January 2017

By Peggy Sturdivant

Spencer needs a dining table and chairs, an iron, a toaster, and he’d love to have a girlfriend. Spencer’s mother is visiting from the Bay Area for the weekend to help him furnish his first home. So far they’ve found wineglasses, ordered a recliner and laid claim to the extra ironing board in my basement. Mom could probably help with the girlfriend too, if she was staying past Monday.

I’ve known Spencer (or of him) since before he was born. On the morning of my first wedding in 1989 the groom’s best friend puzzled over her inexplicable lack of desire for coffee. It made sense well before nine months had passed. All his life Spencer has been teased as the “surprise.” I hadn’t seen Spencer since he was just old enough to start babysitting.

Now the California boy has already graduated from college, and worked his way up in sales for a national tool company. He’s been in Seattle for several years but we never connected because I wasn’t in town when his parents visited. Now he’s moved to Ballard and he and his mom, my friend Cami, came to our door even before she saw his new house. Suddenly, we’re neighbors.

information from the City of Seattle

Join us for Seattle’s 23rd Annual Neighbor Day on February 11 and help us kick off 2017 with a celebration of kindness and community!

After a challenging 2016 that stirred up divisiveness and bitter debate both nationally and locally, we all need to remind ourselves that our greatest strength comes from one another. When we come together as communities and neighbors to share an experience, to express gratitude, to learn from one another, to support one another in times of need, to get to know each other – this is when we make the truest progress as a society.

To honor that, we invite you to participate in our annual Neighbor Day celebration, a special day set aside to reach out to neighbors, make new friends, and express thanks to those who help make your neighborhood a great place to live.

We encourage all Seattle residents to celebrate this day by indulging in random acts of kindness. Residents, businesses, or community groups are all invited to participate however they like. The main goal is simply to reach out and connect with your neighbors through generosity.

By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Friday, Dec. 6

Boys basketball
Garfield 55, West Seattle 50
Nate Pryor poured in 23 points for West Seattle on Friday, but the Wildcats still came up short against the perennially powerful Bulldogs in a Metro League game.
Chief Sealth 79, Blanchet 63
The Seahawks also scored a Metro League victory Friday.
Evergreen 64, White River 52
The Wolverines of White Center emerged victorious Friday.
Fife 61, Foster 13
Fife got the best of the Bulldogs on Friday.
Kennedy 52, Kentwood 49
Kennedy Catholic slipped past the Conquerors.
River Ridge 62, Tyee 48
River Ridge topped the Totems on Friday.

Girls basketball
West Seattle 62, Garfield 58
The Wildcats were winners against the Bulldogs on Friday.
Bellevue Christian 43, Seattle Christian 18
Bellevue Christian proved to be too much to handle for the Warriors.
Blanchet 60, Chief Sealth 38
Bishop Blanchet buried the Seahawks.
Kentwood 57, Kennedy 56
Kentwood edged out the Lancers in Friday action.
Mt. Rainier 39, Kent-Meridian 24

Another first Friday brings another Opening Reception for an exciting Burien Arts Association fine arts exhibit.

But the new year means a new venue at Burien’s municipal offices on the third floor of the Burien Library/City Hall.

Meet artists Danny Bobrow and Alex Trapp at the Opening Reception, Friday, Jan. 6, 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the municipal offices, 400 S.W. 152nd St., Suite 300. Take the elevator in the first-floor Library/City Hall lobby to reach the reception.

The exhibit of fine detailed drawings by Danny and landscape paintings by Alex runs through February. The exhibit is open during the city’s normal business hours, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Of his finely detailed drawings, Danny notes, “My occupation as a geologist has led me to many outcrops with monumental-sized geometric and colored patterns. My works are filled with interrelated geometric colorful images drawn from the past and present. These images sully about in my mind seeking opportunities to express themselves onto the blank page.”

By Katy G. Wilkens

One of my favorite veggies in my winter garden is leeks. I hardly notice them during the summer, but at this time of year they shine a wonderful soft green and white with their ladder-like leaves growing up the stems. Like a giant green onion, leeks somehow manage to make it through most winters. You can pull the fleshy, thick stems out of the ground until it’s freezing outside.

Leeks are high in vitamin C, vitamin A and folate, and their flavor is different enough from onions to make them a welcome addition to the vegetable palate of winter. I use winter leeks instead of onion in recipes that call for green onion, and often instead of white or yellow onion.

With leeks, use the bottom half to two-thirds. Reserve the upper, tougher dark green leaves for making low-sodium broth. For this, add the leek leaves, mushrooms, leftover chicken, bay leaf and black peppercorns to a pot of water, and simmer for an hour. Strain and freeze or use in soup right away.

