This is of citywide magnitude – and West Seattle officers are part of the investigation – so if you have not heard the tragic news, a Seattle Police officer has been shot to death tonight in the Central District, according to the latest from our partners at the Seattle Times. Our fellow community-collaborative independent news source Central District News also is covering it closely. No word yet on an arrest – if there is any information to share regarding vehicle/suspect(s) to watch for, we will add it here. The officer, not yet identified, is the first Seattle PD officer fatally shot in the line of duty in 15 years, since Officer Antonio Terry, and the first to die of any cause in the line of duty in three years, since the crash that killed Officer Joselito Barber. The full list of Washington State law enforcers killed in the line of duty is here.1:44 AM UPDATE: Journalists at the scene are still awaiting an official statement; on the scanner, police can be heard arranging the procession and honor guard for the slain officer’s body to be escorted to, and into, the Medical Examiner‘s office.
Bravo to the crew of Skeleton Theatre, the ambitious animatronic production in an Admiral front yard, bedeviled last year by stormy weather and a few other speed bumps. This year, they decided to give their pirate-themed production another try, and when we stopped by to watch the 8 pm edition, it was perfect – the video snippet above is just a tiny taste. They’ll do it again tomorrow night between 6 and 9, 36th/Hanford (map) – tons of behind-the-scenes info at skeletontheatre.com. Meantime, trick-or-treating is all but wrapped up for the night (we only had one – how about you?) – Steph in Sunrise Heights sends this cute shot of a group of little ones before they went out:
The adult parties, of course, will go on into the wee hours, including “Come As You Aren’t” at Skylark Cafe and Club (WSB sponsor) and “Hive Mind Halloween” at Youngstown.
FLAG DESECRATION: Highland Park community activist and ex-City Council candidate Dorsol Plants wrote about this incident on his Facebookpage; we asked his permission to share it here, and he said OK. He wrote on FB, “Last night someone shredded the American flag I hang in front of my house. I woke up this morning and could clearly see knife cuts and they had tied it in a knot. That’s just pathetic.” (Plants, by the way, is a U.S. Army veteran who did two tours of duty in Iraq.)
TRUCK TROUBLE: Nick got this photo late today north of ActivSpace on Harbor Ave (including the uncroppable person he described as “zombie lawyer”):
We have no official report on what toppled the truck, but the KOMO news desk confirmed to WSB that everybody’s OK.
FOOTBALL: Thanks to Jodi for sending word that Chief Sealth High School beat Lakeside 37-14 this afternoon; we’ll post an update when we get news of their next game.
As pointed out in comments on the earlier item, this was a planned event for the Puget Sound Kiteboarders Association – though they hadn’t planned to have it in West Seattle waters, that’s where the wind and the waves turned out to be!
At Hiawatha this afternoon, Halloween Howl wrapped up with those five costumed canines taking home a variety of prizes. And their owners deserved prizes for the fun they had trying to corral all five to sit still long enough! The folks at West Seattle Dawg compiled the full winners’ list:
1st Place Buddy dressed as Mr. T – Mini Poodle
2nd Place Sydney dressed as a Scarecrow – Mixed Breed
3rd Place Jin Jing dressed as Lady Bug – Sharpei
4th Place Daisy dressed as Angel – Golden Retriever
5th Place Seamus Shovelpaws dressed as Pumpkin
While we were there, we got a closer look at Seamus S., who did a great job of posing:
WS Dawg shared a few of their photos, too – including this one featuring Buddy the winner with King County Council Chair/County Executive candidate Dow Constantine, who was on his way out the Hiawatha door just as we arrived:
Local pet-related entrepreneurs showed their wares at the event too – Bette Allen (one of your editor’s channel 13 co-workers long ago and far away) has come up with a handy new way for dog owners to get the scoop:
WS Dawg’s Rex Post says, “We raised over $116 in cash donations and 102 lbs of food donations at the event and will pick up some of the participating locations food donations on Monday to get our grand total. … The event was a great success.”
