June 2008

Four "Level Three" sex offenders recently moved into a house in the 1400 block of Kent-Des Moines Road. Level three indicates high risk to re-offend.

The Des Moines Police Department put out bulletins about each of the four men and held a community meeting on May 21. About 90 people attended.

"Most people had questions about the laws relating to sex offenders and what our limitations were with working with them and restricting where they can live and what our process is," said Des Moines Police Sgt.

The city of Burien is in good financial condition, finance director Scott Hardin told Burien city council members on June 2.

While the city's reserve funds are healthy, the growth in expenses is gradually outstripping expected revenues, according to Hardin. He said restrictions on property tax growth are partly to blame for the disparity.

The city sets aside about 10 percent for reserves.

The Highline Schools Foundation for Excellence recently honored five outstanding individuals in education at its eighth annual Gold Star Awards fundraising luncheon at the Doubletree Guest Suites in Southcenter.

Scott McComb from Aviation High School received the honor as the Outstanding Teacher of the Year, Diana Garcia, principal at Bow Lake Elementary School received the Administrator of the Year award, Mike Castro, security officer at Chinook Middle School, was named Outstanding Classified Employee of the Year and Alice McGregor from Bow Lake Elementary took the award of Outstan

For those who think a car show isn't for them, the sixth annual Burien Father's Day Car show puts the pedal to the metal with nine new outside-the-box judging categories plus the first-ever Burien Chili Cook-Off.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

General governmental revenue collections and expenditures by the city of Des Moines were marginally higher in the first quarter this year compared to the same period in 2007.

Revenue collections of $4,133,966 through March accounted for 23 percent of the city's annual budget, compared to 20.8 percent last year, according to the First Quarter 2008 Financial Report recently submitted to the Des Moines City Council by finance director Paula Henderson.

General expenditures of $4,367,602 came to 24.5 percent of the 2008 budget, compared to 24.1 percent in 2007.

The Highline Historical Society is inviting residents to visit local neighborhoods on June 14 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a day of gardening inspiration.

Gardens in Burien, SeaTac and Normandy Park gardens are featured on the tour.

Burien's 2008 Strawberry & Arts Festival will feature the largest performance schedule in its history, with three stages providing music and dance on Saturday, June 28 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, June 29 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Also new this year are many "strolling surprises", which include the Trash Apes, human gorillas/professional dancers with a dose of drama and comedy. The Anunnaki Project will be stilt walking, while Miles and Karina will sing and play accordion in the crowds.

Pro instruction offered

Local tennis professional Steve Walters again offers area tennis lessons at outdoor locations this summer. Walters, certified Pro 1 by the United States Professional Tennis Association since 1986, has coached at some of the world's top tennis resorts and academies in Florida, California, Texas and Canada. Also he traveled on the men's professional tour, including the 1988 U.S. Open, as a traveling coach for world-ranked pros and nationally-ranked juniors.

As a player, Walters has been ranked No.

There's a good flow to the Mount Rainier Rams baseball team, and not just the spring high school season.

"There's summer ball and fall ball," said Bobby Odegard, the head coach of the Rams summer league program playing in the American Legion against other teams mostly made up of underclassmen high schoolers from respective schools -- Sammamish, Redmond, Liberty, Enumclaw and others.

There's a reason why the Rams' high school team has made it to the playoffs six of head coach Darren Rawie's eight seasons.

The reason why the Rams baseball program is consistently

Karli Merlich took the mound for most of the way for the Kennedy fastpitch softball team this year, leading the Lancers to a state Class 3A championship.

Merlich was honored as the Most Valuable Pitcher of the year for her efforts in the Seamount League.

Meanwhile, her coach -- Dino Josie -- reeled in the Coach of the Year award.

Sarah Martinez of Mount Rainier was named as the Most Valuable Player.

Merlich and Martinez also led the first team selections as seniors, with Merlich named as a first team pitcher and Martinez as the first team shortstop.<