I'm serving as Reader Representative this week, which is always interesting. Several readers have phoned or written in protesting our publication of a paid in memoriam from the family of David Brame. It was five years ago last weekend that he killed himself and fatally wounded his estranged wife Crystal Judson in a Gig Harbor parking lot.

Here's a representative letter from Carol, "a disappointed reader in Federal Way."

It was very inspiring to see the parents of Crystal enjoying a bite during Friday's fundraiser. I was un-aware that they have founded "The Crystal Judson Foundation" in her honor. This is so very much needed in honor of all the victims of domestic violence. Then, I continue on to page 4 of the same section of The Tacoma Tribune and there is the monster who killed his wife in front of their children and then took his own life. This is a disgrace to the people of Tacoma, all your readers of the newspaper and your subscribers and most of all the family of Crystal.

Here's my response:

Dear Carol,

Your letter was forwarded to me as this week’s reader representative. I wanted to get back to you personally with a response from the newspaper. I understand your point of view – it’s one that we’ve heard from a number of readers.

Our perspective: We sell obituaries and in memoriam space to the community as a service. We let families express themselves and grieve in the way that they want. We don’t want to be in the position of picking and choosing whose memorial ad we run or in editing the content. On the other hand, by accepting an ad, the newspaper is not endorsing the message.

Our news coverage decisions are made separate from advertising. We listen to everyone, but journalists do make decisions about what to write about based on facts and reality.

Among the top local stories in Wednesday's News Tribune:

• After a month of simmering racial tensions, students at Bethel High School are volunteering to help reshape attitudes among their fellow students

• The City of Tacoma is working on a new budget strategy in response to the economic slowdown affecting the region and the nation. The city is looking at a “hold-the-line” budget later this year as officials begin work on the next two-year budget.

These are some of the top local stories in Tuesday's News Tribune

• A civil war of sorts is brewing in the Wollochet Harbor Club neighborhood. It pits waterfront property owners against uphill residents concerned about preserving their view of the water.

• Restoring the Titlow lagoons near the Tacoma Narrows could help restore native salmon runs. But there are many questions to answer before the proposal goes forward.

• A Tacoma woman was killed in a car crash Saturday night. The driver, a 20-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of vehicle homicide after investigators found reason to believe he was under the influence of a hallucinogenic drug at the time of the crash.

Among Friday's top local stories:

• Sandy Johnston has been a careful rider for almost 30 years. But her caution and experience was no protection earlier this year when she was struck by a car as she pedaled through Fircrest on her way to the home of a friend.

• The Tacoma School Board planned to choose the district's new superintendent.

• The rice shortage has hit the South Sound area.

Among the local stories in Thursday's News Tribune:

• Sen. Patty Murray wants to know why the VA is using two sets of estimates on the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have attempted suicide.

• Fort Lewis has done so well preserving the blebird population on post that it's exporting them to other areas, including the San Juan Islands.

Among the top local stories in Tuesday's News Tribune:

• You can call it "Extreme Makeover, Lakewood style." A controlled burn last month was one of the more dramatic moments in what will become a new start for the John and Mary Haas family.

• Alan Ingram, an official with the Oklahoma City Public Schools, got a strong show of support from a number of community leaders Monday as he pursues the top leadership spot in the Tacoma School district. Ingram and Interim Superintendent Art Jarvis are finalists for the job.

• The state Department of Transportation has taken out a policy to insure the new Tacoma Narrows bridge in the event of an earthquake or tsunami. The state even bought a special rider to cover terrorist acts.

Several of us spent a fascinating four hours Thursday with 10 Russian journalists who are visiting the Puget Sound region to learn more about investigating corruption.

(Insert "they came to the right place" joke here.)

I came away with an appreciation for the tools that are available to American journalists. Despite the ridiculous number of exemptions to our public records and public meetings laws, our new friends from the Krasnoyarsk region in central Siberia don't have such luxuries. Bribes, harassment and intimidation are part of the way of life over there. The group we met Thursday is working to change that, so they had lots of questions about investigative journalism.

