A special ceremony today in West Seattle: Alex Anbarcioglu, a second-year UW law student who’s been working with local lawyer Brian Waid, took the oath to join the U.S. Marine Corps and is headed for Marine Officer Candidates School. USMC 1st Lt. Kathryn Cardinal administered the oath at the law office of Shane Carew, big enough to hold all the well-wishers:
Alex told the story of a relative who inspired him:
For everyone who wondered why that dead sea lion remained on the beach at Seacrest Park for several days – here’s why: Moving one is no easy task, given their weight. The photo sent by Rodney Mash shows today’s removal with the help of heavy equipment. The state Department of Fish and Wildlife tells WSB they “helped with coordination” of the removal but the necropsy was to be done by SR3; we don’t have any information yet on what happened from there.
6:47 PM: Meet the champs! The Chief Sealth International High School slowpitch softball team won the Metro League title this afternoon, 16-4 over Cleveland, at Southwest Athletic Complex. More photos and info to come.
8:23 PM:(corrected)Leitu Faga pitched a complete game for Sealth. She also hit a 3-run homer in the second inning. Sealth was so far ahead, the game was called after 5 innings because their lead surpassed 10 runs.
([corrected] Taatia Faga sliding into home plate)
Head coach of the team – in its third season – is Alex Alicea, at left with Sealth athletic director Ernest Policarpio:
This was Sealth’s first league-championship game in any sport in eight years. The team has non-league games left in the regular season – here’s the schedule.
If you haven’t yet settled on a choice for City Council District 1, with ballots going out tomorrow, this is a big week for evaluating the candidates side by side.
The first of three forums/debates this week was last night at Our Lady of Guadalupe‘s Walmesley Center. The Westside Interfaith Network and League of Women Voters presented it. Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist (and West Seattleite) Brian Callanan served as volunteer moderator:
That’s Callanan at center in our pre-forum photo above, with candidates Lisa Herbold at left and Phil Tavel at right. We recorded the entire event on video:
No surprises this time, unlike last Thursday’s event in North Delridge. The questions for this one, some of which were from written suggestions made by members of the audience, largely trod familiar ground, though there were a few small clashes, most notably over something The Stranger (which has endorsed Herbold) said about Tavel; while answering a question about homelessness-related funding, he said that publication said he had “gotten it right,” while she said what The Stranger said he got right was that their biggest difference was on homelessness funding. (This appears to be the story in question.)
Both were given two minutes for opening statements; you can watch the video if you’re interested. Below, we summarize how the Q&A went from there; it’s all paraphrasing/summarizing unless we use quotation marks to signify a direct quote.
First question: What is the most pressing issue for District 1?
Saturday night, we showed you a few scenes from “Neighbors Helping Neighbors,” the dinner/auction that raised money so the West Seattle Helpline can keep helping people avoid homelessness. WSB was the event’s media sponsor. Today, the Helpline sends word of the final tally, and gratitude:
Thank you for making our 10th Annual Neighbors Helping Neighbors Dinner & Auction a great success. Whether you attended, volunteered, donated to our auction, or sponsored the event, you helped make it a spectacular night.
We are thrilled to announce that your support raised over $115,000, keeping over 400 neighbors in their homes!
Your generous support will keep our West Seattle and White Center friends and neighbors from experiencing homelessness. You helped keep the house warm, the water running, and the lights on for hundreds of families recovering from hardships. Together we are ensuring our neighbors stay safe and our community remains strong and vibrant.
On behalf of our staff, Board of Directors, volunteers, and the members of our community that we serve, we extend heartfelt gratitude for the support and kindness you shared with us Saturday evening. We are so fortunate to have such caring and dedicated neighbors!
As reported here last week, the Washington State Patrol is taking over providing traffic-control/law-enforcement officers at the Fauntleroy ferry terminal, a role previously filled by off-duty Seattle Police. Though the changeover was supposed to happen last week, ferry commuters weren’t seeing troopers. Washington State Ferries explains:
In July, the Seattle Police Department (SPD) notified WSF that, as of Oct. 6, they would no longer be providing off-duty officers to help with traffic control at Fauntleroy and Seattle’s Colman Dock so they could focus on supporting city events.
As this law enforcement assistance is vital for getting vehicles on and off the dock at Fauntleroy, addressing line cutters, and making the challenging terminal work as smoothly as possible, we have been working on an agreement to have Washington State Patrol take over traffic control for both Fauntleroy and Colman Dock.
We expect WSP to begin working at Fauntleroy this week. Our terminal staff will be working with the new WSP officers to help train them on how to successfully manage the traffic at Fauntleroy.
The agreement is for troopers to be at Fauntleroy 10 hours each weekday during the fall/winter – 6-10 am and 1-7 pm – plus Saturday middays during the summer schedule. The agreement, provided by WSF, can be seen here (PDF), with the last page spelling out expectations of what the troopers will do.
#TurkeyTuesday is back thanks to readers who sent photos of The West Seattle Turkey in the past few days; after a week-plus without sighting reports, we were starting to worry. Photos are interspersed with highlights for the hours ahead, from the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar:
SINCE IT’S ALSO TACO TUESDAY: Today’s the day you’re invited to support the West Seattle High School ASB by visiting the El Chapulin Oaxaqueño truck while it’s visiting the school for lunch. 12:30-1 pm is the optimal time, the students say. (3000 California SW)
WEST SEATTLE CRIME PREVENTION COUNCIL: Home-burglary prevention is the spotlight topic for tonight’s meeting, which also includes your chance to bring community crime/safety concerns to local police. 7 pm at the Southwest Precinct. (2300 SW Webster)
From Taylor Lowery, the Seattle University intern at the Southwest Precinct:
Seattle University is administering the 5th annual citywide Seattle Public Safety Survey. The purpose of the survey is to solicit feedback on public safety and security concerns from those who live and/or work in Seattle. A report on the survey results will be provided to the Seattle Police Department to assist them with making your neighborhood safer and more secure. The survey is accessible at publicsafetysurvey.org from October 15th through November 30th and is available in Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, English, Korean, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrinya and Vietnamese.
6,500* people citywide answered last year’s survey. Results toplines are here.
12:30 AM: A Seattle Fire “full response” is headed to 35th SW and SW 98th, with a report of smoke and flames visible in a yard. But the first unit to arrive isn’t seeing anything. Updates to come.
12:35 AM: Turns out to be a trash-can fire, according to radio communication. Most responding units are being canceled.
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