One year later, Madison Park remembering slain dogwalker with memorial plaque

Last fall’s memorial and march for Dalton

Seattle officials, loved ones, and neighbors will gather in Madison Park Wednesday night to remember Ruth Dalton and celebrate a new plaque honoring her installed overlooking the beach of Lake Washington.

“Join us in remembering Ruth Dalton and her little Prince on the one-year anniversary of their senseless and violent murders,” organizers say. “We are asking the community she loved so dearly to come together to honor her legacy of love and kindness.”

“Family, friends and city officials will talk about the loss, update on the case and what has been done to make our communities safer,” according to neighborhood pub McGilvraโ€™s. Continue reading

Crew targets luxury wristwatch in armed robbery outside Madison Park home

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Seattle Police are looking for a trio of bandits who targeted a man for his $45,000 Rolex wristwatch as he pulled into the driveway of a Madison Park home in a Tuesday afternoon gunpoint robbery.

SPD reports the victim told officers the armed suspects were waiting in a vehicle as he arrived around 3:22 PM and rushed toward him, grabbing the expensive watch, and then fleeing the scene.

According to East Precinct radio updates, a male and female armed suspect wearing hoodies and ski masks perpetrated the crime while a third suspect waited in the getaway vehicle. Continue reading

Police search for blonde highlight bandit after woman reportedly holds up Madison Park bank

Police were on the hunt for an unusual bank robbery suspect after a bandit handed tellers a note and walked out of the Homestreet Bank in Seattle’s tony Madison Park neighborhood with $2,000 in cash last Tuesday afternoon.

The Seattle Police Department says witnesses reported the suspect was a woman. Bank employees say she fled on foot — and possibly ditched her wig — as she carried a beige tote stuffed with loot and disappeared into the neighborhood just before 1:30 PM Tuesday in the 4000 block of E Madison.

According to FBI statistics, the Madison Park suspect is a rarity. Only about 6 to 7% of bank robbery suspects are female, according to the feds. Continue reading

‘We’re still making progress, we’re still having conversations’ — Seattle’s growth plan update continues despite appeals

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Hollingworth in front of the Leschi CC (Image: CHS)

With reporting by Matt Dowell

District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth says the process to establish an updated comprehensive growth plan in Seattle is not being put on hold while environmental appeals by neighborhood groups opposed to the city’s proposals play out.

“The comp plan is still moving forward,” Hollingsworth told CHS last week following her office’s announcement of an updated schedule of meetings of the Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan she chairs and Hollingsworth’s latest meeting with a D3 community group as she hopes to calm concerns about changes to the city’s zoning that could make way for the development of more multifamily housing in more areas of the city.

“We’re still making progress, we’re still having conversations,” Hollingsworth said.

The announcement of the six-meeting series of committee sessions through May 21st may come as a small relief to proponents of the growth plan changes concerned that Hollingsworth’s office might put the process on hold while six appeals filed demanding additional environmental review of the city’s plans are considered the Hearing Examiner. CHS reported here on the appeals including cases representing Madison Valley, Mount Baker, Hawthorne Hills, and “73 remaining Southern resident killer whales.” Continue reading

A new flashpoint in Seattle’s concerns over crime and public safety, calls for resilience and change as hundreds march to remember dog walker slain in Madison Valley carjacking — UPDATE

The carjacking murder of Ruth Dalton has become a flashpoint in Seattle’s concerns over crime and public safety. A memorial walk for the slain neighborhood dog walker Wednesday night included messages of resilience, anger, love, and politics as loved ones were joined by neighbors, city officials, and political candidates in the vigil and walk from where Dalton was dragged and killed in a Madison Valley carjacking attempt in August.

People streamed along E Madison Wednesday during the evening memorial walk for Dalton, an 80-year-old dog walker who was murdered in an August carjacking with her dog, Prince.

Leading the march were four people who helped Dalton during the aftermath of the brutal attack, holding a banner with a picture of Dalton and her pup, a cross and words that read: โ€œWe careโ€”Be like Ruth. Change is coming.โ€

CHS reported here on the efforts to organize the march by the Friends of Madison Park community group and Dalton’s family.

