day : 19/07/2011 14 results

11:22 PM: Delridge is closed southbound in the 5900 block after a car hit parked cars and flipped. No major injuries reported.

11:48 PM: Added a photo. Neighbors say the parked car next to which the flipped car is seen is one of two cars it hit.

12:10 AM: WSB’s Christopher Boffoli talked to police; the driver did not have to be taken to the hospital. Police wouldn’t elaborate on the circumstances of the crash but were seen giving the driver a citation. Here’s what the car looked like after a tow truck righted it:

(Photo by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)

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West Seattle Crime Watch followup: Police report on stabbings

July 19, 2011 9:46 pm

| 6 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle police

No word of any arrests yet, but the police report “narrative” from the Saturday night North Admiral stabbings is available online. Many details are redacted in the online copy – not just names but some places – which we are denoting below with asterisks. Read on:Read More

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2 weeks till Night Out – registered your West Seattle block party yet?

July 19, 2011 9:23 pm

| 1 COMMENT

| Crime | Neighborhoods | Safety | West Seattle news

Only two weeks till this year’s Night Out Against Crime, Tuesday, August 2nd. Still time to register your block party so you can close the street, providing it’s not an arterial. Here’s where to sign up.. You can also check out the Night Out page on Facebook – find it here. And if you wouldn’t mind us stopping by your party as we travel around that night trying to get to as many as possible, please send us the address (here’s how to reach us) before party night, and let us know who to ask for! Also note the city is inviting people to map their parties by adding them to a calendar – this is the first time ever for that – once you’re in the calendar, there’s a map on the city Night Out page showing locations that have been added!

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Video: West Seattle Hi-Yu Concert in the Park 2011

July 19, 2011 7:24 pm

| 2 COMMENTS

| Fun stuff to do | West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival | West Seattle news

7:24 PM: If you’re not already among the 100 or so people here – c’mon over to Hiawatha’s east lawn. The West Seattle Big Band is playing what Jim Edwards quipped is the “Hi-Yu FALL Festival Concert in the Park” (added, that’s Jim with the mike in the center background, in the next photo):

And the program so far has included songs evocative of the weather, like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” The concert’s scheduled to continue till about 8:30, and we’ve even seen sunbreaks. Bring a blanket to sit on and another one to wrap yourself in, and you’ll be fine (and a dollar for a Hi-Yu fundraising button – the royalty and volunteers are here). We’ll add more photos later as well as video.

ADDED EARLY WEDNESDAY: A sample of the sounds:

More outdoor music ahead for West Seattle this summer – even if you might need a sweater to enjoy it! – the Summer Concerts at Hiawatha series presented by the Admiral Neighborhood Association (co-sponsored by WSB) start July 28 (full schedule here), and Friday Night Summer Concerts at the Mount start August 5 (full schedule here). Back to Hi-Yu – cheer the float, royalty, and volunteers in this Saturday’s West Seattle Grand Parade, 11 am, California SW from Lander to Edmunds.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: What police were doing by the Super 24

July 19, 2011 7:19 pm

| 13 COMMENTS

| Crime | Delridge | West Seattle news

7:19 PM: Thanks to those who tipped us (206-293-6302, voice or text any time) about a big police presence at the Super 24 on Delridge within the past hour. Police at the scene tell us there was a report of a road-rage incident, involving someone waving or pointing a gun out of a car. They pulled over the suspect; no injuries reported.

ADDED 12:19 AM: Here are more details in a summary published on SPD Blotter:

On July 19th, just after 4:30 PM, a 29 year old male suspect was involved in a traffic dispute with another driver. Both vehicles had just exited the West Seattle Bridge onto Delridge. The suspect raised a semi-auto handgun and pointed it at the victim. The victim fled and called 911. Officers responded but the suspect vehicle had left the area.

Just before 6:00 PM, an officer from the Southwest Precinct located the suspect vehicle, a black 1997 Mercedes Benz, at a gas station in the 5400 Block of Delridge Way SW, occupied by two males and a female. The occupants of the vehicle were taken into custody without incident. The suspect admitted to officers that there was a handgun in the driver’s door compartment and gave officers consent to search the vehicle. Officers recovered the 9mm pistol, a loaded magazine, and a box of ammunition. The 29 year old suspect was arrested and booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of Harassment. The other occupants were identified and released.

