December 2011

By Anne-Marije Rook
Seattle City council today approved Council Bill 117345, intended to help clean up Puget Sound and protect marine wildlife by banning single-use plastic bags.

Similar legislation passed in Bellingham and Edmonds earlier this year in an effort to curb the impact of single-use plastic bags on the environment.

Washingtonians use more than 2 billion single-use plastic bags each year. Seattle alone uses approximately 292 million plastic bags annually, only 13 percent of which are recycled, according to Seattle Public Utilities.

"This bill is a great example of a broad and diverse coalition of people and organizations coming together to do the right thing for our environment," said prime sponsor, City Councilmember Mike O'Brien, in a press release. "We have the support of grocers, retailers, restaurants, labor unions, and environmental organizations in Seattle. We also have broad grassroots involvement from residents who have been emailing and calling in support of this issue for months now."

The Suburban King County Coordinating Council on Gangs (“the Council”) is a unique partnership between the Center for Children and Youth Justice and high-level decision makers from across South and East King County that is focused on creating a coordinated and collaborative response to gang violence.

The goal of the Council is to create a comprehensive plan that brings together efforts in prevention, intervention, suppression and re-entry. The planning process begins with, and is driven by, a thorough community assessment designed to identify the nature and scope of gang activity and youth violence in King County’s suburban communities.

COMMUNITY RESIDENT SURVEY

No picture of a community’s gang crime problem is complete without the views of community residents. A planned survey will give respondents an opportunity to share their own experience or beliefs about gangs and gang activity in their community. Answers to the following questions will be sought:

- Do community residents believe a gang problem exists in the community? If so, what is the problem?
- Are there significant differences across groups? What are those differences?

By Kyle Howard
A Metro League girls match up between West Seattle and Chief Sealth took place Friday night, Dec. 16 at Chief Sealth High School. This game would be a little sloppy at times with a lot of turnovers on both sides and several due to traveling and double dribbling. Both teams racked up over 15 turnovers each but Chief Sealth’s shooting would prove to be the major factor in their victory. The Seahawks knocked down eight three pointers throughout the game. Chief Sealth lead 15-7 at the end of the first half and never looked back. They pushed their lead to 17 points, but West Seattle made a little bit of a comeback and got within seven points but weren’t able to close the gap any further as Chief Sealth won 55-41.

CLICK THE PHOTO ABOVE TO SEE MORE

West Seattle’s senior Guard Haily Hage led the Wildcats in scoring. On the Seahawks side they had four players in double digits with Zoe Haywood leading the way with 17. Mariah Rubio-Reboca scored 13 and Victory Elleby had 12. The Seahawks as a team were able to steal the ball 16 times.

By Kyle Howard
With the stands packed almost to capacity and the band blasting the Chief Sealth took the court to face their cross-town rivals the West Seattle Wildcats in a metro league showdown Friday Dec.16th. Both teams have had a long standing rivalry throughout the years, with both schools just a few miles away a lot of West Seattle fans made the short trip to Chief Sealth. The game was intense from the start but West Seattle was caught up in it and received two technicals in the first quarter, resulting in 5 points for Chief Sealth from the free throws and from getting possession of the ball.

Chief Sealth played great defense throughout the game, causing over 20 West Seattle turnovers. The Wildcats made 6 of 11 three pointers and scored 5 of 6 free throws in the first half, as they tied the game at 35. West Seattle came out strong after the halftime break going on a 6-0 run, but they were matched by three pointers by Chief Sealth’s Aaron Knox and Charlie Smith. Only 18 points were scored between both teams in the third quarter and Chief Sealth holding onto a narrow lead 45-43.

CLICK THE PHOTO ABOVE TO SEE MORE

Starting July 1st, shoppers will no longer be asked 'paper or plastic' when checking out at a Seattle retail store.

In December of last year Seattle City council approved a plastic bag ordinance, Council Bill 117345, intended to help clean up Puget Sound and protect marine wildlife by banning single-use plastic bags.

Seattle alone uses approximately 292 million plastic bags annually, only 13 percent of which are recycled, according to Seattle Public Utilities.

In addition to a ban on plastic bags, the ordinance promotes reusable bags instead of simply switching to disposable paper bags. The ordinance requires that retailers charge $0.05 per paper bag to consumers who do not bring reusable bags.

The nickel serves as a reminder to consumers to bring reusable bags. Retailers will keep the nickel as a means for recovering costs of switching to paper bags.

Seattle Public Utilities is responsible for outreach to businesses and public education leading up to July 1st as well as after the law takes effect. The utilities' solid waste division will also monitor and enforce the ordinance.

