November 2010

Do you have a garden enthusiast in your life and unsure what to get them for Christmas? The Woodland Park Zoo just might have the perfect gift - elephant poo.

Yes, Woodland Park Zoo is selling “elephant-blend Holidoo”, a blend of elephant manure and rich compost now available in festive packaging for the holiday season.

Zoo Doo manager and recycling coordinator, Dan Corum, also known as Dr. Doo, has crafted a limited edition blend of Holidoo which, unlike the typical Zoo Doo compost, features all elephant manure and bedding - the biggest and richest composting materials at the zoo.

Promoted by the zoo as “the ideal present for garden enthusiasts or that person who seems to have everything”, Holidoo is available exclusively during the holiday season at the ZooStore in jumbo-sized 4-gallon buckets, 2-gallon containers, or pints for stocking stuffers.

Since Holidoo is a limited edition blend of the popular Zoo Doo line of compost materials, it does tend to sell out each holiday season.
 
Purchases at the ZooStore help support the zoo’s animal care, education programs and conservation efforts all over the world.

Charges of second degree assault and driving while under the influence have been leveled against a West Seattle man for an April 25 hit and run incident where the man told police he was drunk and hallucinating.

James A. Ahlgren, 68, allegedly rammed into a 24-year-old woman’s vehicle three times on the Ship Canal Bridge (southbound on I-5) before she exited on Union Street and confronted Ahlgren, to which he responded, “This is a warning for your boyfriend, I will kill him,” according to King County prosecuting attorney’s charging documents.

The woman did not know Ahlgren, according to documents.

The police report from the incident states that Ahlgren fled the scene in his older yellow Chevy pickup after the brief conversation and the woman immediately called 911.

The woman’s four door sedan had visible scratches on the bumper, but she was uninjured by the collisions, according to the police report.

Washington State Patrol responded to Ahlgren’s home in West Seattle and “immediately noticed a strong and obvious odor of intoxicants permeating from Ahlgren’s person.”

West Seattle Rotary Club members and community volunteers will gather at the Starbucks Center early on Saturday morning, Dec. 4 to come to the aid of economically disadvantaged children from area elementary schools.

The program pairs a child with an adult and with the help of student volunteers everyone gets breakfast at the Mezza cafe in Starbucks Center.

Then then job shifts to determining the children's sizes for the shoes, coats and clothing they are to be given. Once ready, the "shopping spree" begins and warm winter coats, pants, tops or shirts and shoes are picked out within their budget.

Every year The Rotary Club of West Seattle alternates between all of the elementary schools in West Seattle. This year the participating schools are Arbor Heights Elementary, West Seattle Elementary, Schmitz Park Elementary, and Sanislo Elementary.

Rain. Good ol' rain. That's what we're used to and that's what it looks like will be coming very soon! After last week's city-crippling snow, we should be grateful.

The snow we had, though, is what I want to talk about this week.

The city used a salt-brine solution for the first time in recent memory. For years, we depended on sand and a few plow trucks to get the arterials clear until the winter of '08 / '09 when prolonged snow drew criticism from the people on why we didn't use salt on our roads the way they do in other parts of the country. After all, if the Midwest can get feet of snow every year and still manage to have people drive to work and back, why should we shut down for a few inches of the white stuff?

Well, this year we were ready. I saw the trucks going by on Monday morning, laying a liquid base of salt and water to the streets so the snow wouldn't stick. The problem, it seems, is that when it worked and the falling snow melted, the night-time freeze turned the whole thing into ice – as we saw on Tuesday. The city admits it has a little fine-tuning to do, but it looks like the salt is here to stay.

On the first snow day I was foolish enough to think I could still work. With one kid at a friend's and one occupied with a friend, I confidently turned my computer on. I fantasized about the gourmet appetizer I would make for Thanksgiving after I finished a few hours of writing. Fifteen minutes, and twenty interruptions later, I turned the computer off and revised my list to one thing: shower if I feel inspired.
But something about being trapped in a house, or similarly camping, brings out the procurer in me. I stare at a mostly full refrigerator and panic that we're going to starve to death. I'm obviously not the only one with a hoarder instinct, because there were at least thirty other people ogling raw meat with me at the grocery store. I haven't eaten red meat in thirty years, but I threw a few t-bones in on top of my overflowing cart and headed to the check out stand.

