Rain or shine, investigator Eyob Mazengia from Seattle-King County Public Health was scheduled to sample water off Alki for health testing at midday today, and that he did – three containers, three samples. Out on the beach with him, a team from the state Department of Ecology, getting out the word that this is the start of water-sampling season. The BEACH (Beach Environmental Assessment, Communication, & Health) program – which includes regular testing at Lincoln Park – isn’t new, but the idea of scheduling a multimedia photo op is, according to Sandy Howard, who was out at Alki wrangling camera crews with whom BEACH program manager Julie Lowe was doing interviews. We asked her about the value of testing at beaches where people don’t swim much (like Alki):

The state team says that if they find high levels of bacteria at a beach, they will not only post signs, but also:

*Send a note to an e-mail list you can sign up for (here)
*Tweet, via the Ecology Department account
*Post on Facebook, where the BEACH Program has its own page

… so you can check out any of those channels to make sure the water’s safe!

City crews spent much of this week repaving part of the section of Beach Drive that has had enough pits and ruts to rattle you from scalp to sole, and shake up the inner workings of your car/truck/motorcycle/bicycle, too. So we drove it this evening to show you the transformation – of the actual repaired section, anyway. Our :43 clip starts with the non-repaired section beneath the slide-plagued slope that has sparked a court fight (with mediation ahead, the city says), and then you’ll see how it transitions to the repaved section, in the 6200 block and a bit further south. Didn’t have the tripod in the car, so we dubbed the result Bumpycam, but it’s an accurate representation – try for yourself. (“Before” photo in our original May 8th report.)

We want to stress that authorities have NOT said at this point that they believe it is any kind of crime. But we have received several inquiries about this and, so, are reporting what we know because otherwise, it seems like the kind of incident that can start racing around the rumor mill at the speed of light.

On 40th SW near Holy Rosary, early this morning, someone came across what appeared to be half of a cat. They say it appeared to have been “cleanly cut” in half.

They called police. So when we found out about this hours later, we contacted both police and the Seattle Animal Shelter. Police media-relations Det. Mark Jamieson had no information beyond a notation that the cat’s remains had been taken to the Southwest Precinct. From there, they were waiting for Seattle Animal Shelter officers to respond and take over.

We checked with Seattle Animal Shelter executive director Don Jordan, who handles media inquiries. He said his officers had yet to report in, but he cautioned that almost always, these cases turn out to be animals killed by other animals, regardless of how it appears. He mentioned raccoons in particular; we of course have reported on numerous coyote sightings here in West Seattle. (And, looking around online, we found this 2008 story from Whidbey Island.)

We will be checking with SAS tomorrow to see if any conclusions were reached.

(Photo by WSB’s Patrick Sand)
That’s Officer Mike Hope, who’s at the front desk in the Southwest Precinct, where you can drop off unneeded/expired medication (liquid too, for those who have asked) till 2 pm, as part of Drug Take-Back Day. The lobby entrance is off the parking lot, which you enter from SW Webster, just west of Delridge, south side of the building, and the front-desk window where you’ll find him is right inside.

I guess I can add myself to the list of car-burglary victims.

My red Jeep was broken into last night on the 3000 block of Alki. They cut the soft top to steal a large item out of the back.

If anyone saw an individual carrying a large box (2′x2′x3′) between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. last night on Alki, the incident number with the Seattle Police Department is 12-129616.

Second note is a warning from us. Might have just been an accident – something falling – but also might have been thrown, so we reported it to police and wanted to mention it to you too: Within the past hour, as we drove eastbound on Sylvan Way, east of High Point, through the greenbelt area between the cemetery and the Delridge/Orchard commercial area, something large and heavy suddenly hit the right side of our windshield – sitting on that side of the car, looked to your editor here as if it fell straight down It left a semicircular crack in the glass and also scratched the hood before apparently sliding to the road. In case it had been thrown, we decided not to go back to look, and called 911 instead – they said they’d send an officer to “check the area.” (Not likely a case of something from an “unsecured load,” since there were no vehicles near ours.)

That half-minute video clip represents the first time we’ve ever seen a uniformed Seattle Police officer demonstrate jump-rope moves. (Even after 30-plus years in the news business, there still are some firsts!)

