3809 Admiral fire, maybe more to the story?
Received an intriguing note yesterday from someone saying she works with one of 
the two people forced out of their house by the Admiral/38th fire on Sunday night. The note-writer says the victims believe the fire was caused by something electrical, not “smoking materials” as the Fire Department was quoted in the P-I as saying, because, says the note-writer, neither of the victims smoke. We called the Fire Deparment’s public info office and left a message asking if anything about the suspected cause of this fire had changed; they didn’t call back. The note-writer says the folks at their unnamed workplace have started a collection for the fire victim, who reportedly suffered some other recent personal tragedy too. We’ll try the Fire Department again later …
Election countdown
The November 6th election is exactly six weeks away. 2007 is not as glamorous an election year as next one will be, with marquee offices like President and Governor on the ballot in ’08, but this one’s a bit of a sleeper, featuring ballot issues that could affect our community for years to come.
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Seal survivor gets a name
Brenda Peterson of the Seal Sitters sent us an update on the seal caught in a dangerous situation before a heroic rescue last night. If you would like to volunteer, e-mail us (please be sure to include your phone #, which will be used for no other purpose than forwarding to Brenda):
The same small pup is back on the beach today and resting now that the audio tape is untangled from his back flipper. We have named this pup Singer, because of the rather poignant audio connection that we are grateful will no longer harm him. He is still underweight, which means he may be getting weaned and just learning to fish for himself. There are a few seal sitters there but we always need more volunteers to send us a note with their phone numbers. Thanks!
West Seattle Gas Price Watch returns
Time to get back on the horse and resume galloping around WS checking on gas prices, now that the price of regular unleaded is perched on the precipice of 3 bucks once again, after bottoming out in the $2.60s just six weeks ago. Two 76/Conoco Phillips stations in WS share the honors of highest per-gallon price for that grade as of late this morning, Fauntleroy/Alaska (left) and Lincoln Park. At the low end of the scale is Arco on Delridge, by Home Depot, $2.85/gallon for regular unleaded as of late morning. We’ve seen prices past $3 in other parts of town; the latest national coverage suggests prices won’t be dropping again any time soon.
Brevity can equal levity
This reminds us that Seattle Public Schools had sent around a press release recently mentioning that just-retired assistant principal Nels Enquist from Chief Sealth HS will be honored as a “Distinguished Principal” at next month’s Association of Washington School Principals conference. But CSHS might want to add a letter or two to this tribute spotted on the school’s marquee this morning:
From the inbox: Any other ex-Atlantans?
Received in e-mail today from new WSB reader Maryanne:
Hi! I am new to Seattle and particularly West Seattle. Is anyone out there from Atlanta? I am trying to compare my cool little neighborhood here to one out there… I live in “Cabbagetown” I know it’s strange but it is the best little neighborhood ever! Little “shotgun” houses, everyone has a dog, a porch where we all say hello while walking by, a very unique and not uptight neighborhood. Where is my cabbagetown out there?
Shut up and play yer guitar
Last week’s post on West Seattle’s most famous daddy sparked a lot of comments. He’s back in the news tonight as CNN is reporting you’ll be able to get his latest album with your next latte starting next week.
Starbucks Corp. plans to give away 50 million free digital songs to customers in all of its domestic coffee houses to promote a new wireless iTunes music service that’s about to debut in select markets. From Oct. 2 to Nov. 7, baristas in the company’s more than 10,000 U.S. stores will hand out about 1.5 million “Song of the Day” cards each day. The cards can be redeemed at Apple Inc.’s (Charts, Fortune 500) online iTunes Store.
Also on Oct. 2, Starbucks will start selling iTunes digital release cards that allow a full album of music and bonus material to be downloaded online. KT Tunstall’s “Drastic Fantastic” and the soundtrack to the film “Into the Wild” with new music from Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder will be the first two featured albums, retailing for $14.99 and $11.99, respectively.
Update: Seal untangled, doing OK
Just got an update from Brenda Peterson of the Seal Sitters.
Happy ending for the seal pup on Beach Drive who was tangled up with his back flipper. West Seattle’s own Lien Animal Clinic responded by calling a direct line to Animal Control dispatch who quickly arrived on the scene.
Expertly Animal Control was able to disentangle the pup, only 4 weeks old, from what turned out to be an unraveled cassette tape that had twisted around his back flipper. This could have eventually caused great harm as the plastic might have cut off circulation to that flipper leading to a slow death.
But thanks to the quick response of Lien Animal Clinic and Animal Control, we now have a very healthy, plump pup who can return to his mother without any harm from humans. Thanks to all who helped, including the seal sitters on the scene standing guard.
Alert from the Seal Sitters
Just in. If anyone out there can help - the Seal Sitters, and this pup, need help NOW:
We have a pup on the beach at 64th and Beach Dr., S.W. whose back
flipper is tangled in fishing wire. Otherwise the pup seems healthy and plump.
