October 2009

Thursday, Oct. 22
Football: Interlake at Mt. Rainier; Kennedy at Hazen.
Girls swimming: Tyee at Mt. Rainier; Evergreen at Lindbergh; Hazen at Kennedy; Highline at Renton.

Friday, Oct. 23
Football: Highline at Foster; Evergreen at Renton; Lindbergh at Tyee.

Saturday, Oct. 24
Cross country: Seamount League meet at Evergreen.

Tuesday, Oct. 27
Girls soccer: Renton at Evergreen; Highline at Foster; Kennedy at Hazen; Lindbergh at Tyee.

Wednesday, Oct. 28
Girls soccer: Kennedy at Mt. Rainier; Highline at Renton; Lindbergh at Evergreen; Tyee at Hazen.

Thursday, Oct. 29
Football: Hazen at Tyee (at Foster); Mt. Rainier at Kennedy.

Friday, Oct. 30
Football: Lindbergh at Evergreen; Highline at Renton; Foster at Sammamish.
Girls swimming: League meet at Hazen.

Saturday, Oct. 31
Cross country: West Central District at American Lake.
Girls swimming: League meet at Hazen.

Tuesday, Nov. 3
Football: Pigtail playoff—Seamount 5 at SPSL 3A 5.

While the whistling wind wore away the outside environment on Tuesday night, the No. 5 state-ranked John F. Kennedy Catholic volleyball team eroded visiting Lindbergh, 3-0, in a Seamount League matchup.

Kennedy remained unbeaten (5-0 league, 6-0 overall) while second place Lindbergh fell back to 4-2 and 6-5.

“We have a number of skill sets,” stated Lancer head coach Tom Muckerheide. “It’s tough for any team that plays us because they don’t have the chance to get into their system. Jennica McPherson is our big hitter and we’re good defensively.”

All these stated elements came into play on Tuesday. Like the Kennedy drum corps that beat out a rhythmic and steady cadence throughout, the Lancer squad continually cut through the Eagle defense.

After gaining side out on the first point of the match, JFK rolled to six consecutive points behind Leah Bowie’s serve. Leading 15-10, the Lancers grabbed side out again and steamrolled to a 21-11 margin on McPherson’s serve en route to a 25-13 first game win.

Two stabbed in Tukwila
A 76-year-old woman Tukwila woman suffered life threatening stab wounds after her 39-year-old son attacked her with a steak knife. Police arrived at the mother's condominium in the 3800 block of South 158th Street and found the woman and her son conscious, with several stab wounds each.

Both were taken to Harborview Medical Center with critical Injuries. Police spokesman Mike Murphy said, "There was an altercation between the son and the mother, and we don't know why."
Police are still trying to determine how the son got all his wounds, but it appears they were self-inflicted, Murphy said. A standard steak knife was recovered at the scene.

Motor home crash leaves two hurt
Two people were critically injured when a motor home crashed into a light pole. Troopers said the older-model motor home crashed into the pole while on the off ramp from the southbound lanes of State Route 509 to South 188th Way on the south end of SeaTac Airport around 6:30 p.m.

The city of Burien is proposing a new $25 yearly vehicle license fee. Looking at your Voters Pamphlet, you won't find this proposal connected to the city of Burien.

In fact, I had to thumb all the way to page 100 -- end of the Voters Pamphlet -- to find it. You will not find the word Burien anywhere in the title. Instead, you will find Transportation Benefit District No.1, Proposition No.1 -- yet this is a city revenue proposal.

A stealth move if ever there was one.

For two reasons I cannot support this measure.

First of all, the $25 license fee is a regressive tax that, like utility taxes, hits working families and lower income people the hardest. Since this is a "fee" -- not an excise tax -- it is not even deductible on federal income taxes.

If these bicycle and sidewalk improvements are necessary at a time of broad personal economic hardship, there are fairer ways to raise the money.

The most obvious, fairer way to raise public money is a voter-approved special property tax levy. At least property taxes are deductible on federal income taxes -- also, it calls a duck a duck.

Curiously, Mr. Layden's Rant in a recent Highline Times letter argues for SeaTac's current form of government - a hired City Manager - by raising the issues of diversity of opinion, checks and balances and overall accountability.

The facts indicate that just the opposite is true, which is one of the reasons 85% of Washington cities have selected the more efficient, economical Elected Mayor form of government.

Presently, the Council holds both the legislative and executive powers - as they hire the City Manager. The current mayor is selected by the Council from among themselves; the position is largely ceremonial. The City Manager is accountable to the Council, not the citizens at large.

