We've seen the sports. We know the clubs. Education, fundraising, and community service are a given. What part of LW is there to explore now? Here is a hint: They're under the spotlight, and behind the mic. LW's numerous stage and musical performers have been and are going to continue putting on shows, so that everyone may come, watch/listen and be amazed.
Deep within the walls of a small high school with a strong alternative learning environment, creative minds come together to solve a crime. The scene that was put before them was that of a mysterious bank robbery. On the fictional morning of Feb. 16, a guard working for Grink's Protection Service was delivering money to Fidelity Bank. As soon as the guard opened the doors to the armored car, two men with guns ambushed him. They told him to empty the truck. Both men were wearing masks.Everything was going smoothly, but one of the robbers left a telling clue; when the police checked the truck's door handle, they found a set of fingerprints.
On a brisk December afternoon, family and friends gathered together to celebrate the life of 17-year-old Daron Michelle Howley. Daron passed away on Dec. 14 following a 19-month battle with brain cancer. A junior at Lake Washington High School, Daron was well known and loved. She will be missed.Daron played premier soccer for the Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association. While still a ninth-grader at Rose Hill Junior High, she tried out and made the varsity soccer team for Lake Washington High School.Her battle with cancer became well known among the soccer community.
We all share a vital interest in our health and well-being. We want to feel good, look physically attractive, be able to work, play and have fun.Yet most of us are uncertain about what it takes to live a "healthy" life. The standards for fitness and beauty set by the media and health industries usually amount to little more than fashion statements.Even the medical profession offers us confusing and sometimes contradictory messages. What is the right kind of food? Are we natural meat eaters or should we embrace vegetarianism? What's the proper ratio of fat, carbs and protein? Should we drink alcohol? How much exercise is enough?
Kirkland is well known for its public art. It is difficult to stroll or drive through the downtown without coming across one of the more than twenty sculptures in the city's collection. One of the main responsibilities of the Kirkland Cultural Council is to manage and grow Kirkland's public art collection. Last summer, we were able to help save three of our most popular sculptures through the generosity of over 600 donors. Close Quarters, the oversized bunnies on the corner of Lake and Central, and the Bounding Mule Deer at the entrance of Carillon Pt. and Mountain Comrades, the soon-to-be reinstalled bears on the corner of State Street and Kirkland Avenue are now in the city's permanent collection.
The quality of any community depends on many factors, but there's one I always hear - quality schools. Sometimes the speaker has children and has researched where the children would go to school. Sometimes it is someone who doesn't have children or their children are past school age. A good school district has value for everyone. That's why this community must support the Lake Washington School District levy and bond measures this February.Good schools attract families and prepare their children for the rest of their lives. Good schools provide a source of educated workers for area employers. Good schools prepare children to give back in later years as volunteers and community leaders. Good schools help preserve and even increase property values.So how is the Lake Washington School District doing?
Most equate the year 1775 with the birth of our nation, but there was another birth that year. Many might be surprised to know that on November 10, 1775, the United States Marine Corps was born. Two hundred and fifty years later the Marines still stand as a symbol of American patriotism and are often associated with the likes of John Wayne - tough, hardened warriors.Local author, physician and former Marine, Claude DeShazo, in concert with Charles Latting, authored "Once a Marine." The book, which was published in March, attempts to allay the myth assigned the jarheads, and instead focuses on how the Marine Corps helps its members journey in a positive direction following their retirement from service.
Trees have been disappearing from Kirkland for years as development gobbles up vacant land, but city officials hope to halt and even reverse the trend with a new set of regulations. Taking effect in January, the new tree regulations apply to both new development projects and major remodeling jobs. But balancing the city's Johnny Appleseed-like ambitions against private-property rights was tricky, conceded new Kirkland City Council member Tom Hodgson, who was part of the Tree Regulations focus group. "That's a big concern," he added. "People from neighborhoods with lots of trees like Bridle Hills don't want regulations governing what they do (with their trees)."That's especially true for owners of undeveloped Kirkland property, Hodgson said. "They perceived that neighbors were imposing their values on them." That perception was even more rankling if the concerned neighbors had already cut down a slew of trees to make way for their own homes, he said.
Business is "pretty good" at the Caribbean Casino in the Sno-King Amateur Hockey Association's bingo hall in Kingsgate, according to Michael Marquess, a principle partner in the gaming venture. That's despite the new smoking ban and a denial of a liquor license to the business, he said.But fallout, including an alleged death threat against the Sno-King president, has continued since the casino opened Nov. 19. And lurking in the background is the possibility that Kingsgate could be annexed in the next few years to Kirkland, a move that would put the casino out of business because Kirkland doesn't allow gambling.You let one casino operation in, and others will soon follow, said Kirkland Mayor Mary-Alyce Burleigh. "It's not how we in Kirkland perceive our city," she said of losing its gambling-free status. "We would like to have a more family-friendly business base."
