November 2015

On December 1st 2015, local nonprofit WestSide Baby will be celebrating its annual JOY Drive with a fundraising event at Patxi’s Pizza in Ballard. From 11am until 10pm on Tuesday December 1st, Patxi’s Pizza will be donating 10% of their takings from the restaurant, including takeout service, deliveries and happy hour, to WestSide Baby’s JOY campaign.

The seasonal JOY campaign encourages the public to organize drives or to donate money or goods in order to supply families in need with much needed items during the winter months, such as diapers, warm clothing and essential equipment. In December alone WestSide Baby expects to serve 2300 children with items to keep them safe, warm and dry including providing more than 70 car seats, 500 bags of clothing and 80,000 diapers.

By Pat Cashman

I remember it to this day---the most disturbing film I’d ever seen as a kid.

It’s a science fiction movie that was playing at the local flick house---a movie so terrifying that I couldn’t sleep for three nights. And that was before I’d even seen the film.

It’s called Spacemaster X-7---a C movie that gives B movies a bad name. It’s about as awful a movie as kale is as a candy.

The magnificently incoherent plot has to do with a weird creeping fungus from outer space that looks like a combination of Silly Putty and tapioca. It slinks around eating people like they were moon pies.

When you’re a little kid---already creating funguses of your own under your bed---that prospect is both terrifying and plausible.

I recently discovered the movie again---this time on You Tube. And this time the film caused me to sleep for three nights.

The very same movie that once caused such fear now seems dull and ineptly produced. Perhaps that’s because the movie is dull and ineptly produced.

 
The Discovery Shop, a resale store benefiting The American Cancer Society, celebrated 25 years in business on Saturday, November 21 with refreshments and special sales throughout the store. While you won’t find any acid wash jeans or MC Hammer pants so popular when the store first opened, the store offers quality, gently used men and women’s contemporary clothing from retailers such as Nordstrom, Chico’s as well as antiques, collectibles and housewares.

In the same West Seattle location since opening November 1990, the Discovery Shop is a story of retail success and longevity, quite an accomplishment for a store run entirely by volunteers! And thanks to their dedication throughout the years, this one store has generated over 2 million dollars for cancer research and patient treatment programs. The volunteers, who do everything from sorting and cleaning donations, merchandising and pricing to ringing sales and bookkeeping, are the heart and soul of the store. Currently, more than 70 volunteers help staff the store seven days a week, including a few who have been volunteering since the early days.

information from the King County Sheriff's office

A King County Sheriff’s deputy was injured today after being t-boned by a man driving a stolen vehicle. The deputy’s injuries were minor and the suspect is still outstanding after running from the scene.

Story- A King County Sheriff’s deputy received minor injuries after being t-boned by a man driving a stolen vehicle. The accident occurred just before 4pm near SW130 ST and 2nd Ave SW in Burien.

A few minutes before the accident, another deputy had run the plate on a vehicle and discovered the vehicle was stolen. The deputy radio’d to other deputies in the area that he last saw the stolen car near SW136 and 6th Ave SW.

Numerous deputies were actively searching the area for the stolen car when a deputy who was driving eastbound on SW130th was t-boned by the stolen vehicle. The stolen vehicle had been northbound on 2nd Ave SW and ran the stop sign at SW130th, colliding with the deputy’s right, rear quarter panel. The deputy’s vehicle spun around and struck a nearby fence.

by Kristina Dahl

When I was thirty-five years old, the mother of a beautiful and beloved two year old daughter, I found a lump in my breast. When I got a breast cancer diagnosis, it was hard to breathe, and harder still to imagine that this could be happening to me. To stay alive I needed multiple surgeries, months of chemotherapy, and months of radiation, all with excruciating side effects. It was the hardest thing I had ever done, but I am one of the lucky ones.
Not all women are as fortunate as I was, with financial resources and a community of friends and family on call to help with childcare, meals, and rides to the hospital, and that is why Northwest Hope and Healing’s mission is so important to me. In addition to providing healing baskets to help women get through treatment, NWH&H provides financial assistance to women undergoing breast and gynecological cancer treatment at Swedish Cancer Institute, offering financial grants to women who need help with basic needs such as groceries, childcare, rent, utilities, transportation, and more.

