TWN1211 - The Washington Newspaper December 2011

TWN

THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER Vol. 96, No.12 December 2011

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

RHAPSODY IN BLUE

Brad Camp/North Kitsap Herald, Poulsbo

SoundRunner riders take in the Seattle skyline from the back deck of the Spirit of Kingston early in the morning on the commuter ferry’s debut trip from Kingston to Seattle. With this low-light shot, Brad Camp won first place for the North Kitsap Herald, Poulsbo, in the General News Category, Circulation Group IV, of the 2011 Washington Better Newspaper Contest.

Holiday sales: Black, Sound make jingle

Black Press picks up Peninsula Daily News in Port Angeles

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Peninsula Daily News, Port Angeles

eninsula Daily News has been sold to Black Press Ltd. of Victoria, whose Sound Publishing division is the largest community newspaper group in the Pacific Northwest, it was announced Oct. 31.

Beginning Nov. 15 the newspaper was printed on Sound Publishing’s high-speed color press in Everett.

Twenty full- and part-time pressroom and mailroom employees were informed Oct. 31 they would be laid off Nov. 14.

Mark Warner, president of Black Press’ Vancouver Island division, said the Canadian company “jumped at the opportunity” to purchase the PDN. “I love your local content,” Warner told an Oct. 31 gathering in the PDN’s newsroom. “For a daily paper, it’s very strong in that. Your circulation is very good.”

The PDN is the largest source of news and advertising on the North Olympic Peninsula. It sells 16,000 Sunday editions and close to 15,000 on weekdays.

It began in 1916 and publishes Sunday through Friday, covering Clallam and Jefferson counties with offices in Port Angeles, Sequim and Port

Townsend, and produces a free weekly publication, Sequim This Week, which serves more than 11,000 households in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley.

Its website, www.peninsuladailynews.com, is the largest and most heavily used news and advertising website on the North Olympic Peninsula, averaging 1.2 million page views a month.

Sound Publishing is headquartered in Poulsbo.

Its mostly weekly publications are in Kitsap, Skagit, Snohomish and Pierce counties; San Juan Islands; Whidbey Island; Vashon Island; communities in east and south King County; and Portland, Ore.

Sound Publishing buys papers in Sequim, Forks

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Sequim Gazette

Peter Horvitz

More resources

Peninsula Daily News Editor and Publisher John Brewer said the sale “gives us a connection to more reJohn sources.”

Brewer He described Sound Publishing as “an excellent community newspaper company.”

Warner said the company believes in print products — and in consolidating press operations to save money.

“It’s a tough economic world, and therefore the revenues aren’t where they used to be, so we have to find efficiencies,” Warner said.

Warner said the decision to close the David PDN press was “extremely difficult.”

Black See BLACK, page 2

ound Publishing, a community newspaper group based in Poulsbo, is now the proud new owner of the Sequim Gazette and the Forks Forum. In a separate transaction, Sound also purchased the Peninsula Daily News.

Brown M. Maloney, owner of Olympic View Publishing for 23 years, gave the news to Sequim Gazette employees during an afternoon staff meeting Oct. 31.

In addition to the Gazette and the Forks Forum, the company produces two real estate magazines, Olympic Peninsula HomesLand and Islander Homes-Land.

Islander is distributed in Island and San Juan counties.

Dave Gauger of Gauger Media Service assisted in the transaction.

Earlier that day Peter Horvitz announced to the staff at the Peninsula Daily News that his family’s company, Horvitz Newspapers, LLC, had sold the paper to Sound Publishing.

Maloney and Horvitz both said

Sue Ellen Riesau

Brown Maloney

they had been unaware the other newspaper was negotiating a sale with Sound Publishing.

Maloney said he was pleased to sell to Sound Publishing, saying, “They are as committed to community journalism as I have been since 1988.”

Maloney said he and his wife, Sara, had been considering selling Olympic View Publishing for some time, but were looking for a buyer who would be a “good steward” for the company’s publications.

Maloney said he’s not retiring and he will continue to live in Sequim and remain active in See SOUND, page 8

Journal in Shelton gets new publisher from Alaska

Veteran Sleight led a growth spurt at previous paper

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Shelton-Mason County Journal

ari Sleight took over as the new publisher of the Shelton Mason County Journal last

month.

Sleight comes to Shelton following a nearly 14-year run as the publisher of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, a thrice-weekly paper serving Wasilla, Palmer and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley in Alaska, just north of Anchorage.

When Sleight started at the Frontiersman, the newspaper

published twice a week, had only spot color on the front page and was printed in Anchorage.

During her tenure, Sleight oversaw the creation of a multimillion dollar printing plant in 2005, added a Sunday edition in August 2002 and began home delivery for the first time in the core areas of Palmer and Wasilla in April 2003.

Sleight’s journalism career began in 1977 at the Idaho Free Press in Nampa. She later joined Wick Communications at the company’s Ontario, Ore., paper before being promoted to the publisher post in Alaska.