Man Zou: Beijing to Shanghai", the highly anticipated follow up from the creators of the critically acclaimed, award-winning documentary "Sonicsgate: Requiem For A Team," is set to premiere on Northwest PBS affiliate KCTS 9 on Thursday.

The film will air as part of the Reel NW series, a weekly KCTS 9 series that focuses on the best independent film from the Northwest.

The filmmakers are Jason Reid, Ian Connors, Darren Lund and Adam Brown, some of whom grew up right here in North Seattle.

They saw previous success with their documentary “Sonicsgate” which exposes the shocking scandal behind the sale and relocation of the Seattle SuperSonics NBA franchise to Oklahoma City.

However, filmed in 2008, Man Zou was their first feature documentary.

“This is actually our first feature documentary and we decided to go all-in. No matter what, we were going to make it happen,” said director Jason Reid. “It was kind of a big risk but we wanted to be there right after the Olympics.”

The always amazing Christmas light display by the Menashe family on Beach Drive will get some national attention in a show set to air on The Learning Channel (TLC) Dec. 4 at 8:00 p.m. The show, called Invasion of the Christmas Lights is, according to the show listing, "a one-hour holiday special that criss-crosses the U.S. to chronicle families of extreme Christmas lighting enthusiasts and documenting their glorious, outrageous and elaborate displays."

The footage at the Menashe house was filmed last year in early December as the family was putting up the lights.

The Menashe's, owner of Menashe and Sons Jewelers in the West Seattle Junction have been displaying Christmas lights at their home for the past 19 years and every year it gets bigger.

They are scheduled to make an appearance on KING 5 television Nov. 30 at 11:00 a.m. on New Day with Margaret Larson.

The photos in the slideshow are from last years display, and some of what you will see in the TLC special.

The Burien City Council has announced Gerald F. Robison as their favored candidate to fill Councilmember Kathy Keene’s seat when she resigns at the beginning of the year.
Robison, a Real Estate Attorney in Burien, is one of three final candidates being considered by the council.
The council will vote on January 3 on Keene’s replacement.
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.
Vying for Councilwoman Keene's seat are Gregory Duff, Burien Planning Commission member; 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.

When Chief Sealth High School hired Denny Middle School band director Marcus Pimpleton two years ago, the class size jumped from 45 to 63, then to 80, and Chief Sealth ran out of uniforms for its new motivated musicians. Pimpleton, a West Seattle resident, attended both schools and graduated Sealth in 1996.

"Now I teach at both," said Pimpleton with pride. This is his ninth year at Denny. Sixty of his Chief Sealth band members marched in this years Macy's Holiday Parade Friday, Nov. 26.

Pimpleton listens to jazz and gospel music during what free time he has, which couldn't be much. He also directs the Seattle University Redhawks Pep Band and Seattle Public School All City Band.

"I keep kids interested in music by using the middle school relationships I have with the students and their parents to keep them in when they go to high school. I can also use the high school kids to mentor the middle school kids to continue.

"We (Chief Sealth) have the largest contingency of any one high school in the All City Band," he said. "Last year we added a second jazz band. That band will travel to the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival at the University of Idaho. Big names come out.

Late edits: Corrections were made to this piece.

Yvonne talks to a lot of people. She said she sells 350 to 500 Real Change newspapers per week at PCC Natural Markets on California Av., five and a half days a week.

"Someone, an elderly woman, once gave me $500 for a newspaper when I first started five years ago," said Yvonne. "She told me not to open my hands until she left the parking lot. I held onto it for a long time because she was old, and I thought she may have made a mistake. But I never saw her again."

Yvonne said she has no children of her own, but that that is OK. "All the children are my children. I love them all," she said.

She loves her location. "They are more generous this time of year, but generous all the time in West Seattle. I have lots to be thankful for." She is not now homeless and has an apartment in the U-District.

Yvonne wrote a poem she read at C & P Coffee Nov. 24 as a featured reader at PoetryBridge night there. Here is a hint. She likes the color red.