West Seattle, Washington
03 Thursday
An e-mail inquiry early this morning led to the realization four weeks have passed since our last report 
on the status of the mysterious death of Jill St. Onge, the 27-year-old West Seattleite who died suddenly in Thailand in early May while on an extended visit there with her fiance’. Ms. St. Onge’s family hasn’t posted an update on the “About Jill” website since late May, but we found a Thailand news story from mid-June that doesn’t appear to have received U.S. coverage so far: The Phuket Gazette reported June 13 that an autopsy report had been released regarding her death and that of another foreign tourist who’d been staying at the same guest house. Its findings were described as “inconclusive,” while ruling out food poisoning, which had briefly been suspected early on. After reading that, we found an e-mail address for a member of Ms. St. Onge’s family, sent a note, and just received this response:
Yes, we have received the autopsy report. However, we are still waiting for the official police report as well as the environmental report being performed by the Thai health department. We are hoping to tie the environmental investigation to the findings of the autopsy.
Thank you,
Marlin St. Onge (Jill’s Father)
Ms. St. Onge, who’d worked at Shadow Land in The Junction, died just a week before she and fiance’ Ryan Kells were scheduled to return to the U.S.
CITY COUNCIL IN WEST SEATTLE: City councilmember sightings in West Seattle are far from rare, but an appearance by the entire City Council is, and that’s exactly what’s happening tonight, 6:30 pm, The Hall at Fauntleroy. It’s the second of two town-hall-format meetings with which the council’s kicking off summer, and this one has something the other one didn’t – a keynote address by a violence-prevention expert from Chicago, Gary Slutkin, who’s spotlighted in this video clip we found:
Also at tonight’s meeting, time is promised for you to voice your ideas on the night’s three big topics – youth violence, public schools, and tree protection. Full agenda here.
SOUTH DELRIDGE/WHITE CENTER COMMUNITY SAFETY COALITION: Tonight’s the monthly meeting of this crime-prevention and safety-evangelizing group, 6 pm, St. James Place (9421 18th SW; map).
PARKS BOARD: As previewed on Wednesday, tonight’s meeting is scheduled to include the board’s final decision (recommendation to the Superintendent) on two issues with West Seattle ramifications: Possible changes in parks’ operating hours, and synthetic turf. 7 pm, parks HQ downtown (map).
ORIGINAL 2:39 AM REPORT: The law-enforcement helicopter Guardian One is involved in a search in Highland Park right now, as are at least two K-9 units and other police — we know they’re looking for one suspect, but don’t know yet what it is that he’s being sought for — we’re monitoring via scanner, where it appears they’ve been discussing the Riverview Playfield area (map) as well. 2:49 AM UPDATE: “One in custody” is the report on the scanner, so the search is over. (The chopper led the ground crews right to the suspect with one of its specialized nighttime tracking capabilities.) 3:45 AM UPDATE: Southwest Precinct Lt. Ron Smith confirms this was related to the 1:32 am “motor vehicle accident” call on the 911 log at Highland Park Way/West Marginal Way (map) – he explains that before officers arrived, there was a report “a driver from an involved vehicle fled from the scene.” The “adult male” suspect who was subsequently arrested was booked, he says, for hit-and-run.
(February 2009 photo by Christopher Boffoli)
Back in February, WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli reported on an unforgettable group of West Seattle women, the Rosie the Riveter group, after they presented a program at The Mount. If you missed these trailblazing women then – here’s your next chance to see them. The news comes from organizer Georgie Bright Kunkel:
The West Seattle Rosie the Riveter group will present a program at Bridge Park Retirement Residence on 35th Avenue SW [in High Point; map] on July 16th at 3:00 p.m. The public is invited.
We will sing along to tunes popular during WWII, hear from the Rosies that worked during WWII and view a display of original Saturday Evening Post covers, advertisements and illustrations from WWII years. The original Rosie the Riveter cover is in this display.
