White Center Now: The blog about White Center

We heard this pursuit on the scanner last night but didn’t realize it had begun in White Center. Just in from King County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. John Urquhart:

The New Year is starting with a bang as one car chased another car while firing several shots at the fleeing vehicle. Apparently no one was hit.

Then it got interesting. A Sheriff’s deputies found the suspect car twice, and the chase(s) was on!

It all started about 10:50 PM last night (January 2nd). The Sheriff’s Office received a 9-1-1 call about a black Acura chasing a red SUV in the White Center area at speeds up to 80 mph. The driver of the Acura was leaning out the window shooting a handgun at the SUV.

Ten minutes later a deputy found the Acura, now in the Top Hat neighborhood and a short pursuit ensued. But the suspect vehicle got away.

A few minutes later a 2nd deputy found the car again, this time on SR 599. Another pursuit ending up on southbound I-5. The chase was ended when the deputy lost sight of the car at about the Kent-Des Moines Road.

At 12:15 AM a White Center woman called to report her 1997 Acura Integra stolen. Deputies believe this was the vehicle involved in the shooting and the chase. The license number is 403ZJG (Washington). The car is distinctive because it is black but with red and silver wheel rims.

So far there are no reported injures. No one is in custody. Neither the stolen vehicle nor the red SUV, possibly a 4Runner, have been found.

Anyone with information is asked to call the King County Sheriff’s Office at (206) 296-3311 (24 hours) or 9-1-1.

10:32 AM UPDATE: According to the scanner, police have found the stolen car. No word if they found a suspect with it. It wasn’t in West Seattle or White Center – someplace else in Seattle city limits, couldn’t quite pick that up from the radio transmissions.

Thanks to WCN contributor Deanie Schwarz for reminding us about this – it’s been in effect since yesterday afternoon but we hadn’t mentioned it yet. A Stage 1 burn ban is in place right now for King County, which means you’re not supposed to use your fireplace or woodstove unless you have no other way to keep warm. It also means no outdoor fires. More information here.

It happened within the past hour at Alki Beach in West Seattle, but it’s the White Center Polar Bear Swim too; the invitation was issued by WC Chamber of Commerce president Mark Ufkes, who’s long been inviting anyone and everyone to start the New Year with a splash. The sunny weather brought out more than 100 “swimmers” – even The King:

We wish you and all of White Center (and beyond) the happiest of New Years!

Received from King County Executive Dow Constantine’s office today:

2010: a year of accomplishment and reform

After one year, tangible progress made toward protecting community values and returning King County to financial stability

After his first year in office, King County Executive Dow Constantine says his agenda for reform has put the County on a path to financial stability, bringing fundamental change and significant accomplishments consistent with the values of our community.

“In one year we’ve made dramatic strides toward putting the County on sound financial footing, while handling emergent issues in a methodical and responsible way,” said Executive Constantine. “Thanks to our strong leadership team, and dedicated King County employees, we have accomplished much to protect what matters most to the people of King County.”

Among the accomplishments of his administration in the first year, the Executive cited:

* Full funding for the long-awaited replacement of the South Park Bridge, in collaboration with federal, state and local leaders.
* Federal funding for long-term interim repair of the ailing Howard Hanson Dam to reduce the flood risk in the Green River Valley, in collaboration with federal, state and local leaders.
* A regional partnership with cities on a new model for animal services.
* A regional partnership with cities on jail planning, to avoid unnecessary construction of new city jails.
* A consensus with regional leaders on reforms in the provision of Metro bus service.
* The purchase of 250 acres of Maury Island, including a mile of shoreline, that completes the Executive’s 12-year effort to preserve the longest remaining undeveloped Puget Sound shoreline in King County.

* Completion and adoption of the first-ever countywide strategic plan.

* Completion of the first phase of an upgrade to the County’s human resources business processes, replacing manual practices from the 1970’s with more efficient automated workflows that provide critical access to real-time data.

* Creation of a new County energy policy to achieve even greater energy efficiency, reduce operational costs, and curtail greenhouse gas emissions.

