Side note to the first item in Megan Sheppard‘s latest WSBeat police-report roundup, published here early today: We just confirmed that the dog found in the Myers Way “woods” with its owner is the same one that was being sought in connection with a much-reported attack in Shorewood that injured a dog and its owner, as first reported on the Shorewood on the Sound Facebook group page. The man found with the dog off Myers Way is in jail because of warrants, as noted in the WSBeat report; King County spokesperson Cameron Satterfield tells WSB that the dog is in the county facility in Kent and will remain there while its owner works through his legal problems – Seattle Animal Shelter took the dog on Saturday, and then turned it over to the county. The owner has been cited, Satterfield says, including a “removal order” served to him in jail – if he reclaims the dog, it cannot be kept anywhere in King County. WSB Forums members discussing this case had reported often seeing the dog and owner at Westwood Village.
ORIGINAL REPORT, 3:35 PM: Since so many stolen vehicles are found relatively close to the theft location, we offer the chance in West Seattle Crime Watch reports to get the word out around the peninsula, in addition to the police bulletins over the radio and via Twitter. Today, two thefts to report – just blocks apart. First one comes from someone whose neighbor’s truck was stolen from her garage Saturday night near 39th and Andover:
She is offering a $300 reward for information that leads directly to the recovery of the vehicle. The thieves entered through the alley into the back yard. They opened a gate that had an eye hook lock on the inside and then went in through the side door of the detached garage to access the vehicle. They also had to open the electric garage door, which is not quiet, to get the truck out. There was nothing valuable inside the truck and no windows on the outside of the garage for them to see what was inside if they were walking by. The theft seems highly suspicious because of the extremes that the theives went to to gain access to an old truck.
The truck is a white ’92 Nissan pick-up with red interior. There is a silver, metal knob on the steering wheel that is often referred to as a “suicide knob” or a “granny knob.” The license plate number is B12695R. If you see the vehicle, please contact the police or e-mail livelife1286@gmail.com.
Just blocks away, a car theft late last night or early today, reported by Bob:
10:00 PM and 9:00 AM this morning. Car was an ’89 red Subaru Legacy with Ore plates. Stolen from 44th Ave SW between Dakota & Andover.
ADDED 6 PM: Got word of another one, from Chris:
My neighbor’s truck was stolen sometime this morning around 7:30 am. it is a 1980 Toyota truck with a white canopy w/ rack. Lic # B30651H stolen from 23rd ave sw and sw Barton st. If found, please call 763-4027. Thank you.
I-90 TOLL? OPEN HOUSE #2: Second of three open houses this week regarding proposed tolls on I-90 to help pay for the new 520 bridge (among other things). 4-7 pm, Bellevue City Hall – map/info here (the closest one to WS is tomorrow at Yesler Community Center).
(First 3 photos by Ben Ackers) By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The farewell party’s over. The final sermon has been said.
By week’s end, Rev. David Kratz will leave a job he’s had for 27 years – as pastor of Fauntleroy Church.
“We’ve had a great run,” he reflected during a recent sit-down conversation in his office at the church. While he mentions his age – 67 – without being prompted, he adds, “I’m not being forced out by the congregation, I’m not sick, just … it’s time.”
January 15, 1986, was his first day, and January 31, 2013 – tomorrow – is scheduled to be his last.
He’s been in Fauntleroy for two-thirds of his 40 years as a minister – a time of changes big and small.
(WSB photo from 2012 WestSide Baby Tea)
There’s still room at the table for you, at one of the biggest parties of the year – the WestSide Baby Benefit Tea, coming up February 10th, just one week from this Sunday. With auction items, surprises, and tea and treats in/on fine china, the party’s become so big that even though WS Baby is headquartered here in the West Seattle/White Center area, the benefit will be in its second year in a spacious room at the Hilton Seattle Conference Center a short way south. Tickets are $30, tables for 10 start at $250 – and you’ll be helping thousands, as WS Baby’s update explains:
WestSide Baby served 17% more local children in 2012 with essential items such as diapers, car seats, cribs and clothing valued at $1.6 million. That means 22,000 children received what they needed with most of those items being gently used things coming from local families passed through our doors to others. “We saw a great increase in need and a fantastic increase in support and volunteers in 2012 that allowed us to provide more to the most vulnerable among us, children in need,” shares Nancy Woodland, Executive Director of WestSide Baby. “The majority of what we give comes from local families and goes to support other local families. This is why our theme is ‘Families Helping Families, it’s just so simple. When one family is having a hard time, another can help. Our Tea gathers together many parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who inspire others in their own family to help. ”
One high-school varsity game on the peninsula last night – Chief Sealth International High School‘s boys beat the visitors from Bainbridge, 63-55. Here are the stats as published by our partners at The Seattle Times. Tonight, the Bainbridge girls visit their Sealth counterparts, JV at 5:15 pm and varsity game at 7; the Seahawks boys and girls wrap up their regular season by hosting Seattle Prep this Friday night.