His term is indefinite, typically longer than an election cycle. He cannot be directly removed or replaced by the voters. Thus, there is every incentive for a City Manager to support special interests of individual Council members, expand capital projects, departments, and staff, building his resume for the next larger city opening at the taxpayer's expense.

Recently, as I was driving through the delightful city of SeaTac, my eyes were assaulted by a rainbow of signs.

All the red and yellow, black and white took me back to my Sunday School days. Many of the signs had names on them, with the exception of one: Proposition 1.

While talking to some of my acquaintances, I found that few had a real understanding of this issue, despite the fact that it had been tried twice before.

Many had looked at the literature associated with Prop 1, both on-line and "on-sign", but were still confused. 40 years in the business of politics has taught me that there is always a certain amount of ... hyperbole ... associated with election issues. The more the emotion, the more the hyperbole.

The unemotional facts of this proposition are that you have a choice between:

The current form of government in which 7 elected city council members hire a professional City Manager to run the day-to-day operations of the city. The City Manager operates under the direction of, and is accountable to, the City Council. The City Manager can be terminated at any time by a majority of the Council.

Or

If you think Halloween is a scary time just wait until Nov. 3 - Election Day.

Meantime, it's sure to get plenty "spooky" hereabouts with clever, and not so clever, politics.

Elections and Halloween are scary. If the face behind the mask doesn't match the style of their walking shoes -- beware.

Yet, the scariest part is we too often vote uninformed, allowing ourselves to be persuaded by yard signs and a litany of questionable rumors.

That vote ballot we hurriedly check, sign and mail could become the scariest "trick or treat" of all for the next four years.

Another haunting question is, "What do we really know about these people to whom we literally give our public power-of-attorney-vote to use anyway they wish-- sculpting and deciding our community and family's future?"

If the scare of Halloween toilet-papered bushes, soaped windows or turned-over garbage cans is a threat when we don't hand over the candy, imagine what political campaign influences can do when money and nasty rumors control voting results.

Funny how life is.

When I was a kid we lived in the flight path of a tiny airfield between Portland and the Columbia River and airplanes flew so low over our house we could wave at the pilot. And he would wave back.

We discovered one of those daredevils was a neighbor behind us named Tex Rankin. He rented Peggy Nylander's parents' house.

I knew this because Peggy told me. We were both about six years old in 1926 and had no secrets.

Talk to most any pilot and he will probably tell you he is familiar with the legendary Rankin. Or you can likely read about him on a computer search.

Tex flew an orange biplane called a Waco, which we kids pronounced "wocko."

I got a thrill out of seeing and hearing this flying miracle and sometimes my brother and I would hike the couple of miles to the airfield and hang around what we called Rankin Field and scrounge chunks of shock cord scraps. The mechanics used the rubber repairing landing gear to take up the shock of the wheels hitting the field .

Northwest Symphony Orchestra will open its 2009-2010 season with its annual family concert, Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the Highline Performing Arts Center, 401 S. 152nd St. in Burien.

Music director Anthony Spain will direct.

The violin soloist will be Maya Cohon.

She made her solo debut at age 12, performing the "Bruch Violin Concerto" with the Musicians Emeritus Symphony Orchestra in Seattle.

In March, she performed Ravel's "Tzigane" with the Coeur d" Alene Orchestra as a winner its concerto competition.

Cohon also won first place in the Seattle Music Teachers Association Simon-Fiset competition and was a finalist in the Seattle Young Artists Music Festival concerto competition.

She is a junior at the Northwest School in Seattle.

Tickets for the family concert are $10 for students and senior citizens and $14 for adults. Tickets are available at www.brownpapertickets.com or by calling Brown Paper Tickets at 800-838-3006.

Tickets are also available at the PAC box office on concert night.

The orchestra makes complimentary tickets available to local school music programs. Teachers may call the orchestra's office at 206-242-6321.

A new brochure has been published which lists art and heritage events, performances, and exhibits happening in Burien through 2010.

Interested people can pick-up a copy at the Burien Community Center, 425 S.W. 144th Street and the Burien Library at the corner of 4th Avenue Southwest and Southwest 152nd Street.

To receive a brochure in the mail, call the city's Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services Department at 206 -988-3700.

The brochure is an outcome of the city's "Arts Summit," which gathered community arts groups and artists in May,2008 to explore ways to work on projects together.

Arts groups whose events are listed include Breeder's Theater, Burien Arts (formerly Burien Arts Association), the Burien Library, Burien Little Theatre, the Highline Heritage Museum, the Hi-Liners, Northwest Associated Arts/Choral Sounds Northwest, Northwest Symphony, the Highline Performing Arts Center, the City of Burien's Moshier Arts Center and other art programs, Momentum Music & Dance, and New City Dance Company.