TWN0412 - The Washington Newspaper April 2012 by Washington Newspaper Publishers Association

TWN

THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER Vol. 97, No. 4 April 2012

Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington • www.wnpa.com

WNPA’s Bureau connects readers with Legislature By Frank W. Garred

Coordinating Editor WNPA Olympia News Bureau

hree reporters crammed into alcoves at TVW’s Olympia studios managed to cover the 2012 legislative scene for more than 100 WNPA member newspapers. Somewhat as a tribute to the memory of Shelton’s iconoclastic

From left, Scott Panitz, Gov. Chris Gregoire, Maida Suljevic and Raechel Dawson were photographed after dinner at the Governor’s Mansion on March 1 during the 2012 Legislative Day activities co-sponsored by Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington and Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

satirist — and cynic — Henry Gay, the Marble Zoo (as he labeled the capital campus) earned more press exposure this winter than during many previous sessions as a result of WNPA’s commitment to staffing and funding its own news bureau. Henry would have been proud. So are most of us associated

Jana Stoner/ Northern Kittitas County Tribune, Cle Elum

See bureau, page 8

ONE HOT SHOT

Sound makes management changes at three papers

Fourth announces new packaging for Sumner news

Kimberly Jacobson/Anacortes American

New York Press Association judges analyzed Kimberly Jacobson’s Anacortes American image, titled “AHS Lip Dub,” noting the foreground provides the setting, the mid-foreground the action and reaction, the background the light (note the shadows on the wall). With lots of names and faces, it’s a classic community newspaper photograph, they said, and awarded it first place in the Color Feature Category, Circulation Group II, of the 2011 Washington Better Newspaper Contest.

Seattle acts to save P-I’s iconic globe City council leads coalition to keep monument in town The Seattle Times

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer globe as it appeared just before the P-I went online-only in March 2009.

ne of Seattle’s beloved landmarks — the steel and neon Seattle PostIntelligencer globe — was nominated for city landmark status last month, likely ensuring that it is protected into the future, whatever the fate of newspapers. Seattle City Council members joined the director of the Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) in announcing an agreement with the Hearst Corp., which owns the globe, to keep it spinning in Seattle at a location

the public will help select. MOHAI is making plans to refurbish the 13½-ton globe and to find a new permanent location. It will be taken to a temporary storage site — possibly a former airplane hangar at Magnuson Park— for cleaning and maintenance, likely sometime later this year. “We are honored to become the steward of this cherished symbol of Seattle’s journalism and our local history,” said Leonard Garfield, executive director of the museum. Garfield said the museum is launching a campaign, “Light Up The Globe,” to raise money to restore and relocate the icon. He estimated the costs at about $400,000, including removing it from its current

location atop an office building on the northern end of the downtown Seattle waterfront. The impetus to have the globe designated a city landmark was launched shortly after the print edition of the P-I folded in March 2009. Although Hearst continues to operate the news site seattlepi.com, it moved most of its remaining news operations to another building last year. Three former journalists on the City Council, Jean Godden, Tim Burgess and Sally Clark, worried about the globe’s fate. At a news conference in City Hall March 6, the three announced they would present their nomination to the city Landmark Preservation Board See GLOBE, page 10

ound Publishing announced new leadership at three newspapers last quarter and a change in publication frequency at a fourth newspaper. At the Bainbridge Island Review, Donna Etchey was named publisher in late February. She continues as publisher of Kingston Community News and the North Kitsap Herald in Poulsbo. Etchey succeeds Chris Allen Hoch, whose 23 years with the newspaper included serving as publisher since the mid-90s. Under Hoch’s leadership, the Review won seven General Excellence awards in the Washington Better Newspaper Contest. “Chris has been an asset to Sound Publishing and to the Bainbridge Island community for many years and we will certainly miss her,” said Lori Maxim, vice president of West Sound Operations. Brian Kelly, for seven years editor of the South Whidbey Record in Langley, assumed the editor’s role at the Review in March. Kelly’s successor at the Record is Jim Larsen. Larsen had been Record editor for 20 years before moving in 2001 to serve as editor of the Whidbey News-Times in Oak Harbor. For the past two years he has been supervising editor of the Record and the Times, and will continue in that role. Both newspapers are produced from an office in Coupeville. At the Port Orchard Independent, Sean See SOUND, page 8

APRIL 2012

TWN

Moving experience: We hang together or separately

o be or not to be…’ That is the question on a lot of publishers’ minds right now on the future of print media. And, no doubt a question that may be on some of your minds after receiving a recent letter from the WNPA Board of Trustees on the closure of our office space on March 1. I would like to assure you that was not an easy decision and had been in discussion for almost a year, with your board looking to balance the budget for this organization without losing benefits for the membership. It basically boils down to a decline in ad revenues over the past several years and the impact on our shrinking staff expected to do the work of a small army. At our January board meeting in Olympia, we discussed where we could cut costs without sacrificing the benefits to members of the Washington Newspaper Publisher Association. I want like to go on record and thank our diligent Association staff, Bill Will and Mae Waldron, for accepting a cut to their employee benefits and offering to work from their home offices for an extended time as we rebuild our revenues. It shows that they still believe in WNPA and the community newspapers they serve. And so should we. On March 2 as I watched the empty file cabinets, desks and boxes full of 125 years of history go out the door into the moving truck headed for storage, it reinforced my belief that we cannot go down without a

Jana Stoner

Publisher, Northern Kittitas County Tribune, WNPA President

fight. Most of our community newspapers are having growing pains right now. We are all working on plans to reorganize to better serve our local community readerships. So it’s only fitting that we do the same with our association. That is why your current Board of Trustees is working hard to find new streams for revenue, creating an annual fundraiser event to support day to day expenses, and penciling out a strategic plan to build a bigger and better organization that will sustain itself into the future. It’s not easy to figure out the one thing that would work best for most member newspapers. What might be great idea for the bigger-circulation members is sometimes not a good fit for the smaller publications; for free or paid newspapers; or for independently owned and group-owned newspapers. We continue to discuss changes to our membership dues structure that would be fair to everyone in the association. We know as cost-of-living expenses rise, so do annual dues. But we want to keep it reasonable and fair, so alas, we

Officers: President: Jana Stoner, Northern Kittitas County Tribune, Cle Elum l First Vice President: Bill Forhan, NCW Media, Leavenworth l Second Vice President: Keven Graves, Nisqually Valley News, Yelm l Past President: Paul Archipley, Edmonds Beacon, Mukilteo Beacon l Secretary: Bill Will, WNPA, Seattle Trustees: Mike Dillon, Pacific Publishing Co., Seattle l Donna Etchey, North Kitsap Herald, Poulsbo l Eric LaFontaine, Othello Outlook l Imbert Matthee, Waitsburg Times l Lori Maxim, Sound Publishing l Stephen McFadden, Ritzville-Adams County Journal l Fred Obee, Port Townsend Leader Staff: Executive Director: Bill Will l Editor/Manager of Member Services: Mae Waldron

Officers: President: W. Stacey Cowles, The Spokesman-Review l Vice President: Mike Shepard, Seattle Times Company Board: Rufus Friday, Tri-City Herald l Jill Mackie, The Seattle Times l Dennis Waller, Chronicle, Centralia Executive Director: Rowland Thompson THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER is the official publication of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. It is published monthly by WNPA, 12354 30th Ave NE, Seattle WA 98125, phone (206) 634-3838. Email: mwaldron@ wnpa.com; URL: www.wnpa.com, in conjunction with Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington, P.O. Box 29, Olympia, WA 98507, (360) 943-9960. Email: anewspaper@aol.com.

must restructure it now to incorporate room for the growth of additional benefits in the future. We are looking into things like an employee insurance benefit group plan, strengthening our advertising agency marketing, a new membership category that would allow dailies to benefit from the stories by legislative reporting interns and have their own contest, and other ideas.

Suggestion box is open

Please send us your thoughts on revenue-generating ideas, additional membership benefits that would enhance the value of your membership, or feedback on affordable office-space leasing options in Seattle. We welcome any comments and will do our best to incorporate them into the long-range plan.

Membership benefits

I have been connecting with dozens of our members since last year’s convention to ask a simple question, “How does being a member of the WNPA benefit your newspaper(s)?” The responses have been positive and diverse. One publisher noted, “Through WNPA, I connect with my only true peers — other publishers who are going through the same things I’m going through. I never fail to gain wisdom and direction.” Shortly after the regular legislative session ended, an editor sent us a note about the WNPA Olympia News Bureau. “I found the individual stories were comprehensive, well-written and accurate, and appreciated the breadth of subjects our reporters developed. I’d say this program

is well worth the cost incurred. Much thanks to the trio of reporters and editors. Kudos.” After meeting and working with our three interns this session, I wholeheartedly agree that we need to continue to fund the Olympia News Bureau and extend its coverage time. A yearlong news team at the Capitol would not only improve our legislative news coverage, but it would give more budding journalists beat-reporter experience in the real world with a highly skilled mentor.