A clever melding of Halloween and the impending election — Bob Anderson sent us that photo of his North Admiral decorations. That part of the peninsula must be the political epicenter this Halloween – North Admiral is also where Mike McGinn had a town hall this morning, and where we bumped into County Council Chair/County Executive candidate Dow Constantine this afternoon (he was just leaving Halloween Howl at Hiawatha – our photos from that are up next).
More scenes from along California SW – some hotdogging going on outside Village Woodworks:
The treats included cider as well as candy outside Next-to-Nature:
And we spotted a surprise at the corner of California/Alaska – campaigning:
Hutchison’s West Seattle-residing opponent in the King County Executive race, County Council Chair Dow Constantine, will be in The Junction tomorrow for one last big campaign bash – 4 pm Sunday @ West 5. As for Halloween – events into the wee hours are all listed here. Next trick-or-treating event, Westwood Village, 4-7 pm. And if you’re in the south-of-Admiral area, The Swinery is giving out bacon caramels:
(Photo by Christopher Boffoli) ADDED 5:56 PM: Thanks to Diane for sharing the photo of what she declared to be the cutest costume she saw in The Junction:
Too bad the magic wand doesn’t work when it comes to gutting pumpkins! These are photos shared by Holly Rikhof (thank you!) from last night’s Pathfinder K-8 pumpkin-carving party – perhaps the biggest en-masse jack-o-lantern carve-a-thon on the peninsula each Halloween. And a good chance to get face-to-face with the end result:
Then, of course, the classic group shot:
We’ll be out and about today but would love to include your pix in the WSB Halloween coverage too – e-mail them, tweet them, share them on the WSB Flickr group or share them with us on FB (we’re at facebook.com/westseattleblog) – thanks and have fun – more coverage to come, with Trick or Treat at The Junction coming up 1-3, Halloween Howl at Hiawatha 2:30-4:30 pm, Westwood Village trick-or-treating 4-7 pm, and more ….
About a dozen people are in the basement meeting room at the West Seattle (Admiral) Branch Library (and two citywide-TV photojournalists), where mayoral candidate Mike McGinn is hosting his third WS “town hall,” till about 11 am – he’s moving on to another area of the city at 11:30. He’ll be doing Q/A after the opening speech he’s giving right now – we’ll add highlights later. 11:07 AM: The town hall’s over. Always a big difference between in-person events and what you see in the “media” campaigns (TV and other forms of advertising) – he didn’t say anything about his opponent Joe Mallahan until more than a half-hour into the session. Most questions were about transportation, business and schools. *We will publish details of this as a separate article and will add the URL here when it’s up.
A new project has just appeared on the city’s “upcoming Design Review” schedule — a Southwest Design Review Board meeting November 19th to look at a proposal for 4435 35th SW (map). According to what’s on the city website, this would be a six-story building with 100-plus units and more than 12,000 square feet of commercial space. Till we can track down somebody to ask about this proposal, it’s not crystal-clear which part of the site is proposed for this – the land under Redline, as well as the lot immediately south, are both owned by former car-business-operators the Hulings; Redline’s address is 4433, while the King County Parcel Viewershows no address for the lot to the south. The “applicant” contact on the city website is an architect with the Roger Newell firm, whose portfolio includes the Golden Crest project that will go up north of Capco Plaza (the building with the new QFC). There’s also a hint on the city website that this has been on the drawing board a while, a mention of a “pre-application site visit” in August of 2008. The November 19th Design Review meeting is scheduled for 6:30 pm at the Senior Center of West Seattle in The Junction.
Thanks to Keri for sharing a shot of the “pirate ship” that will be the main set of Skeleton Theatre again this year, tonight and tomorrow night, 6-9 pm at 36th/Hanford (directions & map) – West Seattle’s one and only animatronic Halloween extravaganza (2008 coverage here; 2007 coverage here; tons of behind-the-scenes info and videos on the ST website). That’s just one of the Halloween events in store — we have two separate ways for you to check the complete list of everything that’s going on this morning, afternoon and evening:
As for the non-Halloween happenings, there’s mayoral candidate Mike McGinn‘s “town hall” at West Seattle (Admiral) Branch Library at 10:15 this morning, the third one he’s had in West Seattle. And remember that today’s the last day of the 2009 season for the King County Water Taxi‘s West Seattle-to-downtown run; here’s the schedule, if you want to catch one last ride.
