West Seattle Tuesday: Highland Park spraypark; Schmitz Park movie

(Trailer for “Gnomeo and Juliet,” benefit outdoor movie tonight at Schmitz Park Elementary)
From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar:

HIGHLAND PARK SPRAYPARK: Tonight’s the second public meeting about this project, to create West Seattle’s first spraypark – still time to join in and have a say on its design. 6:30 pm at the site, which is the current (closed) wading pool. The official Seattle Parks announcement is here.

SCHMITZ PARK OUTDOOR MOVIE: Everyone’s invited to an outdoor movie tonight at Schmitz Park Elementary School Playground, 5000 SW Spokane! Movie: Gnomeo & Juliet (Rated G). Doors open at 6:30 PM. Movie will start at dusk (around 8:15 PM). Cost: $3/person, children 3 and under are free. Concessions: Pizza will be available for purchase by the slice, along with drinks, popcorn and other snacks. All items will cost $2 or less.Seating: Please bring your own blankets, chairs, sleeping bags, pillows, whatever it is that you’d like to sit on for the movie. All proceeds benefit the annual Schmitz Park Elementary 4th grade trip to Islandwood.

ULTIMATE FRISBEE: West Seattle Ultimate Frisbee, 6:30-8:30 PM at Fairmount Playfield (also on Sundays, 11 am-1 pm).

FAMILY STORY TIME: At Seattle Public Library’s Delridge branch, 7 pm.

TRIVIA TIME: Rock music trivia every Tuesday night at Feedback Lounge (WSB sponsor), 8 pm.

1 more reminder: Free heart screenings for students tomorrow

(Video showing and explaining what a heart-screening event by Nick of Time Foundation is like)
Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the day for free heart screenings at Chief Sealth International High School – offered to area teens/young adults 14-24, no matter where they go to school, and particularly recommended for those who are involved with sports. The free screenings can detect life-threatening “hidden defects” that don’t announce themselves until it’s too late, as told in the story behind the sponsoring Nick of Time Foundation. The one-day-only screenings are offered by appointment between 7:30 am-3 pm; more information here, including how to get an appointment.

Steve Bushaw murder trial: Defendant’s day on the stand

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Unless something dramatic happens in the next day or two, Brandon Chaney will be the only one of the two defendants testifying in the ongoing Steve Bushaw murder trial.

Chaney (shown at left in January 2011 WSB photo) was on the stand all day Monday, beginning the fourth week of testimony before a jury in King County Superior Court Judge Joan DuBuque‘s courtroom, which is likely to be the last – as few as two more witnesses remain, and the lawyers and judge are already talking extensively about how to craft jury instructions.

Monday began with prosecutor Jeff Baird formally resting his case, before jurors entered, so that a motion could be argued. It highlighted some tension that’s perhaps inherent in the double-defendant, single-case format.

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Free Tai Chi class series started at High Point

August 23, 2011 3:21 am
|    Comments Off on Free Tai Chi class series started at High Point
 |   Announcements

We received a note from High Point resident Wendy Hughes-Jelen (green Realtor and of the dog-finding-electrified-street-light fame), that she received a grant from the High Point Neighborhood Association to hire Lao-Shi Caylen Storm (Alki beach tai chi) to offer a class free of charge to High Point residents – and they are opening the doors to others who might like to participate, also for free, on a space allowed basis (not a problem so far).

They’ve been meeting outdoors but also have access to class space inside Neighborhood House for when it rains (like it did Monday night). She describes the class as “Tai Chi 099”, the so-basic level of tai chi instruction that they haven’t really made it to Tai Chi 101 yet.

Here is the announcement running on the Events page for Monday nights…

MONDAYS at 7 pm Tao Jin: Foundations of a Tai Chi Lifestyle
A free class at High Point, 7 pm, outdoors on the Plaza (Commons Park Amphitheater) or indoors when wet at Neighborhood House (6400 Sylvan Way SW). Those attending the class so far have no previous experience so are getting lots of explanation with their practice – if you’ve always been curious about tai chi but felt intimidated, this is the group for you.

