West Seattle, Washington
25 Wednesday
After all these years asking questions for a living, we tend to be skeptical. So when a VISA card arrived in the postal mail today, from a non-government sender but claiming to be our federal “economic impact payment,” we had to do some research before we believed it. But yes, we learned via finding this news release, it’s for real.
We’re sharing this just in case we’re not the only ones who missed the news that the $600 “checks” might actually arrive as cards. If you get one, be sure you read the fine print that accompanies it – you’ll be charged, for example, if you withdraw the payment as cash in multiple installments (first withdrawal, the fee is waived).
P.S. If something else has you wondering about a pandemic-related scam, you can check here for alerts.
ORIGINAL REPORT: You can support a local school and a local business while simplifying dinner prep – all by getting in on this month’s benefit pickups at Dream Dinners-West Seattle (WSB sponsor). Until we’re further along in recovery phases, Dream Dinners is basically in “take and bake” mode – so if you sign up for one of two special meal-pickup times this week or next, you get dinner for three nights, $50 total, with $10 of that being donated to Denny International Middle School. Limited spots, and they request 36 hours’ lead time, so please order ASAP for 6:30-7:30 pm pickup this Wednesday (January 13th) – here’s the link – or by January 19th for a 6:30-7:30 pm January 21st pickup – here’s the link. Dream Dinners is at 4701 41st SW (lower east side of Jefferson Square).
ADDED TUESDAY: One more pickup time’s been added – Wednesday, January 27th, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm – order via this link.
As of today, the new statewide “Healthy Washington” plan is in effect, and every area of the stqte starts off in Phase 1. Though some restrictions carry over – no indoor dining/drinking yet, for example – there’s some loosening for certain fitness, recreation, and entertainment businesses. A few local notes:
–Southgate Roller Rink in White Center, our area’s only roller rink, is reopening for hourly private rentals, up to 6 people, starting Wednesday.
-Though the new guidelines allow bowling by private small-group rental too, West Seattle Bowl says it’s staying closed until Phase 2.
-Same with The Admiral Theater‘s parent company Far Away Entertainment – current plans are for closure until Phase 2.
-Some fitness facilities are reopening for allowable services, with time and capacity limits – West Seattle Health Club in North Delridge, for one, planned to reopen today.
“Healthy Washington” says progress will be evaluated by region, rather than by county, so King County is part of a region also including Pierce and Snohomish counties. The metrics for advancing to Phase 2 (see them here) involve improvement percentages rather than hitting specific numbers. The state says it’ll make weekly evaluations on Fridays, and any changes will take effect on subsequent Mondays.
Local maritime-industry leaders and advocates have long suggested the region needs a maritime-focused high school to prepare more young people to work in the field – after all, they reasoned, there’s already an Aviation High School. Finally this fall, Maritime High School is becoming a reality, and a media briefing was held this morning to be sure the word gets out. It’s not in West Seattle, but it’s public, so anyone can apply – it will be based in Des Moines, affiliated with Highline Public Schools (the district immediately south of Seattle). Partners include the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition as a community-engagement liaison and the Northwest Maritime Center providing “guidance related to maritime education and fundraising support.” The school plan was developed with help from the Port of Seattle “convening industry and education leaders and identifying national best practices.” The announcement also says Maritime High School’s curriculum “will center on the environment, marine science, and maritime careers, including maritime construction, vessel operations, and other careers working on or near the water.” It’s opening this fall to 9th graders and will grow each year. Applications are open through January 31st, and there are three online information sessions coming up – two tonight (one in English, one en Español), one on January 21st. The Maritime HS website has full details and links.
(File photo – southbound span is the one in the background)
Just last Wednesday, we checked in with WSDOT to ask about the schedule for the work that will close part of the southbound span of the 1st Avenue South Bridge (first reported here in October). Spokesperson Tom Pearce told us at the time that the hoped-for mid-January start seemed unlikely. Today, an update – they’re now hoping to start “in early February.” Here’s what WSDOT says you can expect when the work begins:
Our contract allows for up to 15 nights of work. At the start of the project we will need to close all lanes of southbound SR 99 between 10 pm and 5 am for one night so our contractor can set up their equipment. Travelers can expect about three weeks with the southbound bridge reduced to two lanes. We’ll also need a full overnight southbound closure at the end of the project to remove equipment.
