by Josh Hart

The Boy’s 3A Seamount baseball season is over and it turned out to be an interesting year.

Both Mt. Rainier and Highline High School did very well, along with Kennedy.

Tyee and Evergreen didn’t do so great though and so Highline School District evened out pretty well.

Mt. Rainer High School finished at the top of the standings at 10-1 in conference and a combined win loss record of 11-3.

Kennedy finished second with 13 wins and four losses in league play and a combined record of 14-6.

The Highline Pirates finished third with a 12-4 league play record and went 14-4 in combined play.

Highline School District’s baseball teams are some of the top in the state and many of the players will likely play college ball.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Josh Hart is the B-Town Blog's first Intern! He's a 15-year old student at Highline's “Big Picture High School” in SeaTac who loves to write and play soccer.

You can read more of his writing here...]

by Josh Hart

Both the State Cup and Challenge Cups finished last Sunday, and here are the champions of each age bracket:

• BU-15 State Cup Champion: Washington Premier FC- For the second year in a row WPFC won at this age level defeating ECFC 1-0.
• BU-15 Challenge Cup Champion: Eastside FC- EFC won in overtime defeating FWU Storm 1-0.
• BU-16 State Cup Champion: Crossfire Premier- Crossfire defeated NWN 2-0 in the final game.
• BU-16 Challenge Cup Champion: Eastside FC- EFC defeated ECFC 2-1 in both teams biggest game of the season.
• BU-17 State Cup Champion: Eastside FC- Once again EFC wins, this time defeating WFC Rangers 4-1.
• BU-17 Challenge Cup Champion: Greater Renton FC- GRFC defeated Snohomish United 2-0 in the grueling game.
• BU-18 State Cup Champion: Eastside FC- EFC managed to win one of the tourneys at each age level. The U-18’s defeated ECFC 2-1.
• BU-18 Challenge Cup Champion: SSC Firebirds- SSC defeated Sparta 1-0 in the very close game.

The fight for the top club in the state completes after the girls and the younger boys play, and here’s a preview of what the standings look like now (KEY: 2 points for a championship, 1 for runner up):

• Eastside FC- 8



• Emerald City FC- 3
• Washington Premier- 2
• Crossfire Premier- 2
• Greater Renton FC- 2
• SSC Firebirds- 2
• Northwest Nationals- 1
• Federal Way Storm- 1
• Snohomish United- 1
• Whatcom FC Rangers- 1
• Sparta- 1

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Josh Hart is the B-Town Blog's first Intern! He's also a 15-year old student at Highline's “Big Picture High School” in SeaTac. He also plays soccer.

You can read more of his writing here...]

by Josh Hart

It just so happens that the first inauguration I ever witnessed in my short lifetime happens to be one of the most historical inaugurations in many people’s lifetimes.

As I listened to the inauguration over the internet, I particularly focused on Barack Obama’s speech. After he was sworn in, even despite the couple mistakes by Supreme Court Justice Roberts, the crowd started chanting “OBAMA!”

After the crowd quieted down, our new President started with:

“My fellow citizens, I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.”

He then continued by thanking his predecessor George W. Bush. Following that he said:

“Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.”

He talked about the crisis of America being at war among topics of the economy.

Then came what I thought was the greatest part of his speech:

“In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom. For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life. For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth. For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn. Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.”

Those are some of the greatest couple of paragraphs I have ever heard. I think that was what made this speech great also. Those few paragraphs included every race and gender, and really tied America into one. He didn’t leave anyone out, but instead included us all.

It was FANTASTIC!!!

I am really looking forward to seeing what he brings to America and I can’t wait to hear more of his speeches.

Here’s an interesting “highlight” video of Obama’s big day, as shot by Colorado Filmmaker & Photojournalist Brian Malone:

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Josh Hart is the B-Town Blog's first Intern! He's also a 15-year old student at Highline's “Big Picture High School” in SeaTac.

You can read more of his writing here...]

by Josh Hart

With all the flooding recently I wanted to find someone to talk to about what happened to them. I realized that someone very close to me had been affected, my great grandma and grandpa (Betty and Glen).

When I talked to them about the flooding this is what I found out:

Last Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 7th), they started to get phone calls from Pierce County Emergency Management saying that they should move to a higher location for the night. When Glen went to the store he saw that the water was getting pretty high on the roads. They debated leaving; they hadn’t had any flooding in their housing area yet.

They finally decided they were in danger when two fire trucks drove through the area with sirens on and announcing to everyone to “evacuate immediately” over their loudspeakers.

Their housing area is in Orting, between the Puyallup River and the Carbon River. Both rivers were over their banks and were starting to flood the roads. Many of the stores were closing so they decided they would leave the area.

They were worried and didn’t know what to expect. They didn’t know what belongings they should take with them or how long they would have to be out of the area. They had many people offer them a place to stay but didn’t know where the best place to stay was. Many of them were too far to drive to at the time, because traffic was so bad.

That night they stayed at a motel in Sumner and listened to the flood news on TV. The next morning it seemed like it would be safe to go home. So at about 9am in the morning they headed back to their housing area in Orting. It took them longer than usual, because the traffic was bad again.

While they were driving home they saw some places that were underwater. As they crossed the Carbon River, the water was coming right up to the banks. Despite the dangerous conditions, they got home safely and found that there was no damage to their yard or their house. It seems like their housing area hadn’t been affected at all.

They were thankful everything was safe and they were happy to be home with all their belongings and things they cherish safe and unharmed. 
And I am happy that my great-grandparents were spared and harm or damage.

However beautiful Orting is, it can still be very dangerous, not because of the two rivers, but because it lies in the shadow of Mt. Rainier.

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[EDITOR'S NOTE: Josh Hart is the B-Town Blog's first Intern! He's also a 15-year old student at Highline's “Big Picture High School” in SeaTac.

You can read more of his writing here...]