July 2010

Margo Femiano, Miss West Seattle 2009 has won a $1000 scholarship in the Miss Seafair competition staged just prior to the Torchlight Parade in downtown Seattle. Margo is a graduate of Sealth High School and currently attends Seattle University.

The Seafair Scholarship Program for Women is designed to give young women the opportunity to celebrate the diversity of the Puget Sound region and enrich their lives through education, philanthropy and community involvement.

To become Miss Seafair, young women are judged on academics, public speaking, interview skills and creative expression. Seafair will award a record $20,000 in scholarships, recognizing outstanding young women in our community in 2010.

All northbound SR 99 Alaskan Way Viaduct lanes through downtown Seattle will be closed between the First Avenue S. on-ramp and Thomas Street from 5:45 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. for the Seafair Torchlight Run.

http://www.seafair.com/events/torchrun/CourseMap/

A gathering was organized in San Diego for Saturday night, July 31, for friends to honor West Seattle resident, and Officer and Culinary Specialist Second Class, Jarod Newlove, a sailor killed while serving his last 40 days of duty in Kabul, Afghanistan. The theme is "Fair Winds and Following Seas," a popular mariner toast and salutation.

Officer Newlove died July 23 in a Taliban stronghold, Logar Province, 60 miles from the capital, where he drove with Officer Justin McNeley of Colorado who was also killed.

While it is currently a mystery why the two left their base, Camp Julian, there seems to be no mystery that Newlove was cherished not only by his family, including his wife, high school sweetheart Kim, and their son and daughter, but also by those he served with and those he came of age with at Chief Sealth High School near where he was raised, and where his parents still reside.

As a chef onboard he served a lot of people. There seems to be a consensus that barbecue was his specialty.

"We served together on the USS New Orleans," said Melinda Manciu, Culinary Specialist First Class, his supervisor. "Everybody enjoyed his food."

On August 3rd, Seattle neighborhoods will come together for family-friendly block parties, meet old and new friends, and learn about public safety and community building as part of Seattle Police Department's "Night Out 2010."

The Seattle Police Department sponsors "Night Out 2010" as part of the larger national crime prevention effort. The program has been growing in Seattle every year, with over 1,200 neighborhoods participating in 2009. For more information, visit http://www.seattle.gov/police/Nightout.

To support neighborhood efforts, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods has awarded Small Sparks matching funds to seven neighborhood groups organizing "Night Out" activities. Occurring in neighborhoods from South Park to Eastlake, these block parties received a total of $5000, which is matched with neighborhood contributions of nearly $6275 in volunteer time and in-kind donations. The purpose of these family-friendly parties is to build community and connect with neighbors, as well as learn about safety and crime prevention.

Patty Murray and King County Executive Dow Constantine joined community leaders on a tour of 14th Avenue South and struggling businesses affected by last June 30 closing of the South Park Bridge. The Friday, July 30, tour brought them to Muy Macho Restaurant, to Gurdev Singh's South Park 76 Gas Station, and Sea Mar Community Health Center(s).

Sen. Patty Murray announced that she's included $3 million for the South Park Bridge replacement in a Senate transportation, housing and urban development spending bill. She also has pledged to support the project's application for grant money that will be awarded under the $600 million TIGER (Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery) II program.

"This is an important first step toward pushing the federal government to pick up their portion of the tab for replacing this critical bridge," Murray said in a news release. "State, county and local government have shown that they are ready to get behind replacing South Park Bridge and I'm going to work ensure that the federal government is too."

The Westenders, West Seattle motor scooter club hosts what may be the largest scooter rally this year in Seattle that began Friday night, July 30 at 7:00 p.m. at Jack Block Park on Alki and runs through Sunday. Coined the "Tour di Mari 3: : Riding Down to Brighton" with a British/ mod theme, over 100 participants will enjoy three days of rides, music, food, and prizes. A raffle includes nearly $4,000 in assorted prizes, plus a restored Vespa P200 scooter valued at nearly $6,000.

"People have been buying tickets all spring and summer and the drawing is tomorrow at Woodland Park at the Picnic Area shelter 3 at about 6:30pm," said Bob Brown, "Prime Minister" of the club.

"After a performance by the Southwest Youth and Family Services does a Polynesian dance performance we're going to have a group ride to the Tiger Lounge off 4th Avenue where three bands will be playing," Brown said. "Tomorrow morning brunch at the Skylark Cafe, then a four-hour "water ride" to touch on Puget Sound, Lake Washington, Lake Union, a 75-mile ride. Sunday brunch at Café Revò and then a 'Great Seattle Photographer's ride' and stop at scenic vistas."

The Swinery at 3207 California Ave. S.W. not only has a new Operations Manager, in the person of Chef Joseph Jimenez but they have formed an agreement with South and Seattle Central Community Colleges to help educate their culinary students on butchery and animal breakdown techniques and practices. The program is called the Seattle Central Culinary Academy.

"I personally learn more every time I instruct other people in how to do this. It gives me a chance to really look deeper at the whole process," said butcher Joey Brewer.

Through Head Chef Garrett Daugherty's connections (he's a graduate of the SCCC program) he arranged to bring in the students to gain some real world experiential training. "When we took over the shop, Sarah Wong, who is a fifth quarter instructor at the school, decided to come over here on Friday's and help us out. We said we were going get a cow and she rallied up some troops to help us break it down, "
Daugherty said.

A Burien auto glass company owner has been charged with three counts of first-degree theft for a billing scheme that's believed to have cost insurers more than $1.5 million.

Charges against Michael Alan Perkins, 43, were filed July 29 in King County Superior Court.

Perkins is the owner of Autoglass Express Inc. and Premier Auto Glass, LLC., which are run out of Perkins' Burien home. The glass shops are suspected of overbilling State Farm, Allstate and MetLife insurance companies.
An investigation by the state insurance commissioner's office found 4,840 instances in which the company told insurers that higher-priced Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) glass had been installed, when workers were actually installing lower-cost aftermarket glass.
State Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler's anti-fraud Special Investigations Unit, which spent months combing through more than 10,000 records, found $1,520,234 in deceptive billing by Perkins' companies between September 2005 and December 2009.

The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods’ P-Patch Community Gardening Program is welcoming suggestions from the community for possible future P-Patch sites in the Ballard area.

Residents are encouraged to submit potential sites that they feel might be a good fit here.

The Department of Neighborhoods considers a good site one that is:

• Publicly owned (or easily leasable at low or no cost)
• Mostly flat and sunny
• At least 5,000 square feet

Recently, Seattle voters passed the Parks and Green Spaces Levy, which includes $2 million for new P-Patch community gardens.

The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods wants to use this money in order to serve areas that are getting denser, have relatively high percentages of under-represented populations and are currently underserved by the P-Patch Community Gardening Program, as well as areas that are specifically called for in the Parks and Green Spaces Levy, according to the a Department of Neighborhoods press release.

The Federal Way American Little League Junior All Star team went 3-2 in their state tournament games at Medical Lake High School in Spokane.

In their opening game, the Americans lost a close 6-5 battle to Hazel Dell. Mitch Stewart pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits with nine strikeouts.

Hazel Dell scored two runs in the fourth inning, but FWALL struck back with three in the fifth, with Mitchell Garza's triple and RBI singles from Stewart and Shires. American added two more in the sixth with Renne Jones' double leading things off and RBI singles from Jay-J Jones and Stewart. However, HD rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull out the victory.

Branden Shires batted 3-for-3 with a double,triple and two RBIs.Mitch Stewart was 2- for- 4 with two runs batted in.

Federal Way responded with an 8-2 defeat of Stilly Valley in the single-elimination bracket.