Who you gonna call?

It’s worth calling out our current regular WNPA Membership benefits, which many of us could be taking for granted: Legal & Information –Answers to legal and industrywide questions, Legal Access Hotline, legislative representation, Publishers eBulletin, The Washington Newspaper (TWN), WNPA website and Facebook page Advertising – Statewide Classified Ad Network, Statewide Impact (2x2) Ad Program, Group Advertising Placement (print & online), Press Release Distribution Service Professional Development – Continuing Education (seminars, teleconferences, webinars and workshops), Publisher Roundtables, Annual Convention, Better Newspaper Contest, WNPA Committee Participation

(advertising, contest, convention/workshops, government relations, journalism education, membership/bylaws)

Preserving Past & Future – Lifetime achievement awards, internships for students and journalism educators

Collecting WNPA history: It’s all about you

We need your help gathering information for our 125th Anniversary project. We plan to produce a printed tab-size edition with 125 years of WNPA history and featuring current Who’s Who in the WNPA. To create it we need a digital file of your publication(s) flag/banner, a 300-word bio for each publication that includes your historic dates, ownership names, and current publisher(s). And if you can send in a photo of your staff, office building and publisher (or owners), that would fulfill our requests. We are also producing a Better Newspaper Contest 2012 Winners tab, which will be available after the Better Newspaper Contest Awards Dinner in Yakima on Sept. 28. By July 1 please send your information, digital files and any historic photos of past WNPA events to Mae (mwaldron@wnpa.com) or myself (jana@nkctribune. com). A shout-out of thanks to those that have already contributed their items. Until next time, have a prosperous spring!

Needed: Interpretation and context Information alone not enough to keep public informed on matters

he just-announced move by Encyclopaedia Britannica to end its print editions after 244 years of publishing came by happenstance in the middle of Sunshine Week, an annual campaign nationwide in support of freedom of information. The great general reference work for many generations will continue in digital form, like so much of the news, information, literature and art of our age. In that form, it will continue to provide the background and insight that, in the final 2010 edition, includes articles by experts and practitioners as diverse as golfer Arnold Palmer on the Masters tournament, Nobel laureates on art and science, and former President Bill Clinton on the 1995 peace accords in Serbia and Bosnia. The Britannica announcement during Sunshine Week was an ironic reminder that although lists and piles of data are basic, it’s often context, interpretation and perspective that move reams of figures and findings into the realms of the informative and useful. A day or so before Britannica said it no longer wished to rule the print waves, the Society of Professional Journalists issued a Sunshine Week report on the difficulty journalists and others have in reaching government experts who can bring a story or a meaning to information that’s “available”

but requires analysis to be understood. The surveyed journalists – about 170 working in the Washington, D.C., area – said barriers to reaching experts on the public payGene roll include having Policinski to get pre-approval vice president/ from public affairs executive officers to talk to director, other federal staffers, First Amendment having those officers Center decide which experts are available, and having an inhibiting or obstructive “monitor” present during an interview. Not to mention outright stonewalling on sensitive issues. About 85 percent of the journalists who responded to the SPJ survey agreed that “The public is not getting the information it needs because of barriers agencies are imposing.” Granted, it may well be that a process is needed both to direct inquiries to the right place and to prevent scientists and other experts from being overwhelmed when their particular bit or byte of data draws public interest. A simple online directory of government staffers and their areas of focus or knowledge would be a good place to start. Of course, there’s always the possibility that experts will disagree, or depart from the political line or message being crafted by an elected

official. But that’s what the marketplace of ideas – the fundamental principle on which a self-governing society depends – is all about: differing voices, some opposed on issues or facts, doing verbal battle in the public square. Our nation’s Founders embraced that idea, believing that, in the end, truth would emerge. Facts without accountable, identifiable expertise behind them leave us exposed to entities like Wikipedia – a noble idea of self-correcting data, but one that can degenerate into ping-pong matches of back-and-forth edits. In some ways, that’s freedom of information – with a strong dose of “receivers beware.” When it comes to information collected, collated and kept by our vast state and federal government agencies, however, citizens deserve something more: information and explanation they can rely on, and help in understanding it all. We deserve access to information rooted in a process that operates speedily and with transparency – without public relations nannies. Facts may speak for themselves, but when it comes to public facts, so should the people who are on the public payroll to assemble, assess and explain them. Gene Policinski is senior vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center, 1207 18th Ave. S., Nashville, Tenn., 37212. Web: www.firstamendmentcenter. org. E-mail: gpolicinski@fac.org.

TWN

APRIL 2012

OPEN ACCESS & LEGAL ISSUES

Sunshine Week honored Seattleite who took on SPD sunshineweek.org

oel Chandler, a Lakeland, Fla., man who has sued dozens of state and local government agencies over their failure to honor the state’s open records law, is the winner of the 2012 Sunshine Week Local Hero Award. The award was announced at the start of Sunshine Week, March 11-17 in 2012, a nationwide initiative focusing on transparency issues at all levels of government. Sunshine Week is co-sponsored by the American Society of News Editors and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. It is funded by grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Gridiron Club and Foundation of Washington, D.C. Chandler began litigating

violations of Florida’s public records four years ago, when his local school board refused a records request. Since then, he has filed more than two dozen open records lawsuits, securing the release of school, police, prison and medical examiner records. Chandler, who runs a data collection business, calls his online

review of government transparency in the state FOGWatch (Florida Open Government Watch). The second-place Local Hero Award went to Eric Rachner of Seattle, owner of a computer security company, who forced the Seattle police department to make public the records of police activity videotaped by

Tip exposed Franklin County official Tri-City Herald

ranklin County officials were told in an anonymous letter three years ago that one of their county managers had been convicted of embezzlement and demanded the issue not be “swept under the carpet.” The 2009 anonymous letter writer accused the employee of falsifying an invoice for a tire purchase and allegedly pocketing $21,000 to $40,000 for tires the county never received. The Tri-City Herald obtained the one-page letter through the state’s Open Records Act. It has names of people and businesses blacked out by the county

prosecutor because it contained unfounded allegations. However, documents previously obtained by the Herald show Dennis M. Huston, the county’s fired Public Works accounting and administrative director, was the subject of the FBI investigation triggered by the letter. “I also would encourage whomever investigates this issue to look further than this one incident,” according to the typed letter. “I’m sure you will find discrepancies and/ or other schemes that (name redacted) is involved in to steal money from Franklin County to support his gambling.” Huston, 65, is suspected

of embezzling nearly $2 million from the county from checks sent to a defunct Spokane company. Huston is not charged with a crime. He initially was arrested but then released while county and state officials investigate the theft allegations. The FBI investigated and didn’t find anything, according to county documents. Huston was hired by Franklin County in May 1989, less than eight months after he finished serving 21 months in federal custody for embezzlement. He was convicted in 1986 of stealing $142,000 in tax-

See TIP, page 5

Spokane OKs payout in records case spokesman.com

pokane County Commissioners on March 20 approved a $400,000 settlement in a sixyear-old case stemming from an open records request. The Neighborhood Alliance of Spokane County won on appeal before the state Supreme Court last September, setting the stage for last month’s action. The alliance in 2005 sought public records to learn whether Steve Harris, the son of former Commissioner Phil Harris, was given a job prior to a formal hiring process. The alliance was seeking evidence of nepotism. Copies of a seating chart had the names of “Ron and

Steve” on one cubicle, and the alliance sought corroborating records to identify the two. The trial court dismissed a subsequent lawsuit in 2008, but the alliance appealed. The justices ruled the county did an inadequate search and that the county improperly rejected an alliance request to identify “Ron & and Steve.” The case was sent back to Lincoln County where it was initially filed to determine penalties under the state’s open records act. County officials later said the seating chart was a reference to another employee named Steve. However, a plaintiff’s attorney said

there were two people named Steve on the chart. The county’s risk manager estimated that penalties and legal costs under the law could have reached $650,000. An agenda summary said the Supreme Court essentially gave the alliance a “blank check.” The penalties and lawyer fees have accrued over time. Tim Connor, communications director for the Center for Justice, which represented the alliance, said in a prepared statement that the settlement is reportedly the third-largest involving public records in the U.S. He cited a state assistant attorney general as the source of that information.

patrol car dashboard cameras. Rachner’s research showed that police were selectively withholding video records that might discredit specific arrests. He posted

the police records on his website, www.seattlepolicevideo.com, which has prompted several media investigations and other public scrutiny of Seattle police arrests.

