Liz sent us this with a reminder of the event coming up a week from tomorrow:

As we’ve said before, though we didn’t know Ms. Luxa for long, she was a tremendous help with coverage of complicated White Center/North Highline issues here on WCN, and while covering 34th District Democrats meetings for West Seattle Blog and WCN, we saw what a tremendous force she was there. So we appreciate her contributions as well as everything else for which she has been and will be feted.

It is with a very heavy heart that we write to inform you of the passing of our dear friend Cherisse Luxa, the founder of Burien Drinking Liberally. Cherisse lost her fight with stomach cancer this morning.

If you have ever attended Drinking Liberally, you almost certainly know of Cherisse’s incredible energy and her unstoppable drive to make our community a better place. From her decades as a King County Sheriff’s Deputy to her impressive track record as an activist an advocate, Cherisse made a huge difference, both for Burien and for the broader community.

Cherisse touched thousands of lives and was a role model for many of us. We will sorely miss her.

We will be in touch with memorial information. In the meantime, if you know of or are able to provide a home to two of Cherisse’s much-loved cats (Howard and Harris, who are four years old and would prefer to be adopted together), please let us know as soon as possible.

(Via Liz Giba) Photos from Flickr

Thanksgiving produces mixed emotions for me.  Having grown up Chicano, in El Paso, Texas, the holiday carried considerable cultural baggage for me: the rampant celebration of gluttony, the Dallas Cowboys, America’s corporate franchise, always playing on the tube, the constant consumerism and, of course, the slaughter of Native Americans.  And then there was my mother.  When we lived in Mexico, we obviously did not celebrate Thanksgiving, so I have no early childhood memories of this particular holiday.  When we moved to the states, my mom had a lady who made the best tamales and mole, I have ever eaten.  So initially, we celebrated Thanksgiving in our way — the way I’d always known.

Sometime in my adolescence my mom became a fundamentalist Christian.  I abhorred this sect from the very outset.  I found their rituals, primitive:  speaking in tongues, meeting in store-fronts, fire & brimstone, the rapture – coming very, very soon.  And when I went away to college and matured into my progressive political views, I despised their unabashed right-wing politics.  Needless to say, none of this played well with my mom.

In high school, I would always goad my mother about politics, religion, culture; pretty much anything incendiary that would ignite a fire-storm between us.  These dramas took on heightened intensity on holidays like Thanksgiving, when my mother wanted everthing to proceed just so.  So, many of my memories of Thanksgiving revolve around the interactions with my mom.

My mom adopted, not only the rituals of Christian fundamentalism, but the cultural affects as well.  Instead, of mole and tamales, we got mashed potatoes and gelatin.  When I visited from college and the “gringo food” was served I would storm into the kitchen, fry up some beans, warm up rice and dig out the salsa.  I would set them down and exclaim, this is our food and we should celebrate the holiday with our food, (the turkey is ironically – our food – a New World bird).  I did not goad my mother, but I did ask her why we had to eat mashed potatoes when beans and rice were so much healthier.  And besides, “it is our food.”

I’ve mellowed considerably as I have become a parent.  The curse, “may you have kids like yourself” has come to bite me in a big way.  If I were celebrating Thanksgiving with my folks in El Paso, I would still pull out the home-made salsa, the tortillas, beans and rice, but instead of berating my mother, I would give her (and my dad) a big hug and a kiss and say, “I”m so very happy to be here.  I love you.”  And then we would retire after the meals and root for who-ever was playing the Cowboys.

Thanks to Liz for calling our attention to the sad news: Barb Peters of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council and North Highline Fire District board lost her battle with cancer this week. There’s a tribute to her on the NHFD site; see it here. From the published obituary that Liz forwarded:

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in Barbara’s name to: North Highline Fire District Aid Car Fund, 1243 Southwest 112th Street, Seattle, WA 98146. In her memory, Barbara asked to please spend time with a child that is close to you. That time spent and your love for that child will be with Barbara forever. A graveside service will be held at 1:30 PM on Monday, November 2nd at Riverton Crest Cemetery, 3400 S.140th, Tukwila 98168 with a reception following at Rainier Golf and Country Club, 11133 Des Moines Memorial Dr. S.

You can read Ms. Peters’ full obituary here. She was 72 years old.

Went to the Holy Family website to doublecheck on this weekend’s El Carnaval street fair – and discovered this announcement:

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Fr. Ramon Velasco, who many will remember was our parish’s parochial vicar until last year. Fr. Ramon passed away earlier this week, and leaves behind many friends and family members one of whom is a member of the parish, Rosa Velasco. His funeral Mass is scheduled for this Friday at Holy Family before his body is returned to the Philippines.

Unfortunately, we discovered this just as all of the events concluded – a reception has just ended, following a Funeral Mass earlier today that was to be led by Archbishop Alex Brunett.

Two elderly ladies walk into Cafe Rozella gushing about the cafe.  Unprompted, one of them says, “we love White Center.  We tell people we live in West Seattle, because of White Center, not in spite of it.”  I relate this anecdote, because despite it’s ragged edges, White Center is a place of vibrancy and life.