* Reform of DDES permitting to a fixed fee model rather than hourly rates, and creation of a customer service unit for rural owners.
Adoption of a new King County budget, one week ahead of schedule, achieved several of the Executive’s goals by:

* Consolidating his effort to put County government back on sound financial footing by creating annual efficiencies of three percent, leading to budgets that will be sustainable over time,
* Sticking to his principle of maintaining reserves without resorting to one-time gimmicks,
* Working with more than 90-percent of the County’s employees to preserve services to the public by forgoing a cost-of-living adjustment for next year, and
* Preserving the principle of restoring services, to the extent possible, in those areas where employees have sacrificed their COLA.

Prudent management of county finances and realistic budget planning contributed twice in 2010 to reaffirmation by the major rating agencies of King County’s AAA credit ratings on the sale of county bonds. The high ratings enable the county to save taxpayer dollars by obtaining the most favorable interest rates on financing for major projects, despite unprecedented budget challenges.

“We’ve changed the calculus on what had been an unsustainable rise in costs, and more closely matched our expenditures with our revenues,” said Executive Constantine. “We are putting King County on the right track, and I look forward to what we can accomplish in the year ahead.”

For a complete list of Executive branch accomplishments for 2010, see www.kingcounty.gov/exec

Cafe Rozella is open this morning, 7:30 am-noon, per proprietor Leticia – that’s the only open-on-Christmas-Day White Center coffee shop we know of. 9434 Delridge Way SW.

Following up on the King County Sheriff’s Office announcement that remains of another likely Green River Killer victim had been identified, seattlepi.com tells more of her story tonight, in an interview with her sister. The photo of Becky Marrero , who disappeared in December 1982, is courtesy of KCSO. In case you missed the earlier coverage, here’s their official announcement:

A skull found in an Auburn ravine on Tuesday (December 21st) was positively identified as Rebecca “Becky” Marrero. The remains were identified by Dr. Gary Bell, who performs forensic odontology for Medical Examiner’s Office and the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab.

Detectives believe Marrero very likely a victim of serial killer Gary Ridgway, the so-called Green River Killer.

Marrero was last seen on December 3, 1982 when she left a motel room at S. 168th and Pacific Highway South. She was 20 years old at the time.

Marrero was reported missing to the Sheriff’s Office by her mother on July 20, 1984. Her disappearance was investigated by the Green River Task Force, and she was believed to be a Green River victim.

Ridgway was arrested on November 30, 2001. Two years later he pleaded guilty to the murder of 48 women and was sentenced to 48 consecutive live terms. He was not charged in the Marrero case.

The remains of Marie Malvar on September 28, 2003 in the same general area where Marrero was found. Malvar was last seen in 1983 at S. 216th and Pacific Highway South. Ridgway was convicted in the Malvar homicide.

Ridgway was questioned extensively in 2003 about Becky Marrero’s disappearance. However by policy, the Sheriff’s Office does not discuss what suspects say or don’t say during the investigation of open cases.

For White Center Now, Deanie Schwarz went to today’s North Highline Fire District board meeting to see what would be said about the newly released state report (see our story from earlier). Here’s what she reports:

As spokesperson for the Board, the Fire District’s lawyer Brian Snure told WCN that the Board’s response is contained within the Auditor’s Report, but went on to say: “The Auditor concluded that the Board, essentially, made bad discretionary decisions. There’s nothing that the Board needs to do.”

He then went on to qualify that comment by saying, “One of the incidents happened five years ago. The other incidents were discussed in the report is contractual in nature. One of those incidents is being addressed in the collective bargaining agreement right now. And the Board is going through policies which Chief Marstrom has now worked on, to prevent future issues from arising.”

