April 2011

Wednesday April 6th at 7:00am, the Kiwanis of West Seattle will hear from Erik Mann from Summit Assistance Dogs, graduate Michelle Munro and assistance dog Hayden.

Summit dogs provides highly skilled mobility, hearing and professional therapy dogs for people living with disabilities. Please RSVP to Warren Lawless ewl@westseattle.com or 206-938-8032.

Kiwanis Club of West Seattle

We are a group of folks from West Seattle who are dedicated to community service.

Please join us!
Meeting times and contact info:
Our club meets at Be’s Café at 4509 California Ave SW in the Alaska Junction – south of Radio Shack on California Ave – on the 1st, 3rd and 4th Wednesdays of the month for Breakfast at 7am; and Lunch on the 2nd Wednesday of the month at 12 noon.
Phone: 206-938-8032
e-mail: WestSeattleKiwanis@live.com
Web site: www.kiwaniswestseattle.org
www.facebook.com/WestSeattleKiwanis

Various large dinosaurs arrived at the Woodland Park Zoo this morning.

Coming from Texas, about ten dinosaurs made the trek north for the "Dinosaurs. Real Close" exhibition to open later this month.

These dinosaurus are animatronic creatures that will roar, snarl, hiss and even spit to take visitors back in time to a primeval forest.

The ten creatures, some at full size, represent seven species that once roamed North America throughout the Cretaceous and Jurassic period.

During the exhibition, the zoo will feature special programs such as dinosaur biofact exploration and zoomazium, which will offer an exclusive peek at the inner workings of the animatronic dinosaurs designed by Texas-based Billings Productions, Inc.

The exhibit will open April 30th and run through September 5th. For more information, please visit the zoo's website at www.zoo.org.

Now that the city of Seattle has punted on annexing the remainder of North Highline, will Burien grab the ball and quickly attempt to add White Center to the city?

Burien City Manager Mike Martin says there will be “no sudden moves” by the city on annexing the remaining unincorporated area.

He said Burien has been focused on other things besides annexation, including blending the newly incorporated southern portion of the old North Highline into Burien. The city has not even done a financial analysis on what it would cost Burien to incorporate the White Center area, according to Martin.
On March 28, the Seattle City Council voted to delay making a decision on annexation until February 2012. The resolution said Seattle “is faced with significant financial challenges and it is difficult for the City to commit to providing the appropriate level of services for the North Highline Annexation Area if the City proceeds with annexation at this time.”

Seattle lawmakers called for the mayor’s office to verify its financial projections and issue an updated financial report by Dec. 31.

On the morning of March 28, police responded to a burglary call at a business on the 4500 block of Fauntleroy Way s.w. At some point overnight unknown suspect(s) managed to get on the roof, rip away the metal covering a retired skylight and lower themselves into the business using a rope. The suspects stole $4000 in tools and climbed back out using the rope, which had knots tied into it for footholds. The responding officer noted in his report that the knots in the rope were similar to a burglary pattern Southwest Precinct detectives have been working on, so he photographed it and submitted the photo to evidence.

In a similar incident on the morning of March 25, police responded to a burglary call to another business on the 4500 block of Fauntleroy Way s.w. The store employee arrived for work at 6 a.m. and noticed an open ceiling panel. Police discovered the perps had gotten inside through a large vent on the roof. Once inside they stole $300 from behind the front counter and “dozens of packs of cigarettes.” The employee said the store had surveillance cameras but was not sure they were working properly at the time of the burglary.

Not much is written about a second chance at love in one’s so-called senior years. After all, people with children, grandchildren and maybe even great grandchildren aren’t expected to enter the dating scene in their advanced years. But everyone needs affection and caring. Remember my article about Senior Dating? In that article I mentioned that I was single again but not dating. I said I didn’t think that any man could keep up with me.

Interestingly enough someone who reads my column thought to himself, “I think I could keep up.” And we are now spending time together getting to know each other.

But “getting to know you” as the song says takes some doing in one’s elder years. What a long history one builds up over years of marrying, taking care of a spouse, then losing a spouse and meeting up with a companion who has a completely different history. My close friends kept reminding me that I would never find another partner just like the one I spent 62 and a half years with. Of course that is true. You cannot repeat the past. But one can find a whole new pattern of living with new experiences that are warm and exciting.

