October 2006

A steady stream of women flooded Benson's Fashion Apparel at 21907 Marine View Drive in Des Moines and one by one headed straight for Mary Beth Benson.

From that moment on it was all about hugs, smiles, tears and sharing memories. Mrs. Benson is retiring and closing her store for good.

"What will we do without you?" they asked. Silence said more than words-this is the end of an era and Mrs. Benson's 42-plus years of living legacy, "Where Women Love to Shop for Fine Fashions & Gifts."

Mary Beth often credits success to her father, J.K.

We all read with amazement the information about the salary increase (60 percent) that was awarded to the soon to be ex-Fire Chief of the North Highline Fire District, Russ Pritchard.

This mind-boggling raise comes on the heels of the levy increase that the same department said was needed to fund operations. What a pathetic decision by the Board of Commissioners.

I served as a Commissioner in this department from 1994 to 2005, and served as President of the King County Fire Commissioners Association.

As a long-time resident of the North Highline area, I am outraged by the Fire Commissioners' decision to raise the District 11 Fire Chief's salary to this outrageous amount.

My figures show from published information the Chief will be making $100-plus per hour, $4,125 per week, $16,500 per month, $198,000 per year.

I have voted for the Fire District tax levy, but I did not vote for this tremendous salary.

As the Chief will retire at the end of the year, what will his compensation and retirement cost for this low-income community?

On Sept. 8, I fell in my home and was injured enough to require a call to 911. My husband called and as he was hanging up the telephone I heard sirens in my driveway.

I could not believe the response time, and the manner in which the medics showed extreme consideration for my pain and injury. They told me every step they were doing and kept asking if I was OK.

We have lived in the North Highline area since 1953 and this is the first call we have made.

An Open Letter to My Dear Patients, Staff and Colleagues:

For the last several months I have received more than 300 baby gifts, cards, personal letters and flowers from you.

It's an amazing feeling to experience the love and appreciation shown by all of you. I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart.

My little son Karsten Andrej arrived safely on September 15. As you know, I waited 12 years for his arrival and as he is my first baby, I am experiencing the joy of motherhood for the first time.

Early Tuesday, near the Junction hardware store, two white males in their 20s walked up behind a 51-year-old homeless woman and began hitting her with boards. They stole her purse, which contained nothing of value, and ran northbound on 44th SW. Bleeding from the head and mouth, she was taken to Harborview for treatment.

An Arbor Heights man was booked into King County Jail after the Anti-Crime Team raided his residence (which belongs to his parents) and found multiple grams of cocaine, crack cocaine, a scale and drug paraphernalia.

Was that the sound of strings-a-strummin'? And I thought I just heard a double-neck guitjo. Some unique sounds are going down on Delridge. And this is in addition to the already happenin' scene just down the street at the Skylark.

For a neighborhood that used to seem somewhat quiet when it came to live music, now the hills are alive with the sound of it.

The West Seattle High School Women's volleyball team continued their winning ways in last Wednesday night's match against the Rainier Beach Vikings.

The lady Wildcats came out strong led by co-captains Karly Sapp and Gail Considine who helped Lauren Freidenberg break an early 3-3 tie serving the score up to 7-3 including an ace serve, a block for a point from Sapp, and a kill from Considine.

From that point on the Vikings scored very few points of their own.

It was a sight to behold. When the lead runner crested the rise 130 meters from the finish, it was West Seattle High School's Kyle MacDonald, all alone.

What had been a two-runner drama with less than a mile to go dissolved in the face of MacDonald's first sub-19 minute performance. The sophomore's time of 18:41 on the Lincoln Park course was an eye-popping one minute, 45 second improvement over his best from last year.

Thrilling as that was, it was but a prelude to the girls' race. West Seattle's Kylen Johnson duplicated the feat, without the drama.

The only significant event was a shooting that occurred on Aug.19 at about 2 a.m. I was at 15th and Roxbury breaking up a minor fight. Two Seattle Police officers were one half block north of me on 15th on a traffic stop. All of a sudden we heard about seven gunshots and numerous people running in all directions about one block from us. As it turned out, the shooting occurred near the Triangle Tavern in the area of 16th and Roxbury. Witnesses said two groups of people confronted each other. One person from each group pulled out a gun and shot at one another. No one was hit, which is amazing.