In just a couple of weeks it will be Valentine's Day again. A store on Lake City Way has already loaded the seasonal shelves with red hearts, red mugs and red boxes of chocolate, with red balloons floating above the display. While it always makes me happy to see this more playful side of love celebrated, I can't help but recall the many painful stories of love-gone-wrong heard over my last 12 years working with both men and women in court-ordered domestic-violence intervention programs. So when I see all that red in preparation for Valentine's Day, I want to protect couples and help them keep the good thing they have found.
In lieu of pushing a particular title or author of interest this month, I've got a laundry list of library news that I would like to share with the residents of North Seattle.Going wirelessFirst off, the Seattle Public Library now offers free wireless Internet access at seven neighborhood branches. There is no time limit, and a password is not required; simply bring a laptop computer with wireless capability and launch an Internet browser to establish a connection. In addition to the Ballard, Beacon Hill, Capitol Hill and Rainier Beach branches, the service is also available at:* Green Lake Branch, 7364 E. Green Lake Dr. N., (206) 684-7547* Greenwood Branch, 8016 Greenwood Ave. N., (206) 684-4086* North East Branch, 6801 35th Ave. N.E., (206) 684-7539The Central Library downtown also offers free wireless Internet access and has since it opened in May 2004. Eventually, all branches of the Seattle Public Library will offer the service.
Cantaré Vocal Ensemble and the Rainier Symphony Chamber Orchestra (RSCO) will celebrate Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on his 250th birthday with a performance of the composer's last choral work, "Requiem," on Friday, Jan. 27."The 'Requiem' is certainly one of his best-known and best-loved works," said Mark Adrian, conductor of Cantaré Vocal Ensemble. "It's just one of my favorite pieces."The performance will feature mezzo-soprano Stacey Sunde, tenor Gary Cannon, soprano Frances Eisenman and baritone David Rickard.The concert marks Sunde's debut with Cantaré Vocal Ensemble, as well as her first time performing Mozart's "Requiem" outside of a liturgy. Sunde is a cantor and conductor of the youth choirs at St. James Cathedral on First Hill, and a music teacher at St. Catherine's School in North Seattle.
The fun and frolicsome side of Fremont gets plenty of exposure, but what about our more bookish tendencies? Fremonsters love literary arts as much as visual, and I recommend local bookworms wiggle 'round and sit a spell with the Fremont Public Library book discussion group. Ann Schlossman, group facilitator, feels their motto might read "If you love books, you'll love our book group!"At 6:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month avid book lovers gather in the Fremont Library meeting room. Thanks to the recent remodel, one member commented, the library looks nicer and has "comfier chairs." The acoustics are still lousy, but as long as you speak up, everyone can hear."A man came last year - once," Deborah Price observed. Deborah refers to herself as "basically the substitute" for Ann. Ann maintains the e-mail list of interested members, although many don't attend regularly, and it contains one other male name, but the book club's meetings remain overwhelmingly female. "Feisty" one attendee described the group, but located in Fremont, one hardly expects less.
More than 300 opponents of a proposal to replace the Queen Anne Metropolitan Market with a QFC in a two-story retail complex got a reality check Jan. 4 at a packed community-council meeting.Providing the perspective was Brian Swanson, the community-council chairperson in Wedgwood, where a pitched battle was unsuccessfully waged more than four years ago in an effort to stop a QFC from replacing a Matthew's Red Apple grocery store. Speaking at the monthly meeting of the Queen Anne Community Council (QACC), he said the Red Apple was a long-term, revered neighborhood store whose planned demise sparked a crisis in the neighborhood. "The shock galvanized the community like nothing else had ever done," he said.Indeed, the dispute got downright nasty at times, according to Swanson.
How do you grab the attention of 120 middle school-aged students? The answer at Aki Kurose Middle School auditorium last fall was not MTV or a movie star but rather student-made documentaries from the Dharamsala, India; Ollantaytambo, Peru; and Alaska's Arctic Village. Local students from Hamilton International Middle School in Wallingford, The Evergreen School and Aki Kurose Middle School Academy watched with rapt attention as stories of Tibetan girls playing soccer, Peruvian girls selling handmade dolls and boys fishing in the frigid Arctic were told in the teenagers' own words.