November 2010

Thank the divers, thank the swimmers, thank the coaches for what was another fine finish for the Kennedy Catholic Lancers, bringing home the fourth place trophy for the WIAA 3A state swimming and diving championships at the Weyerhaueser King County Aquatic Center pool in Federal Way Saturday.

And, for the Lancers, it wasn't a bringing home of the trophy easily, to note. They did just well enough in their final race of the night, the 400-yard freestyle relay, to tie Bellevue for that trophy finish. Lancers coach Sean Prothero let the Wolverines take home the one available fourth place trophy.

"Ours will come in a week, they said," said Prothero.

Mariah Crockett, a captain who helped out in relays and swam in individual events as well, was happy afterward and quick to point out, along with crying-happy teammate Amanda Thach, that the Lancers' 400 relay win was huge. And unexpected.

Thanks to the generosity of a slew of Burien merchants, a young military couple from Fort Lewis enjoyed a terrific time in Burien on Veteran's Day.
Terri and Brian Barnes, owners of Burien's Eagle's View Bed and Breakfast gave the couple, Mark and Denise, a free night's stay on Wednesday, Nov. 10 as well as round trip gas and baby sitter expenses.
"They told us they haven't had a night away together in years and were very excited about the offer," Brian Barnes reported.

Mark has been in the service for nine years and has already spent three tours in Iraq, each for about a year.

He is scheduled to go back soon.

The couple has three young children.

Brian Barnes from Eagle's View is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Will and Stephanie Collier, owners of Burien's House Restaurant, treated the couple to two complimentary dinners on Wednesday night.

The reported they loved the food and hospitality and felt right at home with Stephanie and Will.

They also enjoyed their free drinks that Dan Davis provided at the Side Street Kitchen, even though only one of them drank, as the other was the designated driver.

I would like to comment on the recent incident where the Des Moines police gunned down a Newfoundland dog.

I understand the dog has escaped from its yard and was loose in traffic.

The dog was tasered and chased and ultimately shot to death 4 times.

I think this is absolutely horrific.

Newfoundland dogs are gentle and sweet by nature. It is very possible this dog gave the police a 'submissive grin', which looks like a dog is growling.

Why not call animal control? Why hunt the dog down mercilessly and kill it like a bunch of crazed animals themselves? Why not a tranquilizer gun?

The Newfoundland dog world is watching this and is horrified.

We hope you will put this atrocity on the news and launch an investigation in to why this happened.

Jenny Buchanan
Vice president
Newfoundland dog club of Canada BC Region

"Many times I've heard this comment, 'It's starting to look less like a war zone and more like a marina again' or something similar, from people walking by or through the Des Moines Marina this past month, " observed Doreen Torseth, contract administrator for the City of Des Moines Marina construction projects. "And it is true; the final product is clearly taking shape."

Doreen is right. However, for those who live right next door to the marina, a non-voluntary captive audience subjected to 8-hours a day, 5-days a week, and more, of construction's all-consuming noises; pound, beep, rattle, bang, scrape, dump, drill, etc., this construction has not been a walk in the park.

The stressful noise drowned out hope for peace and quiet. Still, now seeing North Marina changes coming together for a grand finale --it looks mighty pretty, and a welcome update - after almost 41-years of hard usage.

The Marina Grand Opening was May 10,1970. Sixty-seven moorages were added in 1977. The fuel dock and guest moorage float was replaced in 1989.

Doreen Torseth describes October's work performed by IMCO General Construction and subcontractors:

The 18 applicants for Burien Councilmember Kathy Keene's open spot on the council have been whittled down to five.

Council members chose their favorite candidates, and will now interview the five finalists before choosing one to fill Keene's position once she leaves at the beginning of the year.

Keene surprised her fellow council members when she announced she was resigning her position on the council at the end of the year. Keene is going to retire to Florida.

The five finalists were interviewed on Nov. 15 during a special council meeting.