The group trickled into Madison Park and posted up near the playground for the vigil. Melanie Roberts, Daltonโ€™s granddaughter, said sheโ€™s been getting her strength from god, her grandmother and โ€œlittle grumpy Prince dog,โ€ who was Ruthโ€™s defender, and spoke to each of the heroes holding the banner. Continue reading

‘Justice for Ruth’ — Community organizes memorial walk for much-loved dog walker killed in carjacking as suspect faces first degree murder and animal cruelty charges

(Image: Friends of Madison Park)

As the community is working to honor Ruth Dalton and raise funds for a memorial to the 80-year-old neighborhood dog walker slain in an August carjacking in Madison Valley, her alleged killer has been charged with assault, animal cruelty, and first degree murder.

Jahmed Haynes now faces charges of murder in the first degree plus second degree assault and a charge of first degree animal cruelty for allegedly killing Dalton’s dog in the Tuesday morning, August 20th carjacking.

CHS reported last week on his arrest blocks from his Capitol Hill apartment and early details in the case against the convicted felon.

The King County Prosecutor says the 48-year-old could be sentenced to life in prison under the charges. Prosecutors say Haynes’s criminal history is extensive and that he had been imprisoned for crimes including a 1993 vehicular homicide in Seattle and a 1999 armed robbery in Renton until recently following a conviction in 2003 during his incarceration that added 15 more years to his sentence through 2021 after Haynes attacked a Monroe prison guard with a crude knife fashioned from a 12-inch piece of metal. Continue reading

Madison Park and Madrona part of ‘high bacteria’ beach warnings

Health officials have issued “high bacteria” warnings for several area swimming spots including Madison Park Beach and Madrona Beach.

The high counts come from ongoing monitoring and follow a bout of unusually heavy June rains. Officials are also investigating the possibility of a related sewage spill, the Seattle Times reports.

Public Health currently recommends people should not enter the water at several Lake Washington beaches.

You can view the latest updates and alerts and a map of conditions at the area’s beaches here.

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Stupid cupids: Thieves fail to boost huge safe after smashing Valentine’s flower-filled truck into E Madison jewelry store

(Image: Madison Park Jewelers)

Thieves nearly ruined Valentine’s Day as they smashed a flower-filled U-Haul truck into Madison Park Jewelers but had to leave the store’s massive safe behind in a messy getaway from police early Tuesday morning.

Seattle Police says a security alarm system and video showing the box truck and its flowery cargo repeatedly smash into the building brought officers to the scene just before 6 AM. Arriving officers reported the storefront destroyed and a group of suspects and the truck still at the scene.

As police moved into position, the suspects fled in the U-Haul, dragging a large chain behind it in a cascade of sparks as it sped west on E Madison. At the burglary scene, police also found the area strewn with Valentine’s flowers. Continue reading

Seattle Parks to hold public meeting on Denny Blaine play area

Seattle Parks and Recreation finally issued a press release this week announcing its planned public meeting this Wednesday night for citizens “to learn about and provide input for the Denny Blaine Park Play Area project.”

Last month, CHS broke the news on the meeting and the hush hush planning backed by an even more quiet private donor to squeeze a kid’s play area into the grassy public park popular with the many communities who have made the space a refuge for enjoying the multimillion-dollar shores of Lake Washington in the nude. Continue reading

Madison Park’s community council is growing — Will there ever be a Friends of Capitol Hill?

(Image: Friends of Madison Park)

By Cormac Wolf, CHS Intern

Friends of Madison Park, the areaโ€™s nascent community council, has been hard at work since its founding in April. In their first months, the group has focused on filling the communityโ€™s event calendar and their fledgling committees have proven a great alliance between local businesses and Seattle Police.

Vice-chair Mary Beth McAteer says Friends of Madison Park has revived community events such as the childrenโ€™s bike parade and weekly live music in the park. Other events include a wine fundraiser and weekly TED talks; their website has events scheduled as far out as next spring.

โ€œWe think of ourselves as a start-up,โ€ says McAteer, describing the fervor the board brings to event planning and neighborhood organization. McAteer works as a Virginia Mason medical librarian when not working on the board. Her husband owns the Hillside bar on E Olive Way.

The success of this group in one of the wealthiest areas of the city and an area mostly dominated by single family-style homes is a contrast with E Olive Way and Capitol Hill where community councils have faded away and neighborhood chambers of commerce, disintegrated. It also is taking shape after Seattle’s big push away from neighborhood councils over concerns about representation and equity at City Hall.

The Madison Park group was founded after the pandemic decimated the area’s existing community groups. Erik Wicklund, the groupโ€™s communications director, describes them as a merger of two pre-existing Madison Park institutions: the business association, which organized events, and the community council, which handled administrative matters. Wicklund owns a real estate firm headquartered in Madison Parkโ€™s central retail strip. Continue reading