West Seattle, Washington
24 Saturday
In the final moments of the weekend — we’re sharing a short clip courtesy of Tim Roberts, who couldn’t resist capturing the cherry blossoms on video while out and about in the sunshine.
It’s easy in the news business to just let stories drop after the initial report – tougher to remember to follow up, and then to find the followup information. But we do our best to keep checking back, and in that spirit, wanted to let you know what happened in a few notable collision cases — these can be the toughest to follow up on, since a major collision may require weeks or months for the Seattle Police Traffic Collision Investigation Squad to investigate and then for prosecutors to review before a citation or charge is filed. Here’s what happened in two cases — months old, but both cases eventually resulted in Municipal Court-handled citations that haven’t been reported before:
That photo is from last September 4th, when a 15-year-old girl was hit by an SUV while crossing 35th at Juneau in High Point (map). She was out of the hospital within two days, but the investigation and review took months; finally, Municipal Court online records show, the SUV’s 40-year-old driver was cited for passing a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk.
Just a few weeks after the 35th/Juneau incident, we interviewed the motorcycle rider who survived being hit by a minivan in Westwood earlier in the year:
Karen Derby told us the story of her recovery in the months following the June 15, 2008, crash at 30th/Trenton (her story here; original crash report here). Municipal Court online records now show that, also after a long investigation, the 19-year-old driver was cited for running a stop sign.
We are still checking on a few other past cases, including the deadly crash at California/Dawson last fall that killed 92-year-old Rosemary MacCorkindale and, much more recently, two Junction collisions, including the one March 9 in which a pickup driver hit 13 other vehicles, and we’ll let you know when there’s something to report regarding the aftermath of those.
SIGNS: SDOT crews have been back in West Seattle in recent days replacing more street signs – in a process that’s been under way for the past two years – and we noticed something interesting: Signs like this one, with an icon to signify “street” sections that are really stairways (this is on the east side of California at Hudson, just south of The Junction). By the way, the city is still selling the old street signs it’s taking down as the bigger, more reflective new ones go up: Inventory updates are posted periodically here (the one there now is dated January).
SCOUTS: Have no idea how often this happens, but we discovered belatedly that a slew of NFL scouts were at Southwest Athletic Complex in Westwood Saturday afternoon to watch Washington State receiver Brandon Gibson show his stuff in hopes of getting drafted. He played high-school football in Puyallup, which is why the Tacoma News-Tribune covered it (report with video here)
POTLUCK: Also from Saturday – Delridge Produce Cooperative organizer Galena White, speaking to attendees at the community potluck event at Youngstown Arts Center:
Next events (calendar here) in the ongoing process of trying to get the coop off the ground: A meeting Tuesday at Pearls on Delridge, and a table at the Gathering of Neighbors next Saturday, 11 am-3 pm at Chief Sealth‘s Boren campus – we’ve got a table there too (offering early discount registration for West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day!), so hope you’ll be there to find out more about 70-plus West Seattle organizations and businesses.
POOCH: As of today, you can get an online sneak peek at the City Dog Magazine cover featuring Sophia, the Italian greyhound who lives with High Point’s Wendy and Stephen Hughes-Jelen. (CDM is headquartered in West Seattle.)
With two weeks to go till Easter, here at WSB we’re doing what we do for all major holidays – making a 
special page so you can find West Seattle-specific information all in one place. We’re gathering information from websites and phone calls but also wanted to issue an invitation: If you’re associated with a church and you have its Easter service information, please let us know so we can make sure it gets onto that page; if you’re associated 
with a restaurant and you’re having Easter brunch, same invitation applies. Best way to reach us is e-mail: editor@westseattleblog.com – and if all the info is already on a page on your own website, just sending us that link is fine, you don’t have to retype it or cut-and-paste it. We hope to get the first version of this page up within the next 24 hours, but if you don’t see this till Monday afternoon or later — that’s OK, we’ll just keep adding info, as always. (Other Easter-related activities welcome too – we’ve already got various egg hunts listed on our Events page but let us know if you know of one that’s not there.) Thanks!!!! (Photo credits: Peeps from kimberlyfaye‘s Flickr page; beach group, WSB photo from local UCC churches’ 2008 sunrise service on Alki)
That’s Payton the schnoodle — whose person Dan Nicholson hopes everybody to be on the lookout citywide, after Payton was stolen from Dan’s car on Capitol Hill last night. Here’s his report on what happened:
Our 10 month old puppy, Payton (named after the Glove. In honor of my lost and beloved Sonics), was stolen from our car (last night) while we were dining at Piecora’s. He is a Schnoodle (Schnauzer/Poodle mix) and weighs 13.5 lbs. We were parked in their back lot and planned to go to the Beveridge Place in W. Seattle afterward as they allow dogs. I had to talk my wife into letting him come as I felt bad locking him back up after working all day. The camera photage literally shows them pull up, throw a boulder through our window, grabbed him and go. Fortunately they left our other dog. He’s our little buddy and basically we’re desperate to get him back. We’ll pay a reward to have him safely returned.
