An early edition of my copper-wire theft story is after the jump:

=> Read more!

So where's this four inches of snow that was supposed to have fallen overnight? It seems like it's a pretty regular phenomenon here: Gray clouds approach, the temperature is close to freezing, people predict a snowfall that'll lock down the entire region and I wake up the next morning to find that, as usual, it didn't snow.

Nevertheless, I'm polishing a few stories I'm working on. I'll post early editions of them later. The first is a story of theft of copper wire from roadways. The second, about former Nuremberg Trials physician Buel Sever, will run in Sunday's B1 section. For the latter, there will be the story in the paper and online, an audio/photo slideshow with some great archive shots of the trials and, for the war buffs out there, a full half-hour interview with Sever.

The number of homeless is rising across Pierce County, but the City of Tacoma’s housing program seems to be a success. Still, several residents at a joint session of city and county public safety and human services committee weren’t happy with the overall situation.

Richard Anderson-Connolly, a professor at the University of Puget Sound, provided to the councils what he called a “progress report” based on polling of those who entered the city’s program to move homeless persons off the streets and into houses.

He provided statistics which show that, so far, the program is a success. Visits to the emergency room are down, and visits to other healthcare facilities are up. Those moved into housing self-report less victimization. Surveys showed that, on average, those involved report they feel safer, happier, more hopeful, less depressed, less lonely, less angry and less tired.

“Every change, you could say, moves in a beneficial direction," Anderson-Connolly said.

The county, which pledged last year to cut homelessness in half over the next decade, reported a 14 percent increase in its 2006 count, though it hopes the count will be down in this year’s count. The biggest challenge it faces, a county representative said, is recruiting agencies to help. He said the county has the capacity for two or three more agencies.

Pierce County also reported that 65 percent of those placed in housing programs are leaving before one year.

“Often we don’t know where they’ve gone,” he said. “Are they homeless again? We can’t tell.”

Anderson-Connolly likened the homeless balance between the city and the unincorporated parts of the county to a balloon – squeeze it, and the volume doesn’t change; it just moves. He said that can actually be problematic because a lower density of the homeless and can make it more difficult to help.

=> Read more!

I'm at a special joint meeting of Tacoma and Pierce County public safety and human services committees. There are two topics on the agenda: an update on homeless encampments and the county's incarcerated veterans reintegration program.

I'll have an update when it's done.

Think the theft of copper wire is rare? Check out this document from the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The majority of theft occurs inside Pierce County. There have been 46 thefts in the area since December 2006, and replacement costs are estimated at $101,920. The costliest single theft was on Highway 167 in Sumner last Dec. 20. Supply and labor to replace that wire, which lit the roadway, was estimated at $12,000.

I talked to Trooper Brandy Kessler, a public information officer with the Washington State Patrol, about the theft of copper wire from along roadways. She said most of the thefts are the result of methamphetamine addicts looking to score more drugs.

“It’s the methheads who need their fix,” she said. “They steal copper wire and other equipment and sell it to get money to buy meth.”

She urged anyone who sees something suspicious to call it in.

“If they see somebody at a lightpost and they’re not in a marked car, it’s probably someone stealing equipment,” she said. Plus, unless there’s a power outage, workers don’t work in the middle of the night when the wire is stolen. So call it in – even if you think it’s DOT working.”

Areli Villegas Alvarez pulled her pink coat tightly around herself. She was showing her first-grade classmates at Sheridan Elementary School its golden buttons and zippers, its fur-lined hood and its pink, giraffe-print interior. As she slid the zipper pull back and forth, she began to squirm with excitement.

“It’s so pretty,” she said Thursday. “Just so pretty.”

Saxson Steltz, right, was equally enamored with the zipper pockets on his new jacket. Saxson, also a first-grader, chose a camouflage coat because he said it reminded him of Army jackets he sometimes sees adults wear. And those zipper pockets? They’re useful, he said, because “if your mom or dad tells you to put something in your pocket, you won’t lose it.”

Areli and Saxson were two of more than 600 kids to receive a free winter coat this week because of a donation from staff and customers at BJ’s Bingo in Fife. The company gave away jackets to students at Roosevelt Elementary School in Tacoma last year and wanted to contribute to a school with a high poverty rate and significant number of American Indian students, Sheridan principal Kelly Evans said.

The company has always done something charitable around Christmas, assistant general manager Jenynne DeNoble said.

“I’ve been working at BJ’s for 24 years,” she said, “and I can’t remember a year that we didn’t do something.”

The national charity BJ’s Bingo used last year, Coats for Kids, wasn’t able to provide the number of coats they needed, so the BJ’s staff approached stores in the South Sound area and asked for donations and discounts.

The final result: They were able to purchase more than $30,000 of coats for $15,000.

“What was so neat is the number of kids that said, ‘I’ve never had a new coat,’ ” Evans said. “And there are a lot of them. Some of them are coming to school today for the first time in a new coat.

“This generosity is well-placed with our kids.”

I just got off the phone with Kelly Stowe, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Department of Transportation. I’m cooking up a story about the increasing trend in copper-wire theft.

She said the department is working with the Washington State Patrol to combat the problem and has set up a Web site and toll-free tip line to encourage drivers to call in suspected theft. In May, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill increasing penalties for stolen metal. The DOT also has increased surveillance of storage areas that contain metals.

Still, the trend is increasing in frequency.

“It’s getting worse,” she said. “Lately, it’s been every week.”

Stowe said the department’s maintenance budget is divided into costs for real-time operations (such as accident cleanup), preventative care and unexpected occurrences. The latter pays for wire replacement, and the costs are proving to be too much.

She said the department will pay for the crucial replacements like wire to power traffic lights, but other programs will suffer.

“That money’s got to come from somewhere, and it has to come from elsewhere in the maintenance budget,” she said. “Preventative maintenance might not be done because of it.”

I just toured Tacoma Community House, a charity that helps immigrants get language and job skills. Don Rennegarbe, its executive director, showed me around its Hilltop buildings.

We were bouncing around different ideas for future stories for the paper, and I’ll keep you posted about that. But I found it interesting how the origins of the people it helps have changed. Tacoma Community House aided Italian and Scandinavian immigrants when it opened 98 years ago. Now, many come from the Latin America and the former Soviet Union.

It got me thinking: From where will the next wave of immigrants come?

I'm about to head out to Tacoma Community House, where I'll meet with the executive director about possible story ideas.

Later, I'll be trying to pop into some tattoo parlors near Fort Lewis to try to grab some leads about a story about memorial ink.

And I'm going to be chasing down a fresh look at the increasing trend of stolen copper wire.

I realize I've been slacking with updating the blog. There's good reason.

I sent a records request to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department:
























And it returned almost 1,700 pages:























And I've had to boil it into something semi-readable:

I was out and about with a job shadow today chasing down leads that led nowhere on Tacoma's Eastside, in Tillicum and in Puyallup.

One thing I notice every time I'm on McKinley Avenue: The best-looking building in the city is located there. (I dropped by to talk to the editor, but he wasn't there.) It's this one:

Two more after the jump:

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There's a vigil tonight in support of Sukhvir Singh, a Sikh cabdriver from Kent who was attacked Saturday in what police say was a hate crime (an older version of the story is found here).

According to a release from The Sikh Coalition, the vigil will begin tonight at 6 p.m. at the Gurdwara Singh Sabha of Washington at 5200 Talbot Road S. in Renton.

There's more info here.

UPDATE: The address has changed.

I've got a job shadow today. That means I've got to find something cool to cover. Got any ideas?

Calvin Goings is a good sport. Trib columnist Pete Callaghan tears into him about the early appearance of the Pierce County councilman’s yard signs, yet he calls me hours after the paper landed on his front porch to talk about the signs.

Quick recap: The signs started appearing months ago. They’re everywhere. And the election for Pierce County Executive is in November 2008.

If Goings wanted to outflank his opponents early, he’s successful. And, the Democrat said, isn’t that the point?

“Obviously, this is not a campaign for student council,” he said. “This is for the top elected official in Pierce County.”

He didn’t want to say how many have been printed or how many have been distributed. He said he’s running an “old-fashioned campaign,” and he promised he’ll be “out-working everyone else” until next November.

And he’s not holding a grudge against the columnist who says he “tests the public’s patience and reduces the effectiveness of signs.”

“We were getting about a dozen requests a week,” he said. “But since the column ran, we’ve been getting a lot more.”

Toy Rescue Mission is in need during the critical holiday season. I previously blogged and shot a video of the place (posted again below), so check it out. If you’re interested, there’s more info after the jump.

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I'm working on a handful of feature articles today, including a character sketch of Buel Sever, a Fircrest man who was the physician at the Nuremberg Trials.

But, other than chasing a bunch of medium-term stories, I'll also be meeting with a reader late this morning about her own interesting history and, like always, roving around looking for some good stories. (And on that note, thanks to readers for calling and e-mailing ideas in. They're always appreciated.)

A Tacoma center promoting clean and healthy living could close soon because of financial shortfalls.

The city recently told management at the nonprofit Thee Turning Point that it needed upgraded fire systems – a sprinkler system and slow-burning ceilings – for its 4,000-square-foot building at 2534 Tacoma Ave. Chief executive director Norm McWeeny said it could cost between $20,000 and 50,000.

The club, which services Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, offers a coffee shop and meeting places for those recovering from substance addictions. There’s also a play area for children. It has held up to 500 people during certain events. It opened 2½ years ago, and McWeeny said he has been paying most of the expenses himself.

His landlords have been “really good” about back rent, he said, but they want to sublease the building.

“It’s done a whole lot of good for a lot of people,” he said. “I can’t pay (expenses) out of my pocket anymore because it’s not there.”

Reader Nancy Cook asked these questions about the Murray Morgan Bridge:

I’d like to ask about the little house on the 11th Street Bridge. Is that where the bridgekeeper lived? If so, where will s/he live now? There is an even smaller house a level below the bridgekeeper’s house. Is that where the bridgekeeper’s dog lived? In the seven years I’ve lived in this area, I’ve been asking myself these questions, and have even toyed with the idea that perhaps in Tacoma, bridge trolls live above the bridges instead of under them. Unfortunately, the troll theory still doesn’t explain the little doghouse.

