Followup: Helping injured West Seattle officer who’s losing benefits
Developments since we wrote Friday night about a tv story on Officer Jason McKissack facing the loss of medical benefits because injuries from the attack on him in West Seattle a year and a half ago have left him unable to return to work:
*We’ve heard twice from Renee Maher, executive director of the law-enforcement advocacy group COMPAS and also the widow of Federal Way Police Officer Patrick Maher, killed in the line of duty seven years ago. She had more to say about the legislation mentioned in the story (which stalled last year but has been reintroduced this session):
COMPAS has made HB 1679 our priority for this legislative session. While we fully support and agree with the legislation that helps families of fallen officers, we believe that helping officers like Jason McKissack is just as important. I was part of the effort that got legislation passed in 2006 that provided medical insurance for families of officers killed in the line of duty. Imagine my shock and disgust to learn that financially, an officer’s family is better off if the officer dies in the line of duty (versus being disabled).
HB 1679 will provide medical insurance to Jason and his family. It is very do-able to get this legislation passed this session. We just need to spread the word and have people call their legislators to support this bill.
As discussed in comments following last night’s story, the bill is currently in the Ways and Means Committee of the state House. West Seattle Rep. Eileen Cody is a member of that committee. We e-mailed Rep. Cody to ask about its status and what people could do to voice support. Her reply today:
To move forward we will need to vote it out of the Ways and Means Committee again. I will check with Rep Simpson to see if he is planning on pushing the issue again this year. Interested constituents should contact Ways and Means Committee members to encourage action. We would not have to have another hearing on the bill this year since we had one last year. The chair just has to decide to bring it up for a vote.
The Legislature’s website says the committee is chaired by North Sound Rep. Kelli Linville; she and other members are listed here, and you can follow the links for their contact info. To e-mail Rep. Cody, start here.
*Meantime, our second message from Renee Maher included word that the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild is now able to accept contributions for Officer McKissack’s medical fund:
SPOG
2949 4th Ave South
Seattle, WA 98134
Subject line: Jason McKissack
There is also a link on the Seattle Police Guild website tonight with more info on the situation. Meantime, Q13 interviewed the McKissacks for a story aired tonight:
West Seattle giving: Haiti updates, Polar Plunge, Relay for Life
WEST SEATTLE FUNDRAISERS TO HELP HAITI: As reported last night, the Keller Williams car-wash fundraiser brought in an estimated $1,500+ in just five hours, according to organizer Michaelle Crovisier. Today’s soup lunch after the West Seattle Unitarian Universalists‘ service raised $800, per a note we just got from Kari Kopnick. And Full Tilt Ice Cream‘s daylong “all profits, all three locations” drive is a hit – more than 2 hours before the scheduled closing time, the White Center location sold out of ice cream, according to this tweet, as the next one commented, “Thanks, everyone that stopped by today. This will be a nice check that we get to send out.” (We subsequently checked directly with FT; they expect that check to be at least $400.) Beveridge Place Pub reports via Facebook that its event tonight raised more than $3,300.
SPECIAL OLYMPICS POLAR PLUNGE: Just one week away. WSB is proud to be co-sponsoring this sure-to-be-invigorating fundraiser at Alki; there’s still time to register – choose the January 24th Alki event on this page – or register the day of the event, starting at 9 am (the Plunge is at 11 am).
WEST SEATTLE RELAY FOR LIFE KICKOFF PARTY AHEAD: The kickoff party for the annual overnight cancer-fighting fundraiser at West Seattle Stadium is a week and a half away. Volunteer Lauren Blair sent the official announcement of the 6 pm January 27th event – and word of a half-price deal to register a West Seattle Relay for Life team between now and party night – read on:Read More
Happening now: Dogs for Docs fundraiser @ Beveridge Place till 7
The dogs are on the grill and the silent auction/raffle items are on the tables at Beveridge Place Pub, where Dogs for Docs is raising money right now for Doctors Without Borders‘ work helping Haiti earthquake victims. The benefit’s under way till 7 tonight, 6413 California SW (map). WSB’er “k” (who shared the photos) is there and says the silent auction’s going great; she also points out that since the grill’s set up outside, kids can have food too, since they can participate without going into the pub. All food is offered by donation only. Two more hours! (Also still under way – Full Tilt Ice Cream in White Center, Columbia City and U-District, donating all of today’s profits; all three locations are open till 10 pm.) 8:15 PM NOTE: Via Twitter, Full Tilt says it’s sold out of ice cream in White Center.