Sleight is known throughout the industry for her commitment to See SHELTON, page 8

Kari Sleight

2 December 2011

The Washington Newspaper

Living the news, publishing every week I

n the remote mountain valley where I live in northern Washington, people are talking about two members of a local family who have been indicted by the federal government and charged with killing as many as five endangered gray wolves. A third member of the family is charged with conspiracy to smuggle a wolf pelt out of the country. I own a small weekly newspaper, the Methow Valley News, and our small staff has been all over this story: When protected animals end up dead, it becomes statewide news.

Stories like this often come out of sparsely populated areas like the one my paper covers — where towns are small, expanses are big, the ideal of personal freedom is strong, and tolerance for outside interference is rock-bottom low. These are the outposts where many of the nation’s most contentious environmental issues get played out, far from the big population centers and away from consistent media scrutiny.

Except by publications like the Methow Valley News. City media descend on our area only when news breaks that’s of na-

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, RitzvilleAdams 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) 6343838. 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.

tional importance. Most of the time we’re it — a thin line of defense against a journalism-free community.

Hundreds of papers like Don Nelson publisher, mine persist Methow Valley in the West, News, Twisp most of them isolated and independent, and each serving only a few thousand readers.

Overworked reporters scramble with scant resources to cover issues that may resonate well beyond local concerns.

I think of the Methow Valley as a microcosm for the major environmental issues of the West. That makes us, out of necessity, environmental journalists, though we never think of ourselves that way. We just cover the stories as they arise, as fairly as possible.

But sometimes, even reporting the news neutrally — that is, accurately and with the necessary context — is seen as slanted. After we’d begun writing about the killing of

wolves in the Lookout Pack, one reader wrote and accused us of doing a “hatchet job,” adding that our coverage was “one of the most malicious and sensational examples of journalism I have ever witnessed.” Another reader said that our coverage was “fair and factual” and that the accused wolf-killers “deserved to be prosecuted for their vicious, selfserving and illegal actions.”

Our job is to report stories fully, credibly and consistently.

We’re not heroes looking for a commendation, just serious reporters working our butts off.

Forget about the shabby nobility of tending the sacred journalism flame. This is no Museum of Traditional Country Journalism with authentic re-enactors, nor is it a semi-retirement refuge for worn-out scribes seeking refuge in the rural West.

Like everyone else in the print news industry, we are somewhere on the evolutionary spectrum between movable type and extinction, working hard to keep this form of journalism going long enough for the next economic model to show up.

It may be surprising to hear

that — compared to big-city newspapers — the rural press is said to be doing relatively well.

But there are doubtless some news vacuums still out there, areas where coverage is so scant, infrequent or superficial that forces are operating essentially unobserved. Unobserved is unchecked, and dangerous.

Who else is going to do it?

Bloggers, social media and socalled citizen journalism — the pundits’ solutions to nearly everything — aren’t consistently effective, even in much bigger places. Online news sites are working in some larger markets, but might find it tougher going in the sticks.

In a recent issue, we published yet another story about the wolf killings. We also ran a photo of a little girl buying pumpkins, an analysis of congressional redistricting in our county, the “Police Blotter” and a story about a couple celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary.

Pretty routine stuff. We do this week in and week out because it’s what our well-informed and engaged community expects.

But we’re not primitives.

We file breaking news

updates on our website, have a Facebook page, a Twitter account and are working on an electronic edition. At the same time, we’re still training many of our readers to even look at such things.

Maybe the industry intellectuals who have swept us into the journalism ashbin along with the big-city newspapers are right, and we will inevitably fail.

But after more than 35 years in larger markets working for much bigger publications, I’d rather be here practicing meaningful journalism for a deserving audience than approximating some wan shadow of the craft for an online “community” site where tweeted rumors count as news.

Our readers hold us to a higher standard, and most days we’re the best source they have.

It’s good to be needed; it’s good to be faithfully read.

Don Nelson is a contributor to Writers on the Range, an op ed service of High Country News (hcn.org), where this originally appeared and is being reprinted by permission of the author. He is a longtime newspaper and magazine editor.

First Amendment limits ‘Occupy’ crackdowns

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he comparisons have already started – police in Egypt attacking demonstrators with clubs and tear gas, and police in a number of U.S. cities breaking up “Occupy” camps with clubs and tear gas.

If you’re a demonstrator in Cairo or Oakland, any difference between foreign and domestic nightsticks and pepper spray probably doesn’t matter a whit.

And the outrage by some over police tactics in New York City and on the campus of UC Davis in California is just as real as the international condemnation of crackdowns in several Middle Eastern nations as the hopes of the Arab Spring hit the harsh realities of realpolitik Winter.

Yet we should not lose sight of important differences: The limited nature of American police actions, and the ability of those injured or arrested to protest against, even sue, authorities who overstep legal boundaries. Looming large over every Occupy demonstration is the First Amendment’s protection of assembly and petition – still a huge barrier to authorities who would wish the anti-Wall Street

BLACK

movement to evaporate along with the last wafts of tear gas or pepper spray.

We’ve seen this push and pushback before in our na- Gene tion’s history. Policinski Not long vice president/ after the nation executive director, was founded, First Amendment Congress enCenter acted a whiskey tax. In western Pennsylvania, opposition grew until 1794 when an armed group attacked the home of a tax collector. After negotiations went nowhere, President George Washington sent 13,000 troops to the region and the Whiskey Rebellion died out.

Legal protections for the public’s right to assemble and to “petition for redress of grievances” are rooted in court decisions from the previous centuries: • An 1876 Supreme Court case, United States v.

Cruikshank, in which Chief Justice Morrison Waite – though

supporting an idea of citizenship rights discarded today – expressed a noble view of the right of petition. He said that “the very idea of a government, republican in form, implies a right on the part of its citizens to meet peaceably” to seek changes in government actions and policies.

• A 1937 ruling, Dejonge v.

Oregon, in which the Supreme Court held that the right of assembly is equal to those of free press and free speech – even if the views involved are repugnant to much of society.

• Hague v. CIO (1939), in which Justice Owen Roberts wrote that “streets, parks and public places belong to citizens … and must be protected as public forums.”

Public protest is in the very DNA of the USA. We’re a nation born of protest and petition in the form of the Declaration of Independence; buttressed by the guarantees of the First Amendment; and nurtured by a history of public gatherings, marches and protests on issues ranging from taxes to civil rights to women’s rights to war and peace.

Government has the right – indeed, the obligation – to be concerned about public safety, security and sanitation, and to safeguard the rights of us all from being trampled by the actions of others.

But government does not enter on an equal legal footing with the public when it marches into the public square – or Zuccotti Park – to suppress speech, protesters or press. By law, officials must show that limitations or restrictions are absolutely necessary for a greater public good, and that those limits are the least-intrusive actions necessary to accomplish that good.

Unlike dictators, despots and despicable tactics, the 45 words of the First Amendment adopted in 1791 really are the ultimate power.

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.

ally delivered the news to PDN employees.

“It has been a great 17 years, and it’s been a pleasure working with all of you,” Horvitz said.

“It is with mixed emotions that I announce this, because I’ve loved working with you, and I’ve loved working in the newspaper business.”

The PDN was the last newspaper that Horvitz Newspapers owned.

“We decided to look for a buyer that we felt would carry on the great traditions of the Peninsula Daily News and

could add value to it, and I feel that with Black Press we found the company that will do that.”

David Black, president of Black Press Ltd., said in a statement: “We have purchased other titles from Horvitz Newspapers in the past [its daily and weekly newspapers in King County in 2006] and look forward to adding the Peninsula Daily News and its related titles to our Sound group.”

to see by Nov. 15 is an improved print product, Warner said.

Warner described the press in Everett as “state of the art.”

“It’s a multimillion-dollar press facility,” he said.

No management changes are planned at the PDN, Warner said.

“With Black and Sound, we’ll have more resources to be able to throw at stories and do an even better job for our readers and advertisers,” Brewer said.

“We like them, and they like us. It’s going to be a good fit.”

from page 1

Brewer described the layoffs as “terrible.”

“The economics here demand it,” Brewer said. “I know this: I’m very sad about it.”

All 20 employees received a severance package. They have priority for job openings at the Everett press facility.

‘A great 17 years’

Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.

The PDN had been owned

by Horvitz Newspapers LLC, since 1994. Horvitz Newspapers President Peter Horvitz person-

Improved printing

One thing readers can expect

December 2011 3

The Washington Newspaper

OPEN ACCESS & LEGAL ISSUES

Port hires law firm to pore through files Blotter

Commissioners say expense will help in records release

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Tri-City Herald

ort of Kennewick commissioners decided last month to hire a law firm to plow through about 38,000 pages of documents before releasing them in their largest ever public records request.

Tim Arntzen, the port’s executive director, said port commissioners believe paying $31,000 a year to a Richland law firm to conduct the estimated two-year records review will be more efficient than port employees doing it.

Not only will the attorneys do the job as well, but port staff also will be freed up to go back to more vital port business, Arntzen said.

In August, Kennewick attorney John Ziobro requested under the Open Public Records Act all travel and other expense records of all port employees,

consultants and contractors dating back to Jan. 1, 2005.

The request came just as the port was concluding an internal investigation into questionable expenses by Commissioner David Hanson.

He was found to have submitted $1,170 in questionable travel expenses over a two-year period.

While denying any wrongdoing, he refunded the full amount to the port.

Ziobro hasn’t revealed who his client is or why he wants to look at six years of port expense paperwork. That is not required under state records law.

Tammy Fine, the port’s finance director, told commissioners last month that her time involved in identifying, locating, copying and reviewing the requested records is all-consuming and likely would end up costing about $60,000 in staff time.