But we’re getting ahead of the story.

SPD Community Outreach Officer Tomeka Williams was one of the visitors for a special assembly at Highland Park Elementary this afternoon, teaching about pedestrian safety and helping celebrate a new grant to make it a reality:

Right before the assembly, we photographed HP principal Ben Ostrom with SAFE Kids Seattle‘s Dr. Brian Johnston from Harborview Medical Center (bet you guessed that he’s the guy in the white coat!). The check says $25,000, and that’s being added to a different $75,000 grant. Pedestrian safety is REALLY important there because, among other things, the school has multiple arterials nearby – among them, Barton and Trenton. That’s why, besides jumping rope, Officer Williams offered advice including using the “stare face” to make sure a driver sees you, before you walk into the street:

Safety is part of the HPARK slogan through which the principal led his students:

The safety skills will be practiced with “Walking School Bus” events each Wednesday morning next month.

By the way – though she’s not in our visuals and tried to stay “behind the scenes,” it must be noted that one of the people instrumental in making all this happen is Highland Park Elementary parent Rachael Wright, who’s been working on pedestrian-safety issues surrounding the school, and getting grants to address them, in connection with a wide variety of groups and agencies. Congratulations!

The Block Watch community of 18th Ave SW & Trenton … met to discuss the events of (Monday) night concerning a young woman being assaulted in our alley. This act of random violence is not only scary, but completely inconsistent with who we are as a community. We are families, friends and neighbors who want the simple peace of feeling safe on our street and in our homes. We want to be able to feel safe with our children playing outside. And we want to be empowered, as a community, to address this horrible event that has shattered that perspective for us.

We realize that the best way to heal the neighborhood impacted by such random violence is to work with our sister neighborhood Block Watches (or neighbors- we are not exclusive!). We have discussed some idea of how we can watch out for each other and be more vigilant. We tossed around ideas like offering to walk our neighbors home if they work the late shift in pairs. And we want to coordinate with the other neighborhoods and get some more ideas on how to prevent this from happening in our community. So if folks are interested in working with the Block Watch of 18th Ave SW & Trenton, please contact the SW Precinct for details on getting a hold of us. We have been coordinating with the Community Police Officer and appreciate the efforts of SPD to address this incident.

Along with publishing her message here, we also suggested that Becky reach out to the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains’ Network (which isn’t just for BW captains), which has been working to connect neighborhoods for crime prevention and safety. Their next meeting, by the way – open to all – is next Tuesday, April 24th, 6:30 pm at the Southwest Precinct, with “crime prevention through environmental design” the scheduled topic – helpful hints that you can use to reduce the chances your home will be targeted.

My two 8-year-old daughters and I went to Constellation Park this afternoon bringing our lunch and planned on staying for 2 or 3 hours.

Just shortly after we ate our lunch I turned around and saw my one daughter with a syringe in her hands. I told her to immediately put it down and she did. But I asked her if she had poked herself with it and she said yes – in her finger – and it did indeed appear that she had upon closer inspection.

So I grabbed the syringe (it still had its cap with it) and went back home and called the Swedish nurse hotline. They recommended that I take her to the emergency room immediately and bring the syringe with me.

They also told me to wash the puncture site a couple of times and try to get it to bleed in between washes.

After a long wait and consult with the doctor, they said that the syringe appeared to be unused due to it’s like-new condition and lack of any residue inside, but they could not be sure. It was a syringe typically used for insulin injection due to the shape and needle size. They indicated that the biggest risk was hepatitis since the virus can survive a long time in such a condition, unlike HIV and most other nasty things which degrade extremely quickly in a syringe laying on the beach in daylight. Hepatitis B my daughter has been immunized for since birth, but Hep C there would be nothing to be done. So, just to make sure her Hep. B immunizations were being effective (apparently 10-5% of those that get immunized don’t develop immunity as desired) we had her blood drawn for a test. If the test comes back showing her immunity for Hep B is good then there is nothing to be done other than watch and wait. If her immunity was not effective, then she needs to come back and get Hep B immune globulin injections. We’ll know tomorrow.