State improves spending transparency grade to ‘B’ It certainly beats the ‘F’ that Washington received last year U.S. PIRG

ashington received a “B” when it comes to government spending transparency, according to “Following the Money 2012: How the States Rank on Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data,” the third annual report of its kind by the United States Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) and the Washington Public Interest Research Group (WashPIRG). “State governments across the country continue to be more transparent about where the money goes, extending checkbook-level disclosure of data on spending to contracting, tax subsidies, development incentives and other expenditures,” said Phineas Baxandall, Senior Analyst for Tax and Budget Policy at U.S. PIRG. “But Washington still has plenty of room for improvement.” Officials from Washington and 46 other states provided the researchers with feedback on their initial evaluation of state transparency websites. The leading states with the most comprehensive transparency websites are Texas, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, West Virginia, and Arizona.

Based an inventory of the content and accessibility of states’ transparency websites, Following the Money 2012 assigns each state a grade of “A” to “F.” The report describes Washington as an “advancing state” because it has established a transparency website that is user-friendly and searchable, but lacks the breadth of information characteristic of leading states’ websites. For example, the website does not include historical expenditures or information on off-budget agencies. Nonetheless, Washington made marked improvements since last year’s report, in which it received an “F.” Washington is taking the lead on providing mapping tools that allow the public to see how specific areas of the state benefit from government spending. The state’s transparency website includes an interactive mapping tool with the exact locations of statefunded construction projects. Since last year’s Following the Money report, there has been remarkable progress across the country with new states providing online access to government spending information and several states pioneering new tools to further expand citizens’ access to government spending information. This year’s report found that 46 states now provide an online database of government expenditures with “checkbooklevel” detail, a major increase from 32 states two years ago.

Experts urge release of details of Yakima cop’s wrongdoing Yakima Herald-Republic

Yakima police officer is accused of misconduct and put on paid leave. City officials won’t turn over reports explaining why. After learning early last month that Sgt. Erik Hildebrand had been placed on leave, the Yakima Herald-Republic filed a public records request March 9 seeking a copy of the

police department’s internal investigation of the officer. But city officials refuse to release it, saying an exemption in the state Public Records Act allows them to retain records in an active investigation. Police say their investigation is done and the allegations have been substantiated. But city attorneys say an investigation isn’t complete until the

acting city manager decides what kind of disciplinary action will be imposed. “The investigation isn’t done until there’s a decision reached,” City Attorney Jeff Cutter said. “The whole process is an investigation.” Toby Nixon, president of the non-partisan Washington Coalition for Open Government and a former Republican

state representative, says the city is asking for trouble. “They are misinterpreting the exemption,” he said, adding, “They’re just exposing themselves to a lawsuit.” Nixon said the exemption cited by the city applies only to protect someone’s privacy or to information that may harm an investigation. “You don’t want a crimi-

nal going through reports trying to glean information. That’s just not going to happen here,” Nixon said. Documents may also be withheld for privacy reasons, he said, but only under a two-prong legal test in which a release would be “highly offensive to a reasonable person” and if the subject at hand is not a legiti-

See COP, page 5

APRIL 2012

Four awarded internships

Former Foundation intern recommends student applicant

April 20 Publishers Round Table Issaquah Colleen Greg Heather Fontana Dunbar Perry start of my journalism career.” Janovich is currently an Annenberg Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she a candidate for a master’s of specialized journalism. Winner of the Rich Gay Internship Scholarship is Greg Dunbar, a senior at Washington State University. Dunbar writes columns for the Daily Evergreen and is a contributing DJ for KUGR Radio, a WSU student production. He also works as a marketing assistant on campus. Dunbar will intern at the Sequim Gazette this fall after he completes a summer internship with the Philmont Scout Ranch News and Photo Service in New Mexico. Heather Perry was awarded the Verizon Northwest Internship Scholarship. She is a junior at Pacific Lutheran University, where she is editor-in-chief of the Mooring Mast. Her first experience of community journalism, as an eighth-grader shadowing a news editor, encouraged the interest in photojournalism that she continues to pursue in college.

Mary Jean Spadafora

In a letter of recommendation, Joanne Lisosky, professor and advisor to the Mooring Mast, noted Perry’s leadership and ethics have served the newspaper staff well in recent challenges and clashes with university administration. Mary Jean Spadafora, a senior at University of Washington, received the Jim & Kay Flaherty Internship Scholarship. An intern reporter for two UW alumni magazines, Spadaforda also writes for MyBallard, Crosscut and CityLiving Seattle. The two alternates are JuliAnne Rose, a junior at PLU, and Bridget Carrick, a senior at Gonzaga University. The internships must be served at a WNPA-member newspaper. Winners arrange their own internship opportunity through interviews with publishers. Upon completion of the 240-hour internship and an essay describing the benefits of the experience, each intern receives a $1,000 stipend. The WNPA Foundation was established in 1986 to foster the development of educational programs and other activities of benefit to Washington’s community newspapers.

Independent joins the Web at long last

April 25

Ad Managers Webinar

April 27

WNPA Board Meeting, Seattle

May 4

Better Newspaper Contest entries due

June 8

Tourism Special Section entries due

June 28 WNPA Board Meeting, Bellingham Sept. 27

WNPA Board Meeting, Yakima

Sept. 27-29 125th Annual Convention, Yakima Details, registration at wnpa.com/events

Publishers Round Table rescheduled for April 20

he majority of publishers who responded to WNPA’s email survey last month about the Publishers Round Table planned for March 16 had a conflict with the date. The new date is April 20. The time is 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and the day includes a no-host lunch. Debbie Berto, 1999 WNPA Past President and publisher of Issaquah Press, Sammamish Review and SnoValley Star (Snoqualmie), is hosting the event. About a dozen publishers are expected to gather in Issaquah to solve prob-

lems and build relationships for future problem-solving conversations. Most publishers have had or will have similar issues to Register by April 13 at wnpa.com/events, where you can pay by Visa and MC ($20/person). Attendees will receive an email from WNPA on April 18 with details on the nohost lunch and directions. Round tables in other locations are planned for later in the year. If you have questions, contact Mae Waldron at (206) 634-3838 ext. 2, or mwaldron@wnpa.com.

North American Post purchases Soy Source

Independent, Chewelah

fter 109 years of weekly newspaper publishing, the Independent in Chewelah launched its first website on March 1. The site features a few main stories each week, in addition to extended photo galleries and breaking news. It lists information on advertising and subscription rates, and allows customers to purchase subscriptions online with PayPal. Publisher Jared Arnold said all the information on the site is available for anyone to view, and will act as a complement to the print publication but not a substitute for it. “We welcome local advertisers to take advantage of our banner advertising system and present their ads on our website with direct link-backs to their own website. We offer polls and results regarding local issues as well as links and contact information that you will use very day — even the local weather report,” he said. “Join us online for breaking news. Anything that happens

CALENDAR OF EVENTS April 17 BetterBNC.com opens for Better Newspaper Contest entries

he WNPA Foundation has awarded internship scholarships to four college students pursuing careers in community journalism. Colleen Fontana, a sophomore at Seattle University, received the Bruce & Betty Helberg Internship Scholarship. A four-year veteran of Unleashed, the Yakima HeraldRepublic’s teen section, Fontana began writing for the SU Spectator in her freshman year. Among Fontana’s letters of recommendation was one from Adriana Janovich, coordinator of Unleashed during Fontana’s years there. Janovich served her own WNPA Foundation internship scholarship at the Port Townsend Leader in 1997 and graduated from Seattle University the following year. In her letter, Janovich recalls the value of her internship. “I will never forget how Frank Garred accompanied me to my first public meeting — a regular meeting of the Jefferson County Public Utility District — and introduced me to the commissioners. I was terrified. “By the end of the summer, though, I had had so much fun and learned so much that I didn’t want to leave. I kept extending my internship until finally I had to go back — otherwise my senior year would have started without me. I consider that summer the real

TWN

North American Post, Seattle

The Independent in Chelewah launched its first website March 1.

ON THE WEB Chewelah Independent: chewelahindependent.com prior to our print deadline, you will see it first on our website.” Since taking over the newspaper in March 2009, Arnold has converted production from paste-up to Adobe InDesign, and knew the next step would be creating an identity on the Internet. Arnold said he chose not to put all the contents on the site because the main focus is the weekly print publication, although the site will evolve over time to fit the needs of the readers. “The wonderful part of extending our publication to the web is all of the fun features

that we just can’t accomplish in the printed paper, including reader polls, current weather, photo galleries, videos and, most importantly, the ability to advise readers of breaking news that just doesn’t fit into our printing schedule,” Arnold said. Arnold selected LaVigne Design Group in Addy, Wash., to develop the site. The newspaper also announced March 1 that fully searchable digital archives of the paper, beginning in 2010, are available at the Chewelah Public Library. The local library also has hardcopy archives from 1982 to the present. The newspaper’s archives go back to the beginning in 1903.

he North American Post announced purchase of Soy Source, a local publication of Japan Pacific Publications, Inc. The sale was announced by Tomio Moriguchi, publisher of the Post, and took effect Feb. 1. Readers should see no change in the Soy Source according to Andrew Taylor, former publisher of Soy Source and president of Japan Pacific Publications, Inc. “Mr. Moriguchi and I share the same belief that the Soy Source is an important component of Seattle’s Japanese community,” said Taylor. FIND YOUR 25-HOUR DAY

My 50 years on 15 small publications can help you: • sell more ads & subs • simplify operations • avoid bricks through your window • start/improve your website

Jay Becker

Community Consulting

jaybecker@aol.com - (206) 790-9457

“We both believe that it serves a vital function reaching Japanese-speakers throughout the Pacific Northwest.” Morguchi adds, “My desire is to have both publications use synergies to sustain and grow our readership and advertisers.” Soy Source, a former associate member of WNPA, was first published in 1992. The North American Times (Hokubei Jiji) was established in 1902 and shut down in 1942 with the outbreak of World War II and the incarceration of the Japanese Americans. The paper was re-established in 1946 as the North American Post (Hokubei Hochi).