Friday

While the varsity baseball game rained at Whitman was cancelled due to rain, the Ballard ultimate frisbee teams dominated their opponents on the muddy frisbee fields.

The boys team took down Lakeside 12 to 6 and the girls beat Roosevelt 13 to 0.
The boys team was lead by junior Jake Lemmen with 4 goals and 3 assists. Senior Kenny Lane had 3 goals and 5 hand blocks. Senior Moses Goldfarb and sophomore Adam Choi chipped in 3 goals each.

"The ladies played awesome last night.  We worked really hard on our man defense and really saw some improvements, and we exercised much more patience on the goal line," said coach Carmella Vizza.
"While our senior and more veteran players always bring their A game, I was most impressed by our newer players and underclassmen." 
Mareya Welsh and Maddie Gilbert, both new to the team, made some great catches on offense to help the team keep possession of the disc. 
Sophomore Juliette Birkner had a break out game with an aerial defensive block, and she scored the winning goal with a diving catch in the endzone.

Soccer:

UPDATE, a round-up of where people stand on the deep bore tunnel, referendum, and Initiative-101

City Attorney Pete Holmes is suing the Protect Seattle Now Coalition for collecting what he believes is enough signatures to put the deep bore tunnel project to a vote. He filed the suit the morning of March 29, just one hour after the organization filed 29,000 signatures with the City Clerk's office. The election board requires 16,500 validated signatures for the referendum to get on the ballot.

Named first in the suit is Drew Paxton, a "Coalition Chair" and "Principal Signature Gatherer," according to the suit. Paxton spoke to the West Seattle Herald that afternoon to give his reaction.

"It's a very new development," he said. "I'm a little shocked by it. I've never been sued before, and never been sued by the City.

"I'm not in any position of power," he added. "I don't even have a job for Christ's sake. They're not taking anybody down by suing me.

Thank You West Seattle for your generosity and compassion; you've done it again! Our West Seattle Community Garage Sale ( 3014 45th Ave S.W) raised three times the amount we expected, for our Friends in Japan, affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Thank you West Seattle Herald reporter, Steve Shay, for all your expertise in advertising, photographing, and donating to this event:

http://www.westseattleherald.com/2011/04/02/news/update-2-help-japan-to…

Not only do we thank all our generous and enthusiastic neighbors who donated and bought items (including little 6 year-old Naziah Hendrix, who donated her Leap Frog Computer and games), but to all the volunteers who worked three straight days to make this not only a successful, but fun community event. Local teens ran the bake sale (bringing in $700.00 alone in goodies they, and other neighbors made), while volunteers from the neighborhood worked in pouring rain to set up all the garage sale items!

The Ballard Senior Center held its first Rainbow Bingo night on Friday, April 1st, to support diversity in the Ballard community.

Hosted by Mama Moan Alot and sponsored by the Pride Foundation, Rainbow Bingo is not only inviting to the LGBTA community, "it inspires people to be themselves," said Kristina Webberley, Administrative Assistant at the Ballard NW Senior Center.

The idea was proposed by Wade Schwartz, the Center's new foot care specialist, who performed in drag as Mama Moan Alot with assistance of his partner, Kiki Furburger.

"It was a wonderful idea and we've had a good response, 78 people signed up in advance," Webberley said.

Rainbow Bingo has been very successful at the West Seattle Senior Center in increasing diversity and introducing individuals to the information, classes, assistance, groups, and social events available at the Center.

"I think it's a wonderful night. The Center believes in diversity and everyone is welcome here," said Carlye Teel, the Center's director. "We do have some seniors that are gay and lesbian."

Teel was pleased as she looked over the packed hall pointing out participants of all ages and the bingo regulars.

The Charlestown Cafe closed its doors on Sunday April 3 for the last time amid toasts and tears from employees losing their jobs and former employees back to say farewell one last time.

Using sauce cups as champagne glasses General Manager Hesper Guerra toasted everyone as she cried, "We love everybody and I hope you find somewhere good, and let me know where it is. Thank you West Seattle!"

Guerra continued, "I'm more concerned for the community and my staff right now. I'm not worried about myself right now, I'll be o.k. A new door will open. It's just hard to see the end of this. I was just a young girl when this started so it's hard."

As the West Seattle Herald previously reported the Charlestown just ran out of money, and the conditions needed to keep going.