They chatted with Managing Editor Karen Peterson, crime/breaking news editor Randy McCarthy, investigative reporter Sean Robinson, and myself (Public Life editor, overseeing coverage of state and county government).

Their questions were starkly different than the queries we get on a daily basis from South Sound readers. They repeated some questions - saying, "we hear your 'official' answer, but what really happens?" - because they had a hard time believing our answers to questions like these:

* They wanted to know if government officials intimidate us into not publishing tough stories (nyet, they wouldn't dare).

* They asked if government officials retaliate against negative stories by sending in workplace inspectors (nyet, they don't).

* When we edit investigative stories, they wanted to know if we just edit for grammar or if we go deeper than that (our stories are edited for content, and investigative stories usually go through multiple drafts; reporters will tell you it's never fun).

* They asked if reporters must pay libel damages out of pocket (generally, nyet; but we haven't dealt with a libel suit in years because of all that careful editing).

* They asked if our laws give reporters more access to government records than regular citizens (nyet; while reporters certainly use the open-records law more than non-reporters, we all have the same access).

* They said the King County executive's office told them that if a reporter wrote something objectionable, they'd cut off that reporter's access to leaders (Ron Sims' office said WHAT???). We got a kick out of that, figuring that maybe Sims' office didn't realize the Russians were meeting with us too and would share that tidbit. We replied that various government officials have tried to cut us off before, but it doesn't work because there's usually another source who can tell us what's going on, and fighting with the press is rarely a good idea anyway.

The group's visit is part of a multicultural exchange funded by the U.S. government.

The Community Connections Program, managed by the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and administered by World Learning, is designed to promote public diplomacy through the exchange of cultural ideas and values among participants, U.S. families and local community host organizations. It seeks to establish and strengthen links between U.S. communities and communities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine.

The Russians spoke little English, so we relied on two hard-working translators, both of whom live in the South Sound. At one point, one of the Russian gents said to me in his thick accent, "Alaska is best state." I agreed that it's an amazing place, and I added that it has a fair amount of political corruption. He laughed and replied: "Old Russian tradition!"

After lunch at a Chinese buffet (they're sampling various cuisines) in Tacoma, we parted ways. They've already visited The Seattle Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Stranger. Their next stop was the glass museum.

We said goodbye through the translators. If I could have at the time, I would have told Natalia, Evgenia, Vladislav, Boris, Irina and the others: Udachi i khoroshego nastroeniya.

According to this site, that means "good luck and keep well."

Last year, the state Department of Ecology sent warning letters (the state calls them "education" letters) to some 20,000 people.

But the department refuses to give us the list of who got those letters. That doesn't seem right, does it?

Here's the issue: The Department of Ecology encourages the public to report people who litter. You may have seen the ads promoting the "Litter And It Will Hurt" campaign. You can call a hotline - 866-LITTER-1 (548-8371) - or fill out a form on the agency's Web site. Basically, if you see someone toss a cigarette butt (or anything else) out of a window, you note the vehicle license plate, description of the vehicle, date and time and location.

The state can’t issue a citation since a cop didn’t see it. But Ecology has an arrangement with another state agency, the Department of Licensing, to identify the owner of each license plate that's reported. Then Ecology mails that person a warning a letter that says, in effect, "a fellow citizen saw someone throw litter from a vehicle registered to you; if you’re ever caught in the act, you'll pay a $1,025 fine."

We believe the list of people who get that warning letter from the state should be a matter of public record. The state, after all, has taken an action, even though it's a warning and not an actual citation.

But Ecology won’t give us the names. The agency's public disclosure officer discussed my request with two assistant attorneys general who represent the agency, and they decided that the information is protected by the federal driver privacy law.

Here's what Ecology told us in response to our request:

=> Read more!