Salty’s Seafood Grills won Best Brunch (again) in the King5 Best of Western Washington poll for 2015. Here’s how
Salty’s ranked over all in the poll:

Ranked #1 of 125 for Best Brunch
Ranked #3 of 64 for Best Outdoor Dining
Ranked #4 of 101 for Best Seafood

The award was announced on KING5 Evening Magazine on Nov. 15.

To learn about the full menu of foods served at Salty's Brunch click here.

It's a very early call, 5:15am but for the volunteers who are part of the West Seattle Rotary club it's completely worth it. It's the annual Children's Shopping Spree and they get them each a new jacket, clothing & shoes for the winter months to keep them warm & dry. It's for kids from our area who can really use the the help who have been identified by their school as being in need. The group that helps meets outside Sears, at Westfield Mall in Tukwila.

And every year they need people who are willing to get up early and help the kids shop for those items.
If you want to volunteer, and see some children's faces really light up here's the rundown:

You can help by volunteering as a shopping helper

Shopping Helper duties:

• Your main task is to provide a safe and enjoyable shopping experience for the child.
• We will pair 2 adults up with each child.
• First stop is breakfast at Rain Forest Cafe, get to know your child.
• Then on to Sears helping them shop for a new pair of shoes and appropriate clothing.
• Next stop is to get picture with Santa!

If you want to keep West Seattle vibrant and local, that means shopping locally and supporting local businesses. Hometown Holidays in the Junction starts with Small Business Saturday, a national event that celebrates locally owned businesses.

The full calendar of events in the Junction through the holidays is below:

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY
Nov 28
Shop brick-and-mortar businesses as part of a national event to support small and local stores. Rally behind West Seattle’s independent retailers with your holiday spending dollars. Find deals here.

SHOP LATE THURSDAY
Dec 3, 10, 17
Shop till 9:00pm
Want an evening shopping alternative to stuffy malls? Many Junction retailers are open ‘till 9pm on Thursdays. Pair with happy hour and you’ve got a great night out!

TREE LIGHTING EVENT
Dec 5, 5pm
The Junction presents our 12th Annual Tree Lighting Event. It’s a community event for family, friends and neighbors. It will be held in Junction Plaza Park at 42nd and Alaska. And this year, Alaska St will be closed! Cocoa and cookies by Whole Foods.

Seattle Police Department and King County Medical Examiner are investigating the death of Anne Zachariasen, 45, who was found under the Ballard Bridge on Nov. 19.

SPD received the report around 6 a.m. that day. They reported that there was no obvious sign of trauma to the woman. By trauma SPD means no abrasions, cuts, stabbings, bruises or gunshot wounds. SPD could not report if there were any weapons, drug paraphernalia or witnesses at the scene.

KCME released Zachariasen’s name on Nov. 20th, but the manner and cause of death was determined as pending. The Medical Examiners office is waiting on studies and testing results that could take up to eight weeks. The Examiner could not release the specifics of testing for Zachariasen because the case is still under investigation; however, KCME reported that tissue, toxicology and neurological testing are the kinds of tests that could take that amount of time.

SPD could also not report any other information because the case is still under investigation.

By Amanda Knox

I was fourteen when I first learned the word, “Casualty.” It was September 11th, 2001, I was a freshman in highschool, and that word, louder than “Tragedy” and “Terror,” rang out to me. I didn’t quite understand it at first. I gleaned that it must mean a person killed in an act of war, but didn’t that mean a soldier? Weren’t the people who worked in the World Trade Center civilians?

My confusion was rooted in my naivety. Sheltered my entire life in safe Seattle suburbs, 9/11/01 was the first time I realized that war wasn’t just historical. It wasn’t far away. It didn’t just mean fighters, fighting. It meant everyone, dying. “Casualty” meant you, me.

This past week I’ve felt jolted back into that hollowed-out feeling of fragility. I would love to write about other things on my mind—chess, travel, Charlie Brown—but even though I’ve thought about these things too, I’m distracted. My heart hurts.