Washingtonians use more than 2 billion single-use plastic bags each year, and

Odyssey—The Essential School, a small academy on SeaTac’s Tyee High campus, was among 57 state schools on a list of persistently lowest-achieving schools that was released by State Superintendent Randy Dorn on Dec. 19.

It was singled out for its low graduation rate. Odyssey was also on Dorn’s list last year. The Highline School Board opted not to apply for a federal school improvement grant for Odyssey.

Chinook Midddle in SeaTac and Cascade Middle in White Center are receiving the special federal improvement grant funds designed to help persistently low achieving schools.

State Superintendent Randy Dorn released a list of the schools in Washington state that face the some of the toughest challenges when it comes to student success.

As required by Revised Code of Washington 28A.657.020, the list is composed of the five percent of schools receiving or eligible to receive federal Title I funds that are identified as the “persistently lowest-achieving schools” in the state.

This year, 57 schools from 38 districts were identified.

Press release:

Staff at White Center Heights Elementary, community groups, and businesses are rallying around White Center children and families with an outpouring of holiday assistance.

White Center Heights staff and friends purchased over 165 gifts of clothing and other items for students. In addition, staff is coordinating contributions from the community:

• Arryve, a Redmond-based management consulting firm, provided clothes and gifts for 75 children and donated 125 school sweatshirts.
• Fauntleroy Church contributed 50 school sweatshirts.
• World Vision donated toys, balls, games, and gift certificates to be given as holiday gifts.
• The Rotary Club of Burien/White Center gave coats, mittens, and scarves to 43 students.
• Students at Highline’s CHOICE Academy donated gifts and nearly 2,000 cans of food.
• A local business provided gifts and clothes for 20 students.

By Sidney Lenz
(Editor’s Note: On Nov. 29, the middle school students at Seattle Christian School in SeaTac participated in a 24-hour famine to raise money for famine relief in East Africa.
Sidney Lenz, a seventh-grade student in teacher Matt Althoff’s class, wrote this article about the experience.)

24-hour Famine
Every twelve seconds, a child in the Horn of Africa dies from hunger related causes. Hundreds of children suffer from stunted growth, illness, and lack of energy.

The devastation from hunger affects many in that region of the world from the smallest child to a mother who has to watch her child suffer.

Last week the middle school students at Seattle Christian and I fasted voluntarily for twenty-four hours. We did this to raise awareness of starving people in Africa. We also did this to raise money for them.

About halfway through the day, I felt hungry. The famine was difficult for me, but it made me think more of the kids who feel every day.

The first activity of the famine was a chapel service with a speaker from World Vision. He told us a story of two African girls named Lucianna and Faucia.

Update for Dec. 20
At the halfway point in S.W. Precinct Officer Scott Luckie's tweetalong day in South Park, he said it had been oddly slow.

"It is normally very busy," he said in an interview during a lull in the low-key action. "In fact yesterday we had a guy who was threatening traffic with a chainsaw … the day before that we arrested a professional boxer who was beating up his wife, we had a couple burglaries yesterday so it’s been very busy, especially lately."

"But now today, probably because I’m doing the Tweetalong, there has been one call in all of the Frank Sector," Luckie joked.

When asked how the tweets are managed if he gets a major crime call (such as a robbery or shooting in progress), Luckie said the first priority is to take care of the police work and once the crime scene is secured he would tweet a recap of events.

“Even if I was talking to you I’d say, 'I’ve got to go, sorry,'" he said.

Leading into my final question before letting Officer Luckie get back to work, radio chatter emerged in the background.

"Oh actually, here we go," he said. "I've got a burglary in progress."

Photographer Kurt Howard captured weekend shots of the Jones’ family home on the north side of Angle Lake and Rick and Vicki Johnson’s home in Normandy Park.

Please click the image above for photos from both homes.

Here are some quick facts about the Johnson’s Normandy Park display:

- Family and friends that also help in the setup are Vicki's sister Cami Leber, neighbors Helen Wershing, Lorraine Stanton and Joleen Schwetz.

- About 80 hours of work to setup the yard display.

- The cost for electricity is about $20 a night or $600 for the entire Christmas season.

- All the displays are stored in the two sheds that actually become part of the display in the yard. They can be seen in some of the photos.

- Every year they add to the display by purchasing new items that are on sale after Christmas.

- Seattle's weather causes havoc on the wiring and lights. They try to do their own repairs but after a few time of being repaired they get rid of the culprit. That's why they add to their collection.