We’ve also pointed Dan toward our fellow neighborhood-news sites closer to the scene of the crime, including Capitol Hill Seattle. Call police if you’ve seen Payton.
(first of 2 WSB video clips of Denny Jazz Ensemble at last night’s dinner)
Denny Middle School‘s cafeteria sports a big blue neon sign on one wall: DENNY DINER. Last night, though, the “diner” became a jazz supper club for the annual Denny Music Department Jazz Dinner, which packed the house with a crowd enjoying food including gumbo, jambalaya, and barbecue from West Seattle’s own OK Corral, as well as music from not only Denny student performers but also Septimus and the West Seattle Big Band – as well as visiting musicians from Cooper Elementary:
(photo of Cooper musicians provided by Denny principal Jeff Clark)
A dessert auction was part of the program too – according to an announcement during the event, the desserts alone brought in more than $1,000. Denny gained renewed attention recently for its designation as an International School starting this fall, but its music programs have regional fame thanks in no small part to director Marcus Pimpleton, who not only leads music at Denny but is also the director of the Seattle Public Schools All-City Band, seen in parades everywhere in their distinctive green polo shirts. Another photo provided by the school shows him with some of the students between their sets last night (the Jazz Ensemble played at the start and finish of the event):
Also on the bill, the Denny steel-drum band (featured recently here) and acoustic musicians. Meantime, here’s another jazz clip from last night – sorry that our video quality is spotty but the audio’s good, in no small part thanks to the kids’ talent and hard work:
(The sax soloist is 6th grader Ryan Maroney.) The ensemble goes to the Reno International Jazz Festival in about a month; other Denny music events on the calendar include Marching Band Camp at the school during spring break next week (we published a feature about Denny camps at mid-winter break last year).
WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli is just back from the West Seattle Farmers’ Market and reports that the daffodils promised in today’s “fresh list” weren’t there, but, he adds: “Lots of tulips though. And I did find this lovely young lady named Caity from Monroe … selling fresh eggs from her own chickens that she raises, feeds and takes care of. I bought a dozen for $6 and even found a beautiful green egg among them.” The Farmers’ Market continues till 2 pm at 44th/Alaska.
We first heard about it from Kathy (thank you!), who e-mailed WSB to say that she’d heard Dave Pedras, a paramedic/firefighter who lives in West Seattle, will be honored for his role in a rescue last summer. We checked with the Fire Department, and spokesperson Dana Vander Houwen said it’s true, sending along complete details:
Firefighter/Paramedic Dave Pedras will be recognized with a Unit Citation at the Seattle Fire Department Awards Ceremony which is taking place on Thursday, May 7. Unit Citations are awarded to units at the scene of an emergency for outstanding performance of an exceptionally difficult task, performance under hazardous or adverse conditions and for exemplifying the importance of teamwork and cooperation. Engine 33, Ladder 12 and Medic 28 received Unit Citations for the rescue.
On August 22, 2008 at around 8:30 pm, someone called 911 reporting that a person was missing in Lake Washington near Pritchard Island Beach. When the first Unit (Engine 33) arrived on the scene, they got information from bystanders about where the patient was last seen. Firefighters Dennis Stanley and Jason Hess (both of Engine 33) immediately entered the water and went out about 60 feet off shore to the area where witnesses had last seen the patient. After two to three minutes of searching, using a flashlight, Firefighter Hess was able to see a shadow below the surface. Firefighter Stanley dove down approximately 10 feet and found the patient and brought her up to the surface – she was unconscious and unresponsive.
Firefighters Stanley and Hess worked together to swim her back to shore. The patient was placed on a backboard – she was still unconscious and unresponsive and did not have a pulse. Firefighters and Firefighter/Paramedics immediately started CPR. The patient was quickly moved into a Medic 28.
