West Seattle Herald | Recent Articles

Slots open at Chief Sealth for summer credit retrieval

Ty Swenson — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:15:34 +0000

The following notice was sent out by Seattle Public Schools:

There are still slots open for summer credit retrieval for high school students in West Seattle.

Classes start Monday at Chief Sealth International High School. Of the 75 spaces available; just 41 are filled. Classes run June 24-Aug. 8 (no school July 4-5) and are scheduled Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Full participation and attendance is required or students will be dropped from the program.

Priority will be given to 11th and 12th grade students who need to retrieve both Language Arts and Math credit.

Students who enroll in the program and attend June 24-28 will be provided with an Orca card for the month of July to get to and from their school site.

Interested students who fit the above criteria should contact Janet Blanford via email at jlblanford@seattleschools.org.

ArtShow @ the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse debuts June 20

patr — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:12:23 +0000

A brand new art show is set for the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse June 20 from 6:30 to 8:30pm. The ArtShow at the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse at 9131 California Ave. SW will show paintings and more from West Seattle artists Linda McClamrock, June Olson, Gail Ann, Pamela Coffey and others.

For more information call 425-445-4064

Ciscoe Morris appearing at West Seattle Nursery

patr — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:07:45 +0000

Well known KING5 TV gardening expert Ciscoe Morris is making a guest appearance at the West Seattle Nursery June 20 and there are still tickets left according to the company. Tickets are only $10 but there is a limit of 5 per person and there are only 100 tickets available.

This is also a celebration of the 30 years of business for the Nursery so they will have food, refreshments and prizes.

The event runs from 5 to 8pm.

Call for more information 935-9276 or via email contact Galen Guffy at galen@westseattlenursery.com.

West Seattle Nursery is located at 5275 California Ave SW

Will West Seattle win the title of 'Greenest Neighborhood'?

patr — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:50:22 +0000

Information from Call2Recycle

Seattle residents are being asked to take part in a friendly recycling competition June 22-26 to help their neighborhood win the title of Greenest Seattle Neighborhood.

Call2Recycle, North America’s first and largest consumer battery stewardship and recycling program, is partnering with The Seattle Public Library to put battery collection boxes at six different branches across the city. The neighborhood whose box weighs the most will be crowned the greenest in Seattle. Boxes will be weighed at Call2Recycle’s collection event June 28 at Westlake Park with the help of local celebrity John Curley.

“Building on the success of last year’s Battery Recycling Day, which was proclaimed by Mayor Mike McGinn, we are again celebrating on June 28,” says Jennifer Childress, director of marketing and communications for Call2Recycle. “In honor of this, we want to know which Seattle neighborhood can gather the most batteries. After you drop off batteries, make sure to tweet us at @Call2Recycle so we can say thank you.”

Battery collection boxes will be at Ballard, Beacon Hill, Capitol Hill, West Seattle, Lake City, and University libraries June 22-June 26, accessible during regular business hours.

“The Seattle Public Library is happy to be involved,” says Chance Hunt, The Seattle Public Library’s assistant director of community partnerships and government relations. “We’re excited to see how many batteries Seattleites can donate for recycling, and to find out which neighborhood truly is the greenest.”

Drop off all types of household batteries (weighing up to 11 pounds each), including both single-use batteries and rechargeable batteries commonly found in laptops and digital cameras. Obsolete cellphones can also be dropped off at the libraries for recycling. The West Seattle drop off is the SPL branch at 2306 42nd Ave SW.

More details about the June 28 Battery Recycle Day event, which will feature live music, celebrity John Curley, and prize drawings, can be found at www.call2recycle.org/takecharge. Questions about batteries or the competition? Tweet @Call2Recycle using hashtag #TakeCharge.

Why should batteries be recycled?

By collecting and recycling batteries, Call2Recycle reduces landfill waste and removes potentially harmful heavy metals from the waste stream, preventing possible contamination of groundwater, soil and other natural resources. The collected batteries and cellphones are sorted, processed and reclaimed. Materials recovered are used to create new batteries, concrete additives and a variety of stainless steel products.

About Call2Recycle®

Founded in 1994, Call2Recycle—North America's first and largest battery stewardship program—is a non-profit organization that collects and recycles batteries at no cost for municipalities, businesses and consumers. Since 1996, Call2Recycle has diverted over 75 million pounds of rechargeable batteries and cellphones from the solid waste stream and established 30,000 collection sites throughout the U.S. and Canada. It is the first program of its kind to receive the Responsible Recycling Practices Standard (R2) certification. Learn more at call2recycle.org or 877-723-1297. Follow at facebook.com/call2recycle or twitter.com/call2recycle.

Ola Salon fundraiser to recover from $25,000 burglary will happen June 19 at Salty's

patr — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:45:20 +0000

On June 19 a fundraiser for Ola Salon, which was victimized in a $25,000 burglary recently, will be held at Salty's on Alki. An auction will be part of the event which runs from 6:30 to 9:30pm.

“All auction proceeds and a portion of all ticket sales will go to the salon. We need our West Seattle neighbors to know that we’ve got their back.” says Nick Nordby, VP of Business Development for Salty’s Restaurants, “We all need to look out for each other because you never know who might be next.”

All proceeds from the auction and a large portion of the ticket sales will go towards the salon. Owners Gerry & Kathy Kingen said, “I couldn’t believe it when I saw the news…they’re just down the street from us. My heart just sunk.”

Auction items will include everything from helicopter tours, to Salty’s World famous brunch packages, to signed Seahawks jerseys. The event is open to the public. Glitzy, sparkly cocktail attire is encouraged, but not required.

While the salon does have insurance, any additional funds will be donated to Transitional Resources an organization that helps "adults living with the most serious and persistent forms of mental illness by providing respectful and optimistic recovery-oriented services, affordable housing, and advocacy against discrimination which works to break the cycle of incarceration, hospitalization and homelessness."

Owner Rachel Karlin said, "This is so amazing to see the community respond like this. I'm so grateful." She explained that the burglary was apparently very organized and that, "they must have had a good size rig because they took so much stuff." Karlin also said that because the thieves took expensive shears and product it has had a major impact on the business operations. The monies raised will in part help them get back in balance.

Visit www.Saltys.com for more information.

Ticket Price: $45

Sheriff's Office seeking victims of Vietnamese con artist working out of White Center

Ty Swenson — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:30:08 +0000

Information from the King County Sheriff's Office:

*Please note, this press release is also available in Vietnamese, posted right after the English version.

Detectives are looking for victims of a Vietnamese con artist who has been posing as an employee of DSHS to gain the trust of her victims.

Detectives said that 39 year old Oanh Nguyen of White Center would contact her victims in the DSHS office in the 9600 block of 15 Ave SW. Nguyen would pose as a DSHS employee and approach Vietnamese-speaking clients and ask if they needed help completing forms.

During her contact with the clients, she would tell them she needed help depositing a check because she did not have a bank account. Nguyen would ask the client to deposit a check into their bank account and give her the cash.

At least six agreed to help Nguyen and deposited her checks, giving her cash from their accounts. In each of the cases, her checks later bounced because the accounts were closed.

Detectives said Nguyen is also suspected of fraudulently accepting mortgage payments from Vietnamese-speaking clients when she worked as an unlicensed mortgage broker. Detectives said that from 2009-2010, Nguyen reportedly accepted mortgage payments from Vietnamese clients and never passed the payments on to the lender. One victim in particular was unaware that Nguyen was not making the payments until his house was in the process of foreclosure.

Detectives said the common denominator in these cases appears to be that the victims speak Vietnamese and little or no English. Detectives add that Nguyen also frequents the Rainier DSHS Office at 3600 Graham St. in Seattle.

On 6/13/13, Oanh Nguyen was arrested and booked into the King County Jail for investigation of fraud, ID theft, forgery, and unlawful issuance of bank checks.

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Thám Tử của hạt King thông báo rằng họ đang tìm thêm những nạn nhân của một kẻ lừa đảo, mạo danh là nhân viên của Sở Y Tế & Xã Hội (DSHS) để lấy sự tin cậy của họ.

Thám Tử cho biết rằng, bà Oanh-Nguyễn, 39 tuổi, ngụ ở khu White Center đã thường mạo danh là một nhân viên của DSHS lân la làm quen với những khách hàng người Việt đến sở Xã Hội, giả vờ giúp họ điền đơn xin dịch vụ xã hội ở văn phòng của sở DSHS toạ lạc tại khu số 9600 ở đường 15th Ave SW.

Cảnh Sát nói rằng bà Nguyễn thường nhờ các nạn nhân giúp bà ta đặt cọc một ngân phiếu vào trương mục ngân hàng riêng của họ vì bà không có trương mục và sau đó họ đổi lấy tiền mặt cho bà ta.

Có ít nhất 6 nạn nhân đồng ý giúp bà Nguyễn, đặt cọc ngân phiếu để đổi lấy tiền giao lại cho bà nầy từ trương mục riêng của họ. Sau mỗi lần làm vậy là tấm ngân phiếu của bà Nguyễn bị nhà băng trả lại vì không tiền bảo chứng với lý do là trương mục của bà đã đóng, theo lời của các Thám Tử.

