December 2011

Sustainable Burien will hold its monthly gathering on Sunday, Jan. 8
at the Burien Library multi-purpose room, 400 S.W. 152nd St. The doors will open at
1:30 p.m. with the gathering running from 2-4 p.m.


Elizabeth Weldin, of the Toxics Cleanup Program with the Washington State Department of Ecology, will be speaking about the “Tacoma plume,” from the ASARCO plant in Tacoma.

For almost 100 years, the Asarco Company operated a copper smelter in Tacoma. Air pollution from the smelter settled on the surface soil over more than 1,000 square miles of the Puget Sound basin. Arsenic, lead, and other heavy metals are still in the soil as a result of this pollution.

Learn how this affects you. How safe are we? Who is at risk? How does this impact the sustainability of Burien? Can I grow my own food? Can my kids play outside in the dirt? What businesses might be impacted? Land value? What steps can we make to mitigate the presence of arsenic and create a healthy and resilient community?

More information is available at www.sustainableburien.org.

Press release:

Daniel Yarbrough, principal at Madrona Elementary School in SeaTac, has been named the region’s Distinguished Principal for the 2011-2012 school year by the Elementary School Principals Association of Washington (ESPAW). Yarbrough is one of 17 elementary principals from across the state to receive the honor.

Yarbrough, who received the award for the South King Region, will now be eligible for the state-level Principal of the Year award, which will be announced in March. The state’s winner will advance to the national level.

Of Madrona’s 600 students, 93 percent live in poverty and half are not proficient English-speakers. Under Yarbrough’s leadership, Madrona improved its scores as much as 20 percent on last year’s state exams in reading, math, and science.

Madrona outperforms many schools with similar populations.

“Daniel has never let the demographics of the students and families he serves be a predictor for low achievement,” says Susanne Jerde, Executive Director of K-12 Schools at Highline. “Daniel has a relentless belief and leadership around high standards.”

By Kyle Howard, Photos by Kurt Howard

The Chief Sealth Seahawks hosted the Evergreen Wolverines Tuesday night for a non-league game at Chief Sealth high school. There wasn’t much of a crowd, with Winter break just starting the gym was less full than usual. Chief Sealth has been having a great season so far, having won their last 3 games prior to the Evergreen match up outscoring their opponents 166-86. They are in first place in the Metro League Sound Division with a 3-1 conference record and 5-2 overall. Evergreen has been struggling this season with a 1-7 overall record, their only victory this season is their first of the past several seasons, coming against winless Rainier Beach. “We’re seeing improvement every game, as long as we keep improving and playing as a team I’m satisfied with that”, said Evergreen head coach Tasha Hicks. “They always fight till the end and don’t give up; they have a lot of heart”.

The Ballard basketball teams hosted the Redmond Mustangs on Tuesdays evening and the home crowd was given one win and one loss.

The Lady Beavers started off the evening at 4:30 p.m. with a 46-41 win over the Mustangs. Ballard took the lead early on in the game and were up 23 to 15 at half time. The Beavers continued to dominate the game in the third quarter but in the last quarter Redmond had a dangerous comeback, scoring 21 points while only allowing Ballard to score nine.

Nancy MacGeorge and Beverly Verduin led the team in scoring with 12 points each. MacGeorge also had eight rebounds, two steals, and three assists.

The Ballard boys basketball suffered an unfortunate loss last night, ending their four-game winning streak.

Looking back it was the second quarter that ended up being the deciding factor in the game's result. Ballard was leading by three points going into the second quarter but Redmond soon took the lead, scoring 20 points while only allowing Ballard to score 6.

With a 17 to 28 score at halftime, the Beavers had to make a comeback.

Today, Dec. 21, marks the precise midpoint for the four-year term of King County Executive Dow Constantine. In honor of this milestone, his office has published a list of Constantine's achievements during his first two years in office.

"The common theme of many of our accomplishments is partnership - finding a way for people to work together who maybe didn't work so well together before," said Executive Constantine in the press release.

