Seattle Central is Occupied

Protesters start to put up tents around 7:40 at Seattle Central on October 29.

The Seattle Occupation packed up its tents and moved to the Seattle Central Community College campus on Capitol Hill on Oct. 29.  The protesters plan on staying at SCCC at night and continuing the protest at Westlake Park during the day.

The move was voted in at the General Assembly at Westlake on Monday, Oct. 24. 

Komo 4's Tricia Manning-Smith on the scene.

On Wednesday, Oct. 26 the Seattle Central Administration released an open letter stating the occupiers were not welcome on campus.  Then, on Friday, Oct. 28, SCCC President Paul Kilpatrick released a memo describing the occupation as “lawful freedom of speech activities.”

The change came after Kilpatrick met with campus legal advisors and members of Occupy Seattle, who stated they would clean up after and police themselves.

View of the Occupy camp's first night at Seattle Central on October 29.

The protesters also offered assurances they would not interfere with the SCCC mission statement “to promote educational excellence in a multicultural urban environment, and provide opportunities for academic achievement, workplace preparation, and service to the community.” 

The situation early on Saturday, Oct. 29 was a joyful one; many of the occupiers showed up in costume for a Halloween celebration, including a particularly memorable Bert and Ernie chanting “Occupy Sesame Street!”

Guest speakers spoke in the plaza, including a man dressed up in The Joker makeup with dollar bills around his neck, representing corporate greed and telling the crowd how much he disliked their actions.   The speech was greeted with boos and laughter.  In the background the promised honey buckets arrived, as the food and medical tent handed out donated pizza and vegan food.

Around 7 p.m. tents started to go up, and as the evening progressed people began playing music and dancing.  Many protesters seemed to be happier to have a base camp to sleep at which wouldn’t involve a constant battle with the police, as had been happening at Westlake.

Photos and story by Ian Buck.

Fire alarm triggered, Gray Wolf Hall evacuated

UPDATE 10/28: According to Bob Wright, director of campus safety and emergency management, "The elevator is working properly and the irritating odor is gone."

Students evacuate Gray Wolf Hall. // Photo by  Ian Buck.

Today at 2 p.m. the fire alarm in Gray Wolf Hall went off when the hydraulic fluid in the elevator overheated and released noxious fumes into the air, according to assistant fire marshal Jim Venturo.

Venturo said when the fluid overheated "someone pulled the alarm, as they were supposed to."

The building was immediately evacuated. Students were coughing and covering their mouths as they waited to leave.

Bob Lord, director of EvCC emergency preparedness, said: "something triggered the fire alarm system, but there's nothing active."

The hydraulic fluid fumes are non-flammable and harmless in short-term exposure, according to Venturo.

Gray Wolf Hall was closed for 45 minutes but has re-opened and classes are back in session.

Story by Elana Pidgeon.

Fire scare in the Parks building

Everett Fire Dept. arrives at Parks // Photo by Claudia Furmanczyk

Monday afternoon a trigger from a fire alarm sent people scrambling out of the Parks building.

Without delay the Everett Fire Department arrived and began to assess the situation. According to Fire Captain Curt Rider, the alarm was triggered by paint and drywall fumes from the construction site.

The situation was quickly secured, and people were let back into the building.

Many people remained unaware of the situation, including construction workers that were working directly outside Parks. Fortunately, this was a false alarm and no danger was present.

Story by Winonna Saari.

Chase on campus mapped out

Follow the red line from right to left to see our recreation of the path the police chase took through the middle of EvCC's campus. Take note white pathways indicate walking paths, grey represents roads, and dark gray shows parking areas.The blue spots above correspond to the location of the photos taken below.

Cats, Clouds, and Ceremonies

The F7F Tigercat and F8F Bearcat of the Historic Flight Foundation flew in celebration of the Centennial of Naval Aviation.

Last Saturday was the 16th Annual General Aviation Day at Paine Field here in Everett and while the weather didn't continue with the blue sky streak it had earlier in the week, the fun and festivities continued on as planned with a few hiccups.

Updated: Two arrested after police chase through college campus

A deputy surveys damage after a dept vehicle collided with a jeep during the chase. (photo by Megan Calbero)

By Claudia Furmanczyk and Megan Calbero

 
Shortly after 11 a.m. a deputy spotted the 38-year-old suspect in his car speaking with a woman in Lake Stevens. The deputy suspected drug involvement and approached the suspect, who then turned on his vehicle and began revving his engine. The woman got into the vehicle around this time, according to Rebecca Hover, spokeswoman for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

The suspect began driving despite orders to stop. They drove west bound over the trestle into Everett and onto the EvCC campus.

Both suspects are now in custody. The male has had two felony warrants for arrest and now has additional booking charges for the pursuit and attempt to assault the deputy. The female, who was throwing things out of the window as they drove, faces charges of rendering criminal assistance. And has a misdemeanor warrant. During the chase, a Sheriff’s vehicle struck an unrelated vehicle occupied by two students.

