West Seattle, Washington
28 Thursday
That’s Jett, a Gatewood Elementary School student you might have seen in this story on the Seattle Times (WSB sponsor) website. The medal he’s holding is the one he got from Sounders FC forward Nate Jaqua after the Seattle club won the U.S. Open Cup Tuesday night – explained at the start of an earlier Times story. Jett’s mom Stephanie e-mailed tonight with more on the story and how Jett’s handling his prize:
When he is not carrying it around, it is hanging from the wall with a picture of Nate Jaqua next to it. He was so excited. The kids were standing there getting autographs and my daughter was holding a replica trophy that we made. He asked Nate for his medal and I said, laughing, no, Jett, you can’t have his medal, he just earned that. But then he finished his autographs and took it off his neck and handed it to Jett. Jett just keeps saying, I can’t believe it. Nate Jaqua is such a good guy to do that. I brought the replica trophy and real medal to Gatewood the next day for Jett to show his 1st-grade class and Jordan to show her 3rd-grade class. I am so happy for him.
Here’s Jett’s sister Jordan with the aforementioned replica trophy:
They are quite the sports fans – we thought we recalled a photo here sometime back, involving a different team, and indeed, here’s one from the WSB archives, almost 3 years ago!
The request comes from Karin, who shared photos of some of her fellow volunteers at today’s 350.org tree-planting party at Schmitz Park – adding new growth to the existing old growth:
I had a great time with this group, and we planted mega amount of trees. The trees all have bright ribbons to mark them, and we ask the community to be watchful where you walk along that area by the stream to ensure survival of the plants. Thanks to Dylan, who was our organizer and leader.
This was one of many work parties for this year’s “10/10/10 Global Work Party” – here’s our coverage from the “350 Day of Action” last year. P.S. The significance of “350” is explained here.
Two months after CityDog Magazine‘s latest “cover dog search” photo session in West Seattle (here’s our August report), CityDog has announced all five finalists from this year’s five search sessions around the city – and the voting has begun. This year’s West Seattle winner is Spencer, and you can cast your vote (for any of the five) by clicking on your favorite finalist’s photo on this CityDog webpage – that’ll open an e-mail window; just type the name of your fave into the subject line, and send your vote. The West Seattle finalists won the last two years – you have till October 31st to vote and see if it’ll be three in a row. (Thanks to Amanda for the tip. We’re contacting CityDog to see if we can get permission to use Spencer’s photo here.) MONDAY MORNING UPDATE: Thanks to Spencer’s person Bob for sharing the photo at left this morning. He explains that Spencer is a 3-year-old Italian Spinone and “would be honored to represent West Seattle in this fiercely competitive contest as the New Cover Dog of CityDog Mag.” (He promises a few more biographical details later.)
(Photo courtesy Laura Bermes)
If you just happened into Roxbury Lanes Friday night – it might have looked like another busy night bowling – but something special was going on: Pins for Pennies, a fundraiser for West Seattle-based Family Promise of Seattle, the area’s only shelter program helping homeless families, on hiatus right now (as first reported here in August) while trying to raise enough money to reopen. Laura Bermes from the Family Promise of Seattle board reports last night’s event raised more than 200,000 pennies!
Over 50 people bowled and even more showed up to support bowlers. A great time was had by all. Thanks to Roxbury Lanes for their support and to Full Tilt Ice Cream as well! We raised over $2,000 and still have pledged donations coming in! We have another fundraiser planned for November – West Seattle’s first ever Comfort Food Throw Down. The community will have a chance to eat delicious food, purchase homemade items, and will get to vote for the first-ever Comfort Food Champion of Seattle!
More details to come. You can also donate to Family Promise of Seattle any time, by going here.
With Halloween just three weeks away, we’ve got two more big event announcements: First, Skeleton Theatre (an animatronic, narrated, sound-effect-enhanced production in a South Admiral front yard) will be back October 31st-November 1st, this time with an all-new show after two years of the pirate-themed presentation. It’s rock ‘n’ roll this time – make no bones about it. There’s some info about the new show at skeletontheatre.com. Also in Admiral – the first big doggie-costume contest we’ve heard about so far:
That’s from the flyer (see the full version here) just shared by Muttley Crew Cuts for this year’s Muttster Mash, a chance for people to party along with their pooches – beer and wine too – 7 pm-11 pm on October 30th. To see more of what’s in store as Halloween approaches (and other local events/meetings/workshops/etc.), check out the WSB West Seattle Events calendar.
Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports this afternoon. First one is from JR:
We were alerted today, by VISA, of unauthorized charges on our credit card and the card was shut down. I am wondering if others in West Seattle had the same thing happen to them in the last few days? If so I would love to compare purchases and payment locations directly with respondents in order to help the police in their their investigation. I will not specify the business specifically, but we used this card at the following West Seattle locations:
Two different fruit and vegetable stands
One restaurant at the Junction
The above charges were made on Friday.On Saturday we bought coffee at a coffee shop in West Seattle and then went to Queen Anne lower hill where:
*We paid by card for parking at a parking lot west of Seattle Center
*We purchased stage theater tickets from a theater
*We bought sports merchandise at Seattle Center.The fraudulent charges started after 4 PM Saturday. Don’t know if they occurred in West Seattle or Queen Anne.
