We are presenting the latest in a series of profiles about the players:

Name: Braxton Griffin
Age: 20
Hometown: Issaquah, WA
Position: Forward
College: Humboldt State University, sophomore, Business major
Family: Parents Braxton and Tanya, sisters Sasha (23 and Sterling (18)
Favorite soccer moment: Signing a national letter of intent on signing day with Humboldt State
Favorite soccer team: Bayern Munich
Favorite soccer player: Mario Gomez, Bayern Munich/Germany
Favorite non-soccer sport: Football
Favorite non-soccer athlete: Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers
Favorite food: Southern food
Favorite song/artist: Till I Collapse by Eminem
Interests outside of soccer: Other sports and traveling
Something fans should know about you: I’m fast for a big guy.

The suspect, Matthew Adam Propst

Edmonds police Tuesday identified the suspect wanted in the assault and purse snatching of an Edmonds woman in the Lake Ballinger neighborhood June 11.

Matthew Adam Propst, described by police as a violent offender, is a 28-year-old white male, 5-5 and 160 pounds with very short/bald brown hair, and blue eyes with multiple tattoos. Propst is “an armed career criminal and two-strike felon,” with prior convictions for manslaughter, robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm, police said.  He was last known to stay in the Mountlake Terrace area and in south Everett.

The 29-year-old victim female was near her car in the 22900 block of 76th Avenue West at approximately 1:50 p.m. June 11 when the suspect hit her, took her purse and fled on foot. Edmonds police officers arrived within two minutes of the victim calling and requested assistance from a Lynnwood police K9 unit and Mountlake Terrace police to search for the suspect, but were unable to find him. A 39-year-old Lynnwood man who was with the suspect when the woman was assaulted, was take into custody at the scene.

Anyone having any information on Propst and his whereabouts is asked to call the Edmonds Police Department Tip Line at 425-771-0212 or Detective Frausto at 425-771-0200.

- Recognize criminal or suspicious behavior and how to report it
- How to better protect yourself against burglary, identity theft and related crimes
- How to avoid becoming a victim and
- What to do if you are a victim of these crimes

This public meeting is designed to make the general public more aware of what they can do to prevent becoming a victim and assist police with catching criminals. Education materials will be available and detectives will be available to answer any questions you may have.

The meeting will be held from 6-7:30 pm in the Edmonds Municipal Court/City of Edmonds Council Chambers adjacent to the police department at 250 5th Ave North.

According to Edmonds Police spokesman Sgt. Mark Marsh, the 19-year-old Issaquah woman was driving her ex-boyfriend home from Everett when he began assaulting her. As her ex-boyfriend was hitting her, she grabbed the couple’s 15-month-old child, who was also in the car, and left the vehicle, screaming for help.

Two men who were inside an apartment heard the screams and yelled at the ex-boyfriend in attempt to stop the assault, but he continued hitting the woman as she was holding the child, Marsh said. One of the men jumped off a balcony while the other ran down the stairs to aid the woman. A fight ensued between the ex-boyfriend and both men, who struck him with their fists and possibly a wooden stick after the man tried to attack them, Marsh added.

After the fight, the suspect was laying on the ground, “at which point the male subjects brought the female and her child into an apartment,” Marsh said. The ex-boyfriend staggered off and was found by police, who were called to the scene around 2:20 a.m. by other residents of the apartment complex.  According to police, the man was transported to Harborview as it was initially thought his facial wound was from a gunshot; however those reports were false. He suffered facial injuries including lacerations but his injuries were not life-threatening, Marsh said.

- (90 Min) A  closed record review of an appeal (File No. APL20130001) of the Hearing Examiner’s final decision on Tom and Lin Hillman’s critical areas and setback variances (File No. PLN20120033) for a new residence to be located at 1139 Sierra Place. Appellants: Stephen Schroeder, Cheryl Beighle, Todd Brown, & Candy Brown.
- (30 Min.) Public Hearing on the Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program (2014-2019).
- ( 5 Min.) Ordinance Amending Edmonds City Code Chapter 10.75 – Citizens Economic Development Commission.
- (15 Min.) Report on City Council Committee Meetings of June 11, 2013.