Asked what the specifics of that would entail, Snure said, “The response of the Board is to work hard to make sure that future decisions don’t generate the type of issues prior decisions made, “ adding that means the revisions of policies and making sure (administration) contracts are in place. “I think, part of the problem, as reflected in the Auditor’s Report, is that there were different versions of different contracts which created problems. … You prevent that in the future by paying a bit more attention to the details and making sure management has got a handle on the contracts and making sure policies are in place, so you don’t end up having to decide between competing contracts when you are dealing with a personnel issue.”

Regarding the Fire Chief’s salary change, Snure said, “The salary change was based on the desire to avoid the wage compression between the battalion chiefs who earn overtime and what the chief was earning at that time. So, the Board adopted the salary schedule based heavily on longevity.”

Asked about the timing of that decision, Snure replied, “The thinking of that decision, at that time, was to solve the wage compression issue between the chiefs and the BCs. The timing of it, because the Chief was retiring in the future, the Board had to basically document that that was a salary schedule for the future and that’s what it did. It went through the Retirement Board and it said it was perfectly legal to do that and it wouldn’t violate their rules. …If Retirement chooses to review that again, we will respond to their questions just like we responded to the Auditor’s requests.” Chief Marstrom is an interim chief and his contract is different from the normal fulltime chief, the district says; his task is for the transition, he’s not a full-time or full paid employee, his official designation is administrative chief.

Put another way by Snure, the take-away strategy based on the Auditor’s Report is: “The game plan is to make sure that all employment contracts are clear in terms of what happens when they end.”

The office of state auditor Brian Sonntag has finished its investigation into citizen complaints about the North Highline Fire District, submitted through the “citizen hotline.” The report says this investigation dates back almost one full year, when the state was “contacted by two citizens with concerns regarding a Commissioner’s potential conflict of interest, possible gifting of public funds and abuse of sick leave policy.” The concerns are detailed in the report, which you can read in its entirety here. The first claim investigated was:

A conflict of interest exists between the former Fire Chief and a District Board Member. The former Fire Chief was a Board Member for a local water district. That water district’s manager was a Fire District Board Member. The Board gave the Fire Chief a 57.5 percent pay raise three months before his retirement.

While the report concludes that no “legal conflict of interest” was found, it notes, “Due to the Department of Retirement System’s previous interest in these actions, we will be forwarding the results of this investigation.” The second claim investigated was:

The District Board granted the Training Secretary a severance package she was not entitled to.

The state’s conclusion was:

The District’s severance payment to the former Training Secretary did not follow the District’s policy. This former employee did not have an employment agreement that allowed her to earn this amount of severance pay. The District stated the severance was paid in exchange for a release of claims; however, the District did not document the employee had reasonable claims, or that any claim would be as large as this severance payment amount.

The third claim was:

The District is granting a Fire District employee time off under Family Medical Leave Act that he may not be entitled to.

The state’s conclusion:

The District has allowed this employee to take an unlimited amount of paid time off which may not represent a reasonable accommodation as intended by the state law.

Also included in the report is the Fire District’s “general response”:

While the Board disagrees with the conclusions both express and implied the Board does recognize that it needs to do a better job of defining and managing the employment relationships that it has with its management employees to avoid the situations addressed by the report.

More specific rebuttals can be read in the report; the first two contend that the payments made to the (now former) employees in question also had to do with release from district liability for any potential future possible claims/legal action.

(WCN photos by Deanie Schwarz)
White Center will be in the spotlight on KING 5 TV twice in the next few days. We’ll talk about the second one first: That’s West Seattle resident Jim Dever in the top photo, taken at Big Al Brewing this morning as he prepared to shoot segments of the show for which he reports, Evening Magazine. They were at Big Al because of the poll Jim took via Twitter two nights ago, asking for votes on where to record those segments. Big Al was suggested by @sudsymaggie – Maggie Sudduth of Vashon Island, seen in this next photo with KING 5 photojournalist Darrell Benedict:

Big Al won the poll in a landslide. Maggie tweeted photos during today’s shoot – you can see them on her Twitter stream; this episode of Evening Magazine is on channel 5 at 7 pm Monday.