Reader Naceem Navidi writes:

I find it astonishing that you would allow your editors, reporters and writers to use the seriously out-dated term "American Indian" versus "Native American".

We don't see headlines saying Barack Obama attended a "colored" or "Negro"
church, for example. American Indian was considered old and even insulting as far back as the 80's.

A change would help the News Tribune seem more modern and in touch. Thank you.

Here's my response:

As you can see here:

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aihmterms.html

and here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_name_controversy

there is still a lot of dispute over both these terms. The US government and the AP stylebook, which governs how newspapers and most news organizations use language, use American Indian over Native American.

A lot of tribes prefer Indian. Russell Means, for instance, who no one would call a sissy as a native-rights or Indian-rights advocate, hates the term Native American and would much rather be called Indian.

I don't think this issue is as settled as all of us might like, but I certainly don't think American Indian is derogatory or out of date.

What do you think?

On Thursday's front page:

• That heavy snowfall in the mountains may have been great for ski resorts, but it knocked the stuffing out of the state's snow-removal budget.

• A Stryker brigade soldier pleads guilty to accidentally shooting his platoon sergeant to death last year in Iraq. Cpl. Tim Ayers admitted firing the shot that killed Sgt. 1st Class David A. Cooper Jr. on Sept. 5 at their base in Baghdad.

• Police in Seattle and Pierce County are investigating whether a man killed in an explosion on the South Hill is connected to a homicide in Seattle.

• Students from half a dozen Pierce County schools traveled to Seattle Monday to listen to the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan spiritual leader told the students that compassion and affection are essential to a healthy life.

• The Metro Parks commisioners are voting tonight on several controversial proposals to raise the district's revenues without raising taxes.

• The Puyallup School Board planned to vote tonight on a policy that would require athletes to earn a 2.0 grade point average to be able to compete.

After our Sunday paper -- and it's return to a Tacoma News Tribune flag -- reader Alex Griffin wrote the reader rep:

I have two questions. First, why doesn’t the News Tribune have Tacoma in its title? The paper is one of the city’s greatest advocates and it’s ridiculous for a newspaper not to have its city’s name in the title. Secondly, what would it take to get Tacoma put back in the News Tribune?

Here's my answer:

The decision to take Tacoma out of the name was made before my time, so I can’t answer why definitively. But I think it was the right choice and I can talk about that.

Like many papers in the last part of the 20th Century, the TNT was a paper that started in one central city, but – with suburbanization and sprawl – came to represent a much larger and more diverse area. It made sense to call it the Tacoma News Tribune when it served primarily Tacoma. Today Tacoma represents about 25 percent of our market and the same proportion of our circulation. So, for three-fourths of our readers, a Tacoma-centric paper isn’t what they’re looking for.

I believe that part of the reason for the change was that Bill Honeysett, the publisher at the time, recognized before most people that what had been the Tacoma area was becoming something much larger – the South Sound. It was distinct from the Seattle market, but also distinct from what had been though of as “greater Tacoma,” Tacoma, Fircrest, and the unincorporated communities that were growing up contiguous to Tacoma (Spanaway, Parkland, UP, Lakewood).

The paper’s new market stretched from South King County to North Thurston County, and out into exploding East Pierce County – Puyallup and South Hill, Bonney Lake, Graham, etc.

The paper’s choice was to stay Tacoma-centric and confine its ambitions and future to a smaller area, or to grow and expand as the population and residential geography of the area boomed. They made the right choice – to grow.

As did papers in Fort Lauderdale; Minneapolis; Santa Ana, Ca. (Orange County); Arlington Heights, Ill.; Newark and other rapidly growing metro areas, someone decided to drop the city from the paper's name to better identify with a larger, more diverse area whose identity and geographic boundaries were growing well beyond the old cities that were tightly grown around one urban center.

What it would take to change it is a publisher and company ownership that saw returning to the name Tacoma as both true geographically and advantageous from a business/marketing perspective. I don’t think either condition is likely.

Thanks for taking the time to write, and for the questions.

