West Seattle, Washington
10 Tuesday
Click that picture to play the video clip — and a few seconds in, you’ll hear the captain’s farewell, as she sailed the Elliott Bay Water Taxi away from West Seattle for the last time at 11 pm last night. (We were at Seacrest for the WT’s first arrival of the year on 4/27/08, so it seemed only right to see it off for the season finale.) Twelve hours earlier, we were on the EBWT as a prelude to County Councilmember Dow Constantine’s media briefing — we shared most of the information (and some pix) in this earlier report, but here’s one more loose end – his reiteration of the importance of going to the King County Ferry District public hearing Monday afternoon to let other board members know you support the WT as they get ready to decide whether to reauthorize the Ferry District levy (or e-mailing your support):
That hearing, again, is 1:30 pm Monday at the Council Chambers in the King County Courthouse downtown. (And if you just can’t be there, e-mail your thoughts about the Water Taxi to info@kingcountyferries.org) Meantime, one last tidbit of video — one of those clips that would wind up on the cutting-room floor but the Internet is infinite, so we’re tacking it on for those who like to see behind the scenes too – following the Moose and Councilmember Constantine over to the boat next door for the media briefing:Read More
As we reported from the courthouse Friday afternoon, the three-week trial of an Alki 18-year-old came to a dramatic conclusion with a King County Superior Court jury finding him not guilty on all counts stemming from the deadly shooting 10/13/07 inside a car at 59th/Admiral. Three hours after the verdict, records show, he was released from county jail — where he had spent more than one year and two weeks. Ahead, our wrapup of this case — what’s next — and video reaction from the lawyer who took the teenager’s case for free, and won:Read More
They didn’t win the league title, but the West Seattle High School Wildcats have no time to dwell on that – now it’s on to the playoffs, after last night’s loss to Eastside Catholic. Here’s our full report, including a video interview with the coach:Read More
That’s our quick clip from Skeleton Theatre, staged annually with “talking” skeletons in the yard at 36th/Hanford (here’s a map; here’s the preview we published Thursday). Big crowd when we stopped by in the 8 pm hour last night; they’ll do it all again tonight, 6-9 pm (be prepared to park and walk a couple blocks). Not far from there, Todd spotted a landlocked Jaws – and says he heard the movie theme music playing in the background:
Next, some real animals — 2 costumed dogs. First, Emily sent this photo of Fiona:
And Lisa wanted to share this pic of her puggle pup Biffy:
We’ve got a cute human to show you too — Jamie‘s son Owen in “Mr. Roboto” mode:
A few more jack-o-lanterns … Debbie in Morgan Junction sent these (and gives a shoutout to zombiepumpkins.com as a “great site for pumpkin patterns”):
And from Jeff Gilbert of Feedback Lounge (also in M-Junction) fame says someone “anonymously sent this (to him) claiming (it’s) a West Seattle pumpkin”:
Ready to move on to the winter holidays now? Admiral Church has a holiday bazaar today, 9 am-3 pm! And one more bridge between the holidays – this photo came in on Halloween, but was from the Kiwanis Halloween Carnival a week earlier at Hiawatha:
West Seattle Hi-Yu Summer Festival vice president Deena Mahn sent the photo with this info:
The WS Hi-Yu 08-09 Junior Court, Princesses Elyse Mitchell and Anna Fuller, along with Queen Zoe Mahn, struck a ‘glam’ pose at the Hiawatha Community Center Halloween Carnival on Friday, Oct 24th. The royalty trio greeted tykes to teens and passed out participant ribbons to ghouls, witches, and other costumed participants at their first official event. Look for the Royalty Court at the upcoming annual Kiwanis Breakfast on Saturday, Dec 6th, Masonic Temple. They will be selling hand-blown glass holiday ornaments ($25) and ‘new style’ Hi-Yu collector pins ($5).
WSB covered the Junior Court’s crowning last July 18 (and the Senior Court’s crowning a few days later).
Final score Eastside Catholic 38, West Seattle High School 14 — EC wins the Metro League title as the Wildcats suffer their first loss after an undefeated season. We’re at the stadium to get reaction; complete report later. (Looks like WSHS will play Enumclaw in the playoffs next week; here’s their latest game.)