Before then, a KING 5 News story is scheduled to profile another popular White Center business, Full Tilt Ice Cream – we talked with FT’s Justin Cline back on Wednesday, when a crew not only visited his WC flagship store, but also at least one of FT’s other shops. We’re told that story will likely air around 5:40 pm tonight — but keep in mind that if big breaking news happens, it could get pre-empted, in which case we’ll let you know when it’s rescheduled.

ADDED 10:46 PM: The Full Tilt story did indeed air – if you missed it on TV, here it is again (p.s. it may be preceded by a commercial, which is added to the video clip by KING, not us – WCN is a noncommercial site):

The White Center Food Bank just put out the call for volunteer help. From volunteer coordinator Audrey Zemke:

The White Center Food Bank needs help this coming week handing out food to clients. The most urgently needed shift is 3:30 to 6:30 pm Monday, December 20. In addition we could use help Wednesday, December 22 from 12:30 to 3:30. Please contact me by e-mail (audrey@whitecenterfoodbank.org) to sign up.

An announcement we were invited to share:

Greenbridge Community Active Together Forum” is coming up…

What? Bring your ideas to make Greenbridge an even better place to live.
When? This Friday December 17 from 5:30 to 8:30pm
Where? Greenbridge Library/YWCA, 9720 8th Ave SW

Local entertainment, food prepared in Greenbridge, childcare and interpretation will be provided.

Hosted by Greenbridge Community Action Team, Be Active Together, and the King County Housing Authority.

Questions? Jen Calleja (206) 832-9656 or jcalleja@nwha.org

Mai Son (206) 331-7147 Thinquoc.son@gmail.com

Yes, the power that was hooked up just the other day worked perfectly tonight for the lighting of the White Center Community Christmas Tree in the Delridge Triangle. It’s only been a week since White Center Chamber of Commerce announced plans for the tree. Video/photojournalist Cliff DesPeaux was there for WCN and partner site West Seattle Blog. If you haven’t followed the backstory, the “power” to which nearby pub owner “Mac” McElroy refers in the clip is electric power – with the help of Seattle City Light, the area got connected earlier this week, which also makes lighting possible for the flag that flies over the triangle as part of a veterans’ memorial.

Followup on our report that Seattle City Light planned to inspect Greenbridge streetlights and poles after a “contact voltage” discovery in West Seattle’s similarly built High Point neighborhood: Tonight, SCL says the inspections didn’t turn up anything in Greenbridge. Here’s the full story from partner site West Seattle Blog.

The short burst of hammering rain and roaring wind around 12:30 am was “isolated,” according to the National Weather Service, but it will remain windy at times through the night, with showers until midmorning. The Seattle City Light outage tracker shows some power outages in and around White Center.

White Center Now contributor Deanie Schwarz sent word this afternoon that the hoped-for power has arrived in the Delridge Triangle mini-park area, in plenty of time for Wednesday’s Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony (7 pm): “City Light crews just completed installation of GFCI outlet and a breaker.” She also shared the photo. This is supposed to also help provide light to the flag that flies over the veterans’ memorial that’s in the same spot, as White Center Chamber of Commerce president Mark Ufkes had said while making the tree announcement.

(Photos by Deanie Schwarz for White Center Now/West Seattle Blog)
As White Center Chamber of Commerce president Mark Ufkes promised during last Wednesday’s Chamber holiday luncheon (WCN coverage here), the first community Christmas tree in a very long time went up this morning in the Delridge Triangle – and a lighting ceremony is now planned for this Wednesday. White Center Now was there to get photos as lots of volunteers made it happen:

More about them, the tree, and the lighting, in this news release just sent by the WC Chamber:

The White Center Chamber of Commerce, working in partnership with many White Center businesses and families, installed the first White Center Christmas tree in decades in Seattle’s Triangle Park, on the corner of Roxbury, 16th Ave. SW, and Delridge. The Chamber will install a tree annually as a result of the positive community response to this effort.

