(Photos by Christopher Boffoli for WSB) 10:52 PM: WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli is at the scene of that flipped-vehicle crash in the 5400 block of West Marginal Way SW (just north of the Lafarge plant). Avoid the area.
11:07 PM: Christopher says the vehicle’s female driver was reported to have suffered “bumps and scrapes,” no serious injury, and was being taken to the hospital by private ambulance to be checked out. Police told him at the scene that the driver said she swerved to avoid an animal, hit a utility pole, and that’s what flipped her Toyota SUV. He says City Light was arriving at the scene when he left – likely to check out the not-insignificant damage to the pole.
11:20 PM: Police have reported (per scanner) that southbound W. Marginal is open again. (added) Shortly thereafter, the other direction reopened too.
Friends and family have announced a benefit one week from tonight for 29-year-old Logan Wicker, who was driving home from his job at Skylark Café and Club late at night two weeks ago when a van driven by an alleged drunk driver hit his car at 17th and Cambridge, sending him and a friend to Harborview Medical Center. In our photo from the scene (left), you can barely see his car behind the van. Police say the other driver was running away from the scene when they caught her; as reported here June 26th, she is charged with two counts of vehicular assault and one county of felony hit-and-run. But for Logan’s family and friends, the focus is on his recovery; here’s how you can help:
Friends and family of Logan are hosting a benefit in his name to take care of the financial load that is accumulating so that he and the family can focus solely on his health and recovery. To raise money toward his recovery, we are organizing an all-ages benefit on July 13th from 2-6pm at the Skylark Café. There will be live music, information about the consequences of drunk driving, a raffle containing numerous items, and an auction. Hella Sunshine will be playing at 5 pm and we will have another band (tba) before that. There will be a cover (tba) at the door. All proceeds go directly to the Logan Wicker Fund.
There’s a website too – getrightlogan.com – and a Facebook event page for the benefit. And if you can’t make it to the benefit at Skylark (3803 Delridge Way SW), you can donate via any Chase Bank; the Logan Wicker Fund is account #954-989-786.
P.S. We don’t know how the other crash victim is doing, but would be happy to publish an update too if family/friends contact us. Meantime, the accused drunk driver who hit them, 26-year-old Kalameu Paulo of Seatac, remains jailed in lieu of $75,000 bail.
Two West Seattle Crime Watch reader reports to share tonight. First, Al‘s bicycle was stolen – again – in Highland Park. Be on the lookout for a blue Trek 7300 mountain bike; 2 locks were cut by the thief/thieves. Al explains, “It’s blue and has a mount on the back of the bike. It was a gift from my best friend.”
Meantime, Ernie has a car-prowl alert:
We’re at 47’th and Walker in the Admiral District and last night (7/5) someone rummaged thru our car. They took some change and a gold men’s wedding band but left other items of value (leatherman tool, GPS, sunglasses etc.). We suspect it was amateur car prowlers.
Normally we lock the doors on all our vehicles; last night was the night we forgot to do so. Just a friendly neighborly reminder to remove all valubles and lock up your vehicles at night.
More sights from Alki today: As always, Seafair Pirates Landing day also brought a pole-vaulting meet, and photographer David Hutchinson caught this sight: “Indiana Jones put in an appearance at the pole-vault competition at Alki Beach today. Unfortunately his famous whip dislodged the crossbar on his attempt.”
Further down the beach, the Duwamish Raven Canoe was visiting.
That’s Jonnica keeping watch on board. Linda from the Duwamish Longhouse had e-mailed earlier to say the Duwamish Canoe Family was headed for Alki – and we spotted it onshore after the Pirates had landed.
4:05 PM: Two weeks after the first “guerrilla art” sighting at Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza (WSB coverage here and here), and a week and a half after the followup, something new showed up today. Ben Hutchinson shared the photo and observation:
This one looks like an assault rifle. On the front of this work of art, it has written in French, “Ceci nest pa un fusil d’assault”. I put this into Google Translate, which gave me the English translation “This is not an assault rifle”. I’m not sure, but I believe this may have been a protest in response to a number incidents in various places that have been mentioned in the news over the past few months, about kids who were suspended from school or even arrested for simply carrying Nerf guns (shoot foam rubber darts) or other toy guns like squirt guns or cap guns either to school or onto pieces of property (such as a park/playfield) that belongs to a school. Children are often forbidden from doing so under so called “no tolerance” rules involving anything that even looks like a gun (in one such case, a kid was suspended for just pointing his finger in a way that looked like he was pretending it was a gun, while playing, as kids tend to do). I believe the artwork here is a protest against such no-tolerance policies, for how strict (and possibly unfair) they can be in some situations.