During our morning editor meeting to critique today's edition, several people appreciated the headline Fiancee becomes a funeral planner on page B1. It's compelling and powerful and gives the reader an accurate sense of the tragic story (four men plead not guilty to a second-degree murder in a stabbing outside a Spanaway bar). It's probably the chief reason the story is No. 1 on our web site this morning.

We also all liked the online chat archive that Dan Voelpel did on the future of Russell Investments yesterday. You can see it here.

The top local stories in Thursday's News Tribune:

• The honor guard from the Veterans of Foreign Wars District 4 is always there to say a final farewell to a military comrade. The men, most of whom served during the Vietnam War era, preside at more than 100 military funerals each year.

• A rumor that the Washington State Patrol planned to remove the yellow ribbons from the Freedom Bridge over Interstate 5 is just that: a rumor. State officials say they have no plans to remove the ribbons and signs decorating the bridge, which earned its name because of its proximity to Fort Lewis and McChord Air Base.

• Four men have pleaded not guilty to charges they beat and fatally stabbed a Pierce County man to death outside a Spanaway tavern last week. The dead man and his fiancee had planned to marry soon. Now she'll be planning a funeral instead.

Especially during election years, readers are on the lookout for slights they perceive in our coverage of political events or issues. The following note came in to our Reader Rep this morning. This week's Reader Rep, Peter Callaghan, responded on our behalf.

From the reader:

"After looking at and reading the major article "Meet the Donors" on your front page on Monday, April 7, 2008, I wonder if you realize that there are three MAJOR contenders for the presidential race this year. On your front page there is a LARGE color photo of a McCain donor, a much smaller color photo of Clinton donor and on page A7 there is a small black and white photo of a Obama donor. A glance at the lay-out tells me that there is obviously no attempt at fair and balanced journalism here. In the future, I will pass up anything written by Niki Sullivan or Ian Demsky and take anything I see in your newspaper with a larger grain of salt.

Peter's response:

"Every time we write a story about candidates for any office we are sensitive to the display of the story. But aside from taking three photos and displaying them in the same size across the page – which we have done several times in the past – we have to decide how best to lay out the story.

"We have printed dozens and dozens of stories about the presidential candidates. Sometimes Obama receives better play, sometimes Clinton, sometimes McCain.

"Earlier this week I received a complaint from a McCain supporter who accused us of bias because we ran a photo of a frowning Republican above a smiling Democrat.

"Those decisions are made by copy editors, photographers and page designers, not the reporters who wrote the story."

Special things happen when old techniques are used with new technology. Artist Fred Matamoros has a few examples already this year: a graphic on the curve ball, Mariners ace Erik Bedard’s go-to pitch; the Valentines Day cover for GO, our entertainment magazine; an illustration for how iPods have become a household appliance.

Fred says: “We’ve been experimenting with pencil-drawn infographics lately as opposed to those drawn entirely on the computer. Most of the graphics I do start in pencil, but many are then redrawn with a vector-illustration program such as Illustrator or Freehand. The difference with the completely pencil-drawn projects is that the pencil work is also used as final art.

It’s not an entirely new technique at The News Tribune, one of the earlier graphics I did entirely in pencil was ‘Efficiency in Motion,’ in June of 2003. A more recent example was the Stadium High School graphic, ‘A Landmark Renovation,’ in Sept. 2006.”

This week's Reader Representative, Peter Callaghan, fielded a comment from reader Irene Potter that's worth passing along.

Here's what she wrote:

After looking at and reading the major article "Meet the Donors" on your
front page on Monday, April 7, 2008, I wonder if you realize that there are three MAJOR contenders for the presidential race this year. On your front page there is a LARGE color photo of a McCain donor, a much smaller color photo of Clinton donor and on page A7 there is a small black and white photo of a Obama donor. A glance at the lay-out tells me that there is obviously no attempt at fair and balanced journalism here. In the future, I will pass up anything written by Niki Sullivan or Ian Demsky and take anything I see in your newspaper with a larger grain of salt.

