West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
EDITOR’S NOTE: The trial of Bryce Huber and Brandon Chaney, charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Steve Bushaw, is the first West Seattle murder case to go to trial in three years. We covered the last one gavel-to-gavel and intend to do the same here. After two weeks of motions, logistics, and jury selection, the prosecution and defense both presented their opening statements today, and then the prosecution began calling witnesses. Our story tonight covers the opening statements, with witness notes to come.
By Katie Meyer
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Veteran prosecutor Jeffrey Baird delivered the first opening statement. He began by noting the date of the deadly shooting:
“February 1st, 2009. Sunday. It was Super Bowl Sunday, the Steelers played the Cardinals, and millions watched. Two and a half years ago, after the Super Bowl, something happened in our community that was witnessed by only a few people. A young man was shot to death. The young man’s name was Steve Bushaw. He was raised in West Seattle, he’d gone to West Seattle High School. At the time of his death, he was still living with his parents in West Seattle. And he was shot to death right in the heart of West Seattle, in what locals call ‘The Junction” …
“Mr. Bushaw’s death was not an accident – he was not hit by a stray round. He was gunned down in the middle of the street, not by one but two men, both firing repeatedly at him from close range. This was not a case of self-defense. He was not armed, and did nothing to provoke them. He had never met them. This was not case of sudden rage. He’d done nothing to provoke it. It wasn’t a case of mistaken identity. He was deliberately targeted, with considerable planning and forethought.”
Baird then told the jury what sort of evidence they would be presented with, and how he believes it will tell the story, step by step.
It seems to always happen this way – no matter how optimistic a restaurateur is about getting a new place open fast, it takes longer than expected. For those who have been e-mailing to ask what’s up with the plan for Pan Africa Grill to open in the ex-Ho-Win north of Morgan Junction, that’s exactly what’s going on. Three months have passed since we first told you about Mulugeta Abade‘s plan to bring something here that’s similar to his successful Pan Africa Restaurant and Bar at Pike Place Market; at that time, he had said he hoped to be open within one month. WSB contributor Bill “Hutch” Hutchison, who talked with “Mulu” for the original story, checked back with him this week. Yes, the plan is still moving ahead, but there are still a few weeks of work left. Mulu told Hutch, “We ran into some delays as these types of projects always do. I have the old Ho Win sign down and will be putting up our new one, hopefully by next week. We are aiming for Labor Day weekend to open at this point, and are excited to meet our new West Seattle neighbors.”
(WEDNESDAY NOTE: We’ve received several more photos from Night Out parties, and have added them to this report, which now includes scenes from 18 parties!)
6:11 PM: At some West Seattle “Night Out” block parties tonight, it’ll be as much carnival atmosphere as anything else – the folks at 32nd and Kenyon shared that photo of the bouncy house awaiting neighborhood kids. In Upper Fauntleroy, the block party we’ll be missing while out covering others already has one young attendee in place:
That’s Colin, who’s 9. We’re in Gatewood right now, as of 6:10 pm, and heading to as many stops as we can make before 9 pm (let us know if your party’s running late – we found one last year after dark).:
That’s the first of two Gatewood parties we’re stopping by – 97-year-old Louise is the star of the show; she’s lived on the block since the ’40s. Thanks to Holly for letting us know about the party in Louise’s ‘hood.
6:21 PM: A few blocks southwest of Louise and company, this jovial Gatewood group is barbecuing:
Thanks to Jill for the invite.
6:29 PM: Heading east into Westwood, a few adjacent blocks have so many parties, Kelly e-mailed to tell us they’re offering “passports” to encourage people to visit them all and meet more neighbors. Here’s Denise, who came up with the passport idea:
6:49 PM: Scenes from three of the parties in Kelly and Denise’s neighborhood:
More to come – South Delridge/Highland Park next!
