April 2015

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

West Seattle battled back to beat close rival Chief Sealth by a 5-2 score at the Southwest Athletic Complex baseball field Monday afternoon.

The Wildcats, who trailed by a 1-0 score going into the third inning, ran their record to 10-9 with the win going into their regular season finale scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Wednesday against Seattle Prep at Hiawatha.
West Seattle has already cemented its postseason position and will open the Metro League playoffs at 3:45 p.m. Thursday, May 7 at Hiawatha. That is a loser-out game, as would be a 6 p.m. game against Roosevelt the next day at the SWAC.
"If we survive those, then we're in the double-elimination part of the tournament," said Wildcats head coach Velko Vitalich.

Chief Sealth fell to 3-16 with Monday's close loss and will wrap up its season at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday against Cleveland on the Rainier Beach field.
"We've lost a lot of games like that, seven or eight, that were one or two runs," said Seahawks head coach Ernest Policarpio. "Errors have been our worst enemy."

For some people Puget Sound is not a good choice for a swim. At 46 degrees it's very cold and frankly hypothermia will take over if you are in the water too long. But for Wayne Kinslow, it's all part of the fun.

Kinslow somehow has willed himself to swim in the chilly waters 1000 days in a row, hitting that milestone on April 27.

Normally he swims with a group of equally fearless swimmers but for the big number he chose to go solo.

"I like being out in the water, I like the outdoors. A lot of people say it's good exercise, good for your health, and I just enjoy being with nature. At first I tried for 100 days, then 200 then 365 was not far away and then 500...and there was a guy that did 911 days in Lake Washington but he did it in the summer and had neoprene on (Kinslow goes in his trunks), so it's not a fair comparison. His goal was to make 2000 so I'm thinking I should try to do that too." He will just keep doing this he says basically until he doesn't.

He's 51 years old, weighs about 160 pounds and appears to be in great shape.

Cold doesn't dissuade him. On the coldest day he swam, it was well below freezing.

By Peggy Sturdivant

Last week the Mayor and Seattle Police Department announced a strategy to deal with a 9.5 block area of downtown Seattle that has been described as a gantlet of disorder and illegal activity. Meanwhile two City Council members drew an overflow crowd about rising apartment rentals and dared to introduce the words “Rent Control” to Seattle.

Meanwhile back in Ballard, Sara Stapleton was actually relieved when she got permission to stay in her two-bedroom apartment for an additional two months. She was already eight months pregnant the day she received a notice from her landlord of a $700 increase in her monthly rent as of July 1, 2015. She vomited. Two days later she went into premature labor.

When a neighbor first contacted me about her 60 percent rent increase, effectively doubling her rent from two years before, I didn’t know how her situation and that of her pregnant neighbor downstairs were connected to the events at City Hall and downtown Seattle.

The Des Moines City Council is accepting applications for potential candidates for appointment to fill an unexpired term on the City Council. Applicants must be a resident of the City for a minimum of one year, be a registered voter within the City at the time of filing, and be at least 18 years of age. Applicants will be required to submit a resume regarding work and community service experience, respond to the questions on the application and complete a personal financial affairs statement from the Public Disclosure Commission*. Applications will be accepted until 2:00 p.m., Friday, May 22, 2015. Contact the City Clerk’s office for a
complete application packet at 21630 11th Avenue South, Des Moines, WA 98198 or call 206-870-6519.

Bonnie Wilkins
City Clerk

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Foster felled Evergreen, 5-1, Friday in a Seamount League boys soccer fray.
The Bulldogs kept their playoff hopes alive with the victory at Highline Memorial Stadium, improving their league record to 6-5-0 and their overall mark to 8-5-0.
The Seamount's two Class 3A teams lead the way, with Kennedy Catholic at 8-0-2 and Hazen at 8-2-1.

Lindbergh and Tyee are tied for third overall and for first among 2A teams at 6-4-1, followed by Foster at 6-5-0 and Highline at 5-6-0. Renton brings up the rear at 0-9-1.

Foster will finish off its season against Lindbergh, Highline and Renton.
"We've got a couple tough games ahead of us, and we have to win all three to get a good seed to sub-districts," said Bulldogs head coach Nasir Tura
Evergreen fell to 0-9-2 in Seamount League action and is out of the running for the postseason.

