We got this interesting bit of new from our parks department recently. The Coyote statues have worked at the airport to keep birds away, so we will be trying the same thing at Liberty Park. They may surprise park visitors– especially kids. They look pretty real.

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FYI–for councilmembers

>>> Kelly Beymer 12/05/2008 11:56 AM >>>
Hello everyone,

Over the last several winters we have been seeing an increase in the amount of goose droppings on the ballfield located at Liberty Park. A small flock of geese have been utilizing the area during the early morning and evening hours. The ballfield is completely fenced and offers a very safe place for the geese to congregate.

This winter we are planning to utilize two coyote decoys in an effort to disrupt their ‘comfort level’ and scare them away. Up close it will be easy to tell that these are in fact decoys, but from a distance or late at night it may be possible for some citizens to mistake them for real coyotes which may generate a few phone calls.

The parks crew plans on placing the decoys within the fenced area of Liberty Park ballfield beginning the week of December 8th. The decoys may be removed intermittently but will be seen in the park through February 13th.
Should you have any concerns or feedback please contact me at 425-430-6803 or Steve Brown, Parks Maint. Supervisor at 425-766-6190.

Thank you,
Kelly

Newcastle News dot com ran a great story about Brett Crueger’s civics students providing assistance at the polls in the last election. This was a great experience for the youth, particularly since the polls may be largely disappearing in the near future– King County is soon switching to all-mail ballots. This experience will give the Hazen students something to tell their grandchildren about forty years from now.

Brett Creuger does an impressive job keeping his students motivated… I’ve seen his class in action. Many of us local elected officials have visited his civics class to talk with students about our public service jobs. In addition to teaching Social Studies, Mr. Creuger also directs and produces the schools dramatic production; I think his love of dramatic arts spills into his other teaching.

Here is the article from the Newcastle News…click the link at the bottom to read the full story.

Hazen students learn valuable hands-on civics lessons
December 9, 2008
By Chris Nguyen

Hazen High School seniors Carli Sowder (left) and Abbey Capistran assist a voter with a provisional ballot at Hazelwood Elementary School on Election Day. Photo contributed

More than 140 Hazen High School students contributed to the democratic process while working at polling sites Election Day throughout Newcastle, Renton and south King County.

As part of the county’s Youth with a Vision program, the students staffed nearly 50 polling stations. They had the opportunity to work in one of three key roles: greeters, provisional judges or AccuVote machine supervisors. Prior to the election, King County elections representatives traveled to Hazen to conduct a three-hour training session to prepare students for their duties.

Brett Crueger, social studies and theater arts teacher, spearheaded the group’s participation. He said school administrators were very supportive of the project. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the kids,” he said. “They’re going to remember how they contributed to the election for the rest of their lives.”

Read the whole story here

Rebecca provided 20 years of planning service to the City of Renton, and had input into just about every land use decision we made over the last decade. She lived on a small acreage just outside of Renton, so I often enjoyed talking to her about animal husbandry on small parcels. She was a great planner, and will be a terrific asset to Stanwood. Read the article here!

Our Renton backyard mustang gets his hoofs trimmed every two months. We don’t need to put shoes on him most of the time, because he was a wild-born horse. As a product of natural selection, he ran up to 50 miles a day in the desert without shoes the first ten years of his life.

Also, Renton’s soft wet ground is pretty easy on horses that don’t spend too much time on streets.

But Zeus seems to enjoy his trims, as you can see from this photo. And the farriers (hoof care specialists) all seem to like him.

After teasing that he was going to invite Councilman King Parker up to the microphone to sing us some tunes instead of flipping on the lights, Mayor Denis Law, joined by children, lead that crowd in the Ivars clam lights countdown last night. At the end of the countdown …after a brief pause… hundreds of thousands of lights illuminated the darkness over Coulon Park.

Within minutes, a flotilla of sparkling holiday ships from the Rainier Yacht club paraded by the docks of the park. Docks and ships were both covered with spectators.

Carolers sang in the main picnic shelter around a cozy fire, and visitors embarked on horse-drawn carriage rides. It was a perfect night at the park.

It was also a fun venue for snapping pictures of friends and lights.

Mayor Denis Law leads the countdown to turn on the lights

Why does it seem like our state always has more trouble than the other 49 in dealing with holiday displays? A year or two ago things went crazy at the airport, with the “holiday trees” doing the hokey-pokey (in, then out, then in), and this year we are being nationally ridiculed because of an atheist’s sign criticizing religion right next to the “holiday tree” (and right where we have placed a “holiday nine-branched candelabrum” in past years). Here is the story .

Isn’t there some other way to better manage all this? Maybe we should agree that the atheists (or secular humanists, or whatever the correct term is) can put their display in the capitol building on the summer solstice, and let people of Christian and Jewish faith use the display space on the end of December.

Do we need to become the nation’s laughing stock every holiday season? I’m sure we could be handling this better.

The Seattle Times published a story today about a man held on suspected child-abuse charges. The abuse incident may have occurred in Renton, Kent or Seattle, and our police are involved in investigating. Mayor Law filled us in on this yesterday.

—–Original Message—–
From: Denis Law [mailto:DLaw@ci.renton.wa.us]
Sent: Monday, December 01, 2008 3:51 PM
To: Don Persson; Greg Taylor; King Parker; Marcie Palmer; Randy Corman; Rich Zwicker; Terri Briere

Subject: Child abuse

Dear Council Members,

You may hear some item on the news involving the assault of a 2-year-old in the Renton Highlands. The youngster was first brought to Valley Medical Center by his mother and transferred to Harborview’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in very critical condition.

According to medical personnel, the child was suffering with severe bruising, trauma and a possible head injury in addition to other injuries. Police suspect that the victim was assaulted on multiple occasions and have the mother’s boyfriend in custody for investigation. Police are unsure where the assaults took place and are looking at locations in the Highlands, Kent and Seattle. The prognosis for the child is very poor. We’ll let you know as we learn of new details.

Denis