Thám Tử cho biết thêm rằng từ năm 2003-2010, bà Nguyễn đã nhận tiền trả tiền nhà từ các khách hàng người Việt tuy nhiên bà ta đã không gửi trả cho các ngân hàng cho vay nợ. Có một nạn nhân đã không biết sự kiện nầy xảy ra cho đến khi căn nhà của ông ta mua đã bị ngân hàng thực hiện thủ tục xiết nhà, theo báo cáo của cảnh sát.

Thám Tử nói rằng các nạn nhân có một điểm giống nhau là họ đều là người Việt và ít hiểu biết tiếng Anh.

Cảnh Sát nói là bà Nguyễn cũng thường lân la ở văn phòng sở Xã Hội (DSHS) ở số 3600 Gramham Street của thành phố Seattle.

Bà Nguyễn đã bị câu lưu vào nhà giam của hạt King và bị truy tố theo các tội danh lừa đảo, mạo nhận lý lịch người khác, làm giả ngân phiếu và viết ngân phiếu không tiền bảo chứng.

Nếu ai đã từng là nạn nhân của bà Nguyễn, xin liên lạc ông Peter Truong, King County Community Service Officer ở số 206-423-2932, 206-296-3323, hoặc trạm cảnh sát ở Burien số 206-296-3333.

Admiral Theater and Mind Unwind present late night film and art show June 21

patr — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:21:35 +0000

Admiral Theater and local art gallery and education provider Mind Unwind are launching a Late Night film and art series Friday June 21 at 11 pm.

Mind Unwind, specializes in unique artworks and art education in local schools.

The event is a fundraiser to raise money for both the Admiral Theater’s upcoming renovations and for supporting Arts in Education through the Mind Unwind Foundation.

The evening will include a silent auction, live music, a photo opp with "Bruce the shark" and an art supply drive for the children’s school program.

Artist J. Conrad Nivens will also be exhibiting his LOST AT SEA, mixed media collection.

Because beer & wine will be served, the event is 21 + Doors open at 10:00 PM

White Center abduction attempt might be related to burglary says Sheriff

patr — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:10:15 +0000

The King County Sheriff's office today said that a residential burglary attempt of an occupied house occurred on Sunday night on the same street as an attempted abduction of a 3 year old child on June 2. King County detectives believe it may be the same suspect in both cases.

A press release from the Sheriff explained:

In this most recent incident, the suspect attempted to enter a bedroom window of a house in the 10400 block of 3 Ave SW just after 10pm. A 1 year old child was sleeping in the room and the child’s mother had stepped out of the room for a moment but returned and saw the suspect pushing on the window screen. The child’s mother screamed and the suspect fled.

A relative who was home at the time jumped out the window and chased the suspect losing him near SW106th and 2 Ave SW. The suspect was wearing a grey hoodie and tan shorts.

When deputies arrived in the area they saw a red Mazda Pickup driving quickly out of the area. When deputies tried to stop the vehicle, a female passenger exited the vehicle and the vehicle sped off. The vehicle crashed a short distance away and the suspect fled on foot. The suspect was wearing clothes that matched those of the burglary suspect and was described as “tall and skinny.”

The vehicle was determined to have been stolen from Seattle on May 31st.

The previous incident on the street was on June 2nd when a suspect attempted to abduct a 3 year old child from his yard. The child’s mother was able to fight with the suspect to keep him from taking the child.

In the first incident is the suspect was described as a male, approximately 6’0 tall, and skinny. He wore a full mask, dark gloves, and all black clothing including a tight dark shirt, dark pants, and dark shoes.

It's going to get louder; Pile driving begins at Barton Pump Station on Fauntleroy

patr — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:40:51 +0000

Information from King County

Starting as early as Wednesday, June 19, crews will need to install additional steel sheet piles in order to complete soil stabilization work at the Barton Pump Station. As crews install the sheet piles, there will be a temporary closure of the north ferry entrance lane and toll booth on Thursday, June 20. The lane is expected to be re-opened by 3:30 p.m. but could extend into the evening commute.

King County will notify commuters and the community if the lane closure extends past 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 20. Work is expected to be complete by Friday, June 21.

During jet grouting activities, crews determined that soils in the southwest corner of the site were incompatible with the jet grout. Crews have already installed one set of necessary sheet piles and now must complete the work.

Installing the piles requires the use of a vibrating hammer, which is expected to increase levels of noise and vibration. In an effort to mitigate these impacts, a portion of the pile locations will be pre-drilled and filled with sand. The crew will be closely monitoring vibration levels to minimize disruption to the extent possible.

What to expect

· Temporary closure of the north ferry entrance lane and toll booth on Thursday, June 20, expected to end by 3:30 p.m.
· Increased noise and vibration around the project site
· Flagger to continue moving traffic through site and in and out of the ferry terminal entrance
· Heavy equipment on site
· Work hours typically 8:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday

SLIDESHOW: WSLL Dodgers fall to the Angels in high scoring tournament game

patr — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:39:14 +0000

The West Seattle Dodgers Little League Minor team took on the American Angels in the single elimination game to determine the champion in the 8-10 year old class. Both teams battled through a grueling schedule of games to arrive at this final game match up.

The Dodgers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning and by the third their lead had increased to 4-1, but the Angels battled back and tied the game at 5-5 in the fourth. The score would change hands several times over the next two innings but was tied up at the end of regulation play at 8-8. In extra play the Angels exploded for six runs and held off a Dodgers rally to win the game 14-8.

The game was so exciting that even the coaches of both teams couldn’t recall the score once the game ended.

One coach remarked “Isn’t this fun! I’m so happy for the kids. What a baseball game”!

Even though some of the young Dodgers players were on the edge of tears after striking out it was all smiles after the game when they held their trophies, and isn’t that what it’s all about. Play the game, do your best, and above all… Have fun.

The team won 19 games in a row and ended their season with a 20-2 record.

Congratulations to the Dodgers, Angels and all of the “Boys of summer”.

Disaster communications exercise will test radio operator skills at SSCC this weekend

patr — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:53:12 +0000

press release
We all rely on the Internet, cell phones, email and other forms of modern communications; however these systems are vulnerable to disruption. Every year whole regions of the country find themselves in the dark. Tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, storms, ice and even the occasional cutting of fiber optic cables leave people without the means to communicate. In these cases, the one consistent service that doesn't fail and provides back-up for communities is Amateur Radio.

These radio operators, often called "Hams" are organized into teams that provide back-up communications for agencies responding to emergencies including the Seattle Office of Emergency Management, American Red Cross, area hospitals and FEMA. During the weekend of Saturday and Sunday June 22nd and 23rd, four Seattle amateur radio groups join together forming one local team competing in the National ham radio Field Day Event with thousand of Amateur Radio operators making radio contacts throughout North America. This event is a good opportunity for operators to demonstrate their emergency communications capabilities. The public is invited to visit the event hosted by South Seattle Community College, at the West Seattle Campus.

Seattle's team will be exercising the newest digital and satellite capabilities, voice communications and even historical Morse code as they compete in the contest making as many radio contacts as possible with other teams to win points. Operations will be conducted under simulated emergency conditions with ham radio equipment being powered by batteries, generators, wind turbines and solar arrays.

This year's team is comprised of members from the Auxiliary Communications Service and Medical Service Team that support the Seattle Office of Emergency Management. Also participating in the event are members of the Puget Sound Repeater Group and the West Seattle Amateur Radio Club, rounding out the crew. Seattle's team will join with over 35,000 other amateur radio operators showing off their emergency preparedness capabilities, erecting ham radio stations in community parks, campgrounds, schools and emergency centers through out the country.

Field Coordinator for the Seattle event, Curt Black said, "The public is invited to see what ham radio is all about and have a chance to try their hand at making radio contacts and experience how much fun it is to operate an amateur radio station. This is a chance to meet and talk with Seattle's radio operators and see what modern Amateur Radio Emergency Service is all about. During the two day event we will have demonstrations of Satellite communications, a digital communications workshop and an opportunity to learn how to get your own FCC radio license before the next disaster strikes."

The City of Seattle through the Office of Emergency Management sponsors this event as part of its plan to provide support to community preparedness programs organized by neighborhoods in several Seattle communities. Ham radio is a primary resource that the City calls on should telephone, cellular systems and the internet fail.

The staging area for the Seattle city ham radio event is provided by South Seattle Community College and is located in a large grass field in the south east sector of the Campus near Olympic Hall. On-Air operations start at 11 Am Saturday they will continue till 12 Pm Sunday.

Over the past year, the news has been full of reports of ham radio operators providing critical communications during unexpected emergencies in town across America including the Moore, Oklahoma storm aftermath, and other events world-wide. When trouble is brewing, Amateur Radio's people are often the first to provide rescuers with critical information and communications.