Having the process handled by lawyers may cost less, Fine said at the Nov. 8 commission meeting.

The law firm of Cowan

Moore Stam Luke Petersen & Carrier will charge $30 an hour for three months of work, according to the contract approved this week. After the first three months, the progress will be evaluated and there could be a change in the work schedule and rate of pay.

Fine estimated it could be December 2013 before the review is done.

Arntzen told commissioners that port staff can commit to doing no more than three hours a day on the records review, while a law firm can dedicate more time to the project.

Arntzen told the Herald he came up with the idea to contract out the records review out of concern about workload and stress on the port staff.

“Hiring a contractor will allow staff to focus on essential job functions, return port operating levels to near normal and provide an opportunity to catch up on postponed projects and duties,” Arntzen wrote in a memo to commissioners.

Bridgette Scott, port execu-

tive assistant, said Ziobro has not been responsive to the port, asking him by letter to clarify what he is looking for, hoping to reduce the volume of records needing to be reviewed.

Ziobro told the Herald he hasn’t received such a request from the port.

“They’ve never asked if there was a way to reduce my request, which I’m sure there is if there’s 38,000 pages,” he said.

“This is games on their part.

I have no idea what it is that is creating the volume. They have never once asked if there was a way to reduce the volume, which of course I would be glad to do if they made such an inquiry,” Ziobro said.

Skip Novakovich, port commission president, said he was shocked that Ziobro insisted the port has not asked him to clarify the request.

“My understanding is he hasn’t even answered us,” Novakovich said.

As of this week, the port has given Ziobro about 2,100 pages of records.

WCOG honors Roach with Key Award Senator sponsored many bills to increase level of access to state records

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he Washington Coalition for Open Government (WCOG) will presented a Key Award Oc. 31 to State Senator Pam Roach for her consistent stands in favor of transparency and access to government.

Sen. Roach (R-Auburn), who has represented the 31st legislative district since 1990, sponsored in the 2011 session several pieces of legislation that would increase access to public records, including a measure that would require public agencies to post certain information on their websites. She has also served as a member of the Sunshine Committee since its inception. The board of lawmakers, journalists and attorneys is reviewing the various exceptions to Washington’s Public Records Act and Open Public Meetings Act to consider whether the exemptions are needed. The number of exceptions has grown from fewer than a dozen when the laws took effect in 1972 to more

than 300 today.

The award was presented by WGOG board member Mike Reitz of The Freedom Foundation on the floor of the Washington State Senate.

“Senator Roach has been a consistent Sen. Pam strong defender of Roach open government and the public’s right to know what their government is doing,” Toby Nixon, president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, said. “She introduced bills every legislative session to expand access to public records and meetings. We greatly appreciate her faithful and consistent service as a member of the Sunshine Committee, and especially her commitment to making more legislative records open to the public.”

WCOG presents its Key Award to individuals and organizations, including public officials and agencies, who have done something notable for the cause of open govern-

ment.

WCOG board member Patience Rogge, who nominated Roach for the recognition, noted her “dedication to the cause of open government,” and cited the senator’s record sponsoring legislation intended to maintain and extend public access to records and meetings of state and local agencies.

Sen. Roach, who quotes the preamble to the state Public Records Act on her legislative website, said that “Without transparency there can be no accountability in government,” and so access is essential. “A free people have the right to know what their government is doing. We should demand it.

How else can we hold elected officials and bureaucrats accountable?”

She supports the continued work of the Sunshine Committee, whose existence has been threatened by state budget cuts.

“Privacy is legitimate in some areas of trade and criminal justice. The purpose of the Sunshine Committee is to find areas of law that unnecessarily shroud information that should be public,” she added. Of her nomination, she said, “it’s nice to be appreciated.”

returns to TNT

Police beat feature makes comeback after six years

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fter a hiatus of about half a dozen years, The News Tribune in Tacoma has revived its police blotter feature.

The reinstated weekly Police Beat returned to the front of the South Sound (local news) section in late October.

TNT reporter Sean Robinson, grandson of Robinson Newspapers’ founder Jerry Robinson, worked with the Tacoma Police Department to get access to daily reports.

During the years since TNT stopped picking up the reports, they were computerized and, initially, access seemed complicated.

But after a three-year discussion, both parties agreed to return to the simple system used in the past.

In announcing the feature to readers, TNT executive editor Karen Peterson described what drove Robinson’s interest in restarting police beat coverage.

“As a reporter who started at his family’s small papers in Federal Way, he understood the value of community journalism.

As a storyteller, he was intrigued by the slices of real life revealed in the reports.”

For his part, Robinson told Peterson, “We cover big crimes: major assaults, homicides and breaking events. We don’t always see the small stuff, the crimes people experience every day.

“Police reports reveal that small stuff. They’re raw, unspun and human. They’re the first drafts of mayhem, the beginnings of patterns,” he said.

