Guardian One’s third West Seattle/White Center visit of the night
9:56 PM: Guardian One is in the area for the third time tonight. This time we’ve heard it’s a call near 20th/Delridge but don’t have details yet. Earlier, according to the King County Sheriff’s Office Air Support Twitter timeline, the helicopter assisted with calls described as a hit-run search in West Seattle and a robbery search in White Center.
10:44 PM: We couldn’t find any police activity in that area but Guardian One’s subsequent tweet says it was helping with “a robbery north of White Center.” Fragments of scanner traffic lead us to believe it was a store robbery, not a street robbery, but we’re still trying to confirm with police. No helicopter visible in the area (or anywhere else as we drove back north along 16th, and then onto Delridge, from there).
ADDED EARLY SATURDAY: Delridge 7-11, per comment.
West Seattle/White Center restaurant notes: Uncle Mike’s semi-closing; Mission’s 10th anniversary; Endolyne Joe’s bacon bash
Three local food notes:
UNCLE MIKE’S BBQ CLOSING DINING ROOM, FOR NOW: If you are a fan of Uncle Mike’s BBQ in White Center and haven’t been lately, get there fast – Proprietors Mike and Elizabeth announced via Facebook that they are closing the dining room (but NOT the catering operation) at “the end of (this) week,” and then Mike elaborated:
End of the week means Saturday or Sunday. Why are we closing the dining room? Several reasons but mainly because I’m going through cancer treatment & while we can handle catering events just fine, running a full restaurant takes a lot more work. Right now I want to spend more time with Elizabeth and focus on beating the cancer. In the near future I plan to offer take-out as well as catering – stay tuned! Thanks – Love, Uncle Mike
Uncle Mike’s, known not “just” for barbecue but also for fried chicken and even hearty vegan food, is at 9640 16th SW.
MISSION MARKS 10 YEARS: Happy 10th anniversary to Mission in The Admiral District! Tomorrow’s the big party – open for lunch and dinner Saturday with a special food/drink menu (featuring a pig roast!), 10 am-2 am, all ages until 9 pm with a DJ at 10. (2325 California SW)
Speaking of pigs …
LOVE BACON? JOIN THE CELEBRATION @ JOE’S: Endolyne Joe’s (WSB sponsor) is celebrating the return of Danny the Pig (reported here last week) – Rich from Joe’s explains how: “In celebration of Danny’s return, this weekend we will be giving away one pound of bacon to a random lucky table every hour from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM this Saturday & Sunday. Sunday night, we will be drawing a winner for one case of bacon at 8:00 pm.” (9261 45th SW)
Dock-talks update: Terminal operators say they’ll close for the weekend
Terminal operators at ports including Seattle say they’ll shut down for the weekend, as the contract-talks stalemate with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union continues. The announcement comes in this statement from the Pacific Maritime Association, which says “weekend vessel loading and unloading operations will be temporarily suspended this weekend, with yard, rail and gate operations continuing at terminal operators’ discretion.” No comment yet from the ILWU, but its president was quoted yesterday as decrying the PMA’s previously voiced “threat” to close ports, made as the terminal operators’ organization went public with its latest contract offer.
Locally, the Port of Seattle’s newest online schedule shows six vessels due on Saturday/Sunday (one of them, NYK Daedalus, is already anchored in Elliott Bay, and another, ZIM Djibouti, is anchored off Manchester).
Update: State Attorney General files criminal wage-theft, tax-evasion charges against former West Seattle gym owner Sam Adams
(Photo courtesy office of state AG Ferguson, who is at the podium)
11:04 AM: Just announced by state Attorney General Bob Ferguson – a criminal wage-theft/tax-evasion case with defendants including Sam Adams, who owned the former West Seattle (Athletic) Club until filing for bankruptcy and relinquishing it to the building owner last October. What follows is the official news release; we’re on a media conference call and will add any additional information that it yields (update: that’s added at end of story):
Attorney General Ferguson files criminal wage theft and fraud charges against athletic club executives Sam Adams and Dana Sargent
$500,000 in unpaid taxes, withheld salary, and unpaid insurance premiums
Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has filed criminal charges in King County Superior Court against the owners and operators of West Seattle Athletic Club for stealing wages and evading taxes. In only the second wage-theft criminal prosecution brought by the state, the Attorney General’s Office seeks justice for harmed workers and Washington taxpayers.