I just received an answer from Kip Wylie, the maintenance supervisor for the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. His answer is after the jump:

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I just received an e-mail from the woman who was shooting some of the videos showing apparent crime on Tacoma Avenue. She said intimidation is the reason the clips were pulled off the YouTube channel StopCrimeOnTacomaAve.

“I got a lot of crackpots saying horrible things to me, like I'm signing my death warrant,” wrote the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous. “I don't have the emotional energy to see a mailbox full of hate mail.”

She did, however, say she will continue to shoot videos and make sure they get in the hands of the right people.

Apparently the problem of the homeless camps at East 72nd Street and Portland Avenue hasn’t completely gone away. A church had cleaned up part of the camps, but community activist Stacy Emerson said they still appear active.

I’ve got an e-mail into the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department for reaction.

Part of the letter from Emerson is after the jump:

=> Read more!

The link to the YouTube channel for StopCrimeOnTacomaAve is apparently dead. I've got calls in to see what's up. Any ideas?

(Thanks, Erik, for the tip.)

Meetings, meetings and more meetings today. OK, maybe only two meetings, but I'll be in the newsroom with those most of the morning.

After that, I'll be out and about. E-mail me some ideas if you've got 'em.

Earlier today I attended the memorial service of Brian and Beverly Mauck, the Graham couple who were shot dead last week. Memorial services, wakes and funerals for those who have been killed are almost always more sad than services for those who, say, died of a heart attack or from a car wreck.

Still, this is a memorial service I'd like to have when I bite the dust. People reminisced about the good times instead of harping on the tragedy that ended the Maucks' lives. And while there were tears, there were tons of laughing. A good example: Brian Mauck's boss talked about his difficult it is to learn to ride an air chair while water skiing. It took him weeks to learn. His wife still can't master it.

Mauck apparently mastered it with his first try.

"And that really pissed me off," his boss said as the crowd roared.

An early edition of my story is after the jump:

=> Read more!

Check out Russ Carmack's photo gallery of Black Friday shoppers here.

A Coleman burner supplies hot water and warmth for friends who belong to the Puget Sound Toyota Owners Club. They met outside the Circuit City store at Tacoma Mall. (Russ Carmack/The News Tribune)

Shirley Phillips, left, and Julianne Gibson from Tacoma looks shop for clothes at the Tacoma Mall JCPenney. (Russ Carmack/The News Tribune)

Early-morning customers ride escalators at JCPenney at Tacoma Mall.

The line is long at GameStop at South Hill Mall.

Rob and Beth Horne shop for a down comforter at the Tacoma Mall. (Russ Carmack/The News Tribune)

Teah Lynch from Tacoma shops for Christmas presents for her daughter at the Tacoma Mall. (Russ Carmack/The News Tribune)

Shoppers line up for the escalator at JCPenney at Tacoma Mall. (Russ Carmack/The News Tribune)

From a display table, Santa appears pleased as he watches shoppers at JCPenney at Tacoma Mall. (Russ Carmack/The News Tribune)

Lyndsey Kroenert, left, and her mother Barbara Kroenert flip through the pages of ad inserts looking for a comforter, iPod docking station, shoes, and Guitar Hero. The women got two hours of sleep and arrived to the stores' sidewalk at 2:30 a.m. (Russ Carmack/The News Tribune)

Scott Bowman (left) and Sheryl Stansell were keeping the sidewalk warm at 3:10 a.m. Friday morning. They got their spot in line at the Tacoma Mall Sears at midnight in hopes of getting a 46inch TV for $999.99 (Russ Carmack/The News Tribune)

Cisco Harris was the first in line at 2:29 a.m. Friday morning outside JCPenney at Tacoma Mall. For the past three years he's arrived early to get the free Mickey Mouse snowglobe for his granddaughter.

Shoppers scoop up socks at Fred Meyer in Tacoma's South End. (Russ Carmack/The News Tribune)

Puyallup's Melanie Kloser (left) and Jennifer Mcabee shop at JCPenney minutes after it opened at 4 a.m. at Tacoma Mall. (Russ Carmack/The News Tribune)

Shoppers lined up at the cashier in JCPenny at the Tacoma Mall. (Russ Carmack/The News Tribune)

Russ Carmack has selected and edited a bunch of photos from our coverage of Black Friday shopping. I'll post them over the course of the afternoon.

I'm sitting at the counter at Fergie's on the Ave on McKinley Hill. There's no cash registers ringing. No carts to dodge. No one yelling that the item they're looking for isn't in stock.

This ain't such a bad way Black Friday morning.

The line for the counter at GameStop at South Hill Mall was 20 people deep. And, really, is there a better time to stock up on the latest PS3 games than Christmastime?

Megan Edds, who was in town visiting from Moses Lake, was looking for a copy of Rainbow Six. She started her day at 5 a.m. at Best Buy and was relieved GameStop was just a tad slower.

Shirlena Aalmo was buying a replacement Xbox for her son. She drove to South Hill from Roy and said she cherishes Black Friday.

“It’s a tradition,” she said. “I’ve lived here for 20 years, and I’ve been doing this for 20 years.”

At Fred Meyer, it’s all about the socks. Well, free coffee and donuts don’t hurt either.

The store in the South End of Tacoma didn’t quite feature the same mad rush of other stores, but it was crowded for 5:30 a.m. And many of the shoppers gave the same reason for the early turnout: The socks are cheap.

“I make my husband throw them all away before this sale,” said Parkland’s Betty Brown, who was holding about 30 pairs of socks – and shopping for more. She also added she often donates socks to charities and missions in Pierce County because “you can afford to give them away at this price.”

Fred Meyer also offered free coffee and donuts.

The ability to buy anything from frozen pizzas to DVDs to lawn furniture was a selling point for Tacoma’s Bryan Melvard. He said he shops at Fred Meyer because it’s close and because it’s often a one-stop place for him.

Cheap socks didn’t hurt – he had a few pair in his basket – but that wasn’t the reason for his early arrival.

“I can’t sleep past 6 on the weekends,” he said, “so what’s an extra hour or two?”

Never underestimate the desire to save a few bucks. This is the first floor of JCPenney at Tacoma Mall a few minutes after the doors opened:

Deanna Shoemaker pressed her cell phone to her ear with her right shoulder. She was trying to talk above the crowd and tell her husband, Eric, where she was. She needed help; she couldn’t carry all the things she wanted to buy at the Tacoma Mall JCPenney.

The Shoemakers lined up an hour before the department store’s opening at 4 a.m. The allure of bargains was compelling, Deanna said. She tried carrying a bed-in-a-bag set, pillows and a mini camcorder before calling Eric for help.

“We just redid our daughter’s room,” she said. “And we could get bargains on a lot of stuff for her room here.”

Manny Salcido didn’t need any specific reason to show up. He said it’s tradition to show up the morning after Thanksgiving to get an early start on Christmas shopping. At 4:30 a.m., he was with four boxes – all gifts for his family.

Leah Noland of University Place wanted to buy a mini camcorder, but the store had sold out before she had a chance to pick one up. Instead, she was purchasing children’s clothing and coasters. She’s used to shopping early, but not at 4 a.m.

“This is definitely about an hour earlier than I’m used to,” she said.

Josh Fernandez arrived with several friends. The Tacoma man was in line to buy a fondue machine half an hour after the doors opened. It was his first early Black Friday experience.

“It’s pretty wild here,” he said.

Hundreds of people were lined up outside JCPenney at Tacoma Mall before the department store opened at 4 a.m. There was one line each for the store’s two main exterior entrances, and the ends of two lines intertwined and spilled onto the streets.

When the doors opened, people swarmed across the three floors. The escalator ferrying consumers from the first to the second level temporarily halted under the weight of the customers.

Tacoma’s Dean Lapin got to the department store about 20 minutes before the doors opened. He shopped for only one product: a cookware set for a family whose name he picked from a giving tree.

After that, there wasn’t any more shopping for quesadilla makers or Monopoly boards. There was one thing left on his mind.

“I’m heading to Starbucks,” he said.

I'm off to report from the 4 a.m. opening at JCPenney at Tacoma Mall. I'll be joined by Russ Carmack, one of the Trib's photogs and an admitted morning person. I hope he'll have more energy than me.

Two first-timers were shivering outside the Wal-Mart in Lakewood at 2:45 a.m. Joyce Henley and Sherreyl Mustin arrived at 1:20 a.m. to take advantage of sales on DVD players and baby supplies.

They hadn’t waited in a Black Friday line before and wasn’t sure what to expect. So as the temperatures dipped into the upper-20s, they wrapped themselves in blankets and stood close to each other for warmth.

“Next year, I’ll probably come with some chairs and something warm,” Henley said.

Jaclyn Parke seemed capable of keeping up the energy level despite the frigid temperatures. She had her eyes set on a 32-inch LCD high-definition television for $448. She knew the line at a Best Buy would be long and figured Wal-Mart’s would be shorter. She arrived at midnight and was surprised by the queue.

“I saw someone and asked, ‘Is this where everyone is standing?’ ” she said. “He just looked at me and said, ‘No, we’re the employees.’ ”

Word on the Street special correspondent Liz Shaw shot this video of the line outside Best Buy in Federal Way at 1:20 a.m. – still about 3½ hours before the electronics store opened its doors. The video was shot from the passenger seat of my car (hence the point of view from a parking lot and the picture shaking when I hit speed bumps), but it’s a good idea of the crowd the store already had.

Waiting in line for hours upon hours presents some problems. It’s cold. It can get boring. And, perhaps most importantly, there’s nowhere to use the bathroom.

A 24-hour grocery store must have seemed a savior to those waiting in line at the Federal Way Best Buy. Top Food & Drug was across Pacific Highway, and that seemed to be the destination of choice.

With that minor inconvenience out of the way, the most frequent griping was about the cold.

“I’m kind of freezing,” Federal Way’s Mercedes McCaw said. “I wish Thanksgiving was in July.”

Geremy Carlisle came prepared this year. Really prepared.

Carlisle lined up outside Best Buy in Federal Way at noon Thursday to take advantage of the electronics’ store deals on computers. While many people braved the cold with camping chairs and blankets, Carlisle crammed a heat fan, a space heater, a television, a PlayStation2, a coffee maker, camping chairs, DVDs and a case of bottled water under a tent. He ran a generator to power all the gear.