FOURNIER Media Services, Inc.

Brokerage — Consulting Appraisals JOHN L. FOURNIER, JR. P.O. Box 750 Prosser, WA 99350 Voice 206/409-9216 Fax 509/786-1779

TWN

APRIL 2012

BNC site opens this month; deadline May 4 Examiner New York press to honor two to judge entries journalists for this year CONTEST PERIODS: regular entries April 1, 2011 March 31, 2012

n their annual drive to compete for top prizes among the state’s weekly newspapers, staff members at Washington Newspaper Publishers Association’s regular member newspapers in good standing are invited to participate in the 2012 Washington Better Newspaper Contest. All entries will be judged by members of the New York Press Association. As is well known by those who judged NYPA entries in January, New York newspaper people have a wealth of experience. They will make top-quality judges. Member newspapers that judged NYPA’s contest receive a credit against 2012 entry fees; a list of those newspapers is at wnpa.com/awards. The contest site betterbnc.com, produced by SmallTownPapers, is hosting our contest for the sixth year. SmallTownPapers is a longtime WNPA affiliate member based in Shelton.

Password details

Members will again use a temporary password to access the contest website, and then create their own password. The temporary password is on the BNC poster, to be distributed to members via email in mid-April. Request the poster from Mae Waldron mwaldron@wnpa. com or (206) 634-3838 ext. 2.

TIP

TOURISM Special Sections: June 1, 2011 May 31, 2012

CONTEST CALENDAR

Since betterbnc.com was launched in 2007, more than 100 groups have selected it for their journalism contests. email address. After updating ON THE WEB their account information, the Submit entries: Contestant Manager can then www.betterbnc.com add the names and emails of Contest rules: anyone else eligible to submit www.wnpa.com/awards entries for their newspaper (follow easy onscreen directions). To eliminate the pracEach person the Contestant tice of newspapers sharing Manager adds, called an a single password with staff Authorized Entrant, will remembers, SmallTownPapers ceive an email asking them to has made a change in the validate their email address. entry submittal process. This is particularly useful The primary person who when different people submit submits entries for the newsthe entries in various divisions. paper is now called the While the Contestant Contestant Manager. This year, Manager can see and edit once the Contestant Manager all the newspaper’s entries has logged in and submitted and account information, two entries, he or she will see the Authorized Entrant can a pop-up window window with see and edit only the entries he or she submits. instructions to validate their

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payer money by using a fake company while he was a finance officer with the federal Bureau of Reclamation in Montana. At that time he said he had a drug problem. The 2009 anonymous letter details Huston’s previous conviction for embezzlement. Included in the letter is a case number, conviction date, judge’s name and his inmate number. And the letter says his number can be found on the Federal Inmate Locator website. The letter writer questioned whether the county was aware of Huston’s conviction and if officials knew about it, why he was hired in a position where he would be making financial decisions and handling a large amount of taxpayer money. The letter also urged investigators to look beyond Huston. “There are other employees in the county that have knowledge of (name redacted) illegal transaction(s),” claimed the letter. “Please ensure that this issue is thoroughly investigated and that (name redacted) and any others are held accountable for their actions,” said the letter. After finding the letter on his doorstep, Franklin County Commissioner Rick Miller said he asked County Administrator Fred Bowen whether the felony conviction was on Huston’s job application. Miller said he was told that there was no information on the application about a conviction,

and that it had not been asked as a question on the form. Officials say those documents are not available for release to the public now because they have been seized by state and county investigators. Miller said that despite the FBI finding nothing wrong in 2009, he remained concerned because of how specific the letter was. “The unfortunate thing about it is that three years ago, it could have stopped,” Miller said. The alleged embezzlement was discovered this year when county auditors were verifying the legitimacy of the county’s 2,000 vendors. Documents show that payments continued to be made to Critzer Equipment of Spokane for vehicle parts even after the company went out of business in 2001. County records and invoices show Critzer was paid $1.78 million for parts from 2002 until January 2012. The county issued another $153,087 in checks to Critzer in 2001 but it’s unclear when the company went out of business that year. Critzer Equipment’s assets were sold to another Spokane company in December 2001. When Huston was arrested last month, he allegedly had a blank check for Critzer and he reportedly told investigators he used some of the money to buy drugs, according to court documents.

April 6: Rules online at wnpa.com/awards April 17: Betterbnc.com open for entries May 4: Deadline for submitting regular entries June 8: Deadline for Tourism/Community Guide special sections Sept. 28: Winners announced at BNC Awards Dinner, Red Lion Yakima Center

Category changes

The Better Newspaper Contest Committee adjusted some categories based on participation in recent years, as follows: • Advertising Division: Best Use of One Spot Color was combined with Most Effective Use of Small Space, to create a new category, Most Effective use of Small Space (b/w or spot color). • News Division: In the Editorial Cartoon category, custom cartoons drawn by a syndicated cartoonist for your newspaper only are eligible. • Photography Division: The Portrait and Pictorial black-and-white categories were combined into one category, Best Portrait or Pictorial Photograph, Black and White.

wo journalists will be honored with Community Voice Awards from the International Examiner next month. Since 1991, the International Examiner has recognized outstanding leaders and unsung heroes in the Asian and Pacific Islander communities who distinguish themselves by actively working towards uplifting and raising awareness of the local API community. Dean Wong, a life-long community photojournalist, will receive a lifetime achievement award. Wong was a reporter with the Ballard News Tribune for eight years. He is working on two books. Julie Pham, managing editor of the Northwest Vietnamese News/Người Việt Tây Bắc, will receive the Tatsuo Nakata Youth Award, recognizing her success at inspiring youth in the API community. The honorees will be celebrated at a banquet on May 16 at the Tea Palace Restaurant in Renton. As the only nonprofit pan-Asian American multimedia news organization in the U.S. serving our community for over 35 years, the Examiner believes in fostering and highlighting community leaders who make an influential and positive impact in the Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

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mate concern to the public. “It fails the ‘legitimate concern’ prong right off the bat,” Nixon said. “Clearly the public cares about good police work.” It was the fourth time since 2010 that the city has delayed releasing reports substantiating officer misconduct. That includes the case last fall of two officers who spent nearly $400 on beer while attending training in Spokane and covered it up on expense reports. The city released details only after both officers had been ordered suspended without pay by thencity manager Don Cooper. Nixon’s stance on the state’s records law jibes with that of Tim Ford, the open records ombudsman for the state Attorney General’s Office. Ford was not available for comment. But he has previously said it is a well settled point of law that police reports are public once an investigation is finished and referred to prosecutors. “If their investigation is concluded and the city manager is not asking for a new investigation (and) all that’s left is the decision to terminate, that doesn’t fit within the exemption,” Ford said in September, when city officials delayed releasing records on the two officers who purchased the beer. Hildebrand is a 15-year veteran of the police department whose most recent assignment has been supervising its gang unit. His base salary is $85,424 a year, not counting overtime and specialty pay.

Police commanders, including acting police Chief Greg Copeland, said Hildebrand was put on paid leave March 5 and that reports substantiating misconduct have been forwarded to the acting city manager’s office for review. But exactly what prompted the action remains a mystery. “I can’t tell you about the details of the internal” investigation, Capt. Jeff Schneider said. “The ones that could result in serious discipline are handled by the city manager.” Schneider said the officer has a hearing scheduled before Acting City Manager Michael Morales late in March, but added that could be postponed. A full history of Hildebrand’s disciplinary history was not immediately available, but records show two previous run-ins with management in recent years. In March 2010 he received a verbal reprimand from thenChief Sam Granato for neglect of duty and failing to work a full shift. An investigation revealed he left work early at least eight times to play soccer. Last year, he faced a more serious investigation after a complaint surfaced that he got a room for himself and a young woman on Memorial Day at the Yakima Inn on North First Street. The complaint came from the inn’s manager, who said she had previously given police free access to rooms to conduct surveillance, but this time no other officers were involved and

that Hildebrand and the woman were alone for two hours in a room in which the curtains remained closed, according to an internal investigation report. According to the report, Hildebrand told investigators he got the room for an impromptu drug sting but aborted the operation due to a lack of backup that day. In their report, commanders questioned Hildebrand’s story, noting “many discrepancies “ and “significant concerns.” The commander who handled the investigation, Lt. Tom Foley, wrote in the report the central issue was whether Hildebrand used his police credentials to get a room for “personal purposes, i.e. a sexual rendezvous.” Although Foley concluded there was not enough evidence to disprove Hildebrand’s story — the woman involved was never located — he made his feelings known in a report to Copeland. “I find the totality of the situation highly suspicious,” he wrote. “His actions were incredibly stupid, especially for a police supervisor.” Hildebrand was given a written reprimand for violating the department’s officer safety policies. The internal investigation report into the Memorial Day incident was released after the Herald-Republic filed a request in October with the city for all investigations of complaints against Yakima police that had been upheld. It was not clear why the city waited until last month to release it.

