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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This editorial will appear in Thursday's print edition.
Thanksgiving is an ideal day to celebrate human generosity. Our communities need a holiday-sized helping of it now.
Economists have recently confirmed that the United States is officially in recession. Some point to early indicators of a particularly severe recession.
But South Sound nonprofits have been seeing the indicators for months. United Way of Pierce County, for example, maintains a hotline number – 211 – to connect people who urgent needs to agencies that can help them.
The line got 6,400 calls last month, an increase of 20 percent over the previous year. In July, the average caller had 1.5 “needs” – requests for shelter, food, utility assistance, etc. In August, the average hit 3.2, reflecting a surge in distress.
Basic sustenance is in shorter supply. The FISH Food Banks of Pierce County handled 31 percent more requests for food through September compared to 2007 – and was simultaneously hit with a 26 percent increase in the price of food.
The Emergency Food Network, which supplies most of the county’s food banks, routinely receives large quantities of goods from supermarkets and other stores. But retailers are feeling the squeeze, too, and some can’t give as much; one major donor has had to cut back from 80,000 pounds to 20,000 pounds a week. The network recently had to spend $30,000 to make up for the decline in donations.
That sums up the perverse cruelty of an economic downtown. When hard times come, more people are in need, and their needs are greater. But those same hard times make it harder for donors to give.
Here's what you'll see on the editorial page over the next two days.
Thursday:
Thanksgiving is an ideal day to celebrate human generosity. Our communities need a holiday-sized helping of it now.
Friday:
Should the Tacoma School Board name the new middle school on the East Side for Barack Obama? Two editorial writers square off.
Editorials represent the consensus view of The News Tribune's editorial board.
Want to sit in on a daily ed board meeting? Email cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com to make an appointment.
