(Photo above added 11:54 pm, from DC in North Admiral; next photo is courtesy of Erik)
Thanks to everybody who’s sharing their photos of tonight’s sunset. As noted earlier (when we were talking about the “golden sunlight” that preceded it), this is attributed to smoke in the atmosphere from fires all over the region. Whatever the case, the sunset drew a crowd; we watched from Lowman Beach, where at least a dozen people had set up chairs to watch the sun slip behind the Olympics – and we heard one applaud after the last bit of pinkish red was gone.
(Photo above, courtesy of Cam; next photo, tweeted by @lumpacy, republished with permission)
Ken Wise, Rotarian, totem-pole sleuth, local businessman, and lifelong West Seattleite, died today.
Mr. Wise, longtime owner of West Fuel, had been fighting cancer. He and fellow Rotarian Duane Ruud tracked down what happened to the West Seattle Rotary Viewpoint Park totem pole last December, even before police could crack the case. He wasn’t well enough to come see it reinstalled last Wednesday, but his son was there, and friends planned to go visit him immediately afterward. Its rededication is set for August 10th. (EDITED MONDAY – We are now told there are no official service plans so far.).
WEDNESDAY UPDATE: The service is now officially confirmed for 11 am August 19 at Fauntleroy Church.
Now that we’ve got some late-afternoon sunshine, wondering why there’s a more-golden-than-usual cast to it? The Eastern Washington/B.C. wildfires, pointed out John on the WS Blog Facebook wall. He writes, “The recent outbreak of fires is saturating the atmosphere, and the Seattle area is over 50% saturation … the most recent update can be found on www.wunderground.com/wundermap – go to settings below and turn on ‘fire’.” This also has been written about this afternoon by famous forecaster Cliff Mass, who includes imagery to explain the phenomenon.
(WSB video of each candidate’s opening statement) By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
It may be challenging to be a non-Democrat running for office in an overwhelmingly Democratic district, with three Democrats also on the ballot, and at least one news source declaring them the only candidates, but Geoffrey “Mac” McElroy nonetheless scored a touché moment at the end of the 34th District State House Position 2 candidates’ forum on Vashon Island Friday night.
His closing statement was the last one, and it included his suggestion that his three Democratic opponents “never met a tax they didn’t like.” The three – Joe Fitzgibbon, Mike Heavey, Marcee Stone – had each voiced support for a “progressive income tax.”
After McElroy finished, Heavey broke format to address the audience: “Can we take a straw poll? How many of you are in favor of a progressive income tax?”
A majority of the 40-plus attendees raised their hands. Heavey: “Against?” A few hands went up. as was the case when he asked, “Abstain?” He concluded, “Well, then, keep in mind we [Democrats] represent you.”
McElroy parried back, “I’d just like to see you all come up with the same definition of what a ‘progressive income tax’ is.”
One person in the audience somewhere – affiliated with McElroy or not, we have no idea – clapped.
This just in, following our earlier report of a website set up to collect donations to help the family of West Seattle sailor Jarod Newlove, killed last week in Afghanistan. The date and place is now set for a vigil in his memory. From family friend Hailey:
Petty Officer 2nd Class, Jarod Newlove is a West Seattle native. He attended Chief Sealth High School, where he graduated in 2003. He served in the U.S. Navy starting in 2004 and was deployed December of 2009 to Afghanistan. Among his many accomplishments, he touched the heart of many people. We recently learned of Jarod’s death in Afghanistan. He has left behind many memories, stories, family and friends. Together as a community, we want to show our love and support to Jarod and his family.
On Tuesday, August 3rd, we will be celebrating the life of Jarod Newlove. The celebration will take place at Chief Sealth Baseball Field, on Trenton St., from 8:00 pm until the last person leaves. This will be a candlelight vigil, so please bring a candle to light in his honor.
Hailey says the family is requesting that media stay “outside the stadium” – the event is just for family and friends. Again, the website to help his family is at jarodnewlovefamily.blogspot.com.
Tuesday’s the night – all over the peninsula (and the rest of the city), you’ll see “STREET CLOSED” signs marking the spot for block parties in honor of “Night Out” (formerly National Night Out Against Crime), celebrating neighborhoods taking a stand against crime. According to the Seattle Police “Night Out” webpage, the deadline to sign up your neighborhood – and therefore get the right to close off (non-arterial) streets for block parties – is 9 am tomorrow, so you’d better get busy now if you haven’t gotten around to it yet. And we’ll repeat our pitch – we traditionally spend Night Out visiting West Seattle parties for as-it-happens coverage, so if a WSB photojournalist would be welcome to stop by, please let us know where and when your party’s happening (the official Tuesday night time frame is 6-10 pm, but in past years we’ve noticed some neighborhoods don’t really get going till a bit later). Thanks! (Here’s some of our coverage from last year.)