Firefighter/Paramedics Dave Pedras and Dave Head of Medic 28 provided advanced life support and ongoing CPR with the help of the firefighters on the scene. Through the quick actions of responding firefighters and teamwork by all those who responded, the patient’s pulse returned. She was transported to Harborview, and 15 minutes after she arrived she had strong vitals and a good prognosis from the Emergency Room staff.
Kathy has firsthand knowledge of what happened after that, and says the rescued woman made a full recovery. Medic 28 is based at Station 28 in Rainier Valley.
An arrest in Tennessee will be welcome news for the congregation of Gatewood’s Peace Lutheran Church. Pastor Erik Kindem e-mailed the other day to call our attention to this seattlepi.com story about a woman mourning her murdered son, unable to leave the Tukwila motel where he was killed because she had nowhere else to go. Kindem knew the family and officiated at 24-year-old Kevin Camacho‘s funeral a week ago, in addition to seeking help for the family. Now there’s word from Tennessee that the suspected killer is in custody, awaiting an extradition hearing so he can be returned here to face charges.
Yogurt, daffodils, and order-taking for Easter ham/lamb are among the highlights promised by the Ripe and Ready list for today’s West Seattle Farmers’ Market (10 am-2 pm, 44th/Alaska). Also look for Friends of Junction Plaza Park, as they continue collecting pledges of volunteer help for the big push to get the long-in-the-works park done this year.
That’s the future site of ARK Memorial Park, just west and a little south of Arbor Heights Community Church, which owns the 8,000-square-foot parcel. Under and around that gazebo, a small but hardy group gathered Saturday afternoon for the ceremonial groundbreaking:
The young assistants are Isabella and Elliana Kimball, sisters of the park’s namesake, Alexandra Ramona Kimball, stillborn on the same day – March 28th – one year earlier. As Hal Kimball noted goodnaturedly during the downpour-graced groundbreaking, baby Alexandra’s initials are part of the double meaning in the park’s name:
AHCC says the park/playground will be for the entire community, not just for church families. As noted in our first story about the ARK Park plan last summer (see it here), this is a private project, not seeking city funding. So far they have raised more than $5,000, enough to begin the project’s first phase, but that’s just a start; next fundraising event is a spaghetti dinner at the church Fellowship Hall on April 18th (more info here). The timetable for construction depends on how the fundraising effort goes, but
After a discussion in the WSB Forums earlier today regarding the changes that kick in as of Monday, we checked with Seattle Public Utilities — and they told us that the collection-calendar lookup tool on the SPU website is now working. We tested it and indeed, it shows our new pickup day – although beware, it also suggests that day was in effect earlier this month. So ignore anything before Monday 3/30, but from thereon out, you should be able to verify your new pickup schedule here. Lots more info, from “what goes where” to how-to videos, is on the SPU site too.
GOT PLANTS? Local animal-helping nonprofit Furry Faces Foundation is getting ready for another season of fundraising plant sales (photo above is from one of its 2008 events) and has this request for you:
Donate Your Extra Garden Plants & Save Lives!
Furry Faces Foundation’s 9th Annual Plant Sale Season is in full swing. Funds raised from our plant sales support our ‘It’s Hip To Be Snipped’ program and ‘Oliver’s Fund,’ which assists companion animals whose humans are on a fixed income.
Do you have healthy plants that require division? Never made it out of the pot and into the ground? Are you (re)- landscaping & have extra plants? Looking for a good home for these plants? Please donate them to the animals.
Thank you for thinking of Furry Faces Foundation! For more information, please e-mail furryfaces@hotmail.com
F3 will start the selling with the Mother’s Day Hanging Basket Sale 10 am-4 pm May 2 and 3 in the courtyard outside Hotwire Coffee (WSB sponsor) – for $20, pick out your own plants and build your own basket – “soil, hanging baskets, and caring coaching are all included,” Teri says. Then two weekends of even-bigger plant sales happen May 16-17 and June 6-7; more on those later. Now, our second note:
SUNSET SHOWCASE: West Seattle gardener and writer Willi Galloway is featured in the latest edition of Sunset magazine — you can see the pages on Willi’s site, DigginFood.com (one of the 100 West Seattle-based websites whose latest posts are linked from our Blogs page). Willi tells WSB, “We were super excited to represent Seattle — and West Seattle in particular — in Sunset!” Keep an eye on Willi’s site – she’s promising a series of reports on other West Seattle food gardens later this year. (Besides gardening and writing her own site, Willi also is West Coast editor for Organic Gardening magazine and a regular panelist for the Greendays gardening discussions on KUOW, 10 am Tuesdays.)
