April 2011

Explorer West Middle School students today reached out to clients at the White Center Food Bank.

"We did a canned food and produce drive at the school and now we have about 15 kids here today to serve clients picking up food," said popular Explorer West Middle School global studies teacher, Ben Wheeler, on Friday, April 29.

"All day is 'School Service' and we have a group at the Community Orchard planting trees, and a group at Seola Park doing invasive plant removal and planting natives. It's a good day."

The Community Orchard of West Seattle grows a free source of local fruit for neighbors and local food security programs while providing a venue for public agricultural education and community gathering. It is located on the South Seattle Community College campus.

Seola Park is located at 35th Ave SW & SW 112th St.

White Center Food Bank Executive Director Rick Jump told the West Seattle Herald, "Things are going well at the food bank. Our donations are currently up, but our numbers (of clients) are way up, too. Last month we served a record number of families, 1,627. Two or three years ago it would have been a thousand, so it's a 60- percent increase."

The Port of Seattle is once again participating in the "Take Back You Meds" program. This U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency national event aims to collect unused prescription medication.

People are encouraged to bring all their expired or unneeded prescription medications for safe and environmentally-friendly disposal.

Last year’s efforts were very successful, and the Port of Seattle venues had some of the greatest participation statewide.

This year the event is scheduled to take place tomorrow, April 28th, from 10:00 a.m. till 2:00 p.m. at both Shilshole Bay Marina and Fisherman’s terminal.

Click on photo for slideshow

James G. Murphy Inc., who once auctioned items from the Admiral Cafe, now the Admiral branch of the Bank of America, and from some of the Huling Brothers auto shops, has been auctioning, tables, chairs, pots, pans, and yes, even the kitchen sink, inside the Charlestown Cafe today.

Items on the official auction list include a "25-foot waitress service counter", the double swing kitchen door, two commercial double waffle makers, and those familiar patio chairs.

Restaurateurs came from Portland, Eastern Washington, and of course from down the street. It seemed the closer their establishments were to the Charlestown Cafe, the more emotional the auction was to them.

"If you've been in my shop you know that we're always going through booths and reupholstering," said Easy Street Records' Matt Vaughan, an Alki resident."It would be nice to have a little bit of history of the old Charlestown at the Easy Street Cafe.

Philip and Jolene Krashar live near the cafe and showed up out of curiosity and possibly to bid.

"We really didn't want this (restaurant) to go away," said Philip. Jolene was tearful.

The Woodland Park Zoo released the line-up for the BECU ZooTunes today.

The annual summer concert series, presented by Carter Subaru, will feature big names like Brandi Carlile, Indigo Girls, K.d. Lang, Lucinda Williams and more.

Tickets go on sale beginning May 6 at 8:00 a.m. online at www.zoo.org/zootunes. A $2 processing fee is added to all online ticket purchases. A limited number of tickets are available for purchase at Woodland Park Zoo gates during zoo hours: 9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. daily.

Zoo member pre-sale starts on May 5.

There will be free admission for one child 12 and under with each ticket purchased and the concerts are festival seating. Concert-goers are encouraged to spread out with blankets and low-backed folding chairs

For adults 21 and up, there will a Beer and Wine Garden. Alcohol from outside the zoo is not allowed.

The ZooTunes season kicks off June 22 with the following line-up:

Wed., June 22: Taj Mahal / Joan Osborne ($26)

Sun., June 26: Marc Cohn / Mary Chapin Carpenter ($24)

Wed., June 29: Lucinda Williams ($22)

Thurs., June 30: The Robert Cray Band ($24)

Wed., July 6: AfroCubism ($22)

That high school football game at Highline Memorial Field on Saturday, May 7 will not be a spring training scrimmage-it will be a movie scene.

Up to 60 players from Evergreen and Highline High schools in full football gear will be involved in scenes for a movie entitled "Safety Not Guaranteed."

The on-field action will feature a kick-off, run back and blocking---but no tackling.

The film crew plans to use the stadium from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday.

The movie stars Aubrey Plaza, who plays the uninspired intern on TV's "Parks and Recreation." Other stars are Mark Duplass from the independent movie "Mark Duplass," Jake Johnson, last seen in "No Strings Attached" and Kristen Bell, also known as TV's Veronica Mars.