The family friend who is helping organize efforts to assist the family of Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, the West Seattle sailor found dead in Afghanistan last week, has just set up a website: You can make donations to help PO3 Newlove’s family by going to jarodnewlovefamily.blogspot.com; the 25-year-old sailor leaves behind a wife and two very young children. Their friend, Hailey, also says they’re working on plans for a public event to remember and honor PO3 Newlove – no date/place set yet. 4 PM UPDATE: That event is now set for Tuesday – we’ve published a separate story here.
Not as cuddly-looking as the tigers at Point Defiance, but this one is striking just the same, and probably somebody’s keepsake, so Fritz shared the photo in hopes of finding its owner:
Earlier this week I witnessed 3 teens scurrying up my street carrying a large tiger. My wife and our neighbor saw them abandon it in the bushes a few houses away. We rescued it and it has been living in our garage. I would very much like to reunite it with its rightful owner.
It appears made of a polymer, and unfortunately, the youths dropped it before we got it and its jaw has been broken. We have the broken piece.
I would hope that the tiger’s rightful owner would have a photo of the tiger or some way of proving that belongs to them.
If it’s yours, either leave a comment – Fritz promises to check regularly – or e-mail WSB so we can put you in touch. (P.S. – For smaller lost-and-found items with less dramatic backstories, you are welcome to post in the WSB Forums any time!)
The sun that graced the West Seattle Farmers’ Market from the start last weekend may not be there YET today, but the vendors certainly will be. This week’s Ripe and Ready List promises lots of new tree-fruit offerings, among other things. 10 am-2 pm as always, 44th/Alaska. (Also new this week – Friends of Seattle Public Library will be tabling, along with some of the other great local groups you’ll meet at the market every week.) … West Seattle’s newest market, Highland Park Sunday Market, also is scheduled to be in session today – promising (per its FB page):
Fresh eggs, sourdough bread and starter, fresh herbs and mixed greens, etched kitchenware, awesome t-shirts and household linens, hand-crafted jewelry, homemade desserts and sweet treats, delicious pickled veggies, art projects for kids and homemade dog treats!
7 pm and time to start our coverage of the West Seattleites who are in the city’s biggest parade tonight, the Seafair Torchlight Parade. We’re along the parade route downtown. For starters, we just got word from West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival president Tim Winstonthat the Hi-Yu “Dreams Do Come True” float has won the Princess Award – same one last year’s float won! Just got one addition to the list of West Seattleites to watch for – Michelle Edwards, former Hi-Yu Queen, is playing cymbals with the Seahawks’ Blue Thunder. 7:54 PM UPDATE: And again this year, the Hi-Yu rep in the Miss Seafair program has been chosen as a princess – Tim just sent word that Margo Femiano was chosen 1st Princess. (Just got a photo of Margo from tonight’s coronation, via text message – thanks! – added it at left.) ADDED 9:54 PM: The Hi-Yu float went by our spot (by City Hall) a short time ago – here’s video:
11:48 PM: Adding some more video, as promised. Here are the Pathfinder K-8 unicyclists flying by:
And here’s new Seafair First Princess Margo Femiano, riding in the parade:
Margo was Miss West Seattle Hi-Yu for 2008-2009; because Miss Seafair candidates have a busy schedule, as do members of Hi-Yu royalty, Miss Hi-Yu isn’t in the Miss Seafair competition until the summer after her reign ends (Margo was crowned in 2008; she crowned her Hi-Yu successor, Georgia Mitchell, in 2009; and Georgia in turn just crowned her successor, Kelsey Bills, last Monday – Georgia will be Hi-Yu’s contender for Miss Seafair next year).
You of course have to take into consideration the fact that Vashon Island was where the forum was held – Courthouse Square, to be specific, part of a double bill with a forum for candidates in the other big open race that’s on Vashon, West Seattle, White Center and Burien (etc.) ballots, 34th District State House Position 2 (we’ll cover that one in a separate story later).
This race, if you’re just starting to ramp up, is for the County Council seat that used to be held by now-County Executive Dow Constantine. Former Seattle City Councilmember Jan Drago was appointed to do the job until this fall’s election, but wasn’t interested in running to keep it. Four candidates are running, and all were on hand for last night’s forum.
State Sen. Joe McDermott of West Seattle was the only candidate voicing unqualified support for the West Seattle Water Taxi run. Tim Fahey of South Park said he’d only found it useful to “go on dates” (and he hadn’t been aware of the Vashon run until it came up at the forum); Normandy Park City Councilmember Shawn McEvoy said West Seattleites had better “step up” their usage of the passenger ferry (seeming to infer “use it or lose it”); and Diana Toledo of West Seattle was noncommittal, saying she didn’t want to make promises she couldn’t keep.