Alex Cracchiolo and Hawke Monirul, both EvCC students, were on their way to a friend’s house during a break between classes when the suspect’s car drove passed. The students said the car almost hit them.

Soon after, a Sheriff’s vehicle struck the passenger side of the Jeep Liberty that Cracchiolo was driving.

Cracchiolo claims they did not hear the sirens from the Sheriff’s car, and they did not see any lights.

“We had our windows down too,” he said.

Police told him that the sirens and light were turned on.

The sheriff had been going approximately 50 miles per hour and Cracchiolo was driving 25 to 30 miles per hour. The Jeep was left with a flat tire on the front right side, shattered headlights, and a broken bumper.

The students were not injured, though Hawke mentioned slight discomfort in his head and shoulders. During impact he hit his head on the window.
The sheriff was taken to the hospital.

John Olson, vice president of college advancement and executive director of the EvCC Foundation, sent out an email, initiating a lock-down that lasted 20 minutes in Gray Wolf Hall and Olympus.

Students were rushed into classrooms and remained there until Craig Lewis, Dean of Communication and Social Sciences, said it was safe.

Instructors in Whitehorse and Shuksan Hall remained uninformed of the event.

If you were on campus and have any information, comments or photos of the incident this morning, please contact us either via a comment to this post or email theclogspot@gmail.com with anything you can share.

This is an on-going story and will be updated as we come into more information...

Two arrested after police chase through college campus

By Ashley Stewart

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man and a woman Monday morning on W. Marine View Drive after the suspects led deputies on a high-speed chase for more than 15 miles.

The sheriff’s office engaged in pursuit near Machais. The suspects were driving northbound on Broadway when they turned up Tower Street and into the Everett Community College campus.

The suspect drove through the campus, between buildings, and over some flowerbeds into the college’s back parking lot.

“He took a few plants with him,” said John Syson, grounds and nursery specialist.

The driver struck a locked gate and threw a white jacket from the car before driving onto Wetmore Avenue.

The jacket was taken in as evidence.

Witness Aimie Litchfield was standing nearby when the driver struck the gate.

“The gate hit my bag and sent my stuff flying,” she said.

Litchfield also reported that the suspect had trouble making turns and was followed by at least three sheriff’s cars.

There were no reported injuries to Everett Community College students or staff, according to Betty Fletcher, campus security.

The suspects were apprehended near Legion Park on Alverson Blvd. and W. Marine View Drive after the deputies used their own cars to force the driver to stop, disabling his vehicle.

The make and model of the vehicle is unknown at this time, according to Everett Police Sgt. Robert Goetz.

“It is not clear why the suspects fled, although it may have been because of felony warrants,” said Goetz.

During the pursuit, a sheriff’s car crashed into another vehicle on 8th Street and Colby Avenue. There did not appear to be any injuries, according to Goetz.

“We are very thankful that no students, police officers or sheriffs deputies were hurt today,” said Katherine Schiffner, director of public relations at EvCC.

EvCC Trojan's softball team finishes second place in NWACC tournament

Trojans pitcher Allie Milless during a game on April 9th. (photo by Brynna Owens)

The EvCC Trojan’s softball team wrapped up an exciting weekend taking second place in the NWAACC tournament, the school’s highest finish ever.

The Trojans came into the tournament as the third seed out of the north division in a 16-team double elimination tournament.

They started their visit to Portland squaring off with Walla Walla Community College, notching a close 6-5 victory after almost blowing a 6-1 lead they took into the final inning of the game. They were lead by the pitching of Allie Milless and Miranda Granger at the plate. Granger fell only a triple short of hitting for the cycle.

The offense took over in game two as the Trojans took a 2-0 lead in the first inning against South Puget Sound and never looked back. They took the game 10-0 as SPSCC was only able to muster two hits against Milless.

In game three they took on Spokane looking for their third win in a row. Hopes were dwindling when the Trojans went into the seventh and final inning down 3-2, but the girls prevailed, notching two runs in the inning to take victory 4-3 behind another well-pitched game by Milless and three hits by sophomore Melissa Webster.

Game four brought Everett’s first meeting with Mt. Hood. The game was scoreless until the sixth when the Trojan’s put two runs on the board behind a Miranda Granger home run, her second of the tournament in two days. But they could not hold on to the lead as Mt. Hood came out in the bottom half of the sixth with three runs of their own and handed Everett their first loss of the weekend 3-2.

One game away from elimination Everett took on Wenatchee Valley. Everett took a quick 5-0 lead after two innings, but WVCC was able to get their offense going and the game went tied 6-6 into the seventh inning.  The Trojan’s jumped on WVCC’s pitching in the seventh and took the game 8-6 leaving them one win from the championship game.