This year, the city is expanding its participation in this event – according to this city news release, a variety of city landmarks and facilities will “go dark” 8:30 to 9:30, including the Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Municipal Tower, and the neon City Light sign along the Spokane Street Viaduct. King County government also issued a news release, saying its “non-essential facilities” will go dark. The official Earth Hour website has images from what happened during Earth Hour back east, a few hours ago. (If you choose to participate, we’ll miss you — but we hope to see you back here at 9:31.) 9:50 PM UPDATE: We were out and about for Earth Hour – at Denny Middle School to catch video of the student Jazz Ensemble (more on that later) performing, which took till just after 9 pm, so in terms of observing West Seattle participation — we managed to drive north on 35th SW (more houses dark in the residential non-arterial areas north of Fauntleroy) and then on into the Admiral District, where we checked out the mayor’s porch light for the second consecutive Earth Hour: On again this year. Not that he had publicly vowed to go dark – and we don’t even know if he was home, as he was scheduled to help emcee a fundraising event in Fauntleroy earlier in the night – but for symbolism’s sake, we looked.
We’re welcoming a new sponsor that happens to also be an event in which we’ll be participating: the Gathering of Neighbors, coming up one week from today, Saturday, April 4, at Chief Sealth High School (@ Boren). Here’s the reminder announcement from organizers:
Gathering of Neighbors takes place on April 4th!
Joining neighbors and businesses in 2009.Come be a part of the Gathering of Neighbors: Businesses and community organizations from across the West Seattle Peninsula, all together, one day, one place, as “one community.”
More than 75 businesses, resource, and community information groups have registered to participate, so that attendees can experience, in one place and time, the tremendous wealth of services and goods available to them in their own neighborhoods right here in West Seattle.
Sponsored by the Delridge Neighborhood Development Association (DNDA) and the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the combination of both community and businesses participants promises to have Chief Sealth High School (at Boren) bursting at the seams with booths full of information.
Entertainment and refreshments will also be part of the celebration.
This is the first Gathering of Neighbors in more than two years – a little context, if you are new to the area: It was created by Megawatt, a community-connection nonprofit; when Megawatt disbanded, it looked for organizations to take over its two signature events — DNDA stepped forward to handle Gathering of Neighbors, and we here at WSB took on West Seattle Community Garage Sale Day. In fact, as we mentioned a few days ago, we are going to open registration for this year’s Community Garage Sale Day on Gathering of Neighbors day, and we’re offering special one-day-only in-person discounts if you come to G-o-N and register your sale at our G-o-N table. Even if you’re not planning to participate in WSCGSD, or if you’re not sure yet, we hope to see you there – as do the 70-plus other businesses and organizations that are participating — that’s 11 am-3 pm next Saturday, April 4; here’s a map to the location (and a Google Street View clickable image below):
Throughout the coming week, we’ll count down to the event with more specifics on who you’ll see when you go.
Thanks to Rick R. for the photo, taken from over Brace Point. We believe it was the Corinthian Yacht Club‘s annual Pully Point Race, featured here last year too.
Those are the Derby Brats – young skaters, based in West Seattle, who compete in junior roller derby (two age groups, 6-10 and 11-18) – and tonight, as noted in recent weeks in the WSB Forums, they’re raising money with a spaghetti feed at St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church next to West Seattle High School, 5 pm. You can find out more about them at their MySpace site. Tonight’s other dinner fundraisers include the Fauntleroy Children’s Center fundraising dinner and silent auction at 5:30 pm at the Hall at Fauntleroy, with emcees including Mayor Nickels; more info here.
the WSHS Baseball/Softball dinner and auction, 5:30 pm, and the Denny Middle School jazz dinner/auction, 6 pm, both at their respective schools.
