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 Sunday's print edition.
County sign law needs enforcement
The recession gets blamed for many a deficit these days and often rightfully so. But Pierce County’s failure to rid street corners and rights of way of illegal signs can’t be so easily explained away.
Long before the current economic troubles, Pierce County was doing a poor job of dealing with roadside clutter. Tolerance bred, if not contempt for the law, then ignorance of it. And the community was the uglier for it.
Relief of a sort came in 2007 when the Pierce County Council launched an experimental sign-removal program in East Pierce County. The work continued into 2008, aided by a $168,000 earmark in the 2008 budget.
In all, county workers collected more than 16,000 signs – that is, until their work came to a halt last August.
Public works officials have cited various reasons for abandoning the crackdown: They didn’t know how to handle new rules adopted by the County Council; the department has more pressing priorities; the council didn’t correctly word a budget provision appropriating $100,000 to the task this year.
Whatever the explanation, illegal signs have proliferated in the absence of anyone doing anything about them. News Tribune reporter David Wickert recently counted 37 signs at just two East Pierce County intersections.
The main issue here, for those who've obviously missed it, is not the pros and cons of legalizing pot – it's drug use in public schools.
We wouldn't be cheering this kid if he'd downed a shot of whiskey in front of the Peninsula High School class, either.
George W. Bush probably said it best: "When I was young and stupid, I was young and stupid."
Today is National Trails Day – a day to rediscover how much fun it is to take a walk in nature. While you're at it, take a kid with you. While adult participation in outdoor recreation is growing, participation by children has dropped 11 percent since 2006.
My favorite local trails are at Point Defiance Park, where I walk with friends almost every week. But I have a love/hate relationship with them, having twice broken an ankle by tripping on roots.
The lessons: Wear sturdy walking shoes or boots, not sneakers, on rough trails. And watch where you're going. You might avoid my two trips to the emergency room.
Click here for a printable map of the Point Defiance trails.
