The United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (UIATF) has quietly dropped plans to build a three-building People's Lodge project on its nearly 20 acres of leased land in Discovery Park.Raising the tens of millions of dollars for construction costs aside, the feeling was that the UIATF couldn't afford to maintain the existing Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center, let alone a new complex, said Phil Lane, Jr., the new chief executive officer for the American-Indian organization."The concept of a People's Lodge is no longer a $48 million building," he said. Instead, the UIATF board of directors agreed the People's Lodge is the land itself, "that this land, all of Discovery Park, needs to be preserved for the educational upliftment and heritage of future generations," Lane said.
Rainier Vista homeowner Erik Guttridge was about to put the finishing touches, including a strong lock, on the new shop in his backyard when someone hopped his fence at dusk, pried the shop's door open with a shovel and stole $3,500 worth of power tools."The shop was almost finished, and I figured no one would jump the fence. I foolishly thought I had good karma," Guttridge said.Neighbors saw four men break in and load the tools into a black BMW, but none of the witnesses called the police, Guttridge said.When Guttridge came home and discovered he'd been robbed, he was able to provide police with serial numbers for the missing items. He had also written his name on many of them. Guttridge called local pawnshops, but the tools never surfaced. A police investigation led nowhere."There was a tremendous amount of anger because there was nothing I could do," Guttridge said.
Significant societal changes have made defining and achieving a comfortable retirement more complex than even just one generation ago: our life expectancy has increased significantly, women are commonly in the workplace even while remaining principally responsible for the raising of children, the high incidence of divorce affects asset accumulation of both men and women, career and job change are common-even frequent-and Social Security and Medicare "safety nets" are threatened.During our early working years, most of us are occupied by family needs and concerns; only after we've helped launch our children toward their independence and self-fulfillment can we shift the focus of our financial thinking toward securing financial independence for our remaining years. However, navigating toward a financially secure retirement has become something of a moving target: Pensions are uncertain; aging parents may need help; how will our investments perform?
Your digestive system is rather like the engine in your car. When it's running smoothly, you tend to forget about it. When it isn't, it can really cramp your style. So to speak. Heartburn, constipation, nausea and diarrhea can be your digestive tract's way of telling you to pay attention to what you eat, according to the Healthy Aging Partnership (HAP), a coalition of 40 not-for-profit and public organizations dedicated to the health and well-being of older adults.You're wise to listen to your gut (as well as the other parts of your body). Your digestive system has an important job: absorbing nutrients, ridding our bodies of waste and toxins, as well as helping us fight sickness and infection.If it's not working right-for whatever reason-malnourishment, digestive disorders and disease can result.
"Trouble in Paradise"... "The Scarlet Empress"... "Bringing Up Baby"... "His Girl Friday"... "Shadow of a Doubt"... "Laura"... "Out of the Past"... "Kiss Me Deadly"... "The Searchers"... "North by Northwest ... "A Hard Day's Night"... "Point Blank"... "2001: A Space Odyssey"... "Once Upon a Time in the West"... "McCabe and Mrs. Miller"... "The Shining"... "Cutter and Bone" (a.k.a. "Cutter's Way")... "Drugstore Cowboy ... "Miller's Crossing"... "Dead Man"... "About Schmidt"... All these movies have three things in common: 1) I regard each as the best of its year. 2) None won the Academy Award as best picture. 3) And none was even nominated. For that matter, most of my second and third choices weren't nominated, either. Thirty-nine Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences years that's happened. And I'm not counting the dozen or so years when I favored a foreign-language film. Opening the field to personal top pics that were nominated increases the number by only 10 ("Citizen Kane," "It's a Wonderful Life," "Chinatown," "Nashville," "Saving Private Ryan," etc.).All of which is to say, I don't place a lot of stock in the Academy Awards. But that doesn't stop me from being fascinated, more often than not, at the way the contest plays out, and from feeling warm and googly when I see how happy some people, mostly talented folks who have given a decent amount of pleasure to us moviegoers, get to be when their names are called out on Oscar night. Even if I wasn't rooting for them.
George Washington's English ancestry is well known - I must admit, however, I was rather surprised to learn Abraham Lincoln's family also was of British origin, a fact most emphatically stated during a radio interview with a very precise, very British lady several years ago. Miss Lonsdale was (and probably still is) the local genealogical expert and keeper of the records of the village church in Hingham, Norfolk, England. In "terribly posh," very British accents (which were very difficult for my radio audience to understand) she assured us the early Lincolns were people of wealth and stature. The early Lincolns owned considerable property in two villages, namely Hingham and Swanton Morely in the county of Norfolk. Samuel Lincoln immigrated to the American colonies, landing in Boston on June 20, 1637, and eventually making his way to Hingham, Mass. This was no coincidence, as Hingham had been founded by the families of many of the boys he had been at school with in Hingham, England. Although there are no descendants of the Lincolns left in England, the site of the family house in Swanton Morley became the Angel Inn, which has a plaque commemorating the Lincoln family.
