The City of Burien is looking for residents of both B-Town and the to-be-annexed North Highline area to serve on advisory boards, which is a great way to become more involved with the city and give something back to your community, like your precious, helpful advice.

There is no pay, other than helping your city out, applications are being accepted through Feb. 19th, and the boards in need are the Arts Commission, Planning Commission and Parks & Recreation Board.

Here are the details:

Apply for Openings on City Advisory Boards

Serving on a City advisory board is a great way to become involved with your city and give something back to your community. Burien residents and residents of the North Highline Annexation Area, which will become part of the City on April 1, are encouraged to apply for current openings on the Arts Commission, Planning Commission and Parks & Recreation Board.

Application forms are available at Burien City Hall, 400 SW 152nd Street, Ste. 300, or on the City’s website at www.burienwa.gov/boards. Applications are being accepted through February 19, 2010.

For further information call Monica Lusk, city clerk, at 248-5517.

A memorial for Luke T. Gullberg, the 26-year old Des Moines man who was killed on Oregon’s Mount Hood last week, will be this Sunday, Dec. 20th from 3pm to 6pm at Pacific Middle School, located at 22705 24th Avenue South in Des Moines.

Luke died on Saturday, Dec. 12th while climbing Mt. Hood with Anthony Vietti and Katie Nolan, who are still missing. His body was found on a glacier at 9,000 feet by searchers. Reports are that Luke may have fallen and experienced some trauma, then crawled a couple hundred yards before dying of hypothermia.

Here are the details:

WHAT: Memorial for Luke T. Gullberg

WHEN: Sunday, Dec. 20th from 3-6pm

WHERE: Pacific Middle School, located at 22705 24th Avenue South in Des Moines.

INFO/RSVP: Here are some links to various pages created in Luke’s honor:

• Facebook tribute page
• Facebook page on the Mermorial here where you can RSVP and/or leave comments
• Tribute page from fellow climber Richard Lutz
  

And here’s a video of a press conference held at Mt. Hood about the incident:

Veteran’s Day is this coming Wednesday, Nov. 11th, and Brown Bear Car Wash will be honoring vets and current service military (as well as spouses) with free car washes all day.

The nearest location is the one in Des Moines, located at 22706 Marine View Drive; others are in Federal Way, Kent, Auburn and Renton (see list below).

As a way of saying “thanks” to our military, Brown Bear will be offering free “Bear Essential” car washes to all current or former members of the military, including spouses.

“Our organization is proud to honor veterans and service personnel,” said Brown Bear President and founder Vic Odermat, himself a Marine Corps veteran. “While the washes are free, we know that freedom is not. This is a way for us to show our support and gives us a unique opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to people who sacrifice so incredibly for our freedom.”

Odermat said the offer will operate on an honor system and no verification or documentation is required. Drivers should identify themselves as a current or former member of the military to the wash attendant.

Odermat started Brown Bear in Seattle in 1957 with one location. They now own and operates car washes throughout the Puget Sound area and Spokane.

Here’s a list of participating locations nearby:

• 22706 Marine View Dr., Des Moines
• 34017 Hoyt Rd. SW, Federal Way
• 814 Auburn Way S, Auburn
• 1202 W Meeker St., Kent
• 800 S Grady Way, Renton
• 621 Rainier Ave. S, Renton
• 77 Rainier Ave. S, Renton

Just received word from a Reader who sends us this info on a local “Day of Service” on Jan. 19th (MLK Day) starting at the ACORN Offices in Burien (and as we previously reported, broken into in October):

Join Washington ACORN On January 19 in making Martin Luther King Day a true day of service.

First, we will join other organizations in a march on the Washington State Capitol in Olympia to talk to our legislators and have our voices heard.

Then, President-Elect Barack Obama has asked us to make this special day a Day of Service. Washington ACORN members will leave Olympia and gather in Tacoma to deliver the message that there is help for people facing mortgage foreclosure.

Meet in our Burien office at 7:30 AM to travel together to Olympia.

Burien office located at 134 SW 153rd Street.