Peterson agreed, telling readers in her Oct. 23 column, “As we leaf through reports, we’ll spot crime trends. We’ll also find reports that inspire deeper investigation.”

CALENDAR NOTES CALENDAR OF EVENTS Jan. 6

*Deadline to register for NYPA Contest Judging

Jan. 13

WNPA Board Meeting, Olympia

Jan. 26

*NYPA Contest Judging, SeaTac

Feb. (tba)

Legislative Day, Olympia

April 13

WNPA Board Meeting, Seattle

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

n NYPA Contest Judging The New York Press Association has divided its contest judging into two opportunities, and both give judges chance to see some of the best community newspapers in the country.

All judges should register by Jan. 6 at wnpa.com/events.

If you can be in the Seattle area Jan. 26 to judge the New York Press Association Better Newspaper Contest, we need six General Excellence judges, six photography judges, and a dozen advertising judges.

Most news entries will be judged online from mid- to late January.

The onsite judging will be at the Red Lion Hotel, 18220 International Blvd, across from SeaTac Airport. Judging begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m.

NYPA will provide breakfast and a nice lunch, and will cover

rooms for a handful of WNPAmember judges who need to drive in the night before.

Contact Mae Waldron if you’ll need a room, mwaldron@ wnpa.com or (206) 634-3838 ext. 2.

NYPA will judge our contest this summer. Remember that seeing NYPA members’ work may be an an advantage in planning your 2012 contest entries. n Publishers Round Tables WNPA veterans Debbie Berto and Frank and Judy DeVaul have volunteered to host a Publishers Round Table in their community in the coming year, and WNPA President Jana Stoner is calling for at least two more volunteer hosts.

The events will be offered on a Thursday or Friday at different locations around Washington state, to give

members more frequent opportunities to share ideas with peers.

Each attending publisher will cover his or her costs for meals and share any meeting room costs with the host.

WNPA will provide a registration process and, a week prior to the event, send the host a list of attendees.

It takes about a dozen attendees to generate a lively discussion, and that’s the likely number of publishers who would meet at each event.

If you’d like to host a round table in your area, please select the month you’d like to host and email that information to Mae Waldron, mwaldron@ wnpa.com. by Friday, Dec. 16.

Call her at (206) 634-3838 ext.

2 with any questions.

We’ll announce the dates for each round table as they become available.

4 December 2011

The Washington Newspaper

Times adds local news partners Eight new partners brings community site count to 46

I

The Seattle Times

n an effort to provide readers with the most comprehensive and up-to-date news from throughout the region, the Seattle Times has forged partnerships with a number of local news Web sites.

The addition of eight new websites last month brings the total number of online partners to 46.

The Times’ effort to build community-news relationships began in August 2009 with the launch of the Networked Journalism project. In 2010, this project helped the Times win the fourth annual Associated Press Managing Editors’ Innovator of the Year award.

By partnering with these quality local sites, the Times can provide its readers with more links to important coverage about both neighborhoods and general interest topics. In return, the partners receive increased traffic and exposure.

New partners with the Times are: BelltownPeople, a collaborative neighborhood news site where anyone can post. Editors promote the best stories to the front page so Seattle can hear about Belltown’s diverse community of artists, writers,

photographers, business owners and foodies. They love city life and the people that make the neighborhood uniquely great.

DigginFood serves up organic kitchen gardening advice, seasonal recipes, DIY projects, and tours of inspiring home gardens three times a week. The website is edited

by Willi Galloway, a Master Gardener, radio commentator, and author of the upcoming book Grow Cook Eat: A FoodLovers Guide to Vegetable Gardening. Willi has grown food on the roof of an apartment building and at the Interbay P-Patch. She now gardens and keeps chickens in her small urban yard.

Downtown Bellevue Network has been a resource for the community that lives, works, or plays in downtown Bellevue for over four years. It covers everything from events and happenings to building construction and happy hours.

The Glamour Wire is an interview-based fashion site with a critical eye on the cultural phenomenons of fashion, and the truth behind the trends. Writer Rachael Yahne interviews designers, stylists, photographers from around Seattle to share their visions with those of us wearing it on the streets.

It’s My Darlin’ is a streetstyle photography blog documenting how the people of Seattle express themselves

he 97 t g 19 n i ad ince e L ys Explore the wa

Digital Main Street™

through the way they dress.

Daily photographs give readers a glimpse into the personal style walking the streets of Seattle.

The site is edited by Dana Landon, a Seattle girl always on the hunt for things that inspire.

ParentMap provides innovative and award-winning editorial content through a variety of media to support parents in their most essential role: that of their child’s first and most important teacher.

They connect parents to the info and resources they need.

Seattle Bubble covers all things real estate for the Seattle area, providing local real estate news, statistics, and commentary without the sales spin. Edited by Tim Ellis, Seattle Bubble brings clarity to an important topic that deeply affects everyone: home owners, buyers, sellers, and renters.