Two of West Seattle’s 3 high-school varsity-football teams played last night. First – West Seattle High School lost to Seattle Prep 28-13, in a game that saw both sides get off to a slow start. Though it wasn’t raining, the game began with both teams having trouble hanging onto the ball. Prep fumbled twice and West Seattle coughed up the ball on the second play of the night, only to have the loose ball picked up and run in for a Prep score. Prep did manage to find a groove starting in the second. Their defense managed to control most of the game except for two lightning-quick series in which West Seattle scored each of its touchdowns. The Wildcats’ shortest series of the night lasted little more than 30 seconds, finishing with a 37-yard pass from quarterback Ellison Tran to receiver Markeem Adams. Next weekend, West Seattle moves on to play a team from the northwestern Washington. Time and location have yet to be announced. Meantime, at West Seattle Stadium last night:
That’s just part of why Seattle Lutheran High School had a big night, beating Chief Leschi 47-14. Both of Leschi’s touchdowns came toward the end the game. The Saints controlled the game offensively, led by quarterback Fred Lisko and running back Jake Lovely. Lovely had 154 yards rushing on the night and 76 yards receiving. Lisko had 42 yards rushing and 76 yards passing. Lisko and Lovely had three touchdowns each. Also adding to the Saints score was Lucas Driscoll, who had an interception that he ran 50 back 50 yards for a score. Next Thursday night, Evergreen Lutheran comes to West Seattle Stadium to play the Saints in the last regular season game of the year, which is also Seniors’ Night.
Blustery outside but ghoulishly warm inside at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) tonight, for the second consecutive night of pre-Halloween partying … last night, Nightmare on Morgan Street to benefit West Seattle Helpline; Friday night, Zombie Dance Party on behalf of local roller-derby teams. P.S. Congrats to The Feedback for winning “Best Cocktail” in the “Best of Western Washington.” Now, off to Luna Park Cafe for a dayside scene:
Heleyna Holmes photographed Batman and Batgirl after they found the Batmobile at Luna Park. Also in the costume realm, a scene from a classroom:
That’s Seattle Lutheran High School English teacher Leslee Myers taking the occasion Friday morning to dress in period garb as if the classroom were a radio studio, playing the classic “War of the Worlds” from exactly 71 years ago. (That classic, by the way, also happens to be the inspiration for West Seattle High School Drama Club‘s fall play, which has a 2:30 pm matinee today.)
(all photos/video in this report by Christopher Boffoli)
Toward the end of the school day today, just a few blocks south of the city-limits line, the students and staff of White Center Heights Elementary School gathered to celebrate. In part, what they were celebrating was music – which is why they got a guest visit from members of the Seahawks’ Blue Thunder drum line:
But they also were celebrating community, and generosity. This is the assembly during which they said thanks for dozens of musical instruments donated through an informal drive announced a few weeks back here on WSB. It was the brainchild of a WCH Elementary librarian Nancy Hallberg and her daughter, Eliza Junkerman, who talked with WSB contributing photojournalist Christopher Boffoli at today’s event:
By the way, Eliza’s fiancee’ Blake partnered in this enterprise too, collecting the donated instruments:
Eliza tells Christopher it’s not too late to donate yours, if you didn’t see the story the first time around, which is where you will find her contact info. Even if it turns out not to be right for the kids at White Center Heights, they’ll find a place – she says one donated instrument was a beautiful child-sized cello, and while that didn’t work into the music program at WCH, it’s going to an area middle school. ADDED 11:07 PM: More video from Christopher – this includes scenes from the assembly, including Blue Thunder playing:
From the new seattlecrime.com (a project of Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, formerly of The Stranger) – A police report says two people reported getting hit by BBs along 35th SW (first one in the 6900 block, then a half-mile north) last Saturday night, though neither was seriously hurt. Read the story here.