Assault at Dollar Tree parking lot

The manager at a Dollar Tree, 10014 15th Avenue S.W., was alerted to an assault in the parking lot on Sat., Dec. 31. Police were dispatched to the scene at 11:50 a.m.

Roommates get rowdy
Two roommates got into a verbal dispute that turned violent around 4 p.m. on Thurs., Dec. 29. The male roommate punched and slapped the female in the head, causing her pain. The man was arrested and booked for the assault.

Burglary on Military Rd.
A man living on the 16800 block of Military Road S., reported a burglary to his outdoor shed around 12:30 p.m. on Fri., Dec. 30. He said someone broke in between 5 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Wed., Dec. 28. The victim said that paint equipment was stolen.

Suspects booked for burglary
Two suspects were booked at 10:40 a.m. on Wed., Dec. 28 for a burglary at a residence located on the 10040 block of 28th Avenue S.W. The suspects rifled through and moved the victim’s property from a trailer to sheds on the property.

Officers attempt to stop shoplifters

By Lindsay Peyton

Congresswoman-elect Pramila Jayapal has a long to-do list.

Her official swearing in to represent Washington’s 7th Congressional District was Tuesday, Jan. 3.

“There’s was nothing official until then,” she said. “But on the technical and organizational side, there was a lot of work to do.”

She is setting up her office in the nation’s capital and renting an apartment in the area, hiring 18 staff members, planning for mobile offices across her district and preparing arguments for committee assignments.

On top of everything else, she’s looking to buy a house. “West Seattle is number one on my list of places where I want to live,” she said.

The week of the inauguration, she will host an open house at her office, welcome her visiting constituents and then begin planning roundtable discussions for the month, reaching out to stakeholders in business, women’s issues and environmental concerns.

“We’ll be putting together our legislative priorities as well,” Jayapal said.

In the fifth grade, our school’s head basketball coach brought in a motivational speaker. I don’t remember hearing the term ‘motivational speaker’ in those days---but that’s what he was. His job was to inspire my teammates and me to be winners.
He pulled out the very best quotes:
“The ones who say ‘you can’t’ and ‘you won’t’ are probably the ones scared that ‘you will.’
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
“Dream it. Believe it. Achieve it.”
By the time he was finished inspiring us, we were either ready to win a basketball game---or be Amway representatives.
The next day our guys were slated to play a team from a school across town. We were generally believed to have no chance against them. Their starting center was a giant---perhaps 5 foot 8. But the motivational speaker had said, “You can still prevail. After all, what chance does one think a head louse has against an entire head? “ It was a brilliant and relatable analogy---far better than the clichéd David and Goliath comparison---because, let’s face it, David had a weapon in that fight.

By Amanda Knox
 
I grew up within walking distance of almost my entire extended family. Oma and Opa, aunts and uncles, Mom and Dad—all were within reach, settled between SW 106th St and the Alaska Junction. This arrangement left a lasting impression on me: my notion of family is not limited to the nuclear unit; interaction is abundant and interdependence is instinctual. I suppose this is equivalent to small town mentality: it may not be much, but here are my people, here is my place.
 
As such, I’d always imagined I’d stay in West Seattle. I’d travel for sure, live in other cities, other countries even, but I was sure I’d eventually settle close to home, and raise my own kids within walking distance of my mom, sisters, and cousins. Why would I deny my children the great gift I received from my parents and adult relatives: shared time and resources, a formidable network of support to fall back on, unconditional love from so many directions in close proximity? Of course, it never occurred to me that when the time came, I might not be able to afford to do this.
 

Van of thieves rams into convenience store

Around 4:45 a.m. on Sat., Dec. 31, a van forcibly backed into the front entrance of a convenience store located on the 2800 block of N.W. Market Street. Witnesses described the vehicle as similar to a Ford Econoline, white on top and green on the bottom, with decals on the side. A couple of men got out of the van, entered the business, returned with stuff and fled. Officers arrived minutes later to find the front doors rammed open. The force of colliding with the vehicle damaged both the doors and their frames, as well as the surrounding structure. An ATM machine was knocked over and it appeared suspects had attempted to break into it. The suspects also knocked over a drawer of scratch lottery tickets. Officers searched the area for the van and found it heading north on Golden Garden Drive N.W. —but they could not catch up with it in time. The owner of the store arrived around 5:25 a.m. and checked for stolen property. He said $9,000 worth of cigarettes and two drawers of lottery tickets were missing. Officers were unable to locate any fingerprints.