WHAT: MLK Day “Day of Service”

WHEN: Monday, January 19 7:30 AM

WHERE: Washington ACORN Office, located at 134 SW 153rd Street in Burien (see map below)

INFO: 206-723-5845

Here’s a video of the announcement of USAService.org featuring Colin Powell:

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Seattle’s internationally-famous Total Experience Gospel Choir is bringing its collective spiritual voice to Burien on Sunday, Dec. 7th at 9:30am, when they sing at Lake Burien Presbyterian Church.

Here’s a video to prep you for this experience, which is truly impressive:

WHAT: Total Experience Gospel Choir performs

WHEN: Sunday, Dec. 7 at 9:30am

WHERE: Lake Burien Presbyterian Church, located at 15003 14th Avenue SW in Burien (map below)

INFO: The Messenger’s Perspective Seattle’s legendary Total Experience Gospel Choir will lead worship at Lake Burien Presbyterian with infectiously joyful selections from their Intiman Theatre show, Black Nativity. A popular Northwest holiday tradition, Black Nativity is a mix of gospel music, dance, poetry and a re-telling of the Christmas story like you’ve never seen before. Don’t miss this chance to preview musical portions of the 2008 show right here at Lake Burien Presbyterian!

From the Total Experience Gospel Choir website:

The Total Experience Gospel Choir bursts with love, joy and enthusiasm – humanity! It is hailed as one of the Pacific Northwest’s finest soulful ensembles. Pastor Patrinell Staten Wright started the group as a gospel music class at Seattle’s Franklin High School in 1973. Since then the choir has grown to become a nationally and internationally known gospel singing group.

Another interesting anecdote about Total Experience Gospel Choir is that in January they teamed up with Pearl Jam’s Matt Cameron and a host of other talented musicians to record this song called “Fired Up, Ready To Go”:

To learn more about Total Experience Gospel Choir:

http://www.totalexperiencegospelchoir.org/

For tickets and information on the Intiman Theatre’s Black Nativity:

http://www.intiman.org/2008Season/bn.html

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We at the at the B-Town Blog offer a horn-honking and ding and dent-free welcome to our newest Advertiser: Vision Collision Auto Body Repair!

They are located at 803 SW 154th Street, just west of Ambaum and a little south of Olde Burien.

Vision Collision is quite a family-based business, from longtime Burien area stock, on land that goes way, way back in the area of auto body repair.

Husband and wife team Michael and Amy Driscoll, recently purchased the former BBC Dodge Body Shop. There has been an auto body repair shop on that space going back many decades.

Doug McLester, who for thirty years served as BBC Dodge Body Shop Manager before retiring this past summer, recently said:

“Amy entered into the auto body industry right after high school and is thrilled to be working in her hometown doing what she loves! Michael has always had a passion for cars and has been restoring them since the age of fourteen. I have complete confidence that Amy and Michael will provide the quality service you have come to expect over the years.”

“From door dings to collisions, we fix it all,” Michael and Amy point out. “We help reduce stress by assisting with insurance claims, too.”

“And we offer detailing,” Amy adds.

Amy and Michael were born and raised in Burien and attended Highline High School.

“My mom, Cathy Low, and her whole family grew up in Seahurst,” Amy informs us. Cathy helps out now and again at Vision Collision’s office when Amy needs to run the occasional errand.

“And my uncle is none other than Jim Hughes of Sal’s Deli, just off 152nd. I worked there for years,” Amy said.

Amy and Michael’s Border Collie, Lucy, can often be seen running around the office.

“Lucy loves to come to work.”

Lucy isn’t the only pet in Amy and Michael’s household. On their land southeast of Burien “we also have two horses, three goats, and a cat.”

So anyway, we at the Blog think you’ll enjoy yourself so much at Vision Collision that, even if your vehicle is already ding-free, you should just take a hammer to your hood and bang it up a bit so you’ll have an excuse to stop by (uh…just kidding on that part, but stop by anyway!).

But seriously, click on Vision Collision’s Ad in the right sidebar, check out their stuff, call or drop by and see what they can do to fix your dinged and dented vehicle up.