“The older I get, the more stuff I accumulate,” he said, “the more stuff I can haul out each year.”

But Carlisle was the 10th person in line. The top spot went to Matthew Vollger. The lure of a cheap laptop drew the Edgewood man to the store at 6:45 a.m. By the time Best Buy opens its doors, he will have been waiting for more than 22 hours.

It’s the fifth year he’s lined up early to score some cheap hardware. He spent the time watching a portable DVD player run by a car battery.

“A lot of people think they an buy the ticket off you,” he said, “but you have to pay the price for it.”

Here's a link to sales and promotions on the SuperMall's Web site. Wondering why some might think the place opened at midnight? Here are a few screengrabs:

Joe Fuentas peered inside the locked entrance of the SuperMall, hoping an employee would come and open the door. His 11-year-old daughter, Cindy, bounced around in her brown parka and tried to stay warm in the near-freezing temperatures.

They came to Auburn to cash in on savings at the Tommy Hilfiger outlet store. Instead, they both left after about 20 minutes of waiting. At about 12:20 a.m., almost everyone gave up and drove away.

“It’s disappointing,” Joe Fuentas said. “They said the store was going to be open at midnight.”

There’s a serious mob mentality at play tonight.

There were several cars circling around the SuperMall parking lot. Liz, a veteran shopper, pointed out which entrance was closest to the Gap outlet store. We park there, and all the cars that were circling soon join us within about 10 minutes.

A little later, one person decides to walk to the entrance to see if it’s unlocked. So, naturally, everyone else jumps out and powerwalks to the entrance – which is locked

Special Word on the Street correspondent Liz Shaw and I are sitting in a car outside the SuperMall in Auburn. It’s advertised that several of the shops – Gap, Liz Claiborne and Tommy Hilfiger – are opening at midnight. That might be true, but it appears the mall itself isn’t opening.

That hasn’t stopped a dozen or so people from waiting. Before that, there was probably the most ridiculous parking job in the history of Washington state. Here’s the setup: Liz and I are the first ones to park. A gray sedan parks two spots away. Along comes a red Toyota minivan. Now, remember there’s an entire, enormous parking lot completely open. But the van decides to back in between my car and the gray sedan. And, if that’s not absurd enough, the driver wasn’t particularly good at it; she had to shift between reverse and drive five or six times before finally, successfully parking the car.

I'm going to be driving all over the circulation zone looking for fun Black Friday stories. First stop: SuperMall in Auburn. Some of the outlets there open at midnight.

Here's a list of other places I'm thinking of visiting:

• Best Buy in Federal Way
• Tacoma Mall
• South Hill Mall
• Fred Meyer in Lacey or Sumner

This list might change, and I can always change it if there's something interesting happening elsewhere. If so, give me a call on my cell: 253-320-4758.

I've posted the audio of my interview with John Farrell here. It's worth checking out.

I talked with John Farrell, who helped rescue the two people whose plane crashed in Commencement Bay yesterday. I met with him at the Farrelli's Pizza corporate office in Parkland, and he had some pretty interesting things to say. An early edition of the story is after the jump:

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Shaun Alexander was at Tacoma Mall yesterday for "Thanksgiving on Tuesday," a food drive for the needy in the area. Hundreds of people lined up and donated food for their few seconds of being wowed by his ultra-bright smile (and even brighter coat).

I shot some video and talked to a few people, including Alexander. I refrained from asking him about Alabama's loss to UL-Monroe or Tide coach Nick Saban comparing the defeat to the attacks of Sept. 11 and Pearl Harbor.

I'm typing this on the spiffy new laptop The News Tribune gave me yesterday. It's like upgrading from a Mazda Protege (functional but not necessarily state of the art) to a Land Rover Discovery (bigger, nicer and with more toys).

Why have I tortured you with this metaphor? Because there's not a ton to report this morning. I shot some video from Shaun Alexander's appearance at the Tacoma Mall yesterday and will have that up soon. I'm also plowing through some other stories for this week.

There's an early edition of my Tacoma Avenue meeting story after the jump:

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Greg Hopkins, a Tacoma Police Department community liaison officer, talks to Brenda Lopez at a Tacoma Avenue community meeting.

Carol Wolfe, a community development specialist with the City of Tacoma, explains the benefits of the Community Based Services program. She's encouraged by the developments near Tacoma Avenue.

"Tacoma Avenue has seen some improvements in the past, but now it’s really becoming a community," she said.

I’m back from the Tacoma Avenue neighborhood meeting. The folks there laid the groundwork for what could be a grassroots change in the neighborhood.

More details coming soon.

I wrote earlier about the Fujioka family and their eight sons. I couldn't catch up with them at National Adoption Day last week in Tacoma, but I did find an article about them in The Daily News of Longview.

Here's the link.

Seahawks fans are a strange bunch. They’ll boo Shaun Alexander after an 8-yard run. They’ll cheer after Matt Hasselbeck completes 15-yard pass on third-and-18. They honestly believe crowd noise contributes to false-start penalties.¹ And they think people outside the Seattle metro area associate that group of chest-painters from White Center as the 12th Man.

There is, however, something Hawks fans can appreciate. Shaun Alexander and some of his teammates (no word on who that is yet) will be at the Tacoma Mall today from 5-7 p.m. It’s the Sixth Annual “Thanksgiving on Tuesday.” They’ll be at JKinlow’s Barber and Beauty Lab collecting food and chumming it up with kids, who can receive a free haircut.

So, fickle Seahawks fan², put aside your optimistic-about-the-team-but-pessimistic-about-the-team’s-veterans-except-“Matthew” Hasselbeck attitude and show up for a good cause.

^{1 – These guys get paid millions and they can’t remember to count to two on a snap count? Gimme a break. Oh, and since we’re on the topic, I’ve been to about at least five stadiums louder than Qwest. It’s loud. But it ain’t that loud.
2 – Yes, I realize I’ve probably just ticked off at least half of my readers.}

My story about crime on Tacoma Avenue ran in today's paper. As I just mentioned, I'll be at a meeting discussing that this afternoon.

But I think it's interesting to check out Community Based Services' Web site. Also, I've uploaded a copy of their latest crime statistics here.

It might be a slow week in Tacoma and across the country, but we’re still cranking out stories at The News Tribune. And I’m hitting the beat this morning in chase of some.

First I’m going to a session of the Northwest Detention Center Roundtable. It’s a group of nonprofits and other interested parties in the area that deal with the immigration detention center on Tacoma’s Tideflats. I’ve been once before, and it’s usually worth going to. I’m not writing anything deadline off it, but good story ideas always seem to pop up. And it’s good to try to keep in the loop.

After that, there’s a neighborhood meeting about the crime in the Tacoma Avenue area. I’ll have some posts about that as soon as it’s done.

I've pasted an early version of my Tacoma Avenue story after the jump, or look at it here.

=> Read more!

Alleged prostitution and more on Tacoma Avenue is found on this video:

Here's a video of Tacoma Avenue entitled "Police Shakedown and more."

There have been a three more videos of alleged crime on Tacoma Avenue uploaded to YouTube over the weekend. I'll post 'em today.

Here's the first one:

Not much to report today. Got the day off, so I'll be looking at the backs of my eyelids when most of Tacoma is working. I'll probably throw a few posts up today, though.

Here's an early edition of my National Adoption Day story.

Ahead of National Adoption Day, I talked to Robert Fujioka about the adoption of three children. It gives him and his wife, Holly, eight children – all sons.

But I couldn’t find him at the celebration today. Regardless, it’s a compelling story.

The Fujiokas recently moved to Longview from Redmond to get a bigger house for all the kids. On Friday, they added Willie, Robert and Seth from Gig Harbor. The kids were in foster care, and their foster family was invited to the celebration at Juvenile Court.

“So we’ve adopted in San Diego, in Texas and up here in Washington,” he said. “I work for Bank of America. Sometimes my company consolidates or expands and I go wherever they go. And it seems like wherever we go, we adopt.”

These sings are on the entrance to the courtrooms at Tacoma's Juvenile Court.

The first rule about bringing kids in had me thinking: Aside from the fun procedures (like adoptions), most people don't want to be there. And if it were completely up to the parents' discretion, the children wouldn't be there in the first place.

I'm back from the National Adoption Day celebration at Juvenile Court in Tacoma. It was packed: Parents and kids, caseworkers and attorneys, judges and clerks all mingled. There was cake, punch and plenty of flashbulbs popping. I snapped a few photos, but photographer Peter Haley (who is much, much better at taking photos than I could ever be) was also on hand, so I'll post some of his shots when I get a chance.

It’s National Adoption Day¹, which means I’ll be at Juvenile Court in Tacoma for a little shindig they have each year. (And no, they’re not juvy delinquents there – adoption is a legal procedure, folks.)

After that, I’ve got some stuff that’s not so exciting for blog readers. First, I’ll be editing the audio from my interview yesterday with Buel Sever, a Fircrest man who was a physician at the Nuremberg Trials. I’ll be meeting with some other people for stories in the next week or so. Then I’ll be wading through the 1,700 pages of documents that were returned to me from a public-document request. And in between, I’ll be thinking about the possibility of LSU (my favorite team) and Missouri (my alma mater) meeting in the national title game.

I’ll find some sporadic fun during the day, though, and I’ll keep y’all updated.

^{1 – Or, as I like to call it, the first full day of Barry Bonds’ indictment.}

Kelly Larson opposed the war in Iraq before American troops invaded the country. When her chemistry teacher at Stadium High School was deployed, the war became personal.

So Larson, a sophomore at the Tacoma school, joined about 50 others in a students’ protest Thursday at Tacoma Mall. They chanted slogans and held signs in front of the mall’s business office building, which is home to recruiting offices for most branches of the military.

“I’m just sick of all the hate in the world,” said Larson, sporting a Che Guevara button on her raincoat.

Organizers say military recruiters tell potential enlistees misleading information about benefits and job training to get them to sign up for the military. They especially oppose the recruitment in the nation’s high schools.

The recruiters seemed to take it in stride. Several Marines did chin-ups and push-ups outside and ran laps around the building during the protest.

“The students are being asked to fight in this war before they have political rights to vote,” said Bryan Watson, who helped organize the protest for Socialist Alternative.