The windy weather’s not scaring away trick-or-treaters in the Admiral business district – that first shot is our drive-by photo from the Admiral/California intersection. Out of the car, we got candy-handing-out action at Click! Design That Fits(WSB sponsor) with co-proprietor John Smersh greeting trick-or-treaters:
And near Admiral Theater (where goofy-scary Theatresports improv is onstage at 8 tonight), Don Wahl from Alki Mail and Dispatch set up a table to meet candy-seekers who might not otherwise make it several blocks west on Admiral to his place:
More than two dozen other merchants are participating (here’s the map), continuing till 6 pm; tomorrow, it’s Trick or Treat at The Junction from 1 pm to 3 pm and Westwood Village trick-or-treating 4-7 pm. Lots more before, during, and after, of course.
Doesn’t change the concerns raised by this now-infamous video, but at least, WSDOT says, last week’s inspection didn’t turn up anything new to worry about. Read on for the just-announced details:Read More
No need to count sheep this weekend – even if they are faux sheep like Hester the pug – you get an extra hour of sleep. Of course it’s Hallo-weekend TOO, but the West Seattle Weekend Lineup needs to give the end of Daylight Saving Time (2 am Sunday, your clock “falls back” an hour) and the impending election (get your ballot mailed or drop-boxed by EOD Tuesday!) a little love too, so this is dedicated to them. Much of what’s on the list is on the WSB Halloween page – but we have NON-Halloween activities too – more than SEVENTY events/activities in all, brought to you by Skylark Cafe and Club:Read More
A creative entry in this afternoon’s pumpkin-carving contest at Keller Williams in The Junction – his name’s not Jack but you can call him Trevor-O-Lantern. The pumpkin contest was coupled with a chili cookoff, and look who we found sampling the entries:
(WSB photo from Admiral business district trick-or-treating in 2008)
A couple more advance notes before we publish the West Seattle Weekend Lineup – The first of three business-district trick-or-treating events in West Seattle is just a few hours away – Admiral Treats and Treasures is 3-6 pm; here’s the map – remember to stop by Merrill Gardens-Admiral Heights (WSB sponsor) when you’re done, to enter the raffle. Right after that, indoor fun begins all around the peninsula, including the special Halloween edition of West Seattle Junction Movies on the Wall – “Nightmare Before Christmas,” 7 pm in the big new West Seattle Christian Church Activity Center (4400 42nd SW) – free! Bring a food-bank donation if you can. Tonight also features more high-school football: West Seattle High School plays Seattle Prep at Memorial Stadium at 5 pm (we’ll tweet from the game at @wsblive). Also, Seattle Lutheran High School plays Chief Leschi at West Seattle Stadium at 7 pm; since the match won the channel 13 “Game of the Week” poll, you’ll see a clip on TV later tonight. Chief Sealth High School plays at Lakeside tomorrow, 1 pm.
The planned agenda for next Wednesday’s Southwest District Council meeting has just been sent out by district coordinator Stan Lock, and they’re expecting two special guests: Deputy Parks Superintendent Christopher Williams is expected with an update on planned improvements at West Seattle Golf Course; a representative from Councilmember Sally Clark‘s office is expected with an update on the neighborhood-planning process. (See our story from earlier this week.) The SWDC meeting at 7 pm Wednesday in the South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) board room will come one night before the next key gathering in the neighborhood-plan-update process — THAT meeting next Thursday is on Beacon Hill (complete details here), but it’ll include discussions of the 5 West Seattle neighborhood plans, so WS representation is vital.
RIVERHOUSE’S FINAL DAYS: Tomorrow is the final day of business for Riverhouse Creperie at ActivSpace on Harbor Ave just north of The Bridge, according to its owner Kathaleen. As reported here earlier this month, she is closing the business to focus on her health. She e-mailed to say she’s offering the business for sale or sublease, and is also willing to sell equipment. You can reach her for details at riverhousecrepes@gmail.com.
of Daylight Saving Time (2 am Sunday, your clock “falls back” an hour) and the impending election (get your ballot mailed or drop-boxed by EOD Tuesday!) a little love too, so this is dedicated to them. Much of what’s on the list is on 
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