His mother is just offshore, so he is viable and under her care. We need a
volunteer who has some kind of wildlife rehab training who can come out
and using gloves try to disentangle the pup from the fishing wire. Because
it is on his back flipper, it will not be affecting his immediate ability to
fish and forage, but over time it may limit his foraging ability. If anyone
can help out, we seal sitters would be very grateful. Please come to the
beach at 64th and Beach Dr., S.W. Bring wire cutters, padded gloves and be
very careful as there are diseases that go between seals and people.
Good riddance
Relief for Delridge residents — the burned-out car that had been sitting in front of a house across from Delridge’s northernmost Shell station is gone.
We took that photo over the weekend after a reader e-mailed us about the car; Mike Dady from the North Delridge Neighborhood Council told us action was under way to get it out of there, and that the person whose home it happened in front of, a longtime resident, was chagrined to have had this sort of thing happen outside his home. Mike reported it to SPD on Saturday after their Adopt-A-Street neighborhood cleanup (just too big to have picked this up and stuffed it in one of those yellow bags, unfortunately) and reminds us all that there’s an online form for reporting abandoned vehicles, especially helpful now that city codes allow for faster removal of junk vehicles (more here). Mike says Community Police Team Officer Brian Ballew (honored by the Seattle Neighborhood Group last week with a Community Builder Award — congrats) had this on his to-do list; looks like things moved fast. By the way, this gives us an excuse to mention one loose end from last week’s West Seattle Community Safety Partnership meeting — what to do about neighborhood nuisances. SNGi has tons of resources, including this “Take Action” brochure. (Here are other ways they can help you learn what you’re empowered to do to make your neighborhood better.)
Update from La Rustica family member
In case you don’t see this new comment below our original post on last Friday’s La Rustica fire, Aimee confirms the October 2nd date heard on their phone recording over the weekend, and provides more information about what happened:
Hi all, I’m Giulio’s daughter. The damage was not severe and they should be up and running by the 2nd of October or before. It was a small kitchen fire but it did destroy one dining room wall. I originally painted that wall so it was hard to see but we’ll have the same look and great food up and running in no time. Thanks all for your concern and support. We love our West Seattle home and neighbors. Salute!
Latest from the Seal Sitters
First, sad news: Seal Sitters organizer Brenda Peterson tells WSB they buried their second pup yesterday, “a newborn, who was very thin, probably only about 4 weeks old.” 
Overall, Brenda says, this has been a “very intense pup season” (photo @ left is from earlier in the season) and they appreciate all the new volunteers who are helping out, including some who came forward after our recent video-enhanced update; if you are interested in volunteering, e-mail WSB your name and phone number, and we will forward it to Brenda (it’s easier for them to make phone calls while keeping watch on the beach). She says there are a few other things the Seal Sitters need:
“We are looking for sponsorship or some Alki Beach businesses to help us out with T-shirts, public education, and training. We would also like to see some very large signs along the beach as there are in Oregon and CA beaches telling the public to stay 100 yards away from the pups as recommended by federal law and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.”
Anybody ready to step up on that count? These little guys and their human protectors need all the help they can get.
On the move: This week’s transportation toplines
BUS ROUTES: First and foremost, a reminder that changes kicked in this past weekend on the downtown section of several routes that go through West Seattle, leading up to today’s reopening of the bus tunnel: The following routes that used to travel 1st Avenue downtown now travel 3rd Avenue instead — 54 and 55 all the time (their 5th Ave segments also now are on 3rd instead), 56 Express northbound during mornings only, 21 Express northbound during mornings only. Read this carefully for Metro’s complete update, including a list of the routes now running in the tunnel again, and other changes. 
THE VIADUCT: The city Transportation Department reps at last week’s Alki Community Council meeting said the city and state are now cooperating again in the process of figuring out what’s next for The Viaduct. Whew, that’s a relief. This week, you can participate in a West Seattle “public scoping meeting” regarding the plan to replace the south end of The Viaduct no matter what is decided for the middle part of it; it’s happening 5-8 pm Wednesday @ Madison Middle School, with the presentation scheduled to start at 6.
Fire at 38th & Admiral
Thanks to the tipster who texted us to make sure we had heard about this big callout – fire in a house at 3809 Admiral, affecting traffic in the area for a while too. One WSB reader says she was dining across the bay and could see the smoke and flames from there, at the height of this fire. 10:03 PM UPDATE: TV reports say the house is gutted inside, the couple who lived there got out OK, and investigators don’t know what started the fire. Meantime, here are two photos sent to us by WSB readers who snapped them as smoke poured from the house — first one from Mark (thank you!!!!):
Second photo is from Jess (thank you too!!!!) — you can really see how traffic was blocked off on Admiral (if you didn’t happen to get caught in it yourself):
Here’s some video of crews mopping up — mostly flashing lights — we’ll check back on the scene in the morning too:
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