Anyways, we’ve warned our kids many times about picking such things up at the beach, but apparently it did not work in this case.

So, a word of caution to parents with this nice weather and impeding summer calling us to the local beaches. Talk to your kids about what to do if they find a syringe at the beach:

– Don’t touch it
– Tell an adult about it
– If you do get punctured by one, tell your parents right away

For the parents:

– Call one of the nurse hotlines immediately and they will tell you what to do
– If possible, safely take the syringe with you to the doctor, they will want to inspect it if possible
– Know your kids’ immunization history

Hopefully other parents will find this useful.

We found a resource list online that appears to have some of the nurse hotlines John mentioned; scroll down this page. (We did a Google crosscheck and the four hospital-affiliated numbers listed as public hotlines appear to be valid.)

That said – the Seattle Fault is the one closest to West Seattle, and the presentation says the chance of an earthquake stronger than magnitude 6.5 on that fault in the next 50 years is about 5 percent. The rate of that kind of earthquake anywhere around Puget Sound in the next 50 years is about 15 percent. As for a mega-quake on the coast somewhere, around 9.0 magnitude (akin to the one last year in Japan)? 10 to 14 percent chance of happening in the next 50 years. But don’t get complacent … if a 7.0-ish quake happened on the Seattle Fault, we’d be in the “extreme shaking” zone, per this scenario:

We’ll await Monday’s briefing (9:30 am at City Hall) for more context. But in the meantime, be sure you’re prepared – westseattlebeprepared.org can help (including the “Emergency Communication Hubs” – memorize the location of the one nearest you!).

(Sunday night photo by Karen Sykes)
Seattle Parks has just shared the response it is sending to people who have voiced concerns about safety along Beach Drive, in the aftermath of the so-far-unsolved murder of Greggette Guy, found dead offshore in the 3800 block one week ago today, remembered at a waterfront vigil and walk last night (WSB coverage here).

Thank you for getting in touch regarding the recent unsolved murder in West Seattle, and expressing your concerns about the safety of a stretch of Beach Dr. SW in the area where the young woman was found.

Following … is the text of a timely and thorough response to Sandi Repetowski from Capt. Steven Paulsen of the Seattle Police Department’s (Southwest) Precinct. In it he:

· Describes the low crime statistics for the area

· Recommends walking with a buddy and not alone

· Reports on his visit to the Alki Community Council meeting on Thursday, March 15

· Describes SPD’s plans to respond to the event with more patrols and its summer emphasis plan that they carry out from the third weekend in April through September

· Offers to have the SW Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator, Mark Solomon, conduct an assessment using Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) principles.

[editor's note - the following is the SPD letter]

Thank you for taking the time to write in regard to your concern of lighting and general public safety in the area of Beach Drive SW. I am unable to provide any information in regard to the tragic homicide – in order not to compromise the integrity of the investigation, but I can provide you with some information that may assist you and your neighborhood.

I feel confident to tell you that Schmitz Park and Me Kwa Mooks Parks are safe. Activity in the parks does increase during the warmer weather months as it does the activity along Beach Drive and Alki. The particular area where the homicide occurred (along the beach) is also considered quiet and safe. The best advise we can provide our citizens is to always walk with another person and to be aware of your surroundings.

911 calls for the area are considered very low. In the past 15 months, the following 911 calls from citizens have been received…(the geographical area is from Alki Point to just south of Mee Kwa Mooks Park):

51 calls for suspicious persons (most of these occur during the day and during the warmer weather months)
25 calls for False residential alarms
21 calls for disturbances
11 calls for mental complaints
10 calls for Domestic Violence
8 calls for Harassment/assault/threats

Me Kwa Mooks Park (same 15-month window)
5 Parks Exclusions for inappropriate behavior
3 suspicious persons calls
3 fireworks complaints
2 complaints of noise disturbances
2 complaints of Mischief/Nuisance.
Note: No calls for Drugs or Graffiti (not that it is not occurring, just that folks are not reporting it)

On Thursday, March 15th, I attended the Alki Community Council Meeting. I updated the group on our annual summer emphasis plan that pertains to Alki and neighboring City Parks. The plan starts in or around the 3rd weekend of April and continues through September.