The class was made possible at no charge through a grant from the High Point Neighborhood Association. The community brought in Lao-Shi Caylen Storm, a longtime martial arts instructor currently teaching for The Wushu/Tai-chi Center on California Ave. SW, (and also known for Sunday morning tai chi on the beach on Alki). Storm introduces basic concepts and movements of Tai Chi, as well as information on diet, mind-set, tools to facilitate a healthy lifestyle based on Tai Chi philosophy, energy regeneration, and the motivation in making positive life changes.

Questions? Contact: caylen_storm@yahoo.com

New Yoga Class Series Starts at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse

An email from Nicole at Blooming Wild Yoga announces a brand new yoga series starting up at Fauntleroy Schoolhouse that is intended to be an ongoing situation…

I wanted to let you know that yoga classes are starting at the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse Community Center next week.

There are two series:

Mornings: 9:15 – 10:15 am, Thursdays, a seven week series running September 1 to October 13 – $105 for entire series

Evenings: 5:30 – 6:30 pm, Mondays, a six week series running August 29 to October 10 (no class 9/5, Labor Day) – $90 for entire series

Register by sending email to Nicole@bloomingwildyoga.com
This will be the first in an on-going series of yoga classes to serve the community!

Thanks!
Nicole

“Root to Bloom”
www.bloomingwildyoga.com

West Seattle wildlife: Just nuts about Steller’s Jays

You usually hear them before you see them – the shack-shack-shack-shack call of bright-blue-with-black-crest Steller’s Jays, a call many can recognize even if you’re not an “I can identify that bird in two notes” expert. Two of the photographers who often contribute memorable West Seattle sightings have shared Steller’s Jays photos, just as we noticed them back in our backyard. Above, Machel Spence, best known for microphotography – bugs, fungi, etc. – captured the larger-than-life countenance of a jay. The next three photos are courtesy of Trileigh Tucker, who says the brash blue birds tipped her off that it’s “beaked hazelnut” season:

The nuts are a hit with the Steller’s Jays – though they have to go through some extraction efforts:

Trileigh explains, “Beaked hazelnuts are one of the traditional autumn delicacies enjoyed by native people in our area, and were traded up and down the coast — although it looks like this year, the jays have beaten us humans to the harvest! But interested folks can still find a few nuts and shell fragments; look on the ground under sturdy conifers near hazelnut shrubs, which are all through Lincoln Park.”

Trileigh’s also written about this on her website, Natural Presence. We thank her and Machel for sharing their photos – and everyone who shares theirs via WSB (e-mail editor@westseattleblog.com or use the WSB Flickr group).

West Seattle Crime Watch: Admiral burglary

From Len:

Our house (in the 3000 block of) 46th Ave [map] was burglarized today between 4.30 pm and 5.15 pm (when my wife went to pick up our kids). The thieves made off with an iPad, a laptop, a bottle of vodka, some clothing, and some of my wife’s jewelry. They attempted to unplug the flat-screen TV but gave up for whatever reason. Most of the jewelry has only sentimental value and has been passed down through generations. The thieves used a blue canvas bag with the words AHLA on it to haul away their loot.

The thieves appear to have entered through an open upstairs window facing the alley between 45th and 46th aves. None of our neighbors saw much of anything, despite being outside at the time. One neighbor reported seeing a dark, late-model Cadillac with two caucasian males in it driving erratically near at the entrance to the alley on Hanford around 4 pm. Not clear if this is related. They could have been on foot as they didn’t take anything big.

As of an hour ago, they were awaiting police, so they could file a report.

Meantime, if you do see anything even somewhat suspicious, police reiterate, call 911 – that’s what led to an arrest on Beach Drive last week, reported by Beach Drive Blog.

West Seattle’s Colman Pool wants to dive into your memories

We took that photo back on sunny July 4th, the day Colman Pool celebrated its 70th anniversary on the Lincoln Park waterfront. That wasn’t the end of the anniversary festivities, explains senior guard Anne Barnes – they’re hoping you have memories to share:

We have had a great time out here, and look forward to the last few weeks of the season.