I watch in silence as a group of seventh-grade girls chat excitedly with one another. Two more girls walk up to the group, their greetings attempting to open the group's door.The conversation subsides slightly, and strained, uncomfortable phrases are exchanged. The interaction quickly ends and the two girls walk away, rejection clearly etched on their faces.Not only does the group start whispering; so do the two girls as they walk away.The social life of adolescent girls: it's a drama, and they must have it. Girls forge relationships that teach them how to love and nurture others, preparing them for life. However, this can also be a very dangerous part of an adolescent's life.As young girls strive to climb higher, they oftentimes use negative tactics - gossip, rumors, back-stabbing and manipulation - to climb up another rung. These negative interactions have been termed "relational aggression."
Some people think that now that we've gotten an explanation we can just forget that the vice president shot a man.The rest of you may be interest-ed to know that a lot of real hunters are embarrassed that what these Republican big shots are doing might be confused with our sport. And that, furthermore, Mr. Cheney's explanation doesn't square with the evidence.These big shots like to network on the Armstrong ranch, all 80 square miles of it, where they ride in jeeps behind guides on horses with a dozen dogs, who actually do the hunting up of the bobwhite quail coveys, each bird containing three bites.So late Saturday afternoon, Feb. 11, the dogs go on point and the guides radio up the shooters. Playing left end is Pamela Pitzer Willeford, ambassador to Lichten-stein. Playing right end is Harry Whittington, Austin attorney. Playing center is the vice president of the United States, Richard Cheney.Cheney usually wears snakeskin boots and has a Perazzi designer shotgun, which can cost $400,000 (company motto: "Rule the Roost"). He's been a bird hunter since he was chosen by Mrs. Armstrong, among others, to lead Halliburton 11 years ago. In a recent shoot at a game farm, he killed 70 pheasants.These members of the current ruling class walk up to the pointing dogs, the covey busts, Willeford and Cheney get one, and Whittington, who sounds like he might actually be a hunter with class, hits two birds.Moments later, according to Willeford, a second covey flies up and Cheney swings to his right and behind him, doesn't see Whittington in flame-orange vest and flame-orange cap and drills him square on, knocking him flat on his back, violating three cardinal rules of bird shooting.
It's interesting to observe the behavior of boys, especially as growing up I only had a sister. I understand the world of girls in a more personal way, though recently I have been learning quite a bit about boy world. Much of this comes from observing their interactions with each other, as well as reading books about the psychology of boys. I wrote of relational aggression among girls in my last article (Magnolia News, Feb. 15, www.Magnolia-News.net). Such behavior, however, isn't unheard of among boys, though it is somewhat more difficult to detect.I've noticed that, for the most part, boys seem to get along quite well. However, there are times when misunderstandings among males do arise-for instance, when one boy appears effeminate in his mannerisms, when he acts more "like a girl." Such perceptions can arise because a boy truly enjoys school and studies a lot; or maybe he's quiet and shy; or he cries when someone says something derogatory about him. Boys too often are expected to "be a man."
Most parents reward their children on graduation day with congratulations, trips or presents, because they know a good education is the surest ticket to success in life.It is the opposite with foster children. They have the state for their parent, and our state actually punishes foster kids who succeed in school by taking away their homes, medical coverage and all support on their 18th birthday.We all have a stake in ending this morally bankrupt treatment of foster children.A spokesman for the Committee to End Homelessness in King County last month told the Legislature that almost one in three kids who "age out" of foster care end up homeless. And the tragedies don't end with homelessness. A recent study of Northwest youth who had been in foster care found that between six months and one year of exiting the system:* More than a quarter of the former foster kids suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder-a rate nearly double that experienced by United States war veterans returning from combat.* 41 percent of the females were pregnant.* One-third of the youth were on some form of public assistance.* 38 percent had been arrested.We all pay dearly for these problems. Fortunately, the solution is much less expensive.