Years ago, I used to have an office job in downtown Tacoma.  If we wanted to get something to eat, we would troop into our cars and head to Old Town or the Tacoma waterfront.  The downtown core was desolate.  As one of my colleagues used to say, “you can’t buy an Aspirin in downtown Tacoma.”  Sadly, he was right, there was nary a Bartells, Walgreeens or even a small Asian grocery store to buy anything essential.  Coffee shops were nonexistent and the hilltop area was still a war zone.  I relate this, not to knock Tacoma, after all, it has really improved, but it has improved in ways far different than White Center.

Most of Tacoma’s improvement has been the subject of heavy top-down government investment and tax incentives.  While the Greenbridge Project on the west side of White Center might be considered similarly, “top down,” it is but a small part of what makes the area a better place.  White Center has always had a community and a functioning business core.  Many White Center businesses, (Center Tool Rental, White Center Glass), have been there for decades.  Nonetheless, there was a time, not too long ago, when the walk on 16th Avenue SW, south of Roxbury, was undertaken with trepidation and certainly never after dark.   Today, White Center is a different place.

Immigrants from all parts of the world have opened businesses throughout the White Cener business core. This is organic growth, from the roots up.  Projects such as Greenbridge seek to encourage such growth.  As well, there are businesses opening from locals who want in on a dynamic area.  Cafe Rozella is but one, there is also Full Tilt Ice Cream, Proletarian Pizza and word of a couple of other new businesses.  These are businesses operated by young people who are dynamic and future-oriented.  Tolerant and educated, they are what social scientist, Richard Florida would call the creative class.  Rather than berate the lack of a McDonalds, we celebrate the Pho shops, the Salvadorean pupusas and the Guyamas Burritos amongst many other great eating establishments.

So next time you have friends visiting from out-of-town, do the Space Needle but bring them to White Center and invite them to take in the rich melting of cultures inherent in this corner of the world.  And, if by chance, one of your guest gets a headache and, if you want to buy an Aspirin there is the Super-Walgreens and the local Bartells.  But I suspect a custom ice cream cone from Full Tilt or an Americano from Cafe Rozella would work just as well.   Cheers!

Seattle resident and New York Times correspondent, Timothy Egan weighs in on the Amanda Knox case with a long opinion piece in today’s New York Times.  I wish I could say that this was the break of objective reporting that we were looking for, but such is not the case.  Egan is not an attorney nor does he regularly write on criminal or judicial matters.  His area is politics, and at that, mostly regional politics.  His piece sheds no new light on the case, revealing the time-worn themes trotted out by the competing Knox camps: those who claim she is innocent and those who claim she is guilty.   But what is of note is that Egan throws all journalistic objectivity aside (whatever that actually means) and weighs in with “an innocent abroad” crowd.  Fittingly that is the title of his piece.  Accordingly, he pulls no punches and calls this a “railroad job.”  As with so much American reporting we get lots of smoke but no light.

His bias is evident when discussing Amanda Knox’s initial alibi, which was that the bar owner, for whom she worked, had committed the murder, while Knox was in the apartment.  To wit, Egan:

Still, Knox’s statements were troubling. She and Sollecito gave different versions of what they had done the night of the killing, their memories clouded no doubt because they’d been smoking hashish. And Knox raised the possibility that a bar owner with an airtight alibi could have been involved.

Knox did not “raise the possibility” that the bar owner might be involved she gave a long narrative blaming him with an array of sordid and lengthy details.  Not exactly a problem in translation.  For those who want a more balanced piece you can read my take, “The Curious Case of Amanda Knox.”

This is unfortunate, as I very much like Timothy Egan’s writing.  In fact, his subjectivity is often the best part of his pieces.  Unfortunately, in this case, he is no better than the Seattle reporters who are rooting for the hometown girl.  Tis a shame.

UPDATE:  Timothy Egan responds to his critics.

I read Egan’s response to his critics regarding his opinion piece on Amanda Knox, “An Innocent Abroad.”  There is some measure of contrition in his response, as with his use of “innocent abroad.”  But, overall, Egan does little to give substance to his very clearly biased opinion piece in which he rails against the prosecutor and calls the case a “railroad job.”  He says he took a month to review the evidence, but there is very little in his piece that could be called factual.

1.  Egan’s account of the conviction of Rudy Guede is, to put it mildly, incomplete and inaccurate.   He draws a straw man, implying that the “anti-Knox” crowd is completely discounting his guilt.  That is sheer nonsense.  Guede is clearly guilty, the only question is whether he acted alone and on that score the forensic evidence points to more than one actor.  Guede was caught almost immediately, and in one of Knox’s permutations of her alibis, she claimed that she let him in and that she was in the next room while he raped and killed her — hearing her screams as well.   If so, why didn’t Knox call the police herself?  She has since ditched that story.  The only thing Egan falls back on is police duress.  But Knox changed her alibis over a period of time and it took three weeks before her first victim, Lumumba the bar owner, was cleared.  She never volunteered that her story was false until his alibi panned out.

2.  Egan claims that Knox had no motive.  This was not a vendetta, robbery or revenge killing.  It was a crime of passion.  As I explained when it comes to sex a little motive goes a long way.  It is not the prosecution’s case that Knox planned to murder Kercher.   The theory of the case fits the case, a sex game gone awry.  This explains the brutality of the murder and incompetence in disposing of evidence.

