November 2010

The tradition continued Tuesday night, Nov. 16, when, in the mode of Jack Benny, King County Executive and West Seattle resident Dow Constantine celebrated his 39th birthday, again, and for the 11th time. The fundraiser party took place at the crowded Kells Irish Restaurant and Pub near Pike Place Market. His actual birthday is Nov. 15.

"No, he is not 50 yet," insisted Shirley Carlson, Constantine's longtime girlfriend. "People keep coming up to me and saying that. He was 39 at his first annual party, so he won't be 50 until next year," she grinned.

"I'm feeling pretty good," said the birthday boy. "It's an awful lot of work," Constantine said of his roll as Executive. "There are probably more relaxing jobs in the world but it is tremendously rewarding to be able to fix some of the problems that face us. I'm very excited about Maury Island."

He is referring to the former gravel site there which looks to be headed for becoming a nature preserve.

Press Release:

BIRD "DEUX" Coming soon, to the Admiral Junction!

Our little Bird has spread her wings! We are joining sweet forces with Heavenly Pastry in the Admiral Junction...opening soon at 2604 Californaia Ave SW!

We will offer all the same things you have grown to love at the "Mamma Bird". Beer and wine may not happen right away, but our offerings will include Heavenly scones, MORE DELICIOUS PASTRIES they can provide to us, sandwiches, soups, smoothies and delights from our current vendors. We will continue to use Raven's Brew Coffee.

Stay tuned via our website, Facebook and Twitter for more information inlcuding actual opening date, hours of operation (we will open at 6am weekdays) and more things to come!!!!

And YES, we will continue to operate at 3509 SW Henderson St!!

NOTE: You can learn more about Bird on a Wire and Heidi Herr from the profile we published last year.

Between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. Nov 13. 5200 block of Russell Ave N.W.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, a woman and her boyfriend heard their roommate stumbling in after a night at the bar, followed by the strumming of a guitar.
Half an hour later the woman got up to use the bathroom and found the apartment door standing wide open. Her laptop and accessories were missing and so was the guitar.
She woke up her boyfriend and together they attempted to wake up the now-sleeping intoxicated roommate. In his defense, the intoxicated roommate said he was “pretty sure” he had shut and locked the door before passing out.
Police found no obvious damage to the door or frame.
The boyfriend told the officer that the intoxicated roommate was likely involved in the theft because the previous night the boyfriend had called the police on said roommate after he had come home drunk with an unknown female and tried to pick a fight with the boyfriend.
The police did not attempt to question the roommate due to his intoxicated
state and suggested they would let the roommate “sleep it off" and talk to him in the
morning.

(Editor's Note: The Board of Directors of the Newfoundland Club of Seattle wrote the following op-ed after attending the vigil for Rosie, the Newfoundland dog shot by Des Moines police. They said their hope is that this event can bring the community to a solution to prevent future incidents like Rosie's death).

Last week's shooting of Rosie the Newfoundland dog is tragic and nothing can ever bring her back to her family. But we don't have to accept this tragedy as the status quo.

A recent study of law enforcement killings of pet dogs estimate that between 1,000 to 1,300 dogs are shot and killed by law enforcement every year in this country.

That is too many. Rosie's death has given us an opportunity to take a hard look at how we as a community can avoid ever having to bury another family pet unnecessarily.

On Friday, a variety of short films made by local talent will hit the big screen at the Sunset Hill Community Club for its Second Annual Ballard Film Festival: An Evening of Local Shorts.

The evening will be packed with works by local film makers, some as young as nine years old.

An Evening of Local Shorts will feature works from Adams Elementary, Reel Grrls, Ballard High School Video Production and Ballard High Alumn. The festival will also show Seattle International Film Festival’s “Anatomy of a Fly” and a preview of John Helde’s latest documentary “120 Acres:An American Farm.”

Some of the youngest filmmakers are from the Reel Grrls productions. Reel Grrls is an organization that empowers young women, ages 9 to 19, to realize their power, talent and influence through media production. They offer a variety of hands-on workshops on production skills including animation, cinematography and script writing.

