West Seattle, Washington
18 Wednesday
(WSB photos by Christopher Boffoli)
10:18 PM: Seattle Fire and Police are on the scene of what medical radio transmissions describe as a double stabbing at California and Orchard [map]. Two men, both around 40, are being taken to the hospital.
10:39 PM: WSB’s Christopher Boffoli is at the scene and reports that California is closed between Myrtle and Othello. The stabbings are reported to have happened out in the street.
10:55 PM: Though SPD has not yet commented at the scene, they’ve just tweeted that one man stabbed the other and then himself, so no one else is being sought. Seattle Fire says one man was transported with life-threatening wounds, one with non-life-threatening.
11:04 PM: While we are still waiting for a more-detailed account from police, multiple witnesses – at the scene and by phone – say the man with the life-threatening wounds was in his car when attacked by the other man. The car is reported to be the white SUV in our photo above.
12:20 AM: Police at the scene continue to decline comment, referring inquiries to media relations, so we likely will not learn anything more until later this morning. Christopher reports that as of midnight, the road was still closed as the investigation continued.
7:32 AM: So far, still no additional information from police. Meantime, a commenter identifying herself as the victim’s wife posted overnight that he was in surgery.
8:07 AM: Here’s the entirety of what police just posted to SPD Blotter, the first official information since one tweet late last night:
The male victim, age 40, is at Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries while the suspect, 39, is also at Harborview with non-life-threatening injuries.
On Tuesday, August 8th at 10:00 pm, Southwest Precinct officers responded to a call of a fight and stabbing near California Avenue SW and SW Orchard Street. Officers arrived and located both the victim and suspect. The victim had extensive injuries to his chest, head, and upper arms. Seattle Fire medics arrived and treated the victim at the scene and then transported him to the hospital. The suspect also had stab wounds to his thighs, which he stated occurred during the course of the attack.
It is unknown what led up to the confrontation, but witnesses interviewed at the scene confirmed that the suspect attacked the victim and that the victim was not armed. It is unknown what the relationship is between the two men, if any. Officers recovered a knife at the scene and submitted it into evidence.
The suspect was also treated at the scene and transported to the hospital, where he remains under police custody. Once the suspect has been cleared medically he will be booked into the King County Jail.
Detectives will conduct the follow up investigation.
This remains an active and ongoing investigation.
8:51 AM: As just noted in comments, police have confirmed to us by phone that the suspect, who remains in the hospital at last report, is Ryan Cox. WSB policy usually precludes identifying suspects until and unless they are charged, but given the neighborhood history with Cox, this is an unusual case and we are making an exception. That history goes back to 2009, when he was arrested in connection with graffiti vandalism involving homophobic slurs. At the time of his arrest, police said then, he was carrying a knife.
(added) It has been three years since he was last mentioned on WSB, after his release from jail following completion of a sentence for an assault case in which he pleaded guilty in 2013. As we mentioned in comment discussion below, we’ve checked city, county, and state records and no recent criminal cases were shown – the most recent case of any kind was a citation last December for “consuming/possessing open container of liquor in public,” according to the Municipal Court website. Before that, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor trespassing in August 2015.
ADDED WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Cox was booked into jail just before 8 pm tonight.
Received today, from Byron:
My 11-year-old daughter’s bike was stolen today in the parking lot next to School of Rock on 41st Ave SW.
Her bike was a dark blue 2016 Kona Dew deluxe bike with a heavy steel basket. Serial number is 13i-1640. I will offer a $250 reward for the name of the person who stole it. I want the person who stole it. I want my daughter to see horrible people who steal will be punished. I want that a-hole paraded down Alaska Junction with a thief sign on.
You made my daughter cry because you wanted to steal a child’s bike.
I will have my retribution. I have reported it stolen to the police, bike registry has it stolen, all the bike shops in a 1000-mile area know it was stolen. You might as well throw the thing off a cliff because everyone knows it’s stolen. I will find you and you will apologize to my daughter.
If you have a tip for police, Byron is still awaiting the report #, but the tracking number for starters is T17009156.
Just announced by the Department of Neighborhoods – the results of the Your Voice, Your Choice voting on how to spend city grant money for park and street projects. In District 1 – West Seattle and South Park – these are the four winners:
Delridge: Crossing Improvements at Delridge Way SW & SW Oregon St (Cost: $90,000, Total Votes: 477)
Westwood/Highland Park: Bus Stop Improvements at Delridge Way SW & SW Barton St (Cost: $90,000, Total Votes: 470)
High Point: Walkway Improvements on SW Orchard St between Delridge Way SW & Sylvan Way SW (Cost: $80,081, Total Votes: 425)
South Park: Crossing Improvements on S Cloverdale St (Cost: $85,700, Total Votes: 396)
If you paid attention to the process, which started with suggestions and continued through voting on finalists, you might notice that adds up to more than the $285,000 maximum per district that the city had said was available. The online announcement explains:
To provide some context to the results above, with $2 million to spend on park and street improvements, we allotted a maximum of $285,000 per City Council District. After the top projects in each district were selected by voters, there was $233,019 remaining in the budget. These dollars were used to fund one additional project in the three districts with the highest voter participation (Districts 1, 2, and 5).