As we reported last week, the contractor is Massana Construction of Gig Harbor. Today’s WSDOT update explains the work they’ll be doing on the 25-year-old southbound span, to “replace bearing pads (and) some steel repair and concrete bridge deck repairs.”
The Rev. David A. Hrachovina is being remembered by family and friends, who are sharing this:
The Rev. David Alan Hrachovina
June 10, 1952-Nov. 20, 2020The Rev. David Alan Hrachovina was born in Seattle at the old Maynard Hospital on June 10, 1952, to Don and June Hrachovina.
He was baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, further instructed and confirmed by the many words of Scripture in the Faith of Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins.
In his youth David enjoyed Seattle to its fullest, riding the elephants at Woodland Park Zoo; hunting for pollywogs in Webster’s Swamp; looking down from Fauntleroy at the fog-filled Puget Sound and hearing the foghorn’s lonely lament; walking along the windswept bulkheads and driftwood-jumbled beaches at Lincoln Park and Alki Beach against the backdrop of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound and working at Spud Fish & Chips on Alki.
David attended Hope Lutheran Parochial School in West Seattle through eighth grade, following with a year at Denny Junior High and four more at Chief Sealth High. After studying at Concordia Jr. College in Portland, Oregon, and then Concordia Sr. College in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, he attended Concordia Theological Seminary during its years of transition from Springfield, Illinois, and Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Following graduation, David was ordained at Hope Lutheran Church in Seattle and installed as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church (Parma, Idaho) and Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church (Homedale, Idaho). Four-and-a-half years later, he accepted a call to serve at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Boise, Idaho, where he remained from 1983 to 2010.
In 1982, David began correspondence with Doris Denninger, a third-grade teacher in Elmhurst, Illinois, and married his “mail-order bride” in August 1983. They were married for 17 years until Doris succumbed after a long battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) in 2001. Upon retiring due to worsening health, David returned to Seattle, where he lived until his death.
Starting in 2013, he was a supporter of and volunteered as a docent for the Log House Museum of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society.
He was known for his Chinook Jargon greeting to visitors: “Kla-HOW-ya!” His final residence was The Kenney.
Besides his parents and wife, David was preceded in death by a sister, Janet Carol Hrachovina. With these and all the saints who have gone before us, he lives in Christ and the eager anticipation of the resurrection on the Last Day. David is survived by his sister, Kathy Marie Peycke, who lives with her family in south Seattle.
Memorials (in lieu of flowers) may be made to the Janet Carol Hrachovina Charitable Trust and/or Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Boise, Idaho. A memorial service was held Dec. 3, 2020, at Good Shepherd LCMS, (Orchard and Cassia) in Boise, Idaho. A private graveside committal took place at Dry Creek Cemetery.
(WSB publishes West Seattle obituaries by request, free of charge. Please email the text, and a photo if available, to editor@wsb.blackfin.biz)
5:40 AM: It’s Monday, January 11th, the 294th morning without the West Seattle Bridge.
LOW-BRIDGE CAMERA ENFORCEMENT: It’s also the first day the enforcement cameras on the low bridge will be activated, SDOT says, photographing vehicles so that $75 tickets can be sent to owners of unauthorized vehicles crossing between 5 am and 9 pm.
For a reminder of the rules, see our story from last night.
ROAD (ETC.) WORK
Delridge project – Here’s the plan for this week. 9:59 AM UPDATE: The Thistle closure east of Delridge hsa begun:
Arbor Heights project – Gas-line replacement work on SW 104th is expected to start today.
California and Myrtle – The sewer-repair project continues – if driving/riding on California, watch out for the bumps.