The protest began about 3 p.m. and, as the rain fell, the group marched around the mall. Tacoma Police Department officers were on hand – including 10 officers on bicycles – and arrested one man who said he was a Vietnam veteran.

An officer on the scene said he was being arrested for trespassing after he wouldn’t leave the office building.

“The guy getting arrested is not real news,” said Ian McFeat, a teacher at Lincoln High School and a member of Teachers for Social Justice. “The real news is that we’re in a war that’s illegal and it’s costing us billions of dollars. That’s money that can be spent on health care, money that can be spent on real jobs for Americans, money that can be spent on education.”

The Hilltop Action Coalition has been rather proactive when it comes to grassroots efforts to fight crime. The organization is having another such event tonight. Here’s the info:

To help the people on the South end of Hilltop, we are having a walkabout tonight from 7-8PM, near the Vista Rainier apartments, we'll be starting at their office (1208 South 27th Street ) and moving around the neighborhood.

Everyone is welcome to come, the South end of Hilltop has struggled from its past reputation and from those troublemakers who remain entrenched. Come help this community show a positive presence on the street.

Bring flashlights and light clothing, we will have some flashlights to share (if it pours we won't be walking).

Ahh, there’s nothing like trading barbs over the Internet. Especially when the e-mails are sent to dozens of people,and the person answering hits the “reply to all” button. And even more so when the exchange includes references to David Brame and passages like, “Further, all of us in City government should be aware of the public perceptions of our actions, even if they differ from the reality.”

The latest is an exchange between downtown resident Laura Hannan and City Councilman Mike Lonergan.

The letters are after the jump:

=> Read more!

I received a release about the arrival of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Normally quilting isn't really my thing, but this thing is pretty dang neat. To start, it weighs 54 tons. And it's been a project to which thousands of people have contributed.

I've personally taken a keen interest in HIV/AIDS after living in South Africa for about six months and traveling around sub-Saharan Africa for another six. It's not hard to see the damage the virus has done.

Medical stuff is often the territory of another reporter at the Trib, but I did review Stephanie Nolen's book "28: Stories of AIDS in Africa." It's worth checking out. You can read my review (via PopMatters) here. Or see that the publisher rearranged the order of part of my review and used it as part of their publicity package here. (But that's OK, Walker Books. I'm not mad. Actually, now I want to write passages that could end up on the dustjacket of a second edition.)

Anyway, onto the quilt. Here's the release:

As part of the international commemoration of World AIDS Day on December 1, and in conjunction with the Pierce County AIDS Foundation’s 20th Anniversary Year of community service, sections of the internationally celebrated AIDS Memorial Quilt – the 54-ton, handmade tapestry that stands as a memorial to more than 90,000 individuals lost to AIDS – will be on view from November 27 through December 2 at Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Washington. Notable quilt panels on display include that of the late Washington State Senator Cal Anderson. The exhibition is free and open to the public, though access to Tacoma Art Museum’s galleries and education wing still requires paid museum admission.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt began with a single 3 x 6 foot panel created in San Francisco in 1987. Today, the Quilt is composed of more than 47,000 individual 3 x 6 foot panels, each one commemorating the life of someone who has died of AIDS. These panels come from every state in the nation, every corner of the globe, and they have been sewn by hundreds of thousands of friends, lovers and family members into this epic memorial, the largest piece of ongoing community art in the world.

Russell Batten, interim development director of the Pierce County AIDS Foundation, explains of the exhibition, “We are so grateful to be able to commemorate our 20th Anniversary Year by bringing these significant sections of the Quilt. Traditionally, quilts are collaborative works that include a vast array of colors and patterns, and The AIDS Memorial Quilt specifically speaks to the diversity of lives affected by the disease.”

In the fight against a disease that has no cure, The AIDS Memorial Quilt has evolved as a potent tool in the effort to educate others about the growing threat of HIV/AIDS. By revealing the humanity behind the statistics, The AIDS Memorial Quilt helps teach compassion, triumphs over taboo, stigma and phobia; and inspires individuals to take direct responsibility for their own well-being and that of their family, friends and community.

“We value opportunities to partner with the Pierce County AIDS Foundation on a community project that has touched so many people around the world,” said Paula McArdle, Director of Education and Public Programs. “Our central location makes The AIDS Memorial Quilt accessible to everyone, and the collaborative and personal nature of the quilt adds another voice to conversation started with the Gee’s Bend quilts that have been on view in our galleries this season.”

Got a few things on the cooker.

I’m going by the Fircrest home of a man who was the physician during the Nuremberg Trials. A reader tipped me off to him, and I hope to get a piece of history on the records.

After that, time permitting, I’ll swing by the Tacoma Mall to check out the anti-war protests. I’ll snap some photos and maybe video and let you know what the scene is like.

There’s a meeting Tuesday to link the neighborhood stakeholders around Tacoma Avenue with the police and each other to combat crime.

The hosts are trying to keep it small so they’re not saying where it is. Greg Hopkins, a community lioason officer for the Tacoma Police Department, is expected to join residents, apartment managers and business owners.

“If you think about it, we outnumber the bad guys,” said Holly Minniti, a homeowner who will be in attendance. “We’re stronger than they are.”

Minutes ago, I was chatting with Holly Minniti. She owns a townhouse at South Seventh Street and Fawcett – not far from the spike of crime near Tacoma Avenue.

At 7:30 p.m. on Monday, she stood on the corner of Fawcett and South Fourth Street and videotaped what she believes is a drug deal. She said there were three guys negotiating. When they saw her with the camera, she said, they split.

“It was not difficult to see,” she said. “They weren’t the only ones on the street at the time. I was surprised, though, because there were a ton of people outside at the time.”

The next afternoon, she again hit the streets with her camera. She filmed a prostitute and a Jaguar that circled the block several times before backing up to pick her up, she said. Both left when they saw her camera.

A friend is processing the film, she says, and it’ll be online soon.

“Permanent residents downtown are relatively new,” she said. “I chalk this up a bit to growing pains.”

I talked to Sarah Busson, who works at Corina Bakery, about the crime on Tacoma Avenue. She says she’s been living at South G Street and Sixth Avenue for seven months, and crime is a problem.

"My boyfriend wants me to get a gun," she said.

She says she’s seen drug deals and other illegal activities, but she just tries to ignore them: "I park close to the door and just walk straight in, but there are drug deals every night. They’re in my back yard. I see them all the time. I just don’t make eye contact with them."

Got this in my inbox:

On Thursday, November 15th @ 3:00 PM, protestors will be gathering at the Tacoma Mall military recruiting station for a rally and march against the war. This event is in solidarity with a national student walkout taking place Friday November 16th organized by Socialist Alternative and other groups; Tacoma's event is in solidarity with the recent events in Olympia involving the Port Militarization Resistance (PMR). On November 16th, protests will also be taking place in the following local cities - Seattle, Olympia and Chehalis. There will be a number of speakers including students from local high schools. People of all ages are welcome to attend.

Sick of those shelves of self-help books that slowly seem to be overtaking your favorite bookstore? Think this whole country is turning into a nation of wusses who would rather whine about their problems and try to find salvation in an overpriced softcover book instead of actually fixing anything?

Jack Cameron feels your pain. He’s written a book called “Ruin Your Life,” a sort of anti-self-help book. He’s self-publishing it and also releasing it chapter-by-chapter on the Internet at his Web site.

There are some good nuggets in there. Here’s his take about running from the cops:

Have you ever seen a cop let a guy go after he runs? Me neither. A friend of mine who is an ex-cop told me that he and his friends have a rule, ‘If you make us run, we make you pay.’

I used to have a job transcribing police reports and sentences like “Suspect apparently fell on concrete during arrest and lost a few teeth” were a lot more common on the runners than anyone else and I doubt it was because they were clumsy.

Got a cop tailing you on the road? Here’s his solution:

Should you find a cop behind you, the best thing to do is take no more than two corners, pull over, get out of the car, and walk up to the nearest house. Knock on the door and ask directions to somewhere. Do anything to take some time for the cop to disappear.

And planning on binge drinking? More advice:

When you’re going for a binge drunk, it’s best to load up a bit before you go out on the town and then go to a place you never plan on returning to. This makes it much easier for you to make a scene, get into a fight, or get into any other sort of trouble without ruining your reputation at your three bars. Bring a friend. Your friend can drink too, but he should not drink as much as you. He is there for crowd control and to explain your behavior to angry boyfriends and police officers if necessary. (“His wife left him yesterday and he got fired from his job this morning. Give him a break, man.”) Drink a lot. And I mean enough to forget things. This is a binge and you should do it right. Besides, it helps to be telling the truth when someone confronts you and you respond with, “I don’t remember.”

Gold, Jerry, gold!

This is one of those days where I'm chasing leads on a few different stories.

The first is a follow-up on the sudden and unexpected closure of First Place for Children, a daycare for low-income children in Pierce County. Here's my story from today's paper. Check it out; there are some comments brewing. wWhat didn't make sense to me is how a charity that is financially stable for decades suddenly falls way behind on its rent and is forced to close. I'll be making some calls and let you know.

I'm also going to be talking to others about the crime on Tacoma Avenue. They're having a meeting next week to bring together residents, business owners and police.

If there's anything else going on you know about, lemme know.

Here's another video of alleged crime on Tacoma Avenue. The shooter asked to remain anonymous because she fears reprisals if she's named:

Growing up on the bayous¹ of New Orleans, my old man used to pull me away from alligator-wrestling² and dispense words of wisdom.

"Son," my dad would say, "you're nothing in this world until someone draws a cartoon of you and puts it on the Internet³."

Now Ol'Fontaine⁴ is over the hill at the ripe old age at 25⁵. And yet, I've never had a cartoon drawn of me⁶, much less one on the Web. So I was floored⁷ when I saw a 'toon of yours truly on the Net this morning.

"Scott Fontaine, Action News Ace!"⁸ the cartoon reads. There's a drawing of me (more on that in a bit) with notepad my left hand, a pen in my right hand⁹ and a camera around my neck.

Behind me are cops holding their bicycles in an attack stance¹⁰ and the protesters from this weekend.

