The third team going to the state qualifying round is the BU-11 Crush (9:13 pm update – thanks to Bill Lange for the photo):
Thanks to Cori Roed for 1st word of this, with the Cheetahs photo, and to Tim McMonigle for sharing the Sambas picture (he’s the blue-shirted coach at left). Tim explains, “These three teams will be competing with the winners of the other districts around the state to be called the best recreational team in their age bracket in the state. A big honor if they make it.” The games this weekend are all quite a ways from home – the Crush plays in Shelton, the Cheetahs in Aberdeen, the Sambas in Vancouver/Camas – but a week later, if any make it to the state finals, they’ll play at Starfire in Tukwila.
Seattle Police are about to add a new tactic to crack car-theft cases: This Wednesday, they’ll “unveil how social networking, specifically Twitter, will be employed to combat auto theft and reunite victims with their stolen cars,” promises their announcement inviting local media to attend the unveiling. Currently, most of SPD’s Twitter activity involves links to new updates on SPD Blotter, though they occasionally send updates on breaking news. The auto-theft announcement is set for Wednesday afternoon at the West Precinct; as with most major stories, we’ll tweet about it (with updates here too).
(Photo of Queen Latifah is by, and used with permission of, Robin Lindsey)
Seal-pup season is usually over by now, but West Seattle-based Seal Sittersare still seeing pups hanging around local shores – including the one nicknamed “Queen Latifah, who has hauled out now for 50 days straight!” according to Seal Sitters’ Robin Lindsey. As a result, they’re presenting a training session for volunteers next week, first time they’ve ever done one in winter. The training session will be 6:30-8:30 pm Thursday, December 9th, at Camp Long Lodge; current volunteers are “welcome and encouraged to attend as well,” according to the announcement, which also requests RSVP (you can contact Seal Sitters through their website at www.sealsitters.org).
FromSDOT, which says this might be a two-night closure:
The contractor working for the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to widen the Spokane Street Viaduct will close the westbound lanes of the structure tonight and tomorrow night. Crews plan to work from 10 p.m. tonight until 5 a.m. tomorrow, November 30 and if necessary also work from 10 p.m. tomorrow, November 30 to 5 a.m. Wednesday, December 1, to completely remove temporary supports under the structure. During this work, southbound I-5 traffic will be directed to the Forest Street exit to access surface streets. Northbound I-5 traffic and westbound traffic from Columbian Way will be detoured to surface streets at Sixth Avenue South.
The Spokane Street Viaduct is the section of the east end of the West Seattle Bridge between I-5 and Highway 99.
Two weeks after that “For Lease” sign went up at West Seattle’s Jade West Café, finally confirming its chef/owner Wah Wong would not be coming back, we have a long-sought update from the Wong family. Wah’s wife Salina Wong replied to one of our messages with an update to share with the community. The update includes good news for their son Jason, who lost a leg after a drunk driver hit him and his dad outside their Beacon Hill home almost a year ago:
Wah had recovered from his injuries after intensive rehabilitation and heavy medication closely monitored by the medical teams of Harborview MC and Group Health. In May 2010, Wah underwent a surgery due to the infection caused by the metal implants embedded in his injured leg. He went through an 8-week procedure of home care IV medication and finally recovered. He began relearning how to walk, slowly but surely. Our primary concern for Wah is his health, and in doing so, Wah has decided to retire from Jade West Café—along with his passion for cooking. He will surely miss serving his customers, chatting with his regulars, and being part of the West Seattle community.
A “For Lease” sign was put up last week at Jade West Cafe with the intention to reopen the shop as soon as possible. We started receiving phone calls from many interested parties and we are specifically looking for a chef who is capable of carrying on the legacy of Wah’s Café. When a new tenant is chosen, we will inform you.
As regards to our son, Jason, he is also recovering from the injuries and doing well. He strives to walk with his prosthesis progressively. We are very proud of him being so positive, determined, and courageous to move forward to a better life. With God’s will and blessings, he has humbly accepted a job offer from The Boeing Company as a product review engineer. We all wish him tremendous success, good health, and a bright future.