Yes, Halloween is for grownups too. Those are some of the hard-working Highland Park Action Committee leaders who set up a Halloween haunt for all ages at the HP Improvement Club building tonight — replete with fog machine:
Over in The Junction, a couple parties are under way, including the Ghostly Gala at Twilight:
That last photo reminds us, Twilight’s Mary Enslow still doesn’t have her stolen motorcycle back – stay on the lookout. Meantime, one more scene from Admiral businesses’ trick-or-treat extravaganza this afternoon – big stream of families drawn to Atomic Boys, its first year to share in the tradition:
Lots more Halloween pix to come, including yours (e-mail us!).
Quick note while we stop briefly at WSB HQ during Halloween coverage (2/3 of the team) and WSHS football coverage (the other third’s there, reporting frequent updates at twitter.com/wsbbizdev, score here when it’s over, plus full wrapup): Gas at Arco and 76 on Delridge, 2.49/regular. We also have been to 4th Avenue Costco, where it was 2.43 (photo left). Anyone want to bet yet if we’ll go below $2? (P.S. Back on the Halloween theme – we’ve gotten a dozen trick-or-treaters here in Upper Fauntleroy within barely 10 minutes. Big change from years past.)
Admiral District trick-or-treating (map/list of participants) continues till 6; Westwood Village till 7; lots more here. Here’s our first video from Admiral:
That’s the spooky spider dangling by the door at Alki Bike and Board (WSB sponsor). Next: photos showing the Admiral District was truly abuzz:
Thanks to Luca the baby bumblebee for holding still there, sort of, while we checked out trick-or-treaters at Click! Design That Fits (WSB sponsor). Next one’s the crew at Head-to-Toe Day Spa:
And this one was taken at Linda’s Flowers and Gifts:
Be sure to send us your Halloween pix later if you want to share!
BULLETIN: Verdict for the 18-year-old defendant: Not guilty, not of murder, not of manslaughter, not of anything. His mother cried, “Oh my God,” sitting in the front row. More shortly. 4:15 PM UPDATE: Took extra time to get to “shortly” — we talked with defense lawyer Robert Perez after he went down a floor to handle paperwork for his client’s immediate release. The trial is not completely over — on Monday, jurors will return in order to decide another matter: Perez filed a motion for the state to pay his client’s legal costs if he was cleared. We’ll be there for that part of the case too. Separate full report later recapping the case and today’s developments. (Again, full archive of trial coverage is at the bottom of last night’s story.)
ORIGINAL 2:37 PM POST: There’s word the jury has reached a verdict in the murder trial that only WSB has been covering, with an Alki 18-year-old claiming self-defense in the deadly shooting of 33-year-old Francisco Bailey-Ortiz inside a car at 59th/Admiral on 10/13/07. I am now standing by in the downtown courtroom of Superior Court Judge Richard Eadie, with reporter Rachel Gabrielle – who’s been covering the trial – on the way here, and I will post the verdict as soon as it’s read. (To catch up on the story, follow the links at the bottom of Rachel’s latest report.) – TR
SHARE YOUR HALLOWEEN PIX WITH YOUR WEST SEATTLE NEIGHBORS: The pumpkin pix have been great (find them all by scrolling through our Holidays coverage archive), and now, after tonight’s fun, whatever you’re up to, please send pix – we’re going to get around to as many events as we can, but we can only pedal so fast; send pix to editor@westseattleblog.com, and we’ll put together the best wrapup of West Seattle Halloween ’08, with your help! (Remember, the events are all listed here.)
FORUM FEATURES ADDED: If you haven’t been in the WSB Forums yet today, we’ve added a few features that have been in the works for a while, by members’ request; read about (and see) ’em here.