7:01 PM: Marcia Ventura invited us via Facebook to stop by the 9000 block of 13th SW:
We didn’t realize that there we would also find local artist/belly dancer Dina Lydia Johnson – who made the sign in the photo (and is also a photographer – she took a group shot right before ours) – and her fellow community advocate husband Blair Johnson, as well as more of their neighbors. Next stop – High Point Community Center.
7:20 PM: Turns out the HPCC party is more a series of small gatherings elsewhere in High Point. We’re now en route to the HQ of the West Seattle Blockwatch Captains Network, in Hansen View, near Providence Mount St. Vincent (WSB sponsor). But we do have a new photo, e-mailed from Alki by Lisa Dawson:
7:39 PM: As we head toward Pigeon Point, photos from the WSBWCN leaders’ block:
Biggest crowd we’ve seen so far – they had 80 people last year and think they’re close to that this time. They had a high-level SPD visitor too – Assistant Chief Dick Reed, with WSBWCN’s Deb Greer and Karen Berge, and neighbor Jim:
8:08 PM: At the Pigeon Point party, Pete Spalding told us they’d already had a visit from Assistant Chief Reed – as well as precinct commander Capt. Steve Paulsen. And Seattle Fire Department made its annual stop at that high-profile party – here’s the Engine 36 crew from just down the hill at the north end of Delridge:
The kids of Pigeon Point were creating street art:
And the grownups were nominating neighbors for a new “garden recognition” award to be named after the late Vivian McLean, a neighborhood giant known for (among many other things) her beautiful garden:
Visiting from nearby Puget Ridge at the center of the photo, by the way, that’s Stu Hennessey of Alki Bike and Board and Sustainable West Seattle (seen recently atop the award-winning Trikeceratops in the West Seattle Grand Parade). Pete pointed out that West Seattle Nursery donated the plant atop the nomination table.
We’re in North Delridge now – but first, Cheryl shares a photo from her block party in Fauntlee Hills:
8:36 PM: From the North Delridge party, more Seattle firefighters meeting neighbors:
And we’re now in Seaview, where SPD Community Police Team Officers Kevin McDaniel and Ken Mazzuca are visiting a party (photo added 8:54):
Thanks to Alison for the invite. We then rolled over to South Admiral – where the block party we were going to check out was packing up – does happen by this time of night. We found some night owls in Fairmount Springs last year and are going to head that way before wrapping up the Night Out 2011 journey. We’d still welcome your photos, too, as we’re likely to have one more roundup tonight or tomorrow. (editor@westseattleblog.com)
ADDED WEDNESDAY MORNING: Decided to add the additional pix here. First, from Barbara, in the 8800 block of 38th Ave SW, where Ladder 11 stopped by:
In the Admiral District, Kendall shared a photo from their party *at* a fire station (29):
From Cinda on 42nd SW in Gatewood (where she says the second photo shows neighborhood kids writing “42ND ROX”):
Next one is from Seaview, where Karl reports a great turnout in the “48th Avenue corridor from Hudson to Brandon”:
From 52nd/Stevens, BD shares this photo of “one of the dads, doling out s’mores at the Night Out party. We were all about the fire and s’mores over here”:
Still a few more to come!
A Seattle Parks postcard announcing the next public meeting for the Highland Park wading pool-to-spraypark conversion just arrived – and caused us to do a doubletake. The meeting on Tuesday, August 23, is listed as happening, not in a room somewhere, but at the actual site, 1100 SW Cloverdale (map). That’s fairly rare – so we called project manager Kelly Goold to make sure that wasn’t a typo. Nope, says Kelly, the meeting is indeed AT the site, so attendees can better envision the design concepts that will be presented. So mark your calendar for 6:30 pm August 23rd (here’s our coverage of the first project meeting).
