March 2010

Highline is among nine school districts identified March 29 to receive federal School Improvement Grants, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction announced.

The three-year grant will be used to institute major changes at SeaTac's Chinook Middle School and North Highline's Cascade Middle School.

Highline has chosen the transformation model for reform at the two schools. It is the least drastic of four options offered by state education officials.

The most controversial element involves replacing the principals at both schools. The reform model also calls for implementing a new evaluation system that uses student achievement as a significant factor and rewarding staff that are increasing student performance while supporting and then removing teachers who are not.

The grants for the nine districts total $17 million for the 2010-11 school year.

The other districts are Seattle, Tacoma, Marysville, Yakima, Wellpinit, Sunnyside, Grandview and Longview.

Not a good day for Seattle Christian's boys baseball team, but it's certainly still a good season starting out, holding onto first place (4-1) even after losing, 7-0, to visiting Orting at Warriors Field Friday.

Orting improved to 2-2 this season.

So, yeah, not a good game for SCS but the season has been good. This was just a little blip on the radar that should pass away with a little time off to do other things before getting back into the meat of the season. The school's kids go on trips, sometimes far away, sometimes close by, working in soup kitchens, at camps, doing community and religious service. Quite a way to spend spring break.

"We take time off to do cultural experiences," said Derek Benson, who pitched this game for the Warriors and pitched strong through the first four innings before experiencing trouble in the fifth.

Benson, the Warriors' senior pitching leader, a four-year starter, was hurt by an opening walk to the inning, which is, coincidentally, what Benson did in the Orting top of the first and that runner came around to score for a 1-0 lead that stayed that way until the fifth.

UPDATE: The Ballard High School alumni three-on-three basketball tournament that was scheduled for May 8 has been cancelled due to a scheduling conflict for the gym within the Seattle School District.

The tournament organizers hope to reschedule the fundraising event for the fall.

Ballard High School is hosting an alumni three-on-three basketball tournament this May as a fundraiser for the class of 2011

"We are looking for any alumni that can still shoot some hoops," said Wendy Cunningham, a tournament organizer. "This is a great event to get a few old friends together to either play – breakout the old high tops – or come and watch while supporting the class of 2011."

Each team of up to four players can be mixed classes and co-ed. Two of the four players must be Ballard High School alumni.

Entry in the tournament is $120 per team. Teams with players from the classes of 2005 to 2009 pay only $100.

Teams must enter by April 23. The entry form can be downloaded with the link on the right or at www.ballardathletics.org.

The tournament begins at 9 a.m. on May 8. The championship game is at 7 p.m.

The King County Housing Authority is starting construction this month to transform the former Park Lake Homes II site in North Highline into an attractive mixed-use development.

The first phase, comprised of 25 units of rental housing, will break ground later this month. Former Park Lake Homes II residents will have first right of return to the revitalized community. They are expected to move back starting in the fall of 2011.

The former residents will return to a community with a new name-Seola Gardens.

Seola Gardens is a companion to White Center's Greenbridge development.

When completed, the new development will have 177 affordable, energy efficient rental units. The old 30-acre site contained 165 units.

The site will also feature 107 for-sale homes, constructed by private builders.

The new development is located at 4th Avenue Southwest and Southwest 108th Street.

"Seola Gardens will be a jewel for the neighborhood," housing authority executive director Stephen Norman said. "Along with its neighbor to the north-Greenbridge-KCHA will have built exciting new places for families and individuals to live and flourish."

Worried about the possible effects of Burien's proposed version of the shoreline management act, property owners along the city's waterfront have formed an organization, raised money and hired lawyers.

"We have no interest in a lawsuit," Burien Marine Homeowners Association president Michael Noakes said. "That is the last resort."

Noakes insists the group is focused on working with Burien planners and lawmakers to come up with an updated shoreline plan that will be accepted by the state Department of Ecology while balancing the need to safeguard the environment, provide public access to publicly-owned land and protect private property rights. Noakes said Redmond's plan does not require shoreline buffers, but was accepted by the state DOE.

The group has provided the city its suggested revisions to Burien's draft plan, published in November.

Noakes said the organization is currently concentrating on a membership drive among owners of the 500 tax parcels along the north Burien shoreline, Three Tree Point and Lake Burien.