CHECK TRAFFIC BEFORE YOU GO
West Marginal Way at Highland Park Way is back in alignment:
Highland Park Way/Holden:
The 5-way intersection (Spokane/West Marginal/Delridge/Chelan):
The main detour route across the Duwamish River, the 1st Avenue South Bridge (map) . Here are two cameras:
The other major bridge across the river – the South Park Bridge (map). Here’s the nearest camera:
Going through South Park? Don’t speed. (Same goes for the other detour-route neighborhoods, like Highland Park, Riverview, and South Delridge.)
To check for bridges’ marine-traffic openings, see the @SDOTBridges Twitter feed.
You can view all local traffic cams here; locally relevant cameras are also shown on this WSB page.
TRANSIT
Metro – On regular schedule – if you’re not subscribed to alerts, you can watch @kcmetrobus on Twitter for them
Water Taxi – On regular schedule
Trouble on the roads/paths/water? Let us know – text (but not if you’re driving!) 206-293-6302.
Tonight’s pandemic updates :
KING COUNTY’S NEWEST NUMBERS: Here are the cumulative totals from the Public Health daily-summary dashboard:
*68,472 people have tested positive, up 527 from yesterday’s total
*1,140 people have died, unchanged from yesterday
*4,447 people have been hospitalized, up 50 from yesterday’s total
*773,510 people have been tested, up 2,307 from yesterday’s total
One week ago, the King County totals were 64,578/1,091/4,249/755,666.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 90.2 million cases and 1,934,000+ deaths, 374,000 of them in the U.S. – see the nation-by-nation breakdown here.
NEW REOPENING PLAN STARTS TOMORROW: Even though the entire state will be in Phase 1 of the new “Healthy Washington” plan as it begins tomorrow, that still means some changes – as shown on this graphic from the governor’s office:
As we’ve done throughout the pandemic, we’ll be publishing notes from businesses that are reopening – send info to westseattleblog@gmail.com.
CONFUSED ABOUT WHEN YOU’LL BE VACCINE-ELIGIBLE? While vaccination in our state is still in the earliest stage of Phase 1, health officials announced the outline of who’s in the next subphases. That’s led to questions – so in case you’ve been wondering too, here’s the document with more details. It also includes the tentative outline of who’ll be in subsequent phases. P.S. If you wondered about the “comorbidities” mentioned for some eligibility in the announcement, the full-details document points to the CDC’s list.
GROCERY BAGS: Another local store is allowing personal reusable bags again – Metropolitan Market. (Trader Joe’s now allows them too. Any others? Let us know! – ADDED 12:54 AM: Thanks to the reader who just emailed to point out that PCC allows them too – and, this page points out, has for almost 7 months.)
GOT SOMETHING TO REPORT? westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302, text/voice – thank you!
(File photo)
In case you need one more reminder, tomorrow (Monday, January 11th) is the first day that the city is scheduled to start using automated cameras to enforce restrictions on the West Seattle low bridge between 5 am and 9 pm, seven days a week. Vehicles cqught on camera violating the rules will get a $75 ticket sent to the registered owner’s address. Here’s a refresher on the current rules (from SDOT‘s announcement two weeks ago):
Who Can Use the Low Bridge
-Emergency vehicles
-Transit vehicles (King County Metro buses and school buses)
-Freight vehicles
-People walking, rolling, using a scooter, or biking
-Employer shuttles
-Vanpools
-Pre-authorized vehicles*
-All Personal vehicles at night (from 9 pm to 5 am daily)Who Cannot Use the Low Bridge
Taxis and ride-hail app vehicles like Uber and Lyft (from 5 am to 9 pm daily)
Personal vehicles, including motorcycles, during the day (from 5 am to 9 pm daily)
Regarding the “pre-authorized vehicles,” SDOT says:
Pre-authorized use is currently limited to select maritime/industrial vehicles proximate to Harbor Island, International Longshore and Warehouse Union vehicles, and West Seattle business vehicles. If you believe you are eligible for pre-authorized use based on the description above, please email us westseattlebridge@seattle.gov or call 206-400-7511.
SDOT had been working with West Seattle’s two major business organizations, the Junction Association and Chamber of Commerce, to determine who had access. Before the cameras, they had a limited number of placards they loaned out to members who had to make business trips across the river.