"The fastest way to turn a crisis into a total disaster is to lose communications," said Allen Pitts, spokesman for the ARRL. "From the tornado in Moore, to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, ham radio provided the most reliable communication networks in the first critical hours of the event. Because ham radios are not dependent on the Internet, cell towers or other infrastructure, they work when northing else is available. We need nothing between is but air."

Amateur Radio is growing in the US. There are now over 700,000 Amateur Radio licensees in the US, and more than 2.5 million around the word. Through the ARRL's Amateur Radio Emergency Services program, ham volunteers provide both emergency communication for thousand of state and local emergency response agencies and non-emergency community services too, all for free.

For more information about preparedness and amateur radio - please visit:
Seattle Emergency Management: http://www.seattle.gov/emergency/default.htm
Seattle Auxiliary Communications Services: http://www.seattleacs.com
Western Washing Medical Service Team: http://ww7mst.org
West Seattle Amateur Radio Club website: http://www.westseattlearc.org/
Puget Sound Repeater Group: http://www.psrg.org/
ARRL the national association for Amateur Radio: http://www.arrl.org/

Transportation spending package addresses sites where fatal accidents took place and more

patr — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 05:42:04 +0000

The City of Seattle took steps on June 17 to address West Seattle road safety issues among other transportation priorities as part of a $3 million spending package made possible by the Spokane Street Viaduct and 2013 debt service savings.

A list of the priorities was released by City Council Budget Committee Chair Tim Burgess and Transportation Committee Chair Tom Rasmussen.

The local safety improvements that were recommended by Mayor McGinn for East Marginal Way (the site of a truck/bike accident that killed Lance David will also include a full traffic signal at the intersection of 47th Avenue SW and SW Admiral Way (the site of an accident that took the life of Tatsuo Nakata in 2006). Additionally improvements will be made at NE 75th Street (the site of a recent pedestrian accident with multiple fatalities).

Finally funding will make possible freight mobility spot improvements, traffic signals, and other pedestrian safety and maintenance projects.

The proposed spending package adds and reallocates more than $3 million from the Mayor’s original proposal to fund safety improvements and backlogged maintenance to enable the work to begin as soon as possible. The transportation budget will be considered by the Government Performance and Finance Committee at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 19.

In a press release the City of Seattle said:

“We must fix what we have, finish what we’ve started and plan wisely for the future for all transportation modes. Our proposal will help balance these needs, which are crucial to keeping people safe and our economy moving in the right direction,” said Councilmember Tim Burgess. “We have a road and bridge maintenance backlog that grows by tens of millions of dollars each year. We have planning for bus and high capacity transit projects underway now that will require half a billion dollars in funding that we do not have. Our proposal is intended to ensure every City dollar that goes to transportation will be spent to meet current critical safety, maintenance and transit needs.”

“The City’s primary focus should be on making safety and maintenance repairs now and on improving transit service in critical bus corridors such as Eastlake Avenue,” said Councilmember Tom Rasmussen.

Funding for additional automated school zone speed cameras is included in the package. The councilmembers will soon introduce separate legislation establishing a financial policy mandating that revenue from existing school zone cameras and any future ones be used exclusively for pedestrian and road safety improvements around schools.

The proposed transportation package does not include funding for a Ship Canal crossing study because Sound Transit and the Seattle Department of Transportation are conducting a high capacity transit study for the downtown to Ballard corridor now. Discussion of a ship canal crossing will follow the results of that study. The package also changes the scope of the proposed Eastlake High Capacity Transit study to focus on more immediate bus corridor improvements.

Legislation for this supplemental spending package will be introduced to the Full Council this afternoon and considered by the Government Performance and Finance Committee at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 19.

City buying additional service for local 21, 120 bus routes

Ty Swenson — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 21:24:48 +0000

On June 17, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and King County Metro General Manager Kevin Desmond announced the city is “buying more than 5,000 hours of added service per year through early 2016 on nine high ridership bus routes …” including the 21 and 120 routes through West Seattle.

The city will spend $750,000 saved from the Bridging the Gap levy to pay for the service, that will increase frequency from 30 to 15 or 60 to 30 minutes, depending on the route and time of day.

“This one-time savings will help us make transit a better option for more people,” McGinn said in a statement. “But there isn’t any more money where that came from. I stand with mayors from across King County and Washington State to urge our legislature to pass the local transportation funding package we proposed to them in February, which includes revenue options that will help prevent a devastating 17 percent cut to Metro bus service.”

“It’s great to be able to add this service at a time of ridership growth,” Desmond said in the same statement released by the mayor’s office. “Every bit counts, but solutions are still needed to sustain service for all of Metro’s riders.”

Metro is facing a $75 million annual shortfall.

Additional background from the Mayor’s office:
McGinn has also been working to address Metro’s long-term needs. He brought together 47 mayors from across the state in the Mayor’s Transportation Forum to propose a solution to local communities’ transportation challenges. In February they agreed on a joint proposal that they brought to the governor and the legislature to provide cities and counties with new funding to support their transportation needs. In Seattle and King County, those options will help preserve and expand transit service, as well as tackle the road maintenance backlog. The proposal called for an eight cent per gallon gas tax increase, a Motor Vehicle Excise Tax option of up to 1.5 percent that counties could enact either by councilmanic action or public vote with options provided to counties for a specific level of MVET and method of revenue allocations, and expanding from $20 to $40 the vehicle license fee that can be enacted through public vote or councilmanic action. The state legislature is now in its second special session of the year and continues to debate a transportation funding package.

Numb Butt The Brave

patr — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:33:13 +0000

It was like a movie. A comedy, I think, now that I recall the decision to take the kids to Disneyland in the summer of 1955. With school out, we had to think fast on keeping the kids busy. Riding for thousands of miles in a 1951 Chrysler sedan was not our first choice.

Seattle to Los Angeles (remember, there was no freeway then!) is no small feat with four kids and their mother. Just imagine the number of things we had to take with every kid 13 or younger, down to age 4; all boys.

What was I thinking? Six blocks down the street, it had the makings of a tragi-comedy that sunny Saturday morning: We forgot to let the neighbors know we were leaving. We forgot to mention our lovable Cocker Spaniel Tiger, would need to be fed. We forgot to tell the paperboy to leave our daily paper in the box by the door. We forgot to tell the milkman to stop deliveries for two weeks. Back we went. I made the kids stay in the car while I tended to the aforementioned needs. That lasted not more than three minutes when two of them decided they had to "go". What? Now? What would they have done if we had made Highway 99 heading south just ten minutes before.

Google images

I'm human. I "go", but 26 times before we hit the Oregon border!? "Honey, tell the kids to stop drinking up all the pop we stashed around their feet", I advised my wife. Since the trunk was full of every carry bag and suitcase we had, we had no space for incidentals unless we stuck them into the back seat legroom areas. Big mistake. We had 1200 miles to think about the wisdom of our choices. The thoughts left me numb.

I grew up in Portland, our first stop. We visited the relatives, showed off our brood and left the next ayem for the California border. We were towing a 12-foot camper/trailer with one full-sized sleeping area and floor space for two kids. The other two had to sleep outside, which was just as well for me. They usually did not smell good.

Google images

In those days and I suspect even today the border guards stop you to check for fruit you might be bringing in to the state. California is very protective of its immense fruit growing industry and they want you to buy their fruit instate instead of bringing your own. Not really, it has something to do with contaminating the fruit with hellish little insects not native to the sweet California soil.

We stopped. Everyone piled out of the car while the guards inspected our vehicle. Patrick (age 4) wanted to rest inside the camper so we obliged him. Unwittingly, my wife shut the camper door after helping Patrick get comfortable. The door locked with the keys on the kitchen counter inside. It was against the law then as it is now to ride in a moving trailer. We were stuck until we could unstuck that camper door. It was our only key. Patrick was simply too young to understand our predicament...and he was sound asleep.

The guards were great. They carefully pried the simple lock without damage and we were back on the road. California weather is nice. Quite nice, but we were prepared. We purchased a window mounted air-conditioning unit for the passenger side. It held a gallon of water in front of an air distribution box that filtered the cool breeze into the cabin of the car. My beautiful wife nicknamed it ‘old face full’ because every ten minutes or so, a build up of water would spritz her vigorously in the face.

wikipedia image

The Redwood forests of Northern California loomed in the distance. We stopped again to visit Babe the Blue Ox and Paul Bunyan at the Trees of Mystery. I was crazy about the cockeyed owl in the trees. The kids disappeared within minutes. I should have known; Every tourist trap has a candy stand. Good for me that they did not have any money. That did not prevent them from begging, of course. I relented only on the condition that they stay close and try to learn something about trees.

They nodded in acceptance. One particular tree in the Mystery Forest is so wide you can drive a car through it. A very exciting prospect for the kids. What I did not count on was the back and forth request from the backseat gang. "Do it again", they cried. "Now back", "now forward". If there had been another vehicle I'm certain the driver would have wanted to clobber me for my insensitivity to the flow of traffic.