The idea came from a Chamber discussion about encouraging White Center businesses to install Christmas lights in their windows during the holiday season. Vary Jackson, King County Sheriff Community Service Officer (CSO), suggested that a Christmas tree would look great at the park. Mac McElroy, owner of Mac’s Triangle Pub and a Chamber board member, expressed a need to secure lighting for the American flag on the park flag pole that was installed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Mac, who is also a vet, has been raising his personal American flag on the pole for several years. American flags flown at night must be lit, so Mac has been eager to solve this issue as well.

Seattle City Light and the Seattle Department of Transportation that owns the land, have been working to resolve the access to electricity issue. White Center Chamber member McLendon Hardware (Sandy Vaughn, manager) donated $250 in Christmas lights. A White Center Buddhist family (Many, Merda and Budd Chhim) donated a beautiful 22-foot Northern pine tree from their backyard “to bring good karma to White Center.” White Center attorney Dennis Pflug and resident Jimie Martin arranged to have the tree professionally cut down. Boy Scout Troop 375, with scouts from White Center, Burien and West Seattle helped install the tree with help from the King County Department of Corrections crew.

Due to the severe rain predicted through Tuesday, December 14, the official lighting for the tree will occur at 7 pm, on Wednesday night, December 15, by White Center Chamber of Commerce members.

Note the tree’s not the only new sign of holiday cheer in the Triangle’s little park:

Meantime, more information from contributor Deanie Schwarz on the power issue, affecting both the tree and the veterans’ memorial:

Ufkes says lights will be turned on soon, hopefully only temporarily, by borrowing power,perhaps from the Triangle Pub, until the responsible agency either repairs the failed fixture on the flag pole and/or a breaker is found, or both. Normally, City light poles have identifying serial numbers located near two horizontal black bands, but somewhere along the installation process years ago, this island was not assigned an ID. Or if it was assigned some other way to track it, it ostensibly has been lost. It is not a standard streetlight, but rather a lit flagpole. Whether that is the reason no department or agency has yet found any reliable data on a city installation or its maintenance remains a bit of a mystery.

According to Mac, owner of Mac’s Triangle Pub and a Navy veteran, and Ufkes, there are few places which are even allowed to fly a flag unlit in the entire country. Beyond providing an exterior power source for the community’s future use, both are hopeful that the city repairs the flagpole power to bring it into compliance with long-standing, national, flag-displaying codes and traditions for year-round honoring of the Stars and Stripes in White Center.

Again, the tree lighting is set for Wednesday – see you there!

In case anybody comes here looking for this information – our partner site West Seattle Blog is currently down because of problems where our server is hosted. If there’s any major West Seattle news, we’ll post it here as well as via Facebook and Twitter. Meantime, we’ll have some new White Center stories shortly!

Story and photo by Karen Berge
Reporting for White Center Now

The White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition held their final meeting for the year last night in the White Center DSHS building. This gathering was a mixture of fun as well as business, as the group organizers wanted to celebrate “a year well-spent” with a potluck. Attendees included 15 adults and a handful of well-behaved young children.

Co-chair Sean Healy opened the business portion of meeting shortly after 6 p.m. with a round of introductions and a few remarks. He noted that there were no representatives from the King County Sheriff’s Office and Seattle Police Department at the meeting as there have been in the past. It’s not clear if members of KCSO will be able to attend future meetings because of budget cuts; he said they do expect and hope to have representatives from SPD on hand at upcoming meetings.

Next, Pat Price, from the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council briefed the group on a “Teens Against Drug Abuse” event she attended in High Point last month. She participated in a roundtable discussion about prescription drug use, a problem with growing prevalence and impact; their conclusion is that “Take Back Our Meds” programs are a huge step toward reducing the problem and could be implemented here. A one-day take-back collection effort recently resulted in more than 1300 pounds of drugs being collected. Price proposed inviting one of the speakers from the King County Hazardous Waste Division to present at a future meeting of this group; there was unanimous interest in having her pursue that. The group also touched briefly on whether they could establish a permanent take-back drop-off location in one of the local stores.