3.  Egan spends a lot of time impugning the Italians and the British as having prejudged this case.  My reading leads me to the exact opposite conclusion, it is the American media that has prejudged this matter in favor of the American girl.  I sourced much of my material to Der Speigel and the BBC, hardly tabloids, as Egan pronounces the foreign press.

As my original post made clear, I am not prejudging this matter, I certainly have no stake in it.  Although, by all accounts, I should be in the Knox camp, being as we are part of the same community.  Egan is a very able writer, but he is no legal analyst ala Jeffrey Rosen or Kurt Eichenwald.   I think that Egan is simply out of his element and out of his league, on this matter and his shoddy work clearly indicates as such.

If you’ve ever been to a White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition meeting, you know that’s Kathy Kaminski, one of the WCSDCSC’s energetic co-facilitators (along with Karen Greene). At the end of Thursday night’s meeting, Kathy had a personal announcement: Next meeting will be her last, as she is leaving Seattle Neighborhood Group in July to return to school, seeking a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. She says she hopes to return after her two years of studies; she’s been with SNG for five years (per its staff page).

Arlingto Northwest Memorial at Greenlake

Arlington Northwest Memorial was set up Sunday, April 19 to honor Spc. Chris Dickison of White Center and 4,273 other American men and women who have given their lives in Iraq.

The memorial was set up along the lakeside at Green Lake in Seattle.  About 50 volunteers arrived at 7 am to set up the display which will stand for one day only. The sponsors of the event are Veterans For Peace, Chapter 92 and the Evergreen Peace and Justice Community. Many of these volunteers were veterans who served in Vietnam. From time to time they have set up the memorial of small crosses and headstones arrayed as they would be at Arlington National Cemetery in our nation’s capital. These volunteers have set up the Arlington Northwest Memorial at various places around the State of Washington over recent years.

A handout prepared by one of the volunteers answers the question: Why do we continue to erect this Arlington Northwest display?

Memorial to Chris Dickinson of White Center

“Friends,
We must strengthen our resolve to maintain Arlington Northwest as a loving, though painful, memorial. It honors those who died.  It acknowledges the shattered lives and dreams of their friends and loved ones.  It reminds us all of the immesuarable losses and suffering associated with war.  It allows those of us who erect it to hope that if we continue to confront our fellow citizens with this accounting, the reality of this war’s horrendous costs will change their hearts and minds…….. Karen”

The walkers, joggers, and bicyclists who work their way around Green Lake on Sunday were given something to contemplate as they moved on their way through a sunny day. It gives all of us something to think about.

Chris Dickison was killed in 2005. Here’s a video tribute to him, posted on You Tube:

Not since Mary Kay Letourneau titillated the tabloids with details of her ongoing romantic involvement with a teenage boy has the greater West Seattle area produced an internationally notorious celebrity like Amanda Knox. Knox grew up in the Arbor Heights neighborhood just west of White Center.   Some of her family are familiar to us at the cafe, so writing about her case, a case which has drawn such notoriety, is necessarily fraught with emotion. It seems, the whole world is riveted on the trial of Knox and her former lover and codefendant, the Italian national, Raffaele Sollecito. The case has riveted both the English and Italian press and has spawned a cottage industry in the blogosphere.

In addition to the media attention, the case has produced two warring camps: those who proclaim Knox’s innocence and those who profess her guilt. The Knox family is receiving the services of a prominent Seattle attorney to discount the prosecution’s case.  The attorney, Anne Bremner, has put forward her own theory of the case, of which more later. As is often the case with public relations campaigns, though, these efforts have produced more heat than light. It is perfectly understandable that the family would wage a vigorous campaign on behalf of their daughter. Blood ties.

For those very few people unfamiliar with the details of the crime, it took place in the picturesque town of Perugia, Italy. Perugia has a large population of foreign students and it is where Knox and Meredith Kercher, of  Couldson, England went to study abroad. Knox, Kercher, and two other women were flatmates. On November 2, 2007, at approximately 1 p.m. the body of Meredith Kercher was found in her room. Her throat had been cut in a brutal manner. Her eyes were turned to the left and fixed in a rigid gaze, her tongue bone broken, and her neck bisected by a long, deep gash. Medical examiners say she died a slow and painful death. She had, as well, been sexually assaulted. Der Spiegel

Although Knox and Sollecito were first on the scene following the crime, it was not they who called the police. (A neighbor had found Kercher’s mobile phone under a tree and contacted the police.) By the time officers rang the doorbell at 12:35 p.m., on November 2nd, Knox had already notified another roommate and two friends. The two other women living in the apartment had gone away on holiday, so the door to Kercher’s room was broken down at this point.

When investigators arrived on the scene they were surprised to find that all of the rooms, except for Kercher’s, had apparently been scrubbed with concentrated cleaning agent, believed to be bleach, after the murder. They were even more surprised to find that none of Knox’s fingerprints could be found in the apartment, despite the fact that she lived there. Der Spiegel Police state that they detected the odor of bleach on Nov. 6, 2007 — the day both defendants were arrested.  The allegation is that the defendants might have used bleach to eliminate possible traces on any item that might tie them to the crime.

