According to The Seattle Times, Tyrone Dash, 60, a White Center businessman, was found guilty of first-degree theft Wednesday (Sept. 30th) for bilking an elderly woman out of her $1.5 million estate.

Dash was charged with conning Frances Joy Taylor, an elderly Alzheimer’s victim, out of controlling her financial affairs, according to charging documents filed by the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Taylor apparently had to sell her home in bankruptcy proceedings, then spent her final months in an adult family home in Lake Forest Park.

Taylor died in February at 97.

Dash faces  up to 90 days in jail, according to King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Ivan Orton.

Read the full story here.

Friday afternoon (Sept. 11th), a cadre of volunteer “Foreclosure Fighters” manned the Burien offices of ACORN dialing phones on behalf of Maria Morales, a White Center woman whose home is facing foreclosure (see our earlier post here).

Photographer Michael Brunk was there to capture these photos:

Click to View Michael Brunk’s Photo Slideshow

The big push – aside from saving Maria’s house – was for state legislation that would call for mandatory mediation and force lenders into negotiations before foreclosure happens.

Washington State President of ACORN, John R. Jones Jr. (the African-American in the photos wearing a black shirt and straw hat), when asked what he would say to the President/CEO of Goldman-Sachs, replied:

“You are a terrorist!”

He later added: “America is about second chances.”

According to a press release we received from ACORN:

Morales and other ACORN members were stymied June 30th as they tried to confront the Goldman Sachs financial firm in downtown Seattle. Ms. Morales (whose mortgage is held by Sach’s Litton and scheduled for sale on Sept. 25th) was actually locked out of the building. ACORN members believe this to be the lender’s general attitude regarding their mortgage clients.

ACORN “Foreclosure Fighters,” outraged at not only the treatment of their members, but also the ongoing foreclosure crisis that is tearing apart families, neighborhoods, and the economy, took grassroots action today to try and save members’ homes. In March, President Obama announced Making Home Affordable, a $75 billion effort to prevent 4 million foreclosures. However, many who SHOULD qualify are not receiving modifications from their lenders.

ACORN is the nation’s largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, with over 450,000 member families organized into neighborhood chapters in 100 cities across the country. Since 1970 ACORN has taken action and won victories on issues of concern to our members. Our priorities include: better housing for first time homebuyers and tenants, living wages for low-wage workers, more investment in our communities from banks and governments, and better public schools. ACORN stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

On Wednesday, Sept. 9th we first reported how community-service group ACORN is trying to help save Maria Morales’ White Center house from foreclosure by staging a phone bank today (Fri. Sept. 11th) starting at 3pm at their Burien headquarters (located at 134 SW 153rd St. Suite D).

According to ACORN Head Organizer/Director Alex King, you can either just show up at their Burien offices at 3pm, or YOU can help try and save Maria’s house from the comfort of your own office or home – RIGHT NOW (between 9am-4pm):

1. Call Sen. Margarita Prentice at (360) 786-7616, and ask her to pass mandatory mortgage mediation and to help save Maria’s home.

2. Call Litton at (713) 218-4592 and when asked provide the following information:

Loan #: 0014555239

Name: Maria Morales

“My name is _______and I am calling in support of ACORN member Maria Morales asking you to NOT sell her house and to modify her mortgage NOW.”

[Wait for their response]

“We will continue to call and do actions until Maria’s loan is modified and you start modifying all the other modifications you have. Thank you.”

We’ll be at the ACORN offices later today, and will post photos and an update later, so stay tuned and let’s see if we can garner up some serious people power to help our neighbor!

Nearly 800 freshmen and transfer students from Seattle Pacific University will participate in an annual community service project in White Center on Saturday, Sept. 26th called “CityQuest.”

