Guitar player and song writer Michael Deraitus performs in the natural setting of Lincoln Park on a sunny afternoon.
He returned to his native West Seattle area after more than 35 years in Homer, Alaska.
Thomas Jefferson graduate Tony Barnette finished his season with the Reno Aces, the Class AAA affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Barnette posted a record of 14-8 and an ERA of 5.79. He pitched 164.2 innings with 62 walks and 121 strikeouts.
Eighty minutes of well-done workmanship resulted in a 1-0 Thomas Jefferson whitewashing of Kentridge in a South Puget Sound League North girls soccer encounter at Federal Way Memorial Field on Saturday.
Youth-laden Jefferson improved its record to 3-4-1 while Kentridge fell to 4-3-1.
Raider head coach Jerrod Fleury was pleased with the effort and felt his squad had discovered the necessary ingredients to realize its full potential.
"We've been struggling for consistency," he explained. "The girls worked hard to put together a good 80 minutes. Our work rate had to be higher. We have talent, but the girls had to learn how hard to work to learn what level they can play at. Kentridge had the run of the play early. The midfielders adjusted and became more aggressive with more control. Our team found out today what happens with the higher work rate for the entire game."
Kentridge charged into action quickly, dominating the field position until midway through the first half. TJ goalkeeper Nicole Price earned four saves within the first 13 minutes of action, including a diving save with just more than 27 minutes remaining in the first half.
Don't stop believin'.
That's the Journey song that played to start the first of three races, and the Thomas Jefferson girls cross country team obviously did not let a little blip of another school taking their limelight a couple years stop them from believing they could reclaim their power as the South Puget Sound League Central champion.
And they are!
TJ's girls beat Todd Beamer, 25-32 (low point total wins) in a dual meet, all the while the TJ boys team made its case for, perhaps, a season coming (and ending) unlike any other --getting to state -- with its solid 17 minute range times and faster for its top five point scoring runners in a 21-34 dual meet win over the Titans in the 3.1 mile course at Celebration Park Wednesday.
Girls rule at this point for TJ in cross country.
"We are No. 1 in league, and we haven't had that since 2006," said Lacey Printz, who took second place overall.
Tahoma took over TJ's traditional stance of that league champion spot a couple years ago.
And now let's kind of quote the title of a song by “38 Special.”
The league title is “Back where it belongs.”
South Puget Sound League 4A South third-place team Decatur and second place Todd Beamer played even for 90 minutes of girls high school soccer action with neither rival getting to boast afterward over the other.
The game ended in a 1-1 tie on the Titans' home turf Saturday.
"They have some strong players," said Titans head coach Joel Lindberg. "It was a tough, physical game. Fun to play a game on our field, too."
A large crowd watched this one up on the grassy knoll overlooking the field.
Gators head coach Christy Gross signaled the same thought as Lindberg.
"It could have gone either way,” Gross said. “It was a good game among friends. A lot of the girls from both teams were hugging each other afterward."
So, with the tie, Beamer continues a thin hold on second place in the SPSL 4A South, going to 6-1-1 while the Gators stayed one-half game back of their rivals at 5-1-2. This game completed the first half of the league season and both will play each other again but not until the very last game of the second half of the season on Oct. 29.
The Warriors from Seattle Christian defeated the Evergreen Lutheran Eagles from Des Moines in a Friday night volleyball showdown. The Warriors come into the match with a 10-1 record and 6-0 in the Nisqually League.
“We have beaten everyone in our league,” head coach Mike Todd says, “but now we have to battle through the second round and there are some good teams.”
Coach Todd, in his second year, takes each game one-at-a-time.
“We want to get to the state tournament. That is our goal,” he says confidently. “We were knocked out early last year.”
Their eyes can be focused on that goal when a person locates the tall, 6-foot, 2-inch frame of sophomore middle hitter/blocker, Katie Collier.