In regard to the recent homicide, I told the group that the Seattle Police Department is putting forth all the necessary resources in order to resolve this tragic event. I also provided a briefing on the quiet nature of the neighborhood and that they will see an increase in patrol cars in the area. I advised that the additional patrol cars will not change or help solve the homicide, but more for neighborhood peace at mind, given the fear a crime such as this creates for a normally quiet/tranquil neighborhood.

In regard to street lighting and/or Lighting near parks, I am more than happy to have our Crime Prevention Coordinator – Mr. Mark Solomon do a Crime Prevention Environmental assessment for the neighborhood. Mark is able to work closely with our Parks Department, City Light and SDOT folks if additional measures are needed.

Again, thank you for taking the time to write us in regard to recent events. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact Lt. Pierre Davis at 206-233-2033 or Community Police Team Officer Ken Mazzuca at 206-386-1088.

Sincerely,

Captain Steven Paulsen
Seattle Police Department
Commander, Southwest Precinct

[editor's note - the remaining text is how Parks closed its letter]

We appreciate suggestions for improvements to the site, and I’m sure SPD will consider them in the context of the CPTED assessment, which will involve Parks and Recreation, City Light, and Seattle Department of Transportation staff.

Thank you again for taking time to write, and we will let you know when the assessment is complete.

Speaking at last night’s vigil (the video is in our report), Ms. Guy’s father Gregg Smith referred to the area as a “deathtrap.”

ADDED 11 PM MONDAY: A Southwest Precinct sergeant, questioned about the case’s status at a neighborhood meeting in Arbor Heights tonight, said he had no new information that could be shared – but sought to assure those on hand that “a lot of resources” were being applied to the unsolved murder. (The meeting otherwise had nothing to do with the Beach Drive situation- it was a “living room conversation” meeting arranged by the local Block Watch captain a month earlier – and we’ll be writing the full story about it on Tuesday.)

The chair of the City Council’s Transportation Committee joined West Seattle Greenways members for their conversation Sunday afternoon at Pearls on Delridge, as did greenways supporters from other neighborhoods including Beacon Hill and Phinney Ridge. Councilmember Tom Rasmussen – a West Seattle resident and bicyclist – encouraged the group to bring its ideas to the council, but stressed that coordination is vital – representatives from various neighborhoods will be most effective, he said, if they stress their common goals first, and individual neighborhood needs after that. He also acknowledged that the city budget remains a challenge, but clear priorities can help hurdle that. Rasmussen also discussed the Bicycle Master Plan update that the city is launching (an item related to it is on this afternoon’s council agenda, in fact), since creation of Greenways could figure into it. (What’s a greenway, you ask? North Delridge Neighborhood Council transportation chair Jake Vanderplas, a leader in the local effort, explains it on the NDNC website. As another local leader, Stu Hennessey, wrote in the announcement we published in January, West Seattle advocates are hoping to see greenways on 26th SW and 21st SW for starters.)

Southbound 35th SW was blocked for a while at Cloverdale late tonight because of the latest case of a moving vehicle hitting a parked vehicle. Like the crash we covered two weeks ago and two blocks away, no injuries reported this time around – the Fire Department wasn’t even summoned. But two patrol cars and electronic “flares” were being used to block off the scene till it could be cleaned up.

The unpredictable weather has led to high avalanche danger in the Cascades – and it’s already been a deadly season. But there’s some equipment available that can help boost a skier/snowboarder’s chances of avalanche survival – and one device was “test-fired” this afternoon at Mountain to Sound Outfitters in the Triangle; we stopped by to catch it on video. M2SO’s Greg Whittaker explains that the BCA Float 18 Avalanche Airbag system “can help a skier or snowboarder survive a large-magnitude avalanche by keeping them at the top of the slide to avoid trauma associated with moving snow. The Float 18 also helps victims stay on top so that they can be spotted by rescuers, as it only takes one finger to give someone a clue as to where to look.” Backcountry Access tech rep Chris Simmons - a West Seattle resident – narrated the demo. The device retails for about $700, and you can see it at M2SO (3602 SW Alaska). P.S. Yes, its air tank is refillable.