December 2014

information from SDOT

Crews from the Seattle Department of Transportation are scheduled to make minor repairs such as filling potholes and depressions on numerous blocks in Arbor Heights starting Monday, Jan. 5, weather permitting. SDOT anticipates the work will be completed in less than a month.

The repair work will focus on non-arterial blocks in the western and southwestern sections of Arbor Heights. These repairs will improve the pavement condition to a level where a microsurfacing preventive maintenance treatment would be effective.

Microsurfacing is a protective seal coat which extends the life of pavement. It is a thin, tough layer of asphalt emulsion blended with finely crushed stone for traction.

SDOT’s contractor microsurfaced approximately 27 lane-miles of streets in Arbor Heights last summer. SDOT is now in the process of finalizing the list of blocks that will be included in a smaller microsurfacing project in Arbor Heights this summer. Streets being repaired at this time may or may not be included in this summer’s microsurfacing project.

Norwegian-American Veterans Theatre Project host a special event Thursday, January 22, at 7 PM, at the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard.

We will be presenting a staged reading of a play that Dr. Bruce Olav Solheim (Ph.D.) wrote called The Epiphany.

The play is set in Northern Norway during the Nazi occupation. It is based on Solheim’s own family history. The play deals with how ordinary people are forced to make decisions in wartime, and how war impacts their lives. In this case, each member Solheim’s family needed to decide whether to cooperate with the Nazis in order to live; join the Resistance and fight for freedom; or just merely survive in any way that they could.

By Marjorie Young

These days Zombies are everywhere; whether in TV, films, or fiction, they indeed seem to be ‘taking over’ the earth. Though fascination with these creatures definitely eludes me, their appeal cannot be denied. But why the attraction? The topic was suggested by an ‘expert’ in the field, Pisay Pao, who stars in the hit SyFy series ‘ZNation.’ You guessed it; ‘Z’ stands for Zombies, and Pisay and her co-stars valiantly battle to save what remains of the human race after those pesky troublemakers take over. Yet even she wonders at the near obsession many have with the ‘undead.’ Even talk of a coming ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ is endlessly bandied about.

A ‘rival’ fiendish group, our friends the Vampires, are usually portrayed as good-looking and seductive, luring many an innocent creature to his or her doom. In contrast, Zombies are unfailingly drooling, stumbling, decomposed, and inevitably poorly dressed. If one was lurching in your direction, it would seem ridiculously easy to get out of the way! Yet, they continue to evoke an odd longing combined with dread in the eyes of many.

By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Clutch performances at crunch time enabled the Seamount League 3A John F. Kennedy Catholic boys basketball team to hold off Seattle Metro League 3A Ballard 54-51 Monday.

After big leads of up to 15 points throughout the game had completely dissipated, the Lancers were embroiled in a 50-50 tie up with the busy Beavers with just more than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Michael Sasonoff pounded the offensive boards for Kennedy one minute later to put the Lancers on top ahead of a Ballard player controlled foul that turned the ball over to KC.

The Beavers had a foul to give and took it with 45.1 seconds left to force another JFK in bounds attempt that resulted in an open lane for Emilio Mancol to drive the left side for a layup and a 54-50 Lancer lead 11 seconds later.

Incredibly, Kennedy was whistled for a foul on a 3-point Ballard attempt with 8.4 seconds on the scoreboard clock.

Prescott Day went to the line with a chance to tie the game, but could only convert the middle of the trio of shots.

By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Greater St. Helen's League 2A Hockinson used an all inclusive philosophy to down Seamount League 3A Kennedy Catholic 55-46 for the girls basketball championship of the 2014 Oberto's Christmas Classic held at John F. Kennedy Catholic High School (Burien) on Mon., Dec. 29.

"We stick to the plan of being a team," said Hawks coach Damon Roche. "Everyone plays. Tonight, eight of the nine players scored and five of the nine had steals. We want to keep the pressure on. Our press is not mainly to steal the ball; it is to slow the other team, using 10-12 seconds up and hurry up their shots.

They only had two outside shooters. Once we marked them, we forced other people to get the ball. Once we got the lead, we wanted to keep the flow going."