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LEFT: Clarence B. “Clancy” Lafromboise, left, and Fred. W. “Pa” Kennedy, are shown here in February 1950, when Lafromboise began working at WNPA as Kennedy’s assistant. RIGHT: Clarence Lafromboise (right) holds a portrait presented to him at the 1961 WNPA convention, his last as WNPA manager. Chapin Collins, publisher of the Montesano Vidette and 1951-52 WNPA President, left, made the presentation. In the background on the left is John Pavlick, then publisher of the Ritzville Journal-Times and WNPA Secretary.

‘Pa’ Kennedy revered leader of early state press group UW Daily honored Kennedy on his retirement in 1945

n a unique situation in the 125 years of bound archives of The Washington Newspaper, tucked into volumes 37-38 are full-page clippings of stories on the retirement and death of Fred W. “Pa” Kennedy, the first manager of Washington Newspaper Publishers. Reprinted here is the University of Washington Daily’s story on Kennedy’s retirement published June 29, 1945. The Washington Newspaper dedicated the January 1953 issue to him, and titled his obituary “Frederick W. Kennedy was patron saint of the Washington weekly newspapers.” The Seattle PostIntelligencer published a similar obituary, “Death claims ‘Pa’ Kennedy, on Dec. 19, 1952.” Get a glimpse of this man’s remarkable life, 18751952, in the Daily’s story.

uccessful in three separate careers, any one of which would have satisfied a less versatile individual, Frederick Washington “Pa” Kennedy prepares now for his “retirement” … by planning to continue at almost the same pace which has marked his last fifty years. Tonight at the Washington State Press Club hosts of friends, co-workers and former students are gathered at a banquet to honor Pa Kennedy upon the completion of his final full-time academic year at the University of Washington attaining the retirement age of 70. Next year will find him still at his office in Lewis Hall, campus Journalism building, on a half-time University basis but continuing his long-time job as manager of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. Speakers at tonight’s banquet are touching upon many facets of Mr. Kennedy’s long service, but for purposes of the record this Souvenir Edition story will review the highlights of the three main careers he

has followed so successfully.

Career No. 1— “In the Craft”

Learning the cases in his brother’s shop while still in short pants, Fred Kennedy mastered the printing trade and also picked up firsthand newspaper experience on the Carlisle (Ohio) Sun, published by his brother. Returning from the Spanish-American war, he went into the huge printing shop of the National Cash Register company at Dayton, Ohio, as a journeyman printer and was rapidly advanced to foremanship of the composing room. That was back in the handset days, when the company possessed just one experimental model of an early typesetting machine. The shop did a tremendous volume of work, however, and had 22 Miehle [presses] in the press room. He left Dayton to operate his own commercial print shop in Urbana, Ohio, for one year, and then too over a territory for the American Type Founders Company, which was then a virtual clearing house for the entire printing industry. His seven years with A.T.F. was terminated to come to Seattle in 1907 to head the city printing sales effort for Lowman & Hanford.

Career No. 2—Educator

Careers No. 1 and No. 2 overlap each other to a considerable extent, or as the judge might say, “the sentences ran concurrently.” In 1909 Mr. Kennedy moved to the University of Washington campus as director of the University journalism laboratories. This euphemism covered his work as director of the University Press (then operating circumspectly

because of a state law prohibiting print shops as such in state institutions) as well as directing students in their laboratory training. Under him the University Press expanded and doubled its volume several times, but Kennedy dismisses the big growth as merely “keeping pace with a growing University.” Five or six years ago he relinquished his print shop supervision to devote all his time to teaching and to his duties as manager of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. His value as a teacher was recognized first when he was made an assistant professor, and later when he was elevated to the present rank of associate professor. During his 37 years on the campus he saw many instructors come and go — not to mention heads of the school. Always he remained as a living tradition binding together the past and present generations. Old graduates, returning to find new instructors and a changed school, were heartened to find Pa Kennedy on hand to remember and welcome them home. During the school year 1943-44, Fred Kennedy served as acting head of the school of journalism. During his term came the adoption of the successful practice of replacing the war-decimated faculty ranks with part-time instruction from practicing downtown newspaper men.

Career No. 3— State Press Manager

Taking over an expiring state press association following a disastrously slim convention in 1914 “to see what he could do,” Mr. Kennedy has served as manager from that day to this. By building strong regional units, maintaining a dependable central office and being always available for “trouble shooting” assignments in the field, Manager Kennedy made such a success of the Washington State Press Association that it became a model copied by numerous other states. Technically the name of the original Washington State Press Association was later change to

Washington Press Association, and later (with incorporation) to Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. As other states saw how the field manager plan prospered, and how it was elevating the quality of all state papers, the general idea was adopted more and more, and the National Association of Field Managers [now the Newspaper Association Managers, Inc.] was a natural result. Through this clearing house it was possible to obtain nation-wide adoption of desired policies and also to speak in an authoritative voice for the weekly press of America. Naturally, the association early named Kennedy its president, and later when the National Industrial Recovery Act arrived in the depression ‘30s, he served as Pacific Slope representative on the national printing code authority [and also was administrator for the state of Washington.

Garners many honors

Many other honors deservedly came his way. He served on the N.W. Ayer national better newspapers judging board, and during the last decade has assisted the Washington State Press club with its laudable program for stimulating better newspaper writing. He is particularly pleased with the work the club is doing to encourage high school journalists, as well as recognizing superior work among the more painstaking members of the working press. On the campus he was first faculty adviser to Sigma Delta Chi when Sol Lewis [1928 WNPA President, former publisher of Lynden Tribune] brought that progressional fraternity to Washington in 1912, and served as adviser until just before the present war. Also he held responsible positions on numerous boards, to such an extent that any attempt to list them all would be foredoomed to failure and would only arouse the ire of those unintentionally omitted. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy celebrated their first wedding anniversary in Seattle. Next year they will observe their fortieth anniversary here.

Washington state newspaper trivia

or a master’s thesis in the School of Communications at University of Washington, accomplished over five years in the 1960s, Marlene Mitchell of Yakima created a bibliography and checklist of Washington newspapers. As described in the October 1964 Washington Newspaper, the 429-page work lists all newspapers which have been published in the state, the frequency of publication, merger notations, the editors and publishers and the location of the files of the newspaper. In her introduction to her thesis, Mitchell traces some of the early history of newspaper in the state and shows the rise and fall of well over 1,500 newspapers the state has produced. The first newspaper was established primarily to promote the creation of the Territory of Columbia from the Oregon Territory. It was published at Olympia, a thriving frontier village at the southern edge of Puget Sound, and was owned by Thomas J. Dryer, publisher of the Portland Oregonian.

Total newspapers by decade 1860 4 (1 daily, 4 weeklies) 1870 14 (1 daily, 13 weeklies) 1880 29 (4 dailies, 23 weeklies) 1900 222 (19 dailies, 176 weeklies) 1910 372 (35 dailies, 287 weeklies) 1920 337 (40 dailies, 225 weeklies) 1930 367 (42 dailies, 225 weeklies) 1940 336 (27 dailies, 214 weeklies) 1951 289 (25 dailies, 185 weeklies) 1960 290 (27 dailies, 171 weeklies) Reprinted from Oct. ‘64 TWN

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Kennedy grew into leadership role

Editor’s Note: As part of WNPA’s 100th anniversary year the June 1987 Washington Newspaper included a summary of Kennedy’s leadership, excerpted here.

rom 1909 to 1921 Kennedy the professor gradually assumed the role in which he would serve the remainder of his career — hounding newspaper publishers and printers to learn the true cost of producing their product and to charge for it an amount sufficient to ensure a reasonable profit. In those years he worked ex officio with the Association and its members, particularly since the Association had its headquarters on the University campus. He authored articles frequently in The Washington Newspaper… It wasn’t until spring 1921 that Kennedy finally signed on officially as “field manager” of the Washington State Press Association. Even before “Pa” officially was in the Association he was working for the state’s newspaper people. In November 1920 TWN, it was reported that

Professor Kennedy “reports traveling several thousand miles and gathering together 50 percent of the publishers of the state during the series of 11 district meetings during September and October.” The broad-brush approach Kennedy was using even then was apparent. Issues discussed and acted upon at the 11 meetings were reported as: Needed legislation, establishment of minimum advertising rate on display space, adopting of a standard price list for commercial printing, consideration of collective buying, advisability of a field secretary, use of the delegate system for the semiannual meetings of the state press, solving the problems of obtaining bet-

Fred W. “Pa” Kennedy in an undated photograph ter employees and providing means for obtaining and training apprentices, formulating a code of professional ethics, and instruction on the production of automatic machinery. Over the years Kennedy was an indefatigable attendee at district meetings. Such helped him acquire probably the greatest knowledge of weekly newspapers and their personnel ever crammed into the head of a single individual in the state. It didn’t take perceptive publishers long to realize what a gem they had in Pa Kennedy.