SouthendSeattle is an online community magazine written entirely by volunteers who live or work in the Southend, or are just fans of the area.

The website covers the wide cultural and social diversity of residents and businesses within the region. Through sharing knowledge, resources, expertise and experiences SouthendSeattle hopes to build a stronger community.

This website is edited by Maia Segura and Daimian Lix.

Inland Press Association honors Pioneer executive

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avid Lord of Pioneer Newspapers received the Ray Carlsen Distinguished Service Award from Inland Press Association at its 126th annual meeting.

The award was presented at a luncheon Oct. 17 at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel.

Lord, a past president and chairman of Inland Press Association, is vice-chairman of Pioneer, which owns seven daily newspapers and nine

non-dailies in the western United States.

Also honored with the Ray Carlsen award was W. H. (Wally) Lage, who died Aug. 19, 2010, at age 66.

Since 1993, Lage had been with Rust Communications in Missouri.

The service award was renamed in 2009 for Carlsen, a former executive director of Inland.

AAJA honors three in state

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he Asian American Journalists Association presented four awards to members of the AAJA Seattle Chapter at the organization’s national convention in Detriot.

Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen won the Special Recognition Award for his mentoring and promotion of Asian American journalists.

Sharon Pian Chan received the Outstanding Leadership Award for the Executive Leadership Program.

Sanjay Bhatt won the Chapter President of the Year and the Gannett Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism.

Both are reporters at the Seattle Times.

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December 2011 5

The Washington Newspaper

PASSINGS

Pacific Publishing founder Haley dies at 69 W Pacific Publishing Co., Seattle

hen he founded Pacific Media Group (now Pacific Publishing Co.) in 1990, Tom Haley spoke to a Seattle Times reporter on the subject of editorial integrity: “I cut my eye teeth at the Detroit Free Press, where there was a clear separation of church and state,” he said.

Those who knew him say integrity was a hallmark of Haley’s life and career.

Haley, who retired as president of Pacific Publishing Co. in 2007, died Oct. 14 at his home in Carlsbad, Calif., surrounded by family and his companion, Gayle Davis, after a courageous, nearly year-long battle with pancreatic cancer.

He was 69.

Pacific Publishing’s stable of newspapers includes the Queen Anne News & Magnolia News, Madison Park Times, South Seattle Beacon, North Seattle Herald-Outlook, Capitol Hill Times and City Living.

Haley served on the Board of Trustees of WNPA from 2005 until his retirement in 2007.

“To say that Tom was a fine man would be an extreme understatement,” said Pacific

Pacific Publishing Co., Seattle

Tom Haley, with his dog, Tucker, in retirement.

Publishing Co. publisher Mike Dillon.

“He had bedrock integrity and an infectious laugh. Some people are takers; some are givers. Tom was definitely the latter. I think everyone who knew Tom felt privileged.”

Tacoma photographer Bruce Kellman dies

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The News Tribune, Tacoma

ruce Kellman, who spent 42 years as a staff photographer for The News Tribune, died Nov. 14. He was 66.

Kellman shot photos of everything from soldiers shipping out to Vietnam, to the construction of the Tacoma Dome, to the Puyallup Tribe storming the Cushman Hospital building. He also shot the small moments of life that build a community’s visual history.

He retired from the newspaper in 2007 after being diagnosed with bronchiectasis, a rare disease that destroys the airways.

He received a double lung transplant in 2010. He died at home, surrounded by family members.

Kellman’s career spanned generations. He was delighted when a local family alerted him that he had made a photo of a high school football player virtually identical to one he had shot of the boy’s father more than 20 years earlier.

Kellman had a love for shooting football. He was on the sidelines most every Saturday and Sunday, covering college and professional teams. He traveled with the Huskies and Cougars to their Rose Bowl appearances, and to Detroit to shoot the Seahawks in the 2006 Super Bowl.

Tribune photo editor Jeremy Harrison said he was impressed with Kellman’s zeal in covering football late in his career. “That takes a lot of energy and high stamina.”

Harrison also remembers Kellman’s consistently professional manner. Once when Harrison called Kellman to cover a breaking crime story, Kellman asked if he could shave first. “I said ‘No.’ Then he got the key shot of the arrest, and went home and shaved before coming in,” Harrison said.

Daughter Elizabeth Fontanilla said she’ll miss her father’s wit and sense of humor and the good advice family and co-workers sought from him – as well as his fatherly support. “He would back you up even if you were wrong.”

Kellman was born April 17, 1945, in Sycamore, Ill., and moved with his family to Selah, Wash., when he was in high school. He bought his first camera at age 9 from lawn-mowing proceeds, and got his first job photographing a wedding for a commercial studio in Yakima when he was 15. With that money, “he bought a car, even though he wasn’t old enough to drive,” Fontanilla said.

“He would have his sister drive him around.”