Now here's my gripe.¹¹ I'm a big dude.¹² But the cartoon is C-cups-on-a-man big. And that part ain't cool.¹³ I'd post the photo, but I think that would violate copyright.¹⁴ So here's a link.

But I'm willing to make a deal. R.R. Anderson, Michaelangeloesque¹⁵ author of this almost-perfect work of art, let's change this cartoon a bit. Slim Ol'Fontaine down closer to my real size,¹⁶ and I'll buy the print off of you. I have no idea how much these things cost,¹⁷ but we can make a deal.

Mr. Richard Ryan Anderson, the ball is in your court. I await your response.<sup>18



1 - By "bayou," I mean "suburb."

2 - By "alligator wrestling," I mean "watching the Saints lose or playing Nintendo."

3 - OK, so no one really had the Internet when I was growing up. But we did have Prodigy

4 - Ol'Fontaine is me now, not my old man. Sorry if there's confusion.

5 - But I have the mentality of an 80-year-old man. Especially with those skateboarding punks in my neighborhood.

6 - Outside of finger-painting in kindergarten.

7 - Actually, I was too tired to process it.

8 - Another rarity: Someone remembers how to properly spell my last name.

9 - I am right-handed. Nice detail.

10 - Got a better term for it? Lay it on me.

11 - Yes, griping about this has become my life.

12 - Powerfully built, I like to say.

13 - Or maybe I'm just deluding myself.

14 - OK, I know that would violate copyright.

15 - OK, OK, you win. Leonardoesque, at least. And I would also compare you to Rafael and Donatello, but that would prove that my history of art comes from watching "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

16 - Hell, I'm slimming myself down a bit, slowly but surely.

17 - Well, maybe I kind of do. OK, not really.

18 - When did I become Bill O'Reilly? Or at least Stephen Colbert?</sup>

As promised, here's the video:

Once again, YouTube is documenting crime in our fair area. I reported earlier about Stacy Emerson's decision to turn to the Internet to help clean up a homeless camp at East 72nd Street and Portland Avenue. (A follow-up on that is brewing.)

Now someone else is taking to them Interwebs to document crime. This time, it's on Tacoma Avenue between South Seventh and South Ninth streets. I first received a link yesterday (but I was doing a follow-up about the protests, which led to this story). By this morning, two others had emailed it to me. That means it's time to get cracking on it. And I'll do that today.

I'll post the video shortly.

Tom McCarthy, the protester who applied for the permit for this weekend’s Tacoma protests, claimed success. And even though he wasn't a fan of the way The News Tribune handled the coverage, he's always game for talking to reporters. Gotta give credit for that.

“It was very successful. There are a lot of people who know about the detention center who didn’t know about it before. And in Olympia, there’s a port militarization resistance movement. It’s continuing to move the debate from protests of these war policies to resistance of these war policies.”

“The goal is to make the politicians realize there’s a political and financial cost to continuing a war that the American people don’t want.”

He said he was arrested for carrying a bullhorn. Naturally, he isn’t happy.

“I’m absolutely outraged at the blatant violation of constitutional rights of folks who were arrested in Tacoma. The actions of the police department in Tacoma are going to cost my city a lot of money in lawsuits because they were blatantly violations of people’s constitutional rights.”

He says arrests show the depth of commitment.

“When you see a situation where some people are arrested and then they continue to speak out against it, it shows a commitment. I think people understand that most people a lot of people wouldn’t risk arrest ever. When you see that, it shows the depth of commitment to ending the war and the violation of human rights down at the Northwest Detention Center.”

Phan Nguyen, a member of Olympia Port Militarization Resistance, believes the protests were worth it:

In terms of success, we’re getting our message out. And that’s really important. And our message is that we won’t tolerate the militarization of the Port of Olympia. And I think that message is being made clear. Ideally, we would like to be able to stop all military shipments to and from the Port of Olympia. And that’s a big task, because we’re just average citizens, average residents who just want to take a stand. Our elected readers won’t take that stand. They won’t represent us. We’re doing what we can.

And here’s his take on the effectiveness of arrests:

It’s not up to us to decide who gets arrested and who doesn’t. And it’s not up to us to decide who gets pepper-sprayed and who doesn’t. We don’t make those decisions. We don’t ask to be pepper sprayed. If that’s what happens, that’s what happens. But the police are highlighting the fact that they’re enabling the war and occupation and stamping out dissent. I do believe it does.

Rob Whitlock, a protester in Olympia, originally voted against the blocking of military shipments because he was worried about public protests. He’s changed his mind:

“I’m not sure what public perception is. The movement here in Olympia is getting stronger. The decision to block the shipments has really resonated with a lot of people. I’m glad I was outvoted because I think it was the right thing to do now. “

...

“I think we were successful because on Friday we were able to blockade the transport of cargo out of the port, although on Saturday they came back and used a great amount of force to disperse the blockade. We were able to prove that we were able to do the blockade when police weren’t using force against us. It was successful because I really do believe that the movement is gaining momentum in Olympia. There are a lot of people getting involved who were not involved in direct action before. Increasing the long-term prospects of success of having a complete blockade of the transport of military cargo is in the future. We’re building to that.”

He sees arrests during the protests as a good thing:

“Arrests can really be a positive thing in this scenario. I was prepared to get arrested on Wednesday night. The police were clearly not interested in making arrests. I think arrests are one way to go about (change).”

I've talked to people about the effectiveness of protests in Tacoma and Olympia this weekend. The only person who declined to talk ("Your spin hurts the cause!") was a rep for Students for a Democratic Society.

I wanted to get the police perspective.

Mark Fulghum, the Tacoma Police Department spokesman, wasn’t thrilled about the protests. He said the department was forced to change schedules and cut back on patrols in other parts of the city to staff the event.

“It’s disruptive,” he said. “We had to pull in people from other resources and other parts of the city for it. It’s really an inconvenience.”

I found a video of an arrest at this weekend's protest on YouTube. Watch it below, but a bit of warning: It does contain some adult language.

Also, do you have any videos of the protest? I saw quite a few people with video and still cameras. If so, let me know and I'll link to it.

Here's another video of the protest. It looks like it was shot with a cell-phone camera.

We're all about fairness here at Word on the Street. I received an e-mail Sunday accusing me of spin in my story about the immigration protests this weekend. Personally, I called it like I saw it -- the promises to "shut down" downtown Tacoma didn't come to fruition. Most people I witnessed didn't take the leaflets. I consulted other impartial bystanders before coming to this conclusion.

True, in the midst of the protest, it probably seemed like downtown was shut down. But when the marchers moved on to the next block, life pretty much resumed.

But I'll admit the protesters achieved their main goal: More people know about the Northwest Detention Center than before. It's tough to quantify, but between eyewitnesses, word of mouth, the Internet, coverage in the Trib and coverage in the broadcast media, quite a few people heard about it.

And, as I mentioned before, since we're all about fairness, I'll post a few links to postings about the protests. They're quite pro-protest and at times stoop to personal attacks, but it is a different point of view. So here's a first-person account of the story.

Here is an open letter to the counter-protester.

And here is a posting written after Day 1 of the protest. I think it's safe to say the author took umbrage with my article and Kits Merryman's column about the detention center. I would refute parts of it about the coverage, but I'll just let them have their say, chalk it up to differing opinions and move on.

Give thanks to a veteran today. Or, if you don’t want to get all mushy, feel free to do what I did for a buddy who went to Iraq twice: I stopped by his apartment last night, handed him an 18-pack of Miller Lite and thanked him on behalf of a grateful nation.

I’ll have more on the fallout of this weekend’s protests in downtown Tacoma. I’ve read elsewhere that all three arrested are out of jail (not surprising; they were arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and failure to obey a police officer) and will find out more info. Also, I’ll post videos and other takes on the protest.

And, if the organizers and/or planners will talk, I’d like to do a postmortem on the protests in Tacoma and at the Port of Olympia. I’ll ask them if they accomplished what they hoped and what their next big plans are.

I dropped by Goodwill this week to talk to staff and clients of the Refugee Federation, which recently opened its offices in Tacoma.

Dmitri Babarykin is a staffer at the Refugee Federation and helps those from the former Soviet Union countries. He emigrated from Ukraine in 2004. He learned English at Tacoma Community House and earned an associate’s degree at Bates Technical College.

“They come to us, and we try to give them help get a job and with social services,” he explains. “We offer computer skills, job skills, other training. And we also help clients with taking to job interviews, helping them fill out applications and doing other stuff like that.”

Eight of his 15 clients have found jobs, he said.

One of his clients, Sergiy Prymachuk, is also Ukranian. He came here last December and struggled to find a job because of his limited English skills. Refugee Federation helped him find “a good-paying job with good benefits.”

He raves about the organization.

The Refugee Federation is always ready to help me. If I ask about any help, they’re always ready to assist me with any issues I have here.

Bich-Nga Nguyen, a staffer who came here as refugee from Vietnam in 1993, recently graduated from Central Washington University. She wants to help people who used to be in her situation.

“When I help them, I feel great. It is awesome,” she said. “I have been there before, and I got help from others. And now it’s my help to return help for others who need it.”

Nga My Vo came stateside from Vietnam in 2002. She found a job at an Asian supermarket, but the moist conditions flared her skin allergies.

“She worked hard but wanted a different job,” a translator said. “She wanted to pay Social Security so she could get retirement benefits.”

She went to the Refugee Federation, and now she has a job at Goodwill.

Jorge Caamal-Oxte, came to the United States from the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico 22 years ago. The company for which he worked moved to Minnesota and laid him off, so he went to the Refugee Federation looking for help.

“I have to support my family,” he said. “I’m a good worker, and (Bich-Nga Nguyen) is helping me find a job.”

The organization’s program director, Tung Thanh Nguyen, said plans to open a Tacoma office started when employees in his Kent office noticed increasing home and rental prices drove people into Pierce County.

From July to next June, he expects the Refugee Federation will help about 100 people. He hopes 50-60 people can be placed in jobs.

“Most of the people are Vietnamese and Russian, but we want to help all refugees and limited English speakers,” he said.

Most of the clients hear about the program from the Department of Social and Health Services or by word of mouth.

“There’s a huge need for this in Pierce County,” said John Tye, the education and training manager for Goodwill. “And we’re moving forward, trying to meet that. That’s what we do. That’s why exist.”