A few days ago as I was wheeling our recycling tub, The Green Monster, out to the curb, I looked down into the used-glass bin and began thinking about all of the soda pop bottles I'd recycled to supplement my allowance when I was just a kid.Back when I was still in grade school, cashing in bottles was the classic method of coming up with some extra change. That and mowing lawns, of course.My family moved to Los Angeles from Chicago during the mid-1950s, back when there were still only a handful of freeways down south and a smoggy day was a rare occasion.Our new house was south of the city, right in the middle of what at that time were orange and lemon groves along with other agricultural land.It didn't take long for the developers to realize they could make more money putting up houses than only having a few of the old-time citrus growers produce juice. Soon bulldozers moved into the groves, and tracts of 20 or 30 new houses seemed to spring up almost overnight.With all of this construction going on, literally in our backyards, it wasn't long before every kid in the neighborhood was lined up, spellbound by all of the heavy machinery and big trucks rumbling past. After the work crews quit for the night, we used to roam around the site playing on the bulldozed mounds of dirt, much like we used to play amongst the citrus trees that stood on the spot only weeks before.I don't remember who first made the discovery that the construction workers were just throwing away their refundable pop bottles.
We are at a critical point where much of the original vision for Discovery Park may be lost, and along with it the natural quiet and beauty that so many of us find and cherish there.Land at Discovery Park land was given by the city to the federal government more than 100 years ago in order that a fort to help protect the Puget Sound area could be built. By all reasoning, that land should be returned to the city, as it no longer serves as a fort. However, the federal government appears not to agree.If the government's plan goes forward, Discovery Park will never be the same. The plan-which involves a Texas-based development corporation-is to sell the two remaining parcels in federal hands, Officer's Row and the Montana Circle, to private owners. These two parcels are surrounded on all sides by public parkland. We cannot accept this plan. If we fail in our effort, this new plan allows private cars into the middle of the park; the original park plan forbids cars. The new plan also requires easements that would allow private homeowners access to their property. There are certain to be conflicts between the park users and the new residents. Homeowners are likely to complain about certain activities in the park; on the other hand, park users would complain about the traffic and noise caused by the residents.Also, some of the most valuable view property in the park would now be off limits to citizens. Once lost, this property will be gone forever.
The Queen Anne Community Council (QACC) has taken a position in opposition to the proposed traffic modifications in North Queen Anne (specifically, a study area bounded by Warren Avenue North to the east, Queen Anne Drive and Smith Street to the south, Third Avenue West to the west, and Florentia Street to the north) and has encouraged the city of Seattle and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to significantly reduce the number of street alterations they implement as tem-porary mitigation for the Fremont Bridge Reconstruction effort. We agree the neighborhood can expect traffic impacts during the nine- or 10-month construction period, but the measures proposed are exces-sive and are not designed to address the impacts anticipated for this project. Our opposition is based on many factors, which are described below.
When I wrote this column, I had to wonder whether something really bad might have happened to the victim by the time you read it. I'm glad it hasn't. But apprehensions of tastelessness could not keep me from mentioning the horrifyingly apt fact that Dick Cheney, he of the tough talk and the fierce frown, despite "other priorities" when his country needed him to actually go to war during the Vietnam Era, had shot an attorney.How many people have dreamed of such a thing, and yet.... Of course, it was an accident. We know this because the Secret Service tells us so. Eighteen hours after the shooting. The gunplay happened in Texas (where else?) while Dick was out hunting with a shotgun. But the picture of Angry Dick (has he ever smiled except when screaming obscenities at Sen. Leahy?) free to walk around with firearms makes me exceedingly nervous.As I have written here before, I am pro-gun ownership. But I also think weapons seekers should have to take a written and an operating (in this case, shooting) test, just as they must when they go for a driver's license. Might have spared one old Republican lawyer if Dick had been tested.Of course, the way Dick does business, he probably would have just bought his license anyway. He's too busy making money to take tests, except for those almost daily EKGs.It's horrible when your worst opinions are confirmed. I have been saying in this space that daily newspapers are in a lot of trouble for a lot of reasons, one of the most important being they have lost younger readers.
There's a murderer in our midst, fictionally speaking.Justin Henderson, a four-year resident of Magnolia and before that Queen Anne, has published his first work of fiction, a mystery novel entitled Murder at Naked Beach, under the nom de plume of J.J. Henderson.He will be reading from and signing the book Saturday, Feb. 25, at 11 a.m. at Magnolia's Bookstore, 3206 W. McGraw St.; he'll also be at Queen Anne Books at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28. For more information, visit www.jjhenderson.net.Henderson-an established writer who has penned travel guides for Costa Rica and Los Angeles as well as numerous architectural studies-said he actually started writing the first draft of his new book at least a decade back, and that there are already a few more in the hopper."I just kept writing them in my spare time," he said, adding that he's projecting a series of six books.