Students and staff will be at the following locations from 10:30am to 2:30pm doing various community service projects:

• Nature Consortium at 14th Ave SW & SW Holly. Their tasks will include mulching, weeding, and possible trail work.
• Green Seattle Partnership at 5951 Delridge Ave SW. They will help with urban forest and creek restoration by invasive plant removal and mulch spreading.
• Lincoln Park, 8011 Fauntleroy Way SW. They will remove invasive plants.
• Hicks Lake, at 10 Ave SW, near the intersection of SW 112th Street. They will remove blackberry bushes and scotch broom.

CityQuest brings together students, faculty, staff, & alumni for more than 30 different community service projects throughout Seattle.

So if you see a group of college-aged students wearing work clothes cleaning up the ‘hood on Sept. 26th, be sure to thank them!

For more info on SPU’s CityQuest in your neighborhood, call SPU Urban Program Coordinator Owen Sallee at 206-427-1296 (cell).

The White Center Blog welcomes Fetch Pet Care, our newest advertiser, owned by Deva and Hunter Samuels.

Fetch Pet Care offers in-home care for dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, rodents and even fish.

Fetch Pet Care is a locally owned and operated franchise, so they are able to call on their parent company if they need any support with making sure your pets’ needs are met.

Deva has taken a nine-month Veterinary Assistant course offered by Pima Medical Institute in Renton and received her diploma so she is well qualified to care for all types of animals.

Deva offers a free in-home consultation to make sure you and your pets’ needs are a perfect match for her services.

She specializes in taking group excursions (four animals or less at a time) to off-leash dog parks, including Luther Burbank Park on Mercer Island, for robust canine swimming parties.

Deva can also take care of the special needs of animals, including medical injections and special diets.

When not working, Deva volunteers her time for Bulls Eye Dog Rescue, a group that pulls dogs from local shelters and fosters them, providing medical care and placing them in loving homes.

Fetch Pet Care is located right on the West Seattle/White Center border, so its location is perfect if you work downtown and need a great place to keep your pet happy and secure while you are at work

Contact Deva for more information:

Fetch Pet Care
9425 12th Avenue SW
Seattle, WA 98106

Phone: 206-965-9851

Website: http://fetchpetcare.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Seattle-WA/Fetch-Pet-Care-of-West-Seattle/60648432694

Email: westseattle@fetchpetcare.com

[Would you like to have a "Blogvertorial" story and Ad like this for your Business on a popular, fast-growing website seen by thousands of interested Local Readers every month? Email us for more info, or check out our Advertise page!]

ACORN, a community organization of low- and moderate-income families headquartered in nearby Burien, is seeking area residents to help take action to save a White Center home from foreclosure this Friday, Sept. 11th starting at 3pm.

Volunteer “Foreclosure Fighters” are needed at ACORN’s Burien office (located at 134 SW 153rd St. Suite D, Burien) to help resident Maria Morales from losing her home Friday, when a grassroots phone bank will place calls to Litton Mortgage, Morales’ lender.  Volunteers are needed to make phone calls demanding Litton work with Maria and modify her loans.

Members will also call Morales’ State Legislator Margarita Prentice to request her to take action on the foreclosure crisis.

“I am a single mother and this is all I can offer to my children. I want to do everything I can to keep my home,” said Morales.

Tens of thousands people in Washington state are losing their homes. Neighborhoods are in tatters and the economy is in ruins while financial institutions like Litton and Goldman Sachs are taking tax dollars and giving away huge bonuses. They are refusing to do even the bare minimum for homeowners by modifying mortgages that qualify for the Obama foreclosure plan.

Morales and other ACORN Foreclosure Fighters were stymied June 30th as they tried to confront the Goldman Sachs financial firm in downtown Seattle. Ms. Morales (whose mortgage is held by Sach’s Litton and scheduled for sale on Sept. 25th) was actually locked out of the building. ACORN members believe this to be the lender’s general attitude regarding their mortgage clients.

