March 2012

Members of the White Center community, including many familiar faces from the White Center Food Bank and King County Sheriff's Office gathered in Greenbridge on March 23 to celebrate the 8-year tenure of outgoing White Center Community Development Association Executive Director Aileen Balahadia and welcome her replacement, Sili Savusa.

Aileen Balahadia
Balahadia has been with the CDA since their inception in 2004 and said lately has been a time of reflection on those eight years as executive director.

She said the organization started out with focus on building relationships with the community by setting up farmer’s markets, cars shows and “just focusing on bringing people together.”

Next was coming to the aid of small businesses in White Center, she said. “We really wanted to understand what their issues were and how we could connect them to different resources.

Furahi, a 16-year-old male zebra was euthanized at Woodland Park Zoo today after being found unable to stand and suffering from apparent seizure activity. Zebras can live 20 to 30 years in the wild and up to 40 years in zoos.

The zoo’s animal health team responded immediately after a zookeeper discovered the zebra was experiencing seizures on the African Savanna. Despite urgent medical aid, the convulsions continued and the veterinarian made the decision to euthanize the animal in distress. This zebra had been under long-term veterinary care for a chronic medical condition.

The zoo will perform a necropsy (animal autopsy) and a final cause of death is pending complete results of histology and other diagnostic testing. The remains will become part of the research and education collection at The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

Furahi was born at Woodland Park Zoo and did not have any offspring. One zebra, a 9-year-old female, remains at the zoo.

For more information about the zoo, visit http://www.zoo.org.

We recently ran a press release in the Highline Times that Aviation High School Senior Drew Hidalgo was accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point. We then felt compelled to follow up upon learning that, before his college plans were formalized, his parents sold their Boise, Idaho house and moved with their two black labs and chihuahua to the Seattle area because their son wanted to enroll at Aviation High School when he was 14. They first moved to Des Moines, then to Alki.

Drew has one sibling, his sister Ashley, 23, who was already away at college, attending Boise State. However, his father owns a recreational vehicle rental business and convenience store, Outdoor Rentals, in Boise, with a summer trade, boats and gear, and winter trade, snowmobiles and ATV's. He spends just one month here in the spring, and two in the fall. Eva gets away to Boise when she can. So Why did his parents, Tom and Eva, change their lives around to suit their young teen?

The Highline Times recently ran a press release that Aviation High School Senior Drew Hidalgo was accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point. We then felt compelled to follow up upon learning that, before his college plans were formalized, his parents sold their Boise, Idaho house and moved with their two black labs and chihuahua to the Seattle area because their son wanted to enroll at Aviation High School when he was 14. They first moved to Des Moines, then to Alki.

Drew has one sibling, his sister Ashley, 23, who was already away at college, attending Boise State. However, his father owns a recreational vehicle rental business and convenience store, Outdoor Rentals, in Boise, with a summer trade, boats and gear, and winter trade, snowmobiles and ATV's. He spends just one month here in the spring, and two in the fall. Eva gets away to Boise when she can. So Why did his parents, Tom and Eva, change their lives around to suit their young teen?

Press release from Deborah Greer, co-chair of WSBCN
WS Blockwatch Captains Meeting is Tuesday, 3/27, 6:30-8PM, at the SW Precinct

Agenda: How would you like to see us celebrate Block Watch Captains’ Appreciation Day? We’ve opted to use most of this month’s meeting to plan a great event! Whether you can help, have ideas, or just want a sneak preview as this takes shape; please join the discussion and planning!

Potential ways to contribute:

·Pre-event: Can you help with online registration, setup, or decorations? Do you want to help plan the food or entertainment, solicit gifts and/or donations? Do you have ideas or advice that will help maximize our budget? We’ll also need help getting the word out!

·Day of event: Would you like to greet or register people? Take photographs? Serve food? Can you help with cleanup?

What would make the event fun, memorable and meaningful for you? We do have a budget for this event, but we need to offset that with volunteer hours from our group. You can help by participating at this meeting!

Meeting details & agenda

Scott Wagner, full time senior special agent for the National Insurance Crime Bureau and part time rodeo clown (seriously, he showed the pictures), swung by the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting on March 20 to discuss auto theft, insurance fraud related to vehicles, and some helpful tips to protect ourselves from becoming a victim.

Wagner works out of Mill Creek, WA and West Seattle is part of his beat. He said he worked closely with Seattle Police on Operation Oliver’s Twist where undercover officers recently set up a fake chop shop/pawn shop in Georgetown and let the criminals come to them. Over 100 suspects were identified in the sting and 145 stolen cars were recovered.

Wagner started off his speech with a reminder of how auto thefts, an ongoing issue on the streets of West Seattle, are everybody’s problem even if your car doesn’t get stolen: Every stolen vehicle adds ever so slightly to the tab of insurance companies, he said, which in turn leads to higher insurance premiums for us all.

Tukwila Schools Superintendent Ethelda Burke, who is black, has been the subject of racial discrimination complaints accusing her of allegedly making inappropriate comments.

The Tukwila School Board issued the following statement on Friday, March 23:

Statement from the Tukwila School Board
March 23, 2012

Last night the Tukwila School District Board of Directors met in executive session to discuss legal matters with counsel. Our state’s law and district’s policies recognize the need to sometimes meet in this way.

We were not there to make any decisions and none were made. We were there to better understand our legal obligations and to receive information on the discrimination complaints that have been presented.

As we have previously stated, the board takes these charges of discrimination very seriously.

Dear Mr Mayor,
In light of the recent crimes in West Seattle I am writing to ask what is your plan to stop further harm?

Greggette Guy was a former West Seattle resident and also a former student of Fairmount Park Elementary as was I. When I saw the Crime Busters picture, I recognized her immediately, her smile had not changed but the town we both had grown up in surely did.

The lack of police presence in such a high traffic/high profile area is unacceptable. Our cities not only put it's patrons at risk, they jeopardize the lives of police officers daily by putting out insufficient numbers of staff on the streets!

The lighting on Beach drive is very poor, and some thing needs to be done. I ask you Mayor, to go pull up a few archived papers from the West Seattle Herald. They have had a Crime section for as long as I remember. I would like you to see the increase of crime and take a good look at the budget cuts in that same year affecting your Police dept. Them I would like to ask you this would you move your Mother, your daughter, your niece to Beach Drive? I challenge you to this task, PROTECT THE WOMEN OF WEST SEATTLE!

When I was a kid it was customary to play pranks on April Fools' Day. You know the story that began as far back as the 1500's when the calendar year began in April instead of January. Anyone who forgot was considered an APRIL FOOL. Tradition followed for folks to trick their friends into something for a laugh. We still do this today.

Harmless fun I called it as I handed my sister's boss a small telescope to see the heavens. He placed it up to his eye, twisted the focus ring and simply could see nothing more than a white opaque light inside. He handed it back to me suggesting I was looney. I smirked at his beautiful "shiner" applied by himself with that twisting motion of the eye piece. He was none the wiser until my sis scooted me out of his office while she helped her boss with some tissue and water.

Spring is budding all over.