This is our 70th anniversary year (as you have reported). In addition to the party we held on the Fourth of July, we are also putting together a memory book for the pool. There are tons of great memories out there; we’d like to collect as many of them as we can! Swimmers can ask for a page to write on at the front desk of the pool, or they can e-mail memories to me (I will print them out and paste them in the book).

The pool is open every day until Labor Day (Sept. 5) and also the following weekend (Sept. 10 and 11).

Anne’s e-mail address is anne.barnes@seattle.gov.

Steve Bushaw murder trial might go to jury this week

gavel.jpgQuick toplines from the first day of the fourth week of testimony in the trial of two of the four men charged in the murder of 26-year-old Steve Bushaw in the middle of a West Seattle street on Super Bowl night in February 2009. Defendant Brandon Chaney spent the entire day on the witness stand, claiming he had no knowledge of a plan to shoot Bushaw until the two confessed shooters, John Sylve and Danny O’Neal, ran to the car he was driving that night and yelled “GO!” All three lawyers finished their questioning of him around 3:30, and then they spent some time talking with the judge about the instructions that will be given to the jury before they begin deliberating. Chaney’s lawyer Jim Roe indicated he has one more witness to call; prosecutor Jeff Baird says he has at least one “rebuttal witness”; defendant Bryce Huber’s lawyer Tony Savage appeared to indicate he would not call any witnesses – he had already said his client probably wouldn’t testify. Once the defense rests, both sides will get to present their closing arguments before the case goes to the jury. The contention has been that Huber and Chaney were in on the shooting plan, conceived as retribution on behalf of a friend of both men who was beaten up in a home-invasion robbery two weeks earlier, because that friend allegedly believed Bushaw had masterminded the robbery (but wasn’t present).

New urgent-care services, then new location, in the works for Highline Medical Center in West Seattle

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

If you or someone in your family gets hurt or sick and needs attention immediately – you’ll soon have another choice in West Seattle.

Highline Medical Center Urgent Care debuts in October. For now, it’s in the same location where Highline (a WSB sponsor) has its Family Medicine Clinic – across from the east side of Jefferson Square – but they’re also finally going public with the news that next year, they’ll move into their own building in The Triangle.

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West Seattle Crime Watch: Cabbie attacked with stun gun

A 25-year-old man is in jail after allegedly attacking a cab driver with a stun gun early this morning in the Morgan Junction area. We heard a bit about the incident via the scanner and just obtained the report from Seattle Police. The cab driver told police he had picked up the suspect in The Junction and was told he wouldn’t have to go far. According to the driver, he was directed through a few side streets southwest of California/Fauntleroy – and then around 46th and Fauntleroy, the suspect grabbed him from behind and “drove an electric stun gun into his side 3-4 times.” At that point, the report says, the driver lost control of the cab, which then hit a vehicle on SW Frontenac. The suspect got out and so did the driver, running after him until the suspect jumped a fence. A K-9 unit came to help try to track down the suspect; the stun gun was found in the 4600 block of SW Maple (map), while the suspect was found about a block away, hiding under a van. Police say the suspect doesn’t live in the Morgan Junction area; they didn’t find any money on him, but did find 4 grams of marijuana. He told them after being advised of his rights that he didn’t know what he was doing in the back seat of a patrol car, and it was, the report says he claimed, “all King County Jail’s fault.” (The register shows his most recent stay there, in an assault case, ended on the 4th of July.) The cab driver didn’t want to go to the hospital, but did have what the report calls “a series of red, raised welts near his belt line above his hip.”