Both, Amanda Knox and Raffaelle Sollecito maintain their innocence. A third individual, Rudy Guede, and African immigrant, opted for a separate “quick trial” and was convicted of murder. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

On November 6, Italian police arrested Knox, then 20, Sollecito, 23, and Congolese national Diya “Patrick” Lumumba, 38. (Lumumba owned a local bar that occasionally employed Knox as a barmaid; his arrest resulted from Knox’s claim that she saw him enter Kercher’s room and heard screams emanating from it.) In their statement, the police said Kercher was murdered because she refused to take part in violent sex. According to Knox’s statement:

“I want to tell you what happened because it’s left me really shocked and I’m terrified of Patrick, the African boy who owns the Le Chic pub where I work sometimes. I saw him on the evening of 1 November, after I replied ‘see you’ to his text message. We met at about 9 p.m. on the basketball court in Piazza Grimana and went to my place. I can’t remember if Meredith was already there or if she turned up later. What I can say is that they went into the bedroom.” Amanda goes on to describe the assault in detail. Then she adds, “I met Patrick this morning [5 November – Ed.] outside the University for Foreigners and he asked me questions. He wanted to know what questions the police had asked me. I think he also asked me if I wanted to speak to journalists, perhaps because he was trying to find out if I knew anything about Meredith’s death”. (Emphasis added—Ed.)

As it happens, Lumumba had an airtight alibi and was eventually cleared as a suspect and released. Knox never provided a good explanation as to why she had accused Lumumba of the crime. Nor, despite the torrent of commentary, does anyone pick up on the very politically incorrect reference to the 38-year-old Lumumba as “the African boy.” Although from here on out, the alibis and stories of Knox and Sollecito become ever more contradictory.   Knox has claimed the these contradictory statements were the results of drugs, exhaustion and police pressure as well as psychological stress.

Initially, both Knox and Sollecito had claimed to have been at Sollecito’s apartment on the night of the crime, although each noted that either one could have snuck out at night while  the other was asleep.

Both of them had turned off their cell phones that night. Sollecito claimed that he was downloading a cartoon during the critical two hours that the crime occurred; however, tests indicated no activity on the computer that night and his Internet service provider indicated that there was no activity on his account that night. A surveillance camera, across the street from the flat, caught an image of Knox going to the house that night just before the murder. Knox retracted her initial alibi and gave a more detailed statement, which contradicted her first one.

Transcript of Amanda Knox’s handwritten statement to police on the evening of November 6, the day she was arrested:

This is very strange, I know, but really what happened is as confusing to me as it is to everyone else. I have been told there is hard evidence saying that I was at the place of the murder of my friend when it happened. This, I want to confirm, is something that to me, if asked a few days ago, would be impossible.

I know that Raffaele [Sollecito] has placed evidence against me, saying that I was not with him on the night of Meredith’s murder, but let me tell you this. In my mind there are things I remember and things that are confused. My account of this story goes as follows, despite the evidence stacked against me:

On Thursday November 1 I saw Meredith the last time at my house when she left around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. Raffaele was with me at the time. We, Raffaele and I, stayed at my house for a little while longer and around 5 in the evening we left to watch the movie Amelie at his house. After the movie I received a message from Patrik [sic], for whom I work at the pub “Le Chic”. He told me in this message that it wasn’t necessary for me to come into work for the evening because there was no one at my work.

Now I remember to have also replied with the message: “See you later. Have a good evening!” and this for me does not mean that I wanted to meet him immediately. In particular because I said: “Good evening!” What happened after I know does not match up with what Raffaele was saying, but this is what I remember. I told Raffaele that I didn’t have to work and that I could remain at home for the evening. After that I believe we relaxed in his room together, perhaps I checked my email. Perhaps I read or studied or perhaps I made love to Raffaele. In fact, I think I did make love with him.

However, I admit that this period of time is rather strange because I am not quite sure. I smoked marijuana with him and I might even have fallen asleep. These things I am not sure about and I know they are important to the case and to help myself, but in reality, I don’t think I did much. One thing I do remember is that I took a shower with Raffaele and this might explain how we passed the time. In truth, I do not remember exactly what day it was, but I do remember that we had a shower and we washed ourselves for a long time. He cleaned my ears, he dried and combed my hair.

One of the things I am sure that definitely happened the night on which Meredith was murdered was that Raffaele and I ate fairly late, I think around 11 in the evening, although I can’t be sure because I didn’t look at the clock. After dinner I noticed there was blood on Raffaele’s hand, but I was under the impression that it was blood from the fish. After we ate Raffaele washed the dishes but the pipes under his sink broke and water flooded the floor. But because he didn’t have a mop I said we could clean it up tomorrow because we (Meredith, Laura, Filomena and I) have a mop at home. I remember it was quite late because we were both very tired (though I can’t say the time).

The next thing I remember was waking up the morning of Friday November 2nd around 10am and I took a plastic bag to take back my dirty cloths to go back to my house. It was then that I arrived home alone that I found the door to my house was wide open and this all began. In regards to this “confession” that I made last night, I want to make clear that I’m very doubtful of the verity of my statements because they were made under the pressures of stress, shock and extreme exhaustion. Not only was I told I would be arrested and put in jail for 30 years, but I was also hit in the head when I didn’t remember a fact correctly. I understand that the police are under a lot of stress, so I understand the treatment I received.