ACORN Foreclosure Fighter members, allies, and struggling homeowners, outraged at not only the treatment of their members, but also the ongoing foreclosure crisis that is tearing apart families, neighborhoods, and the economy, will take grassroots action to save members’ homes this Friday. In March, President Obama announced Making Home Affordable, a $75 billion effort to prevent 4 million foreclosures. However, many who SHOULD qualify are not receiving modifications from their lenders.

ACORN members believe their legislators missed an opportunity to prevent foreclosures in the last legislative session. ACORN is starting the fight to win real statewide reform this Friday.

ACORN is the nation’s largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, with over 450,000 member families organized into neighborhood chapters in 100 cities across the country. Since 1970 ACORN has taken action and won victories on issues of concern to our members. Our priorities include: better housing for first time homebuyers and tenants, living wages for low-wage workers, more investment in our communities from banks and governments, and better public schools. ACORN is an acronym, and each letter should be capitalized. ACORN stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

To volunteer, call ACORN at 206-723-5845, or email Theresa Guerrero here ASAP; for more information on ACORN, visit their website: http://www.acorn.org.

According to this Craigslist Ad, the semi-provocative restaurant chain Hooters is opening a brand new casino just 1.8 miles down the hill from White Center at 9635 Des Moines Memorial Drive in South Park:

“Hooters Casino is now hiring for all positions at multiple locations. Dealers, Cashiers, Security and Surveillance. Please apply in person @ Hooters Casino 9635 Des Moines Memorial Drive, Seattle WA 98108.”

Another Ad, posted on Aug. 30th, reads:

We have a brand new Hooters Restuarant and Casino opening up in South Park! If you are fun & outgoing and fit the Hooters Gils image of the All American, Girl Next Door, Cheerleader we need you! We have several spots to fill still and as a Hooters Girls you could be in the position of a server, bartender, cocktailer, hostess, or even a dealer!

We will be accepting applications at the new location starting this Sunday 8/30 located at 9635 Des Moines Memorial DR, Seattle WA 98108. If you think you have what it takes to be the next South Park Hooters Girl hurry and come apply, you don’t want to miss this opportunity! You can also apply at the Seattle and Tacoma Hooters as well!

For any further questions give us a call at our Seattle location (206) 625-0555, and we will be glad to help! See you soon!

According to various Hooters websites:

“Hooters was appropriately incorporated on April Fool’s Day, 1983, when six businessmen with absolutely no previous restaurant experience got together and decided to open a place they couldn’t get kicked out of. Soon after, on October 4th of that year, the doors to the first Hooters Restaurant opened in Clearwater, Florida.

The name “Hooters” came from a popular comedy sketch by one of the nation’s hottest comedians of that time, Steve Martin.

The first Hooters Girl, Lynne Austin, was hired on a bet. One fine day in sunny Florida, one of the Hooters Six anchored his boat off Clearwater Beach to swim in and catch the Jose Cuervo bikini contest. After failing to convince the subsequent winner to join the troop right then and there, he told her that if her job as a telephone operator didn’t work out, she should call them. Weeks later, Lynne tried to get off work at GTE to attend yet another bikini contest. She quit the job when they refused. The next day, she called Ed to join the Hooters team.”

Here’s a map to the new Hooters Casino for those of you um…interested in “researching” this further (wink wink):

View Larger Map

So…what do you think of having not only a Hooters nearby, but one that includes gambling? Please take our poll or Comment below…

King County Sheriff’s detectives are looking for a “low key” man (surveillance photos above) who robbed a White Center bank last Friday, Sept. 4th.

According to authorities, the man was so mellow, other employees and customers didn’t know the bank was robbed until the teller called 911.

The robber casually meandered into Chase Bank, located at 1616 SW 100th Street about 2:30pm, walked up to a teller and said he wanted to make “a withdrawal.” The teller said he would need a withdrawal slip and directed him to the forms table. According to deputies, the man went to the table and appeared to fill out the slip.

The suspect got back in line and eventually made his way to the original teller. This time he leaned into the teller’s window, and said in a deep, soft voice that “this was a robbery.”