(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; see other cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
Welcome to Wednesday! We’ll see how the day unfolds. Then tonight, same traffic alert as the past two nights – a 10 pm-5 am closure of southbound 99 between the Battery Street Tunnel and West Seattle Bridge.
By Megan Sheppard
On the WSBeat, for West Seattle Blog
As always, the WSBeat summaries are from reports on cases handled recently by Southwest Precinct officers that (usually) have not already appeared here in breaking-news coverage or West Seattle Crime Watch reports, but that might at least answer the question “what WERE all those police doing on my block?”:
*At 2 pm this past Saturday, officers helped Animal Control on a call about a dog being mistreated in a wooded area on Myers Way. The dog’s owner was wanted on $5,000 worth of warrants for vehicle prowling, theft, harassment and failure to appear. Both he and the dog were taken into custody without incident. From the man’s campsite, officers recovered a pry tool, window punch tool and an ax.
*An Arbor Heights woman known to “care for dogs” refused to give a canine back to its owner, claiming she had spent $1250 on veterinary costs after the dog had been placed in her care. The owner had never approved any veterinary treatment. An officer explained that the caregiver had taken on the expense at her own risk and that if she refused to return the dog to the owner, she would be charged with theft. The caregiver said, “Fine,” and decided to keep the dog. Both parties were given a case number.
9:29 PM: Mentioning it since we’ve received more than a few texts – people in Fairmount Springs (between Fairmount Park and Morgan Junction) heard something a few minutes ago that sounded like gunshots or fireworks. Definitely NO medical calls for any sort of shooting – have not heard scanner activity related to this yet, but continuing to listen.
10 PM: Commenters include people who say they saw it – fireworks.
6:32 PM: Thanks to the WSB’er who texted about the 1st Avenue South Bridge having a stuck-open drawspan on the SOUTHBOUND side, with major backups ensuing; WSDOT confirms this and says crews are working to fix it. Refresh this page for the latest “live” view above, showing the drawspan still “up” as we write this.
7:31 PM UPDATE: As of about 10 minutes ago, the southbound span is back to normal, and traffic is moving.
5:08 PM: Police are blocking off the area around the precinct. Avoid for now. Working on details.
5:23 PM UPDATE: Appears whatever this was ended quickly. Still working on details. Witnesses say officers converged on a van, which is still visible in the area, though the search/response activity is over.
7:25 PM UPDATE: We’ve heard from Lt. Pierre Davis at the precinct, who explains: “At about (5 pm), one of our officers intercepted an armed distraught male attempting to gain entry into the police precinct parking lot. A dialogue was rapidly started, in an attempt to assess the threat level and motivation of the armed subject. The subject complied with instructions to give himself up, thus ending the immediate threat and incident. Our officers did a fantastic job protecting themselves and the community in this incident.”
At the State Capitol, legislators in both houses have introduced bills this week to abolish the death penalty, saying it’s too expensive. All three state legislators for the 34th District (which includes West Seattle) are sponsors of the bills – for House Bill 1504, State Reps. Eileen Cody (D-West Seattle) and Joe Fitzgibbon (D-Burien), and for Senate Bill 5372, State Sen. Sharon Nelson (D-Maury Island). The bills – subtitled “Reducing criminal-justice expenses by eliminating the death penalty in favor of life incarceration” – would limit sentencing for aggravated first-degree murder to life in prison with no chance of release. Our state has had 110 executions, most recently Cal Brown in 2010.
Since last weekend, we’ve been getting questions from WSB readers about installations in prominent Alki spots of what appear to be new surveillance/security cameras (a hot topic right now, as evidenced by the discussion about private cameras at last week’s West Seattle Block Watch Captains Network meeting [WSB coverage here]). Traveling the waterfront, you can see at least half a dozen similar installations along Harbor and Alki Avenues as well as one near Constellation Park. Since they’re all on utility and streetlight poles, we speculated they had to be some kind of city project, so we started inquiring with city departments, and after two days of inquiries finally have a bit of information. SDOT pointed us to Seattle Police, as did Seattle City Light, describing it as a police project related to port security. Southwest Precinct operations Lt. Pierre Davis explained that the cameras are “part of a grant project ran by SPD to observe the waterway in that area.” This online article from last summer quotes a Seattle Fire Department official as mentioning a project for surveillance cameras all along the waterfront to help public-safety personnel in case of incidents. SPD Public Affairs says more information about the project will be made public soon.