(Photo by Glenn Gauthier)
One more Blue Angels note, besides today’s team arrival: South Seattle Community College math instructor Heidi Lyman has taken that Blue Angels ridealong we previewed here last week – and SSCC’s Candace Oehler says Heidi reported shouting at 17,000 feet, “START HERE, GO ANYWHERE!” (That would be the SSCC motto.) She also reported pulling 7.4 g’s in one maneuver with U.S. Navy Lt. Dave Tickle in #7, says Candace, who accompanied Heidi to Boeing Field/Museum of Flight.
And as also previewed here, we’ve had the first Seafair Navy fleet sightings off West Seattle shores:
Via the WSB Facebook page, Russ Walker shared that photo of the USS Bonhomme Richard arriving in Elliott Bay this afternoon. No, it’s not an aircraft carrier, as some have called it – it’s an amphibious-assault ship. The guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson is here too. You’ll see them, and the other visiting ships – plus aircraft flyovers – in the Parade of Ships tomorrow afternoon, starting around 1:45; tours are Thursday-Sunday.
Once again this summer, two outdoor concert series are serenading our peninsula. The Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s Summer Concerts at Hiawatha are entering their second week, with Massy Ferguson (above, in WSB video from West Seattle Summer Fest 2010) performing this Thursday night, 6:30 pm, on the east lawn at Hiawatha Community Center (2700 California SW, but the concert zone faces Walnut, to the east). Then on Friday, it’s the first of four shows – like Admiral, free! – for this year’s edition of the Providence Mount St. Vincent (WSB sponsor) summer concert series:
That’s a 2010 clip of the Haggis Brothers, who were in the West Seattle Grand Parade a week and a half ago. They’ll take the stage on the south side of The Mount (4831 35th SW) at 6 pm this Friday night. Popcorn and snow cones are free; starting at 5:30 pm, you can buy dinner, beer, and/or wine. For both concert series, bring your own chair/blanket.
(Top photo by Ilona Berzups, added 3:06 pm; WSB video below, added 11:23 am)
11:15 AM: The unmistakable roar you might have heard was indeed that of the Blue Angels, who are now all here for Seafair 2011 – just landed, right on schedule. We’re at Boeing Field and will add visuals shortly.
ADDED 11:23 AM: Our video of the Boeing Field flyby is up – we’re just south of the tower, along East Marginal Way, one of the places to watch them take off (and land) if you can’t make it to the Museum of Flight – which for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is THE place to be. Here are some of the gotta-see-it people who came to watch the arrival:
(WSB photo above, added 11:48 am; photo below by David DeSiga, added 3:11 pm)
ADDED 11:48 AM: Half an hour after the rest of the team, Fat Albert – the Blue Angels’ beloved support plane – just arrived. The official Blue Angels shows are Friday-Sunday (Friday, you can get to the shores of Lake Washington by the hydro pits to watch for free; Saturday-Sunday, admission is charged) but you’ll also see them practicing Thursday, and more ridealongs tomorrow. When they’re not in the air, you can see them parked on the south side of the Museum of Flight (which offers special activities/hours for Blue Angels Week this time each year).
9:33 AM: We’ve received multiple reports of Comcast trouble this morning – from Admiral to Arbor Heights (we’ve also heard so far from Alki and Lincoln Park). The cable company confirms it is doing maintenance/upgrade work in West Seattle, and if you’re having cable/Internet trouble, that’s likely the problem; we’re still checking to see if there’s an estimate for how long this will last.
10:41 AM UPDATE: Comcast spokesperson Steve Kipp says everyone should be back on now: “The outage to our high-speed Internet service was due to network maintenance and upgrade work we were doing last night. Normally, this work takes place overnight, when it impacts the fewest number of customers. Unfortunately, in this instance our network engineers took longer than expected and did not complete their work until about 10:15 a.m., when service was restored. The outage impacted customers primarily in West Seattle.”
From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar:
(2011 photo of Greg’s 1939 Ford in front of similar-vintage ex-Fire Station 37)
HEARING ON SALE OF FORMER FIRE STATION 37: Next step toward selling the landmark ex-fire station at 35th/Othello is this morning’s public hearing before the City Council’s Budget Committee, which meets at City Hall at 9:30 am (you can watch live on cable channel 21 or seattlechannel.org).