(WSB photo, January 2008, madrona alongside Schurman Rock)
We shared news of this event earlier this week but failed to get it into the West Seattle Weekend Lineup so here’s another reminder: Tonight at Camp Long, 7 pm, a coffeehouse and dessert-auction fundraiser featuring music by Jim Page and Grant Dermody. $10 per adult; kids over 5 are $5, and will be invited to participate in a naturalist program during the event. While Camp Long is a beautiful, sprawling treasure, its main entrance is a “blink and you miss it” spot along 35th, so here’s a map to help, if needed. (P.S. Registration is under way for Camp Long’s spring events; you can see the catalog here.)
From Bil Hood:
For the past 30 years Hope Lutheran School and Seattle Lutheran High School have operated as separate entities. This fall the schools will begin operating as Seattle Lutheran Schools.
As the first phase in pursuing a Joint Operating Agreement between Hope Lutheran School and Seattle Lutheran High School, the Administrative teams from both schools have worked to evaluate the resources and roles that can be shared between the two schools to further enhance the educational offering to the community and families, as well as better utilize staff strengths. The immediate benefit will be increased academic opportunities at both schools. … Listed below are some upcoming events that we will be holding to invite the community to (learn more).
School Tours will be held on April 15, 16, 17 (Wed.-Fri) from 8:30-10:00 in Hope’s lobby.
Tentative Schedule for the Tours:
8:30-8:45 Welcome
8:45-9:10 Joint schools presentation
9:10-9:20 Question and Answer time with administrators
9:20-9:45 Walking tours lead by parent volunteers
9:45-10:00 Drop in time for classroomsApril 19th, Hope Lutheran Church will be celebrating its 90th anniversary at the morning services (8 and 10:30) as well as a reception following the last service at Seattle Lutheran High School.
We are having a community Open House for Hope Church and School after 10:30 service on Sunday, April 26th. This is a good opportunity for people to see the campus and all we offer as a church and school.
Hope and Seattle Lutheran are in The Junction; more info can be found on the Hope website and the SLHS website. (Added 12:05 pm – We asked whether this would mean a name change for Hope; Bil says that’s not expected, at this point.)
Just in from Cami MacNamara: “Due to current weather and field conditions, the Jamboree has been cancelled. This event will not be rescheduled.” More WSLL updates online at westseattlelittleleague.com.
So much, in fact, that we simply want to direct you to this link that’ll take you right to the Saturday section of the latest West Seattle Weekend Lineup, with myriad events from the Delridge Produce Cooperative Potluck to Somanda Bodyworks‘ (WSB sponsor) free demo to a psychic fair to school fundraisers. Have fun!
Amanda sent that photo and this report:
On Friday morning, 3/27 I went outside to walk my dog at around 5:30 a.m. and noticed that all four wheels and tires had been stolen from my car, which was parked in front of my house on 44th Ave SW, between Oregon and Genesee (map). My husband and I parked the car in that location at approximately 8:30 p.m. last night, so the incident occurred overnight. The vandals were kind enough to leave the car sitting on a tire jack and a spare tire. My car is a 2005 Honda Civic and it did have alloy wheels. … I’ve rarely seen this level of damage on our street and, frankly, I don’t know how you police this sort of thing. But, just a word of caution to other folks in the area.
Less than a mile away, we just got a phoned-in report about a possible car-prowl suspect spotted in the 50th/Edmunds vicinity (map) – the caller had phoned 911 but also wanted to alert people in the area to a man seen looking in at least one car window, and then walking away very quickly when spotted by a passerby. She described him as “Asian, 18-23, about 5-9, red baseball cap, hoodie-type sweatshirt, and jeans. last seen heading south on 50th. She noted that two of her friends had their cars broken into in the past week in the Admiral District, so she’s got her radar up.
Last but not least, a report received earlier today from Steve:
Just wanted to get the word out that my car was broken into out in front of our house last night.This is in the 8700 block of 16th ave sw, at SW Trenton (map). They broke the passenger side window right at the lock button, got in and rifled through everything. Luckily there was nothing of value in the car (learned that the last time they did this a couple of years ago). In fact, the only thing that was missing was a couple of packets of Starbucks Via instant coffee that were in the space between the seats. Luckily, we have a regular speed trap in front of our house too, in the school zone, so Officer Sue took the report & all this morning.
Seattle Channel has just posted a video that focuses on one of Seattle’s fastest-growing communities, one with a significant presence in the West Seattle/White Center area: Somali immigrants. It’s a look into the community’s traditions, successes, hopes, fears, and faith, all in 15 minutes: Watch online here.
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