Google images

Cruising down the coast highway with its tidy little bends and turns we made it through to Pebble Beach. The 17-mile drive seemed like 30 because the wind howled causing our wimpy camper to sway like the Tacoma Narrows bridge in 1940.

Before long we pulled into Knott’s Berry Farm (not on our intinerary). The wife had heard it was quite a place for kids and grownups. She was right. We spent the day visiting the old west saloon (we had sarsaparilla) while the kids rode the rides and played games on the midway. An old White Center friend, Russ Hofdahl, later became the Train House proprietor at the Farm. Russ used to work with Gil Mjelde at the old White Center Garage.

Walt Disney had a great idea. Build a theme park in Anaheim, among the orange groves and invite the world to play. It was a sensation. Disneyland is considerably larger than Knott’s Berry Farm with many more people-friendly attractions. Or at least I think so. I have not been back to either one since 1955 but I know that it costs me $1 per person for the family to get through the gates at Walt’s park. Now I think it is $92 but of course there are no individual ticket prices for the rides. I guess things just cost less 58 years ago.

13 going on 16, my oldest son, Micheal, wanted to drive the free-wheeling autopia cars. They were a small go-kart style chassis with a futuristic fiberglass body. It really seemed like we were on a California freeway, what with the traffic jams. Micheal caused the slow down because he neglected to release the parking brake as we started out.

We did the stuff families do. Frontier Land, Fantasy Land, Tomorrow Land, all in one day. We were pooped. We should have planned better and stayed longer. Alas, we had to go. We headed out onto West Katella Avenue. We hadn’t gone 1/4 mile when the camper began to wobble uncontrollably behind the car. A moment later it careened off the hitch and into a drainage ditch next to an orange grove. Miraculously it had only a few scrapes and some interior disarray.

With help from fellow drivers, we got it back up on the road and re-hitched. I had forgotten to tighten the hitch crank when I left Seattle. How it stayed on through the entire distance was as puzzling to me as the Trees of Mystery. I had rented it from a friend in Kent. He was not happy about the exterior decorating on the side of the camper. I apologized and begged forgiveness for my transgressions. He was numb.

So was I.

Right out of a movie.

A tragi-comedy.

SLIDESHOW: West Seattle Orioles challenge but lose in Dist. 7 tournament

patr — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:26:00 +0000

An extended stay at the District 7 Major Little League Tournament of Champions was not to be for the West Seattle Orioles.

They took a 9-4 loss to the PacWest Dodgers on Friday to be eliminated in the opener of the single-elimination tournament.

West Seattle jumped out to an early lead with a run in the bottom of the second inning of the game played at the Normandy Park City Hall fields.

Paul Johnson singled to start it off, then came around on a wild pitch, a stolen base and a grounder to short by Ben Trigg.

The Dodgers team that draws from Burien and SeaTac answered with one in the top of the third as Trenton Brown doubled to left center and came around on a dropped third strike followed by a wild pitch.
Mark McLean then scored for PacWest in the top of the fourth, hitting a single and taking second on a wild pitch that led to two errant throws that brought him on in.

West Seattle jumped out front, 4-2, with two runs in the fourth with the help of base hits by Jackson Sullivan and Trigg sandwiched around a pair of PacWest errors.

But the Dodgers jumped out front again with three in the fifth.

Ethan Weets drew a walk ahead of another double to left center by Brown. Two errors on the same play scored Weets and Brown. John Kemp then singled, advanced as Dylan Shaw was hit by a pitch and scored on a single by McClean.

PacWest racked up four insurance runs in the top of the sixth and final inning.

Tim Elliott walked, Weets singled and Brown walked to load the bases. After back-to-back popouts to first, Shaw walked to bring in a run, McClean singled to drive in one to cap off a 3-for-3 day and Will Roberson reached on a dropped third strike. Alonzo Zaragoza walked to force in the fourth run of the rally.

McClean then capped off two innings of perfect relief for the Dodgers by inducing three straight ground outs. McClean had struck out three straight in the fifth.

West Seattle actually finished with more strikeouts than PacWest by a 16-10 margin.

The Orioles of West Seattle included Chris Frost, Joe Pare, Jack Summers, Jackson Sullivan, Paul Johnson, Eli Dever, Ben Trigg, Corey Zarowski, Greg Cramer and Adam Chin.

Meeting an Activist Clone

patr — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:44:25 +0000

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

Recently a member of a group that I belong to e-mailed me to ask if I would agree to an interview about my early days in the woman’s movement. A high school junior from Woodinville was doing a paper on that period in HERstory as I call it. We touched base on e-mail and I was soon opening my front door to greet a lovely young person with tape recorder ready. She was well prepared with questions that she hoped would precipitate many stories about my being involved in women’s issues. Anyone who knows me realizes how many stories I have to tell.

Now as you know, people are of all sorts and inclinations. Some like to be on stage, as it were, while others prefer to stay in the background. That certainly adds to the diversity of life. If everyone was like me the world would tip on its axis I am sure. So here was this sweet young self-declared feminist seeking out a feminist from the early women’s movement of the late sixties and early seventies—yes the last century.
Her first query was, “What led you to become a feminist?” That was a no brainer for me.

I had been born to a widowed mother just a month or so after my father died. Instead of being coached to lower my eyes and give the come-on signal to a young fellow I was prepared to be independent and, after college, to make my own living. What a difference from the way other young women were brought up. Mothers in my day prepared a daughter to be attractive to a man who was expected to be the breadwinner in the family. Fathers often treated their daughters much differently from their sons. But there was none of that for me. I was groomed to finish college and get into a profession with retirement benefits.

As I sat with tape recorder eating up all my words it was like an aphrodisiac in a way. My role is to share my life learnings with younger people and here I had the chance to have my words preserved for a special paper my new friend would be preparing about me. She admitted that she was having difficulty persuading her young friends to shed sexist language. I immediately felt a strong connection to this 21st century trailblazer. After all, I had been through a lot of the same difficulty in my earlier life of being shot out of the cannon of feminism into a world not aware of the need for change.

It was a little like looking into my own past as I looked across the table at this eager young woman with a passion for bringing social awareness to her own generation.

I shared with her my awakening to the need for equality for females. It was like something came alive in my brain releasing new insights and letting go of outmoded patterns of thinking. How exciting it was for me to think of being a part of social change benefitting women. Here I was sitting with one of the new generation of activists—an intelligent, truth seeker who could take up the challenge where I had left off.

So many wonderful people have come into my life and I cherish the chance to interact with them and stay connected. Just the other day I returned to swim class after a few months of down time. It was great to be welcomed back. One younger woman said, “You are a beacon of living life fully.” I love being a beacon and hope that this new wave of women’s equality will open up even more avenues for my young women friends to freely travel on. It is great to pass on the torch to capable hands.

Georgie Bright Kunkel is a freelance writer who can be reached at gnkunkel@comcast.net or 206-935-8663.

Open discussion with West Seattle Crime Prevention Council on June 18

Ty Swenson — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:43:45 +0000

WEST SEATTLE CRIME PREVENTION COUNCIL Community Safety Meeting,
TUESDAY, June 18, 2013
@ Southwest Police Precinct,
2300 SW Webster, 7 – 8:30pm

The June meeting will be open for discussion of various topics and community concerns. Please sent topics or issues to our e-mail below or bring your questions or concerns in written form to the meeting.
This will allow us to better budget our time.

Lt. Davis will be on hand to report on crime trends in the SW Precinct and take questions from the audience.

Reminders:
Seattle Night Out Aug 6, 2013
SW Police Precinct Picnic, Aug 17, 2013

THE MEETING IS OPEN TO EVERYONE.
For more information contact WSCPC at westseattleCPC@gmail.com

NEXT MEETING Sept 17, 2013

SLIDESHOW: 2013 Gravity Gran Prix comes to White Center

patr — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 00:07:37 +0000

The third year of the Jubilee Days Pinewood Derby Gravity Gran Prix arrives at Big Al Brewing. This coming Sunday June 23rd racers from around the Burien, White Center, and West Seattle area will compete in the 2013 Gravity Gran Pre. The event is an all age’s affair with food and music in big Al’s beer garden. The car weigh in period will begin at 2pm with the first qualifying race shortly after.

A new competitor in this year’s races is TEAM FOTO54. TEAM FOTO54 will be filming the races for an upcoming documentary and word from the pits is this team has put together a very fast and competitive race car. I was able to meet up with the team during a testing session at their secret White Center location to see for myself what all buzz is about.

Team owner Greg McCorkle met me at Big Al’s and insisted that I be blindfolded so as not to reveal the location of TEAM FOTO54’s secret workshop.

Upon arrival I was greeted by the entire team. Along with team owner Greg McCorkle there was the team's ace driver Greg McCorkle, Crew Chief Greg McCorkle, head mechanic Greg McCorkle, and lead photographer Greg McCorkle. All were excited to have coverage of their new car and talk about the documentary.