By 1925 the Association’s resolutions committee had successfully put forward this proposition: “Your committee recommends that the program of the 14th annual Newspaper Institute and 1926 winter meeting of the Washington Press Association be formulated as an expression of recognition of the invaluable services of Fred W. Kennedy, our field secretary to the newspapermen of the state. “The present development of the Washington Press Association is largely due to the unfailing loyalty of Mr. Kennedy to the interests of the newspapermen of the state and we feel that the present flourishing condition of the newspapers of Washington is principally owing to his efforts.” ... Its direction set by “Pa” Kennedy, the Association grew and prospered. Starting with man part time and a woman secretary, the Association by 1950 had grown to a staff of four in addition to Kennedy. At that point the Association’s trustees deemed it appropriate to hire an assistant for Pa and thereby pro-

Publishers remembered ‘Pa’

Association leadership

Reminiscences poured in after Kennedy’s death

Frederick W. “Pa” Kennedy 1912 - early 1950s Clarence B. Lafromboise early 1950s - 1961 Robert M. Shaw 1961- 1964 Jerry Zubrod - 1964-1988 Miles Turnbull 1988- 1992 Diana Kramer 1992 - August 2004 Frank Garred (interim) September 2004-December 2004 George S. Smith January -September 2005 William R. Will October 2005-present

Editor’s Note: These tributes to “Pa” Kennedy were selected from those sent by publishers around the state and printed in The Washington Newspaper in January 1953.

An era of accomplishment

orty years ago when “Pa” first started his career with weekly newspapers, we had a great conglomeration of weekly sheets. They were put out hit and miss, some were purely political hand-outs, some were poorly written and the printing quality left much to be desired. The editor was looked upon as merely one who had an ax to grind, his plant was an eyesore and his attitude was many times one of hostility. But one man, “Pa” Kennedy, took it upon himself to make the weekly publisher one of the big men of his community. He slaved, threatened and even cussed those publishers who did not make the effort to raise the level of the weekly newspaper. He urged and fought for better production methods, new equipment, better plants, a place in the sun equal to any other businessman or individual in the community. He was an unselfish man who put the good of his “boys,” the weekly publishers, ahead of any personal gain for himself. “Pa’s” efforts to improve the weekly papers of this state can never be measured in dollars and cents. No one can hazard a guess as to how much influence his forty-year campaign

From a portrait drawn for display in WNPA offices, this image of Kennedy memorialized him on the cover of TWN, January 1953. had on the development of this great state of Washington. He did not leave a monument of material wealth to measure his mark upon the world, but he left something that can never be erased — the spirit that the weekly newspaper should occupy the highest place of honor in any community. Clarence B. Lafromboise WNPA Manager Former publisher, Enumclaw Courier-Herald WNPA President 1944-45

His was guiding hand

t wasn’t so much what Fred Kennedy told Mildred and me as we tried to grow from our first days as fledgling owners of a tiny weekly. Most of the time we welcomed his advice with the gratitude which a blind person has for a guiding hand

across a busy street. A few times, we disagreed. But that just proved “Pa” was human. We knew even in those few times when we felt he had the wrong slant, that he was motivated by only one burning purpose — helping those trying to make weekly newspapers a better medium of public expression. It wasn’t what Fred said. It was why he said it. It was his persistent preaching, even past the time when his physical endurance began to give out, of those fundamental rules of conduct which make for better weeklies. In a field of endeavor which largely had been shrouded in darkness, Fred Kennedy held high his flaming torch of information and inspiration. For us, his light can never be extinguished. Mildred and Walt Woodward Winslow, Bainbridge Review WNPA President 1960-61

He got things done

he high journalistic attainments and sound business foundation of the weekly press of the State of Washington can be attributed

primarily to the untiring efforts of one man — Fred W. “Pa” Kennedy. “Pa” had the knack of laying bare our faults, then, by his persistence, driving us to correct them. He was never satisfied with half-way measures — no compromises — if a job was to be done it must be done right. Back in the 1920s when we were getting started in Edmonds, we asked “Pa” Kennedy for advice in rearranging our plant in the interest of efficiency. He came out on a Saturday forenoon and looked over the shop and suggested how stones and type racks could be placed to better advantage. Then we went out to lunch. But it didn’t end there. After lunch “Pa” insisted on seeing that the suggestions were carried out; he pulled off his coat and I had no alternative but to help him move the equipment around and to hold the dustpan while he swept up the dust that was uncovered. He made sure that his trip to Edmonds was not wasted. Ray V. Cloud, Edmonds WNPA President 1941-42

vide for an orderly transition upon Kennedy’s retirement. Choice for the new post was Clarence B. (Clancy) Lafromboise, publisher of the Enumclaw CourierHerald, widely know and respected among his peers. Announcement of Lafromboise’s selection was made in January 1950. February 6 Clancy was on the job. The manager and his assistant worked as a team, with Clancy learning the ropes and gradually assuming more of the responsibilities. Kennedy’s health eventually began to fail and as a result Lafromboise assumed more and more of the managerial duties. Even in his final illness “Pa” Kennedy was carried by WNPA as its manager … a mark of respect for the man who had done so much for the association and the state’s newspapers. “Pa” Kennedy began failing noticeably after the death of his wife in August 1952. His heart finally gave up on Dec. 17, 1952. The couple had one daughter, Jane, Mrs. William Matthews.

Lafromboise profiled prior to presidency

Editor’s note: This introduction of C.B. Lafromboise was printed in the June 1944 Washington Newspaper, prior to his service as 194445 WNPA president.

orn, reared, educated, worked all of his time in Eumclaw is a brief history of WNPA’s newly elected president, Clarence Brown Lafromboise. Born September 5, 1904, Clarence has served his home town constantly except for the years he attended the University of Washington, where he obtained his BA degree in 1926, after which he taught school four years, three of which he was principal of the Enumclaw Junior High School; he then shifted from this form of education into the newspaper business, first buying the Herald and later the Courier, operating under the caption of the CourierHerald since November 1, 1931. Miss Bernice Smith consented to change her name to Lafromboise. There is one son named Richard. By politics the next presiding officer is an Independent Republican; a Presbyterian; affiliated with the Masonic Lodge, Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Delta Chi. For two years he was WNPA secretary. Is serving as a member of the King County Housing Authority; has been president of the local Kiwanis Club and Library Board, plus the Chamber of Commerce, Recreation Council, Sportsman Club, sponsoring nearly every community movement. And there is the background of your next president.

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A VIEW OF EXCELLENCE

Mental health coverage contest open for entries Broad selection of pieces sought by sponsor group

Kimberly Jacobson/Anacortes American

An effective angle of view captured second place for Kimberly Jacobson and the Anacortes American in the Color Sports Action Category, Circulation Groups I & II combined, of the 2011 Washington Better Newspaper Contest.

SOUND

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McDonald was named publisher. McDonald is also publisher of the Bremerton Patriot, Central Kitsap Reporter in Silverdale, and Kitsap Navy News. He succeeded Rich Peterson in late February. Peterson stepped down after 15 successful years of service. “Rich has done a remarkable job as publisher of the Independent and I am looking forward to continuing the traditional of quality local news and information to the Port Orchard community,” McDonald said. “He and I have been friends and colleagues for years and I am honored to follow in

BUREAU

his footsteps.” Some of the Independent’s staff moved to the company’s office in Silverdale in March, but reporters and advertising staff continue to work from a satellite office in Port Orchard. Paul Brown was named publisher at the Marysville Globe and Arlington Times in January, after serving as general manager for the past year. Previously, he had been the sales manager of the Everett Little Nickel since 2005.

Brown was the top revenue producer at Little Nickel Publications in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Brennan Purtzer, publisher of the Enumclaw Courier-Herald and Bonney Lake/Sumner Courier-Herald, announced a change to Sumner readers.

Rather than providing Sumner news in the publication shared with Bonney Lake, Sound will deliver the Sumner-edition CourierHerald newspaper on the third Wednesday of the month. The Courier-Herald will continue to be received weekly in Enumclaw, Buckley, Bonney Lake and Lake Tapps. Based on the experience of a sister publication, Purtzer expects the monthly publication will be a more sustainable business model than the current one. Sound publishes 38 community newspapers in the greater Puget Sound Area.