You can see the complete agenda here. The meeting will be in the Council Chambers, Public Safety Building, 250 5th Ave. N., Edmonds.

Holding a pretend “wedding bouquet” of lettuce from their garden, Brian and Dotty Anderson of Edmonds stand by their giant potato incubator at the Edmonds Community Garden. The incubator is an experiment in which a gardener keeps adding soil as the potato plant grows. The community garden is on space provided by the Debre Selam St. Michael Ethiopian Orthodox Church at 23010 84th Ave. W. Part of the produce from the community garden goes to local food banks. (Photo by Cliff Sanderlin, P-Patch gardener)

The Academy, started in June of 2011 with 22 local youth, just completed its spring session with over 300 participants and 31 teams, competing at the highest levels in local basketball leagues and tournaments. “I cannot comprehend the growth, the excitement and more importantly the community impact we have seen in just a short amount of time. In two years we have become one of the largest basketball organizations in the state of Washington,” said Mike Burdett, ESA founder and director.

This summer the academy is bringing in J Jay Davis, currently the assistant coach at Willamette College in Oregon. “I have known J Jay for a long time and he is one of the premier shooting coaches around,” Burdett said. “He trained under Pete and Tom Newell, legendary coaches, and he is bringing that background to the Academy.”

Other training offered this summer includes shooting and ball handling and mini-camps for skill-specific training, including scoring-off-the-dribble, post play and shooting.

On June 24-26,  ESA is hosting its Quick Handles camp, which Burdett describes as “the premier ball-handling camp in the Northwest.”

ESA is also starting its first 3-on-3 League for grades 4-8. The 3 on 3 League is open to all youth, not just ESA players.

“Visit the website at www.edmondssportsacademy.com for more information.

First place winner Donna Warren (photo by Yoojin Song).

The public is invited to a party on Thursday, June 20, from 7-8 p.m., at Red Petal Cakes to celebrate the winners of EPIC Group’s inaugural writing contest. The winners include Donna Warren, Victoria Peters, Susan Ferguson, and Jeanne Gerhard. In the Youth category, the winners are Ailish Mackey, Kunjan Chadha, Lauren Mallory, Angela Lee and Ethan Brown. A complete story on the contest and winners can be found here.

To read the e-book anthology of all winning entries, see here. For more information on nonprofit EPIC Group and the local writing community, check out the EPIC Group Writers website. EPIC group is an associated program of Shunpike. 

From David Carlos, a view of the ferry terminal from the rocks at Brackett’s Landing Monday evening.

At Monday morning’s mini-retreat, the Edmonds City Council revisited an issue that many thought was dead: Whether cats should again be included under the city’s leash law.

In June 2012, the council voted 4-2 (newly appointed Councilmember Kristiana Johnson abstaining) to repeal a requirement that Edmonds cats be leashed, a law that Assistant Police Chief Jim Lawless described as essentially unenforceable. The ordinance, passed in 2007, made it against the law for pet owners to allow their animals “to run at large during any hours of the day or night, adding that any such animal “may be seized and impounded.”

But controlling cats continues to be a concern for some councilmembers, so the council agreed to revisit the idea in the near future.

Another topic that will not die is the controversial Harbor Square Master Plan, originally proposed by the Port of Edmonds for the Harbor Square Business Complex. Council President Lora Petso said that the council has essentially four options regarding what to do at this point:

- Approve the port’s proposed plan.

- Deny the port proposal.

- Pursue a council-created plan for the property

- Develop a conceptual idea for the area without specific plans for the property.

Petso asked the councilmembers to consider the options and come back to a meeting in late July to have further discussion and possibly move forward.

The council also received the following presentations

- on what “public records” are and what could be included in public records requests. For example, it’s possible for one’s personal computer’s hard drive to be subpoenaed if any city-related business is conducted through a  personal e-mail account.

- on their duties for a “closed record review” of appeals of land-use actions. The discussion was about what new information could be disclosed and what items need to be considered closely to avoid their decisions being overturned by the courts.

- from the Washington State Department of Transportation about new trends in industry and transportation design and also new funding opportunities for roadways incorporating the “Complete Streets” concept. The presentation was focused on State Route 104 but many of the ideas could be incorporated in other parts of the city’s roadway system.