SDOT has said that the traffic patterns following the activation of camera enforcement will be studied to see if changes in low-bridge access policy are merited. The policy is one of the topics on the agenda for this Wednesday’s meeting of the West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force (noon January 13th – watch here).
Thanks to Dan Kearney for the photo. West Seattle artist Desmond Hansen painted that signal box at 35th/Henderson, just north of Southwest Library, this weekend. He wrote on Instagram that the box is dedicated “to children living with disabilities and special needs” – read his full explanation here.
(January 5th photo by @i8ipod – Jack Block Park)
If you’re up early – Wednesday through Friday, the pre-dawn high tides will be the last “king tides” of this winter – 12.8 feet at 6:03 am Wednesday and 6:40 am Thursday, 12.7 feet at 7:15 am Friday. (Here’s the chart.) Too soon to tell if the weather will be stormy enough to push the tides past predicted levels, as happened last Monday.
(WSB photo, looking westward across Delridge at SW Thistle)
SDOT says this coming week will likely finally see some major work it’s been warning about for a while, as the repaving/utilities project preparing for the RapidRide H Line continues. Top of the list: The SW Thistle closure between Delridge and 20th; crews started working on the west side of Delridge/Thistle last week (as seen above) and are scheduled to move across the street as soon as tomorrow. That’s also the potential start date for the installation of vehicle-detecting looping at Delridge/Oregon. SDOT’s weekly bulletin says, “Traffic will be split around the planned roadway median during this work.” Other plans include paving at the bus stop on the west side of Delridge/SW Andover, the start of demolition between Puget Blvd SW and SW Brandon, the completion of paving between SW Willow and Croft Place SW, and the start of paving on the west side of Delridge between SW Henderson and 20th SW. See the full weekly preview by going here.
In this morning’s daily preview, we mentioned that today was the deadline for returning the survey Seattle Public Schools sent last week to families of students eligible for returning to in-person learning in March. The district announced this afternoon that it’s extended the deadline and now asks that the surveys be returned by noon Wednesday (January 13th). The eligible students are preschoolers, kindergarteners, first-graders, and special-education “intensive service pathways” students. The district says the survey is needed to help determine:
• How many in-person teachers will be needed;
• How much classroom space will be needed;
• The appropriate amount of PPE for students and staff;
• Necessary bus and other modes of transportation needed for students;
• Necessary adjustments by SPS Nutrition Services to provide in-person meal service;
• How many remote teachers will be necessary for students choosing to remain remote for the rest of the school year.
If your circumstances change after you return the survey, the district says, there will be “an appeal process” for changing your choice of in-person or continued-remote learning.
That’s a Pine Siskin, photographed in West Seattle by Mark Wangerin in December 2019. At the time, he told WSB that they seemed to be showing up in larger numbers. That’s happening again this year, and it’s led to a health problem that has at least one wildlife-advocacy organization suggesting you temporarily take down your feeder(s) to save birds’ lives. Geoff M. emailed us to point out this alert on the PAWS website, which says in part:
We are currently witnessing one of the biggest reported irruption years of Pine Siskins in the United States. Irruptions are sudden, dramatic increases in the abundance of an animal, in this case caused by conifer cone shortages in northern North America. The large flocks we are seeing all over western Washington are incredible to witness. However, this event has caused pine siskins to gather in even larger numbers around bird feeders, which can increase the spread of Salmonella, a potentially fatal bacterium. PAWS has admitted 68 Pine Siskins in the last 60 days and the admissions staff are fielding multiple calls daily about sick siskins.
Usually, we recommend removing feeders for a few weeks when a sick bird is found nearby and cleaning the area thoroughly. However, the flocks are so large and cases so frequent right now, we recommend removing your feeders even before you detect a sick bird until the irruptive migrants move on. Learn more about how to combat salmonellosis here and check out our website for general recommendations about bird health in your yard.
Geoff says, “This is affecting West Seattle, and in the past few days we’ve noticed a few dozen sick and four dead siskins and have since taken down our feeders for the time being.”
