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.
Sonia Sotomayor undercut her critics and supporters alike Tuesday by simply walking away from the line that’s been bedeviling her nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court.
The line, from a 2001 speech to group of Latino law students: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”
To the Senate Judiciary Committee, though, she said, “It was bad ... a rhetorical flourish that fell flat.” The remark was meant to inspire minorities, she said, but they left the false impression “that I believed that life experiences commanded a result in a case.”
Sotomayor’s liberal supporters have been tying themselves in knots trying to defend those unfortunate words. Conservatives say they betray an inclination to skew justice in favor of select groups. Her explanation was reasonable, and it came with a welcome promise to apply the law even-handedly.
This editorial will appear in Wednesday's print edition.
Get creative against partyers in Lake Tapps cove
It’s easy to sympathize with the folks who live along Lake Tapps’ Fairweather Cove. On nice days, they have to endure an armada of noisy boaters who all but commandeer the cove with their partying. In fact, they’ve so taken over that they even have their own name for it: Party Cove.
Sure, it’s a public lake. But that’s no excuse for the behavior of some boaters – including retaliation against cove homeowners who have complained. Loud, boozy parties and public urination wouldn’t be tolerated on a neighborhood street corner or in a city park, and it shouldn’t be tolerated in Fairweather Cove.
But the solution being considered by the Pierce County Council – prohibiting all boats from stopping in the cove or channel leading to it through August 2010 – would penalize the law-abiding and the abusive alike. And it likely would just push the hard-core partyers to another location to bother other residents.
Senate Republicans organizing tit-for-tat vote against Sotomayor in response to Dems' votes against John Roberts ought to stand down – the better to restore the tradition of giving any president's nomination the benefit of the doubt.
Our second topic is TBD, but one possibility is a comment on the sheriff's crackdown on raft parties in Fairweather Cove on Lake Tapps.
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.
Case Inlet has proven quite the troublesome patch of shoreline for Taylor Shellfish, which leases land there to grow geoducks that fetch top dollar in Asian markets. A Department of Natural Resources employee was recently investigating a complaint from an upland property owner and noticed that Taylor's farm might have strayed onto state-owned tidelands.
The possible trespass (Taylor is cooperating and paying for a survey to determine where the actual boundary is) plus another in Totten Inlet has prompted Lands Commissioner Peter Goldmark to order a survey of all state-owned tidelands.
This isn't the first time Taylor has run into problems at Case Inlet near Allyn. Back in 2007, Pierce County officials told Taylor that the company's permit for land owned by the Foss family had expired and suggested the company apply for a new one. A hearing examiner later upheld that decision, raising questions about whether Taylor would be allowed to harvest its $15 million crop.
The county relented last fall and allowed Taylor to dig up mature clams, but the legal battle continued. It's been a while since we checked in on the case, so I emailed Bill Dewey at Taylor to ask him what's become of it. He says Taylor won its lawsuit and doesn't expect the county to appeal. The same might not be said of neighboring property owners or other geoduck farm opponents.
Here's a summary from Taylor's attorneys:
