Frank and Jeri Cranney have announced the engagement of their daughter, Melissa DeLaurentis, to Scott Reynolds of Boise, Idaho. DeLaurentis, a longtime resident of Queen Anne, is a graduate of Franklin High School. The couple plans a 2008 wedding in the Seattle area.They will reside in  Boise.
On Friday, Feb. 15, and Saturday, Feb. 16, Interagency High School students will perform various poems, songs and monologues in their production "Winter Tales." The performances will take place at University Lutheran Church, 1604 N.E. 50th St.The show is produced by Sanctuary Arts Center, 1604 N.E. 50th St., in the University District, where the South End students attend art and drama classes.According to the school's website, the students "include many homeless youths or youths-in-transition, as well as some who simple desire small classes and personalized learning plans." By participating in this production, students earn credit toward graduation.
Mike and Shoshanna Osterfeld and 2-year-old Sequoia welcomed Joseph William to Fremont at 1:16 p.m. on Jan. 4, 2008. "He's perfect in every way," said his proud grandmother, Suzie Burke. While his brother waits anxiously for Joey to be old enough to play basketball with him, the "healthy, beautiful and energetic baby," as described by his mother, posed for this photo five days after his birth with his mother and older brother.
Verna (Hindman) Heller passed away on Jan. 23, 2008, in Renton, Wash., after nearly 24 years of battling Parkinson's disease.Mrs. Heller was born April 9, 1922, on a farm outside of Hay Springs, Neb. Her younger sister, Maxine Kearns, still resides on her ranch outside of Rushville, Neb.Mrs. Heller worked at the J.C. Penney's store in Rushville after graduating from high school in 1940. She then moved with her parents to Seattle in the early 1940s to work in support of the World War II effort. She joined the Marine Corps Women's Reserve in 1943 and rose to the rank of sergeant prior to her discharge from Camp Pendleton, Calif., in 1946. She met her husband, Bob, at a USO dance in 1946. They were married later in the year and remained together until his passing in 1991.The Hellers moved into their family home in Seattle over Labor Day weekend in 1953. She resided there until she moved to the Renton Rehabilitation Center in January 2006. Her parents returned to Nebraska in 1981, staying at the Pioneer Manor in Hay Springs until their deaths in 1988 and 1992. Mrs. Heller returned to Nebraska for frequent visits and also traveled extensively with her daughter following her husband's death.Mrs. Heller worked at a number of part-time bookkeeping and accounting positions before being hired by the University of Washington in 1964. She started there as an inventory clerk for the dormitory cafeterias, then moved to the housing office as the head cashier. She ended her career as the head of the scholarship-and-loan office, retiring in 1982.
If there's one thing I learned from attending my first caucus last Saturday, Feb. 9, it's that you do a lot of waiting. It began when I went to the Washington Democrats' website to find my location that morning. Due to a heavy volume of web traffic, I had to wait a few minutes for the address to pop up. Fortunately, it was only a block from my apartment, at the University House on Stone Way North in Wallingford. I had decided to attend my first caucus after Sen. Hillary Clinton won California on Super Tuesday. I had to show my support for Sen. Barrack Obama. With all the close Washington elections over the last couple of years, perhaps it would be my single vote or rousing eloquence that would sway undecided voters and ensure victory for the young senator from Illinois.
Well, that's it then. I can never run for public office, not that this is any loss. The electorate can breathe a collective sigh of relief for - beyond my progressive views on abolishing Valentine's Day and making lying about marital status a capital offense - I have little to offer as a candidate.And now, I just have too many exes to ever be elected.See, I just broke up with someone - again. That is, I got to be the one to state the obvious: "Uh, this is not working." Suffice it to say, I feel awful. And, I'm sure, he feels worse.
"I'd like to make it clear to the people who run the Democratic Party that I will not support Hillary Clinton for president. Enough. Enough triangulation, calculation and equivocation. Enough clever straddling, enough not offending anyone. This is not a Dick Morris election. "Sen. Clinton is apparently incapable of taking a clear stand on the war in Iraq, and that alone is enough to disqualify her. Her failure to speak out on Terri Schiavo, not to mention that gross pandering on flag-burning, are just contemptible little dodges." - the late syndicated columnist Molly Ivins, in a Jan. 20, 2006, column, written about a year before her deathYou said it, Molly.Her sadly prescient column stuck with me last year as I and many people I know wondered why media was ready to crown Hillary Clinton as the "inevitable" Democratic nominee before a single vote had been cast. I had (and have) questions and doubts about all of the Democratic candidates for one or another reason, but I've always been clear that I will never cast a vote for Hillary Clinton.
Questions or comments about the following applications or actions should be directed to the Regulatory Services Division, Washington State Liquor Control Board, 3000 Pacific Ave. S.E., P.O. Box 43098, Olympia, WA 98504-3098, or call (360) 664-1600.LICENSE APPLICATIONSFAIR FOOD L.L.C. (MATEEN CHAUDHRY and AFSHAN A. CHAUDHRY): a restaurant selling beer and wine, at I-Five Pizza, 7617 Aurora Ave. N.EUROPIAN WHOLESALE L.L.C. (KRACIMIR STEFANOF): a grocery store selling beer and wine, at Bravo Grocery, 7616 Aurora Ave. N.THEO CHOCOLATE INC. (JOSEPH WHINNEY): a grocery store selling beer and wine, at 3400 Phinney Ave. N.NOOTKA HOTELS INC. (MALCOLM GOODFELLOW and PATRICE DAVIS): to serve employees and guests, at Watertown, 4242 Roosevelt Way N.