Chuck Allen, editor of the Quincy Valley Post Register, in a note sent to Wilson midMarch, wrote, I was pleasantly surprised at the range of articles and how a number of them applied to all portions of the state and not just to the Puget Sound region. I’m happy that the WNPA Foundation can provide this kind of benefit for its members. And, I also appreciate how it gives budding journalists a very real-world experience.” UW senior journalism majors Scott Panitz, Maida Suljevic and Raechel Dawson were this year’s WNPA News Bureau team. The trio agrees that dealing with 100 or so editors was daunting, but learning to deal with the sourcing challenges posed by the legislative process was equally challenging. Maybe Panitz’s observation as the 10week program was winding to a close says it best: contacting legislators through office appointments and through staff was sometimes impossible, but calling them off the floor during bill debates produced the best result. Somehow legislators were responsive when their ac-

tions were on the public screen. Most WNPA editors, too, were responsive to the news bureau’s mission with questions, fact checks, suggestions for additional sourcing, and with requests for specific coverage. Some of the smallest papers in the state earned carefully crafted and focused stories especially for their readers. Other editors expanded news bureau stories into multi-story packages on subjects of local interest: bio-mass, state parks, state budget, governor appointees to commissions, beer and wine licensing for movie theaters, DUI laws for example. Revision of the state’s relationships to native tribal councils also produced several expanded stories that in some instances might not have otherwise been developed locally. The future of the WNPA Olympia News Bureau rests with the WNPA Foundation and the WNPA members. The University of Washington’s Communications Department Director David Domke is a staunch advocate for continuing relationships with the

he Washington State Coalition to Improve Mental Health Reporting has set May 7 as the deadline to submit entries in its 2011-12 competition to honor outstanding media coverage of mental health issues. The statewide award acknowledges even-handed, accurate journalism that improves the public’s understanding of mental illnesses, treatment, prevention, criminal justice, suicide or a related issue. All Washington state journalists are eligible for the third annual Mental Health Reporting Award. Entries may include columns, investigative articles, editorials, broadcast segments, straight news, features and series. Journalists can submit their own work or be nominated by a colleague or member of the community. The submission must have been published (online or in print) or broadcast between May 1, 2011, and April 30, 2012. Entries should be submitted by email to mhreport@u. washington.edu no later than 5 p.m. Monday, May 7. There is no entry fee. Additional information is online at mentalhealthreporting.org, or email Sue Lockett John at suej@uw.edu

ON THE WEB Washington State Coalition to Improve Mental Health Reporting contest: mentalhealthreporting.org

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with the project, from WNPA Foundation officers and board members, to the association’s administrative hierarchy and board, to the nearly 120 member news organizations that develop and provide local news for their hometown readers. Probably the biggest challenge facing the Olympia News Bureau reporters was dealing with some 100 properly critical editors. Most news organizations, even the Associated Press, which provides coverage for the state’s daily newspapers, seldom have so many minds and eyes evaluating the stories they receive and publish. Created last year, the WNPA Olympia News Bureau was launched with two University of Washington journalism program seniors transitioning from student-to-professional reporting at our state capital. This year WNPA began its bureau coverage with two reporters, then added a third midway through the session, sharing her with the Skagit Valley Herald and Seattle’s online Crosscut. Seven students from the university program

served our state newspapers, radio and television media this session, nearly half the press corps stationed at the capital. The full-time press corps covering the Olympia legislature and bureaucratic scene has diminished in numbers to where the UW’s journalism students now comprise a near majority. WNPA’s entry into the university’s program has provided the state’s community press with its own direct line to stories related to the legislative process. Previously, community newspapers connected with their Olympia representatives as needed to deal with their own local issues. That hasn’t changed. Only now all WNPA member papers receive professionally developed stories, which they can localize with expanded sourcing. There was “a significant increase in the utility of these news stories for member newspapers in 2012,” said Scott Wilson, WNPA Foundation president. “I have heard from both students and publishers that the 2012 effort was extremely helpful and successful.”

community press, as is Mike Henderson, who directs the university’s Olympia internship program. For this year the foundation raised and committed over $7,000 to its news bureau effort. It is considering, with the UW and with Washington State University, the opportunity to expand that commitment to a year-round news bureau. Funding and an on-site coordinating editor are critical elements under consideration by the foundation. Meanwhile, some state small daily newspapers, hearing about the WNPA news bureau operation, have expressed interest in future participation. That adds another element to the foundation’s evaluation and development of future news bureau resources. Member feedback on the value of the capital news bureau is also invited for foundation board consideration about any future commitment. Questions, comments, suggestions: fpg@olympus.net or Foundation President Scott Wilson, swilson@ptleader.com

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Lion and PDFs and Adobe, oh my!

Slimp takes a few new tech questions from his mailbag

haven’t pulled out the mailbag in a while. Let’s see what readers have on their minds these days. Let’s start with a text from Tammy in Minnesota.

Kevin, We need your help! We just received 20 files saved in the PDF/A standard. Our preflight won’t even work with them. Can we trust a PDF/A file? I haven’t been to Minnesota in a long time, so I went the extra mile for Tammy. I asked her to email the two Kevin files to me, so Slimp I could look Director, Institute of at them. At Newspaper first glance Technology everything seemed OK with the files. Having been around this block a few times, I knew better than to trust a first glance. You see, the PDF/A standard is meant for files that are going to be archived, not printed. So there’s a pretty good chance that the files will cause a problem when placed on a newspaper page. To be sure Tammy didn’t have problems with her files, I opened them in Photoshop at a resolution of 1000, saved them as EPS files, then ran them through Acrobat Distiller using my normal settings, but with one difference. I changed the downsampling for both color and gray images to 600 (they were originally set for 200) for images above 600. I wrote back to Tammy and explained that from a glance her files seemed OK, but that I was sending new files that were guaranteed to work. A few minutes later, I received an email that the original files caused the InDesign file to “go crazy.” She wanted to know how I fixed the files. Well, Tammy, now you know.

From Walt in Kentucky

Hi Kevin, Thanks for a great presentation in Lexington over the weekend. Now I need your opinion. We end up having to do a lot of “work arounds” because our software is several years old. Would you recommend replacing with Macs or changing over to the more affordable PCs to run new versions of the Creative Suite? Or is it feasible to upgrade the software on our older Macs and replace the graphic designer’s PowerPC G5? Walt, we’ve known each other for a long time and you know I wouldn’t steer you wrong. Stick with the Macs. I have no problems with groups that

Open PDF/As in Photoshop at a high resolution and save it as an EPS, before converting to PDF.

The only version being sold now is CS 5.5 (CS 6 may be out by the time some readers read this) and Adobe doesn’t sell older versions of its software, which means you can’t upgrade to CS4 because it’s not being sold. So if you want to transfer files between computers on a regular basis, it would be best if you were both on the same version of Creative Suite. As far as Lion goes, it’s fine. All operating systems are problematic when they first come out, but the driver issues and bugs are generally cleaned up after a few months. I’ve written about how to set up your PDF printer driver in Lion, so you can create PDF files the way you always have. Other than possibly needing a new printer or scanner driver, that should take care of most of your Lion issues.

From Carla in Tennessee

Hi Kevin, When we lay out our newspaper, all of our stories are in “text only.” When they are placed on our pages the apostrophes, dashes, quotation marks, etc. are left off. Most of these articles are from older versions of Microsoft Word. Can you tell us what can be causing this problem, and is there a solution other than updating the rest of the computers?

decide to use PCs to produce their publications. It’s their money and their newspapers. However, when it’s my money, or when a trusted colleague asks my opinion, I’m going to shoot straight with him. Stick with the Mac. In the long run, you will save a lot more money, stress and time than you will ever save with “cheaper computers” on the front end.

From Karen in Indiana

We just got new Macs for our office. I’m not a designer, but I do have CS3 at home on my MacBook Pro. I’m trying to figure out upgrades. While reading forums online last night, a light bulb flashed above my head, “Kevin will know!” Here are my ques-

tions for you: Can I upgrade my computer to CS4 to match our graphic artist’s computer? Can I stay on CS3 and share files with a CS4 user? Should we upgrade everybody to Apple’s Lion operating system and upgrade us all to CS5.5? Should we leave well enough alone? Thanks for sharing your expertise. I’m not reading any more stuff. I’ll go with your recommendation. Wow, that was a lot of questions, Karen. But there seemed to be a compliment in there, so I’ll do my best to answer them all. First, it will be a disaster if you use different versions of Adobe Creative Suite and you share

ABOVE: Select “Show Import Options” when selecting a text file to let InDesign know whether the file was created on a Mac or PC. LEFT: Set the Platforms to Mac or Windows in the “Text Import Options” dialogue window in InDesign to make sure strange characters or blank spaces don’t appear on the page.

