Lavon Marie (Bonnie) Bannon, born in Everett, WA on May 4, 1924, died on May 18, 2018. She grew up in Ballard and was an American Airlines Stewardess and a licensed seaplane pilot in the 1940’s. She later worked for Seattle City Light, where she met Cal Bannon and they married in 1951.
Calvin Frederick Bannon passed March 7, 2019 reaching 98 years of an active, productive and charmed life. Born February 15, 1921, he resided his entire life on the shores of Fauntleroy in West Seattle. Cal was a World War II “Hump” pilot, flying C-47 (DC3) cargo planes on China-Burma-India routes.
information from The Whale Trail
Last week Governor Jay Inslee signed five bills to protect southern resident orcas. The new laws will reduce vessel noise and disturbance, improve salmon habitat, reduce contaminants, provide protection from oil spills, and educate boaters. The Canadian Government also announced new measures to protect orcas including establishing feeding sanctuaries for the orcas and setting a distance setback of 400 yards for all vessels. A good week for the whales!
information from Highline Public Schools
To give families what they need to support their children, Highline Public Schools will launch a new mobile app and online family portal in fall 2019. The new app will give Highline the opportunity to provide open, two-way communication with families and provide resources to support students at home.
ParentVUE, the new app and online family portal, will offer a number of features. Families will be able to:
A man driving a Honda hybrid northbound on 59th SW approaching Admiral Way SW was struck from behind by a driver in a Toyota Rav 4 near Horton Street SW causing both vehicles to head down the embankment that splits the roadway in the block. According to the driver of the Honda, Jim Lee, he was told the driver of the Toyota, whose wife was also in the car, suffered a medical emergency of some kind causing him to accelerate and hit the Honda, then hit a power pole and roll over.
When emergency crews arrived the couple had to be extricated by cutting the roof off the Toyota.
Lee, said he has no specific memory of the incident itself. He said,"I was going down nice and smooth and the next thing I know, I wake up to the car on this side. I might have been out for a second. When I came to I didn't even know I was on this side. I thought I was still up there I pried the door open and realized I was on this side."
OLYMPIA – On April 10, the Washington State Senate approved a bill to update Washington’s child pornography laws by a vote of 25-19. House Bill 1742, also known as the Responsible Teen Communications Act, would ensure minors who share sexually explicit images or videos of themselves or their peers (commonly known as “sexting”) are not automatically charged with a felony sex offense.
information from King County Sheriff
During Spring, the air warms, but Washington’s waterways remain cold. King County Sheriff’s Office Marine Rescue Dive Unit are reminding boaters and paddlers that wearing a life jacket is a safety necessity.
While people are encouraged to always wear a life jacket no matter the water temperature or season, public safety officials stress that wearing a life jacket – not just having it on the boat – significantly increases the chances of surviving a fall into cold water.
Despite recent warmer weather, water temperatures statewide are still below 60 degrees – cold enough to cause the gasp reflex and incapacitate even strong swimmers in less than one minute.
Western Washington University incoming freshman Brianna Pruitt, daughter of Brian Pruitt and Sarah Brewer of Burien, received the $1,000 Bess Fosse Scholarship in Environmental Studies for the 2019-2020 academic year.
The Bess Fosse Scholarship provides support for a full-time undergraduate student majoring in Environmental Studies in Western’s Huxley College of the Environment. Preference is given to applicants who plan to work in a field that benefits the environment.
Pruitt will graduate from Highline High School in June.
By Sarah Mackay – sjleadership.com
Dawndra Budd, one of West Seattle’s hippest photographers embraces life’s journey artistically by capturing humans within whimsical and wild landscapes. A woman perched on a rock surrounded by magical dark water or a surreal, Victorian era image depicting a young girl caught between space and time. Immensely soulful and expressive work fills Dawndra’s creative spirit.
“I like to focus on the subject and environment, to capture what’s important, the beauty of humans within the elements,” she said.
Art was nonexistent in her childhood home. It wasn’t until she attended Evergreen College where she found her passion and a world of like-minded people. She flourished and grew into the artist she is today. She’s over-the-moon about photography and people.
By Jean Godden
I have just finished watching the WDOT video of giant cranes demolishing the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The sequence posted on the state highway department site shows a swarm of cranes chewing into the old roadway. It's spellbinding: like hyenas tearing into road kill.
The good news is that, after 66 years, the Alaskan Way Viaduct that shadowed our waterfront and separated Seattle from its deep-water harbor is being demolished. The downside is that demolition of the Viaduct, sometimes known as "Seattle's biggest mistake," is taking longer than estimated.
Waterfront businesses, dependent on summer visitors, had been given a tacit, though not firm, promise that the state's subcontractors would have the structure cleared away by June 1. Now it looks as if the job will not be finished until sometime in August.
