By Matt Wendland
A new Political Action Committee (PAC) named Save Burien First has thrown its support behind Burien City Council candidates Debi Wagner, Steve Armstrong and incumbent Jack Block, Jr. by purchasing “No Annexation” signs with each of the candidates’ names. These signs are now peppered throughout Burien.
For more than 67 years Shirley Waggener has shared a home with a kid who always wanted to fly. A kid from Casper, Wyoming who grew up on a farm but had a higher calling than bucking hay bales and slopping hogs.
“ I met Bob at college in Laramie”, Shirley gleamed. “We actually met at a dance," she added. “It was a blind date,” according to daughter Robin but Bob was not blind to love at first sight.
Bob Waggener, lean and rugged from those farm days in the 30’s, must have been quite a dancer too. You could say he swept her off her feet.
The war was winding down by 1944. Bob was not allowed to sign up in 1941 being only 18. The war department changed the rules late in the war so Bob and some friends headed down to the enlistment office of the Army-Air Corp. Not much time later he would head to flight school in Texas and Oklahoma.
by Ken Robinson, Managing Editor
You have to have a sense of humor when you are following the race for Mayor of Seattle. When you peel back the rhetoric, there are really few differences between the two fighting Irishmen, Mike McGinn and Ed Murray. That view must be an outcome of strategizing from the respective camps. In reality, there are strong differences. While looks like he has never been outside the capitol building in Olympia, McGinn looks rosy-cheeked and healthy, probably from riding a bike to the office from his home in Greenwood.
Now, Murray has some ads running on YouTube. He has gotten endorsements from some major groups in the community, from the cops to the teachers. Apparently these people don't like Mike. We suspect the reason for this is a combination of a crybaby response to not getting something they wanted or that they lined up behind the Seattle Times editorial staff as they were emptying their guns on McGinn after he beat their hand-picked candidate in the last race for mayor.
The big problem with both stances is that it overlooks facts and does not allow any credit for hard, smart work by McGinn.
The brand new Burien Arts Gallery at 826 S.W. 152nd St in Olde Burien participated in the Boo in Burien on Saturday, Oct. 26.
Burien Arts Board Member, Andrea Reay and her two children, dressed up as Frida Kahlo and Toulouse Lautrec, were on hand to pass out more than 30 lbs of candy to the visitors. They saw over 2,000 kids come through the gallery doors (along with their parents and grandparents).
Some (even the adults) had never stepped foot into an art museum or a gallery space before in their whole lives. It was such a wonderful learning opportunity and a way to introduce art to many members of our community.
People often lingered in the gallery and asked really great questions. There will be a new mixed media exhibit opening up on Nov. 7th. It will coincide with the November B-town Beat.
City Hall/Library Multipurpose Room
10:00 am – 4:00 pm (Closed for lunch 12:00-1:00)
Please call or email me for an appointment.
Kathy Wetherbee
Department Assistant
City of Burien
(206) 439-3158
kathyw@burienwa.gov
www.burienwa.gov
To the Editor of the West Seattle Herald,
I am writing to you in an effort to inform you of the efforts West Seattle High School Diversity Club students are making to spread awareness about drunk driving. In a D.C. meeting nearly everyone in the group could name a friend, or a friend of a friend who had been affected by drunk driving. Although students see the ads on TV, most of us agreed that our student body as a whole doesn’t fully understand how harmful drinking and driving can be. For this reason we are making a push to spread awareness, in part by contacting you. Additionally we are making posters that will be put around the school to discourage drinking and driving, as well as having an assembly featuring a speaker from M.A.D.D. to further our efforts.
The Seattle Fire Department are responding to a Hazmat situation at the Ballard Bank of America according to their Twitter feed (See above). Firefighters evacuated 10 people from the building at 2010 NW Market St due to a suspicious powder in an envelope. All of the employees are safe and outside the bank while it's being tested. We'll update with more information when we get it.
Henry Rosoff of KIRO 7 reported on Twitter that the suspicious package "was nothing."
Follow Ballard News-Tribune on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ballardnewstrib
And Twitter at http://twitter.com/ballardnewstrib
Twice a week, hundreds of people in need from Burien and the surrounding region are served by Transform Burien, a not-for-profit organization operating out of the former Burien Community Center, the Annex.
Transform Burien originally developed in 2003 as an effort between christian pastors to unify the churches in Burien and the surrounding area. This effort first took shape as a weekly prayer meeting, but in 2005, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the group, then operating under the name We Care Northwest, worked with the City of Burien and a number of community leaders to gather goods to ship to the Katrina victims. The City opened the then vacant former Gottschalks department store, now the home of Burien City Hall and the Burien Library, as a drop off point for donations. These efforts resulted in the largest distribution center benefiting victims of hurricane Katrina in the Northwest. In all, the Burien distribution center sent five semi-trucks full of relief materials to victims in gulf states.
Washington Department of Ecology officials say they will remove some toxins at the Lora Lake Apartments cleanup site in Burien and leave and cap the rest.
A public comment period began Monday on the plan, which is one of the last steps in the long and strange tale of the Lora Lake Apartments.
Residents were forced to leave the complex in 2007 as part of Sea-Tac Airport’s third runway project. The apartments were too close to the flight path.
Low income housing officials and King County leaders fought the decision to close the apartments and a short social justice campaign involving several groups began.
It wasn’t until after that fight was over and the Port of Seattle had acquired the property that it was learned the soil had been severely contaminated with toxins including cancer-causing dioxins. Investigators determined the contamination came from an industrial barrel cleaning operation back in the 1940s.
Fatburger, the Los Angeles based restaurant chain, has opened its newest location on Alki Beach at 2738 Alki Ave SW. The new restaurant, as the Herald was the first to report back in August will also incorporate Buffalo's, a chicken wing specialty restaurant in a first of its kind co-branded pairing.
The new location is 2300 square feet and will employ 15-20 people.
Fatburger serves, "gourmet" burgers (including veggie and turkey varieties), sandwiches, chili, onion rings, fries, chicken strips, hot dogs, and their "Fat" Salad, plus milk shakes, ice cream, and soft drinks.
But they are also a full class H license meaning beer, wine and liquor are available too.
The interior is what they call, "a contemporary design and ambience" of dark woods and light green bar seats, with tables along the street side windows. They also have outdoor dining when the weather permits.