BLUE ANGELS! One arrived yesterday; the rest are expected at Boeing Field/Museum of Flight around 11:15 this morning (if there’s a significant change in that time, we’ll update here as well as via Facebook and Twitter.) Full Seafair Air Show details are here.
FLEET ARRIVALS: The Seafair fleet Parade of Ships isn’t till tomorrow, but as reported here over the weekend, two of the U.S. Navy ships are expected to arrive today – the USS Bonhomme Richard and USS Sampson are due in Elliott Bay before 2 pm. Ship tours are Thursday-Sunday.
NIGHT OUT! Even if you’re not having a block party, if you’re out and about in West Seattle between 6 and 9 pm tonight, you’re likely to spot someone who is – and there will be plenty of non-arterial street closures, too, so please drive very carefully. If you are having a block party, you can still register it with the city if you do it by 10 am today – go here! Or join the parties at High Point and South Park Community Centers. (You’re also invited to a South Park party at 800 South Thistle with a mini-golf theme and a mayoral visit.)
WEST SEATTLE ULTIMATE FRISBEE: You’re invited to join in, every Tuesday night, 6:30-8:30 pm, Fairmount Playfield.
STORY TIME: Family Story Time at the Seattle Public Library’s Delridge branch, Tuesdays at 7 pm.
TRIVIA TIME: 8 pm Tuesday nights, show off your knowledge at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor).
Father James Mallahan, well-regarded as Holy Rosary‘s pastor from 1981 to 1987, will be remembered at the church with a Vigil Mass tonight at 7 and Funeral Mass on Wednesday at 11 am. He died last Friday at age 83. Holy Rosary School has long had an endowment fund in his name. Fr. Mallahan’s obituary is here; an online guestbook is here. (Thanks to Michael for sharing the news.)
Remember the July 5 saga of Patrick Abdo rescuing a baby raccoon stuck in his Morgan Junction-area fence? That was the 2nd-most-popular WSB story in July, which we are proud to announce was a record-setting month- 974,110 pageviews, up from the 961K+ record set in June, and a 25 percent increase over July of last year. This summertime readership jump is a new trend, as previous WSB records tended to result from snow!
Since most WSB stories can be seen without clicking away to another page, gauging story popularity from our Google Analytics stats is more art than science – but stories like the raccoon rescue, viewed on a standalone page as people add and read comments, or shared via Facebook, break away from the pack. The month’s #1 story appeared here just last week, inspired by an unexpected line in one of the SPD Blotter‘s relatively routine roundups of traffic patrols: A bicyclist stopped on the Admiral Way hill for going 42 mph. 
After we noticed it and followed up on it, citywide media picked it up too. Other July highlights: We were first to report on the plan for the now-iconic SBX (right) to take a short jaunt out into Elliott Bay so the drillship Kulluk could join it at Vigor Shipyards on Harbor Island; its trip drew scores of photographers to the shore, and some shared their work here.
July brought another set of numbers that we’re proud of: Community-event sponsorships! WSB co-sponsored as well as covered West Seattle Summer Fest, 
the West Seattle Grand Parade, the West Seattle Garden Tour, the Alki Art Fair (photo at left), WestSide Baby‘s Stuff the Bus diaper drive, plus the ongoing West Seattle Outdoor Movies (“Despicable Me” this week!) and Summer Concerts at Hiawatha series (Massy Ferguson this week!), and the West Seattle In Motion campaign.
Finally, thank you so much for your support of OUR sponsors – the local businesses and organizations who advertise on WSB because they want to make sure you know who they are, where they are, what they offer. Please let them know you appreciate their support for 24/7 community-collaborative news/information on WSB. Besides their ads in the sidebar, you’ll find them all listed, categorized by type of business, with web/Facebook links and other info, on our SPONSORS! page. Here’s to a great August!
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