(WSB file photo)
Ever wonder how many stones cover the historic bungalow at 1123 Harbor SW? Now we know, as the first of four “Finding the Story Stones” events ends, and the others get new start dates. Here’s the announcement from Save The Stone Cottage, the volunteers working to save and relocate the little house:
Congratulations to Tanya Johnson from the Lake Stevens area, the winner of our first event ‘Count the Stones.’ Tanya’s guess was just 274 stones shy of the actual number of stones on the front facade of the Stone Cottage, which is 3,774. Tanya says, “I think it’s magical that you are working to save this cottage.” By completing the “Count The Stones” challenge, Tanya has unlocked the “Story of Eva,” the free spirit who built the Stone Cottage.
‘Count the Stones’ is the first of four events the “Save the Stone Cottage” committee is hosting, a series of educational, entertaining and inspiring events called “Finding the Story Stones,” to raise awareness about the GoFundMe Charities fundraising drive. A total of four fun activities will be held this month, in which individuals, virtual teams of friends, and families with children all can participate. Finding the four “Story Stones” will unlock elements of the unusual stories surrounding the Stone Cottage, Eva Falk, and the early history of Seattle and Alki.
Finding Story Stone #2: ‘Search for the Lost Stone’ launches January 16, 2021. This second contest is a clue-based Twitter search in which clues to the whereabouts of the second Story Stone will be tweeted out over six hours. Finding this Story Stone will unlock stories and secrets about the Stone Cottage itself.
We previewed all the contests a week and a half ago; the third one, “Walking in Eva’s Shoes,” now starts January 23rd, and the “Stone Cottage Karaoke Rock Concert” is set for January 30th. More details are on the this page of the Save The Stone Cottage website, where the newly unlocked “Story of Eva” will be posted this week, along with a photo of the “story stone.” Meantime, the crowdfunding campaign continues here, with $52,440 of the $110,000 needed for the move, as of this morning.
(Photo by Arlene Rubin)
Notes for your Sunday:
TODAY’S ONLINE CHURCH SERVICES: Our list of more than 20 local churches’ Sunday online services (with a few also offering in-person options), with the latest links, is here.
SURVEY DEADLINE: If your household includes a student eligible for returning to Seattle Public Schools in-person learning, today’s the deadline for returning the survey about whether you plan to.
WEST SEATTLE FARMERS’ MARKET: 10 am-2 pm in The Junction, the market’s open. Scroll down the page at this link to find the vendor list and map for this week. (Enter at California/Alaska; pickups for online orders are at California/Oregon)
WEST SEATTLE TOOL LIBRARY: Open 11 am-4 pm – need a tool to fix or improve something? (4408 Delridge Way SW)
FREE TO-GO DINNER: White Center Community Dinner Church will serve to-go meals at 5 pm, outside, near the Bartell Drugs parking lot in White Center. (9600 15th Ave SW)
Got something for our calendar? westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
Here are tonight’s pandemic toplines:
NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: First, the cumulative totals from Public Health‘s daily-summary dashboard:
*67,945 people have tested positive, 877 more than yesterday’s total
*1,140 people have died, 2 more than yesterday’s total
*4,397 people have been hospitalized, 22 more than yesterday’s total
*771,203 people have been tested, 3,673 more than yesterday’s total
One week ago, those totals were 64,109/1,091/4,245/755,169.
WEST SEATTLE TRENDS: Here’s our weekly check of this stat, with numbers shown in two-week increments via the “geography over time” tab on the daily-summary dashboard, combining the totals from the West Seattle and Delridge “health reporting areas” (HRAs). For the past two weeks, 256 positive test results; 271 in the 2 weeks before that; 434 in the two weeks before that. … We also are noting WS death totals each week, as the HRAs are a more precise way of counting those than the zip codes we used briefly, since two of West Seattle’s five ZIP codes also stretch outside the area. The total deaths for the entire pandemic in the two HRAs comprising West Seattle: 51. That’s two more than a week ago.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 89.6 million people have tested positive, and more than 1,926,000 million people have died; U.S. deaths exceed 372,000. Most cases: U.S., India, Brazil, Russia, UK (which this week passed France, which is now #6). See the breakdown, nation by nation, here.