West Seattle beverage news: Locöl, wine & beer bar, on the way
Story and photos by Mary Sheely
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Kyle and Kristi Duce love living in West Seattle.
Kyle manages Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor) on weekends and spent a year tending bar at Shadowland, where he got to know and love the regulars. Kristi is a graphic designer for Prentice Design on Alki Beach. The couple enjoys sharing beers and barbecue on summer nights with their neighbors in the High Point community where they live. But that’s also where they realized that something was missing.
“We’d start talking about how nice it would be if we had a place we could walk to to get a beer or a glass of wine,” remembers Kyle. “There’s 1,600 homes in High Point — it’s huge — and the whole area is such a dense residential area. The demographics are phenomenal and there’s nothing like that there.”
So Kyle, who currently manages the Oakley store in Bellevue Square, Kristi, and their friend Shane Whittall, a bartender, decided that not only should there be a place like that, they were the ones who should open it. Seven months later, the lease has been signed on 7902 35th Ave SW (map), a narrow storefront between Sharon’s Westwood Florist and Kenyon Hall.
The liquor license has been applied for, the dumpsters arrive this week, and construction is about to begin on Locöl, “West Seattle’s premier wine & beer bar.”
Read More
West Seattle restaurant notes: New menus
Quick notes from the West Seattle food world: Silas from Porterhouse e-mailed to say they’re soft-launching brunch today (9-3) and have posted menus on Facebook (see them here). Meantime, via Twitter, Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), which opens daily at 11:30 am, has a new lunch menu, which you can see on the Feedback website (go here). From The Junction, Spring Hill‘s been tweeting about the new dessert menu courtesy of new pastry chef Garrett. And back to the brunch business, Skylark Cafe and Club (WSB sponsor) tweets brunch suggestions just about every weekend morning (even if you don’t have a Twitter account, you can check via the web at twitter.com/skylarkcafe) – this weekend alone, the suggestions included two varieties of flapjacks involving peanut butter (here’s the actual menu). (Restaurant news? Share it via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, whatever works.)
Coexisting with coyotes: What you might not know (or remember)
(Editor’s note: After this recent WSB report and this recent Magnolia incident, it seemed like a good time to revisit the coyote question – as in, they’re living among us; should you be worried? The University of Washington is working with WSB and other small local news organizations again this semester, and one of their student journalists took on the assignment.)
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(July 2008 photo from Vanessa, taken near Lincoln Park)
By EMILY FAIRBROOK
University of Washington News Lab
Jilly Eddy, a Gatewood resident, says she got “the heebie-jeebies” earlier this month when she found half a dead cat on her neighbor’s walkway.
All the signs pointed to coyotes, but before researching the topic, she had no idea they lived in her area. In the middle of this thriving city, it’s easy to forget that wild animals live just around the corner, or in some cases closer than that. Raccoons and squirrels are common, but it may come as a surprise that coyotes also call Seattle home.
Eddy’s property is on the edge of a large ravine, a common place for coyotes to live.
Kim Chandler, sergeant with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, called these greenbelts “coyote superhighways.”
He gets calls about coyotes several times a week, but tells worried citizens not to lose any sleep over it.Read More
Today: West Seattle help for Haiti; orchard talk; Farmers’ Market
WEST SEATTLE HELP FOR HAITI: West Seattle Christian Church (42nd/Genesee) is collecting donations for Haiti at its services (9 and 10:45 am) today and next Sunday; West Seattle Unitarian Universalists will raise money with a soup lunch after today’s service (10:30 am, so lunch around 11:45), Masonic Hall (40th/Edmunds); in Morgan Junction, Beveridge Place Pub hosts Dogs for Docs, raising money with sausages, hot dogs and veggie dogs plus a silent auction and raffle, benefiting Doctors Without Borders, 4-7 pm, 6413 California SW; in White Center, Full Tilt Ice Cream donates all of today’s profits (Columbia City and U-District locations too). Ongoing drives are listed here (let us know if something’s missing!).
ORCHARD MEETING: As mentioned here yesterday, everyone interested in a potential Community Orchard for West Seattle is invited to a meeting at 4 pm at Duwamish Cohousing, 6000 17th SW.
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: A new item debuts today: Wild Alaskan Spot Prawns (frozen) from fishing vessel Hat Trick ($22 for 2 pounds). Market managers say this’ll be offered every other week through the winter. Read on for today’s full Ripe and Ready list of what’s new:Read More
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