacent to the existing 24th Avenue Pier, for construction staging and conveying construction spoils to barges for removal. Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement has been prepared by Seattle Public Utilities.

Permits required:

SEPA to approve, condition or deny pursuant to 25.05.660.

Shoreline Substantial Development Application to allow grading in an urban industrial shoreline environment.

The project number is #3025799 and comments may be submitted through 05/23/2017 here.

By Lindsay Peyton

Sylvester Middle School students rolled up their sleeves and got their hands dirty – literally – in the name of preventing pollution and saving the environment in honor of Earth Day.

During a service day on campus on Wednesday, April 19, eighth graders joined with volunteers from Washington Green Schools, Sounders FC’s RAVE Foundation, Barker Landscape Architects, Starbucks and the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle to install a rain garden and outdoor classroom on campus.

The project started a year ago, when Mary Eidmann, the City of Burien’s stormwater outreach specialist, emailed the science teachers at Sylvester to see if anyone would be interested in taking action to protect local watersheds.

Eidmann explained to teachers that students could make a major difference by planting a rain garden -- a low spot that collects runoff from showers, allowing stormwater to be absorbed into the ground.

These gardens help prevent flooding and erosion – and also naturally filter the water to reduce pollution in creeks and streams.

By Lindsay Peyton

Frank Ricci grew up in the restaurant business. Cooking is in his blood – and he can’t imagine doing anything else.

Ricci’s earliest memories are of hanging out in his family’s business, Angelo’s of Burien.

The Italian restaurant has been a fixture in the neighborhood for about 60 years.

His father Angelo Ricci first opened a small deli on the corner of SW 153 and 6th Ave in Burien in 1957. Restaurant seating was added in 1961, and the place went from being a stop to grab a sandwich to a well-known establishment for a full Italian dinner.

Ricci said his father was mainly at the front of the house – and his brothers taught him to cook. His eight siblings almost all worked in the restaurant. When he was only 12 or 13 years old, he followed suit.

“I was just helping, doing anything I could,” Ricci said. “When I got a little older, I started doing dishes. I learned salad prep and then how to cook on the stove.”

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