Please accept our sincere gratitude for all the heartfelt love and thoughtfulness from everyone in West Seattle who continuously offer support and keep our family in their prayers. Without your support, we cannot have gotten this far.
Seattle Parks just sent word the fence at Myrtle Reservoir Park (35th/Myrtle/Willow; map) will come down on Wednesday. This park has been in the works for four years and has had some speed bumps along the way, including a series of public design meetings in 2008 that grew contentious over the possibility of a skatepark on the site (long since dropped), and a multimillion-dollar problem last year that extended the time needed for Seattle Public Utilities to finish covering the reservoir itself – the project that created the park site in the first place. (The dispute over the waterproofing problem eventually went to court; we’re checking on its status.) The new park has a viewpoint, pathways, and a playground, among other features; this September story took a closer look with a video tour.
COMCAST OUTAGE IN WEST SEATTLE: Via Twitter, the cable company confirms an outage here – affecting 2,500 homes and businesses, though we don’t have an exact area yet (aside from one affected customer’s e-mail mentioning they’re at 36th/Juneau). Comcast says crews are working on it, and the cause might have been a “fiber cut.” (10:58 am note – They’re now “splicing cable” but no estimated time for restoring service. … 1:58 pm update: Service is coming back, as both Comcast and a commenter indicate. Comcast says the cause “appears to be a bullet hole through a fiber line.”)
HIGHLAND PARK ELEMENTARY DONATIONS SOUGHT: We already have the school’s holiday bazaar this Saturday on the Holidays page, but a new event’s been added to it, and your donations are needed. From the school:
Highland Park Elementary 4th and 5th graders need your help! On January 19th they leave for Camp Seymour for three days and two nights. In order to keep costs affordable for the 125 students they are holding a ‘Rummage Sale’ in conjunction with the Highland Park PTA Holiday Bazaar on Saturday, December 4, from 10 to 3pm. For this sale to be successful they need donations of gently used household items such as dishes, pots and pans, knick knacks. tools, books, small furniture, toys, etc. You can also make a monetary donation to help defray the costs for some of our students who would not otherwise be able to attend. The cost per student is $60. If you are able to help in either way please contact Ryan Schaedig at 206 252-8240 or rwschaedig@seattleschools.org.
(Sunday photo from aboard the Washington State Ferry Klahowya, courtesy of Cheryl)
Apropos to this morning’s featured photo, tonight is the periodic Washington State Ferries community meeting for ferry riders along the run that includes West Seattle (Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth). But you’ll have to take a ferry (or drive the long way around) to get there – it’s in Port Orchard, John Sedgwick Junior High (map), 6:30 pm. … If you drive Highway 99 on the north side of downtown, ramp closures during the day today and overnight tonight might affect you – check out the details here … Nothing on the West Seattle Holidays page for tonight, but take a minute to browse ahead to later this week – TONS going on. (And if you have events/holiday services/giving opportunities that you don’t see listed there, please let us know!)
Work has begun on this year’s edition of West Seattle’s biggest, brightest Christmas lights — the Menashe Family display in the 5600 block of Beach Drive. We stopped by Sunday afternoon, as the front yard bustled with family and friends (plus the cherry picker), while the back yard held more components of the famous light show:
Inside, Linda Menashe showed us the photo postcard created to share the news of the display’s upcoming TV showcase. You might remember that last year, The Learning Channel sent a crew to document both the decorating, and the official switching-on of the show; here’s our video of one take, as family and friends loudly cheered the throwing of the switch:
Again, that was DECEMBER 2009 – the lights for this year are NOT on yet. As we reported a year ago, they said it would be part of a TV program this season – and indeed, as the Menashes’ postcard proclaims, they’ll be on TLC (Comcast channel xx) at 9 pm this Saturday night, December 4; the online listing says the show’s called “Invasion of the Christmas Lights 2,” and Linda Menashe says their share of it will run about 10 minutes. She has fond memories of the crew that spent a week in and around her house – “our basement was filled with the most gorgeous film equipment!” – and also told us that TLC found the family by discovering a past WSB report. Back to this year’s display – Linda’s daughter Joanna Menashe showed us some of this year’s new additions, like a holiday horse:
Other animated characters awaited in other nooks and crannies:
If all goes well – Joanna says now that she and her siblings are grown up, the decorating work goes a lot faster than it did when they were kids! – the lights will go on midweek. And then on Saturday night, her mom told us, the family will gather at son Jacob‘s house to watch the TLC show. Meantime, as per WSB tradition, we’d love to hear from you about other bright local lights displays – share the info (and photo if you get one) – thanks!