There’s an easy fix for this, Carla. When you go to place a text file on the page, click on the “Show Import Options” box in InDesign’s Place dialogue box (after selecting the text file to place). You will see a new window appear with options for text files. This allows you to tell InDesign if the text file was created on a Windows-based computer or a Mac. Set this correctly and the disappearing glyphs will appear as they should.

files on a regular basis. It’s possible, but a pain. So, if you share files very often, you all need to be on the same version.

Send your questions to Kevin by email at kevin@ kevinslimp.com.

APRIL 2012

TWN

CAREER MOVES n Morgan Smith has joined the Waitsburg Times as its dedicated Dayton reporter. Smith has served many roles on the campus newspaper at Washington State University, where she will complete her English degree this spring. She also participates in the campus group that produces a student literary journal. Smith is from the Olympia area, but her significant other, Isaac Huether, graduated from Waitsburg High School and is studying nursing at Walla Walla Community College. n Frank Frazee, once a cartoonist for the Chronicle in Centralia, has retired from teaching and returned to drawing for the Chronicle. His comic strip, “Walter Wader,” will run on the opinion page on Saturdays. The strip’s main character, modeled on Frazee, is a man with grandchildren who makes make wry observations about contemporary life in Lewis County. Frazee has drawn caricatures for tips and also ran a comic strip in an antiques magazine. He taught second grade in Chehalis for 30 years. n Jeff Burlingame, a reporter for the Daily World in Aberdeen for nine years, received an NAACP Image

Award for his young adult book, “Jesse Owens: I Always Loved Running.” Last year, his biography about Malcom X lost out to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Burlingame has written about 20 books, most for young adults and teens. He recently was awarded a state contract for a biography of majority leader Syd Snyder, who represented the 19th Legislative District. n The Issaquah Press held an open house last month for Bob Taylor, who ended his 40-year career as a journalist on March 9. Taylor Bob Taylor reported on sports for the former Journal-American, a daily in Bellevue, for 20 years, and for the past 12 years wrote sports and, more recently, feature stories, at the Press. In his farewell column, Taylor wrote, “I have written personality features about local veterans, people who overcame incredible disabilities and a series about local clubs — you haven’t lived as a writer until you have written about smockers (Puget

Sound Smocking Guild) and squakers (Squak Mountain Telescope Gang); and I did a series about local churches, which to date is the most ecumenical thing I have ever done.” At the open house, a steady stream of coaches, athletic directors, and athletes — including some who Taylor coached across three generations of their family — stopped in to reminisce. Publisher Debbie Berto said Taylor is semiretired and working on two books, including one in partnership with Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. New at the Press is Matt Carstens, a 2011 graduate of Central Washington University’s print journalism program. His experience includes several years as a freelance sports reporter for the Daily Record in Ellensburg, covering sports for the CWU’s Observer, and serving as a freelance quote stringer for the Associated Press, where he collected quotes at Seahawks’ home games. Carstens is handling the Press’s sports scoreboard and calendar. Lillian Tucker joined the Sammamish Review, where she is covering sports and schools and taking photographs. Her experience includes covering sports at the Methow Valley

Wenatchee Business Journal. n Ty Beaver has joined the staff of the Tri-City Herald as education reporter. Previously he covered law enforcement, courts, agriculture, education and politics at the Herald and News in Klamath Falls, Ore., where he worked for five years. Beaver earned degrees in English and journalism at the University of Kansas. n When the Herald in Everett hired Ken Clements as the retail advertising manager for the Herald and HeraldNet, it returned the Oklahoma native to the locales of boyhood vacations in Washington — and fond memories of salmon fishing, blueberry picking, and a tour of Boeing when the 747 was the latest new jet. Clements got into the newspaper business in 1997 in Modesto, Calif., at the urging of his neighbor, circulation director at the Modesto Bee. Clements’ sales experience with high-end automobile dealers served him well as the Bee’s automotive classified display manager. Clements gained more experience at the Post-Register in Idaho Falls, Idaho, and a group of 12 weekly newspapers in the Tulsa, Okla., area.

News in Twisp and an internship at TVW. She succeeds Chris Huber, who accepted a position with World Vision. n The Islands’ Sounder in Eastsound hired reporter Cali Bagby. Since April 2011, Bagby had been reporting for the Journal of the San Juan Islands in Friday Harbor. A journalism graduate of the University of Oregon, Bagby began her career as a freelance journalist in 2009, embedded with a medivac and an infantry unit in Iraq. She was later on assignment with a U.S. Marines infantry unit in Afghanistan. Bagby succeeds Meredith Griffith, who left the newspaper after two years. Both newspapers are owned by Sound Publishing. n Michele Mihalovich, an Iowa State University graduate with more than 15 years experience in journalism, has been named editor of the SnoValley Star in Snoqualmie. She is covering the municipalities of Snoqualmie and North Bend as well as their police and fire beats and the cheer squad and football team at Mount Si High School. Her experience includes stops in Oregon at the Medford Mail Tribune and the Ashland Daily Tidings. In Washington, she’s reported for the Wenatchee World and

International editors to gather in Bellingham in June

ome 100 editors of community news organizations from Canada, U.S., United Kingdom and Australia will gather on the Western Washington University campus June 26-July2 for the annual International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors conference. “These folk are impassioned editorialists determined to preserve and perpetuate independent editorial leadership within their communities,” said Frank Garred, conference coordinator and retired Port Townsend Leader publisher. The Bellingham conference is designed to examine, analytically and practically, the effects of the USA Patriot Act and the evolution of the Department of Homeland Security on community life along the northern U.S. border with Canada. This tenth anniversary of the creation of DHS provides the launch pad for three days of discussion and dialogue with the purpose of viewing a national and international issue from a community perspective.

GLOBE

“We want to develop a purpose for examining such issues to make them ‘local,’” said Garred. “Too frequently we in the rural and small community press bypass such stories simply because they take time and initiative, and we question their localization. With the DHS and its Border Patrol now responsible for a broader geographic mission in our communities, this topic gives us the opportunity to critically evaluate its local implications.” Registration for the fourday conference is available at the WNPA website and at ISWNE.org. Both pre- and post-conference travel experiences are scheduled for attendees selecting those options. The conference program opens at 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 27, on the WWU campus with introductions and welcoming remarks from university administrators. An afternoon program on journalism ethics and new technology will be presented by Journalism Department faculty and news professionals.

Thursday, June 28, the program begins with a series of panel dialogues related to the Border Patrol, its mission and how it affects the civilian neighborhoods and communities along the border. That afternoon conferees trek to the border for a presentation at the Blaine Border Patrol headquarters, and then to a session near Lynden with residents and civic officers affected by the patrol’s activities and responsibilities in their backyards, town pathways and roadways. Friday morning the programming focuses on relating what we learn Thursday to the crafting of stories, editorials and community events that engage readers. The session highlight is a report and reflection on a community forum related to Border Patrol activities in Jefferson County conducted by the Port Townsend Leader and publisher Scott Wilson. “Editorial leadership goes beyond the editorial pages,” Garred observes. Friday afternoon David Cuillier, director of the University

landmarks board by Seattle historian Mimi Sheraton. Godden, a former columnist for both the P-I and the Seattle Times, said the globe also represents the decades of journalists who worked beneath it.

She noted the P-I was formed in 1881 and bought by Hearst in 1921. “The history of the P-I is the history of Seattle,” she said. “I’m so pleased to be moving it to landmark status.”

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that afternoon, along with the agreement signed by Hearst to donate the globe to MOHAI. The board is expected to act on the nomination this month. The globe was built in 1948 of two hemispheres of hollow steel with elaborate neon tubing to outline longitude and latitude and the continents, with an 18-foot eagle perched on top and the revolving motto, “It’s in the P-I.” It was a celebration of the neon advertising signs that were lighting up American cities in the 1940s, as well as a confident assertion of Seattle’s place in the world, according to the nominating application prepared for the

CreativeOutlet.com

of Arizona School of Journalism and an officer in the Society of Professional Journalists, guides a program devoted to government transparency, especially records accessibility. A WWU alum, Cuillier was a professional journalist in the Northwest before he joined the academic community. He is nationally known for his open government advocacy. Other afternoon discussions focus on crafting editorials — words, structure, position, meaning and purpose —and, through a panel discussion, the relationships of community news organizations with their libraries, particularly archiving for accessibility and photo depositories.

Saturday morning programming offers editorial page evaluations. Examination and critiques through small group discussion are followed by a general session reviewing those evaluations. The afternoon holds a visit to and program about oil refinery operations and how they, too, impose challenges to local communities and the news organizations that serve them. The annual awards program follows on Saturday evening. “Our conference is open to any and all journalists and their organizations,” Garred notes. Questions about the conference, from dress code to registration, may be directed to him: fpg@ olympus.net or 360.385.3313.

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