Ron Klein, Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg's spokesman, took issue today with our editorial about a plan to build a new clubhouse and hotel at Chambers Bay golf course.

He wrote to ask why the editorial said taxpayers are on the hook for the golf course.

... no tax dollars were used to build the course and no tax dollars are being used to operate and maintain it. If the course does not meet expenses there are other avenues we can pursue before we dip into tax dollars, such as KemperSports' portion.

We are constantly telling citizens and reporters that taxpayers aren't responsible for the course. Sewer customers are only responsible to the extent the sewer utility used sewer funds to buy the land and put the money up to borrow against for the course. No taxes are involved.

I replied that while no taxes are going toward operations, the bonds are backed by the sewer and general funds. It might take extraordinary circumstances to get there, but the bottom line is that taxpayers are liable, even if as a last resort.

Klein wrote:

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The New York Times Magazine has a story this week, "The Next Kind of Integration," that hits close to home.

It describes how last year's Supreme Court ruling that struck down racial desegregation in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., schools may come to be viewed "less like a cause for regret and more like an unexpected opportunity."

That's because some districts are using a concurring opinion by Justice Anthony Kennedy to chart a new course: integration plans that are "race conscious" but primarily driven by socioeconomics. Research backs the approach, showing that all students tend to fare worse when a school has high concentrations of poor kids.

It's that kind of research that has prompted University Place schools to redraw school boundaries in an unusual way. The district is targeting the most concentrated pockets of poverty by shuffling some students who live in apartment complexes to new schools.

I wrote about the plan last month, calling it the kind of discrimination that might be ultimately fairest to the children affected and asking what the conclusions behind economic desegregation mean for school districts such as Tacoma’s where “equality” would mean a city full of schools with student bodies that are predominantly poor.

Researchers don't yet have the answer. Richard Kahlenberg of the Century Foundation told the magazine writer that more studies are needed to pin down the percentage of middle-class kids that a school needs to have to serve all its students well.

The article does offer at least one option for inner city schools: Persuade more middle-class and white parents to choose public school over private.

Former Lakewood City Councilman John Arbeeny forwarded an e-mail to us from David Anderson, the man behind the petition drive to put an anti-casino measure on the November ballot. It seems that the Pierce County auditor's office is having trouble with many of the 4,939 signatures collected.

If the challenged signatures don't hold up as valid, the initiative won't go on the ballot. So the initiative backers are hurriedly trying to round up more signatures to get them to the 3,707 they need.

Here's the e-mail from David Anderson.

By 12 noon on Friday, August 1, we will need another 1,000 signatures to enable the Initiative to ban casino gambling in Lakewood to make it to the ballot in November. The Pierce County Auditor reviewed the 4,939 signatures we previously submitted and determined there are 2,947 valid signatures. 1,992 signatures were challenged.

We will be meeting with the Auditor on Wednesday, July 23, to determine why over 30 percent of our signatures have been rejected in the hope that we can save some. But this means we must collect over 100 signatures per day beginning July 23.

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