I do not want to name any specific businesses, but if you have had your card number stolen and incurred fraudulent charges after using your credit card at any of the types of places meeting these descriptions, contact police and Visa Fraud division, 1-800-383-0618.
We also received a recent report of a credit-card number apparently stolen after being used at an area gas station; the person who e-mailed suspected a card skimmer, but we have not yet seen a police report verifying that. It all is a good reminder to check your credit-card account online as often as feasible – daily if you can – to catch something like this.
Meantime, we also received a car-theft report from Lee (39th and Hanford), who is puzzled:
Just noticed my car was stolen overnight. White ’88 Acura Legend. Real beater. Why anyone would steal the worst car on the block (and probably the entire neighborhood) is beyond me, but there you go. Irony is that I recently bought a newer, much nicer truck that was parked right behind it. And I’d already donated the Acura to charity and was just waiting for them to come pick it up.
Next Saturday, the first season for the Delridge Night Market wraps up with one more chance to meet your neighbors, buy fresh fruits and vegetables, enjoy entertainment, and more – like screenprinting with North Delridge Neighborhood Council (see their new website yet?) volunteers, who shared the photo from last month’s Night Market; they’re selling their famous I (Heart) Delridge shirts too. And there’s room for more vendors, too – arts, crafts, other goodies – tables and chairs are available; if you want/need a tent, it’s BYO. Interested vendors/artists can e-mail Phillippia Goldsmith at DNDA, PhilippiaG@dnda.org. And if you just want to browse, explore and enjoy, stop by Delridge/Brandon (next to Super 24; here’s a map) between 3-7 pm next Saturday (October 16).
Today, there’s a little more information to add to the story published here Friday about the big changes Metro plans next year for the downtown portions of several West Seattle runs. As we reported, the biggest changes include switching the 21, 22 and 56 (among others) from 1st to (mostly) 3rd Avenue, starting with the next “service change” on February 5th. Now, Metro has added a webpage with the full list of affected routes systemwide, and more background info – see it here.
In the final few days of last year, we brought you the story of 34-year-old West Seattleite John Wallace III‘s then-latest milestone: Running at least a mile a day, every day, for 20 years. One of his other achievements included running across the USA in 2004, and reporter Keri DeTore noted in the story that Wallace planned to do it again, hoping to set a world record this time, starting October 10, 2010. That day is here – and Wallace’s plan is on, all out. He’s scheduled to leave Los Angeles City Hall this morning, to start a 2,900-mile route to New York City Hall:
If Wallace keeps the pace of 64.5 miles a day, he can break the old across-the-US record of 46 days, and get to New York in 45 (or fewer), arriving a few days before Thanksgiving (here’s the planned schedule). He’s also hoping to raise money for three charities (all on this page). He is scheduled to start running at, of course, 10 am (10-10-10 @ 10). We’ll check in along his journey, and his website has a variety of links you can use to do the same – he’s also on Facebook, where you can find Run USA 2010 here.
(2008 photo courtesy Nancy, partly blocked drain in North Delridge)
We start today’s preview with a public-service reminder suggested by Katie – go check (and clear, if necessary) your storm drains. With all this rain – right as autumn leaves start to fall – there could be big trouble, fast. Here’s some info from Seattle Public Utilities, specifically focused on its “Adopt-A-Drain” program … Another day of work parties: 10-10-10 events are catalogued by 350.org here – they include a tree-planting event in Schmitz Park starting at 10 am … As previewed here on Saturday, the TEDxRainier event will be streamed live at Hotwire Online Coffeehouse (WSB sponsor) in The Junction, 10 am-6 pm … Also in The Junction, the Sunday tradition – West Seattle Farmers’ Market, 10 am-2 pm.
In our nightly/daily spotlight on the impending election – November 2nd is technically Election Day, but voting starts just days from now, since King County is scheduled to mail ballots at midweek – a quick look at one of the statewide ballot measures you’re not hearing so much about. Seems there are ads all over the place for the liquor and tax initiatives – but then there are a few others you’re being asked to vote on, including Engrossed Substitute House Joint Resolution 4220, which requires voter approval/rejection since it’s a proposed amendment to the state constitution. From the ballot:
This amendment would authorize courts to deny bail for offenses punishable by the possibility of life in prison, on clear and convincing evidence of a propensity for violence that would likely endanger persons.
You can read the full text of the proposed constitutional amendment here. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. 4220 is a result of last year’s Lakewood Police massacre, as this Tacoma News-Tribune editorial reminds us – the killer had gotten out on bail days before killing the four officers. You can read the arguments/rebuttals for and against, by choosing 4220 in the left-side list on the state Voters’ Guide page.
One more high-school-sports shoutout this weekend (in addition to Friday coverage of cross-country and football): We talked with a local coach who is looking back at how he began, as he celebrates his 200th win!
That’s Jeff Norton, longtime Seattle Lutheran High School girls’ soccer coach (and former principal, and current science teacher). He got his 200th win this past Monday when the Lady Saints beat Tacoma Baptist at Fort Steilacoom, 2-1. His team is 5-1-1 in their league so far this year and placed third in the state the last two years. He played college soccer at Concordia University in Portland; coaching SLHS was his first post-college job. He also coached the SLHS boys’ team that won the state championship in 1991.
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