“She was intimidating at first,” Melanie Laete, senior middle hitter of the Eagles, responds after the contest, “But it was our miscues that cost us at the end of each set.”
The power of her hits, were very impressive, when they were able to supply her with the good sets. She opened and closed the first set with powerful finishes untouched. She finished the match with 15 kills.
Wednesday weather patterns featured cool and sunny conditions with strong breezes, but Ben Blackner brought the heat in a sizzling three-set, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, No. 2 singles win against Todd Beamer's Ryan Wolfe to earn his Federal way boys tennis team a 3-2 home verdict.
Action was punctuated by strategic cat and mouse baseline battles with slices, spins and tinges of net play. Holding serve often proved to be problematical as the competitors split the first two sets.
Blackner blasted out to a 3-0 third set lead before Wolfe broke serve and closed within 3-2. The foes exchanged service breaks and holds of serve until the Eagle athlete held a 5-4 lead with Wolfe on serve. Wolfe survived several break points, but Blackner finally broke serve for the game, set and match.
"He (Wolfe) played a great match," attested Blackner. "I was able to win some crucial points. He surprised me by attacking the net so I kept being aggressive. My goal was to keep the rallies going."
Sophomore Joseph Delacruz quickly swept Beamer into an advantage with a 6-0, 6-3, defeat of the Eagles' Chase McLaughlin in No.1 singles to begin the day's proceedings.
Governor Chris Gregoire and a handful of other elected officials visited the Nordic Heritage Museum Oct. 8 for a guided tour and hear the museum's plans to move to a new location on Market Street.
Many of the elected officials took the opportunity to praise the Nordic Heritage Museum, the only pan-Nordic museum in North America.
Reuven Carlyle, 36th District Representative, was instrumental in the governor's visit to the museum.
He said he has a particular passion for the Nordic Heritage Museum's relocation project as a Jewish-American because the five nations represented by the museum gave shelter to Jews during the Holocaust.
"This is about the community engaging in the possibilities of what the Nordic Heritage Museum can be in the 21st Century," Carlyle said of the project.
Washington Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles said she is glad the state government could give $1.5 million for the relocation project of the "unique museum that everyone so treasures."
"This building has been incredible but we are looking forward to a much superior building on Market Street," she said.
Officers and detectives from the Port of Seattle Police Department, in cooperation with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), arrested three individuals and seized 11 kilograms of cocaine last week as part of the largest drug seizure ever at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Three suspects were taken into custody immediately and were indicted Thursday, Oct. 8, by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
"Last week's seizure and arrests represent good police work, and I'm very proud of the officers and detectives who participated," said Port Police Chief Colleen Wilson. "I'm also grateful for the ongoing partnership with our colleagues at the TSA."
On September 30, the suspects checked-in bags prior to boarding a flight to Alaska. TSA officers discovered five kilograms of cocaine in one bag during routine X-ray procedures for all checked baggage and notified port police.
The bag owner was located at the departure gate and, with the help of airline personnel, was determined to be traveling with other companions.
City Manager Tony Piasecki on Thursday, Oct. 8, responded to concerns that one of his proposals to offset an anticipated $2 million revenue shortfall in 2010 includes elimination of the Parks and Recreation Division of the Des Moines Parks, Recreation and Senior Services Department.
"Cutting the Parks and Recreation Department is one of many options included on a list of potential ways to balance the 2010 budget," Piasecki said. "But I can only make suggestions. Ultimately the City Council will decide what programs and services to cut to balance the budget."
He stressed, "It's important to note that senior services is not on the list of possible cuts."
Piasecki noted that the general fund budget first proposed for 2009 was based on anticipated revenue of $18 million. In early 2009, given the economic downturn, staff reduced revenue estimates for 2009 by $1 million and the City Council reduced expenditures accordingly, including cutting a total of 10 positions from the Planning, Building, Finance, City Clerk, Legal, and Human Resources departments.
