This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.
Editorial board bloggers
Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com
Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.
Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.
Guest bloggers
Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.
Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.
Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.
Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.
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When Tacoma City Councilman Rick Talbert saw the photo of himself that accompanied his Feb. 3. op-ed piece urging schools to help fight obesity, he cringed.
Because the current chairman for the Tacoma-Pierce County Board of Health looked, uh, heavy. "Ouch," he emailed:
What will it take to have you permanently destroy the photo you used? That picture was 85 lbs ago, before I took my own advice and changed my lifestyle.
You did? I said. How did you do it?
.No great secret. I finally accepted that there was no short-cut and the only way to successfully lose weight was to eat healthy and exercise.
I partnered with (Pierce County Councilman) Shawn Bunney and we challenged each other. (Talbert works in the county's performance audit office.) We worked with a nutritionist to put together a sensible diet, and began an exercise program that literally started with baby steps.
Shawn and I did a 20-mile bike ride last weekend on the Foothills Trail and we got a kick out of the fact just a year ago we felt a great accomplishment in doing a three-mile walk on that same trail.
This has been the best experience for me. There are times when I feel twenty years old again. I've gone from feeling hypocritical about passing public policy on obesity issues, to competing in and completing triathlon's and road races.
I truly believe America's obesity crisis is our greatest medical concern. Obesity is the second greatest cause of preventable deaths in our country, only tobacco is higher. It won't be too much longer before obesity passes tobacco in this category.
The Health Department and MultiCare have partnered to provide nutrition and exercise education aimed at middle-school students in a pilot program. The program could only hold 25 students. More than twice that many wanted to sign-up. This is a good first step, but we must do more
You're doing triathlons? I said.
I ran the Bank to Bay in September. Then I did the Kirkland and Black Diamond triathlons. I've done a couple of other smaller road races as well. Losing the weight brought back my competitive nature.
I swam in high school and taught swim lessons and life-guarded through college, so the swim leg of the triathlons comes naturally. That's the part most people struggle with. I've really gotten into biking and the running is where I get to push myself.
I try to run Point Defiance a few times a week and any opportunity to get on the bike I take. I am really looking forward to the Spring when the weather's better and the day's are longer.
I am training now for Olympic-distance triathlons. My ultimate goal is to complete the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. I've watched the event on TV. for years and I think it would be a great accomplishment to go from sitting on a couch watching others compete to actually participating in it myself.
Check out Escape From Alcatraz. and tell me if Talbert isn’t nuts. At least he’s a healthy nut. And practices what he preaches.
Next: We ask Bunney – on the record! – which triathlons he's signing up for. Or is the county executive candidate just running for office?