You can read more about the winning projects (and the other finalists) in the District 1 Voter’s Guide that was circulated while voting was under way in June.
From Seattle Parks – though it’s a month away, you’ll want to sign up ASAP:
Camp Momentia is an inclusive day-camp experience for people living with dementia and their loved ones hosted by Seattle Parks and Recreation and partner organizations at Camp Long in West Seattle. This is the fourth year of Camp Momentia and this special event has expanded due to popular demand to offer two days of camp to accommodate more participants. Sunday, September 10th will be a family-friendly day of camp welcoming youth 9 years and older, coinciding with National Grandparents Day.
Sign up today for Saturday, September 9, 10 am-3 pm or Sunday September 10, 10 am-3 pm. (lunch provided)
What happens at camp?
Each year is unique, offering opportunities for exploring nature, being creative, and developing social connections and camp always ends with s’mores and songs around the camp fire. This year will feature a special musical theatre performance created and performed by UW Musical Theatre students, directed by Silver Kite Community Arts’s Jen Kulik, created in partnership with The 5th Avenue Theatre, UW Medicine, and an advisory group of people living with dementia and their care partners. This year’s activity sessions will include nature-inspired art-making with a certified horticulture therapist and group story-telling with trained facilitators using the TimeSlips™ method developed by MacArthur Genius award winner Anne Basting (www.timeslips.org).
Camp Momentia is made possible through partnerships, sponsorships and dedicated volunteers. This year’s partners are Seattle Parks and Recreation, the Associated Recreation Council, PNA/Greenwood Senior Center, Senior Center of West Seattle, Providence Mount St. Vincent. Sponsors are Aegis on Madison and Quail Park of West Seattle.
Fees for camp are kept low to increase accessibility. $20 covers the day including one care partner. Transportation available from North Seattle, South Seattle, and Bellevue.
Space is limited, so register today. Contact Cayce by August 29 at 206-615-0100, cayce.cheairs@seattle.gov
Momentia is a grassroots movement empowering people with memory loss and their loved ones to remain connected and active in the community. The Momentia website features a community calendar of dementia-friendly programs and events throughout the greater Seattle Area: www.momentiaseattle.org. Keep an eye out for Momentia t-shirts and banner decorating the Walking on Logs Statues starting on August 30th.
(Trailer for ‘Inconvenient Sequel’)
Just in from the Admiral Theater:
This Friday, we are excited to begin our engagement of “An Inconvenient Sequel,” Al Gore’s follow up to his 2006 pivotal movie, which brought the importance of the global-warming issue to the forefront.
A decade ago, “An Inconvenient Truth” brought climate change into the heart of popular culture. Gore’s follow-up sequel shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution. From director Davis Guggenheim, An Inconvenient Sequel, offers a passionate and inspirational look at one man’s commitment to expose the myths and misconceptions that surround global warming and inspire actions to prevent it.
The movie will normally screen at 7 PM, but Friday starts at 6:30 pm so that after we can bring an exciting and informative Q&A panel of experts to answer questions and teach our audience what they can do in Washington to battle the effects of this very real issue.The evening will be hosted by Washington Women for Climate Action Now!. This summer, WashingtonWomenCAN partnered with Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project to train women across our state to speak eloquently and confidently on the urgent need for powerful climate action. Climate change affects us all, but the impacts and solutions often depend on where we live. This partnership has empowered more than 50 Washington women to speak out in their own communities across our state and to lead us to a clean energy future.
The panel will feature Heidi Roop, a climate scientist with a passion for science and communication. She is currently the Strategic Communications Lead for the UW Climate Impacts Group. Heidi’s professional mission is to improve the reach and impact of climate science in order to engage, motivate and catalyze action around climate change.Additional panelists will be added during the week and hopefully throughout the run of the movie there will be additional opportunities for more speakers and Q&A panels.
As we got ready to publish this, we got word of one more panelist for Friday: Belinda Chin, a Climate Reality Leader and Seattle Parks and Rec Program Coordinator for Sustainable Operations.