Vying for Councilwoman Keene's seat are Duane Douglas Camerota, Duane's Garden Patch owner; Gregory Duff, Burien Planning Commission member; John C. Elliot, Boeing quality systems project manager; Andrea Reay, Seattle Opera production administrator and Gerald F. Robison, Burien attorney.

The new council member will serve for a year, until Keene's term expires in December 2011.

Highline Medical Center is hosting a blood drive with Puget Sound Blood Center Wednesday, Dec. 8th. The Puget Sound Blood Center needs to collect 900 units of blood per week day to support patients in Western Washington.

The blood drive will be held in Somers Auditorium, on Highline's Main Campus, from 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. with a break from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Thirty-eight percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate - only 5 percent of eligible donors do donate on a yearly basis. But the number of transfusions nationwide increases 9 percent every year. Every 2 minutes someone in Western Washington needs a blood transfusion.

Those who are of 18 years of age and weigh 110 lbs or more may donate. If you are 16 or 17, you must have a parent or guardian signed Blood Center permission slip. Those can be found on Puget Sound Blood Center's website at www.psbc.org.

The appointment will last around one hour and involves a health questionnaire, brief examination and about 10 minutes of blood collection. After the donation, cookies, water and juice will be provided during the rest period.

Sports Roundup

Tuesday, Nov. 9

Decatur 2, Mount Spokane 0

The Gators journeyed to Spokane for their state opening game last Tuesday, and the trip paid off.
Decatur advanced to Saturday's semifinals by virtue of its 2-0 victory over Spokane at Joe Albi Stadium.
Kayla Lipston earned the shutout for the Gators, with Hannah Herbert scoring on a Victoria Braun assist and Abby McFaul gunning in a penalty kick.

The cities of Burien, SeaTac, Des Moines, Normandy Park and the Highline School District have come together to improve the health of our communities with the creation of the Healthy Highline Communities Coalition (HHCC).

The coalition began as an informal discussion group made up of elected officials wanting to work together to improve their communities and grew into a coalition that recently received one of the highly competitive Communities Putting Prevention to Work grants from the Centers for Disease Control as part of the Healthy Eating Active Living initiative (HEAL).

The Communities Putting Prevention to Work grant program is focused on preventing chronic diseases such as, heart disease and diabetes and improving health outcomes by focusing efforts on environments that support health through policy, systems, and environmental level change that will have a long-term positive effect for our communities.

Recent accomplishments of the HHCC include:

The Highline Community College Business Festival is set for Nov. 30, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the college's main campus, 2400 S. 240th St. in Des Moines.

The free event will be held at the Student Union (Building 8) in the Mt. Townsend Room.

Get started on your holiday shopping at Highline's first business festival.

The festival gives StartZone's small business owners the opportunity to introduce their products and services to the campus and local community.

StartZone provides support services to help women, people of color, immigrants and people with disabilities who want to start or expand their small businesses in Southwest King County.

The festival is open to students, staff, faculty and community members.

It is sponsored by Hospitality Services and StartZone

For more information call 206-870-3777 or e-mail conference@highline.edu.

For the first few rounds, Federal Way's Vincent Thompson looked more like a linebacker than a heavyweight prizefighter.

He blitzed. He swarmed. He wrapped up his opponent exuberently, only to find he was in too close to fire off his repertoire of punches effectively.

Once he settled down, Thompson got his game back.

He started measuring Charles Ellis in the later rounds and battered him with a barrage of damaging combination punches to cruise to a unanimous six-round decision over Ellis (6-1-1) Saturday at the Emerald Queen I-5 Casino. Thompson is unbeaten in six fights.

"My dad (trainer Calvin Thompson) told me Ellis was going to try to turn it up and fight the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds," Thompson said. "I had to give it more heart. I dug in within me, man."

"I respected Ellis' fight game," added Thompson. "His punches had some power and I didn't want to get in the way of that too much."

Ellis was looking to counter Thompson with a big punch in those rounds, but he never got the chance.