The man was given cash and he quietly left the bank. No gun was seen and there was no note.

The robber is a black male about 45 years old, 5’ 8” tall and approximately 175 lbs. He had a mustache and goatee and wore jeans, a brown fleece-type zippered coat and a brown fabric hat with a short bill.

If anyone recognizes the man they should call the King County Sheriff’s Office at (206) 296-3311 (24 hours) or dial 911.

Wednesday, Sept. 9th is the first day of school for most Highline School District students, and since there are some serious schedule changes this year (like “early release Fridays”) we thought we’d share some info for parents wondering things like:

“There’s now early release every Friday???”

“I’m so confused – early release is exactly what time every Friday?”

“OMG early release means I have to change my schedule! WTF?”

Early release Friday will range from 1:40pm to 2:30pm depending on the school, so in order to help all our Readers who may have kids who are just jonesin’ to get back in class, below are two charts (download/view them here) showing the exact early release schedules (NOTE: click on each image to view larger version):

For more information, visit the Highline School District website here.

White Center for the Arts‘ next event is coming Saturday, Sept. 19th, this time at a new venue – Big Al Brewery, located at 9832 14th Ave SW.

Here are the details:

WHAT: White Center For the Arts 3rd Saturday Art Event, featuring:

• Photography exhibit by Alexander Meas and Ken Champoux
• Live bands, Proletariat Pizza, Full Tilt Ice Cream, Big Al’s Beer and “fun surprises”

WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 19th , 7pm to 10pm

WHERE: Big Al Brewery, located at 9832 14th Ave SW, Seattle;‎ – (206) 453-4487‎

INFO: Lots of art, artists, live music, pizza and microbrew, with a portion of the night’s take going towards funding WCFTA’s Community Gallery/Coffeehouse, and After-School Arts Education program.

Here’s more from their press release:

And now for something completely different…

At least the venue is different.

White Center for the Arts September Third Saturday Art Event is being hosted by Big Al Brewery!!

September 19th, 7PM until 10PM.

Come enjoy Art, Music, Food, Beverage, and Prizes; a rockin’ Saturday night, and help WCFTA reach it’s funding goal.

Please pass this along to all of your friends and make it a party!

A “Recycling Collection Event” is coming to Evergreen High School in White Center on Saturday, Sept. 12th and here are the details:

WHAT: King County Recycling Collection

WHEN: Saturday, September 12th from 9am – 3pm

WHERE: Evergreen High School, located at 830 SW 116th Street.

INFO: This is a recycling collection event for residents of White Center and King County.

In addition to this Recycling Collection Event, many items may be disposed or recycled at other locations throughout King County. For more information, visit the “What do I do with…” website or call the King County Recycling and Composting Information Line at 206-296-4466.

RESTRICTIONS: Certain household hazardous wastes that are not accepted at this event may be safely disposed through King County’s Wastemobile program, including one nearby from Sept. 11-13th at the Burien Fred Meyer (details here). View the Wastemobile schedule online or call the Hazards Line at 206-296-4692 for a list of locations.

PLEASE NOTE: Computers, monitors, laptops and televisions will no longer be accepted at this event. You may recycle these materials at NO CHARGE at the following locations nearest White Center:

Goodwill Burien Store
1031 SW 128th St.
206-957-1020

Salvation Army Burien Store
16033 1st Ave. S.
206-267-7272

Total Reclaim – Seattle
2200 6th Ave. S.
206-343-7443

For additional drop-off locations or more information, call 1-800-RECYCLE or visit 1800recycle.wa.gov.

Computer peripherals such as keyboards, mice, and printers are not included in the E-Cycle Washington program but will be accepted at this Recycling Collection Event. This event will also continue to collect other electronic materials such as cell phones, printers, keyboards, mice, fax machines, photocopiers, scanners, stereos, VCRs, and DVD players.

For more information, contact Karen May at 206-296-4353.