Four and a half years after the final Taco Thursday, it’s Farewell Tuesday:
1:14 PM: Thanks to Carolyn Newman for the photo! Last week, we showed you the start of ground-level demolition for the mixed-use project at 1307 Harbor SW that includes the site of the former Alki Tavern, which closed in March 2013; its fans have been coming for a last look as the demolition equipment got closer. (If you’re new here, the tavern was long a popular spot for riders, especially on Taco Thursdays; the last one before the tavern’s permament closure was in March 2013.)
ADDED 4:53 PM: And now, the rest of the story … as the building came down. It’s part of this “video obituary” courtesy of Mark Jaroslaw:
Last call for Alki Tavern from JaroslawMedia on Vimeo.
The resurgence of wildfire smoke has the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency bringing back a Stage 1 Burn Ban, as of 2 pm today, two days after the previous one was lifted. From the official announcement:
No burning during a Stage 1 air quality burn ban including:
• No charcoal barbeques or similar solid fuel devices
• No fire pits, chimineas, fire bowls, or similar free-standing devices
• No campfires or bonfires
• No fireplaces, uncertified wood stoves, or uncertified inserts*
• No agricultural fires (as described in the agricultural burn permit)
• Local fire districts do not grant Native American ceremonial fire permits outside of tribal
lands during air quality burn bans.
It is OK to use natural gas and propane grills, stoves, or inserts during a Stage 1 burn ban.
* The only exception to using fireplaces and uncertified wood stoves or inserts, is if the homeowner has a
previously approved ‘No Other Adequate Source of Heat’ exemption from the Clean Air Agency
Meantime, here’s the latest on the B.C. wildfires.
Thanks to David Hutchinson for the photo – “Beethoven” is the first seal pup to show up on West Seattle shores this season. Here’s a reminder about safely sharing the shores; and if you would like to be a Seal Sitters volunteer, Saturday’s your big chance. Now, on to today/tonight – from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, here’s a look ahead to the rest of your Tuesday:
DROP-IN CRAFTING: 11 am-1 pm, you’re welcome at Highland Park Improvement Club – kids too. Details in our calendar listing. (1116 SW Holden)
WEST SEATTLE TOOL LIBRARY: Planning a project? Or thinking about one? 5-8 pm, the acclaimed nonprofit West Seattle Tool Library is open on the northeastern side of Youngstown Cultural Arts Center. (4408 Delridge Way SW)
CLEAN UP WITH THE CHAMBER: 4:30 pm, “join the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce as we clean the streets and give back to our community. We will meet at the 7-11 at 3801 California Ave SW at 4:30 pm to hand out supplies and form teams. Together we’ll pick up trash from SW Charlestown to SW Alaska.” Registration requested so they have gear for you.
FAMILY STORY TIME: 7 pm at Delridge Library – bring the kids for stories, songs, and rhymes. (5423 Delridge Way SW)
TUESDAY NIGHT ‘SUPPER’: Standup paddleboarding from Alki Kayak Tours, 7 pm Tuesday racing to Duwamish Head and back – details in our calendar listing. (1660 Harbor SW)
MORE MOON VIEWING? Here’s how last night’s full moon looked – thanks to those who shared photos; this one is by Monica Zaborac:
Tonight’s moonrise: 9:10 pm.
Got a couple questions this morning about a fire-alarm response at 3:47 am at Madison Middle School. Since those types of responses sometimes turn out to be triggered by burglars or vandals (or even water-pressure drops), we asked Seattle Fire Department spokesperson Kristin Tinsley what their responders found. Her reply: “The response was for a problem with the sprinkler system; the sprinkler system had triggered an alarm. No signs of vandalism that our crews saw.”
Family and friends will gather Friday (August 11th) to remember Marie E. Sundberg. Here’s the remembrance being shared with the community:
Marie Ellingsen Sundberg passed away peacefully, after a full and happy 96 years of life, early in the morning (she hated mornings!!!) on Monday, July 31.
Marie was born November 20, 1920, on Vashon Island. She was the first of five children born to Alfred and Engvarda Ellingsen. She attended Columbia School, basically a one-room schoolhouse on what was at the time a quiet, not very populated island. It was a close community, and she still cherished the friendships made in those years. She graduated from Vashon High School, and attended Western Washington State College for a short time.
After marrying Les Sundberg, also from Vashon, they settled in West Seattle in the house where she lived until just a few months before her death. She also owned a home on Vashon, which just happened to be right next door to the one where she and her siblings grew up, and in which one of her sisters lived until just a couple years ago. Yes, her roots were planted deeply and firmly in her original and adopted homes!