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Followup: Charges filed against suspect sought in SWAT ‘standoff’

July 19, 2011 4:23 pm

| 50 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

Charges have just been filed against the man who police thought was inside a Delridge home last Friday morning, leading to hours of SWAT-team presence that all traced back to an incident at Camp Long on Thursday night. 20-year-old Jory Lee Preston is charged with two counts of domestic-violence assault, one 2nd degree and one 4th degree. The charging documents refer to two incidents: First, the Thursday night incident in which he allegedly pointed a gun at his 17-year-old ex-girlfriend; and also, the previous Monday (July 11th), Preston is accused of “confront(ing) the victim at a park in West Seattle, angry with her that she was hanging out with other guys. He grabbed her and attempted to force her into his vehicle and threatened to push her in front of a moving vehicle.” He had been held on $100,000 bail, but prosecutors are asking to have that raised to $250,000, saying in the documents, “The gun in the July 14, 2011, incident was not recovered, but when the SWAT Team made entrance into his residence they recovered a rifle, a loaded revolver and a shotgun and shotgun ammunition, and a large knife. In February 2011, the Seattle Police Department responded to a 911 report that the defendant had threatened to kill his step-father. According to the police report, when police responded to the scene, they took the defendant into custody and … recovered several firearms from his bedroom.” The probable-cause section of the charging documents, based on the police report, say that Preston and the victim broke up last March, and say that the July 11th incident happened at Me-Kwa-Mooks on Beach Drive, but was not reported to SPD until that afternoon. The charging documents also include an extensive account of how police say events unfolded at Camp Long and then during the SWAT presence at Preston’s Delridge residence; we will add that to this report a bit later – there are a lot of witness and victim names to excise. (Friday photo courtesy of Amanda)

ADDED 10:26 AM: The transcript of the “probable cause” narrative by police – we transcribed it from the documents that accompanied the charges filed yesterday, as they were not in a “cut-and-paste”-enabled format. Names aside from the charged person have been excised, as have addresses, license plate numbers and other identifying information. This begins with the Camp Long incident and carries through the overnight SWAT standoff, quoting those who were inside the house as saying they didn’t open up because they thought police would “go away”:Read More

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Update: SBX’s short trip off West Seattle shores; drillship’s arrival

July 19, 2011 1:36 pm

| 23 COMMENTS

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news

(10:22 PM – 2 more photos, including SBX and stand-up paddleboarders!)

(Photo added 1:46 pm, courtesy of Toni)
As first reported here Monday morning, the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX) that’s been so prominently visible from Harbor Island’s Vigor Shipyard for the past two months is making a short trip today. As scheduled, around 1 pm it headed out into Elliott Bay. It’s scheduled to be out for about six hours of testing while the floating offshore-drilling ship Kulluk is maneuvered into Vigor at the end of its long tow from Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

ADDED 2:29 PM: Kathy Olson shared this photo from Seacrest:

Our friends at MyBallard.com have photos of the Kulluk as it was under tow earlier. (added 3:11 pm) Here’s CL’s photo as the Kulluk rounded West Point into the bay:

We don’t have formal word on this, but one report we encountered while researching all this yesterday indicated that the work on the Kulluk is scheduled to take at least seven months. Meantime, SBX was expected to be out for at least six hours today, so if you want to see it out and about, you might get to see it moving back toward the shipyard before dark.

ADDED 6:22 PM: Thanks again to everyone who has been sharing photos of the sights at sea – again, SBX is NOT leaving permanently, it’s been here two months and was expected to be at Vigor at least three. First photo, WSB co-publisher Patrick Sand got a view of the Water Taxi with the SBX behind:

This one’s courtesy of Rebecca Nelson (editor of RavennaBlog.com but passing through via ferry):

Our original tip about these marine moves came from her. She also spotted a sailboat near a Coast Guard vessel enforcing the 500-yard keep-away-from-SBX zone:

Might add a few more later.

9:52 PM UPDATE: The SBX was still out in the bay when we passed by after the Hi-Yu concert, a little more than an hour ago. And we have this photo courtesy of Debra Herbst:

We believe those would be the Tuesday night stand-up paddleboarders from Alki Kayak Tours, with extra sights this evening.

ADDED 10:22 PM: David Hutchinson shares the view of the Kulluk in one of the late afternoon/early evening sunbreaks:

As Shell told WSB in a statement yesterday, they hope to use the Kulluk to drill in the Beaufort Sea next year, off Alaska’s northeasternmost coast.

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West Seattle restaurants: Mawadda Café expands to Admiral District

July 19, 2011 12:31 pm

| 33 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | West Seattle restaurants

Story and photo by Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

How do you like your chai? Brewed with a blend of twelve different spices? How about your Chicken Shawarma? Marinated in a mixture of twenty-five different spices?