After the recent Roxhill Park robberies, it was suggested that it’s time for the Westwood/Roxhill neighborhood to re-organize a neighborhood council – and, if interested, perhaps even reach southward to Arbor Heights, which doesn’t have an active neighborhood council either. If you’re from any of those areas and interested in potentially being part of this, the date is set for a meeting to come find out more: Next Tuesday, February 5th, 6:30-8 pm at the Southwest Branch of the Seattle Public Library (35th and Henderson), according to Mat McBride, who chairs the Delridge Neighborhoods District Council (which includes reps from area community councils and other major organizations). Mat says the agenda’s still a work in progress,
(WSB photo from August 2012, Caspar Babypants at Summer Concerts @ Hiawatha)
Next Sunday starts with something “super” long before the football game: The musician with a big following among little fans is performing to benefit the scholarship fund for the South Seattle Community College Preschool Co-op. At 10 am on Sunday (February 3), Caspar Babypants performs at Brockey Center at SSCC (WSB sponsor). Proceeds will help pay tuition for preschool families in need. Admission is $10 at the door, kids under 1 free.
And more showbiz news: Our WSBeat correspondent Megan Sheppard reports seeing Thomas Haden Church at Admiral Safeway. One quick check of Google News revealed this Deadline.com story reporting that he is in Seattle because filming has just begun on “Lucky Them,” described as an “’un-romantic comedy’ about a female rock journalist on assignment to hunt down her musician ex-boyfriend.” Don’t know if they’re shooting over here; keep an eye out for film-crew sightings. But we do know that Seattle-based director Megan Griffiths has filmed on this side of the metro area before – with “Eden,” partly shot in White Center in 2011.
Congratulations to Admiral Theater boss Dinah Brein and her cross-country songwriting partner – Dinah reports their Today Show jingle-contest entry won!
Seattle songwriter and theater manager Dinah Brein, along with her collaborator Jon Michaels, has won NBC’s “Quest for the Best Today Show Jingle”. Michaels performed the song this morning on the Today show and beat out the two other finalists. Renowned record producer David Foster, who judged the segment, commented after listening to the songs that if he were chosen to produce a killer 30-second spot – it would be the Brein/Michaels entry and awarded the song the top honor.
“Jon called me this morning and told me the good news”, said Brein. “He also said, don’t be mad, I didn’t mention you until the end of the segment, because my daughter would have killed me if I hadn’t led off with her.”
UPDATE: Added above, the “Today Show” clip during which Michaels performed the jingle he and Brein wrote.
CO-WORKING MEETUP: Every Tuesday, noon-1 pm, at Uptown Espresso in The Junction until West Seattle Office Junction has a permanent location, they host a co-working meetup “to connect small business owners with each other.”
I-90 TOLLS? FIRST ROUND OF COMMENTING: None are in West Seattle, but they’re of high interest, and WSDOT is advertising them on WSB – three WSDOT open houses this week as they embark on the “environmental assessment” of potential I-90 bridge tolling – in this context, “environmental” includes a wide range of effects, not just “ecological.” Tonight’s open house is 4-7 pm on Mercer Island; details (and a map) here.
BEER TASTING: Elliott Bay Brewing in The Junction starts its “Ode to Darkness” tasting at 3 pm, with the brewer on hand 5-6 pm for questions. Details in our calendar listing.
DREAM DINNERS OPEN HOUSE: Located in The Junction, West Seattle’s Dream Dinners (WSB sponsor) is the answer to the question “what’s for dinner?” and you can check it out at 5:30 pm – RSVP requested; details in our calendar listing.
LIFE-SAVING DISCUSSION: ***6 pm*** at High Point Library (35th/Raymond), teen librarian Ken Gollersrud and the Chief Sealth International High School PTSA present information about teen depression and suicide prevention – information that could save someone’s life. Details here.
And lots more – check the calendar, for today/tonight and way beyond!
Two reports in West Seattle Crime Watch this morning. First, from SPD Blotter, an early-morning carjacking:
Just before 2:00 am, officers responded to the the area of 28th Avenue SW and SW Nevada Street for a report of an armed carjacking/robbery. Officers contacted the victim who told them that he was parking his 1993 Ford F150 truck on the west side of 28th, just north of SW Nevada.