However, it was under this pressure and after many hours of confusion that my mind came up with these answers. In my mind I saw Patrik in flashes of blurred images. I saw him near the basketball court. I saw him at my front door. I saw myself cowering in the kitchen with my hands over my ears because in my head I could hear Meredith screaming. But I’ve said this many times so as to make myself clear: these things seem unreal to me, like a dream, and I am unsure if they are real things that happened or are just dreams my head has made to try to answer the questions in my head and the questions I am being asked.

But the truth is, I am unsure about the truth and here’s why:

1. The police have told me that they have hard evidence that places me at the house, my house, at the time of Meredith’s murder. I don’t know what proof they are talking about, but if this is true, it means I am very confused and my dreams must be real.

2. My boyfriend has claimed that I have said things that I know are not true. I KNOW I told him I didn’t have to work that night. I remember that moment very clearly. I also NEVER asked him to lie for me. This is absolutely a lie. What I don’t understand is why Raffaele, who has always been so caring and gentle with me, would lie about this. What does he have to hide? I don’t think he killed Meredith, but I do think he is scared, like me. He walked into a situation that he has never had to be in, and perhaps he is trying to find a way out by disassociating himself with me.

Honestly, I understand because this is a very scary situation. I also know that the police don’t believe things of me that I know I can explain, such as:

1. I know the police are confused as to why it took me so long to call someone after I found the door to my house open and blood in the bathroom. The truth is, I wasn’t sure what to think, but I definitely didn’t think the worst, that someone was murdered. I thought a lot of things, mainly that perhaps someone got hurt and left quickly to take care of it. I also thought that maybe one of my roommates was having menstral [sic] problems and hadn’t cleaned up. Perhaps I was in shock, but at the time I didn’t know what to think and that’s the truth. That is why I talked to Raffaele about it in the morning, because I was worried and wanted advice.

2. I also know that the fact that I can’t fully recall the events that I claim took place at Raffaele’s home during the time that Meredith was murdered is incriminating. And I stand by my statements that I made last night about events that could have taken place in my home with Patrik, but I want to make very clear that these events seem more unreal to me that what I said before, that I stayed at Raffaele’s house.

3. I’m very confused at this time. My head is full of contrasting ideas and I know I can be frustrating to work with for this reason. But I also want to tell the truth as best I can. Everything I have said in regards to my involvement in Meredith’s death, even though it is contrasting, are the best truth that I have been able to think.

[illegible section]

I’m trying, I really am, because I’m scared for myself. I know I didn’t kill Meredith. That’s all I know for sure. In these flashbacks that I’m having, I see Patrik as the murderer, but the way the truth feels in my mind, there is no way for me to have known because I don’t remember FOR SURE if I was at my house that night. The questions that need answering, at least for how I’m thinking are:

1. Why did Raffaele lie? (or for you) Did Raffaele lie?
2. Why did I think of Patrik?
3. Is the evidence proving my pressance [sic] at the time and place of the crime reliable? If so, what does this say about my memory? Is it reliable?
4. Is there any other evidence condemning Patrik or any other person?
3. Who is the REAL murder [sic]? This is particularly important because I don’t feel I can be used as condemning testimone [sic] in this instance.

I have a clearer mind that I’ve had before, but I’m still missing parts, which I know is bad for me. But this is the truth and this is what I’m thinking at this time. Please don’t yell at me because it only makes me more confused, which doesn’t help anyone. I understand how serious this situation is, and as such, I want to give you this information as soon and as clearly as possible.

If there are still parts that don’t make sense, please ask me. I’m doing the best I can, just like you are. Please believe me at least in that, although I understand if you don’t. All I know is that I didn’t kill Meredith, and so I have nothing but lies to be afraid of.

The state of the evidence was summarized by Charles Mudede of the Seattle weekly, The Stranger :

What we know about the crime and the suspects comes mostly from what the police and lawyers release/leak to the press. From these releases/leaks of information rises a haze of conflicting confessions, changing stories, DNA links, and digital details. For a while, Sollecito insisted he was not at the cottage at the time of the murder; he was, instead, at home surfing the web. But the recent revelation that his DNA was found on Kercher’s bra ties him to the scene. Knox first said she wasn’t there, either; she was at Sollecito’s place. Then a surveillance camera captured Knox walking back to the cottage an hour before Kercher returned home for the last time. After that, Knox admitted she had been at home, saying she had smoked a lot of hash, heard the killer in the other room, and closed her ears while Kercher screamed. But a drop of Knox’s blood has been found in a sink, and her DNA was also on a knife that had Kercher’s DNA on its tip. Guede claims that he did not kill Kercher, that the two had consensual sex, and after sex he took a big shit in her bathroom because his stomach was turned by some “spicy kebab.” While taking the long shit, he was listening to music on his iPod. Because the music was loud, he did not hear Kercher screaming for her life in the other room. When he entered her room, he confronted and tussled with her killer. The stranger screamed: “A black man found, black man condemned,” and fled the house. In the quiet moment that fell upon the room, Guede heard Kercher’s last word: “af.” He knelt beside her oozing life, dipped a forefinger into a warm pool of her blood, wrote “AF” on the wall, and ran out of her house. That is his story.