Seattle City Light Fauntleroy work: Another potentially noisy night

Some residents near the Fauntleroy ferry dock say the overnight electrical work by Seattle City Light has been keeping them sleepless, to the breaking point. The utility first issued a warning early this month; then last week, neighbors said it got really loud, as noted here – one commenter called it “the most obscenely loud jackhammer ever.” SCL’s Scott Thomsen responded by saying the jackhammering is done. But there’s word from City Light that tonight might be noisy again, so neighbors are bracing themselves. One is even putting out an open call for a lawyer who they could consult; Chuck Sawyer (ecccsawyer [at] q.com). He and others say they are concerned not even so much about this work, which is scheduled to run another two weeks, but a precedent it might set for other future work in the area, including the Barton Pump Station adjacent to the dock.

ADDED 3:27 PM: Chuck’s video with the jackhammering from last week.

West Seattle Monday: Today/tonight highlights

August 22, 2011 8:35 am
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 |   West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

From the WSB West Seattle Events calendar:

EXTRA WADING WEEK – IF THE WEATHER IMPROVES: The West Seattle wading pools that were scheduled to close after last weekend will get an extension this week – IF the weather gets back to sunny and 70-plus. Here’s our original report on that city announcement. The latest forecast does NOT look too promising, unfortunately.

ZIPPY’S RETURNS: The only all-burger joint in West Seattle/White Center is scheduled to reopen today after a week-plus vacation.

GET HOOKED ON THE WEST SEATTLE COOKING CLUB: West Seattle Cooking Club meets. Meeting at 2:30-5:30 pm at Beveridge Place Pub; this week’s ingredient is fish.

FAMILY STORY TIME: High Point Library, 35th/Raymond, 7 pm! All families are welcome to enjoy songs, rhymes, games, and books with the children’s librarian.

SING IT: Karaoke with Kelli at Skylark Café and Club, 9 pm.

‘Ritual Running’: Local student invites you to run, and reach out

Matt Haggerty is going into his senior year at Seattle Lutheran High School in West Seattle – a time when students not only are completing their coursework, but also working on their senior projects involving community service. Matt’s project is called “Ritual Running,” and he’s inviting you to be part of it. It’s a running group that will start meeting in September, working up to a 5K/10K run/walk event that will raise money to go toward buying and shipping shoes to areas of the world where they’re most needed, in conjunction with One World Running, which donates shoes in the U.S. as well as other parts of the world. Participation in the group is free, but the eventual event will have an entry fee and will encourage participants to gather pledges for the cause. Running is one of Matt’s passions – he says he runs both cross-country and track and has completed 4 marathons, “3 of which I ran in under 3 hours.” He’s planning on running the Boston Marathon next year.

The running group is set to start September 6th – a little over two weeks away – meeting Tuesday and Thursday evenings, 6:30 pm, and Saturday mornings at 10:30 am. The target date for his 5K/10K is October 8th, but Matt warns that could change. In the meantime, you can sign up by e-mailing Matt at ritualrunning@gmail.com. He has a website in progress at ritualrunning.com, and Ritual Running is on Facebook, here.

African Children’s Choir sings in West Seattle this Friday

August 22, 2011 2:25 am
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 |   West Seattle news | WS culture/arts

(African Children’s Choir performance in Kentucky this past June)
Another weekend of big events in West Seattle (and environs) is just days away. We’ll be previewing them throughout the week, starting here: Young singers from Uganda who are touring our state right now will be in concert at West Seattle Christian Church this Friday. The African Children’s Choir will perform in the church’s Activity Center (map) at 7 pm; doors open at 6:30. You can read here about how the choir members are chosen and trained; most are between 7 and 11 years old. It’s been almost exactly two years since the choir’s 2009 visit to WSCC.

Steve Bushaw murder trial: The prosecution’s final witness

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The fourth week of testimony in the first West Seattle murder case to go to trial in three years begins Monday morning. Week #3 concluded Thursday with the final witness prosecutor Jeff Baird had said he would call, Det. James Cooper (who had briefly been on the stand a week earlier).

This daylong stint on the stand painted the picture of how police developed their case, with tools including cell-phone records and Facebook friend lists, over the course of more than half a year following the deadly shooting of Steve Bushaw (right) in the middle of California SW in The Junction on Super Bowl Sunday night 2009.