Late-night dog walkers on Graham at High Point Dr [map] were followed by a coyote after the courtesy patrol followed it down an alley. It looped down a walkway and came back to follow us on our block. Sophia and I ran for the porch and Steve ran it off. I am a country girl and believe in coexisting with wildlife; however, this life is more urban than wild and the coyote did not show the appropriate shyness or fear of 2 humans and a dog on a short leash. If I used an 18 foot flexi leash like most people do and also we were not aware of where our dog was and where the coyote was things could be different. Courtesy patrol is what pointed it out to us as it stood at the mouth of an alley we had just passed 30 seconds before and the car came around the corner toward us and caught it in its lamps. It was large for its breed and clearly hunting.
(Sophia is the Hughes-Jelens’ Italian greyhound.) Meantime … 2 other West Seattle sightings reported in the past few days. From Shannon on Friday afternoon:
I was just doing dishes and spotted a coyote hanging out in Greg Davis park through my window at 1pm today. He isn’t spooked by passing cars or my dog barking. Just a heads up to all the dog walkers that use those trails and park. It’s the corner of Brandon and 26th. [map]
And from John at 51st/College (map) early Wednesday afternoon:
FYI: Just saw a very healthy-looking coyote emerge from the greenbelt and walk down the street before ducking under our neighbor’s hedge.
2 SEALTH EVENTS AHEAD – FILM FEST AND MULTICULTURAL NIGHT: Received a note tonight about an event at Sealth this week – a Community Film Fest of Digital Stories, “short environmental videos made by youth in the global leadership class,” at 6 pm this Thursday in the school’s Little Theater (2600 SW Thistle), everyone invited (here’s the official flyer). Meantime, the PTSA is reminding the community about the upcoming Multicultural Night at Sealth, 6:30 pm December 9th, including music, dance, and spoken-word performances by school groups; more details here.
LAFAYETTE ELEMENTARY PLAYGROUND PROJECT: The “Play It Forward” committee raising money to match a $100,000 city grant – with January deadline looming – has set a meeting for December 6 to provide a progress report, and is inviting community input on project design. The meeting’s at 6:30 pm in the Lafayette library (2645 California SW). (Here’s our recent story about the project and the quest to match the grant.)
This Tuesday morning brings the City Council Committee on the Built Environment‘s next hearing for the proposal to rezone a block-plus along California SW south of Admiral. The three-year-old proposal would rezone the area to allow taller buildings and bigger businesses; here’s our coverage of the committee’s first meeting about it, week before last. As decided then, the council will listen to oral arguments Tuesday, from both the neighbors who are fighting it by filing appeals, and from supporters. The agenda is here, with links to documents including the council’s official briefing memo; it’s the first item on the agenda for the 9 am Tuesday meeting at City Hall. Here’s our archive of coverage dating back to when the proposal was first made public in November 2007. There is no specific project proposed in the rezoning area, but supporters have argued that the new zoning will make “nicer” redevelopment more likely. If the committee does not vote on it Tuesday, they would take it up again next week; once they have voted, it goes to the full council for a final decision.
(Photo added 4:53 pm, taken from Upper Fauntleroy)
It’s not West Seattle, but many people can see it from here, so it’s news here too — we have received calls/notes about a big plume of smoke visible from Vashon Island, if you have a view in that direction.