Guede opted for a separate trial, fearing that Knox and Sollecito were conspiring against him. He was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. The 100-plus-page opinion of the judge who presided over Guede’s trial has been dribbling out in pieces. Among the judge’s findings is the following :

Judge Micheli was also the pre-trial judge who in October said there was enough evidence against Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito for them to be sent for trial. The prosecution alleges that Guede tried to sexually assault Ms Kercher while Mr Sollecito held her down and Ms Knox toyed with a knife against her throat, which she then used to stab her. Judge Micheli said he accepted that there was “complicity” between the assailants, but said some aspects of the prosecution reconstruction were “fantasy”.

Reconstructing the crime in his 106-page report, Judge Micheli said the first blow was struck at Ms Kercher while she was standing up. He said she was killed because she refused to take part in a sexual game which “escalated into violence and got out of control.”

At the hearing to determine whether Knox and Sollecito should be held, Ms. Knox’s lawyers initially argued that evidence about her accusing innocent local bar owner Diya “Patrick” Lumumba of the murder should not be admissible. This was denied. There was a report from trial judge Paolo Micheli in which he concluded that Amanda Knox had opened the door to Meredith’s killer. The court heard that a knife with Kercher’s DNA on it had been found in Mr. Sollecito’s apartment.

Ms. Knox has been keeping a prison diary which was itself leaked. There is some controversy about the translation, but here is one version an excerpt from the diary:

“That night I smoked a lot of marijuana and I fell asleep at my boyfriend’s house. I don’t remember anything. But I think it’s possible that Raffaele went to Meredith’s house, raped her and then killed. And when he got home, while I was sleeping, he put my fingerprints on the knife. But I don’t understand why Raffaele would do that.”

Now here is what one of Amanda’s supporters claims she actually wrote:

“Raffaele and I have used this knife to cook, and it’s impossible that Meredith’s DNA is on the knife because she’s never been to Raffaele’s apartment before. So unless Raffaele decided to get up after I fell asleep, grabbed said knife, went over to my house, used it to kill Meredith, came home, cleaned the blood off, rubbed my fingerprints all over it, put it away, then tucked himself back into bed, and then pretended really well the next couple of days, well, I just highly doubt all of that.”

To look at the pictures both, in custody and on the web, Amanda Knox clearly projects the “all American girl.”  Albeit, in Italy she is derogatorily referred to as “Foxy Knoxy,” her Facebook name.   Obviously, her look and demeanor, did not sway the magistrate who ordered her held in prison who described “Knox as having “a multilayered personality, naive and cunning at the same time.”  Her accounts of the events of that night have constantly shifted, although she blames drug use and police pressure for conflicting narratives.  Even if she was using a lot of marijuana or hashish, that night, it is hard to square with her claims of memory lapses.  One would think that they would sober up pretty quickly upon finding a bloody murder scene and the police at the door.  And then there is the seeming lack of emotion betrayed after the murder, “Knox talked about the details of Kercher’s death as if she had thought about them carefully. “She bled to death very slowly,” Knox said.”  Der Spiegel

Her former lover and now co-defendant, Raffaele Sollecito has tried to shift the blame to Amanda, arguing that she left his apartment at 9 p.m.  Needless to say, this account does not square with the forensic evidence.   As with Knox, the magistrate that ordered Sollecito held in prison gave this account of the young man, “Sollecito has a penchant for violent pornography and horror films, as well as knives and the morbid punk music of Marilyn Manson. He seemed withdrawn and was deeply affected by the death of his mother.”  Der Spiegel His father, who has come to his defense concedes that Sollecito had a knife collection but claims that he was incapable of being a killer.  Like Knox, Sollecito exhibited a strange emotional distance after the murder.   He now claims that he was a virgin before he met Knox.  His DNA was found on the bra strap of Kercher.  As with Knox, the forensic and circumstantial evidence do not bode well for Sollecito.  And as with Knox, his mutating explanations of what happened that night have only hurt his cause.

So what is the family’s theory of what happened on the fateful night?  The family’s Seattle lawyer, Anne Bremner poses a “lone wolf” theory placing the whole blame on, the now convicted, Rudy Guede,

What really happened in Perugia last November first?

Once you put aside the wild theories the authorities have spun for the media, this case isn’t mysterious at all.  The evidence shows it was a sexual homicide like many others.  The police have enough evidence against Rudy Guede to convict him in any courtroom in the world.

— He left a hand print, in the victim’s blood, next to the victim’s body.

— His DNA was found inside the victim.

— He admits he was at the scene of the crime.

— He admits to having some kind of intimate contact with Meredith but claims it was consensual and stopped short of intercourse.

— And he says someone else entered the premises and killed Meredith while he was in the bathroom.

This last claim is the standard alibi killers give police when they can’t deny being present at the scene of a murder.  It’s known as the “bushy-haired stranger” story, and it’s so common police often refer to the acronym, BHS.  One famous case in the U.S. is that of Diane Downs, who claims a BHS shot her children.

Judges and juries almost never believe the BHS story.  But Rudy Guede has an advantage over most people in his situation, because the prosecutor is already trying to make the case that two other people were involved in killing Meredith Kercher.  Not surprisingly, after Rudy sat in jail for a few months, he modified his story.  Now he says the BHS was Raffaele Sollecito.  And he also claims Amanda Knox, who he originally said was not at the crime scene, was present after all.

