May 2009

The Ballard High School softball team turned in its second solid offensive outing in two games but still couldn't get the win May 1, losing to Bothell 9-4.

Haley DeGarmo went two-for-four with an RBI and a triple. Amanda Hawley went one-for-four with a triple. And, Sophie Overlock-Pauley went two-for-three with a run scored, an RBI and a triple.

Ballard has eight runs in the past two games after only scoring 13 in the first 11 games of the season.

Unfortunately for the Beavers, the improved offense hasn't yet led to wins. The team is on a nine-game losing streak and is sitting at 1-12 overall and 1-11 in the conference.

Ballard plays Roosevelt at 4 p.m., May 4 at Lower Woodland. Roosevelt beat the Beavers 10-0 in both of their previous meetings this season.

The Ballard High School baseball team snapped its 10-game losing streak with a 4-2 extra-inning win against Roosevelt April 29. The win completed the Beavers' sweep of Roosevelt this season.

The triumph was short lived. On May 1, Bothell dismantled Ballard in a 6-0 shutout, allowing only one Beaver hit.

Ballard was robbed of at least two runs early in the game when Bothell intentionally walked Conor McClure to load the bases with two outs.

Jason Bergerson sent the ball to shallow center field and it looked like it would drop, but the Bothell outfielder made a spectacular diving catch to end the inning.

Ballard is 5-12 overall and 4-11 in the conference with one game remaining.

The team closes out its season against Woodinville at 3:45, May 5 at Whitman.

Ballard lost to Woodinville 10-9 April 3 in the teams' only other meeting this season. It was that loss that started the Beavers on their 10-game skid.

Hundreds of people swarmed Mclendons Hardware in White Center before 7 a.m. this morning for their annual pancake breakfast and plant sale.

As of 6:50 p.m. last night, six more probable cases of H1N1 virus (swine flu) have been identified in King County through the Washington State Public Health Laboratory. Five of these cases are new; one of the six had already been reported and designated as a probable King County case due to symptoms and contact with a previous case.

Public Health is currently learning more about these individuals with probable H1N1 virus infections, and investigating if any schools were affected. This school attendance information is not yet known. The cases include:

An 80 year old woman from Seattle, who was hospitalized and discharged.

A 12 year old female from Lake Forest Park; not hospitalized.

A 14 year old female from Seattle; not hospitalized.

A 7 year old male from Auburn; not hospitalized.

A 15 year old male from Kent; not hospitalized.

A 12 year old male from Seattle; not hospitalized – previously reported by King County as a probable case due to symptoms and contact with a probable lab-identified case.

On May 1, at approximately 7:30 p.m., a young male, reportedly in his late-teens, was shot on Alki Beach just across the street from Pepperdocks restaurant.

According to Detective Jeff Kappel, the victim was standing near a parked car with his friends when he was shot from behind, multiple times, by suspects across the street.

Kappel said it appears there was no dispute before the shooting, and that the act was very sudden.

Suspects then reportedly fled the scene, running northbound. Friends of the victim loaded him into their car and began driving away from the scene until officers intersected the car at the 1600 block of Harbor Ave. S.W. The victim was transported to Harborview Medical Center by medics with life-threatening injuries.

The victims friends were transported to police headquarters where they are being interviewed by detectives. The vehicle was impounded and taken to the evidence room for processing.

A K-9 track was conducted but was unsuccessful. Homicide and Gang Unit detectives responded to the scene and continue to actively investigate.

The shooter has been described as a black male in his late teens wearing a black shirt.

(Editor's note: The following article appears originally in Seattle City Council member Nick Licata's newsletter "Urban Politics.")

In the wake of reports about the city’s snow response, the Seattle City Council commissioned a study of the Seattle Department of Transportation’s response to the December snowstorm.

Council staff, along with the city Auditor’s Office, reviewed internal e-mails, crew reports, snow and ice operational manuals, dispatch logs, the Winter Storm Response Plan, and other internal documents; interviewed the transportation department management and operations staff, and toured the Charles Street Maintenance facility. The transportation department was fully cooperative.

Department of Transportation After Action Report

The transportation department carried out an after action report, primarily by senior staff. The council report notes there was no direct input from line staff, crew chiefs, or supervisors. The transportation department acknowledges that its report was not exhaustive and includes mostly short term improvements.

The Admiral Neighborhood Association is holding its quarterly Adopt-a-Street clean-up event tomorrow morning, May 2.

The group will meet at Metropolitan Market at 9 a.m., enjoy some free coffee and breakfast treats, and then head out in small groups to help keep our great neighborhood looking good.

All are welcome to attend and all equipment is provided. For more information please contact Mark Wainwright at mwainwright@me.com.

Six local teens are raising money for Amigos de las America to help fund community service projects in Latin America that they will work on this summer. 

Andrea Adachi, Rachel Cermak, Johanna Garcia, Kata Martin, Kyeti Morgan, and Lukas Shadair will work on Amigos projects in rural Paraguay, Panama, Honduras and Nicaragua. 

They have organized the Amigos Garage Sale, part of the West Seattle Community Garage Sale.  All proceeds from the Amigos Garage Sale will go toward the summer service projects. In addition to garage sale items, organic Fair Trade coffee and chocolate will be available for purchase.   

Amigos de las Americas is a non-profit service organization that has fielded approximately 20,000 volunteers during the last 40 years working in more than a dozen Latin American countries on projects related to healthcare, water sanitation, the environment, youth education and community based initiatives.  Amigos values and encourages youth leadership, multicultural understanding, service, and the development of projects that address community priorities. 
 
 

Since Delridge resident Mike Dady led city officials on a tour through his neighborhood to see first hand the problems caused by dilapidated, vacant houses, city council members Sally Clark and Tim Burgess, as well as the Department of Planning and Development, have been working to find solutions to the problem.

One legislative change officials are working on would alter the rules regulating home demolitions. Currently, for a home to be demolished, the property owner must have a permit for a new project to be built on the property. This is just one regulation that keeps vacant, rundown homes from being torn down.

Diane Sugimura, director of the planning department, explained that the problem lies in homes that are not deteriorated enough to be abated, but cannot be closed to entry, typically by transients camping in them.

“We need to think through to make sure there aren’t any unintended consequences that surprise anyone later,” said Sugimura.

Dady said he is happy that city officials are responding, but hopes the process is not too lengthy.

Woodland Park Zoo members, donors and the media were invited May 1 to a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the new exhibit of a colony of Humboldt penguins, which opens officially to the public Saturday, May 2.

"This is probably the most ambitious animal exhibit we've had in over a decade," said Deborah Jensen, president and chief executive officer of the Woodland Park Zoo Society.

The penguins, 10 males and 10 females, arrived in March from five other zoos and aquariums. The birds range from 1 to 20 years old and moved from Brookfield Zoo (Chicago), SeaWorld (San Diego), Rosamond Gifford Zoo (Syracuse, NY) and Saint Louis Zoo and Aquarium of Niagara (Niagara Falls, NY).

Mayor Greg Nickels, a featured speaker at the event, said there are 19 species of endangered penguins in the world, one being the Humboldt.

According to the zoo, there are an estimated 12,000 Humboldt penguins left in the wold.

The new penguin exhibit is 17,000 square feet and is meant to replicate Punta San Juan in Peru, according to the zoo.

The penguin exhibit is built sustainably, according to the zoo, and uses geothermal energy, a less wasteful filtration system, and stormwater runoff.