The owner of the Steilacoom Marina says she is working with the state to clean up the charred site and plans to reopen for business once it’s clear.

In October, a fire destroyed the 50-year-old marina, which is located next to the popular Saltars Point Beach Park. After months of being closed, the Town of Steilacoom reopen the park March 12, although a chain-link fence separates the rocky recreation spot from the public area.

Today, some curious visitors slipped past the fence, along with its red, “No Trespassing” signs, and tried to explore the marina’s remains, only to run into owner Shirley Wang, who reminded them politely that they were trespassing on private property.

Wang, sporting galoshes and industrial rubber gloves, was working to clean up her property. She and her father, Lin, focused on the area near the water, which today was at low tide and allowed them a full view of the shore.

“We’re trying to protect the shore,” she said.

The owner said she hopes to one day reopen the marina but is still awaiting the state’s permission to clean the site.

“We are praying for the permit,” she said Monday while sifting through some debris. “We want to clean up as soon as possible.”
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If you notice a crowd downtown this afternoon, waving signs and chanting, it’s most likely protesters marking the 7th anniversary of the Iraq war.

At 4 p.m., about 40 people had gathered near the Union Station Federal Courthouse, along with a couple of Tacoma police cruisers, bicycle cops and a Homeland Security van.

The crowd had grown to about 100 by 5 p.m.

Pacific Avenue is blocked from South 21st Street east to the Interstate 5 overpass. Protesters chanted “Whose streets? Our streets!” as they marched to the overpass for a 5:30 p.m. demonstration.

Organizers had a city permit to …

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Investigators are still working to determine who set the fire that gutted a landmark Gig Harbor building and popular coffee house business five weeks ago, fire marshal Dick Bower said today.

There are still no suspects in the Feb. 11 fire, which officials quickly determined was a probable arson, Bower said this morning.

“Basically, we’re still following up on some leads,” he added. Investigators were working to locate and interview former employees “just to get a feel for the building,” he said. “The owners have not been real cooperative.”

Owners Debi and Ken McAlpine could not be reached for comment by The News Tribune today.

Gig Harbor Police Sgt. Kelly Busey said the McAlpines weren’t current suspects in the case but investigators would like to talk to them, the Peninsula Gateway reported this week. Debi McAlpine told the newspaper she talked to authorities shortly after the fire and has since been advised by her attorney not to discuss the case further.

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A trio of anti-war groups is sponsoring a rally at the U.S. Courthouse in Tacoma and demonstration on Interstate-5 overpasses Friday afternoon to mark the seventh anniversary of the Iraq War.

“War Costs. Who Pays? Who Profits?” is the theme of the event, sponsored by United for Peace of Pierce County, Iraq Veterans Against War and Veterans for Peace, Chapter 134, according to a news release.

The rally is set at 4 p.m. in front of the courthouse, 1717 Pacific Ave. A march to the I-5 overpasses at Pacific and McKinley avenues and demonstration is scheduled to begin at 5:30 …

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Aspiring community gardeners are itching to dig in.

Saturday, the Tacoma/Pierce County Community Garden Summit will offer them expert advice, a hands-on workshop, and a free lunch.

The free event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 20 at Manitou Community Center, 4806 S. 66th St. Registration will begin at 9 a.m. To register, call Janet Bissell at (253) 312-4458, or online at www.cascadeland.org/events/summit.

Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland, and gardeners Carrie Little of Mother Earth Farm and Terry Carkner of Terry’s Berries will star as keynote speakers.

The Manitou Community Garden will star as itself.

In January 2009, …

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I guess she’s not as powerful as we thought.

For the second time a city commission has rejected a request to place the updated version of a long-lost statue in a prominent city locale.

This time it was the roof of the Carlton Building across Pacific Avenue from the Tacoma Art Museum. I’ll let Todd Matthews of the Daily Index tell that story.

Earlier it was the Art Commission that rebuffed a gift of the statue to be placed near Theater on the Square.

I told that tale in an earlier column.

New Goddess sculpture gets no respect

By Peter Callaghan

Friday,November 13, 2009
Edition: SOUTH SOUND, Section: Front Page, Page A01
I guess it’s impossible for one person to understand the obsessions of others.

So I’m not troubled that I didn’t get my former co-worker’s thing for a long-departed flame. A goddess she was, at least to hear onetime News Tribune business columnist Dan Voelpel describe her. Statuesque even, with a proclivity for Roman helmets, holding the world in the palm of one hand and a spear in the other.

Not a woman to be messed with.

It was bad enough when he first heard about her from retail consultant Paula Rees. But when he sleuthed out the truth – that the Goddess of Commerce had been melted down, the scrap fees going toward a jug of whiskey for the men who did her in, he was like a man possessed.

Or obsessed. Read more »

At tonight’s Auburn City Council meeting, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will recognize the city as StormReady.

Brad Colman, meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service forecast office in Seattle, will present a recognition letter and special StormReady signs to city officials, NOAA annoiunced today in a press release.

The designation recognizes that Auburn, its citizens and visitors are better prepared for rapidly changing weather patterns and severe weather.

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Two Arctic foxes now call Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium home.

The zoo also has welcomed world’s oldest living siamang to its ranks and Northwest Trek has a new golden eagle on exhibit, the zoo, the zoo announced today.
 
Arctic foxes, Scout and Maggie, will live in the zoo’s Arctic Tundra exhibit area. Cho Cho, the elderly siamang, lives with his companion, Dudlee, in the Asian Forest Sanctuary.
 
Northwest Trek’s new female golden eagle joined the resident male on exhibit in the core area of the park.
 
“And babies …

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