Driver Greg McCorkle was the most animated about the race. “I just came in from our test course and the car behaved beautifully. The crew has found the sweet spot and I expect this car to be extremely fast on race day”.

Driver Greg McCorkle

What improvements have been made to the car? “if I told you I’d have to kill you” McCorkle jokingly responded. “No, just kidding. It really comes down to weight distribution. With the camera gear that GoPro has provided for the documentary the cars center of gravity had to be radically altered. We contacted Greg McCorkle at Weight Distribution Systems and he was able to come up with a radical frame design that still meets the race rules”.

How has the car performed in the past? “We did well last month in Sao Paulo with a fourth place finish but that was due mostly to a late race pit stop to change tires, other than that with the new body design she’s running well and I expect better results this Sunday.”

Crew member Greg McCorkle fuels up the car which oddly enough uses no fuel

Do you expect to move up in the world ranking before the season ends? “The car holds the number thirteen ranking in the world but I expect that to change on Sunday… I’m referring to winning on Sunday and increasing our points standing in a very tight points race. Several teams are within 3 points of one another so finishing strong will help. We’d like to finish the season with a number four ranking and we can go a long way to accomplish that with a win on Sunday”.

Crew Chief Greg McCorkle talked about the challenges that came up with the new car. “Like Greg was saying we had to create a new frame design that was lite enough to cut weight and at the same time be strong enough to hold up to the stresses that will be put on the frame during the many heats the car will be involved in over the course of the entire race day. I think Greg McCorkle and the folks over at Weight Distribution have done a fine job”. Head mechanic Greg McCorkle chimed in “The frame matched up well with our new body design. It really was a kind of plug and play match up thing”.

Team FOTO54 L-R Owner Greg McCorkle, driver Greg McCorkle, Crew members Greg McCorkle and Greg McCorkle

About the body, which is very sleek indeed, I asked team owner Greg McCorkle how this new design came about. “We decided a few weeks after the Sao Paulo finish that an entirely new concept needed to be explored. We worked with new plastic compositions and developed a new process that got us to this design. Wind tunnel testing validated the math and along with our new frame design we were able to bring the car in at 2.1 ounces. That’s really important because the camera is over half of that cars weight. We should easily come in under the 5 ounce weight limit”.

Team owner Greg McCorkle-left- talks strategy with driver Greg McCorkle

Has weight been an issue in the past? “Last year at Montauque Le Bonne in Quebec we came in a tenth of a gram over weight but we had plenty of time to correct issue before the first qualifying lap and the car ran well and Greg drove it to a third place finish. Everybody pushes the weight thing, it’s the competitive nature that all of the teams have so there will be overs but there is usually plenty of time to correct the problem and get re weighed before the first qualifier”.

Lead photographer Greg McCorkle was very excited to be part of this racing event. ‘The folks at GoPro went above and beyond in helping me with my concept for this documentary. After doing still photography at last years race I really wanted to show the people on the West Side how much fun the Grand Pre event here at Big Al’s really is. Doing a short film, I thought, was the best way to show the splendor and the magnitude of race day. Besides having a camera mounted in the car- which Greg McCorkle gets big props for allowing me to place a camera in his car- I’ll be filming the races throughout the day, with aerial shots, crowd activities and music performances. I’m hoping to keep the documentary under three minutes”.

We're feeling very confident about our chances on Sunday says FOTO54 team

Where will the public be able to view your documentary? “I’m working with the folks from Jubilee Days and they will allow me to post it on their Facebook and web site”.

When will the documentary be released? “I’m hoping to have it done before the fireworks show on the 17th of July which kicks off Jubilee Days”.

As Team owner Greg McCorkle drove me (blindfolded) back to Big Al’s I couldn’t help but wonder what the other competitors were doing to their cars. Would anyone have a machine capable of beating TEAM FOTO54’s entry? Or would the number 13 car simply run away and take the title at the 2013 Pinewood Derby Gravity Grand Prix…. Come to the races and find out.

Take Two #81: Time Banking

patr — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:47:44 +0000

By Kyra-lin Hom

When writing a column, I strive to keep with issues I feel strongly about. After all, if I'm to write an opinion column, it helps me to actually have that opinion. The downside is that I often feel like a one-woman doom and gloom. I spout off random findings such as walking in the grass next to the Georgetown airport turns your feet black and then proceed to illustrate why that means the world is broken. For the record, let me just say that I don't think the world is inherently broken.

This is, however, why the news is depressing. We don't report every awesome thing that goes right, but we do our best to report every awful thing that goes wrong or is going wrong. I can't speak for the motives of the news. I do this because I want to raise awareness. There are things that people desperately need to pay more attention to. If I can do anything by spotlighting a previously murky corner, I feel compelled.

But every once in a while, I also feel compelled to shift gears and talk about something really cool – like the US Supreme Court ruling that human genes cannot be patented or the rising popularity of time banks. What is a time bank, you ask? Well, let me tell you.

A time bank is literally a bank that manages time spent and time owed. These are non-monetary, privately or community-run organizations that are kept afloat by the sheer dedication of their members. Technically you only need a pencil and paper, but normally time banks are run online. It's simpler to let a computer keep track of all of those transactions.

The unit of exchange is called a 'time dollar.' It is worth exactly one hour of service. It doesn't matter what kind. All services be they legal, labor, art or as simple as giving someone a ride to the doctor's office are rendered equal in a time bank. For example, Mary paints Joe's house for two hours and earns two time dollars. She's been wanting to give yoga a try but can't afford it. So she searches her time bank for 'yoga.' Turns out that time bank member Kyle is a yoga instructor. Mary then spends her two time dollars for two hours of yoga instruction from Kyle. Kyle can then spend those two time dollars wherever he wants within the time bank community. More to the point, though, someone does you a service and then you pay it forward.

For practical reasons, time banks are loosely neighborhood-based. All members need to live relatively close to one another. This helps foster a sense of community and trust, reestablishing that neighborly feeling we seem to have lost along the way. A lot of time banks even host regular member socials to promote friendly networking.

I'm not part of one of these yet, but I'm already excited by the idea. I've collected a lot of random skills. I can sew. I can make and repair jewelry. I have an obscure degree in screen writing. I teach self-defense. I don't necessarily want to pursue any of these as a career, but these make me perfect for a time bank. Besides, it's just a really cool feeling to be tangibly worth more than you previously gave yourself credit.

Time banks are flourishing because people have a lot of skills but right now not a lot of money. I can't afford, for instance, regular therapeutic massages. But I would bet the good money that I don't have that I could find a masseuse in a time bank. My favorite story so far is about an engaged (now married) couple. Unable to fund a wedding, they turned to a time bank. Instead of spending $2,000 they spent 200 time dollars, and the wedding went off beautifully.

As far as I know, we don't yet have a time bank in West Seattle. There have been murmurs of starting one but no follow through. I think that's partially because not enough people know what time banks are and what they can potentially be. So here I am, letting you know. Now let's get it started.

Police Blotter Week of 6-17-13

Ty Swenson — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:23:31 +0000

Hideaway bed and guns at little arms’ length
A man living in an apartment on the 8600 block of Delridge Way S.W. was arrested for domestic violence on June 15 after the mother of his children called police to report he assaulted her. She also said two children, ages 2 and 3, lived at the apartment and the suspect had three guns he kept around the house. The man was gone when police arrived, but 911 dispatch received another call from the home a few hours later, around 1 p.m., where no one spoke but children were heard in the background. Police responded again and reported they were kept out of the home deliberately and, based on the earlier DV call, called in SWAT backup. The woman then emerged with her children and said the suspect was not home. Police said “her demeanor said otherwise,” prompting a search that turned up no suspect initially, until an officer noticed a sectional couch seemed very, very heavy. Sure enough, they found their suspect crumpled up in a storage compartment of the couch. The man’s three-year-old daughter pointed out where “Daddy” kept his guns to police, including one on a bookshelf well within reach of the girl.

School’s out! Let’s burn stuff
Within minutes of Seattle Public School children getting unleashed for summer break on June 14, police in West Seattle were searching for three students who lit their schoolwork on fire near the intersection of California Ave. S.W. and S.W. Lander St. No arrests were reported, but Seattle Police made light of the situation be releasing a “suspect” photo of Beavis and Butt-Head from the MTV cartoon of the same name. Beavis and Butt-Head were teenagers not known for their brilliance.

Steal me some peanuts and cracker jack
A concession stand belonging to West Seattle Baseball located on the 7200 block of 12th Ave. S.W. was broken into sometime around June 11. The thief pried an air vent off the top of the stand and used a metal pole to open a money box down below and somehow extract $117.

Brother trouble
On June 10 a woman called police to report her home on the 8100 block of 15th Ave. S.W. had been burglarized, and she suspected her drug-addicted brother. The victim said her brother came to see her with his 15-year-old stepson after a few weeks of no contact. He drove his sister to the store (acting like the nice brother) and then bailed while she was inside, leaving her stranded. The woman was able to hitch a ride back to her house from a friend, but when she arrived she discovered a TV, laptop and Xbox gaming system were missing. A neighbor reported seeing two men at the home enter through a window. He didn’t call police.