I went by Charles Wright Academy yesterday to check out the big sale they have every year. There's about 22,000 square feet of just about anything you can imagine being sold, from TVs to Laserdisc players, from clothes to toys, from beer makers to framed photos of the Three Stooges.

After the jump, I've included some photos of what it looks like before the sale begins.

=> Read more!

Here's some video I took from the sidewalk on Pacific Avenue. This is the entire scope of the protests.

Take a look at this video mocking the protests here.

Edward Gallian, a junior at Yelm High School, marched with his mother, Lynnette Reynolds.

Edward was holding up a sign calling for the impeachment of President Bush. He's opposed to the Northwest Detention Center: "I just came out her because she woke me up this morning about some protest about a hidden prison or something like that in Tacoma. And there’s no need for those kinds of things in America."

Lynnette thought it would be developmental for her son: "I wanted him to get an education on his freedom of speech, his freedom to express his opinion. And people need to know we don’t need another Guantanamo Bay in Tacoma."

UPDATE: I went back to listen to the quote again. For the record, Gallian said it was a "hidden prison," not a "secret prison."

Amber Royster, a junior at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, marched with the protesters. She wants to see change in the United States:

I wanted to show my support for immigration reform. But I was unaware of the detention camp they have here in Tacoma. I only recently learned about it. The fact that it’s corporate owned is pretty distributing. The fact people are making money off the mistreatment of other human beings, I think, is absolutely wrong.

Tom McCarthy applied for the permit for the march. He says at the march in solidarity for people inside the Northwest Detention Center and people who support immigration change.

The reason why we’re out here today is simply to say that the people inside the Northwest Detention Center are not our enemies. Our real enemies are people who push things like (the North American Free Trade Association), which destroys jobs in our country and destroys the livelihood of people in Latin America and forces them to be economic refugees.

...

We want citizens of Tacoma to know about this privatized concentration camp called the Northwest Detention Center. But we also want the people in the business community to know that it’s not in their interest to have this prison down on the Tideflats.

Jonnie Crivello, the founder of March for America! Washington, was the only person to show up for the planned counter-protest.

She had some heated exchanged with some of the protesters and said she’s not discouraged by the low turnout: "We had two days’ notice. A lot of Americans and American patriots have jobs. Their working and their tax dollars go to pay all the handouts for thee anarchists who don’t have jobs. The fact that they’re not here on short notice is no big deal. My being alone, a lone patriot here, should really underscore the dedication and bravery to Americans who are willing to stand up to their country and say, ‘No, we’re a sovereign nation.’ I don’t see it as a bad thing. I’m dedicated.

She's wary of groups of people who support merging Canada, the United States and Mexico into a superstate: "Some of them state that they are against the North American Union. But I tell them that they can’t be against the North American Union of the three nations and be for open borders. The North American Union would open the borders between the three nations. If you support open borders, you don’t support the sovereignty of this nation and you are in fact a pawn for the those who want to merge the three nations right now."

I just got back from the immigration protests downtown. I’ll have more later – including photos and video – but as of right now, things seemed relatively peaceful. About 50 protesters were there and about as many police officers, including some in full riot gear.

I'm starting the day at Charles Wright Academy. I'll be dropping in on the setup of what they're calling the "South Sound’s largest rummage sale." The parents' association is trying to raise at least $50,000 for a new language and performing-arts center.

And after that, I'll be swinging by the immigration protest downtown. I'll let you know how that's going.

Here's the memo sent from University of Washington-Tacoma about the protests:

This message is being sent to all UW Tacoma faculty, staff, and students.

Based on additional information received from the Tacoma Police Department about the planned protest near campus Nov. 9 and 10, we do not expect campus operations to be disrupted. Transit, including Tacoma Link Light Rail, is expected to operate on a normal schedule without delays.

Protests near campus are expected to be peaceful. This is one site where demonstrators will gather in the city and the region. Although there were initial indications that groups intent on illegal and disruptive activity were planning to be in the area, those expectations have changed. The activity now anticipated is similar to the protests we often see in the area around the Federal Courthouse across the street.

Campus Safety will stay in constant contact with the Tacoma Police Department over the next few days. If there are any changes, updates will be provided.

Campus Safety encourages us to always be aware of our surroundings, as we would in any urban setting. If you see unusual behavior, or if you have any questions or concerns, please contact Campus Safety at 2-4416 or, in the event of an emergency, 2-4888.

Here’s an e-mail sent out from the Business Improvement Area about this weekend’s immigration protests.

We hope you are prepared for impacts from the demonstration scheduled to begin around 11:00 a.m. Friday in Tollefson Plaza and expected to continue through the next day (Saturday). Although the official protest will occur at S. 17th and Pacific Ave., we have been led to believe that unscheduled activities involving groups of protesters may occur outside of the officially permitted area.

While we will do our best to respond where appropriate to support your facility and others, obviously each building is responsible for its own planning; we've done several things to inform our downtown and help coordinate efforts:

• Sent our information about the demonstration via this e-mail security system;
• Posted information about the issue on the BIA Blog (http://tacomadowntown.blogspot.com/);
• Shared information and discussed strategy at the BIA Security meeting on November 1st;
• Distributed flyers about the demonstration--including tips on what to look for and how to prepare--around the district with the BIA Security personnel;
• Attended various meetings (e.g., Downtown Merchants Group, Union Station District Coordination) to make sure others are aware and prepared.

To recap, there are several specific steps that we are asking all downtown property owners/managers and business owners/managers to take:

• Be especially aware of your surroundings and report any suspicious happenings to Tacoma Police at (253) 798-4721 or the BIA at (253) 383-1131;
• Report any suspicious items that may be laying around--such as lumber, pipes (especially pipes with bolts inside), chains, or weapons;
• Put away loose items such as sandwich boards, signs, tables and chairs during Friday and Saturday to alleviate any opportunity for destruction.

For more information about the immigration protest, here's a link to longer explanation.

They promise that "Downtown Will NOT have business as usual! We plan on shutting down the downtown area of Tacoma to send a very clear message that will be heard by the powers that be, that we do not want this detention facility any where near us and our communities."

There's a "green zone" of protest at South 17th Street and Pacific Avenue, but they say "The rest of downtown will be open to diverse and creative tactics!"

Here's a link to the Business Improvement Area's blog post about this weekend's immigration protests.

Here's a highlight:

A rumor has begun making the rounds that merchants and others downtown should close for the day and board up windows--this is decidedly not the case. What is recommended by Tacoma Police and other security professionals is for stakeholders to be especially aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious happenings to Tacoma Police at (253) 798-4721 or the BIA at (253) 383-1131. Stakeholders should also report any suspicious items that may be laying around--such as lumber, pipes (especially pipes with bolts inside), chains, or weapons; protest preparation may be hidden downtown up to a week in advance of the scheduled activities.

Jan McMullen, a sales associate at Grassi’s Garden Café at 1702 Pacific Avenue said she has a "spicy opinion" about this weekend's immigration protests. She thinks the group's planned use of "creative and diverse tactics" could backfire:

My thought would be, as a 60-year-old lady, that their First Amendment rights should by all means be there. I don’t want anyone to lose those. However, when they choose to do negative things, it does more harm than good. And if they want to be taken seriously, do it in an orderly, mannerly way so you’re educating and informing people and not insulting people.
I don’t care who protests what, but let’s be respectful of other people’s property.

I’m concerned it’s going to get out of control. But I’m concerned because it’s going to hurt their cause. Whether I agree or disagree what they’re demonstrating for, if they do it in a way that becomes offensive to other Americans, then they’re shooting themselves in the foot.

Jennifer Chell, the front office manager at Courtyard by Marriott at 1515 Commerce St., says the hotel has been in contact with the Tacoma Police Department about the planned protests this weekend. They're slightly increasing security:

We’re a little concerned, and we’re taking precautionary measures. We’re removing objects outside that could be moved. We have security on site, and we’ll have an extra security person here. That’s really all we have right now.

We’re going to kind of wait and see how it goes Friday. We have extra people we can call in if necessary.

I talked to Warren Cabes, the owner of Tacoma Art Supply. His store is next to the designated protest site near Tollefson Plaza. He's not too worried about the planned immigration protests this weekend:

The word we have is this is supposed to be the ‘green zone,’ meaning it’s supposed to be peaceful demonstrations.

I’ve got a seminar in here on Saturday at 1, so I’m hoping my people will be able to find parking. That’s my biggest concern. Although I might (tell the protestors), ‘Well, you know, this is an art store. We sell markers and paint if you want to make signs.’

I'm making some calls about the planned immigration protests this week. Crime reporter Stacey Mulick called the Tacoma Police Department and sent this along:

Tacoma police expect a peaceful rally Friday and Saturday at Tollefson Square Plaza at 1700 Pacific Ave in Tacoma.

However, they’ve also heard that some smaller group might use the rally as a way to move throughout the downtown corridor and engage in “unlawful behavior,” police officials said. The department is prepared to respond if there is illegal activity during the rally.

The department has been aware of the rally since last month and have been planning their response.

“Hopefully we won’t be needed whatsoever,” spokesman Mark Fulghum said. “We’ll be ready in case we are.”

The department encourages business owners and residents to go about their activities as usual. However, they ask business owners to make sure their outside area is free of debris and obstructions like sandwich boards, displays and other signage.

Officials ask people to report suspicious activity to the police.

It's coincidental timing, but I'll have plenty to do today with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Two coworkers and I will be touring the Northwest Detention Center, a 1,000-bed, privately run federal prison on the Tideflats. I'll let you know what I find.

Later I'm going to contact people about the upcoming protest against ICE. Self-proclaimed anarchists say they're descending on downtown Tacoma on Friday and Saturday to show their disagreement with the government's immigration policy.

I shot some video at today's performance of "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" at Hillside Elementary, a school on Fort Lewis. You can read more about the it in tomorrow's paper, but here's teacher Desiree Sumers discussing how she got the group to perform at the school.