4:49 PM UPDATE: It’s a fire, according to scanner traffic. One source on Twitter says it’s a three-story house. And crews are still actively fighting it. We don’t have location info so far, aside from one crew telling another “come down as if you were going to the Cove Motel.”
5:08 PM UPDATE: KING 5 has posted this video from viewer Brady Miller (note that it is preceded by a short commercial – placed by their site, not ours):
5:23 PM UPDATE: The scanner mentions “Paige Lane” as the command. That’s on the northwest side of Vashon (here’s a map). We’ll add any additional information we find later; moving back on to more WS news now.
At the last West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting, while noting that local crime has been down lately, Southwest Precinct leadership also warned that some categories invariably go up during the holiday season. Too soon to crunch the local stats but we have received more direct reports in the past few days than we have for a while, and this one from Sandy is the latest:
Sometime between 10 pm and 11 pm last night my Subaru Outback was broken into and when the perps couldn’t find anything, they egged the inside of the car. ARRRGH!! This was at 45th and Andover in the Genesee neighborhood of West Seattle. When I discovered this, I saw a young man running through the neighborhood. I called 911 and the operator was very blase about it. I saw the same young man running through the neighborhood between 11:30 pm and midnight and again called 911. This time I got a different operator who said he would send a patrol car through the neighborhood.
If your name or message isn’t part of the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza already – you’re running out of opportunities. David Hutchinson sends the latest on the brick/plaque sales (which pay for ongoing plaza maintenance, so that doesn’t come out of dwindling public funds):
The Alki Community Council would like to thank all those who have supported the Alki Statue of Liberty Plaza this past year through the purchase of engraved bricks and plaques. Seattle Parks & Recreation has notified us that our most recent order for 168 additional bricks arrived at their warehouse in West Seattle last week. Now that the recent cold weather has moderated, Parks will be determining a date for installing them in the Plaza. This will bring the total number of engraved bricks installed to over 2,700. In accordance with our agreement with the Plaza designers, to preserve the spiral pattern on the main plaza floor, only about 130 bricks remain available for sale. Bricks will be installed each spring and fall until this supply is exhausted.
Order forms may be picked up from the info boxes at the Plaza or downloaded from the Sealady website at: www.sealady.org/brickform.pdf
There are also 4 bronze Tribute Plaques available for sale. Information on these can be obtained at: www.sealady.org
Proceeds from the sale of the bricks and plaques are turned over to Seattle Parks & Recreation, and are placed in a dedicated fund that is used to maintain the Statue and Plaza. By the end of this year, the ACC will have raised almost $40,000 for this fund.
Thanks again for your support, and we wish everyone a happy holiday season.
In the spirit of Small Business Saturday (the new name for the day after Black Friday), we’re celebrating Small Business Everyday – as last Monday reminded us, our peninsula can be an island, so self-sufficiency via strong businesses (etc.) is vital! We learned recently about two West Seattleites co-owning an organic-baby-clothing company founded this year: Nathanial Duris of Arbor Heights is a co-owner of b(earth) – that’s his son Dash, modeling some of their creations. He explains, “We are a collection of eco-conscious friends who hope to reduce our impact on the planet – starting at birth – by making eco-thoughtful clothing and accessories for our children and the children of our friends.” According to Nathanial, they’re using “only 100% organic, sweatshop-free cotton, (and) water-based inks on our printed products,” plus they “also strive to work with local designers … and printing and embroidery shops whenever possible to help strengthen our local communities. We have also developed a philanthropic project called the Re-b(earth) project where when customers outgrow their clothing, we collect the garments, donate them to WestSide Baby, & give the customers a discount for future orders.” They’re doing most of their selling online right now, but they do have a few retail partners, including smallclothes in West Seattle.