He stated that he had just parked his truck and was walking away when he was approached by an unknown suspect. The suspect was armed with a silver handgun and pointed it at the victim, demanding that he hand over his personal property.
The suspect took the victim’s wallet, cell phone and truck keys. He then took the victim’s truck, last seen driving eastbound on SW Nevada. Officers conducted an area search, as well as alerting King County Sheriff’s Office and Washington State Patrol. Despite the area search, the truck or suspect was not located.
The victim’s truck is described as a silver 1993 Ford F150 pickup truck with extended cab. The suspect is described as a white male, 30′s, 5’8″ tall, wearing a black t-shirt and a black knit cap. The victim was not injured …
First carjacking we recall hearing about around here in quite some time. Also this morning, a stolen car to watch for. From Jeffrey:
My car was stolen last night … 1997 Subaru Legacy Outback – White – 912-VQE. Stolen from 41XX SW Edmunds Street between 10 PM 1/28 and 7 AM 1/29.
This represents 19 car thefts in West Seattle in the past week. At this zoom level, the map shows 15 – we moused over each one on the SPD website and three each represent two, plus it does not appear Jeffrey’s report is on the map (which is time-lagged) yet. That’s more than double the rate in November, the most recent month for which stats are available online (scroll to the last page for SW Precinct stats). Here’s SPD advice on car-theft prevention.
That’s a city photo of part of the West Duwamish Greenbelt – Seattle’s largest remaining contiguous forest, stretching across much of eastern West Seattle. The WS-based Nature Consortium works to restore it, as well as offering youth arts programs, and this Friday, the Rotary Club of West Seattle invites you to join its next “First Friday” get-together while supporting the Nature Consortium. They’re meeting again at Marination ma kai (WSB sponsor) at Seacrest, by the West Seattle Water Taxi dock, this Friday, February 1st, 5 pm-7 pm. Drop by and, whether you stay for a drink or snack or more (or not), help with their collection of donations:
We would love to collect the following items for them:
Paint Brushes (acrylic, watercolor, brush sets) -
Paper (Bristol pads, drawing & sketch pads, technical drawing pads, paper rolls) -
Atlas Gloves
You can also give cash; we will be prepared to collect that too.
Membership not required – just show up. If you have a question, the Rotary’s publicity chair Dave Nichols has answers, 206-391-5017 or e-mail dave@disasterdave.com.
(Live view from the east-facing WS Bridge camera; see other cameras on the WSB Traffic page) 6:32 AM: Rainy but otherwise no trouble as the morning commute gets going. Same traffic alert for tonight as last night – another 10 pm-5 am closure of southbound 99 between the Battery Street Tunnel and West Seattle Bridge (Wednesday and Thursday nights too).
7:04 AM: If you use the 1st Avenue South Bridge, this note from WSDOT via Twitter: “On SR 509 northbound just south of SR 99, there is a collision blocking the left center lane.”
6:35 PM: As also noted in a separate story, there’s a problem with the southbound 1st Avenue South Bridge:
Its drawspan is stuck in the open position. WSDOT says crews are working to fix it.
A potential playoff preview Monday night at West Seattle High School, as the girls-varsity basketball team faced Seattle Prep, with both teams leading their divisions in Metro League play. The Wildcats controlled the board for most of the first half, but Prep’s aggressive full-court press kicked in just before halftime, and eventually brought that team a 55-31 win, WSHS’s first loss in almost two weeks. Here are the stats, as published by our partners at The Seattle Times. Their regular season ends with a home game against Eastside Catholic on Wednesday and a road game against Bishop Blanchet Friday.
The main west-east route in South Park, South Cloverdale, is closed right now at and around 10th Avenue South (map) because of a deadly crash. Seattle Police say one person was hit by two cars; Seattle Fire says the person has died. Details are on our partner site The South Park News.
She is offering a $300 reward for information that leads directly to the recovery of the vehicle. The thieves entered through the alley into the back yard. They opened a gate that had an eye hook lock on the inside and then went in through the side door of the detached garage to access the vehicle. They also had to open the electric garage door, which is not quiet, to get the truck out. There was nothing valuable inside the truck and no windows on the outside of the garage for them to see what was inside if they were walking by. The theft seems highly suspicious because of the extremes that the theives went to to gain access to an old truck.
As always, the WSBeat summaries are from reports on cases handled recently by 
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