Guede wants to push the blame off on them.  It remains to be seen whether he will do so, but the factual evidence is strongly against him.

Putting aside the fact that forensic evidence ties Knox and Sollecito to the crime scene, the theory of Guede acting alone has been discounted as follows:

The lone wolf theory can be disbanded simply with a balance of probability. What are the chances of Rudy Guede, a young man with no history of violence, no criminal record and no recorded drug problem deciding to randomly go to the house of a girl he barely knew (or did not know at all) in order to sexually assault and kill her? What are the chances of him scaling a wall in order to break into the apartment when other points of entry would have been easier? What are the chances of him selecting that house to burgle if this was his primary motivation? What are the chances of him, independently and without consultation from the defendants or anyone else with access to this type of knowledge, knowing that Meredith Kercher would be home alone on the night of the 1st November 2007?

It is not unusual that a notorious crime would attract much media attention; whole journalistic enterprises feed on them.  But this case has some unusual features that attract even more attention.  For starters, each actor had a different nationality, Guede is African, Sollecito is Italian, Knox is American and the victim, Kercher was English.  All the actors are young, handsome and none had a history of criminal activity – especially violent criminal activity.  The brutality is shocking.  Finally, there is the question of motive.  Although, as a former prosecutor, in questions of sex, reason is often lacking and a little motive may lead to a lot of mayhem.  In this instance, perhaps, the most detailed analysis that I have found to explain why this happened and what animated the various actors is the blog entitled,“Lies Our Mothers Told Us” and extensive reporting by the BBC .  As we here, in Seattle, try and make sense of events that befuddle us, it is worthwhile trying to find information that is well-reasoned and well-grounded.  Presently, we get sparse feeds from the wire and an occassional report from home-town media.  In that regard, I hope this helps us to be better informed on the curious case of Amanda Knox.

There is just something about the word Brunch that I detest. Part of it is the need to take two words, that are just fine on their own, and smoosh them together to form a new word when either of the old words would have worked just fine. It also strikes me as some pretentious activity taken up by the country club set after a rousing round of golf. I love breakfast, one of my favorite meals of the day really. Lunch is normally my first actual meal of the day, since I tend to sleep in a little later than I should and I end up running out of the house snacking on a piece of dry bread. With those criteria, one would think that I would love brunch. I like the concept, just not the name.

The name normally brings on a big fuss over something that should be very simple. Breakfast should be simple. Pancakes. That is a breakfast. Eggs, potatoes, some sort of fried pork and toast. That is breakfast. Simple, easy breakfast. Brunch is something like this: “Bob’s Red Mill “mighty tasty” hot cereal vanilla-pear compote, Bellwether Farms fromage blanc, crunchy pecans $10”. That is really just freakin oatmeal with cream and nuts, but with the “brunch” tag on it, it is some how now worth TEN DOLLARS. You could buy an entire silo of rolled oats for ten dollars. Yesterday morning I had a four-egg omelet, with cheese and bacon, a side of pancakes, and hash browns for $6.75. Sure, I did not get to eat that in Belltown. There you pay for the view. Like watching a junkie nod off on a bus bench on 3^rd Ave. No, I had that breakfast at Young’s.

Young’s is a family owned dinner on 16^th just north of Roxbury. It is the kind of place that brings you the newspaper after the last guy was done reading it. The waitresses will know your name after you have been in there a couple of times. Omelets are less then eight bucks, and the booths are comfy. They also serve Chinese food, that I have never tried. Own of the daughters told me that when they opened 35 years ago, they just did Chinese food, and some one suggested that they try breakfast. They moved into a bigger spot a few doors down, and thought they would give breakfast a try to pay for the bigger space. Mr. Young did something right, because he is turning out the best breakfast plates in town. Huge. Low on the grease, and simple. Breakfast does not get better than this. Brunch might try. but this is the pinnacle of breakfast.

Young’s 

9413 16th Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98106
(206) 762-3438

Tues-Sat 8 am-5 pm, Sun 8 am-3 pm CLOSED MONDAYS. Cause Monday is starve White Center day.

Wanted to point you to this report on our partner site West Seattle Blog – where we got e-mail from White Center Food Bank friends/volunteers mentioning the lengths WCFB boss Rick Jump went to, to be there for clients. So many great stories like this are emerging as we all thaw out; keep ’em coming.

Back in the day when the only news was the old media (traditional newspapers, TV, news wire services), everything was filtered by arbiters of acceptable opinion.  Many was the time when I pulled my hair reading nonsense in some newspaper, wanting to call the reporter and ask, “what the f*ck were you thinking?”  I wrote letters to the editor and some of them got published.  I remember the New York Times calling me to confirm stuff about my background that only the FBI would know.  Even then they polished my comments and turned them into digestible sound bites.

The internet and the blogosphere has completely changed the rules of the game.  The “trad” media has yet to catch up, never mind comprehend the changes which have taken place.  Our sister site, the West Seattle Blog, is an example of people who not only comprehend the new medium but are doing an end run on the trad media.  Today, there are literally millions of blogs, accessible to anyone with an internet connection.  And the highest rated internet sites are themselves blogs:  yes blogs draw more readers than the New York Times or the Washington Post.  It is hardly an understatement to state that we are in an information revolution, perhaps as profound as the invention of the Gutenberg Press.