Actor Naho Shioya of Book-It asks kids to fold themselves into cranes in a "movement workshop" for second graders in Linda Williams' class. Steven Harrell is on the left and Zachary Francis is in center. Actors from Book-It Repertory Theatre presented "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" followed by "movement workshops" at Hillside Elementary School at Fort Lewis (Peter Haley/The News Tribune)

After the play, students covered the steps in front of the stage with cranes they made. Here, left to right, are fourth graders Lyssa Armstrong (making a wish), Raven Bergen, Shaylah Steinborn, and Bronza Smith. Actors from Book-It Repertory Theatre presented "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" followed by "movement workshops" at Hillside Elementary School at Fort Lewis. (Peter Haley/The News Tribune)

I've just filed my story from Fort Lewis. I talked to three students about what they thought of the war (and other usual 9-year-old stuff like school). What struck me was how matter-of-fact they were with the subject of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I thought I'd share the audio of my conversations with them. The crackling sound you hear are the kids making origami cranes. They're all in mp3 format.

Here is Nathaniel Hall.

Here is Morgan Villanueva.

Here is Nyair Washington.

I'll be back on here later to post some photos taken by one of our photogs, Peter Haley.

The lede to my election story in today's paper described voting at the Waller Street Grange.

Well, apparently I wasn't the only one there who wrote about it.

I'll have audio online in a bit about this, but I thought I'd share something a 9-year-old student told me. She and her Hillside Elementary School classmates folded more than 1,200 paper cranes and wrote a wish on each one.

“One of my wishes was for my dad to have no more surgery on his leg because he went to Iraq and got shot,” she said. “And my other wish was world peace and for the war to stop because more people are getting hurt.”

Again, she's 9.

I'm back on post today.

I'm heading to Hillside Elementary School on Fort Lewis. A teacher there, Desiree Sumers, wrote to the Book-It Repertory Theatre to see if they had any grant money to perform for the kids, most of whom have one parent deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. I'll get more into the story later, but a member of the board offered to pay the entire amount.

That's what I'm doing in the morning. The afternoon is wide open. Any ideas?

I swung by the polling place at Fox Island. It had, by far, the best ambiance of any station I went to today. It was in a church and had Gregorian chant playing in the background. Can't argue with that.

Benilda Ignacio reads through the voters' guide after casting her ballot at Hope Lutheran Church in Tacoma on Tuesday.

John and Christa Rider analyze the ballot before casting their vote at Hope Lutheran Church in Tacoma on Tuesday.

Matt Estrada, a voting judge at Hope Lutheran Church in South Tacoma, began working the polls at the 2004 general election. He’s always stressed the importance of voting:

I’ve been voting fairly religiously since I turned 18. I always request an absentee ballot, and if I can come in, I’ll drop it off at the polls. I just think it’s important to actually go to the polling places. I take my kids and show them how it works and tell them that it’s important.

He isn’t completely sold on mail-in voting:

There’s a disconnect with voting at home. It’s like it's just another piece of paper, like a bill or something. It doesn’t always feel like you’re voting.

Christa Rider, a voter at Hope Lutheran Church in South Tacoma, is upset about the demise of poll-station voting:

I don’t trust the mail-in votes. It also used to be a meeting thing. We used to vote at Manitou, but now we have to come here. It was a get-together. You see your neighbors.

Harry Schaffert, another voter, thinks there are problems with all mail-in voting.

If you rely on the mail, then you have to pay for the postage. If they’re mailing it out, then they’re only mailing them to registered voters. What if there’s a mistake on the voting list?

Rita Schaffert had a simpler message:

I think it’s a lazy way out.

A few voters at the Waller Road Grange weren’t happy with the idea of no more polling places. And their concerns were all about knowing their ballot would be counted.

Richard Goheen is still hoping popular support will revive the polling stations:

I really want some evidence that my vote is registered. Whether that’s a paper trail or however, I don’t know. To me, there’s a good reason people had to show up in person and show ID that shows they should be voting. And there was a good reason that people saw that their vote was registered.

And Wayne Readel says the end of polling places means the end of his voting activity:

Who can I trust mailing it in? Who’s going to say what happens to it? I don’t even do the touch-screen. I do the paper. That’s how I feel about it, and that’s how I’ve been doing it for 50 years. I’m from the old school.

Things were a little more active at the Waller Road Grange. It’s one of those locations that makes you forget there’s mail-in voting: It’s an old building with hardwood floors and big open spaces.

Winfield Giddings is the voting inspector there today. He’s been working the polls since 1993. He says the switch to ranked-choice voting would make life pretty difficult at polling places. And when the county does switch to all-mail-in voting, it won’t affect him much:

Personally, I’ve been doing absentee for a long time. Because this isn’t my voting place, I have to do absentee to vote.

I asked him what he will do next election day if the polling places are closed. He didn’t hesitate to laugh and answer:

Sleep in. What else would I do that day?

Carriebelle Anderson is a voting judge. She’s been working the polls for 40 years, and she doesn’t like the switch to mail-in voting.

The purpose of the poll is so that I know who people are when they come in. Yes, they have picture ID now, but is has traditionally has been neighbors knowing who it is that’s voting and recognizing the legitimate voters who are living where they should be and they are voting what they should be voting on.

She admits she’s traditional:

Can’t you tell I’m an old lady? I began voting when it was in a booth when you pulled the lever and there was the curtain behind you. You pulled it down and when you opened the curtain, it recorded what you voted.

Nora Holbrook has been an inspector at Pierce County polls since 1988, a year after she retired from Bon Marche. On Tuesday, she was one of four workers at the Fife Community Center, which was the slowest polling station last election. She says the paced has picked up: By 10:30 a.m., about 30 people had cast ballots.

She has mixed feelings about the inevitable move to an all-vote-by-mail system:

I kind of hate to see it die out. A lot of people do enjoy coming to the polls, but considering the cost to set everything up, it’s understandable.

But, she says, fewer and fewer people are turning out to vote. Some are mailing in ballots. Others aren’t even bothering:

There used to be people lined up for two blocks to vote during presidential elections. It’s getting less and less. Last time, no voters were her, someone came in and we told them to get to the back of the line and kind of laughed when he looked for the line.

There is one positive to working the polls, she said. She’s the boss of the group of workers at the station, and that group includes her husband, Jack:

With the group I’ve got, there’s not much bossing. Well, there is my husband. Today’s the only day I get to be his boss, and I am his boss.

Jack Holbrook let out a hearty laugh when she said that. He likes working the polls but sees the bigger picture:

I think you’ll get more people to vote if it’s all mail-in. People don’t always want to come out if it’s a rainy, ugly day outside. So if more people vote, that’s what’s important.

Is there anything more exciting than an off-year election? Well, there is when this could be the last general election with polling places. Expert photog Dean Koepfler and I are hitting the road today to check out a few different polling places.

We're going to start with the Fife Community Center, and I also plan to hit Mason United Methodist Church in the North End and Hope Lutheran Church in South Tacoma. If time allows, I'd like to further afield to talk to more voters; I was thinking Fox Island and perhaps somewhere else. Any ideas? If so, shoot me an e-mail.

And in the meantime, check out the Political Buzz blog.

It's a reality in the newspaper business that occasionally you'll work on a story that, for reasons out of your control, will never run. I worked on one of these a few weeks ago. I met with four high school students -- all illegal immigrants -- about the impact of the passage of the Dream Act.

But the bill was killed in Congress two weeks ago. That means my story, which was going to be paired with a wire piece about the bill, never got a chance to run.

I thought some people might still enjoy reading it. So, keeping in mind that this was written before the bill was voted down, is the story:

Genaro has big plans.

Next fall, the 18-year-old plans to begin pursuing a political-science degree. After that, he wants to earn a teaching certificate. He shares grand visions of giving back to his community and building bonds between cultures.

He’s also realistic. Genaro, a high school senior in Tacoma, came to the United States illegally from Mexico 10 years ago. He and others quoted in this story did not want their last names used for fear of deportation

Without a change in the law, his plans for his future could wither.

“I can’t really plan for anything else because there’s no sense of security of having a job,” said Genaro.

That change could come as early as next month. The Dream Act – officially the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act – would provide legalization for Genaro and hundreds of thousands of others who came to the United States as children.

The bill would grant a provisional legal status to anyone under 30 with a high school diploma or GED who came to the United States before age 16 and has lived here for five consecutive years. They’ll receive full legal status – and be on the path to citizenship – by completing college or serving in the military.

The Migration Policy Institute, an immigration think tank, estimates 360,000 people would be immediately eligible if the bill becomes law.

The bill, like most immigration reform, has its share of critics. Some see it as backdoor amnesty and a reward to those who circumvented the law. Others take umbrage with the granting of in-state tuition and financial aid – benefits that international students and out-of-state Americans sometimes can’t receive.

An attempt to attach the Dream Act as an amendment to a defense-spending bill last month failed in the Senate, and it’s expected to come up for a vote as a separate bill this month.

The opportunity couldn’t come soon enough for Hiram. The 17-year-old came from Mexico when he was 8 and considers the United States his home. He wants to be a physician and will attend college next fall.

“My plans are set for four years,” he said. “But after that, I don’t know what to do. How can I get a job?”

Without a change in status, he won’t easily get a job. At least not one that will allow him to utilize his college education. That would lead to a major dilemma: Continue to live illegally in the United States, or return to Mexico, where the economy is poor and good jobs are scarce.

That’s the situation facing Ortiz, a 21-year-old who moved north when he was 5.

“If it doesn’t pass, my degree won’t really mean anything,” he said. “I’ll probably stay here, working in a manual-labor job, or go back to Mexico.”

That won’t be easy. Besides the difficulty in finding a good job in a country with a per-capita GDP of $10,700, those returning after a long stay in the United States face cultural obstacles.

“I’m not sure that, if I were to go back, they would accept me as one of them again,” Genaro said. “They would set me aside and point me out as a guy who doesn’t speak Spanish as well as he does English. For me, home is here. This is where my friends are. This is where my life is.

"I don’t have anything back in Mexico except for relatives. For me, home is Tacoma.”’

The North End is usually known for nice views, scarce parking at Freedom Fair and roads that seem to dead end for no reason.

And apparently for mangy coyotes.

A reader sent in a few photos of some sickly looking animals near North 33rd Street and Washington.

Has anyone else seen these things?

The story probably won’t run until Thanksgivingtime (and, judging from insets in Sunday’s Trib and the decorations in the mall, we’ve already skipped it to get to Christmas celebrations), but I’m meeting with some people today about a cool story: the Veterans Family Fund certificate of deposit programs.