Courtesy White Center Blog Contributor Duane Hobbs (of Andrews/Hobbs Design Company) comes this weekend’s handy-dandy interactive map of area garage and yard sales, from Des Moines to White Center up on through West Seattle, from Friday Sept. 4th through Sunday, Sept. 6th (since Monday is a holiday some may be going on then as well).

To utilize the map, simply click on any of the yellow push-pin styled icons, and a listing of that specific sale will pop up (HINT: if you feel like you’re “stuck” on one listing, just click on another icon):

View Area Sales (9/4-6) in a larger map

UPDATE 4:30pm WED. 9/2/09: King County certified the Aug. 18th election results Wednesday (Sept. 2nd), and the final tally for Burien’s annexation bid for the southern North Highline Area has the following returns, from over 39%% of the 6,384 ballots sent out – 55.56% “For” and 44.44% “Against”:

“North Highline South Annexation Area Proposed Annexation to the City of Burien”

Ballots Cast/Registered Voters: 2521 / 6,384 39.49%

• FOR ANNEXATION 1380 55.56%
• AGAINST ANNEXATION 1104 44.44%

It was pretty obvious from even the earliest returns, but now that it’s official, Burien’s cityfolk can pop open the champagne (‘cept for a certain city manager), breathe a sigh of relief and get to work for their new residents!

And all new Burienites should get busy communicating with their new city councilmembers here – let them know what’s on your mind and what you want your new city to do in your ‘hood!

The White Center Blog welcomes Super Deli Mart, our newest Advertiser!

New owner Min Chung has been in the grocery business since he was young and has vast experience having managed his first store when he was only 17 years old.

Super Deli Mart’s grand reopening was this past Labor Day weekend and it was a big success. He made and sold a lot of Hoagies!

Min welcomes you to Super Deli Mart.

“What makes these Hoagies so good?” we asked.

“It’s the mamu.”

“Mamu?”

Min said “it’s the secret sauce used on the original Hoagy’s Corner sandwiches and we still use the same secret ingredients and we make it fresh daily.”

These sandwiches include:

• The Cheesy British
• The Canadian
• The German
• The French
• The American
• The Italian
• And many others

Min’s Super Deli Mart is unique because they not only have those wonderful Hoagies, but they are now offering full and half size kegs to go with stock on hand and a menu of all kegs offered in the Seattle area!

If you pre-order a week in advance your keg will be waiting for you at a perfectly-chilled 36 degrees.

They also offer a selection of wines at great prices. Buy four bottles, get an additional 10% off and you can mix and match!

Min enjoys a good cigar on occasion so he offers a great selection of premium hard rolled cigars at great prices.

Min grew up in Burien. He grew up eating these Hoagies. He and his father would stop at the store on their way to Vashon Island to fish and fuel up on Hoagies purchased at the same store that he now owns, 22-years later. His lifelong dream is realized!!

Min would like to thank all the folks who stopped by this Labor Day Weekend making his grand re-opening a rousing success. And a special thanks to those who came all the way from Burien to stop in and say Hi.

Super Deli Mart:

9051 35th SW
Seattle, WA 98126
Phone: 206-937-1442
“Call to pre-order!”

[Would you like to have a "Blogvertorial" story and Ad like this for your Business on a popular, fast-growing website seen by 31,000+ interested Local Readers every month? Email us for more info, or check out our Advertise page!]

Monday night (Aug. 31st) dozens of residents and concerned citizens held a “Save Our Pool” rally at White Center’s Evergreen Pool, which shutters its doors today (Tues., Sept. 1st) for an unknown length of time as another deal to re-open through Whitewater Aquatics is attempted.

As you may know, Evergreen Pool has been wading though the county’s recent budget crisis, with its funding cut to the point of ceasing operations.

Photographer Michael Brunk was there to capture both visual and audio elements, which he has built into the following “SoundSlideshow”:

Click to Play Michael Brunk’s SoundSlideshow