Georgie Bright Kunkel, organizer of the Rosie the Riveter Group, invites any woman who worked during WWII to call 206-935-8663 in order to join with other Rosie the Riveters. You don’t have to have been an actual riveter to be a Rosie. We want to hear your story about it all.
Georgie also reminds us that she’ll be featured on KING5 TV’s Evening Magazine in the not-too-distant future (we don’t have the date yet) for one of her other claims to fame: Being the oldest open-mike standup comic in Seattle.
Julie Enevoldsen from Friends of Southwest Branch Library sends word that:
Southwest Branch’s manager, Theresa Mayer, has a new position as Outreach Services Manager at the Central Library … Mark Guzman, Assistant Manager, will continue with Southwest. After July 8th, our new manager (shared, as before, with the South Park branch) will be Jane Appling.
Julie says that her group hopes to schedule a meet-and-greet reception for the new manager, but there’s no firm plan/date yet.
Jen just sent this alert:
My friend’s car was stolen sometime this morning after 8 am from in front of the house. It’s a 1991 Honda Prelude, Red, with Canadian (Alberta) plates. Just filed a police report. The car was parked on the street on 37th Ave SW at Findlay.
That chart is courtesy of Metro reps we talked with at today’s meeting of the South Portal Working Group that’s helping the state, city, county and port work through the process of planning how all the major transportation projects between here and downtown are going to fit together. The chart gives a simplified version of the newest projected construction timelines laid out at the meeting, and it’s what Metro is using to explain why it wants to delay the launch of the West Seattle RapidRide bus line that was originally planned for 2011. We first reported the delay proposal last week, after it was announced to the King County Regional Traffic Committee; Metro’s Victor Obeso confirmed to us in a followup conversation that the construction timetable is the reason they want to hold off on using the term RapidRide (and its signature elements). As the chart shows, late 2011 through early 2012 is the period with the most overlapping construction impacts, so Metro wants to hold off on RR branding till late 2012. Today, King County’s Ron Posthuma reiterated that increased bus service will be available starting in early 2010 (that includes the 54 and 55 routes, Obeso told us last week), as announced last September, funded from $30 million mitigation money from the state to make up for the impacts of the Viaduct-replacement project. And according to a one-sheet he provided at today’s meeting (containing the chart you see above), other elements of RapidRide will kick in sooner as well:
Metro is committed to working with the City of Seattle and the State to improve the transit priority pathways between West Seattle and downtown Seattle. Capital facility improvements, including signal priority, bus bulbs and transit lanes, to improve the speed and reliability of service in West Seattle currently being planned and designed in the RapidRide corridor would be constructed during 2010 and 2011. Existing routes and riders will benefit from these improvements as they come on line. Metro is proposing the delay in the RapidRide branded passenger facility including shelters and other amenities.
The same one-sheet details the increased West Seattle service as follows:
Starting in February 2010, Metro is proposing adding additional trips during weekday peak hours to and from West Seattle … During the remainder of 2010, mitigation funding will support the following:
-Additional peak trips on routes serving heavy ridership corridors impacted by (viaduct) construction.
-Additional trips in the West Seattle RapidRide corridor between Fauntleroy Ferry, Alaska Junction, and downtown Seattle.
-Maintenance of existing route schedules
One more RapidRide note: The notion of a Delridge RapidRide line seems to have slid further into a dateless future — according to the response received when Pigeon Point resident Pete Spalding (one of West Seattle’s three South Portal group reps) asked why it wasn’t mentioned on the current documents, though it had appeared on “hybrid scenario” renderings earlier in the Viaduct-replacement-discussion process. Posthuma said the county is still “looking at it” but wouldn’t get more specific. Meantime, we’re writing separately about the other information revealed at today’s South Portal Working Group meeting (for a sneak preview, look at the WSB Twitter feed and scroll down a bit; one commenter there said it sounds like a scenario that will make her want to telecommute for about six years).