Crimes reported from June 10 to June 16
Robberies by block: 2600 42nd Ave. S.W., 6300 35th Ave. S.W.
Burglaries by block: 6500 High Point Dr. s.W., 8100 15th Ave. S.W., 7200 12th Ave. S.W., 9600 37th Ave. S.W., 6300 35th Ave. S.W., 2200 S.W. Holden St., 10000 35th Ave. S.W., 3800 18th Ave. S.W., 4000 30th Ave. S.W., 4000 26th Ave. S.W.
Car prowls by block: 9000 Delridge Way S.W., 1700 S.W. Graham St., 9900 32nd Ave. S.W., 2500 S.W. Barton St., 5900 Delridge Way S.W., corner of Fauntleroy Way S.W./S.W. Director St.
Vehicle thefts by block: 9200 17th Ave. S.W., 4400 38th Ave. S.W., 4400 Delridge Way S.W., 6000 S.W. Stevens St., corner of S.W. Thistle St./16th Ave. S.W.

On the Go Week of 6-17-13

patr — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 02:13:06 +0000

Deadline for receiving items for On The Go is Noon Friday for the following week’s Herald/News. Events are published based on timeliness and space availability. Email event submissions to: calendar@robinsonnews.com.

Items can be accepted from nonprofit groups and government agencies only. Others may call Richard Sherman 206-708-1378 for inclusion in our “Out & About” advertising column.

Discovery Shop
4535 California Ave. S.W.
206-937-7169
All items with pink tags are 75% off starting the first day of summer, Friday, June 21 and all men's wear is reduced 40% every Sunday. Early bird shoppers get double stamps on their customer appreciation cards every Monday from 10 to noon, seniors get 20% off their entire purchase all day Tuesday and high schoolers with student I.D. on Saturdays. Let us help you celebrate your birthday with a 20% discount because we believe A World With Less Cancer is a World With More Birthdays. To help us achieve the goal of finding a cure for cancer, please consider volunteering with us. In just a four hour commitment a week, you can make a difference. The all volunteer run, non profit American Cancer Society shop is open Sundays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and all other days 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

AAA Driver Improvement Program
West Seattle Christian Church
4400 42nd Ave. S.W.
Saturday, June 22, 8:30-4 p.m. Now accepting reservations for the refresher course on defensive driving skills, which gives practical guidance for traffic accident prevention and enhances driver safety and confidence. Successful course completion qualifies drivers 55 years of age and over for automobile insurance premium discounts. $16 per person. Pre-registration is required, call 206-243-3564.

Cadillac-LaSalle Club Car Show
Daystar Retirement Village
2615 S.W. Barton St.
206-937-6122
Sunday, June 23, 11-1 p.m. Check out great rides from the 1940’s on up. Talk to the collectors and to add to our nostalgia day we will have a hot dog stand and your favorite sodas. Seating is limited and reservations are required.

Coworking Meetup
Office Junction
5230 California Ave. S.W., Suite B
1st and 3rd Wednesdays of month, Noon--1 p.m. These are free, informal brown bag lunches for freelancers, independent business professionals, creatives and entrepreneurs working from home or coffee shops. We discuss business ideas, share skills, get feedback on projects, collaborate and network. Read about our past meetings at www.wsofficejunction.com. Come join us!

Stop ‘N Shop
4504 California Ave. S.W.
Volunteers Needed:
Weekend volunteers needed to cashier at the Stop “N Shop thrift store. You will meet new people, gain a sense of achievement and give back to your community. Shifts on Saturday and Sunday are from 10-1 p.m. and 1-4 p.m.

Volunteer consultant, computer lab assistant needed. Network experience needed (Microsoft server), maintain eleven lab computers and security system. Hours can vary.
Contact Margie at 206-932-4044 x8 or margiew@seniorservices.org.

King County Master Gardener Plant Clinic
McClendon Hardware
10210 16th Ave. S.W.
Saturdays, through Sept. 28 (except July 6, Aug. 31), 10-2 p.m. Free gardening advice and plant diagnosis from Master Gardeners.

West Seattle Lion’s Club Events
Senior Center of West Seattle - 2nd floor
4217 S.W. Oregon St
Thursdays, Noon--1:30 p.m. for lunch & speaker unless otherwise noted.
Call Harvey Rowe at 206-762-1221 for reservations by prior Tuesday evening. Lunch $7.

Overeaters Anonymous Meetings
Peace Lutheran Church
8316 39th Ave. S.W.
Every Thursday evening, 7-8:15 p.m. Overeaters Anonymous is a fellowship of women and men who meet to help solve compulsive overeating (obesity, anorexia and bulimia). The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively. OA is a non-profit international organization patterned after the Twelve-Step Alcoholics Anonymous program. All are welcome. For more info 206-979-6665 or www.seattleoa.org.

Culinary Volunteers Needed
Senior Center of West Seattle
4217 S.W. Oregon St.
206-932-4044 x8
Great volunteer positions to utilize culinary talents. Friendly people and great atmosphere. Working with seniors and members of the community. Café assistants: 8:30-12:30 p.m. or 10:30-2 p.m., M-F. Kitchen Assistant: 9:30-1:30 p.m., M-F. Call Margie: 206-932-4044 x8 or email: margiew@seniorservices.org.

Business Network with Westside Professionals
Alki Masonic Hall
4736 40th Ave. S.W.
Wednesdays, 8-9:30 a.m. Build your business through referrals and networking. For info, contact sfelix@quidnunc.net

Join the West Seattle Lion’s Club
Senior Center of West Seattle
4217 S.W. Oregon St.
206-762-1221
Meets every Thursday, noon-1:30 p.m.

Stop ‘N Shop
4504 California Ave. S.W.
Remember to donate reusable items ie kitchenware, tools, knickknacks, jewelry, linens, furniture, home decorations, clothing & accessories to the Senior Center’s Stop‘n Shop. Our thrift shop runs on the generous donations of folks like you!!! All donations tax deductible! Hours are 7 days a week, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Grief Support Group
Our Lady of Guadalupe Pastoral Center
7000 35th Ave. S.W. (just north of the Parish Center under construction)
Mondays, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Meet weekly for 6-8 weeks. Anyone in the community who has suffered the loss of a loved one is welcome. Led by a pastoral counselor and staff member. Questions or RSVP John at 935-0358 ext. 110.

West Seattle Senior Center Needs Volunteers
4217 S.W. Oregon St.
Make a difference by getting involved! For info 206-932-4044 or email at margiew@seniorservices.org.

Daystar Toastmasters
Daystar Retirement Village
2615 S.W. Barton
Come as a guest to grow your communication and leadership skills. Second and fourth Mondays of each month, 12-1:00 PM. Arrive 5 to 10 minutes early for orientation. See http://daystarclub.toastmastersclub.org Email questions to :tm4u@comcast.net or call 206-932-6706.

TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) Meetings
Mount St. Vincent-2nd floor, Peps West Room
4831 35th Ave S.W.
Every Tuesday, 5:45-7 p.m. TOPS is an encouraging weight loss support group with weigh-ins every Tuesday. Info: Jan 206-762-7844 or Bunkyjanjan@yahoo.com

Volunteers for Playing Piano/Entertainment or
Manicure/Pedicure Volunteers
Providence Elizabeth House
3201 S.W. Graham St.
425-443-1484
Leave a message. yuliyam@u.washington.edu

AARP Defensive Driving Workshop
Daystar Retirement Village
2615 S.W. Barton St.
First Saturday of every month, ongoing, 9-5:30 p.m. $12 for members, $14 non-members. Call 206-937-6122 for info or to RSVP.

At Senior Center of West Seattle
4217 SW Oregon St.
206-932-4044

Informal Conversational Spanish Classes
Fridays, 1-2:15 p.m. Facilitated by Suzanne Duffy-Kane, world language educator. Register: 206-932-4044.

Casino Trips from West Seattle on June 27
Call Flo for details and reservations: 206-938-1700

Footcare & Manicures
Mondays, ongoing. Cost: Foot care $20 member/$22 non-member; Manicures w/polish $20 member/$22 non-member and no/polish $15 member or non-member. Cancellations must be made by 4 p.m. Friday prior to appointment to avoid being charged. Call 206-932-4044 ext. 1 for appointment.

Homestyle Lunches Daily
11:45-12:15 p.m. daily. FDA approved full meals for suggested donation of $3-$6. Reservations 206-932-4044.

The Cafe
9:30-1:30 p.m. daily. Nominally priced homemade soup, sandwiches, salads, and cookies.

Chair Massage
Fridays from 9:30-11:30 a.m. 15 minute appointments at $7/members or $9/non-members. Appointments with Eric LaSeur at 206-932-4044.