Marie and Les raised two daughters, Nancy and Cheryl. She was involved through the years in the PTA at their elementary school, as a Camp Fire Girl Leader, and as a youth group leader at the church they attended, Tibbetts United Methodist, for nearly 70 years. She also held several other positions at the church, and loved being involved in the annual rummage sale. Of course, many hours were spent chauffeuring her kids and their friends around Seattle. She was also an active member of Children’s Hospital Alan Richard Howard Guild.
When her daughters were older, she started working, first at Shadel Hospital, and then later at Jencelite, as a bookkeeper, from which she eventually retired, though somewhat reluctantly!
Marie grabbed life by the horns and never wanted to miss an adventure or opportunity! She loved baking (it was expected that there would be cinnamon rolls whenever It was her turn to be hostess for the circle meetings at church). She was a faithful follower of Seattle-area sports teams, including being a season-ticket holder for UW Husky football until recently. As you can imagine, that led to some conflict with Cheryl, and other family members, who were WSU grads! She loved gardening, and could find an empty spot somewhere for just one more dahlia tuber. She didn’t believe in putting plants in the compost … they had to go somewhere in her yard or to a friend or family member. And the horror of those yellow flowers in the yard … they must go, and so, right up until about a year ago, she was out in the yard getting rid of them. Her love of gardening kept her body strong, and her daily devotion to the word search in the newspaper kept her mind sharp, she always claimed.
Mostly she loved family, and that was a large number of people since that didn’t just mean blood relatives, but anyone who was a friend of family as well. Oh, the adventures we all had. In the early years, that meant camping trips to places where the fish were running, from the coast to Eastern Washington. And those trips included lots of family, lots of yummy food, lots of adventures, tons of laughter. Another memorable trip was to watch the Huskies play in the Rose Bowl. Another, a drive up to Ketchikan to visit family there. In more recent years, there were trips to Reno and Vegas and several cruises with family and friends. She loved family reunions (Sundberg, Ellingsen, and any others who would include us … like Freeman’s and Paulson’s since they were basically family) and neighborhood parties.
Marie was preceded in death by her husband Les, her parents, her brothers Dick and Karl, her sister Bea, many other family members. Those of us left behind (including her daughters Nancy and Cheryl, sister Lue (Ray) Wales, sisters-in-law Ginny Sundberg and MaryAnn Ellingsen, grandson Jeff (Linda) Johnson, granddaughter Erica (James) Johnson, and too many to name cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends), are picturing her great reunion with family and friends: eating lefse and lutefisk, playing pinochle, discussing who has the best garden with Karl, Bea, and Dick, getting Les caught up with the current Mariner wins.
Services will be held Friday, August 11, beginning with a service at Tibbetts United Methodist Church, (3940 41st Ave. SW) at 11 AM. If you choose to join us, please wear your brightest, most flowery clothes (in honor of her love of her garden), and wear your pearls (hers were always a part of her dressing up attire), if you have some. That includes men with Hawaiian type or just brightly colored shirts… no suits or ties! If you can, please bring along a few flowers from your garden as we all know those were her favorites. Burial to follow on Vashon Island.
Suggested memorials can be made to Tibbetts United Methodist Church or Children’s Hospital, uncompensated fund.
Please visit our online guestbook at islandfuneral.com.
(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries by request, free of charge. Please e-mail the text, and a photo if available, to editor@westseattleblog.com)
(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)
7:11 AM: Good morning! No incidents reported on the routes through/from West Seattle so far.
WATER TAXI REMINDER: Today is day two without King County Water Taxi service – both the West Seattle and Vashon runs are on hold while the downtown dock moves to a new temporary location on the north side of the Washington State Ferries terminal. The outage could last up to a week; when service resumes, not only will the new dock be in use for about a year and a half, but there also will be a new schedule.
63RD SW PAVING REMINDER: Any work left to be done on 63rd north of Admiral will be done today, SDOT says. And then:
BEACH DRIVE PAVING UPDATE: SDOT says that work will resume tomorrow::
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) advises travelers that crews will be paving Beach Dr SW between SW Charlestown St and SW Andover St on August 9.
From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, August 9, travelers can expect:
·Crews to be paving Beach Dr SW between SW Andover St and SW Charlestown St
·One lane in each direction will remain open to traffic while crews are working
·Flaggers will assist with traffic control
·There will be “No Parking” on Beach Dr SW between SW Andover St and SW Charlestown St while this work is being done
·Traffic may have slight delays during operation hours
·Drivers may enter and exit driveways, but may have to wait up to 15 minutes for equipment to clear
·Use alternate routes during this work if possible
7:48 AM: On NB I-5 before Seneca, an incident is blocking the right center lane, per WSDOT.
8:06 AM That’s clear. Now SDOT reports a crash on West Marginal at Andover.
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