Moving on to other potential meeting topics, the WCSDCSC has received e-mail from the Technical Access Foundation . They want to present their plans to the group for a new 3-story facility near Hicks Lake. They have a well-established after-school program and have been fundraising and planning for a new building for several years; they plan groundbreaking sometime in the spring. One attendee asked how this fit in to WCSDCSC; Sean Healy replied, “Promotion and advocacy is how we tie in.”

Other Announcements

· Healy also mentioned to the group that he is helping establish a Block Watch group on 12th Ave SW near Mount View. He added, “They feel like they’re being held captive,” so he wants to see them get started.

· Healy announced that the White Center/South Delridge Community Safety Coalition is now on Facebook; he urged those at the meeting to send a friend request.

· Dick Thurnau, with Friends of Hicks Lake, updated the group on his plan to approach the King County Council to take action on contamination levels in the lake. He noted that this is an ongoing issue, a danger to the community. Thurnau plans to meet with new County Councilmember Joe McDermott. He asked the group if they would attend the presentation to the Council (a date has not yet been set). By show of hands, the group agreed.

· One member asked about “a strategy to build the populace of this coalition”; in the discussion that followed, Sean Healy mentioned that he had talked with a Girl Scout troop leader about conducting a community assessment of the youth; “What do they see?” and “What do they want to see?” Someone followed with the suggestion of trying to obtain a grant that could focus on generating more participation from youth.

Following up on topics from earlier meetings:

· Liquor license renewals – the announcement that Center Market chose not to renew their license received a round of applause at the meeting. However, there are still issues with chronic inebriates hanging out at the Chevron station next door…

· Liquor signage regulations – they discussed supporting and thanking the businesses that do follow the regulations and bringing pressure to bear on businesses that don’t.

· Enforcement of drinking in parks – Dick Thurnau reiterated some of the problems in Lakewood Park; “YouTube them” was one suggestion in reply. Someone else added a word about budget cuts.

· Club Evo – Pat Price said that the Sheriff has run some quick stats and noted a 40% drop in police calls since it’s been closed.

New business: Co-chair Angela Rambo had two items of note:

· A focus group recently surveyed White Center families what they needed; they plan to send Rambo the final results, but the preliminary report is that these “are doable needs, very small things”.

· Angela Rambo has e-mailed both Starbucks and Tully’s to suggest that they consider opening a new location on the northwest corner of 16th and Roxbury. To date, Starbucks has acknowledged her email, but Tully’s has not. Rambo hopes that others will echo that request to show these companies that there is strong community support.

The business portion of the meeting wrapped up around 7 p.m. with an invitation to stay afterward, socialize and have a bite to eat.

The White Center Community Safety Coalition generally meets on the 4th Thursday of each month, from 6 to 8 p.m., in the DSHS building at 9650 15th Ave SW in the second floor lobby. This meeting wrapped up their first year in this venue; they plan to reconvene there on January 27th.

Here’s the agenda for next Thursday’s special meeting of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council:

7:00 p.m. Call to order

Flag salute

Roll call

Approval of agenda

7:05 p.m. Bong StoDomingo – King County UAC budget report

7:15 p.m. Treasurers Report – Ron

7:20 p.m. NHUAC Budget

7:50 p.m. Discussion & Approval of 3 Letters

8:00 p.m. Adjournment

The meeting’s at the usual location, North Highline Fire District HQ, 1243 SW 112th.

Seattle City Light superintendent Jorge Carrasco has just revealed that White Center’s Greenbridge will have all its metal streetlight poles checked within the next two weeks, in the aftermath of a problem detected with a pole in High Point, following publicity about the death of a dog that stepped onto an electrified plate near a light on Queen Anne. The High Point incident involved a resident calling about a problem – no humans or animals were injured – and while it was repaired, and 170 similar poles nearby were checked without any other problems detected, City Light says that they are going to inspect poles in 3 “similar developments” over the next 2 weeks – Greenbridge is one of them. Here’s our full story on partner site West Seattle Blog.