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West Seattle restaurants: Saigon Boat Café expands

Alki’s Saigon Boat Café has expanded, a year and a half after opening at 2632 Alki SW, to add a restaurant in a separate building immediately east of the pho shop’s original location. WSB contributor Keri DeTore reports that the owners expanded to add what they’re calling a “more elegant” restaurant:

Its menu includes some Chinese dishes such as chow mein and fried rice cooked in a more “Vietnamese style,” as well as more salads, including one with mangos. She says the new restaurant also has a small back room, with antique furniture, that will be available for party rentals:

Summer hours for Saigon Boat Café and its new restaurant are noon-10 pm daily.

Tales of 2 ‘holes’: West Seattle and Green Lake

OUR ‘HOLE’: Following up on our recent report that the order of foreclosure sale has been issued for “The Hole,” the stalled 39th/Alaska development site known formally as “Fauntleroy Place,” the sale date has been set: 10 am October 7th, at the King County Courthouse downtown.

GREEN LAKE’S ‘HOLE’: The former Vitamilk property has been in similar straits for a few years. It’s easy – as it has been for “ours” – to make whimsical suggestions of what to do about a “hole,” but it’s not so easy to make an intricately crafted fake, city-style “Land Use” sign like this one that’s getting national attention this weekend:

Our fellow neighborhood-news publisher Amy Duncan published that photo from reader John Creed on her site MyGreenLake.com – where you can appreciate the photo in a larger size – and it’s been picked up by several national sites this weekend. (Thanks, Amy, for letting us share the photo too.) Green Lake’s “hole” is now scheduled for a new project, as MGL explains in their first story about the sign; as for ours, depends on what happens with the aforementioned sale.

Library notes! Avalon’s benefit ornament; SPL closures ahead

(Photo courtesy Avalon Glassworks, used with permission)
West Seattle’s Avalon Glassworks has a long history of helping local nonprofits – and the latest is the Seattle Public Library Foundation, which will get a portion of the proceeds from the newly announced holiday ornaments shown above. $30 each. You can check the ornaments (and other blown-glass art) at their shop on Avalon Way just south of the West Seattle Bridge. (They’re available online too.)

The ornaments caught our attention as we were just about to publish this reminder: Seattle Public Library branches are closing for a week-plus again this year, as a result of city budget cuts. That closure starts a week from tomorrow (August 29) and continues through the Labor Day holiday on Monday, Sept. 5th, so the libraries won’t reopen till Tuesday, September 6th. More info here.

Happening now: CityDog in West Seattle, seeking a cover dog!

West Seattle-headquartered CityDog Magazine is back at WS Thriftway right now for the annual “Cover Dog Search” photo shoot ($10, benefits Doney Memorial Clinic), and would-be cover dogs are lined up for their chance at stardom. This is one of several shoots citywide; at least two past winners have come from West Seattle (starting with Cohen). The photo shoot is scheduled to continue till 2 pm (SE corner of California/Fauntleroy) – but if you miss it, they’re taking online entries this year, too. (Note in our photo, the Humane Society’s big bright-yellow MAXMobile is in the background – there for an adoption event.)

South Park, alive & kickin’, and grappling: Lucha Libre

Our neighbors to the east in South Park are continuing to roll out the welcome mat while they cope with a dead end where a bridge was, and will be again – and last night, the welcome mat came in the form of a wrestling ring, for a celebration of Mexican masked wrestling, South Park Espectaculo: Lucha Libre(if you haven’t heard of it, here’s an explanation of the sport). While we had to get back to West Seattle before the matches, we caught this demonstration of some key moves by Luchadores Independientes of Washington:

Here’s why handstands are important, when you’re in the ring with an opponent:

A drawing for those in attendance included distinctive masks like these, worn by luchadores:

South Park, of course, would love to see you any old time, special event or not. Their new catchtheculture.com website makes that point (and offers ideas). But guess what – they have something else big NEXT weekend; it’s been in the WSB Events calendar a while, but if you haven’t heard yet about the annual Duwamish River Festival, it’s next Saturday, with lots of info here (and consider joining the Walk/Bike/Paddle to get there from West Seattle!).