Moments ago, that’s County Councilmember Dow Constantine and the Mariner Moose on board the Water Taxi with us and dozens of others – we’re publishing this from the lower deck (too rainy to be out on the upper deck, darn), on our way downtown for a media briefing on the WT’s recordsetting ’08 season, which ends after the last run tonight. West Seattle Chamber of Commerce executive director Patti Mullen is on board too and she will be part of the media briefing as well. More later! 11:59 AM UPDATE: Media briefing’s over. Here’s a group shot of everybody who spoke:
From left, Rob Johnson from the Transportation Choices Coalition; you know the next two; Patti Mullen from the WS Chamber; and Argosy Cruises CEO Kevin Clark, who paid tribute to the 10-year partnership his company has had with the Water Taxi program (first run, 5/23/98). The briefing, by the way, was on a bigger boat next to the Water Taxi’s mooring, Argosy’s Spirit of Seattle – the WT had to continue on its regular schedule. Councilmember Constantine, who spoke as chair of the King County Ferry District executive committee, said WT ridership has grown 70 percent in the past three years (almost 107K in 2005, almost 192K this year). It is scheduled to go year-round in 2010. Remember that hearing coming up Monday, as mentioned here; we’ll add a WT update later today/tonight with some video from today’s briefing – meantime, you can read the full, official news season-ender news release here – also added, a photo of The Moose at the Water Taxi wheel:Read More
RIDE THE WATER TAXI WITH THE MARINER MOOSE: Reminder, that’s at 11 am today. After tonight, the Elliott Bay Water Taxi‘s docked till next year.
ADMIRAL DISTRICT TRICK OR TREATING: 3-6 pm. Here’s the map of participating businesses. Yes, the weather’s supposed to improve.
WESTWOOD VILLAGE TRICK OR TREATING: 5-7 pm. Full Halloween list is on the Holidays page; West Seattle Weekend Lineup‘s coming up shortly too.
FOLLOW THE WEST SEATTLE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL GAME TONIGHT VIA OUR TWITTER UPDATES: In case you can’t get to the big game at Memorial Stadium — by popular demand, we are moving the updates OFF the regular westseattleblog twitter account. Co-publisher Patrick, who has been reporting on the games in recent weeks both during and after, will have running updates on his account, wsbbizdev – watch it on the Web at twitter.com/wsbbizdev, and you will also see it on our WSB Twitter page, which explains a little more about what Twitter is if you’re not using it. We’ll also temporarily add a sidebar box to this page below the turquoise one where our latest Twitter update can always be found.
(WSB photos added 8:50/9:13 am; #1 by Patrick Sand, #2 by Christopher Boffoli)
Thanks to Manuel for the tip that the 54X bus had broken down (headed for downtown). We’re at the scene – it’s at Edmunds, blocking a lane so traffic is diverting around it. According to Manuel, a wheel fell off; we’re working to verify exactly what went wrong. 8:32 AM UPDATE: Metro supervisor at the scene confirms a wheel did come off, but the bus had a veteran driver who got it safely to the side of the road. Nobody hurt; everybody transferred to another bus relatively quickly; the bus will be towed shortly, but till then, it’s still slower going heading northbound on Fauntleroy. 9:20 AM UPDATE: Keri, who was on the bus when it happened, e-mailed this:
The bus seemed to shudder and skid a bit, as if it was trying to stop on wet pavement and couldn’t. It came to a halt and felt tilted. One woman suddenly said “tire!” (I thought she said “fire!” yikes.) She then said, “our tire just rolled by us!”
As we were getting off the bus, the driver said we actually lost two. We were all extremely grateful that this didn’t happen while we were on the viaduct.
Happy Halloween! No pix of this yet, but last night, Walking on Logs at the end of The Bridge was surrounded by glowing jack-o-lanterns. Didn’t see it far enough in advance to pull over for pix. Eddie e-mailed that he saw cars there just after 8 pm. Let us know if you know who did it – and/or if you have pix! Now, the latest WSB’er pumpkins:
That’s from Meredith in Admiral. Next, a jack-o-lantern group from Benjamin at 13th/Webster:
And two from John Moore of Northwest Insurance Group (WSB sponsor):
John also sent an Obama-o-lantern — one of several we have, along with two other celebrity (nonpolitical, more or less) carvings; just click ahead:Read More
The biggie, of course, West Seattle High School vs. Eastside Catholic at Memorial Stadium, 7:30 tomorrow, for the Metro League title, which WSHS last won in 1961 and EC last won in 1993. But there’s another big game: Bil Hood sends word that the Seattle Lutheran High School Saints are ranked 10th in their statewide division by Bsports.org, and they’re taking on the Sultan High School Turks at West Seattle Stadium at 7 tomorrow night.