STAY HEALTHY STREETS: Will any of the three in West Seattle become permanent? Watch for “outreach,” the city says.
GOT SOMETHING TO REPORT? westseattleblog@gmail.com or 206-293-6302, text/voice – thank you!
When – and how – will SDOT decide whether the no-through-traffic Keep Moving/Stay Healthy Street around Alki Point will be permanent?
The plan got only a vague mention during Wednesday night’s briefing on the citywide SHS program for the Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Boards, and SDOT didn’t clarify it further on followup.
It was early May when the city announced the north end of Beach Drive, along Constellation Park, would get the designation. A few days later, the west end of Alki Avenue SW was added. In a usage-comparison chart shown at Wednesday’s meeting, the Beach Drive/Alki Avenue stretch was the most used, the two other West Seattle stretches – High Point/Sunrise Heights and Highland Park/Puget Ridge – among the least:
The two non-coastal West Seattle Stay Healthy Streets’ futures are not final yet either – SDOT’s SHS program leader Summer Jawson told the boards that the city has 26 miles of Stay Healthy Streets now and will make “up to 20” of those miles permanent by summertime. So, she said, “community engagement” is ahead both for those streets and Beach Drive/Alki Avenue SW. as well as the others round the city.
She shared results from last year’s SHS online survey, including how respondents said they use the streets:
Results, Jawson said, also indicated the confusion over when it’s OK to drive on a SHS or KMS, given the “street closed” signage. So what next? Jawson said they’re working “to make sure we’ve got (SHS) in the right place moving into a post-pandemic situation” – for example, with more students returning to in-person learning, how will they deal with streets that school buses need to access? In general, here’s how they’re going to decide what becomes permanent:
The Alki Point stretch, however, is something of a special case, the SDOT reps said. “We’re going to talk more about Alki Point,” which is shown as a neighborhood greenway ‘eventually” in the Bicycle Master Plan, they said (though it’s not on the “implementation plan” running through 2024), so that might be one option for its future – keeping it a KMS and making it a greenway. They said “community-based design” is the next step, with other options including keeping it the way it is now, or splitting the street with a one-way vehicle-traffic lane and a walking/riding/rolling lane. “We’ll look at a couple different alternatives.”
The day after the meeting, we asked SDOT to elaborate on the timeline and process for the Alki Point decision, seeking more specifics – would the “outreach” entail a meeting? a survey? or? Spokesperson Dawn Schellenberg, who had also been at the boards’ meeting, would only say, “We are working on possible street concepts and developing the outreach scope,” and that the “outreach” would start in the first quarter – sometime before the end of March.
(Seattle Municipal Archives photo of what’s described as the Highland Park-Burien line’s Hillside Station – possibly in Riverview – 1915)
Even as our transportation future remains in flux, there are lessons to be learned from our past. Historic Seattle offers you a chance to learn about West Seattle’s streetcar history a century ago, in a free online event two weeks from today (11 am Saturday, January 23rd). Here’s the announcement:
Join us for an exploration of West Seattle’s streetcar history from 1916 to 1940 with Mike Bergman. This virtual lecture will cover the construction of the streetcar system and the many ways in which it influenced West Seattle’s development and growth in the first half of the 20th century.
From an early age, Mike Bergman was interested in Seattle’s transportation history – especially the city’s bridges, railroads, and public transit systems. Mike joined a transit consulting firm shortly after graduating from UW, followed by tenures at, both, King County Metro and Sound Transit. Following his retirement in 2016, Mike has maintained a strong interest in local transit and transportation history. He is a volunteer at the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive (PNRA) and has organized PNRA’s large collection of material on the Seattle Municipal Railway. He is the president of the Tacoma Chapter- National Railway Historical Society, and regularly contributes articles of local historical interest to The Trainsheet, the chapter’s monthly newsletter.
Although the event is free, registration is required. More information, including the registration link, is here.
Bergman gave a similar presentation back in August for the Southwest Seattle Historical Society.