Gentle Yoga
Wednesdays, 9:15-10:30 a.m. Drop-in, $5 mem/$7 non-mem. Chair and standing postures (no floor sitting). Improve breathing, posture, flexibility, balance and peace of mind. Postures can be adapted to your abilities or limitations. Wear loose, comfortable clothing.

Enhance Fitness Exercise Classes
Monday, Wednesday & Friday, on-going, 8-9 a.m. & 9-10 a.m. (2 sessions). Free to Group Health members or $30 for 5 weeks. Innovative and fun strength-training classes, using wrist & ankle weights, aerobics, balance and stretching.

WSHS Host Families Needed
Host families are needed for foreign exchange students who will attend West Seattle High School for the first semester. Host families do not need to have teenagers of their own; young families as well as empty nesters are excellent high school student hosts. For info: 360-661-0552 or j.henderson33@hotmail.com.

Old Clothes = New Opportunities Donation Station
Northwest Center ‘Big Blue Truck’
Diamond Parking Lot
44th Ave. S.W. & S.W. Edmunds St.
Fridays - Sundays, 9-5 p.m. Clean out your closets and drop off your reusable clothing and household items at the donation station. List of donations accepted visit bigbluetruck.org or (800) 992-2060. Donations are tax deductible and donors receive a $3 off coupon to Value Village.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly
Guadalupe Church-Pastoral Care Center
7000 35th Ave. S.W.
Every Tuesday, 9:30 a.m. TOPS is an encouraging weight loss support group with weigh-ins every Tuesday. For info at 206-932-2621.

Irish Dance Lessons
West Seattle VFW Hall
3601 S.W. Alaska St.
Mondays & Tuesdays in the late afternoon & early evenings. Open to children and adults. Information at 206-935-3225.

Providence Elizabeth House
3201 S.W. Graham St.
206-938-3276

Volunteers for Playing Piano/Entertainment
Every second Thursday, 12:45-1:45 p.m. We need someone to play piano or entertain seniors for an hour or so during Birthday Celebrations.

Volunteers for Sign Language Communication with Deaf
Come in once or twice a month to speak with a senior deaf resident. This would be very beneficial for us to have an opportunity to interact with them as well as provide practice to volunteer who studies or wants to practice using sign language.

BNI West Seattle Champion Meeting
The Kenney
7125 Fauntleroy Way S.W.
Thursdays, 7:45-9:15 a.m. Learn how to grow your business with quality referrals. $10 includes breakfast.

Seeking ESL tutors
Volunteers 18+ and fluent in English. Application, interview and background check are required. Training and on-going support are provided. Info www.stjames-cathedral.org/esl or 382-4511 or email cwalsh@stjames-cathedral.org

District Council Meetings
Youngstown Cultural Arts Center
4408 Delridge Way S.W.
Third Wednesday, 7–9 p.m. Representatives from neighborhood councils and other community organizations provide reports on what issues and concerns they are working on and announcements about up-coming community meetings and events.

Stay-at-home dads
Hiawatha Playfield Playground
2700 California Ave. S.W.
Mondays and Thursdays at 9 a.m. A resource and community for stay-at-home dads, fathers who are primary caregiver in their family, and other involved dads are welcome. All fathers are invited.

Thunder Girls
Fastpitch Softball
12U
West Seattle Thunder Girls
Fastpitch Softball is looking for athletes with a good attitude and desire to play tournament softball this spring and summer. For tryout, call Greg at 669-6881 or email gkormanik@comcast.net

Volunteers Needed
Providence Mount St. Vincent
4831 35th Ave. S.W.
Volunteers for hair salon, gift shop, child care, field trips, one-on-one visits with elderly residents. For info 937-3701 ext. 28170 or www.providence.org/themount

Have an event you'd like us to share? Send it to Calendar@robinsonnews.com. It must be a non-profit event or community announcement. Deadline is Friday for the following week's print edition.

Morgan Junction will be a neighborhood party June 22

patr — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 06:40:55 +0000

The Morgan Community Association (MoCA) is the host for the 8th Annual Morgan Junction Community Festival, held at California Ave SW and Fauntleroy Way SW. It's set for June 22 and is a family friendly event featuring music, information booths, vendors, and of course the Bite of Morgan, food samples from area restaurants and back again is the Bark of Morgan, a pet parade and contest. The event will run 10:30am to 7pm.

See the Music Schedule at the link.

Here's the list of participating Morgan Junction area restaurants:

Harry's Chicken Joint
6032 California Ave SW
206-938-9000 One Chicken Skewer

Kokoras Greek Grill
6400 California Ave SW
206-913-0041 One Stuff Grape Leaf
**Opens at 1pm***

Feedback Lounge
6451 California Ave SW
206-453-3259 Pork Chili Verde

Zeeks Pizza
6459 California Ave SW
206-504-2662 A pizza slice

Dominos Pizza
6540 California Ave SW
206-932-0995 Parmesan bread stick

McDonalds
6546 California Ave SW
206-938-1500 Free $1 menu item

West Seattle Thriftway
4201 SW Morgan Street
206-937-0245 BBQ meal for sale, proceeds donated to MoCA

Get your dog ready! The "Bark of Morgan" Returns!

The Morgan Community Association (MoCA) is pleased to announce the return of the "Bark of Morgan" at the Morgan Junction Community Festival.

All well-behaved leashed dogs (over the age of 4 months) are invited to
bring their owners and join the Pooch Parade and contests.

Here are the details:

2:00 - Pooch Parade: A parade of pooches will line up starting at 2:00pm
north of the Morgan Junction Park on SW Eddy Street. Look for the signs. We
will parade through Festival to the Washington Federal Bank Stage. Costumes
are optional.

2:15 - Contests: Join us for the following contests:
1) Cutest Puppy (4 months up to 9 months),
2) Best Trick, and
3) Best Dog/Owner Look-Alike

First and second place contestants will be selected via the 'audience
applause meter' as monitored by the MC and awarded commemorative medallions.
All "Bark of Morgan" participants will receive a special prize.

Sponsors of the second "Bark of Morgan" are Pet Elements, 6511 California
Ave SW, http://www.petelements.com, Stella Ruffington's Doggy Playcare, 7003
California Ave SW, http://stellaruffington.com; and The Wash Dog, 6400
California Ave SW, http://thewashdog.com,

Arf - the "Bark of Morgan" will occur rain or shine!

More Events and Fun Stuff:

Washington Federal parking lot. (sponsored by Edward Jones)
The Traveling Bite of Morgan - 11 to 3:00 Get your coupon book and map from the MoCA booth.
Children’s Crafts - All day, In the Washington Federal parking lot. (sponsored by Young At Art).
Children’s Tumbling - 12:30 – 2:45 in the Morgan Park (sponsored by The Little Gym).
Chalk Contest - all ages, 12:30 – 4:00, check MoCA booth for details.
Food Trucks – various locations, check MoCA booth for details.
The Bubbleman - Two performances, 11:30 in the Morgan Park and 4:00 in The Washington Federal lot
Fire & Police Dept - Fire truck visit in front of the Morgan Park, 12:30 – 2:30, police car as available.

West Seattle Little League Juniors win Dist. 7 Tournament of Champions

patr — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:32:54 +0000

Information from West Seattle Little League

West Seattle Little League Juniors wins District 7 Tournament of Champions (TOC) narrowly defeating the talented Angels from PAC West with a final score of 4 to 3 today.

The tournament was hosted by Renton Little League with the games played at McKnight Middle School in Renton.

Pitchers were starter Grayson O'Neil through 5 innings and Jacob Terao was the closer through the 7th.

Coaches are Mark Terao and Mark O'Neil.

Players are:
Jax Cramer
Chris Drake
Blue James
Jackson Oehling
Grayson O'Neil
Trifon Papahronis
Elijah Phouangphet
Timmy Roach
Gage Rowlands
Jacob Terao
Zach Gerhardt DNP Injury
Marcus Titialii DNP NA

Demolition of former Petco building will be complete next week

patr — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 07:45:44 +0000

Why are these windows the top photo lit?

IT'S THE SUN!

The building that was Petco in the West Seattle Junction will be completely gone by next week and become a 7 story building for apartments and retail space built by Compass Construction.

The demolition began earlier this week and will be completed soon.

Joe Sutter and the 747: A homegrown story that changed the way we fly

Ty Swenson — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 17:51:46 +0000

Joe Sutter was born on March 21, 1921 of modest means, the son of a first generation Slovenian immigrant who worked in the meat packing industry. Living directly under the flight path of planes in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of south Seattle, as he grew older he became fascinated with those flying objects high in the sky but, unlike most boys his age, he didn’t imagine himself inside the cockpit.

“I wanted to build them more than I wanted to fly them,” Sutter, now 92 and living on Fauntleroy Way S.W. in West Seattle, said in an interview with the Herald at his home on June 11.

Sutter is known these days as the “Father of the 747,” dubbed so by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. He was the chief engineer and leader of a group collectively known as “The Incredibles” who made high-capacity passenger travel a reality in the late 1960s by designing the unmistakable wide-berth jet with a bulbous hump on top and four engines under the wings commonly referred to at the Jumbo Jet or Queen of Skies. They rolled out their first 747 in just 29 months, a record turnaround time.

