This editorial will appear in Thursday's print edition.

The Humane Society, with a strong assist from Pierce County’s new low-cost spay/neuter clinic, hit a major milestone in 2008.

Pierce County’s foremost animal advocates couldn’t be more delighted to be wrong.

About this time last year, officials at the Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County were coming to a disappointing conclusion: They weren’t going to hit their goal to end euthanasia of healthy, adoptable pets by December 2008.

It was a laudable, but lofty goal. The Tacoma shelter likely would have been the largest of its kind of achieve “no-kill” status. Open-admission shelters like Tacoma’s don’t have the pick of the litter, so to speak, and have to work extra hard find homes for less desirable pets.

But Humane Society officials realized that they weren’t making progress fast enough. One major setback was that people flooded the shelter with an additional 1,000 animals in 2007 after hearing that the shelter was going no-kill.

News that the shelter was having to abandon its timeline seemed to spark just the opposite reaction from the community. When Humane Society officials recently finished compiling their annual numbers, they were pleasantly surprised.

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.

Opportunity is intangible, so it’s hard to see it vanishing. But sometimes the loss comes into clear focus.

It’s been painfully visible at the University of Washington this month as the school has been forced to deny acceptance to 325 students who would – with enough state funding – have otherwise been admitted for spring quarter.

According to UW Admissions Director Philip Ballinger, almost all the affected students were trying to transfer from other schools. He told the Seattle Times that two-thirds of spring transfers typically come from community colleges.

That hurts. Washington provides its citizens less opportunity to enter four-year colleges than most other states. The state’s large system of community colleges is supposed to make up the difference by getting students through their first two years and then allowing them into an affordable public university.

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The former French President, Jacques Chirac was rushed to the hospital earlier today after being mauled by his “clinically depressed” dog, a fluffy white Maltese.

Turns out that “Sumo” has been suffering from depression for years. Even as a young pup, while his littermates snoozed bellies full of mother’s milk, Sumo lay off to the side eyes wide open. Insomnia.

Always a worrier, thoughts like “what if mother likes my eight brothers and sisters more” or “ I’ve heard runts die early,” ran through little Sumo’s head like a stuck record.

One of Sumo’s sisters, Frisbee, was adopted by some American ex-pats. Years later they met by chance in the park. Sumo’s depression was still evident. Beyond the perfunctory backside sniff, he took no pleasure in the social interaction the park afforded.

“Happiness is a choice,” Frisbee told Sumo as her owner yanked her away. Sumo found Frisbee smug and her fake American accent did not go unnoticed.

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Just came from City Club of Tacoma's monthly luncheon, where I cornered former Pierce County auditor Cathy Pearsall-Stipek.

She had told me last month she planned to file an initiative to dump the ranked-choice voting method of electing most countywide officials. I wanted to find out if those plans were still on track.

They're on hold, she said, because she thinks the County Council is about to do the deed on its own.

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When you're passing around hundreds of billions of dollars in "free money," don't be surprised at who gets in line for a piece of the action.

Now the equipment rental industry is looking for its share of the stimulus loot (see below). Makes more sense than $5 billion for the porn industry, anyway.

Jan. 16, 2009 (MOLINE, IL) — The American Rental Association (ARA) is advocating an economic stimulus package that provides tax relief that spurs investment in the rental industry along with significant spending on infrastructure that will help lift the declining equipment rental industry.

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Supporters of Pierce County's new ranked-choice voting system have a problem named Dale Washam. Washam, known for filing lawsuits against county officials, got himself elected assessor-treasurer under RCV without any apparent qualifications for the office.

I'm not saying no qualifications, just no apparent ones. I've never met the man and my only conversation with him abruptly ended when I asked him what his qualifications were. But I don't think I know anyone who believes Washam was the best candidate in the race – or that he would have won had voters had more information about the candidates.

The RCV people are defensive. Kelly Haughton, one of the prime movers behind the new system, has done an analysis of the vote (he summarizes it below). Haughton insists that the switch from a partisan to a nonpartisan assessor-treasurer – not RCV – is what got Washam elected.

It's an interesting claim: Voters do pick candidates on the basis of party affiliations, which is hard to do when everyone is supposedly nonpartisan. It's safe to say that Washam would not have been endorsed by either the Democrat or Republican parties.

But I think Haughton's claim that Washam would still have won under a conventional nonpartisan primary-plus-general election is dubious at best.

The lack of a primary election – one of the supposed strengths of RCV – had a lot to do with Washam's election.

Had he gotten through the primary in August, he would have drawn far more scrutiny as one of two finalists. As it was, Washam went into November as one in a crowd of six candidates – none of whom got much attention in an election overshadowed by the races for president, governor and county executive.

Haughton's take:

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The Humane Society, with a strong assist from Pierce County's new low-cost spay/neuter clinic, hit a big milestone in 2008. Not a single healthy, adoptable dog was euthanized for want of a home.

The UW's revocation of acceptance to 325 applicants is a vivid demonstration of the impact of strapped higher ed funding. Nothing should be more shovel ready than college opportunity.

If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com. 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.