Thanks to Jillian for sharing that view of this year’s Space Needle fireworks from West Seattle – one more look as the holiday season winds down this weekend with tasks like taking down the Christmas tree. Since this weekend is prime time for many to, shall we say, de-decorate, we wanted to mention this once more: The city has two ways for you to recycle trees. If you don’t mind some chopping and bundling, there’s curbside pickup; if you’d like to just recycle it in one piece, your tree is more likely to fit the guidelines of what’s acceptable for dropoff at the South Recycling and Disposal Station over in South Park. See the guidelines here; here’s a map to the disposal station (open 8 am-5:30 pm daily).
That’s the subject line of the e-mail in which WSB’er “Grr” sent the photo shown above; he had placed a card on the door of the Jade West Cafe a week ago, as noted here, and now that the first card is filled up, he noticed today that someone else has added an even bigger one. “Wah,” of course, is the proprietor of Jade West, Wah Wong, now out of the hospital after being badly hurt when a driver hit him, his son and wife outside their Beacon Hill home on December 12. The driver, Rodney James, is charged with vehicular assault and remains jailed in lieu of $250,000 bail; Wah Wong is out of the hospital but his son Jason Wong, who lost part of a leg in the crash, was still there as of our last check a few days ago. No official word yet on plans for reopening the cafe, long a beloved and quirky one-man operation.
3 Crime Watch reports to share tonight – 2 cases of vandalism at local homes – one that happened earlier tonight – plus a car prowl. First, from FH in the 3400 block of 45th SW [map]:
I wanted to report that our front door window pane was smashed at a little before 6:00 pm tonight. A neighbor walking by heard a crash and then saw a kid run from our front yard across 45th Ave SW to Madison Middle School. He called the police who came, reported in the incident and provided a case number. … The neighbor said he also heard a crash of glass from the corner of Spokane and 45th Ave SW.
A North Admiral resident reports:
Writing to report that our house on 46th Ave and College [map] has been vandalized twice in the last week. December 25th and December 31st after dark our house was egged and mail removed from a locked mailbox and strewn across the porch. The vandals had to climb very steep stairs and the house is not surrounded by trees or bushes, it is out in the open. Report filed with the police department and they will be patrolling more frequently in the next weeks. Hope neighbors will keep a look out and report suspicious people, especially after dark. The postman observed that other houses were not egged so this feels like a repeat-targeting of our house. Wondering if there have been other reports such as this.
And from Annamarie in the 6900 block of 25th SW [map], who reports several cars were prowled in her neighborhood Wednesday night; she discovered she was among the victims after a neighbor’s phone call:
We both had not locked our doors and they did not break anything. I am missing CD’s, tools, etc. My car is parked right outside my bedroom window with security lights and all…but I did not hear them. I just want to get out a warning. I normally lock my car doors but must have not remembered …
Thanks to Lina Rose for sharing photos taken by husband Scott Rose during last night’s low tide.
Lina says, “Our favorite thing from the evening was the small blue shrimp with iridescent eyes. We have never noticed these in the daytime but they were really cool. Also- I have never seen so many crabs out and about!” Tonight’s low tide is almost as low, another minus-three-footer, bottoming out around quarter past 11.
Looking ahead on the chart, it appears the tides won’t get this low again until June.
That clip we found on YouTube shows the crazy scene – what another YouTuber described as a “euphoric storming of the field” — after the University of Idaho Vandals’ one-point win over Bowling Green in the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise on Wednesday. This is notable for West Seattle, as pointed out in this note Allison sent this afternoon:
Former West Seattle High School standout, Aaron Grymes who now plays college football at University of Idaho, has won his first bowl game with the Vandals in the Humanitarian Bowl. They defeated Bowling Green St. 43-42.
Allison thought Westside supporters would want to hear this, if they hadn’t already. According to these game stats, he had two tackles in the game. (It was a year ago this month that Grymes changed his mind about college and decided to go to Idaho instead of UW.)
As reported here last night, the west end of the West Seattle Bridge was shut down for a while late New Year’s Eve because of a multi-car crash. SPDBlotter has published a short update today, saying the driver, first reported “driving erratically” on The Bridge, is suspected of DUI:
(The car) subsequently struck two other vehicles as well as the jersey barrier forcing the shutdown of the westbound lanes for 90 minutes. In addition, the eastbound lanes were shut down for 15 minutes while the jersey barriers were moved back into place. There were no serious injuries and the suspect driver was processed for DUI.
At right, that’s newborn Grace Weber, welcomed this morning by West Seattle residents Courtney and Dave Weber, according to Swedish Medical Center, which sent the photo with news that Grace is the first Swedish baby of 2010, born at 6:41 am today at the hospital’s First Hill Campus. Stats, according to the Swedish news release: 6 pounds, 15.6 ounces, 18.5 inches. Swedish quotes the proud parents as saying it was an unexpected blessing to have their first baby born so early in the new year, which is the centennial year for Swedish, where more than 200,000 babies have been born in that century since Dr. Nils Johanson founded the system. Since Grace is the first baby of the year, she and her family get a gift basket from the Swedish Auxiliary, a Swaddle Designs receiving blanket, and a ButterLondon manicure/pedicure set. (We’re checking on whether Grace was the 1st Seattle baby this year – so far we’ve heard of a 12:01 am baby in Bellevue.)
(WSB video and photos by Christopher Boffoli)
WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli reports about 50 people hit the beach, and then the water – as you see in his video above – for West Seattle’s 2010 New Year’s Day Polar Bear Swim. First, of course, before the dash into the Sound, it’s off with the clothes:
The water temperature, by the way, was on par with the air temperature – 49-degree water, and (at 10 am) 50-degree air. Immediately afterward, time to warm up again:
The post-swim warmup included free chowder donated by Duke’s, which is right across the street from the swim site:
Missed it? Or – want to do it again? This year, you have a second chance to run into Elliott Bay with dozens, maybe even hundreds, of kindred souls – Special Olympics of Washington is presenting the Polar Plunge on Alki, 11 am January 24. It’s a SOWA fundraiser so you need to register, individual or team – you can start the process here.
More restaurants are open New Year’s than Christmas, so we don’t have a full open/closed list for them, but a few notes: Some popular weekend brunch spots are offering brunch today too, like WSB sponsor Skylark Cafe, open at 9 am. And Redline Music and Sports in The Triangle is offering freebies at a “customer appreciation night” starting at 9 pm, including free pizza/pool/jukebox. Places keeping regular hours include Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), 11:30 am-2 am as always.
At right, that’s newborn Grace Weber, welcomed this morning by West Seattle residents Courtney and Dave Weber, according to 
Ready for a new year even better than the old one? Here are a few notes for the holiday that’s kicking it all off:
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