If you peer at that photo, you’ll see Rob, aka the bee rescuer, who has sent one more followup, after noting the intense interest in the previous chapter of the saga. If you’re just joining us: Monday’s storm brought down trees in Lincoln Park – and one had been home to a wild beehive, found in pieces on the ground, as shown here. The bees were rescued by a West Seattleite who usually keeps bees elsewhere; after he posted an update in comments here, we asked if he would share more info/photos, which he did here – and now, today, even more in a new chapter, involving a box, vacuum, and tunnel:
On Friday, the roads were clear and Thanksgiving well-celebrated, so I was able to fetch some better bee-keeping equipment for the “rescued” Lincoln Park hive. I repacked the hive into the new box, along with fresh comb foundation frames:
I improvised a “bee vacuum” to suck up bees who had chosen to fly around the room instead of letting themselves be moved into their new home:
This was just a plastic gallon jug mounted on a dust-buster, with a mesh bag covering the vacuum intake, so the bees wouldn’t get sucked in. I could then pour these stragglers back into the hive and seal it up.
In order to keep the hive indoors in its weakened state, I constructed a sealed cardboard gangway out a gap in a window:
The girls have found their passageway, but are still not too enthusiastic about how cold it is outdoors. If this configuration proves stable, I intend to keep them like this until perhaps April at which time, they’ll should be ready to move back outside. We’ll see how it goes. For more pictures and video, visit Trileigh‘s “Bees in the Bedroom” collection on Flickr.
The top photo, by the way, not only shows Rob through the window, but that’s also the outside view of the bee box and “tunnel” entry.
(Photo added Sunday evening – the Pathfinder K-8 wreath sales mentioned below)
In contrast to event-laden Saturday (scroll down the home page to see all the coverage!), today is relatively low-key around West Seattle – at least so far as our Events calendar goes. But there’s still plenty to do. Going to the West Seattle Farmers’ Market? The Pathfinder K-8 school community is scheduled to start selling its handmade wreaths today – raising money to help subsidize students’ outdoor education – more details here (scroll down). Also at the market, 10 am-2 pm as always at 44th/Alaska, here’s what the weekly Ripe ‘n’ Ready list says you’ll find. … Also in The Junction: Friends of the Animals Foundation will have adoptable pets at Next to Nature today (still checking on the times) … And in the “not just Small Business Saturday but Small Business Everyday” vein, three WSB sponsors are among the local businesses that can help you savor your Sunday: Skylark Café (3803 Delridge Way) serves brunch till 3 pm and then there’s all-ages, no-cover live music tonight, with Petros (from Foundry Fire) at 7 pm, The Frost Giantsat 8:30 pm (full calendar here); at C & P Coffee (5612 California SW), your Sunday-afternoon relaxation will include live music 3-5 pm by Jacob McCaslin (full calendar here); and at Feedback Lounge (6451 California SW), Sunday ribs have returned, starting at 5 pm.
Some of the news we share from local schools is quickly summarizable – a photo, a few words. This report is more verbose – because it’s about words. Just before what became this snow-extended Thanksgiving break (most students have been out since noontime Monday, if not earlier), West Seattle High School language-arts teacher Kira Hopkinsshared her news about WSHS and Writers in the Schools, working with her ninth-grade students. Here’s what WITS writer-in-residence Katie Ogle writes about her experiences so far – including a sample of student work:
Writers in the Schools at West Seattle High School
Writers in the Schools, a program of Seattle Arts and Lectures, employs local teaching artists to bring creative writing into King County public schools–and I, Katie Ogle, am delighted to be a 2010 writer-in-residence at West Seattle High School.
I visit Kira Hopkins’ four 9th-grade Language Arts classes each Friday. The early morning classes are usually still waking up and the afternoon classes are sprinting toward the imminent weekend, and yet they still are able to give me astute observations about published work I bring in to examine and push themselves to create stunning responses to my challenging writing prompts.