Thanks to Ray C for sending that photo and word of a major police response at Fairmount Park Elementary (map), which has been closed for two years, though it was supposed to be reopening for summer school this year. The police were gone when we went by to check it out in person, but Southwest Precinct Lt. Ron Smith has just confirmed to WSB that it was a break-in, adding, “Responding officers located a broken window and observed freshly painted graffiti in the school.” He says “three juveniles” were “taken into custody and due to their age, released to their parents at the precinct.” This is at least the third break-in there in two months; we also covered burglaries reported at Fairmount Park in April (with six arrests) and in May (intruder/s in that incident were reportedly gone before police arrived).
Recognize that bird? That’s “Wollet,” the Lincoln Park-dwelling baby barred owl we first met here in photos shared by Kim and Jordan Petram; other photographers have since provided updates, including Trileigh, who shot these two (and has more on Flickr). But even as Wollet starts looking more grownup from one angle, Trileigh points out, from another, the owlet is still a “fluffball”:
Two months after first word of the Admiral Neighborhood Association‘s first-ever summer concert series at Hiawatha (which WSB is co-sponsoring), concert coordinator Katy Walum confirms the official slate is out. Here’s how ANA describes it:
Thursday, July 23rd – Alma Villegas – An exquisite and passionate selection of Latin standards and favorites.
Thursday, July 30th – Tom Colwell & The Southbound Odyssey – singing the songs – some you know, some you don’t – for life’s journey. From West Seattle’s “Red Baron” in the 70’s, and more recently from Seeger’s 90th Birthday Celebration at our own Admiral Theater and the NW Folklife Festival, they are folk-rooted and fun.
Thursday, August 6th – A TWO act night with Swamp Soul and Ragged Glory — Swamp Soul is Cajun/Zydeco foot-stomping music. Ragged Glory is a lot of Neil Young and a little more.
Thursday, August 13th – Elizabeth Carpenter Trio — This trio delivers your favorite jazz standards from the 1930s and beyond.
Thursday, August 20th – Brian Waite Band
Thursday, August 27th – West Seattle Big Band — A local favorite who donates 100% of their earnings to raising awareness of and funding instrumental music programs in West Seattle area public schools.
The Admiral Neighborhood Association’s free concerts will be at 6:30 pm Thursdays on the east lawn at Hiawatha – after that same spot plays host to the July 14th West Seattle Hi-Yu Concert in the Park. Elsewhere in West Seattle, Providence Mount St. Vincent will bring back its Friday night concert series in August (the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th), too, so — also counting outdoor venues such as Cafe Rozella – this will be a summer full of outdoor music (not to mention outdoor movies!).
Thanks to Judy Pickens for telling us about this while we were visiting her Fauntleroy home on other business today: 
Longtime West Seattle entrepreneur and community advocate Helen Sutton has passed away. She ran the La Grace Dress Shop in The Junction for many years – a place where many young people in West Seattle got their first job and were mentored by Ms. Sutton. She also was a Board Member Emeritus of the West Seattle/Fauntleroy YMCA (WSB sponsor) according to the Y’s Josh Sutton (no relation), who kindly assisted us with research on Ms. Sutton’s many achievements – such as her term as president of the Washington State Federation of Women’s Clubs in the mid-’50s (read about it here – the story includes a lot of biographical information too). She also was closely involved with South Seattle Community College, where a rose garden in the Arboretum bears her name. Ms. Sutton died last Friday in Yakima, where she had moved to be close to her niece, and was 95 years old. Her niece is still deciding on whether to have a service – if there is one, we’re told, it’ll be here in West Seattle (where Ms. Sutton also had been a member of Fauntleroy Church and a resident of The Kenney) but not immediately.
Thanks to Gatewood writer Pam from Nerd’s Eye View for that photo from low tide today (almost as low as yesterday) at Lincoln Park. We also received some great pix from “Admiral Lady” that we didn’t get around to adding yesterday, like this one:
Tomorrow’s low tide is still notably low, if you haven’t had a chance to be tide-walk yet but might get a chance tomorrow – minus 2.9, in the 1 pm hour – here’s a chart.