We didn’t see Ben’s e-mail in time to check while we were at Alki so we don’t know if it’s still there.
12:43 AM: The “not a rifle” has been moved to Walking on Logs. The sighting was reported by @macjustice on Twitter when we were downtown picking up a family member; checked it out on the way back, and it’s either the same one or a duplicate.
ADDED EARLY MONDAY: We heard on Sunday from Chuck, who identified himself as the artist, but said he is NOT the person responsible for the previous creations left at Liberty Plaza and in The Junction. He says somebody had removed the “not a rifle” from Walking on Logs by 10:30 am Sunday, adding, “I hope that whoever took it returns it. If they don’t, I guess it served its purpose. I had a lot of fun making it.”
Seattle Police say the suspect in a street robbery/attack in The Junction last September is now in jail. Police in Shoreline stopped the suspect in that city last night and discovered he was wanted in Seattle, so he’s now been booked into King County Jail. Details of the September incident are part of the report on SPD Blotter.
12:04 PM: Got a tip (thanks, Christine) that the Hiawatha wading pool was found to have broken glass, which is being cleaned up now, so it’s opening late. We’ll check over there in a while; please let us know if you see it open before we update its status! Here’s the citywide wading-pool schedule.
1:33 PM: Still closed when we drove by about 15 minutes ago – saw staffers still sweeping. Added a photo of the ongoing cleanup, sent by Christine (thanks again!).
3:42 PM: As of our last drive-by about 15 minutes ago, it’s open!
11:34 AM: Cannon fire can be heard offshore as the Seafair Pirates make their way toward Alki Beach – with landlubbers awaiting them. (added) Listen to the cannon blasts in our video:
11:44 AM UPDATE: They’ve arrived, wading ashore as usual, after the Global Diving and Salvage craft brought them as far in as it could. (added) This year’s Captain Kidd is West Seattleite Rusty Harper:
Onshore festivities commence now!
ADDED 12:13 PM: Above, the Pirates accompanied ashore by the West Seattle Hi-Yu delegation; below, the Kiwanis Club of West Seattle‘s been here handing out special pirate hats, and Kiwanian Mike LaFranchi shares smiles with a recipient:
More to come. Events on the beach continue into the afternoon, including bouncy toys for the kids.
One more reminder: Highway 99 is closed in both directions from the Battery St. Tunnel northward to Valley Street all weekend, so if you need to get north of downtown, you’ll need an alternate route; even if you’re just taking NB 99 to downtown, you might face backups, since everyone will have to exit at Western, if not sooner. This is all part of the city’s ongoing Mercer Corridor work.
A number of West Seattleites traveled across the state to join in the Spokane Hoopfest last weekend, competing against more than 7,000 teams in the world’s largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament. Hoopfest, begun in 1990, is an annual tournament that draws players and fans of all ages from around the country. It takes place outdoors, covering an area of 42 city blocks in downtown Spokane.
After playing through thunderstorms on Saturday and 96-degree heat on Sunday, at least four young West Seattle teams became champions of their brackets:
Regus ICE: Jayce, Grace, and Lexi
Gray Wolves: Teagan, Bryce, and Jaxton
Golden Arches: Josh Meyer, John Ursino, Andrew Burggraff, and Tyler Lenzie
Lady Hawks: Samantha Scroggins, Lani Taylor, Alison Hadaway, and Sidney Proctor
To see each team’s draw, check out Hoopfest’s Team Tracker. (Thanks to Mike Jensen and Jeffrey Proctor for the photos and info!)
In our photo from the scene (left), you can barely see his car behind the van. Police say the other driver was running away from the scene when they caught her; as 
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