Here's how Pete, a veteran political journalist, responded:

Every time we write a story about candidates for any office we are sensitive to the display of the story. But aside from taking three photos and displaying them in the same size across the page – which we have done several times in the past – we have to decide how best to lay out the story. We have printed dozens and dozens of stories about the presidential candidates. Sometimes Obama receives better play, sometimes Clinton, sometimes McCain.

Earlier this week I received a complaint from a McCain supporter who accused us of bias because we ran a photo of a frowning Republican above a smiling Democrat. Those decisions are made by copy editors, photographers and page designers, not the reporters who wrote the story.

There are days when we do something truly stupid like running the wrong picture over a person’s name, especially when the person is a local congressman. We had one of those days today when on our front page we ran Randy Tate’s picture when we meant to run Adam Smith. This error went unchecked through at least three separate editors.

Here are the top local story's on Wednesday's front page:

• A small electric utility in Lakewood is giving away electricity to its customers this month. Lakeview Light & Power says it will pass on a rebate made possible by a federal court case.

• A report from the National Parks Conservation Association said funding to purchase land within national parks has declined sharply over the past decade, raising the possibility of logging or development inside some parks.

• Tacoma and other local cities are looking for more money for road projects and are pondering whether to impose a fee on vehicle registrations.

We get occasional e-mails asking about that case. here's the one I got Sunday from reader Bunnee Butterfield:

In February, a woman on a bicycle in Fircrest was involved in a hit-and-run accident. She was physically moved off the road and then the driver left her, unconscious and obviously hurt. There were some follow-up stories about the police identifying the make of the car and an attorney representing the owners of the car coming forward, but I never saw anything more - no identification of the driver, no indication of what kind of charges were filed, nothing about penalties for the driver and nothing about how the victim is doing. I read the paper pretty thoroughly every day and have even searched your website and googled the story a few times to see if I could find any additional information.

In other hit-and-run stories, there is usually a subsequent story which identifies the driver and at least indicates the charges being filed. If I were a conspiracy theorist (and maybe I am), I would suggest that since this case involved a young driver with wealthy parents (Mercedes, attorney), the whole incident was handled quietly and out of the public eye. Fine for the driver, I guess, but I would think the victim and the victim's family would be a little disturbed. And if privilege buys this kind of discretion, I guess I'm disturbed, too.

Do you have a policy on following up on stories such as this? Or does the amount of time elapsed mean decrease the value of reporting the outcome? I'm just curious about what is considered newsworthy and how long a "tail" that newsworthiness has.

Thanks for your time.

Here's the response, from reporter Stacey Mulick:

The Fircrest hit-and-run case is one that many readers are interested in. Adam and I hear from readers a couple of times a week it seems regarding updates in this case.

Adam (our courts reporter) and I check frequently (ie several times a week) to see if charges have been filed in this case. As of 8 a.m. this morning, no charges have been filed. It is The News Tribune’s policy to NOT name someone UNTIL they’ve been charged with a crime or at least make a preliminary appearance before a judge, who finds probable cause to hold that person on the allegations he/she is accused of.

Neither has happened in this case so far. Sheriff’s detectives have identified an 18-year-old woman they believe was driving the car that morning. They arrested her and administratively booked her into Pierce County Jail. She has retained an attorney and has NOT cooperated with the investigation.

A sheriff’s spokesman told me recently that detectives were waiting to complete forensic tests in this case before forwarding their entire case file to prosecutors for charges. They are handling it that way because the driver has been identified and once charges are filed, that starts a clock. If the tests are not done by the time the case goes to trial, that would be a bigger problem.

I’ve seen numerous vehicular crimes handled this way, particularly when the driver has been identified. It often takes weeks and sometimes months for charges to be filed in vehicular crimes incidents because of the testing that law enforcement wants completed. There is one prosecutor who handles vehicular crimes and she has quite a case load to review and try.