Desire Katameya scored first for Foster on Friday on a Naji Haji assist with 23:30 to play in the first half, then Ameer Kanawi struck on a Mohamed Duntow assist at 4:40.

Jalal Haji sparked the Bulldogs' second half scoring with 3:20 elapsed, knocking in a Sui Thang assist.

Thursday, April 23

Baseball
Highline 5, Sammamish 4
The Pirates prevailed in a non-league game against Sammamish.

Boys soccer
Lakeside 4, Chief Sealth 0
Chief Sealth took a loss in Metro League action Thursday.

Track and field
Highline-Foster-Kennedy
Kennedy defeated Foster, 102-32, on the girls side in Thursday's meet and 74-59 on the boys.
When compared to Lindbergh the Bulldogs of Foster lost, 88-40, in boys action and 99-26 in the girls portion, while the Highline girls lost, 109-34, to Lindbergh and the boys lost to the Eagles, 103-23.
Other combinations did not compete in the meet.
Evergreen-Tyee
The Evergreen and Tyee team split up and went against Hazen and Renton separately Thursday.
The Evergreen boys lost, 79-53, to Hazen and 102-38 to Renton, while the Tyee boys lost, 107-21, to Hazen and 116-9 to Renton.
On the girls side, Evergreen took a 118-29 loss to Hazen and a 93-44 loss to Renton. The Tyee girls lost, 143-3, to Hazen and 119-9 to Renton.
Mount Rainier-Todd Beamer

By Ed Shepherd
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Two good girls fastpitch teams played close a lot of the way before Kennedy Catholic manufactured some hits late, breaking the Lancers away to a win over Highline, 13-1, at Moshier Field in Burien on Wednesday.

Kennedy improved to 9-0 this Seamount League season and 12-0 overall, while the Pirates dropped to 6-2 and 7-3.

"Great all-round team effort," said Josie. "We put pressure on them and our pressure caused them to make mistakes."

The pressure started in the first inning, as the Lancers' Maggie Gallagher led off the game with a triple.Then she stole home, so it was 1-0. Next, Sam Isernio felt the softball hit her body and she walked to first before running to second and third base on steals. Then Nikki MIller hit the ball to third base, but Isernio was running on the hit-and-run play and scored, so that made it 2-0 Lancers, after the first inning.

Courtesy article by Gerardo Bolong

Seattle Christian continued on victory road with a beginning of the week 11-1 pounding of visiting Cascade Christian (Puyallup) in a six-inning 11-1 Nisqually 1A League girls softball game, on Tues., April 21.

Combining hits in a timely manner, the Warriors erupted initially in a four-run first inning to earn enough runs for the win.

Seattle Christian flowed to an additional pair of runs in the second inning for a 6-0 lead.

Like a smoldering volcano, the Seattle Christian Warriors lay dormant until the fourth inning before erupting for an additional four runs ahead of a final run in the bottom of the sixth inning after Cascade Christian notched its only run in the top of the inning on J. Hoffman's solo home run.

Alyssa Baucom championed the SC cause by mastering the mound for a three-hitter with four strike outs and one walk while also bludgeoning pitches from the batters box in a 3-for-4 batting binge that included two RBI, two doubles and two runs scored. Baucom's shut out was denied by J. Hoffman who hit a solo home run in the top of the sixth.

Public schools can be our great American equalizer by providing all children the educational foundation to succeed in college, pursue careers and chase dreams. Unfortunately, not all schools are equal! Right here in the Highline School District, we have enormous disparity between neighborhood high schools.

I live in North Highline, one of two areas the Highline School District mandates a small-high-school-only policy and bars selecting one of the full-to-capacity comprehensive high schools at Highline and Mount Rainier. Families in the Mount Rainier and Highline service areas can attend their assigned traditional high school or any of the district’s small high schools.

Students in the Evergreen and Tyee service areas are required to attend 300-student, themed schools offering core classes and severely limited electives and clubs. Students in the Highline and Mount Rainier service areas can participate in the full range of courses unavailable at small schools, including a college preparatory curriculum, physical education program, Fine Arts, Music, vocational classes and a wide variety of electives and clubs.