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 Tuesday's print edition.
Rescue Read 2 Me, and keep kids reading
Private funding for the longtime Tacoma tutoring program
takes a hit from the faltering economy.
Once a week during the school year, something special happens for Tacoma schoolchildren who are having problems with reading.
For 45 minutes, each child in the Read 2 Me program has a captive audience of one adult volunteer whose only purpose is to focus attention completely on him or her. They work on basic skills, real aloud to each other and play games that are as educational as they are fun – for both student and tutor.
But now the program is in trouble, in large part because the faltering economy has dried up the private contributions that pay for administrative staff, classroom coordinators and materials.
The program has been suspended for the month of February, and its future is cloudy. Read 2 Me’s chief executive officer, Barbara James, says $100,000 needs to be raised to continue the program through May.
This editorial will appear in Tuesday's print edition.
City manager Eric Anderson won’t hit his target of cutting the city’s crime rate in half by June, but that’s largely beside the point.
Audacity isn’t a crime. How fortunate for Tacoma’s city manager, who is having enough trouble with the city’s crime rate without adding to it.
Last April, Eric Anderson said he wanted to do the impossible: cut the city’s crime in half in 14 months.
Nine months later, Tacoma’s nowhere close to that goal, and nothing short of the mayor declaring martial law will get the city there by the end of June.
But don’t label this a failed experiment, at least not yet. Even a 10 percent reduction in crime – a bar that city officials say they might be able to meet by July – would mean something big to the city residents who would have otherwise been crime victims.
Perhaps more important than the numbers is the evidence that Tacomans are taking this fight seriously.
Good news! It looks like we might pay off the new budget deficit after all.
At first I was skeptical. When President Obama announced the terms of the Democrat “stimulus” package, all I could think about was how much this “stimulus” was going to cost me and other American taxpayers. Hundreds of billions, trending towards a trillion dollars.
But now some taxpayers have stepped forward to help make up the gap. As a result of his confirmation hearing, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will pay $30,000 in back taxes. And on Monday, Health and Human Services secretary nominee Tom Daschle told senators he will pay back the $130,000 he cheated the federal government. True, we lost quite a chunk of change when Gov. Bill Richardson withdrew his nomination for secretary of commerce, but criminal litigation may retrieve some of that.
And there are still big bucks on the horizon.
Read 2 Me's demise would be a blow to at-risk kids who depend not only on the tutoring the program provides, but also the opportunity to develop a one-on-one relationship with a caring adult. The Tacoma School District should be looking at ways to keep the program going during its one-month hiatus and possibly beyond.
Tacoma city leaders should keep setting a high bar for crime reduction. The strides the community has made in cleaning up the city will pay off years from now as residents take greater pride in their surroundings and kick the criminal element to the curb.
If you have comments or questions about these topics, please email them to kim.bradford@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.