So what does this have to do with White Center?  Plenty.  News, events, anything that happens in our community is immediately communicated and it is communicated without the establishment media deciding what is or is not “newsworthy.”   Personally, I think this is a great development.  Democracy actually returning to its roots.

Which brings me to my critics.  I have been posting on various topics of concern to the White Center community.  In the process of doing so, I state, frankly and openly, what I believe.  I am not asking anybody to like what I have to say.  People have certainly expressed their chagrin over various political positions that I have taken.  To them, I say, in the spirit of democracy, raise your voice and dissent.  But don’t tell me to shut up!  Wrong man.  Really wrong.  If you really feel that strongly, then start your own blog.  I certainly hope that people will see this as the commons in which all can express (reasoned) views.

So now that I’ve said my piece, have at it.  Just try and be civil and smart when posting, which is more than I can say for my own views.  Peace.

Jim Diers and Barack Obama have a common link as successful community organizers. To check it out read the column by Danny Westneat in the Seattle Times this summer.  The link is: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dannywestneat/2004456334_danny04.html

Here’s a portion from Westneat’s column:

Galluzzo trained college-grad Diers in how to organize a fractious community. They formed SESCO, the South End Seattle Community Organization. It was a powerhouse, one of the most successful neighborhood groups in city history. It killed the incinerator.

Diers went on to head Seattle’s Department of Neighborhoods and write a book on bottom-up organizing, called “Neighbor Power.”

Galluzzo stayed in Seattle for four years, then moved to Chicago. Not long after, he trained another raw college grad looking for a purpose, named Barack Obama.

After leaving the Department of Neighborhoods in 2002, Jim worked for a year as Interim Director of the Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association and for three years as Executive Director of the South Downtown Foundation.

Currently, Jim spends most of his time at the University of Washington, where he teaches courses in architecture and social work and supports community initiatives with faculty and students across all disciplines. Jim also speaks frequently in other cities as a faculty member for the Asset-Based Community Development Institute and as the author of Neighbor Power: Building Community the Seattle Way. Jim is also a denizen of White Center and Cafe Rozella.

(Thanks to Ron Richardson for the link to Danny Westneat’s column.)

You can read more about Al here and here’s the book about the battle, written by Bobby Kennedy’s son.

Signed:  Ron Richardson

This tip comes from the busy forums at our partner site West Seattle Blog – White Center Now‘s own FullTilt gets a nod in Seattle Metropolitan Magazine‘s “Best Restaurants” feature, for the increasingly famous ice cream, which forum participants were busily praising. Way to go!

Just found out about this “Coach Who Makes a Difference” feature with Coach Bethany Tate from Evergreen HS volleyball. Congratulations!

Here and elsewhere, lots of people spread the word about Cupcakes for Cora, a fundraiser this afternoon in West Seattle on behalf of a 4-year-old cancer patient with ties to the White Center community too. We just posted a report, with video of Cora, on partner site WSB; see it here.

That shelf of quirky collectibles (if you’re over 40 like me, the lunchboxes may strike a note of nostalgia!) graces the office of Mount View Elementary‘s new principal Mark Demick, who says they’re just items he’s picked up “along the way.” And what a way it’s been, bringing him from his first teaching job in the farming community of Delano, California — where parent/teacher conferences were sometimes held at vineyard worksites – to this new role in White Center. Read on to find out more about him, why he’s excited about the job, and what he hopes to do: Read the rest of this entry »

A customer walks into Cafe Rozella and before I have chance to say anything he blurts out, “so, how many times have you been robbed?”  I stuttered, “What?”  He replied, “This is such a dangerous neighborhood, you must be robbed all the time.”  I got his order and looked him over:  silk pants, expensive sport shirt, Italian loafers — looked like a salesman.  “None,” I replied.

Ruminating for a minute, I said, “actually this is a very safe neighborhood.  Crime statistics show this is much safer than most other urban Seattle neighborhoods.”  Yeah, but you have so many creeps around here… blah, blah, blah… he stammered on.

“Where do you live?” I asked him.  “White Center,” he said with a laugh.  When he saw that I wasn’t in on his joke, he mentioned the very same neighborhood that I live in.   Now, I could clue this fool in, but I knew that he had a bagful of prejudices and preconceptions that no amount of small conversation would alter.

I thought about all the Rozella regulars who make this their second home:  tradespeople, programmers, biotech scientists, teachers, counselors, government workers, students, writers and artists.  Does this guy have a clue about the richness and diversity in this community?  I’ll admit that, as with any urban neighborhood, there are a fair number of street alcoholics who wander around like extras in the Blade-Runner movie.  But what of all the families walking to buy groceries at the Asian and Latin American markets?  Are they invisible?  Only to those too blind to see.

My dad was a mechanic and hence I relate well to people who do the complex jobs known as the trades.  God has a special place for the grace of those who work with their hands.  I love these people and they represent the best of our community.  And what of the artists who struggle to fulfill a vision — that takes courage.

All this went through my mind from that small exchange.  And the guy didn’t even leave a tip.