November 2010

Wrong way driver
A wrong-way driver hit another vehicle on Highway 99 south of Seattle about 2:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 18 at Des Moines Memorial Drive. The Washington State Patrol stated the wrong-way driver tried to run away but was caught. He apparently had been drinking. The driver of the other vehicle was seriously injured. The crashed blocked the northbound lanes of Highway 99.

Vandalism at construction site
Unknown subjects burglarized a construction site in the 14000 block of 4th Avenue Southwest. The site manager reported to police the chain link fence had been cut to gain access. They also noted the phone lines and the steel hasp off a conex container had been cut. The subjects stacked up a few items to take but left them behind.

Suspicious injuries on infant
King County Sheriff deputies were called to Valley Medical for a possible child abuse claim of a Burien baby. The 42-day-old baby girl was brought into the hospital for cold symptoms. Upon evaluating the infant the doctors found skull and clavicle fractures as well as abdominal bruising. Police are investigating the claim.

Drunken man

Press Release:
Regularly scheduled King County Water Taxi service for both the Vashon route and West Seattle route will resume tomorrow morning, November 24th.

Please note that service will be dictated by weather conditions. Check the following site for both service updates and schedule information.

http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/WaterTaxi.aspx.

Press Release:
Metro Transit continues to caution people to limit travel if possible throughout the remainder of Tuesday due to dangerous conditions on icy and snowy roads. Travel conditions are not expected to be much better on Wednesday morning.

All Metro buses remain on snow routes through Tuesday night, and it is expected they will be on snow routing for Wednesday as well. Riders should check www.kingcounty.gov/metro/snow for the most current status of Metro service before traveling. Updates for Wednesday will be made by 4 a.m.

Metro Transit is still urging people to limit travel if possible due to icy and snowy roads and frigid temperatures.

Expect buses to be crowded and significantly delayed when on snow routes and travel is difficult. It is also likely Metro will continue to have to cancel entire routes, if road conditions do not improve.

Press Release:
Due to weather conditions, all Seattle Public Schools and facilities will be closed Wednesday, Nov. 24. This means there is no school for students or staff and all activities will be canceled. The central office at John Stanford Center will also be closed.

As a Program Manager at the Angle Lake Family Resource Center, I would like to honor a local family during National Family Week, Nov 21-27. As noted by President Obama, "During National Family Week, we celebrate the resilient spirit of America's families and their role in building vibrant communities and a strong Nation."

No matter who you are, no matter where you come from, we are all part of a family. For better or worse, we are somebody's mother, daughter, son...Many of us "choose" to create new families, whether traditional or untraditional, we bond together.

As Erma Bombeck said, "We're a strange little band of characters trudging through life, sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together."

This is family.

When it's cold outside most kids try to stay warm. But Clyde Hill's two girls went and jumped into a lake.

SeaTac resident Hill took this photo of his daughters, Samantha, 14, and Jaclyn, 12, as they jumped off the family's dock into Angle Lake on Sunday, Nov. 21.

The Times/News is interested in your family's experiences during this wild weather week. Send your stories and photos to hteditor@robinsonnews.com by Friday noon, Nov. 26. Photos need to be high resolution, around 240 dpi, to be published in the print edition.

Press Release:

The City of Seattle Emergency Operations Center will remain open through the evening commute. Seattle Department of Transportation crews will continue their response efforts through the night. The EOC will re-activate tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m.

The following is a status update on the City's response to the severe weather as of 2:00 p.m.:

SEATTLE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (SDOT)

- If travel is essential, please consider using public transit. King County Metro is encouraging riders to check route info on the Metro website: http://metro.kingcounty.gov/up/rr/adverseweather.html. Sound Transit recommends riders check http://www.soundtransit.org/ for Link Light Rail service updates.

- Residents and businesses are advised they are responsible for clearing the sidewalks in front of their homes or businesses.

- SDOT currently has eight plow/spreader trucks operating in the north end and eleven operating in the south end. One brine flush truck is operating in the north end and two in the south end.

Press Release:
They are using all designated snow routing and may also be delayed due to weather and road conditions. It is not possible to know when they will arrive at a specific location. Use regularly published timetables as a guide, then be prepared for delays.

King County Metro Transit is keeping all buses in all areas on snow routes until further notice.

Visit Metro's Snow & Ice page and your route's online timetable and snow route map for complete information.

With schools and many businesses closed due to the icy weather people in West Seattle took to the outdoors to enjoy the unexpected day off. Though SDOT and Metro were certainly busy with problems, kids and adults found ways to entertain themselves all around our community.

If you have snow day photos and want to share them with us, send them to WestSeattle@robinsonnews.com and we will add them to the slideshow on this story.

To see more videos from the West Seattle Herald visit our video channel on YouTube!
http://www.youtube.com/user/WestSeattleHerald?feature=mhum

Press Release:
The King County Water Taxi will resume service between Seattle's pier 50 and Vashon, Tuesday evening, 11-23. We will endeavor to operate our standard evening schedule with departures out of Seattle at 430pm, 530pm and 630pm. However, service may be reduced on these routes due to do the potential for inclement weather.

We plan to operate our normal schedule on November 24th with the first AM departure leaving Seattle's pier 50 at 530am, but once again service will be dictated by the weather. Updates will be posted on our website at http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/WaterTaxi.aspx. Please check for current information.