West Seattleites will get a chance to try Chef Rami Al-Jebori’s thoughtfully crafted “Middle East cuisine” when he expands his popular Mawadda Café to the Admiral District in September, in the former Museum Quality Framing storefront.

Blending Iranian, Greek, Turkish and Mediterranean flavors, Al-Jebori will feature items such as falafel, hummus, gyros and shish kebob. There will be a variety of vegetarian options and all the food will be made following the rules of Halal (Islamic dietary guidelines). Desserts will also be offered and he points out that his Baklava recipe uses pistachios instead of the usual walnuts.

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Phone books: What to do if you opted out but still got one

July 19, 2011 10:29 am

| 16 COMMENTS

| Environment | West Seattle news

Just out of the WSB inbox, from Joe in Arbor Heights:

Dex phone books are here again. After all of the opt-out hype and after three other times of contacting Dex and requesting that I not be delivered phone books, the kid (who appeared too young to even be working) attempted to deliver another archaic Dex phone book to my residence until I hollered out the window for him to go away. What do we have to do?

If you have opted out through the new service that’s officially partnered with the city, you’re advised to sign into your account and file a complaint.

10:41 AM: We mentioned this on Twitter and Councilmember Mike O’Brien tweeted that he’s interested if this happens to you.

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Trial continues today for 2 of Steve Bushaw’s alleged murderers

July 19, 2011 10:10 am

| 7 COMMENTS

| Crime | West Seattle news

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

This afternoon at the King County Courthouse, pre-testimony proceedings in the trial of Brandon Chaney and Bryce Huber are scheduled to resume.

Huber (left) and Chaney (right), are two of the four men who were charged with gunning down 26-year-old Steve Bushaw along California north of Edmunds in The Junction on Super Bowl night in 2009. The other two, Danny O’Neal and John Sylve, already have pleaded guilty. As mentioned earlier, we were in court as proceedings began Monday afternoon.

Toplines: The case has a new prosecutor, Jeff Baird, because the one originally assigned to the case, James Konat – who won the case against South Park killer/rapist Isaiah Kalebu earlier this summer – was taken off it amid a controversy over racist remarks he made in an unrelated case in which a conviction was overturned as a result. Baird gained fame last decade for leading the Green River Killer prosecution team. His first major announcement in this case: Seeking to drop the “conspiracy to commit murder” charge against Chaney and Huber.

Chaney’s lawyer James Rowe didn’t object, so his client now is on trial for one charge – 1st-degree murder with firearm enhancement – but Huber’s lawyer Anthony Savage did object, saying the alleged conspiracy was going to figure into his defense, and dropping the charge “disarms” him of a contention he planned to pursue. Judge Joan DuBuque gave Savage until first thing this morning to cite case law to support his argument against dropping the conspiracy charge.

She also suggested the defense lawyers would want to read the trial brief that Baird had turned in – hinting that it would raise a number of issues that might take days to hash out – and when court reconvenes today, everyone will have “a better sense of what there is to argue about.”

All that means this may not get to jury selection for a while.

The trial originally was set to start in January – then suddenly, Sylve and O’Neal pleaded guilty, and that led to delays. It was pushed further back when Konat was still on the case, so as not to conflict with the South Park murder/rapes trial. Even Judge DuBuque acknowledged yesterday, “This [Bushaw murder] case has been proceeding in a piecemeal fashion.”

It’s also a complicated case – and as noted again in court yesterday, evidence will include a copious amount of cell-phone records – with the general allegation that Bushaw was killed because Huber believed he had been involved in a home-invasion robbery; Sylve and O’Neal allegedly were the triggermen, and Chaney the getaway driver.

(Photo credit: January 2011, by Christopher Boffoli for WSB)

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Countdown to the Alki Art Fair: Winning T-shirt design

July 19, 2011 9:14 am

| Comments Off on Countdown to the Alki Art Fair: Winning T-shirt design

| West Seattle festivals | West Seattle news | WS culture/arts

When it’s a celebration of artists – and there’s a competition to design the official T-shirt – you know the result will be memorable. This Saturday and Sunday, the beach will be alive with art for the annual Alki Art Fair (co-sponsored by WSB), and though it’s free, you can help support it by buying a shirt. The winning design is above; the winning artist is Susan Basher, who organizers tell us is new to the fair, and will have a booth there. (You’ve probably seen the poster all around town too – it was created by Alaina Gridley, who has participated in the fair for several years.) In addition to the art you can admire and buy during the fair (10 am-6 pm both days this weekend), make plans to check out at least a few of the 29 acts slated for live musical performances – here’s our previous report with the full schedule, and help pay tribute to the Alki Bathhouse’s centennial (did you catch the Then And Now Seattle Times feature on Sunday?). More previews ahead; check out the official Alki Art Fair website here. And the forecast still tantalizes us with a suggestion of some weekend sunshine…

