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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The editorial board took a field trip to the Foss Waterway Seaport today. If you haven't been, the maritime museum is impressive. The vast timbered interior is unlike any warehouse I've seen. It's the last remnant of what boosters call the birthplace of the Port of Tacoma, a mile-long string of warehouses built by the Northern Pacific Railroad to store Washington wheat.
The Dock Street building survived only through what executive director Tom Cashman calls "accidental bureaucratic wisdom." Thirty years ago, Tacoma police needed a place to store impounded vehicles. The city gave the cops the Balfour Dock building, but warned them it was leaky. The police department slapped a new roof om the building, saving it from suffering a fate similar to the Municipal Dock Building whose demolition was decreed in 2001.
A major $7 million overhaul of the wharf in 2007 saved the Balfour building from slipping into the Foss Waterway. Now officials on planning on further improvements to shore up the 45,000-square-foot building and make it usable year-round by more groups. They need to make seismic upgrades, replace the roof, put in heating and do some interior renovation.
They're hoping that the City of Tacoma will contribute to the restoration since it owns the building. So far, the state has been the biggest government contributor, ponying up $3 million. But public and private donors alike are starting to look askance at a project in which the owner has not yet contributed.
It might be a hard sell this year – the city is facing potential budget shortfalls. But it's easy to get excited about what might be after hearing the Seaport guys talk.
This editorial will appear in tomorrow's print edition.
Tacoma has been linked to some notorious crimes and criminals, including Ted Bundy, David Brame and “Beltway Sniper” John Allen Muhammad.
None of their acts came close to matching the enduring, nationwide effects of the sexual attack on Ryan Hade, the “little Tacoma boy,” 20 years ago this week.
Although Ryan survived his 1989 sexual mutilation at the hands of sexual psychopath Earl Kenneth Shriner, the horror of it triggered a wave of public outrage that has not abated to this day.
Ryan died in a motorcycle accident four years ago. On Wednesday, Ryan’s mother, Helen Harlow, gathered with a few friends at Tacoma’s Celebration Park to remember him. The park itself – at South D and 80th streets – could serve as a metaphor for the crime and its consequences.
This editorial will appear in Friday's print edition.
Payday lending critics scored a win for borrowers this past legislative session by settling for less.
A bill signed last week by the governor accomplishes something that advocates for the poor had pushed for several years to no avail: a reduction in payday loans’ effective annual percentage rate.
The current rate is technically 390 percent, which sounds outrageous and would be if payday loans’ terms were longer. But on the typical two-week loan, the annual figure of 390 percent equates to a reasonable $15 charge for a $100 loan.
In the past, payday lending critics have campaigned for a 36 percent cap, which the industry convincingly argues would be a ban. The advocates showed up this year licking their wounds and asking for a 60 percent cap.
What they got was nowhere close, but they did succeed in ratcheting down fees for those borrowers who might need it most. The new law does this in a roundabout way: by changing the length of loans.
The sexual assault on Tacoma’s “little boy” 20 years ago left an enduring legacy, including a sexual predator law that became a model for the rest of the nation.
Payday lending critics scored a definite win this past legislative session, and the results could begin to test lenders' contention that they cannot survive cheaper fees.
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.
We note with amusement that the Republican National Committee has decided not to rename the Democratic Party the "Democrat Socialist Party." The new name probably wouldn't have caught on anyway, especially among Democrats.
Many Republicans have already taken to calling the opposition the "Democrat" party. They do it for no good reason beyond the fact that it annoys the Dems no end.
This business of renaming the other guy's party could get out of hand. What if Democrats started calling the Republicans the “War-Happy Wingnut Party”?
The Greens might wind up labeled as the “Hippie-Dippy Tree Sitter Party”
Libertarians, the “Let Robber Barons Rule the World Party.”
It's probably advisable to keep on letting parties name themselves.