Alki Beach 5K Run/Walk: 1 week away; registration party today

August 21, 2011 11:12 am
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 |   How to help | West Seattle news | WS & Sports

Next Sunday morning is when you can put your feet to the street and help Northwest Hope and Healing in its work to help newly diagnosed breast-cancer patients deal with the fact that diagnosis and treatment don’t stop the rest of life from rushing forward. It’s the fundraising Alki Beach 5K Run/Walk, and once again this year, it’ll shut down the street from the Bathhouse to Anchor (Luna) Park for a few hours – so you might as well get out and be part of it. You can register online or in person, and today you can do the latter, with a special discount, at Coastal Boutique on Alki (right along the route you’ll be walking/running next week!) during a registration party starting at noon; you can also register at West Seattle Runner (WSB sponsor; NW corner of California/Charlestown). The 5K starts at 9 am next Sunday (August 28

West Seattle Sunday: Arts In Nature, ‘Oliver!’, HPIC sale, more

August 21, 2011 8:55 am
|    Comments Off on West Seattle Sunday: Arts In Nature, ‘Oliver!’, HPIC sale, more
 |   West Seattle news | WS miscellaneous

(“Oliver!” photo courtesy Twelfth Night Productions)
Sunday possibilities from the WSB West Seattle Events calendar:

LINCOLN PARK NEEDS YOU: Third Sunday (and first Saturday) of the month Lincoln Park plant restoration party, 9 am – 12 pm. The mature forests of Lincoln Park in West Seattle are a treasure, but they need our help to survive. Join the Friends of Lincoln Park to work on maintaining previously restored forest. We promise you a good work out (Green exercise!) and the planet will thank you! Meet in the north parking lot on Fauntleroy Way SW at the kiosk across from SW Rose St. (8011 Fauntleroy Way SW, just north of the Vashon Ferry). Bring garden gloves and hand clippers. We will have extras.

WHAT’S UP TODAY AT THE MARKET: West Seattle Farmers’ Market, 10 am-2 pm, The Junction (44th/Alaska). Here’s an update from market manager Catherine Burke:

Back by popular demand: EGGS! fresh, organic, free range eggs! Welcome new farmer Palouse Pastured Poultry with organic local proteins.
Music: Pourquois Pas (French café music)

HIGHLAND PARK RUMMAGE SALE, DAY TWO: Giant Group Rummage Sale! at Highland Park Improvement Club, 10 am to 4 pm, 12th/Holden.

ARTS IN NATURE FESTIVAL, DAY TWO: Second day of the Arts In Nature Festival at Camp Long, 11 am-6 pm – check out the performance/activity schedule here.

GIVE A CAT A HOME: Friends of the Animals Foundation will have volunteers on site at Next to Nature in The Junction from 11 am – 3 pm to help you find the perfect rescued feline companion. More info online

IS YOUR DOG A POTENTIAL COVER DOG? City Dog Magazine’s Cover Dog Search comes to West Seattle Thriftway at noon. $10 per entrant (benefiting Doney Memorial Animal Clinic); details here.

GOT A PROJECT BEFORE SUMMER’S OVER? West Seattle Tool Library open in its Youngstown Cultural Arts Center space (east side of main building) 1-5 pm.

YOUNG MUSICIANS’ RECITAL: Music Northwest will present outstanding young chamber musicians (ages 9-21) in a public recital at Olympic Recital Hall, South Seattle Community College, 2 pm. Tickets are $18. Details at musicnorthwest.org

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR DEBBIE NUMOTO: 3 pm, St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church. Here’s the obituary published on WSB earlier this week.

FINAL PERFORMANCE OF ‘OLIVER’! Twelfth Night Productions presentation of “Oliver!” (with school-supplies drive for Treehouse), 3 pm, West Seattle High School Theater.