The following information was provided by the city's Department of Planning and Development. Written comments on projects should be mailed to 700 Fifth Ave., Suite 2000, P.O. Box 34019, Seattle, WA 98124-4019.Appeals are made to the Office of the Hearing Examiner, Seattle Municipal Tower, 40th Floor (SMT-40-00), 700 Fifth Ave., Suite 4000, Seattle, WA 98104. Appeals must be accompanied by a $50 filing fee in a check payable to the City of Seattle.The project number is in parentheses. For more information, call 684-8467.REVISED INTERPRETATIONS712 N. 81ST ST. (3007114) by the owner of the subject property, a 6,120-square-foot parcel in an SF 5000 zone, developed with a single house, built in approximately 1910. The property consists of two platted lots, and the question raised, subject to interpretation, was whether those lots may be developed as separate building sites, pursuant to a codified lot-area exception provided for certain lots of historic record. That lot area exception does not apply to the individual platted lots in cases where a house has been built extending onto both platted lots.In this case, based on a survey, the house is predominantly on one platted lot, but extends between two and three feet onto the other, with eaves extending another two feet. Based on this encroachment, the DPD concludes that the lot area exception does not apply, and the two platted lots do not qualify for separate development under current standards.Appeal of the interpretation may be submitted through 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, and must be accompanied by a $50 filing fee in a check payable to the City of Seattle. The appeal, which must state specifically why the appellant believes the Interpretation is incorrect, should be sent to City of Seattle, Hearing Examiner, 700 Fifth Ave., Suite 4000, P.O. Box 94729, Seattle, WA 98124-4729.
The following are selected reports from the Seattle Police Department's North Precinct. They represent the officers' accounts of the events described.DANGEROUS PACKAGEA man entered a store in the 2300 block of North 45th Street around 4:25 p.m. on Jan. 31 to mail four books to a Paris address. He commented on how he hoped the company would handle his items more carefully than the post office.After he left the store, an employee started to box the books, which were each sealed in plastic bags, when one of them rattled. She shook it and saw part of a gun coming out between the pages. Another employee then tried to contact the man, who spoke with a slight French accent and was in his late 70s; however, the phone number belonged to a Greenwood bookstore, who did not ship books through this particular mailing company.Police arrived and took control of the books and copies of the forms the man used. At the North Precinct, they found that in each book, pages were cut out to make a hollow space. Two of the books contained ammunition and a gun slide, while a third had other gun parts and another gun magazine. The fourth was empty. All items were placed into evidence.The gun is registered to a Tumwater address.
■ Miss Seafair Princess Emily Suen (sitting) signs an autograph for Annette Otani and her daughter, Logan, 7, during the Families with Children from China New Year's event at Eckstein Middle School, 3003 N.E. 75th St., on Sunday, Feb. 10.photo/Bradley Enghaus
Seattle Parks and Recreation will have a community meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 20, to take input on a new park in the Northgate urban center. The meeting will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Northgate Community Center, 10510 Fifth Ave. N.E.Now a King County park-and-ride facility, the new park is planned for a 3.73-acre asphalt property at Fifth Avenue Northeast and Northeast 112th Street. The community had recommended this property in the 1993 Northgate Area Comprehensive Plan; the city hopes to purchase it by April 2009.The upcoming meeting is the first of three design meetings that will take place throughout the spring and summer. For more information, visit the website at www.seattle.gov/parks/maintenance/Northgateurbancenter.htm.
Evans Pool, at the Green Lake Community Center, 7201 E. Green Lake Drive N., will close Friday, Feb. 15, through Tuesday, Feb. 19, so workers can install a new sand filter and ultraviolet disinfection system. This is the final phase of planned mechanical upgrades to Evans Pool begun last year.The pool will not offer programs, lessons or services during this time. The parks department has credited all accounts of patrons who had prepaid for lessons that had been scheduled for during the closure.Patrons wishing to swim during this closure can use the Helene Madison Pool, 13401 Meridian Ave. N., or the Meadowbrook Pool, 10515 35th Ave. N.E. The community center will remain open to all regular programs during the pool closure.All pools and community centers are closed on Monday, Feb. 18, for Presidents' Day.
The fate of five surplus school buildings owned by Seattle Public Schools will be addressed as the tenants join together to lobby the state Legislature in support of bills in the House and Senate. These would provide grant funding for development and conversion of community facilities.According to Ron English, deputy general counsel and property manager for Seattle Public Schools, the schools at Allen/Phinney Ridge, Crown Hill, Fauntleroy, University Heights and Webster have all been closed for more than 25 years. The district projects they will not be needed in the foreseeable future.The schools were put into surplus status by the Seattle School Board after March 2007's amendment to the Seattle School District facilities master plan was adopted, which recommended the buildings be sold. Also recommended in the 2007 amendment, to which English was a contributor, was the maintaining of four interim and emergency sites, as well as keeping an inventory of 10 other sites.
The Seattle Police Department has increased its patrols in the University District to four officers after at least nine people were injured in separate incidents last weekend.Various news reports state that a group of young men attacked University of Washington students with bricks during the early morning hours of Saturday, Feb. 9, in retaliation for an earlier fight.