Vision Collision Auto Body Repair
“See? You’re dent free!”

Service shop:

803 SW 154th St
Burien, WA 98166
Phone: (206) 244-2758
www.visioncollision.net
Email: info@visioncollision.net

Mail:

Vision Collision
PO Box 66110
Burien, WA  98166

We’re happy to introduce onto our blog, like high octane injected into a finely tuned engine, our milestone 20th Advertiser: Mark’s Expert Auto Service!

It’s a family affair at Mark’s: Mark and Lisa Headley and son Nate. They know what they’re doing and are quite community involved.

Mark’s Expert Auto Service is located just around the corner from Olde Burien at 15418 Ambaum Blvd SW (see map below).

With 25 years of automotive work under his belt, Mark Headley has fully earned his slogan: “Experience. Not Experiments.”

Planning to drive to Grandma’s for Thanksgiving? Bring your vehicle in to Mark’s for an all-out winterization, or just a heater inspection and service.

Maybe there’s a shimmy or a “not-quite-right” sensation while coasting down the road. Could mean a wheel or two needs alignment.

Well, when we sent our B-Town Blog writer, Scoop, to write the story you are reading right now, he was stunned by the high-tech modernness of Mark’s new state-of-the-art Wheel Alignment laser equipment.

“Can I just call it ‘amazing futuristic Star Trek-like equipment for the benefit of all your customers, now and in the future?’” Scoop asked Mark Headley.

“That’d be just fine,” Mark replied, thus simplifying Scoop’s journalistic assignment.

When your tabs are about to expire, keep in mind that Mark’s is an Authorized Emission Repair Facility.

The Headleys have worked for years with local schools in mentoring young people on their way to becoming fully-trained and ready technicians in their own right.

Foreign or domestic, repair or preventative maintenance, us B-Town Bloggers recommend Mark’s Expert Auto Service.

They’re just south of 152nd on the east side of Ambaum.

Hours:  Monday through Friday 7:30am to 5:30pm.

Appointments welcomed.

Call 206-246-5232, or click on their Ad and check out their offerings – you’ll thank us later!

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Far as we know, no other local neighborhood blogs in the Seattle area are utilizing this feature, which is now active and available on both this here B-Town Blog and our sister site, the White Center Blog:

AUTOMATIC LANGUAGE TRANSLATION!

To see it in action, just click on either the Korean, Chinese or Spanish flag under the “Translator” heading on the right sidebar under the “Current Weather” area; the page should automatically translate to whichever language you chose (including reverting back to English with the American flag.

Give it a try (and please be patient – not every single page has been 100% translated yet):

• In Korean
• In Chinese
• In Spanish

We hope to add additional languages soon, but for now these three languages should help us reach out to a larger number of non-English speaking residents.

Please email us if you have any problems or suggestions – we’re always trying to improve both the B-Town Blog and White Center Blog, as well as helping to serve this wonderfully diverse community.

From the City of Burien website:

The United Way of King County is offering free, quality tax preparation and electronic filing for residents from IRS-certified, multilingual volunteers.

No income limits and no appointment necessary.

Avoid paying high and unnecessary fees or taking rapid refund loans from commercial preparers.

You may be eligible for a larger refund by claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.

Save some of your refund. Bring in your bank account information and have your refund directly deposited.

We can help you apply for an Individual Taxpayer Identification number (ITIN).

We only prepare basic individual tax returns.

We do not prepare business taxes, or returns that include sale of property or stock or rental income.

For more information, dial 2-1-1 or 1-877-211-9274, or go to unitedwayofkingcounty.org/taxcampaign

DATES/LOCATIONS:

January 15 – April 15, 2008

BURIEN:

ACORN of King County Prosperity Center
134 SW 153rd Street, Suite D, 98166
Thursdays 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Saturdays 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

WHITE CENTER:

Salvation Army Community Center
9050 16th Ave. SW, 98106
Tuesdays & Wednesdays 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Saturdays 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

White Center Assembly
10237 16th Avenue SW, 98146
Thursdays 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Saturdays 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

For more information and full details, download this PDF.