White Center Now: The blog about White Center

Ann and I would really like to thank the White Center Community for the past year, and we hope that 09 will be just as amazing as we all hope it will be.

2009 will start with a big donation to the White Center Food Bank: Next week, a truckload of potatoes and apples is scheduled to arrive at WCFB, courtesy of the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association. Read full details here. (It’s been a month and a half since the big potato donation that arrived at WCFB; see our video coverage here.)

Just in case you were wondering. Here are the rules – unincorporated King County, 6 pm New Year’s Eve to 1 am New Year’s Day.

Most King County offices and facilities will be closed Friday (Jan. 2), the first of 10 “furlough days” that the county is implementing because of its budget troubles. Here are full details on what’s open and what’s not.

Just in from Seattle City Light – a news release saying what they’re doing, and what you should be doing, to be prepared – read on: Read the rest of this entry »

Just posted on partner site West Seattle Blog: An update with video and photos from a series of robberies in South Seattle/White Center/West Seattle including the December 11th holdup at Lucky Seven in WC (one of those photos, shown above). If you have any idea who these robbers are, CrimeStoppers is offering a reward: 800-222-TIPS.

Since you’ll probably sleep through it, we’re just here to note that the wind kicked up in the area around 2 am. At 3 am, it’s gusting to 27 mph at the nearby official-measurement station at Boeing Field.

The afternoon forecast update is out and there’s still a good chance of strong wind tonight/tomorrow morning, with the possibility of another round on Friday. Here’s a link to keep an eye on: Seattle City Light’s latest list of outages. Nothing on there now. Let’s hope it stays that way.

An alert from King County late today: Report storm damage ASAP. Here’s how.

Just got this advisory from the Seattle Fire Department: Holy Family School in White Center will host a Firefighter Memorial and Benefit Dinner next Monday night, 7 pm (after a 6 pm social hour). This is on the anniversary of one of the most heartbreaking and horrifying tragedies to hit the city – the Pang warehouse fire, a deliberately set fire that killed four Seattle firefighters, including a Holy Family alumnus. From the SFD media advisory:

January 5, 2009 marks 14-years since four Seattle Firefighters died in
the Mary Pang Warehouse Fire. In memory of Lieutenant Walter Kilgore,
Lieutenant Greg Shoemaker, Firefighter James Brown and Firefighter Randy
Terlicker, Holy Family Parish School in West Seattle is conducting a
Memorial and Benefit Dinner for the Randy Terlicker Endowment Fund.

Randy Terlicker was a 1974 graduate of Holy Family Parish School. The
endowment fund will provide scholarships to families who can not afford
school tuition.

The program will begin at 7:00 p.m.at Holy Family School, located at
9615 20th Avenue Southwest. The program will include a performance by
the Seattle Fire Department Pipes and Drums Band, a presentation of
colors by the Walter Kilgore Memorial Honor Guard and testimonials from
the family and friends of Randy Terlicker.

I was a newscast producer at KOMO TV (Channel 4), on duty the night this tragedy happened. Newspeople sometimes pretend they are a little bit numb to the awful things they sometimes have to report … but I can tell you that the word of four firefighters losing their lives that night, fighting flames someone started on purpose, rocked us all. The memorial for them was an amazing, massive outpouring, with their firefighting colleagues sending delegations from near and far. The sight of the memorial sculpture in Pioneer Square’s Occidental Park brings the memories back, every time. There’s a bit more about the Holy Family event on this page of the Seattle Fire Fighters Union site.

Beyond One Language – Más allá de una lengua

A literary event celebrating the Spanish language and Latino/a culture

The second in a series of popular literary readings happened on Friday, December 5th in White Center.

The goal of these events is to promote the Spanish language – as well as native Latin American languages – via literary readings by Spanish language authors. For the December 5th event, local writers Javier Amaya and Paola Casla Taylor will be reading their work. Zita Paulino will also be there, and will read the poetry of Irma Pinedo Santiago in their native Zapotec language. English translations of the readings will be provided by House of Writers / Casa de Escritores, Inc., so that non-Spanish speakers can join the celebration.  Here are some pictures from this wonderful event.

According to our favorite weather guy, Cliff Mass:

Regarding the potential big storm on Friday…it is still there (see latest forecast output attached). Once features like this get within 100 hrs out, I really start to take them seriously. But there is still considerable uncertainty. Run after run now is giving a big storm, and multiple models are showing it as well, but they are still varying widely in timing, position, and to some degree amplitude. Some of the runs are predicting a low center of less than 970 millibars. Around here that is a serious low (although nothing special in the Gulf of Alaska). Someone around here is going to get it. But who? Sort of like a bullet being fired from a shaky rifle…something is going to get hit hard…but we are not sure where.

I don’t know what the weather services are using to measure wind speed, but they should try stepping out in it.  It is very gusty, I’m sure we have gusts well above 30 mph.  Be careful.

Box of food for the White Center Food Bank

White Center food volunteer takes in box of goods donated by patrons of Cafe Rozella.  As well patrons made cash contributions which are also greatly appreciated.  All in all a very good haul.  Thank you!

For the last week I have avoided most “best of” “worst of” “most memorable” lists of any type.  I saw that for almost a week now the Seattle Times has been carrying an article entitled “the top 10 cds of 2008.” I happen to think that the Seattle Times has some pretty good music reviewers, so I thought I might finally get around to checking it out.  As it happens, the list was not compiled by anybody at the Times but is instead a feed from the Associated Press.  Having decimated its staff, the Seattle Times, like many other newspapers, relies on feeds from other sources for its “news.”  I expected that I might hear strands of the Rolling Stones, “baby, baby you’re out of touch,” in my head as I looked at the list.  Instead, I saw a list of pop banalities in the league of Brittany Spears and Hillary Duff.   Any list that includes Mariah Carey on its list of “best of,” instantly loses any credibility in my book.  I’lll spare you the pain, here is the list (feel free to mock to your heart’s delight.)  I’ll post my list in due course.

1. Erykah Badu, “New Amerykah, Part One (4th World War)

2. Estelle, “Shine”

3. Sia, “Some People Have Real Problems”

4. Kanye West, “808s & Heartbreak”

5. Jazmine Sullivan, “Fearless”

6. Lil Wayne, “Tha Carter III”

7. Taylor Swift, “Fearless”

8. Anthony Hamilton, “The Point of it All”

9. My Morning Jacket, “Evil Urges”

10. Mariah Carey, “E=MC2”

And it’s not because of the weather. Monday-Wednesday and Friday, Metro will run “partial holiday” reduced service; here’s the list of routes affected by this. (On Thursday, New Year’s Day, the Sunday schedule will be in effect.) You can find more Metro info online at metro.kingcounty.gov.

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.

Puget Sound Blood Center has put out a warning that the blood supply is at a critically low level, with many scheduled donations canceled during the snowy/icy weather woes – but today, according to the PSBC mobile-drive schedule, there are two ways for you to donate right here in our area: PSBC will have blood drives at White Center’s Holy Family, 10 am-4 pm (20th and Roxbury, Tice Hall; here’s a map) and at West Seattle’s Admiral Safeway, 9 am-3 pm (California/Lander; here’s a map). Appointments were suggested but the site says walk-ins are welcome.

From King County, more important words of warning – about your roof. And be sure any storm drains around your house are cleared, too – until this all melts away and we are back to “normal,” there’s still a chance of trouble.

I am sick of the snow.  Let’s get some regular Seattle weather and be done with this stuff.