Defendants Sam Adams and Dana Sargent are alleged to have engaged in theft and fraud totaling over $500,000. The defendants allegedly failed to pay state taxes, withheld wages from workers, failed to pay workers’ insurance premiums, and failed to pay unemployment insurance.
Read More
Five possibilities for your West Seattle Friday night
(Bald eagles on a Beach Drive rooftop – photo by Brian Baum)
Happy Friday! From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
WORDS, WRITERS, WEST SEATTLE: 5-7 pm at Barnes & Noble/Westwood Village, the monthly Southwest Seattle Historical Society-presented literary event features author Theresa McCormick and her book “A Far Cry from Here: Growing Up and Out of Fundamentalism” – here’s a preview:
Words, Writers & West Seattle presents … from Avenue Collection on Vimeo.
No admission charge. (2800 SW Barton)
CORNER BAR: 6 pm, it’s Highland Park Improvement Club‘s popular monthly neighborhood drop-in party, featuring the Yada Yada Blues Band live at 9. More here. (12th/Holden)
HIGH-SCHOOL BASKETBALL: Final Friday night of the regular season, with a full slate of home games – girls’ and boys’ varsity, for both West Seattle High School (3000 California SW) and Chief Sealth International High School (2600 SW Thistle). WSHS hosts Franklin; CSIHS hosts Eastside Catholic. At both gyms, it’s girls’ varsity at 6:30, boys’ varsity at 8.
‘4000 MILES’: 7:30 pm, the Pulitzer-nominated dramatic comedy directed by Mathew Wright is onstage at ArtsWest (WSB sponsor) – tickets available here. (4711 California SW)
MEMPHIS RADIO KINGS: Live at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), 9:30 pm, no cover. (6451 California SW)
AGAIN TODAY/TONIGHT, THERE’S MORE … so we invite you to browse the full calendar, for today/tonight and beyond.
You can help! Be on the Alki Community Center Advisory Council
What happens at your local community center(s) – a long list of activities, classes, and events, featured in the seasonal brochure – isn’t just the work of the city staffers who work there. A community-based advisory council is hard at work behind the scenes, too. The Alki Community Center Advisory Council is inviting new members, and center coordinator Marc Hoffman asked us to share the invitation for you to “support the community center staff’s efforts to meet our recreational needs – use your talents to better our community!” The council usually meets at the center on second Wednesdays. If you’re interested, contact Marc at 206-684-7430 or marc.hoffman@seattle.gov, and/or council president Roberta Fowler, r2fowler@yahoo.com.
TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Friday updates & alerts
(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Another rainy commute. No specific incidents or alerts in or from West Seattle so far, though.
NORTH DELRIDGE PROJECT: On Thursday, we found out more from SDOT about the upcoming work at Delridge/Andover and northward, including the plan to start week after next.
8:22 AM: A little trouble on northbound 99 in the Battery Street Tunnel:
8:53 AM: The BSTunnel situation is reported to be cleared, but there’s a new problem on northbound 99 – a crash, with injuries, reported near the stadium zone. That’s all we’ve heard (via scanner) so far.
Skies Over West Seattle, February 2015: What not to miss
By Alice Enevoldsen
Special to West Seattle Blog
The night you need to be outside this month is February 20th, so call up Cliff Mass and ask him to arrange for clear weather that evening. Just after sunset we have a conjunction between the Moon, Mars, and Venus that isn’t to be missed, it’ll be stunning.
The next night, February 21st, Venus and Mars will be even closer in the sky. You’ll be able to easily see the pair in binoculars; use that moment to notice the difference in color between the two.
Hey, What’s That?
Unless it was the aforementioned Venus conjunction or Venus itself, which sets in the west shortly after sunset, then you’re definitely seeing Jupiter every night this month.
Read More
PINK GORILLA GAMES: No longer in West Seattle, after 
| 11 COMMENTS