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West Seattle Tuesday: SBX; playground; Hi-Yu concert; produce

July 19, 2011 8:26 am

| 3 COMMENTS

| West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(Photo courtesy Steve Fuller)
We reported yesterday morning on the impending temporary move of the SBX from its Vigor Shipyard spot so the Arctic-offshore-oil-drilling rig Kulluk can be maneuvered in. MarineTraffic.com indicates the Kulluk is now off north Seattle shores, so it looks like all this is still on for later today – the plan was for the SBX to spend about six hours out in Elliott Bay doing testing this afternoon/evening. Meantime, from the WSB West Seattle Events calendar:

JOB-SEARCH SUPPORT GROUP: The long-running job-searcher-support group Notes From The Job Search meets every Tuesday at 11 am at C & P Coffee (WSB sponsor), 5612 California SW. Members have of course come and gone, as jobs have been found (and lost), and if you’re a current searcher, they welcome you to drop in.

COMMUNITY FELDENKRAIS: Community Feldenkrais at Senior Center of West Seattle (4217 SW Oregon St), Erik LaSeur (WSB sponsor), Mary Morrison, & Anna Oeste, guild-certified Feldenkrais practitioners. 1st and 3rd Tuesdays, 12:30 – 1:15 group session, $5 members/$10 non-members, 1:30 – 3:30pm individual sessions with appointment (call Erik at 206-406-8154), improve balance and stability, increase flexibility, decrease pain, increase mental clarity.

KIDS’ DESIGN MEETING FOR NEW HIGH POINT PLAYGROUND: High Point is getting a playground at Bataan Park with the help of KaBOOM! and the Windermere Foundation, as first reported here last week, and this is the chance for area kids to have their say in its design. 4:30-7:30 pm, HP Neighborhood Center, 6400 Sylvan Way.

WEST SEATTLE HI-YU CONCERT IN THE PARK: Tonight’s the night! West Seattle Big Band at 7 pm, east lawn of Hiawatha Community Center, free (but bring a few dollars to buy West Seattle Hi-Yu buttons from circulating volunteers and royalty, to support the festival and Seattle’s last neighborhood parade float).

DELRIDGE PRODUCE COOPERATIVE BUYERS’ CLUB: Tonight is this new group’s every-other-Tuesday meeting, to order discounted organic produce for pickup next Sunday. You are welcome to join at any time – just look for the Delridge Produce Cooperative group at 7 pm at Delridge Community Center, 4501 Delridge Way SW.

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West Seattle coyotes: 2 sightings, including a pet-safety reminder

July 19, 2011 8:08 am

| 3 COMMENTS

| Coyotes | West Seattle news | Wildlife

Our most recent two coyote sightings include a reminder for pet owners – it’s in a report this morning from DRS:

A rather bold coyote tried to eat my bunny (last night) at our home on 26th by Cottage Grove Park. Thanks to our awesome neighbors she’s safe and sound. Unfortunately no pic of the pesky canine but he/she was about the size of a border collie (just skinnier and more coyoteish, obviously). If you have pets that stay outside, make sure their pens are secure enough to withstand a frontal attack.

And Anya posted this one early Monday to the WSB Facebook wall:

Another coyote sighting. Between 36th/37th and Hudson. He was huge (at least 4 1/2 feet long, a good 2 feet tall and a very long bushy tail. His ears were perked straight up and he was a golden with dark brown down his spine into his tail); he looked like he was scrounging for food but he took me by surprise. I’ve lived in this house my whole life (22 years) and parents for a year before I came along and we’ve never seen a coyote around here.

Remember, while they’re apparently everywhere, the less seen, the better, because it means less entanglement between them, pets, and people – and if you do see one, do your best to scare it off, as advised in the “coexisting with coyotes” advice from wildlife authorities.

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Help beautify Boren – and discourage tagging vandalism

July 19, 2011 12:59 am

| 3 COMMENTS

| Delridge | How to help | West Seattle news

(WSB photo from June 4th)
Last month, a small, spirited group of volunteers spent a sunny Saturday morning at Boren School on Delridge, painting the backs and sides of mural panels that will go up around the closed campus to both beautify it and discourage tagging vandalism. Now, Pete Spalding (who’s at left in our photo) says, your help is needed to finish the work so the murals can be put up. You don’t need artistic talent – just a little time to lend to the work. 9 am July 30th (one week from this Saturday); e-mail Pete at bayouwonder@comcast.net so he knows how many people might show up.

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