Can’t think of the last time we had occasion to link to a commentary by Ken Schram (with whom we worked at KOMO back in the days he hosted Town Meeting), but Kay sent word of this one, so we’re sharing: Schram is giving one of his not-necessarily-coveted “Schrammies” to the judge in last week’s sentencing (WSB courtroom coverage here) of the teenagers convicted in connection with last year’s attack on Southwest Precinct Officer Jason McKissack. Read his commentary here.
While out in The Junction covering the car-on-side crash Tuesday afternoon, we noticed a forklift in action over by West Seattle Bowl. Further investigation revealed that, like nearby Fauntleroy Way, West Seattle Bowl is embarking on midst of lane-resurfacing work. Materials arrived yesterday and were moved into place, and prep work will continue for the rest of the week. West Seattle Bowl’s Jeff Swanson tells WSB that over the next three or four weeks, they’ll resurface two lanes at a time – all the others will be open, so no change in hours or operations expected.
Since West Seattle is home to city parks big (Alki and Lincoln) and small 
(California Place, Morgan Junction), not to mention more than a few inbetween (like Fauntleroy, at left), these are meetings you’ll want to know about: First, Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher is wrapping up a round of “hear from the public” events, and the closest he is getting to West Seattle is a gathering tonight at the South Park Community Center (map), 7 pm. Meantime, the city Parks Board (chaired by Alki’s Jackie Ramels) – meets tomorrow night downtown, and the major topic of West Seattle interest will be the board’s recommendation on whether to change some parks’ operating hours. Read on for toplines of the West Seattle-specific recommendations (all detailed in this briefing paper) …Read More
For months now, Galena White and volunteers have toiled to get the Delridge Produce Cooperative off the ground. As reported previously, they’ve received a city grant for what was first billed as a “mobile produce market” but is really a trial run of a “community-supported produce stand” – which will be handing out free, fresh, healthy produce at various locations this summer. However, that takes people power – as Galena explains:
We’re a group of volunteers in the Delridge Neighborhood of West Seattle who want to open a community-run produce store to provide affordable, sustainably-grown freshfruits and vegetables to the people of Delridge by 2010. Delridge is a healthy food “desert,” and our goal is to increase the health of the residents by increasing the quality of food. This spring, we applied for and received an award of $15,000 from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods to put on a series of demonstration booths this summer.
The goal of these demonstrations is to show the residents of Delridge what it would be like to have a community-supported produce stand, to hand out free produce and information about the importance of eating locally and staying healthy, and to build the foundations for improvement of local food systems. Please visit the project page to learn more about the project. We need help to make this project happen. … Please refer anyone who wishes to know to this list of available volunteer positions.
Though we currently do not have an official Obituaries section, when someone takes the time and trouble to ask us to publish an obituary, so that other community members know of the passing, we certainly oblige, and will continue doing so if you have occasion to seek publication of one. (editor@westseattleblog.com) This morning, Genie wrote to ask that we share news of the upcoming funeral for her sister, longtime West Seattleite Diane Casey Williams:
Born on September 28 1937, she lived most of her life in West Seattle with her husband Orval and her boys, Mark, Dale, Casey and Tom. She was a fixture at Farmers Insurance at “The Junction,” working for Ray Atwood since she was 18 when she graduated from Holy Rosary. She then moved up in the insurance world achieving the high rank of Average Adjuster for maritime claims at Frank B Hall and Fis Maritime, a feat rare for a woman. Diane was a competent, compassionate worker, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and sister who had care-taking down to a science. I have never met anyone who knew my “big sister” who didn’t love her. Funeral services will be held at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on Friday, June 26, 2009 at 10:00 am, followed by a reception at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Please join the family in celebrating Diane’s life.
Since the WSB Forums launched more than a year and a half ago, originally mostly because people wanted to request and receive recommendations for local businesses and services, they’ve facilitated a lot of other connections too, with more than 61,000 posts and 5,000 members. The latest – a vanpool that’s got room for somebody new. If you commute between West Seattle and the north end of Lake Washington, check out the post here – and check out what else is new in the Forums here.
