December 2011

Ballard Avenue's beloved Thaiku and its bar Fu Kun Wu will be closing after ten years due to ongoing dispute with the property owner causing the establishment to be displaced. Thaiku and Fu Kun Wu’s last full day of operation is Friday, December 23, 2011.

A small business venture owned by Jazz musician Jon Alberts, Thaiku offers regional, home-style Thai cuisine while the Fu Kun Wu bar is a jazz haven.

"I don't think you'll find a better pad Thai anywhere in Seattle," read the Zagat 2011 Review.

Thaiku's bar Fu Kun Wu— famed for its herb-infused cocktails and jazz music was voted one of the "Best Bars in America" by Esquire Magazine and billed as "one of the best kept secrets of the Seattle jazz scene".

Thaiku celebrated its 10th year anniversary on September 13, riding out ten years of the economy's highs and lows.

Thaiku opened its doors when Ballard Avenue was still a quiet street, and it thrived as the area flourished. Families have gathered there to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions. Thaiku has loyal patrons who dine there daily. The weekly jazz nights at Fu Kun Wu have brought the jazz community together.

You'll see a colorful Christmas Tree filled with names in this issue.

(Editor's note: for an easier to read version of Jerry's list, please download the word file attached at the top)

I wanted to share with you why the tree is there. Over the years I have met many wonderful people who have shared their adventures with me. I often write about them in my column. The names in the tree are a small part of the great number of people who mean so much to me. Each person has contributed to the success of our newspapers and I am grateful.

In January of 2012 it will be 60 years since I began my career as a publisher. Over those years I have come to realize a newspaper is only as good as the citizens of the community. Their lives create the news. In return we love sharing the year's events, happy or sad, with our readers.

Our goal is to continue providing interesting, informative content you enjoy reading. Many, many thanks to our loyal subscribers and advertisers. The Robinson family extends best wishes for the holiday season and the new year.

Jerry Robinson
Publisher
Robinson Newspapers

Okay, I admit it. I actually...watched...the first 'Twilight' movie. I haven't read any of the books and only knew the most basic of the plot lines before last night. When the series first shot to its glittery stardom, I was one of those who hated it on principle. Not because of any literary elitism but because of what the books did to the vampire story and then, later, popular teen fiction. However, any phenomenon that huge has to have its merits. So I learned not to knock it and went my own way. Simple curiosity dragged me back.

[By “Twilight” I am referring to the four book saga by Stephenie Meyer and the subsequent films based on the books.]

Now expecting something completely awful, I was pleasantly surprised at the production value. Though this could have something to do with the series of B-films I'd watched the night before. I began to understand the appeal. After all, my high school love of angst ridden bad boys was infamous to anyone who knew me back then. To my horror, I began to understand the guilty love of the series that has so thoroughly struck literary pop culture. Then I remembered myself, stepped back and really looked at what I was watching.

By Georgie Bright Kunkel

The dictionary defines a window as an opening in the wall of a building for admission of light and air. It is usually enclosed by casements or sashes containing transparent material such as glass and capable of being opened and shut. The small town home usually had a front veranda for sitting and saying hello to neighbors passing by. But big city life changed all that. Eventually people began sitting indoors with drapes in front of their windows. More and more people were less open to communication except in safe surroundings with close friends and relatives. And now it is not a wave from a porch, it is a text message or a note on Facebook such as “I like to pet my cat” answered by “I like that.”

The North Highline Fire Department joins the Burien Fire Department in an annual effort to help needy families by conducting a Christmas outreach program they call Light Up the Holidays.

Bring donations of food or new toys to the fire department and firefighters will distribute them.

The North Highline Fire Department stations are located at 1243 S.W. 112th Street and 1606 S. 128th.

They are accepting donations until Dec. 18.

29-year-old Johnny Rourn was charged with second degree murder on Dec. 12 for the shooting death of Jayme Thomas in Des Moines, according to King County Prosecutors.

He also faces a second degree assault charge for wounding a 24-year-old man in the shooting and both charges include firearm enhancements (possibly leading to a longer sentence).

Rourn is in jail with a $1 million bail and will be arraigned on charges on Dec. 22, room GA, at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent.

Update for Dec. 12
The following information is a summary of the certification for probable cause submitted to King County Prosecutors from the Des Moines Police Department:

The shooting
In the early morning hours of Nov. 5 two groups, strangers to each other, ended up at the Redondo Beach area in Des Moines. Soon the groups would collide and 19-year-old Jayme Thomas would lose her life after being shot three times.

According to police, Thomas’s group had left a house party in two vehicles. They reconvened at Redondo to figure out their plans for the rest of the night.

Botched burglary of marijuana grow-op
Police responded to a burglary in progress call to an apartment complex on the 4200 block of SW Hill St. on Nov. 30. The apartment manager told police he noticed the door was wide open and attempted to call the tenant (no luck). He heard loud banging noises, went up to the unit and yelled “What’s going on?!” Two black males emerged, one holding “what appeared to be a handgun covered in black canvas” and they both ran southbound before another witness saw them jump into an older model vehicle with a tan top. Officers noticed the strong smell of marijuana outside the apartment and found two separate “small” growing operations inside. Later, the victim told police his “ex-girlfriend” is probably behind the burglary.

No way are you getting my iPhone

B-Town’s Recovering Youth in Motion is taking a break for the Christmas season.

The group normally holds a monthly fun gathering in Burien for youth recovering from drug and alcohol abuse.

There will be no gathering in December but the group plans a fun event to kick off the new year in January. When a date and place are determined, the Times/News and Highlinetimes.com will provide details. Stay tuned.

B-Town’s activities are now highlighted on the National Recovery Month community events website.

Update 10:00 pm
A small group of remaining protestors huddled in the cold at 9:30 near Terminal 18 but once the barricade was cleared and the larger numbers had left, they thinned out and eventually left too. No all night effort was mounted.

From the SPD Blotter:
On December 12th demonstrators gathered on Harbor Island near Terminal 5 at the Port of Seattle. Demonstrators subsequently blocked vehicular traffic at Harbor Island and began throwing flares (which burns at 1400 degrees fahrenheit), bags of bricks and paint, rebar (pictured above) and other debris at the police officers and police horses monitoring the demonstration. At least one officer was injured after being struck in the face with a bag of paint. The officer was treated at the scene by SFD medics and did not require transportation.

Eleven adult subjects were arrested for various violations including Failure to Disperse and Assaulting an Officer. Those subjects will be booked into the King County Jail.

7:30 Update

Phase two of the Hjarta development is moving forward after the environmental review found the project applicable.

The proposal for a seven-story structure containing 102 residential units above four live work units on 1537 NW 56th St received a conditional green light.

Slated for the paved parking lot behind the existing Hjarta building, Hjarta Phase Two was first proposed in 2003 but was halted a year later.

The project was revisited late 2010 and a Design Review meeting was held on Dec 13, 2010. At the meeting the public expressed concern about limited parking, traffic congestion, and trash and recycle collection, and requested more landscaping.

In April of this year developers Pryde + Johnson filed a notice of application and the design, after the standard DNS commenting period, was approved in June with conditions.