The one win they ladies needed was one that hadn’t been able to do all year against powerhouse Bellevue who didn’t lose a conference game in the regular season. Lead by eight runs in the third inning and 17 hits overall the girls finally knocked off BCC for the first-time this year 17-9 placing them in the championship game against Mt. Hood.

Not having lost a game yet Mt. Hood would have to be beaten twice by the Trojan’s do to the double-elimination format of the tournament. EvCC’s one loss meant one more would send them home with second-place.

The girls jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and watched their lead slowly dwindle as the fourth inning end tied 3-3. With three innings left to go the Trojan’s offense sputtered not plating any more runs as the game up eight more in a tough loss.

The victory for MHCC is their third consecutive NWACC softball championship.

Well, we survived the Rapture... now what?

In case you managed to miss the news, the world was scheduled to be over as we know it on Saturday as the Rapture was mathematically predicted to sweep across the world in a fury of huge earthquakes and "true believers" being whisked away just in time. It's Sunday morning now and everything appears to be business as usual, even the grey skies are back, rather than that pesky sunshine.

While this particular brand of end-of-the-world didn't happen, nor do I believe there are any others set to happen anytime soon (Mayans, zombies, I'm looking at both of you here), this is a great time to make sure that should something a little more mundane, like a good old-fashioned regular earthquake, or a slightly more exciting volcanic eruption occur, that you're prepared for these things.

Everyone should have an emergency kit, along with a plan to find/meet up with family members who may be in other locations at the time, just in case. Ready.gov has a great checklist to look over and make sure you're prepared, going from the basics like water (one gallon per person per day, and don't forget your pets!) and food enough for three days to reminders about medications, important documents, things we often forget until we need them.

While the Rapture didn't materialize, the Mayans probably just found a new way of counting, and the zombies are a long way off (hopefully, my zombie-fighting skills are lacking), we do live in a seismically active area along the edge of the Ring of Fire, which has been pretty noisy lately. Being prepared never hurt anyone... in fact it might just come in very handy one day.

619 Western Artwalk

Our article on 619 Western is available here.

619 Western is a six story building full of art studios located in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle. Every first Thursday of the month artists open their studios for a building wide artwalk. Check out this series of photos from May 5.



A view from the hallway looking into Johnny O'Brady's studio.

Emerald City Trapeze

Check out our story on Emerald City Trapeze here.

GA Day Ahead

The Flying Heritage Collection's Curtiss P-40 Warhawk and other warbirds are set to fly during GA Day this Saturday, May 21st.

This Saturday, May 21, Paine Field is the place to be as people and planes flock for fun in the sun at the 16th Annual General Aviation Day put on by Paine Field and the Washington Pilots Association (WPA).

Spots to smoke

EvCC has smoking booths for students, faculty and staff, however students are choosing to create their own spots to smoke. The bus stop on Wetmore Avenue beyond the Olympus building and the staff/student parking lot along that sidewalk, often there is a crowd of smokers.

The question is where are the cigarette butts being placed? Mostly on the ground. EvCC student Lisa Berry-Reyes says "We need a butt can so everyone won't throw butts on the sidewalk or street."

There is also a student-created smoking spot right outside the Gray Wolf Hall sidewalk by the parking lot. Is it necessary for EvCC to prevent the residents on Wetmore Avenue from filing complaints? Is it conducive for the environment of EvCC to place 'butt cans' where students can use them?

Something to consider.

Campus computer switch-over may cause issues

EvCC is changing the base computer program over Memorial Day weekend and many systems will be unavailable for a period of time hopefully not to exceed the long weekend. ANGEL will still be online, but registration and financial options will not.

Students are encouraged to register as soon as their access dates allow, to get into the classes they need.


Employees from across the state and EvCC will be working on Memorial Day and that weekend making sure that everything is working the way it should, in the hopes are that on the Tuesday after the holiday, when everyone gets back to school and work everything will be working flawlessly.

The following systems, affecting students and faculty, will be offline during the system switch-over:

The Student Management System (registration, financial aid, etc)
All payroll-related systems
The business office

A Pictorial Guide to Aviation Fun

Most know the thrill of aviation through commercial flights from international airports while others are familiar with it through private and recreational flying. But one doesn't have to buy an airline ticket at the airport to enjoy the wonders of aviation. In fact, just visiting the airport is a great way to get a taste of aviation. Museums, private collections, and turning your head skyward are just a few other options for getting to know a little more about those flying machines and what they've accomplished in little over a century.

Here in the Puget Sound there are plenty of opportunities to interact with aircraft and the world of aviation. Take these examples in our neighborhood and just down the block for starters and see for yourself:

The Museum of Flight

Boeing Field - Seattle, WA

The BAC Concorde supersonic airliner is open to walk through for museum patrons.

Trojans slide along at practice

What happens at an EvCC Trojans baseball practice? Along with the usual suspects of pitching, hitting, catching, there's also time devoted to an interesting and slightly more unusual bit of the game: sliding.

JV Estella practices sliding into 3rd. (all photos by Brynna Owens)