So far we are learning about the autonomy the writer has over language, the efficacy of literary devices, and how to develop honest, interesting poetry and writing. In keeping with Mrs. Hopkins’ course-theme, Identity, we have written self-portrait poems, odes to cherished objects, and poetic memoirs. I am so pleased to share one of many sharp and well-crafted poems that has come out of our short time together:
Click ahead to read that “well-crafted poem,” and a bit more from Katie Ogle:Read More
A second West Seattle Crime Watch report tonight – this one from John and Lisa, asking that it be shared “for neighborhood awareness”:
When: Wee hours after Black Friday
Where: 7000 block of 13th SW, near Riverview Park [map]
Multi-vehicle, VERY aggressive break-ins of cars and house porches, driveways. They stole lots and didn’t restrict their choices and if they saw items on your porch, those were taken too.
Items ranges from work truck oxygen tanks, scooter, backpacks from vehicles, and more. Lots of time spent searching thru cars. Police report made and multiple case numbers issued.
That’s our personal favorite song from the Helmstetler Family Spectacularmusic-synched Christmas-lights show, which began its second year at 3908 SW Charlestown (map; across from the water tower) tonight. The first number was preceded by an official lighting ceremony – special guest pushing the button, Zack Lystedt, a Maple Valley teenager who suffered a brain injury after going back into a football game in 2006 following a hard hit – that inspired a history-making law signed by Governor Gregoire last year. In his honor, his family chose Pushing Boundaries as the nonprofit to benefit from any donations made during the show tonight. Zach’s dad Victor spoke briefly at the start of our video – the man on the right is Jim Winder, Helmstetler family friend and mastermind of the lighting extravaganza:
If you go watch in your car – you’ll hear the synchronized music on 101.9. Bring a donation for the West Seattle Food Bank– there’s a donation bin right in front of the house. This year the show even has its own website at westseattlelights.com, loaded with information from directions to schedule, and more. And if last year is any indication, we know Jim will soon have much-better clips of the show than ours, so watch for those.
Kenyon Hall is one of West Seattle’s semi-secret magical places, and tonight its doors are open, inviting you inside for a food-and-music (silent auction too!) fundraiser, benefiting former Café Revo proprietor Sofia Goff and her children. It’s continuing till midnight; just before it started, Kenyon Hall’s Lou Magor sent out this final reminder with an overview:
We’ll have lots of entertainment, including Bob White at the organ, singing by Debbie Sweetland, Connie Corrick, Hugh Hastings, Phyllis Stewart, David Parker’s Ragtime piano, Comedy Juggling with Matt Baker, and general silliness at the eighty-eight with yours truly.
All evening we’ll have a silent auction and a raffle. Lots of items have been donated from neighbors, businesses, and community friends.
We’re asking for a $20 donation to Sofia from each person who attends, but will accept other amounts. Everything we take in will go directly to Sofia.
More details at caferevo.com, which also explains the backstory, if you hadn’t heard it before. Kenyon Hall is at 7904 35th SW (map).
Santa Claus has arrived in West Seattle! His four-weekend visit to Westwood Village began today; he’ll be back noon-4 pm tomorrow (and Dec. 4-5, 11-12, 18-19) – bring a food-bank donation; they’re collecting diapers for WestSide Baby, too, and there’s free gift wrapping, with donations accepted for local nonprofits. (Santa’s in The Junction, too, during Hometown Holidays on Dec. 5, 12, 19, 11 am-3 pm, with photos at Donna Ryan Photography, donations benefiting WS Baby.) Speaking of The Junction, on its northern edge the Holy Rosary School Christmas Tree Sale started today in its new location, with the traditional blessing, led this year by Father Mike Raschko:
From there, Father Raschko mentioned he was back to resume watching the Huskies game; perhaps that was an auspicious start to the HR tree season, since as you’ve probably heard, they won in the last minute. As we noted in this Thursday story, the new location is between the Holy Rosary school building and playground, off SW Dakota. Trees have also arrived at West Seattle Produce:
We dropped by today after getting a couple reports of roasting chestnuts. Those, we seem to have missed, but we found Victoria and Eric Straus, up from the South Sound, freshly cinnamon-glazing a few other types of nuts:
They told us they’ll be back at WS Produce (4721 Fauntleroy Way SW) tomorrow, starting around noon, and the weekends of December 11th and 18th.
The 
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