Construction on the Des Moines Marina, which began last fall, could be finished a couple of months ahead of schedule, according to Harbormaster Joe Dusenbury said.

The original schedule was for the work on the marina to be completed next February or March. But Dusenbury said, despite some significant disagreements at the beginning of the project, the contractor IMCO General Construction is optimistically looking to be finished by Thanksgiving.

The remodeling of the marina, which includes new bulkheads, a new boatlift and a complete replacement of the utilities' infrastructure, is a $5.4 million project. Dusenbury said the new boatlift should be operational by the first of August.

In December while IMCO was driving sheet piling for the bulkhead they were unable to drive the pilings to the design depth. IMCO asked the city to pay for the extra measures to drive the pilings to the proper depth, stating the subsurface conditions were different than stated in the bid contract.

City Manager Tony Piasecki wrote in response to Des Moines Chief of Police Roger Baker's retirement announcement:

"On behalf of the residents of the City of Des Moines, the City Council, and city staff, thank you for your service to the community. Your efforts over the last six years have resulted in lower crime rates, a reduced fear of crime throughout the city, and a better trained and equipped professional police force serving everyone who lives in Des Moines. Without doubt you have made Des Moines a better place."

Chief Baker's "Announcement of Retirement" reads: "It is with mixed emotions that I announce my retirement from the City of Des Moines.
I've had the good fortune to work with the great organization and outstanding staff of the City of Des Moines and Police Department for over 6 years. It has been my pleasure to lead the daunting task of restoring police services in our City. I could not have had better teams to work with to successfully accomplish that task."

It was January 21, 2004 when I first wrote about Chief Baker and his wife Shirley. Now, six plus years later Chief Baker's Retirement decision is today's subject.

On March 16, 2010, Comcast Cable TV removed the Seattle Channel and Seattle's SCANtv channel within a wide area of White Center, Top Hat, Beverly Park, Boulevard Park, and South Park, in the unincorporated areas of King County known as North Highline. The two removed channels have been replaced with the Burien channel and a channel called PSA77.

These changes appear to relate to the fact that the City of Burien is about to annex a portion of North Highline on April 1st. (No fooling.)
However, NOT all of North Highline is being absorbed by the City of Burien.

The areas that I have listed above will NOT become a part of Burien and will remain in unincorporated King County for the time being. As such, these listed areas should NOT have been cutover to the Burien cable system.

I live in the remaining portion of unincorporated King County that will remain unincorporated after April 1st.

I for one find the two replacement channels to be of very little worth as I do NOT live in the City of Burien, nor will I be living in that city any time soon. Our unincorporated area may, in fact, become a part of the City of Seattle in the future.

Meet Abel Magana

He is a deacon at Holy Family School in White Center.

Now residing in Burien, he was once a native of Puerto Vallarta in Mexico's Jalisco state.

He is married (deacons can be married) and the proud father of three girls. He showed me some wallet photos of the family and they all look like movie stars, including his wife.

I was a beginner publisher of the White Center News in the early fifties when Father Ailbe McGrath launched a fund drive to rebuild Holy Family Church and selected us to do all his printing. So I watched it grow into the magnificent edifice it still is today.

Abel's hometown is inland from the resort area but is booming with production of some of the world's most renowned tequila. The most expensive tequila is made of the Agave cactus, which thrives best in that climate.

I mention that because unemployment is rampant in Mexico but not there, thanks to the famous native cactus plant.

Man caught shooting at cars

A man fired a shotgun at passing cars about 5 a.m. Tuesday March 23 at a Burien intersection. The King County Sheriff's office says it doesn't appear any cars were hit. No one was injured. Deputies responded to a 911 call from a driver who said someone pointed a gun at him as he drove past. Arriving deputies heard one shot. They shut down the road and ordered the man to drop his weapon. The 54-year-old Burien man was jailed for investigation of assault. The suspect did not provide a motive for his actions. Deputies found the shotgun was loaded with three rounds of buckshot.

Body found at beach

The body of a 41-year old Des Moines man was discovered on a Normandy Park beach. The body, which has been identified as that of Michael Crook, was found by somebody walking on the beach in the 200th block of South 218th Street March 22, according to Normandy Park Police Chief Rick Kieffer. The King County Medical Examiner's office said that cause and manner of his death are still under investigation.

Suspicious person