“We were totally thrilled to have our films chosen for the film festival,” said technical director Lila Kitaeff.

”There’s something special about showing them locally and be able to bring friends and family to see your work.”

“Word on the street is West Seattle’s not a good place (to commit crime),” Southwest Precinct Capt. Steve Paulsen told the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council during their monthly meeting on Nov. 16.

Capt. Paulsen said West Seattle is, “still on a downward trend with everything … (including) residential burglaries, car prowls, vehicle thefts and non-residential burglaries.”

Capt. Paulsen credited the downward trend to “some real significant arrests” of residential burglars. Although he did not provide specific details on the arrests, Capt. Paulsen said getting these burglars off the streets has positively impacted car prowls and vehicle thefts as the perpetrators would commit those crimes if they didn’t have a house or business to burglarize.

“That’s good work in calling in suspicious activity in neighborhoods, being a good neighbor, and also some great detective and officer work,” he said.

Capt. Paulsen added West Seattle usually averages 50 to 55 reported burglaries in a month, and at the halfway point of November there have only been 11 reported.

A food-&-art-forward fundraising event, titled "DJ and a Cook", is being organized to benefit the Phan/Harm/Sok family that was involved in the murder suicide in White Center Sept. 23.

The group associated in planning this FREE event is a collective of family friends rallying the community to help this family in need.

The Details:

"DJ and A Cook"
What: Silent Auction and FREE art, music, performances, & hors d'oeurvres
When: 4pm-9pm Sunday, December 5th
Where: Hiawatha Lofts, 843 Hiawatha Place S., Seattle, WA 98144
Why: All proceeds benefit the Phan/Harm/Sok family

There will be a silent auction. If you have any auction-worthy items please also consider donating.

Contact Jesse Sanchez 253.224.8934 with any questions.

Today and tomorrow, Nov. 17 and 18, the Seattle Department of Transportation will be working on the Emerson Street Overpass to Nickerson Street.

There will be construction on the eastbound ramp from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. each day.

If you’re driving or riding your bike expect to be flagged through the work zone. Slight delays are expected.

The sidewalk will not be impacted.

Sabrina Tuilaepa got her dog Chewy from a breeder in Olympia approximately 8 months ago. He's a Lhasa Apso and is a bright, curious, and loving little dog.

His name is of course a reference to the famous Star Wars character, "He used to look like Chewbacca when he had hair," Tuilaepa said.

His diet is in transition at the moment from dry food to more of a raw food diet and treats for him are the dried liver snacks.

Angela Aguilar is Sabrina's aunt and knows Chewy well too. She said that he "chases his tail all the time. It's hilarious. He's like a cat."

Sabrina, at one point left town for a month, and had to leave Chewy behind.
When she came back she was surprised. "Chewy didn't recognize me! I was heartbroken," she said, "So I sat with him for awhile and he started following me around again. I'm like his mom."

He's such a cute dog that he attracts a lot of attention. But that's not something Chewy prefers. "He doesn't like when people come up and try to grab him," Sabrina explained, "because it always happens. This lady at the Pike Place Market was like, 'You should charge people to take pictures with your dog,' and I was like, 'No, I'm OK."

It was a good weekend at the 4A State championships for the girls of the Ballard High swim team as they collectively conquered fourth place.

Senior Annemarie Thayer had a particularly good weekend capturing both the 200 individual medley and the 100 backstroke and setting three All-American times.

“We had one gal with All-American times. That’s really good news,” said Coach Leo Jaeger.

The four time state champion swam the 100 backstroke in 53.82.

“That’s the best time ever seen at the 4A State Championships,” Jaeger said.

Thayer also swam in both relays with Gailyn Portelance, Galen Bond, and Luisa Chan and helped her team place second overall in the relays.

“Annemarie was just phenomenal,” Jaeger said. “She had quite the day.”

Thayer’s performance gained her the most outstanding swimmer award.

Thayer finishes her career at Ballard High with four consecutive State Champion titles in the backstroke and the Top 3 all time 4A State times. She’s committed to go to Stanford next year.

But Jeager points out that it was thanks to every girl on the team that the swimmers saw impressive results this year.