And that was nowhere near the hottest topic they had to face in the hour-long forum moderated by Seattle University law professor (and Vashon resident) Craig Beles:Read More
He’s scheduled to ride in the Seafair Torchlight Parade downtown in about two hours, but right now, Mayor Mike McGinn is in West Seattle, at the Camp Long Lodge reopening party. It continues till 7 tonight, with tours of the million-dollar renovation work (including the expanded kitchen), cake, and other festivities, and at 7, you’re invited to stay in the park for GreenStage‘s free Shakespeare performance. More photos later; the mayor’s Twitter account just posted a photo of West Seattle-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen speaking (video added later):
Rasmussen was chair of the council’s Parks Committee when voters passed the Parks and Green Spaces Levy, which paid for this project – plus this pic of the grand-reopening cake, attributed to Fauntleroy’s own Original Bakery:
(video substituted for photo, 7:48 pm) And of course, it can’t be a grand opening without a ribboncutting:
While, as Parks project manager Kelly Goold told us during our sneak-peek tour last week, this renovation is meant to help extend the lodge’s life into the future, its past is also something to honor, as Camp Long’s Sheila Brown noted at the party:
Find out more about Camp Long and its programs and features by going here.
Thanks to the tipster who called to tell us about what is apparently the latest broken-glass business burglary case in West Seattle, at the state liquor store in The Junction. A glass company was there fixing the rear door just about an hour ago. We haven’t reached police about the case yet, but the online “911 incident report” map confirms a “commercial burglary” in the 4500 block of California SW, reported to 911 at 3:36 am today. Previously reported cases include Northwest Art and Frame (reported here – a commenter on that story also mentioned break-ins at Uptown and Allstar), Zebra Print and Copy in The Triangle and Freshy’s Coffee in South Admiral (reported here), and The Swinery (mentioned here). ADDED SUNDAY NIGHT: We heard from a witness to the liquor-store burglary who wants to be anonymous:
The robbery happened at 2:30 am Saturday morning. It woke me up; the suspect took one bottle from the place as far as i can tell. He ran through the parking lot going west bound. They brought in a k-9 unit along with the fire department to secure the broken door. A person from the liquor store was brought in and stayed until around 4 am until the fire department completed the boarding up.
We hope to find out more from police Monday about whether this is considered an official “pattern” of break-ins, and what the status of the investigation is.
Remember Melanie‘s amazing photos of a great blue heron, published here two weeks ago? (Follow that link if you didn’t see them the first time!) This time, she shares a photo of baby seagulls, photographed atJack Block Park. Sorry we can’t crop it any closer, but even this size yields something we didn’t know – that baby gulls are speckled.
(WSB photo from Eat Local Now! in October 2009) Last year’s Eat Local Now! – held in West Seattle – was a hit, with hundreds of people sharing an evening of good good, good discussion, and interesting info about food sustainability. Organizers including Sustainable West Seattle and West Seattle-co-founded CoolMom are starting to cook up this year’s event, and hoping you can help:
Eat Local Now! is a joint fundraiser of Sustainable West Seattle, Cool Mom, and The Good Business Network with the mission to promote the importance of and strengthen the local food systems and economies of Seattle and Puget Sound. Last year our dinner served 225+ attendees at the Masonic Hall in West Seattle and was educational, fun, and a fantastic dinner value. This year we are very excited to be partnering with Herban Feast to have the event at their Sodo Park catering venue on September 30th. This beautiful space is sure to make this years event something to be proud of.
Our organizing team would love your help either in the coming weeks or the day of the event. If interested, please attend our next organizing meeting at Big Al’s Brewery (9832 14th Ave SW) 7-9 pm in White Center on August 5th. We could use more help in the areas of marketing the event, seeking food, beverage, or sponsorship donations, organizing a silent auction, decoration, tabling, poster distribution, developing the evening program, or serving and greeting during the event itself. If you can’t make this next meeting, please e-mail Bill Reiswig at bill@sustainablewestseattle.org with your interests. Thank you!
Welcome back, Camp Long Lodge! 4-7 pm today, you’re invited to the reopening party celebrating its levy-funded million-dollar renovation (previewed here). Also today, fun ways to do good deeds – benefit sales, donation drives, “Cones for Kids” in the afternoon on Alki; then tonight, the next edition of West Seattle Outdoor Movies features “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” There’s even more going on – just click ahead for this week’s West Seattle Weekend Lineup, brought to you by Skylark Café and Club (with weekend delights including brunch both days – get a dining coupon on the WSB Coupons page)!Read More
Just came back to West Seattle on the state ferry Tillikum from Vashon (covered the two-race campaign forum – stories in the morning) – without realizing, till the boat was almost docked, that it was a historic run: The last voyage for Captain Lynda Wheeler, Washington State Ferries‘ first female captain. Well-wishes were broadcast on the public-address system just as the Tillikum pulled up to the Fauntleroy dock; the voice urged those on board to applaud Captain Wheeler as she walked off. (We hoped to catch a photo but she was out of sight by the time we drove off the ferry.) In 1977 – according to this timeline – Captain Wheeler became WSF’s first female deck officer (here’s more from HistoryLink).