Kellman spent his last two years of college at the University of Puget Sound, where he was yearbook photographer, graduating in 1967. During that time, he started work at The News Tribune and settled in Tacoma with his wife, Joyce, to raise their daughters, Elizabeth and Emily, and son, David.

Fellow News Tribune photographer and friend Russ Carmack credits Kellman for Carmack’s long career at the newspaper. Kellman urged Carmack to apply at the newspaper after Carmack left the Navy. “It was his intervention in my life that made this career possible.”

“He had this calming way about him. His style was he just stood back and watched. He liked to get the moment that was relevant to the story,” Carmack said.

Fellow News Tribune photographer Peter Haley grew up seeing Kellman’s photos in the paper. Later, when the two worked together, they would discuss photo techniques.

Haley recalled something Kellman told him years ago: “When the shutter is open, it’s like I hear music.”

Haley was born Aug. 8, 1942, in St. Louis, Mo., where he graduated from St. Louis University High School and St. Louis University. Later in life, he recalled there were times when food on the family table was not always a given.

In the early 1960s, he spent time as a Jesuit seminarian.

His newspaper career began at the Detroit Free Press, where, only in his late 20s, he negotiated with 14 different labor unions. He later moved on to the Dallas Times Herald before taking on to the troubled Orange Coast Publishing Co., with marching orders to make the operation profitable before selling it.

“I did make it profitable,” he told the Seattle Times in 1990. “And I did sell it.”

After a stint at the Denver Post, Haley decided the corporate world was not to his liking. He moved on to smaller newspaper groups, with a stop in New Hampshire before Houston and Seattle.

Before arriving in Seattle in 1990, Haley was president of Founders Communications Inc., a group of three daily papers and 15 weeklies in Houston at the time.

In Seattle, Haley served on the board

of Food Lifeline from 1991 to 1999 and again from 2002 to 2005, and chaired the board in 1996-97.

Food Lifeline president and CEO Linda Nagotte said she owes her position to Mr. Haley, who recruited her for the role and served as her mentor.

“He had a certitude that everyone had the right to be free from hunger,” Nagotte said. “His commitment was to care for his fellow man.”

In retirement in Carlsbad, Calif., Haley became involved with the Carlsbad Boys & Girls Club, especially in its drive for a new teen center.

Besides his companion, Gayle Davis, Haley leaves behind four daughters: Erin Maureen Haley-Wright, Gina McGrath Onstott and Shannan Gabrielle Whalen, all Southern California residents; and Paige Diana Haley of Seattle. He also is survived by five grandchildren and his cousin, Nancy Hadley.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to the Boys & Girls Club of Carlsbad, PO Box 913, Carlsbad CA 92008, or online at www.bgccarlsbad. org.

Flint passes in Sun City Former publisher also made a mark as a musician

Review-Independent, Toppenish

G

ail Flint, former publisher of the Yakima Valley Mirror in Zillah, the Toppenish Review, and the Wapato Independent, died Oct. 21 from effects of a heart attack on Oct. 17. He would have been 99 years old on Dec. 26.

He served as president of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association in 1971.

Flint’s college degrees were in music and he was a high school band and choir director for years. But he grew up in a newspaper family. His father published a small weekly in

South Dakota.

In 1951 Flint and his wife Gladys bought the Yakima Valley Mirror and published it 10 years before purchasing the Toppenish Review. A few years later they bought the Wapato Independent.

During his publishing career, he helped found the Zillah Chamber of Commerce in the early 1950s, was a member of chambers of commerce in Toppenish and Wapato, was a member of the Zillah and Toppenish Lions Clubs, and served on many civic committees.

He kept his ties to his first love, music, by organizing and conducting a Zillah Community Chorus, and serving as choir director for several area churches, his last and longest service at the Toppenish

United Methodist Church.

The Flints sold the newspapers to their son Jim and retired in 1965. They moved to Sun City, Ariz., where they enjoyed their retirement.

Flint was preceded in death by his wife of 67 years, about eight years ago.

In Sun City, he served as choir director for the Willowbrook United Methodist Church for 17 years and the Unitarian church for 10 years.

He was active all his life, living independently until he died. He walked daily, practiced the piano every day, and gave his last concert four days before his death.

He was remembered and celebrated at a small gathering at Royal Oaks where he resided in Sun City.

Post-Register, agency trade offices Move works for all, publisher says

T

he Quincy Valley Post-Register and Quincy Port District traded buildings last month, a move publisher Chuck Allen described as beneficial for all parties.

“It was a win, win, win,” said Allen.

The newspaper leased a smaller office in the port’s building at 202 G St. S.E., better suited to its current operation, and the Port District purchased the

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building newspaper occupied at 840 F St. S.W. Building owner Jim Kadyk, former publisher of the QVPR, sold the building for $275,000 effective Nov. 1.

He had sold the newspaper to the Wenatchee World in 2007.

Though the larger office was appropriate when the staff needed more space, with more work done on computers and at the World’s printing facility, the larger office was unnecessary.