According to the statement, Constantine took office with a reform agenda that promised to develop a culture of performance that changes the way King County does business; embrace new ideas to bring reform to County government; forge innovative partnerships; and provide the infrastructure for transportation that is critical to building prosperity and competing for aerospace and other family-wage jobs.

Two years into the current term, Constantine's administration cites the following among their accomplishments:

I dreamed I was sorting through a big box of Atlas palm gloves, the ones with Latex on one side. They were in all colors and sizes. It wasn’t hard to trace this dream to its point of origin: I had finally discovered Lummi Fisheries Supply, hiding in plain sight at the intersection of Leary & Ballard Way.

It all started with boots. I’ve had XtraTuf boot envy since they came on my radar last June as my daughter outfitted herself for field research on a barge in northeastern Siberia. At the time we didn’t know where to shop and drove the streets near Fisherman’s Terminal until a retail location emerged. On the day before Thanksgiving I finally learned that I have been passing the number one outfitter for commercial fishing for 25 years – daily.

Those traveling by bus should be aware of Metro's holiday schedule.

Winter Break started for the University of Washington on Monday, which means limited bus services to the UW from now until school picks up again in the new year.

Riders can also expect to see reduced service along other routes beginning Christmas Day.

Sunday schedules will be used on the following holidays:
Christmas Day, Dec. 25.
Monday, Dec. 26 - Christmas holiday observed
Monday, Jan. 2 - New Year's holiday observed

Reduced weekday schedules will be in effect from Dec. 27 until Dec. 30 as well as on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 16.

Routes that are canceled during the reduced weekday schedules are:

2EX, 7EX, 17EX, 34, 38, 45, 46, 48EX, 53, 76, 77, 79, 114, 152, 161, 162, 175, 192, 196, 201, 210, 219, 237, 243, 250, 260, 268, 304, 308, 316, 355, 600, 661, 925, 930, and 935.

And the following routes will have reduced service:

One of the most popular rock bands in the Northwest from the late 60's through 1975, CHILD is set to to make a reunion appearance in West Seattle at the RockSport Bar and Grill Feb. 18.

The band whose members over it's existence featured Tim Turner (well known in West Seattle for his many appearances here) and Michael Derosier who also was a member of Heart.

In the 70's CHILD opened for Aerosmith, BTO and Journey and was the first act before Chuck Berry, Ike and Tina Turner and Robin Trower at the Seattle Arena.

The site Pacific Northwest Bands offers the full lineup and more here http://pnwbands.com/child.html

The gig was confirmed by guitarist Mick Flynn on his Facebook page. Flynn was a founding member of CHILD. The West Seattle Herald covered Flynn in 2010.

Flynn notes that advance tickets will be available soon @ www.ticketweb.com
"Special guests to announced in the near future. Stay tuned !"

Of course God’s creatures are awesome. Aren’t we all God’s creatures? But if you are an atheist or agnostic then you wouldn’t refer to God’s creatures but to creatures of the earth. No matter what you call it, creation wasn’t perfect. Who would create humans whose frontal lobe doesn’t fully develop until the early twenties but who have sexual urges much earlier? And why has society allowed the extended family to split up with older members often isolated from younger members of their family in urban settings?

You may recognize Erik Christensen, 51, a Seattle bus driver for 12 years, as he drives the Metro Route 57 that heads from downtown stopping along Admiral Way around 3:00 p.m. (He also drives the 15, and 7 express.)

You might have even heard Christensen play his own compositions on his acoustic 12-string guitar. He will perform on Feb. 11 at C&P Coffee on California Ave. 6pm to 8pm. His Influences include John Denver, Frank Zappa, Motown, and Mozart.

He said he admires Hank Williams, Sr., "because he plays from the heart", which is where Christensen plays, even when he plays with robots. But he does more than play with the hundreds he has built, he teaches kids to build them, too, and to put their hearts into what he described as "more than just a hobby" for him. He uses LEGO components and his laptop computer.

He will offer a class in robotics at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center on Delridge beginning Feb. 20. Classes run Mondays and Fridays from 3:45pm to 5:15pm and continuing until the end of the school year. The cost is $60 per month. To sign up, email him at legobots@hotmail.com.