ADDED SATURDAY 6:48 AM: Turns out someone who read this last night did get a photo – one of the West Seattle-residing candidates at the aforementioned forum. State Sen. (County Council hopeful) Joe McDermott:
I had the opportunity to congratulate her (last) night walking off the boat here at Fauntleroy. She is looking forward to hiking during retirement, but is sleeping in (this) morning.
They balanced, they bounced, they pedaled, they pivoted. And tomorrow night, the unicyclists of Pathfinder K-8 on Pigeon Point will perform for hundreds of thousands of people in the Seafair Torchlight Parade downtown. They’ve been practicing every night this week, so we dropped by tonight to check on the final session. P-E teacher Lou Cutler coaches them – you may remember him from his Make-A-Wish work – listen to his excitement:
Whether you’re going downtown to watch the Torchlight Parade (preceded by the Torchlight Run, and remember that’ll close the Alaskan Way Viaduct northbound from about 5:30 pm-7 pm Saturday) or watching it on TV or online (Channel 7, kirotv.com), the Pathfinder unicyclists are part of an all-star West Seattle lineup you’ll see scattered through the parade – we listed everybody (that we know of so far) here.
EDITOR’S NOTE: When Rene Bibaud showed off her championship jump-rope talents yards from where we were stationed during West Seattle Summer Fest – the clip below is one of two we published during Summer Fest coverage – we thought she seemed like a West Seattleite you might like to get to know better. So WSB contributing reporter Keri DeTore set out to catch Rene in a non-airborne moment.
By Keri DeTore
Reporting for West Seattle Blog
Rope-jumping is one of civilization’s oldest pastimes.
It’s possible that as a Pharaoh-kid, Tutankhamun was jumping vines to pass the time between headdress fittings while his contemporaries in the Pacific Islands were jumping between bamboo poles held on the ground. The Dutch brought rope-jumping with them to America, including their specialty team-building exercise: the “Double Dutch.”
Many of us jumped rope, but gave it up after our first bicycle or video game came along; we now think of it as a simple activity for kids to do when they’re restless — something that you might think doesn’t require much skill or effort. You’d re-think that if you met one of the many boxers who use rope-jumping as a serious workout to refine their speed and coordination – as well as if and when you meet Rene Bibaud, who has elevated rope-jumping to an art and a career, running her own business, Ropeworks.
(Photo courtesy Rene Bibaud)
Rene, who has lived in West Seattle for six years, has won multiple jump-rope championships, coached hundreds of kids and adults, and appeared in Cirque du Soleil’s traveling shows.
You may have noticed the work in front of Potter Construction (WSB sponsor) headquarters along California SW, between Alaska and Morgan Junctions. Potter sent a photo and explanation:
Potter Construction, located at 5606 California Avenue, is renovating the front entrance to their office. The project plan shows new sidewalks, steps and all new landscaping. Construction should be complete in a few weeks and we look forward to the peace and quiet that comes with the end of any construction project!
(Photo by Christopher Boffoli, taken during 2009 Admiral power outage)
Just in from Sara Corn at Safeway: The official closing date for Admiral Safeway is set for midnight Saturday night, August 21st. She adds, “The existing store is expected to be demolished in mid-September, and the new store is estimated to be open late summer 2011.” Corn also says they’ll have a website up “soon” to provide updates on the construction schedule and even a construction webcam, as well as providing information on promotions at the Jefferson Square Safeway, for those who choose to shop there while the Admiral store is closed. (update) The pharmacy will open in its temporary HQ (parking-lot trailer) on Aug. 22nd. (back to original report) The last City Council vote related to the project will be Monday, when final approval is expected for the “alley vacation” giving Safeway the right to build over what is technically an alley on the south side of the site (though you wouldn’t recognize it as one).
Petty Officer 2nd Class, Jarod Newlove is a West Seattle native. He attended Chief Sealth High School, where he graduated in 2003. He served in the U.S. Navy starting in 2004 and was deployed December of 2009 to Afghanistan. Among his many accomplishments, he touched the heart of many people. We recently learned of Jarod’s death in Afghanistan. He has left behind many memories, stories, family and friends. Together as a community, we want to show our love and support to Jarod and his family.
Tuesday’s the night – all over the peninsula (and the rest of the city), you’ll see “STREET CLOSED” signs marking the spot for block parties in honor of “Night Out” (formerly National Night Out Against Crime), celebrating neighborhoods taking a stand against crime. According to the 
that the Hi-Yu “Dreams Do Come True” float has won the Princess Award – 
Welcome back, 
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