Police have arrested a suspect in last weekend’s West Seattle tire-slashing spree. We’ve been following up with the Southwest Precinct regarding progress in the case, and today commander Capt. Kevin Grossman reports that “SPD received reports from 9 different victims with over a dozen slashed tires. The crime spree spread from Lincoln Park area to Alaska Junction. There were several victims who had video surveillance of the suspect. SPD officers tracked down several leads and today the 28-year-old male suspect was taken into custody near Westwood Village. The suspect was booked into King County jail for investigation of malicious mischief.” We’re checking into the suspect’s background and so far he does not appear to have a felony record.
Thanks to everyone who sent bird photos so we can continue our mini-tradition of galleries on Seahawks game days. Above, Danny McMillin photographed a Bald Eagle; below, two photos from Michelle Green Arnson – first a Spotted Towhee and (in the background) House Finch:
Below, a Townsend’s Warbler:
Next, two closeups of Anna’s Hummingbirds – first, by Jerry Simmons:
Next, by Nicholas Chesarino:
Gentle McGaughey sent this photo of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet:
Max Welliver photographed a Hermit Thrush:
Another thrush – from Mark MacDonald, a Varied Thrush:
Mark Dale photographed this Cedar Waxwing:
And one of our favorite birds ever, the ever-raucous and colorful Steller’s Jay, photographed by Theresa Arbow-O’Connor:
(All the species links go to pages on the Seattle Audubon BirdWeb, where you can learn more about the birds and even hear their calls.)
2:28 PM: Thanks to Carol for the photo, and to Brooke and Jeannie for sending notes at about the same time, after noticing more than a few sailboats off West Seattle. This is the Three Tree Point Yacht Club‘s Duwamish Head Race, from Des Moines to Duwamish Head to Blakely Rock and back to Des Moines. It’s part of the 2020-2021 Southern Sound Series. The race roster lists 51 entries.
ADDED 7:15 PM: More photos! This one’s from Jerry Simmons:
From David Hutchinson:
And from Lynn Hall:
Two West Seattle Crime Watch reports, plus this month’s Crime Prevention Newwsletter:
ARSON INVESTIGATION: From the SPD Significant Incident Report summaries – SFD logged this Monday morning incident as a fire-alarm call at Cal-Mor Circle (6420 California SW):
On 01-04-2021 at 0135 hours, unknown person(s) started a fire on the exterior-facing door frame of a residential apartment unit in the Morgan Junction area of West Seattle. The fire was small, did not spread, and was extinguished after the smoke detection system alerted staff. Nobody was injured. The building did not need to be evacuated. Seattle Fire responded to ensure the fire would not restart. SFD determined the fire was suspicious and called for a fire marshal, who determined that the fire was intentionally set and took over the investigation. The fire marshal made the notification to the SPD’s Arson Bomb Squad.
(added 12:49 pm) PICKUP THEFT: Just in, from Cindi in Upper Morgan:
Stolen last night (January 8), sometime after 7:00 pm, from near SW Morgan St and 37th Ave SW, our Ford F250 long-bed pickup, somewhat distinctive because of the large antenna mounted on the front bumper. There is also an equipment box and a 5th-wheel trailer hitch in the bed. It was secured with a club. License plate NVISCOM, burgundy in color. Police report has been filed
Call 911 if you see it (or any other known stolen vehicle). SUNDAY UPDATE: Found in White Center.
(back to original roundup) TRUCK PROWL: Via email from Tom, “I live on the 7500 block of 15th Ave SW and on Thursday (1/7/2021) morning I awoke at 6:10 am to the alarm on my truck parked on the street, in front of my house going off. It had looked as if someone had tried to pry open/wedge the driver side door, which sent off the alarm. A friend of mine going to work at that time, said she saw someone walking quickly south toward SW Holden. Nothing was taken and the prowl was reported online to SPD.”
PREVENTION INFORMATION: Vehicle prowling is among the subjects of this month’s newsletter from Southwest Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator Jennifer Danner:
(If you can’t read the newsletter embedded above, here it is in PDF.)
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