He’s been a West Seattle resident ever since he returned from World War II, a Boeing employee for 67 years (even working as a consultant to this day), and is credited with changing the way people fly forever.

From looking up at planes to designing them
Sutter’s fascination with planes took hold early and never let go. He started building model airplanes – even designing a few himself – and decided once he was of age he was going to study aeronautical engineering at the University of Washington. He paid for the first semester, which by the way ran you $32.50 in the 1940s, by saving up money from his paper route, and worked part time bucking rivets at the Boeing plant to pay for the rest.

World War II was in full swing by the time Sutter graduated in 1943, and he was part of the Navy ROTC program. He’d met and married his college sweetheart Nancy, a West Seattle native, as well.

“The trouble is when I graduated the war was humping along and I wanted to be a pilot like all young guys, but they needed deck officers for destroyers so I ended up … on a new destroyer escort chasing submarines.”

For two years Sutter chased enemy subs on the USS Edward H. Allen, but with the war coming to an end in 1945 he found himself back on dry land and going to the Navy’s aviation engineering school. He soon received two letters offering him a job – one from Douglas in California and the other from Boeing.

“I almost took the Douglas job because they offered me a little more money, but Nancy was pregnant with that gal (pointing to his daughter, Gabrielle) and so when I got home she decided she’d like to stay here,” he said, explaining further, “I married a West Seattle girl, and those West Seattle girls wouldn’t leave West Seattle.”

It’s safe to say Nancy and Gabrielle played a critical role in the Boeing 747’s creation.

“I took a job at Boeing temporarily, and stayed there for 40 years,” said Sutter.

Working through the ranks to the big gig
Although Sutter had aeronautical knowhow under his belt from school, he’s the first to admit he still had plenty to learn, and his first job at Boeing provided that opportunity to really dig into a plane and step away from the textbooks. Boeing was getting ready for the “jet age,” he said, and “All the hot shots that were there got those choice assignments and my first job was to clean up the (Boeing 377) Stratocruiser.”

It had a lot of problems and as Sutter fixed them one by one, he said he learned a lot. His higher-ups also took notice, keying in on Sutter’s knack for aerodynamic designs and ability to work within the certification rules of the CA (the FAA of the time).

Sutter became a go-to-guy to get things done at Boeing and worked on several planes over the next handful of years, including the 367-80, 727, and 737 - with its engine-under-the-wing design that would play an important role in his next project: the 747.

It was the mid 1960s and airplane travel was booming, but Pan Am leader Juan Trippe wanted it to boom even louder. He told the three big manufacturers at the time – Douglas, Lockheed and Boeing – to present him with a prototype for a much larger plane than the predominantly flow 707 and an order would follow. Trippe said he wanted 350 passengers, two and a half times the capacity of the 707.

“And so they gave me a few engineers and we started studying how the hell to build a big airplane and that was what resulted in the 747 concept, the concept of the wide body that has been copied now by a lot of people,” Sutter said. While others thought the only way to get that many seats into a jet was to build a double-decker, Sutter and his team went a different direction and created the wide body that would not only fit 350 passengers, but could also double as a freighter large enough to carry several containers. Sutter said he knew they would have to move the engines from the tail of the plane to under the wings. Pan Am liked the design and the project was given the go.

At the same time, Sutter explained, Boeing had a government contract to develop supersonic transports, planes that would break the sound barrier and were thought to be the next big thing in passenger travel. The supersonic Concorde had been developed in Europe, and the U.S. government was eager to prove we could do it too.

There was no government money backing the 747 project, so Boeing had to finance it themselves with massive bank loans. “It was a big gamble, and I think the only reason that it happened is that Bill Allen (Boeing president) was a forward seeking guy, and Juan Trippe from Pan-Am also had that characteristic, so the two of them said, ‘We are going to do it,’” Sutter recalled.

“Everybody thought the 747 was going to be an interim airplane that wouldn’t last very long (once the supersonic technology took off), so it was a struggle to get people and wind tunnel time and budgets and we had to do it in a hell of a hurry.”

The design team was gathered: a few hundred at first to do concept work, then up to 400 to start writing requirements, and then Pan Am signed a contract for the 747 and Sutter suddenly had a team of 4,500 amassed.

Designing the 747 dominated Sutter’s life. He worked six to seven days a week and 10 to 12 hour days. Nancy supported him through it all, and his three children (Gabrielle, Jonathan and Adrienne) supported her.

In Sutter’s 2006 memoir entitled 747: Creating the World’s First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation, he wrote of his love: “I couldn't have done it without my late wife, Nancy. When I'd come home beaten down with problems for which there seemed no solution, Nancy was always there to help lift me out of the dumps. Intelligent, beautiful, full of humor and life, she shared the burden of the 747's development.”

He figures he almost got fired only once during that tumultuous time. As the project moved along more and more funding was needed, Allen went off to the banks once again to ask for a loan. The bankers were getting weary and it was proposed that Sutter’s team might need to get rid of 1,000 engineers to reduce costs. Sutter knew he couldn’t afford to lose a single guy if they were going to build that plane on time in a very tight 29 month window, and when asked by Allen how the cuts were coming along he said, “Hey, we need 800 more engineers!.”

“I figured that was the day I lost my job at Boeing because I made the presentation under pressure and nobody would talk to me, but I went to work the next day and nobody said anything, so I kept working,” he joked.

The moment of truth
“My wife Nancy would go to the grocery store around here and her friends would say, ‘Does your husband know what he’s doing, will that thing even fly?’” Sutter recalled.

Boeing was the dominant industry and talk of the town at that time, long before Microsoft and Starbucks made their mark in Seattle. Everyone had heard about the big plane Sutter and his team was attempting to create. Sutter said others in the industry were suspect of the 747 as well, concerned that Pan Am was pushing too hard and too fast for a bigger plane. But his team had done their due diligence, building redundancies into every aspect of the design so that if one piece of equipment failed there were three more to back it up.

“It was a February day (Feb. 9, 1969) and there was snow on the edge of the runway, colder than hell,” Sutter said. “Nancy and Gabrielle went up with me to Everett and I had to go up to the radio room to listen to what the pilots were saying and so I took them out to the runway and I took them out to a position … and told Nancy, ‘The airplane’s wheels will leave the ground right here,’ which they did.”

With the whole world watching, the first Boeing 747 left earth.

“I was awestruck, because here was this huge airplane and it very slowly lifted up, it was so majestic,” Sutter’s daughter Gabrielle, who was in college at the time, said. “I was so happy for my dad and mom, of course, and it was so overwhelming.”

When Sutter got back to his wife and daughter, Nancy’s eyes were welling up with tears. “This will show all the doubters,” she said.

The easy part out of the way (“I knew the takeoff would be fine,” Sutter said), next came the landing. Sutter knew the engineering was sound, but the massive plane put pilots 29 feet above the ground as they came in, which was a new experience. “A lot of airline people, pilots were saying, ‘How is anyone ever going to get that airplane on the ground without putting it all over in pieces?’”

It turns out the pilots had no problems at all. “In fact, the 747 is one of the easiest Boeing airplanes to land because of superior engineering by brilliant engineers,” Sutter said with pride.

The 747 was all systems go, and with supersonic technology going by the wayside, the plane became a dominant player in air travel for decades to come. The Incredibles had pulled it off.

The aftermath: Presidents, awards and grandkids
Sutter ran the 747 program for 10 years and then went on to become Boeing’s chief of engineering and product development for the remainder of his career. After retiring, he worked (and still does ) as a consultant for the company. He also served on the Rogers Commission, helping investigate what went wrong in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

The accolades for Sutter’s accomplishments have been many, including a United States Medal of Technology from President Reagan in 1985, and just a few weeks ago, a lifetime achievement award from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Nowadays, at 92, Sutter said his golfing days are over and most of his time is spent traveling for Boeing meetings and the occasional award reception, keeping in contact with other members of the Incredibles team and supporting the dreams and direction of his five grandkids and three great grandchildren.

About once a week, he’ll get a call from a random pilot who just wants to meet and thank the Father of the 747, their favorite plane to fly.

As Sutter and I sat in his Fauntleroy home that doubles as an ever-expanding museum of his life, taking in the Sound view he worked so hard to obtain, I asked – of all that has happened in his career – what he looks back on most fondly.

“Well I tell you, the thing that I enjoyed is that I worked with one hell of a lot of good people and I still get to see them once in a while, and the thing I enjoy is communication with the guys,” he said.

“I think we did something pretty damn good.”

Joe Sutter’s book, 747: Creating the World’s First Jumbo Jet and Other Adventures from a Life in Aviation, takes this preview to an exponentially deeper level. Beyond the engrossing tale of his life and career, the book has also been picked up by several college professors around the world as a management teaching tool.

Although the details are still being finalized, Hollywood is looking to make a film about Sutter and the 747 as well.