Highline and Evergreen cheerleaders will be doing their thing on the sidelines, as will the Highline band and concession-selling Kiwanians.

And about 200-250 extras will be populating the visitor side stands. The main actors will be filmed in the stands during the game, possibly rubbing elbows with the lucky extras.

Those wanting to be extras may contact Denise Gibbs at gibbsdesign@comcast.net

By Cassandra Baker, Intern

10:55 p.m. on April 25th. 48th block of 17th Ave. NW.

An incident that began as a response to a fight between a patron and a bouncer at a bar ended in an attack on two Seattle Police Officers. The first responding officer interviewed employees at the bar and learned that two people, a white male and a black male, had assaulted a bartender and then gotten into a fight with the bouncer and then fled the scene. Several minutes later, two more officers arrived at the scene to search for the suspects. They encountered the black male suspect a few blocks from the bar. The suspect became hostile and the officers engaged in a lengthy struggle with him and were able to handcuff and arrest him. The man swore at the officers and then either passed out or fell asleep in the police car.

By Jessica Johansson, UW News Lab student

Are you primed for pickled herring? The Nordic Heritage Museum’s annual Northern Lights Auktion is happening Sunday, May 1 at and fish plays a prominent role this year.

"Some of the things that sell the best right in the early stages of the silent Auktion are fish. We have canned fish on the table that is donated by fisherman, which they have caught. Most of it is salmon and people come in and go for the fish right away. People are very annoyed if they don’t get there for it,” said Candace Miller, co-chair of the event.

The event, which is being held at the Grand Hyatt Ballroom in Seattle this year, started out small. "But now we have over 500 items to be auctioned off between the silent Auktion and the live Auktion,” Miller said.

Six silent sections start at 4:30 p.m. and accompany a champagne reception, including art, certificates, silver and a blue and a red section; a final section includes everything that came in too late to be assigned to a section.

This weekend, one of Ballard High School's best sports team will compete in the largest youth ultimate frisbee tournament in the world.

Taking place in Burlington, Wa, Spring Reign is a co-ed tournament featuring over 100 teams from elementary school to high school age and will showcase some of the best competition in the Northwest.

Ballard High School is sending their co-ed team to the tournament, which Coach Ben Goldfarb said, is their strongest.

The team remains undefeated this season and they're heading up to Burlington as the number one seed in the tournament.

Goldfarb said the seven-on-seven co-ed game requires a ratio of four boys and three girls.

"The stronger your women are, the better your chances of winning are," he said.

Luckily for Ballard, the team has two of the strongest girls in the city, Savannah Ryan and Sarah Edwards.

"Savannah is probably the most special girl athlete I've seen. She throws as far as most of the good boys," Goldfarb said.

Sarah Edwards attends Holy Names Academy but plays for the BHS ultimate frisbee team.

Friday, 12:59 a.m. seemed like a typical late night scene at Alki Tavern. But in 60 seconds that would change as the channel changed. The tavern's wide screen TV's programing transitioned from the testosterone of baseball highlights to the tenderness of the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. It was 9:00 a.m. in London, overcast and 54 degrees, much like Alki this time of year.

The tavern regulars cheered as two wedding guests, the fashionable English footballer, David Beckham, and his posh wife, Victoria, arrived at Westminster Abbey to watch "Will & Kate" walk down the aisle.

The question on everyone's mind during closing time an hour later at the bar, "Will the Alki Tavern patrons heading home stay up until 5:25 a.m. Seattle time to witness Will kiss Kate on the balcony? This reporter could only guess the answer to that.

Margaret Ryan, an experienced speech coach and workshop presenter is offering two area workshops called "Present Yourself with Confidence". The workshops are designed to help overcome inhibitions while speaking to groups, job interviews, and interpersonal communication.

The first workshop is Wednesday, May 4, Southwest Branch, Seattle Public Library, 9010 35th Ave,. SW.
6:00 p.m - 7:30 pm. No Charge. For more information, (206) 684-7455.

The second workshop is Monday, May 23, YWCA Greenbridge, 9720 8th Ave. SW. Here, Ryan will be speaking to refugees looking for work, with an emphasis on job interview communication. Call for times. (206) 336-7000.

You can learn more about Margaret Ryan by going to YouTube.com and typing her name into the search box.

Also, contact Margaret Ryan at (206) 352-1000.