Trailing by 49-35 with 6:37 remaining in the fourth quarter following a previous 15-point deficit, Kennedy Catholic shifted to frantic mode to bring home the first place trophy. But KC had a tough, high mountain to climb due to the somewhat passive nature and error prone play it had displayed for much of the game.

For the week of Dec. 31-Jan. 6

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

High schools

Boys basketball
Shorewood Christian will host Three Rivers Christian for a 5:30 p.m. game Friday, then Foster will entertain Charles Wright at 3:45 p.m. Saturday.

Also on Saturday, Seattle Lutheran gets a 4 p.m. visit from Shoreline Christian, Highline visits Nathan Hale at 7 p.m. and Seattle Christian goes to Interlake for a 7:30 p.m. game.

Foster hosts a team from Australia at 7 p.m. Monday as Evergreen entertains Decatur and Shorewood Christian visits Christian Faith Center.

SCS is home against Life Christian at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Seattle Lutheran will be at Christian Faith Center at the same time.

At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Chief Sealth hosts Garfield and West Seattle hosts O'Dea.

Girls basketball
Shorewood Christian will be at home playing Three Rivers Christian at 4 p.m. Friday and Mount Rainier travels to Interlake for a 7 p.m. game Friday.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

High schools
Boys basketball
Shorewood Christian will host Three Rivers Christian for a 5:30 p.m. game Friday, then Foster will entertain Charles Wright at 3:45 p.m. Saturday.
Also on Saturday, Seattle Lutheran gets a 4 p.m. visit from Shoreline Christian, Highline visits Nathan Hale at 7 p.m. and Seattle Christian goes to Interlake for a 7:30 p.m. game.
Foster hosts a team from Australia at 7 p.m. Monday as Evergreen entertains Decatur and Shorewood Christian visits Christian Faith Center.
SCS is home against Life Christian at 7 p.m. Tuesday and Seattle Lutheran will be at Christian Faith Center at the same time.
At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Chief Sealth hosts Garfield and West Seattle hosts O'Dea.

Girls basketball
Shorewood Christian will be at home playing Three Rivers Christian at 4 p.m. Friday and Mount Rainier travels to Interlake for a 7 p.m. game Friday.
Seattle Lutheran hosts Shoreline Christian at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and SCS entertains Kentlake at 3 p.m.
Monday's schedule has Tyee at home against Sammamish and Foster at Rainier Beach at 7 p.m.

Update 7:55 am
Work was completed overnight on the broken water service line and traffic is now back to normal.

Update 10:45pm
SPU crews were still working to seal a broken water service line which meant that one lane of Admiral Way SW was still blocked long after they thought the issue might be resolved. The expect to have it fixed before the commute begins in the morning.

Original Post
One westbound lane of SW Admiral Way, at SW Spokane Street (underneath the bridge), was closed on Tuesday Dec. 30 as Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) crews made an emergency repair to a water service line.

SPU expected the lane to be reopened by 9 pm.

Ballard Beaver, Jacob Westerman, has been following his baseball dreams for his entire life, and after signing a letter of intent to play baseball for the University of New Mexico Lobos, Westerman’s dream is becoming a reality.

On November 14, at Ballard High School, Westerman signed his letter of intent to play baseball with UNML.  

UNML have a nationally recognized division one baseball program and have won their division four of the last five years under head coach, Ray Birmingham.

Westerman lives in Ballard with his parents. He has been playing baseball since he was age six, and has hopes of one day playing professional baseball.

Jacob played Ballard Little League up through Select Baseball, Boys of Summer, for the last twelve years. Westerman is the only one of three Division I scholarship athletes over the last three years to come out of Ballard.

Westerman will graduate from Ballard High School in the spring and start training with UNML over the summer.

Zippy’s Giant Burgers in White Center robbed
Deputies from the King County Sheriff’s Department were called to the scene of Zippy’s Giant Burgers in White Center after an employee, scheduled for an early morning cleaning shift, arrived at the restaurant to find that it had been burglarized. The break-in took place sometime before 4:00 a.m. on December 22nd. Restaurant owner, Blaine Cook, reports that the thieves entered the business by breaking through the glass in the emergency exit door. Once in the restaurant they caused significant damage by forcing entry into locked and unused rooms, stealing the cash register and stealing a safe. Further information about the investigation has yet to be released.

Shots fired after argument in Burien