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 tomorrow's print edition.
There are two good arguments for the City of Lakewood’s decision to require its contractors to confirm the legality of their employees.
First, there will never be a solution for illegal immigration in this country unless businesses stop hiring undocumented workers.
The dynamic U.S. economy has always been a magnet for immigrants – legal and illegal – seeking better incomes. As long as enterprising Guatemalans or Chinese or Mexicans can readily find work in America, legions of them will find a way to sneak past the borders.
Even a vast roundup of illegal residents – logistically impossible in the first place – couldn’t begin to solve the problem. Drying up the jobs is the only way to restrict immigration to those who’ve stood in line and played by the rules.
This editorial will appear in Thursday's print edition.
Nearly 17 years have passed since Misty Copsey disappeared during the Puyallup Fair, 16 years since her jeans, sock and underwear turned up in a ditch near Highway 410.
Puyallup police have known for two years that six hairs found in those jeans were suitable for DNA testing, and they’ve known for at least a month that they’d probably be asked to publicly account for why they hadn’t requested that test.
What are police waiting for?
On May 22, following The News Tribune’s publication of an exhaustive account of the investigation into Misty’s disappearance, police spokesman Dave McDonald said, “I expect that it’s likely we’re going to ask for a test, and very soon.”
The state crime lab has yet to receive Puyallup’s request. Puyallup police said Wednesday they still intend to submit one, and soon.
We’d like to believe them. But this wouldn’t be the first time the police have said they were pulling out all the stops and in reality doing little.
Tuesday’s deadly Wal-Mart robbery struck too close to home for me. My wife Patti – who's been quoted as a witness in the news accounts – was in the store at the time and not far from the shooting. The only thing between her and the gun was a rack of clothes.
She could easily have been shot herself had she entered the store a minute later and wound up standing 40 or 50 feet closer to the crime.
I never met the guard who was killed, Kurt Husted. The sympathy I feel for him and his family is deeper for knowing how close to tragedy my own family came in the shooting. Life is fragile, even when you're just out doing your job, even when you're just out shopping.
Lakewood's experiment with E-Verify mirrors intense national concerns about competition for jobs among citizens and illegal immigrants during a severe recession.
The Puyallup Police Department's foot-dragging on requesting a DNA test in the Misty Copsey case looks familiar. It's the same defensive posture that caused a lot of other missteps in the investigation of her 1992 disappearance.
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.