Jury deliberations have begun in the trial of the Alki 18-year-old charged with murdering the 33-year-old man he says sexually abused him for years. This is the third week of the trial that WSB is covering, start to finish, as followup to our initial coverage of the 10/13/07 shooting (and updates in the ensuing months); read on for the latest report from our courtroom correspondent:Read More
They wouldn’t give us their names — it was a masquerade, after all — but they were ghoulish greeters for tonight’s West Seattle Helpline fundraising wine-tasting and silent-auction event at The Sanctuary at Admiral. Look at the lineup of wine glasses:
Once we get past Halloween, there’s a big fundraiser for Furry Faces Foundation this Saturday at Beveridge Place Pub in Morgan Junction; we first told you about “Catsino” when F3 announced it at Summer Fest and promoted it in the Grand Parade. Tonight, F3’s Teri Ensley (photo right) and volunteer helpers met at BPP for some preparatory work:
Here’s the scoop on Catsino, 2-6 pm Saturday. The day after, Furry Faces also is involved with the Morgan Junction Pet Adoption Stroll — noon-4 pm Sunday, check out Pet Elements, Stella Ruffington, and The Wash Dog for adoptable pets you might want to take home.
He’s been on our Holidays page – and now sadly we have word that this inflatable “Boogie” (from “Nightmare Before Christmas”) is in the hands of thieves. Brian just e-mailed:
Unfortunately within the last 90 minutes, somebody came in our front yard near 42nd and Andover and stole him. We are checking with our neighbors to see if they saw anything or captured any footage on their security cameras.
Please send a message out to the wonderful people in West Seattle letting them know to be on the lookout for Boogie and alert the blog if they see him. And for those that may be reading this and know
anything about this, returning Boogie back to our front porch would be the right thing to do.
That’s probably the only front yard in West Seattle with not one, but two pirate ships (and our photo doesn’t even show the BIGGER one). It’s the scene of the third annual edition of the 36th/Hanford Halloween hit Skeleton Theatre; the final stages of construction were going fast and furious when we stopped by last night to check in with its creators, and what they’re assembling sounds more Hollywood than ever. The skeletons themselves were still in semi-hiding; more on them in a moment. During our visit, Chris Walker, wife Maia Low and a continually growing cast of friends, neighbors, and family members (meet some of them here) were toiling away to finish transforming the front yard into the stage for the free show that is bound to delight visitors Friday and Saturday nights – video clips just ahead, starting with the skeletons themselves (and the explanation of one skeleton’s mysterious origins):Read More
Co-publisher Patrick is just back from Gov. Gregoire‘s whirlwind tour of The Junction. (With her in that photo, State Sen. Joe McDermott at left, State Rep. Sharon Nelson in back, and Skip Dreps, local veterans’ advocate and 34th District Democrats member.) After her group Q/A event at West 5, we got a quick one-on-one exclusive as she headed across the Walk-All-Ways intersection and asked her whether there’s REALLY going to be an Alaskan Way Viaduct (Central Waterfront) decision by the end of the year. She said, “Yes,” repeatedly, then offered some elaboration when we asked if there’s any direction in which she’s leaning – read on for for that video clip, and more on this afternoon’s West Seattle campaign stop:Read More
Two West Seattle Crime Watch updates for you right now: First, a followup on yesterday’s arrest of the woman accused of using stolen credit cards for 
$2,000 worth of purchases at local businesses. Southwest Precinct Officer Brian Ballew tells WSB that the item involved in the biggest of those purchases — a $700 fountain from West Seattle Nursery (WSB sponsor) — has been returned to the nursery today. The 53-year-old woman was booked into jail last night; as for how she got caught — Officer Ballew says she had pre-purchased some items at a local business, and before she returned for them yesterday, they and police had matched her to the investigation. Meantime, in separate Crime Watch news, we just got word of another break-in with the “method of entry” involving a BB gun – for those details and what police are saying about this apparent burglary wave, read on:Read More
Just posted on the city webpage that provides first notice of upcoming Design Review Board meetings: The proposed Admiral Safeway rebuild goes back before the Southwest DRB for a second round of Early Design Guidance (the first one didn’t go well) at 6:30 pm November 20th, West Seattle (Admiral) Library branch. (P.S. Want to be on the board? They’re recruiting! Scroll down this page to “2009 openings.”)
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