I’m usually not one to read (or write) about investment schemes, but this one struck me as a winner early on. Recognizing veterans and their families can struggle financially while deployed, part of the interest of the CDs goes to a nonprofit group which helps distribute the funding.

It’s pretty simple: An investor deposits money into a six-month CD with a $100 minimum. Half of the interest returns to the investor. The other half goes to the Veterans Family Fund of America.

Today I’m meeting with John Lee, the director of the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs. I’m talking later today to Michael Worthy, the CEO of the Bank of Clark County, who helped develop and launch the project. It launches in Pierce County the week of Thanksgiving. I’ll let y’all know what they say.

Ibrahim Mousa Adam starts his day like most people. He says he wakes up, thinks about what he has planned and mentally schedules his activities.

It’s not that simple for his countrymen.

“If you are in Darfur, you think differently,” he said. “If you are a woman, you think, could I be raped today? Could my sister? Could my 12-year-old daughter?

“If you are a man, you think, could I be killed today? Could my brother? Could my father?”

Adam and Daoud Hari have an unenviable task: The two Darfuris are on a speaking tour, asking anyone who will listen to support their people’s fight against the conflict in the western region of Sudan. The two attracted a crowd of about 250 people at Kilworth Chapel at the University of Puget Sound on Friday. The presentation started with a video about the history of the violence and interviews with those affected.

The conflict in Darfur has claimed up to 450,000 lives and displaced about 2.5 million people since early 2003, according to United Nations estimates.

The Sudanese government has armed and trained brutal militias called Janjaweed, who have carried out most of the violence in what the United States calls genocide.

Hari and Adam shared gruesome tales.

Hari fled his home village, Musbat, and lived in a refugee camp in Chad. He wanted to spread the message of the violence to an international audience, so he became a translator for journalists. He described his horror in watching dogs eating human corpses and talking to small children who were raped.

An assignment translating for Chicago Tribune reporter Paul Salopek was his last. They were captured, and Hari says he was tortured. The two were released a month later after international mediation, and Hari came to the United States as a refugee in March.

Adam came to the United States in early 2003. That July, his hometown was overrun by the Janjaweed ­ 80 people were killed, including 20 members of his family. More than 100 of his relatives are scattered among refugee camps across Sudan and Chad.

Most of the question-and-answer session revolved around how to help at the grassroots level and about the latest developments with a proposed international peacekeeping force.

A 7,000-troop African Union force is on the ground in Darfur, but it lacks air support and is largely impotent. A joint United Nations-African Union force has been approved but isn’t yet on the ground. Questions about the force’s inadequate logistics and air support linger.

And there can be no progress without security, Adam said.

“Today, if we sent $1 million to the refugees in Chad, they could get food and medicine and things like that,” he said. “But there is no security for those people. They could be killed the next day. What are most important are peacekeeping forces. What is most important is security.”

Want to know more about the conflict in Darfur?

As always, Wikipedia’s page on the subject is a good place to start.

Here's a Q&A from the BBC.

There are several Web sites and groups dedicated to ending the violence, including Save Darfur Coalition, Darfur: A Genocide We Can Stop, Eyes on Darfur and Human Rights Watch.

And, in the interest of balance, here's a link to the government of Sudan's Web site in English and Arabic.

Dafurian Daoud Hari is a pretty cool story (given the circumstances). After fleeing the violence, he went back to Darfur several times, translating for reporters. He worked with the BBC, the New York Times and National Geographic. His work with the New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nick Kristof really helped the situation receive attention in the United States.

And Hari himself was in the headlines later when he and Chicago Tribune reporter Paul Salopek were arrested and charged with espionage. Both were released when New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson mediated the crisis and flew to Khartoum to get them.

(Random side note: I was working in Albuquerque at the time and was drooling with the extremely faint idea that I might see if I could tag along. Didn’t happen.)

And, perhaps proving that the international refugee system is a major bureaucracy, upon his release, he lived in a Chadian refugee camp. And then he moved to Accra, Ghana. And then he moved the United States.

Daoud Hari said Darfuris send girls to run chores, even though they might get raped:

They send the girls because if they sent the boys, they would be killed by the Janjaweed or the government troops.

Ibrahim Mousa Adam said the international will to end the genocide is there, but two countries with veto power on the U.N. Security Council have blocked any meaningful action:

China and Russia: Those are our enemies. Since they control the business and the oil in Sudan, they’ve never approved any resolution about Sudan.

And Adam said to keep next year’s Summer Olympics in Beijing in perspective:

How can we watch the Olympics while they have the oil of Sudan and the blood of the people of Darfur?

Check out the video that was being played at the ribbon-cutting ceremony at Tacoma Art Place today.

Linda Danforth was in Ségou, a dusty port city on the Niger River in Mali, last summer when inspiration hit.

She toured a cooperative of poor women who pooled their resources and shared textile equipment and supplies. By working together, she said, they were empowered economically.

“I looked at them,” she said, “and I knew we could bring that to Tacoma.”

About year later, the Tacoma Art Place opened Friday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, using a ribbon made of purple dyed fabric purchased in Africa. The co-op on 1116 S. 11th St. on Tacoma’s Hilltop will host an open house from 10 a.m-3 p.m.

Members of the Tacoma Art Place will pay $48 a year to join. There are supplies (all donated or purchased by volunteers), a dark room, a kiln, other machines and plenty of space to work.

And to tell the story of the co-op and perhaps provide inspiration, the walls are decorated with art from Africa, including Malian masks and Zimbabwean paintings.

Danforth, the district director for Rep. Adam Smith, said she has long been interested in the idea of microfinance operations and cooperatives in the developing world. She paid her own way to Honduras and Mali and believes the programs can work in any country, regardless of its prosperity.

“Sometimes people say, ‘Why are you thinking about people internationally? We have our own problems in the United States,’ ” she said. “And I thought this is one way to do something locally that’s similar. They’re doing something great in a really poor county, and we should be doing the same type of thing here.”

She said the co-op might eventually include retail space where local artists could sell their work.

Amy McBride, an arts administrator in the city’s community and economic development department, sees Tacoma Art Place’s opening as a positive event for the community.

“This is a really great method to allow people who don’t have access to the arts to get it,” she said. “Maybe they don’t have the community or equipment or space, but now they can. And it’ll be one of the threads that makes our community stronger.”

Drew Ebersole of the Martin Luther King Housing Development Association said the neighborhood is experiencing a revival in its arts culture as part of its larger improvement.

He pointed to the return of the Music & Murals festival at People’s Park in September after a three-year hiatus. The celebration drew about 1,000 people, and Ebersole sees it as a bellwether of greater things to come.

“The revitalization of this area is contingent of a broad spectrum of artists and businesses,” he said. “This is precisely the kind of endeavor we’re proud to be a part of.”

There has been a lot of grassroots opposition to the genocide in Darfur, and there are several events in Tacoma this weekend. Tonight, as I’ve written before, there will be two refugees speaking at the University of Puget Sound.

And on Sunday, a torch rally will be passing through Tollefson Plaza in downtown. Many activists see China’s continued support of the Khartoum regime as an enabler to the ethnic violence that has ravaged the western portion of the country. The event aims to:

Bringing attention to China's role in the Darfur crisis through music, speeches and a torch ceremony to honor all who have been touched by genocide, past and present. Sign a letter and a banner on behalf of Darfur that will be delivered to the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. Please join us in asking China to use their influence to bring the Olympic dream to Darfur. "One World One Dream"!

It’s Africa Day here at Word on the Street.

First stop is a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Tacoma Art Place. The cooperative at South 11th Street and Martin Luther King was inspired by a trip to Mali. “The goal,” a release says, “is to increase access to art, creativity by everyday people and visitors to Tacoma’s revitalized Hilltop neighborhood.” It opens to the public tomorrow.

After that, it’s back to the newsroom for high school journalism day. I’m stretching for an idea about how to link this to my previous assertion that this is Africa Day, so I’ll go with the explanation that I’ll be talking about online journalism, and my first blogging took place when I was living in Cape Town, South Africa.

This afternoon, I’ll be on campus at the University of Puget Sound to listen to two refugees from the genocide in Darfur speak.

I’ll bring you updates throughout the day.

I've received plenty of good responses about the McKinley Hill story in today's newspaper. A few people have called to complain about the convenience store at 34th Street and Pacific Avenue; they say the store's sale of fortified alcoholic beverages still attract an undesirable crowd. (They're one of the only stores -- if not the only store -- that still sells them.)

Kathy McAlpine, the Sector Four commander for TPD, says the store owners are already working with police to make things better. They've fenced off part of their property that was a hangout for drug dealers and prostitutes, and they're going to enforce a 100-percent ID check.

And the issue with the high-powered drinks should go away.

"They want to be a partner," she said. "They don’t want to voluntarily remove the high-octane alcohol yet. But within a few months, they’re in the (Alcohol Impact Area) and they’ll have to remove it from their shelves anyway."

Got this in my inbox. If you're interested in public art projects, it could be worth checking out:

Community guide to creating public art

This free workshop for neighborhood groups and community organizations will teach you the hows and whys of public art:

• How do you start a public art project?

• What are some of the best practices you can employ for successful projects?

• What resources are available to fund these projects?

• A handbook will be provided to assist you and your community on the road to creating meaningful public art in your neighborhood,.

Tacoma Municipal Building, North
728 St. Helens, Room 16
Nov. 7, 6-8 p.m.
253.591.5192

The Myrtle Beach Sun-News and The State of Columbia, S.C., each ran a story earlier this week about a former politician who is charged with two assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature after his adult stepdaughter.

So why am I bothering to write about something that happened on the other coast? First, the woman now lives in Spanaway. And she blogged about her father and her "search for justice." Just another way technology seems to be changing everything.

My schedule is almost completely wide open, so I've got one of those days I really like: I drive around, stop and chat with people and try to find more story ideas. Do you have any ideas? Send me an e-mail.

Also, I've got to give a speech to a group of high school students who are interested in journalism. My techie approach to reporting is what I'm tasked to talk about. What do you feel are the greatest strengths or weaknesses of this? Again, feel free to e-mail me or post a comment here.