Here’s an update on the upcoming volleyball camps at West Seattle High School, from Westside assistant coach Jim Hardy:
Help Sponsor the Westside Volleyball Camp with Idaho Vandals Coach Steve Whitaker @ West Seattle HS
We are still accepting registrations for July’s Volleyball Camp for HS and Middle School age players. The camp will run Monday-Thursday July 6th-9th, 1:00-5:30 at West Seattle High School. The fee for the Camp is $120. (Some scholarships and waivers are available.) This is a fundraiser for the VB team, and more sponsors are needed! Contact Head Coach Gail Mowrer to register. Phone 206.935.3231 or 206.293.5063 E-mail: mowrerpowers@comcast.net
Registration form and flyer are on the WSHS Volleyball Web Site:
www.wshsvb.greatserve.com/WestsideCamp.htm
(photo by Christopher Boffoli, added 10:41 pm)
We’re on our way to check this out — 7700 block of 15th SW. 10:13 PM UPDATE: Just arrived, and most of the initial big callout is gone. No obvious sign of fire; going to try to find out what it was all about, but clearly NOT a big deal. 10:19 PM UPDATE: Talked to firefighters. Contents of a wastebasket caught fire. Out now, everybody OK.
No big splashy announcements of this closure yet but it hit our radar when Robert asked a question on the WSB Facebook page: The Alaskan Way Viaduct will close for much of Saturday because of this area’s first-ever Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. Specifically, it’s slated to close 4 am-4 pm northbound, 4 am-1:15 pm southbound; the times are listed on The Viaduct’s website.
ORIGINAL 8:39 PM REPORT: Robin e-mailed to share this information:
In the interest of alerting our neighbors: our car (in our driveway, in the back yard – but fence gate was open) was rifled through sometime between 3 pm Monday and 10 am Tuesday (today). I think it must have been kids, or at least a “kind” burglar, because they took maps, our tire warranty, hand sanitizer, and a wind up cell phone charger; as well as the case only to my GPS – which they tossed in the alley at the end of the driveway, but left the satellite radio ???? I noticed the passenger door was ajar so I looked in and saw napkins, salt pkgs, and straws on the floor. Our dogs didn’t even bark, or if they did we were bad dog owners and told them “It’s OK.” Anyway, no real harm, just an FYI to folks near Thistle, 22nd, and Delridge [map]. We did file a report with the police.
Worth noting here that the South Delridge/White Center Community Safety Coalition meets this Thursday night – both Seattle Police and King County Sheriff’s Office law enforcers are usually on hand, since this group’s coverage area is on both sides of the line – 6 pm Thursday, St. James Place, 9421 18th SW (map).
ADDED 8:50 PM: We just got word from Justin of a home break-in at 32nd/Trenton (map) that he says police are investigating right now. The burglar/s broke in through the kitchen window and stole items including a laptop.
(photo added 5:44 pm, thanks to Dubster)
ORIGINAL 5:09 PM REPORT: On our way to check. Update: A car is on its side by the Bank of America. Alaska is blocked both ways. 2nd update: 2 cars are involved. At least one person is in a medic unit. Alaska is blocked between 41st and Fauntleroy.
(photo by Christopher Boffoli, same car after it was righted, added 5:56 pm)
5:34 PM UPDATE: The man driving one of the cars involved is unhurt – the woman driving the other car suffered only a minor arm injury, according to police. The wreckage is being cleared but there’s enough broken glass in the road that it may be blocked for a while. We have someone at the scene and will update when it reopens.
(added 6:06 pm — Christopher’s photo of the other car that was involved, whose driver wasn’t hurt at all, according to police
5:36 PM UPDATE: That was fast – Alaska is now reopened westbound.
5:46 PM UPDATE: And Alaska is now open in both directions. So far, no word on how exactly this crash happened, but we’ll be following up. (6:10 pm) Adding one more photo – thanks to Miss Courtney for this one, showing some context on where the crash happened:
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