I will check again with the Sheriff’s Department today to see where the investigation is.

This is not a story that we are ignoring. We continue to make checks on it and will report when there is a new development in the case.

On occasion, we will write about this case on the Lights & Sirens crime blog.

Adhahn's guilty plea in Zina Linnik slaying leads local news coverage:

• Terapon Dang Adhahn walked into a Tacoma courtroom Wednesday and admitted abducting, raping and killing 12-year-old Zina Linnik. A plea agreement with prosecutors means he will not face the death penalty, but must spend the rest of his life in prison.

• Gov. Chris Gregoire kicks off her re-election campaign with a swing across the state. The News Tribune tags along.

From reader Jerry Filkins:

Hey David,
What happened to the survey on Bimbo’s Spaghetti Sauce?

When last heard from reporter C.R. Robert's asked readers what they wanted to see happen to the famed sauce. Here's C.R.'s answer to Mr. Filkins:

What comes next is up to David Bobo, executive director of the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center, and the city. I was working with David and his chef, who both wanted to know what the public had in mind. The response was overwhelming, saying that people wanted to taste the sauce once again. The results have been forwarded, and I’m expecting some kind of a response from David soon. I’ll let everyone know once there’s a decision.

Stay tuned . . .

Here are the top local stories in Thursday's News Tribune:

• A young Lakewood mother smelled gas when she returned to her home Wednesday afternoon. Moments later, as she was talking to police, her small home exploded in flames. Police are trying to determine if her estranged boyfriend had something to do with it.

• Two of three companies that expressed interest in taking over a planned development in University Place have dropped out. Now the UP City Council is facing another tough decision about its long-planned Town Center project.

• The Sumner-Bonney Lake area is looking at a number of potential sites as locations for a YMCA.

• A Day Island couple may have to tear down part of their waterfront home because it's built on land a Texas company indirectly acquired from the BNSF Railway.

PARADE magazine shares what they have coming for this Sunday:

My Last Lecture
By Randy Pausch
At many colleges, professors are asked to give a “last lecture.” Professor Randy Pausch learned that he had only a few months to live and decided to share with his students—and us—what matters in life.

Thoroughly Modern Mila
By Jeanne Wolf
For eight years, Mila Kunis played the sassy and self-absorbed Jackie on the hit TV series That ‘70s Show. She reveals how her role was won with a little white lie and talks about her latest film, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The actress also continues to voice the character Meg on Family Guy.

Meet PARADE’s All-America High School Boys Basketball Team
By Michael O’Shea
Brandon Jennings “one of the top players ever,” from Mouth of Wilson, Va., has been named the 2008 Player of the Year on PARADE’s 52nd annual All-America High School Boys Basketball team. This year’s team includes players from 19 states, with Georgia leading the way with six.

In Step With: Tracy Ullman
By James Brady
Tracey Ullman is funny and audacious, and she has seven Emmy Awards to prove it. The quick-witted Brit launches a new series aimed at her fellow Americans called, Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union, on Showtime.

Some highlights of our morning discussion:

• Unlike the Seattle papers, we decided not to put the story on the proposed indoor/outdoor basketball arena on the front page. Sports editor Dale Phelps notes that not all arena proposals are created equal - and this concept seemed less fleshed out than others. Editors agreed - a good call.

• You can't help but read Ian Demsky's front page story about contraband in the McNeil Island prison. Lots of detail. Most people might not have guessed that tobacco has become the "drug of choice" inside.

Here are the top local stories in Wednesday's News Tribune:

• The "drug of choice" in Washington's prisons is a familiar one to most of us. It's tobacco, which is banned inside prisons, just as it is in other workplaces.

• Gov. Chris Gregoire has signed the new state budget, which contains some plums for teachers and others.

• Lakewood is considering strengthening its animal control laws after a review of dangerous dog calls made in the city. Many of the calls involved pit bulls, which may face additional scrutiny.