The newspaper opened the doors at its new office on Nov. 7.

6 December 2011

The Washington Newspaper

Fairhaven hosted fourth meeting 54 new members and a new name

A

Philip A. Dwyer/Bellingham Herald

Former Bellingham Herald news photographer Jack Carver, 93, is shown at his Bellingham home in October 2011 and in 1963, holding a Graflex Speed Graphic camera.

Museum to feature photographer’s work

P

hotography by former ON THE WEB Bellingham Herald Whatcom Museum: photographer Jack Carver, whatcommuseum.org 93, is on display at the Whatcom Museum through this spring. shows a wide range of images The museum also is hosting and is up through March 25. a 94th birthday party for him Carver’s career at the Herald from noon to 2 p.m. Dec. 4, the spanned the post-war growth day before his birthday. in Bellingham, 1945-81, but The public is invited. he started taking photos with a From a collection of more than Kodak Brownie during World 50,000 images, museum archivist War II. Jeff Jewell has set two shows.

That detail and more Carver documented information on his history is on Bellingham’s Blossom Time the museum’s website, which Parade throughout his career, and republishes an essay Carver wrote for the Herald’s May 1980 a dozen photos from the 1940s and 1950s are on display through Progress Edition.

The museum has archives Feb. 18. of 16 photographers, all “Delivered Daily: The News documented on its website.

Photography of Jack Carver”

s many as 16 publishers attending the fourth annual meeting of the Washington Press Association, held in Fairhaven Sept. 3-5, 1890, arrived early on Sept. 3 aboard the steamers “State of Washington” and “Premier.”

“As quickly as possible the members of the Press Association and the accompanying ladies disembarked and were taken in carriages, headed by the brass band, and drive to the Hotel Fairhaven,” the proceedings report.

Another 13 members arrived in the afternoon on the “Idaho” and “Eastern Oregon,” bringing attendance to 29.

Most business was conducted on the first day, including a lengthy discussion on rates for public printing and approval of 54 new members. These were individuals associated with newspapers, not the newspapers, and brought total membership to 129.

Among the top issues was the first legislative committee report by Orno Strong of the West Coast Trade, Tacoma.

Strong spoke for “better protection of the newspapers from irresponsible parties who bring actions for libel without cause.”

His report was adopted with “thanks for his earnestness and zeal,” and subsequently a bill was drafted and approved.

Along with Strong, C. M. Holton of the Yakima Republic and Ralph Metcalf of the Tacoma Globe agreed to attend the next legislative session to influence passage of the bill.

Officer election was followed by a proposal of five delegates and three alternates to the National Press Association.

The meeting also offered social and tourism opportunities.

On the first evening, a public meeting featured an address

by Fairhaven’s acting mayor and a reply by the association president, C.M. Holton.

Interspersed was music by the Tacoma theatre orchestra.

After two additional speeches by publishers, the evening continued with an amusing poem by Fairhaven Herald editor Col. W. L. Visscher, and more speeches.

The following day’s schedule featured a railroad excursion to Sedro, a closed business meeting, a banquet and a ball at the Fairhaven Hotel.

An excursion among the islands filled most of the last afternoon. Some business was conducted aboard the steamer.

Strong proposed a resolution to change the group’s name to Washington State Press Association. Although it carried unanimously, in a footnote secretary Egbert wrote, “The action wasn’t in accord with the Constitution and Bylaws, and the compiler was instructed to consider the action unauthorized.”

Regardless, in subsequent proceedings the association is referred to as the Washington State Press Association.

Editor’s note: All the information here is from the proceedings prepared in 1890

by Secretary Marion D. Egbert at the request of the WPA board.

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December 2011 7

The Washington Newspaper

Kindle starts a blaze Amazon’s prices could warm up a lot more users

W

hen the folks at Amazon, the Seattlebased online retailing juggernaut, rolled out a lineup of new products at a Sept. 28 press conference, I admit my jaw dropped a bit.

The products announced — the Kindle Fire color tablet and a radically improved group of E-ink electronic readers — were indeed Bill Will Executive Director impressive, WNPA but the astonishment came from the price tags: $200 for the tablet and the electronic reader as low as 79 bucks.

Wow, I thought. Sept. 28, 2011 will be remembered as the day paper died.

An overstatement? Certainly.

But consider that dropping prices are the true driver of how fast new technologies get adopted — much more important than factors like convenience, productivity, and yes, even snob appeal.

Low prices turn niche markets into mass markets, and the electronic reader market now mirrors other consumer technology trends of the past two decades.

Make a product consistently cheaper and better (computers, DVD players, HDTVs, etc.), and consumers will buy them by the container load.

The implications for the newspaper industry could not be clearer. The day when the majority of your customers will be consuming your product via an e-reader or tablet computer just got closer.

by the Kindle Fire, a 7-inch tablet computer powered by the open source Android operating system. Since the April 2010 rollout of the Apple iPad, other companies have tried — and failed miserably — to create a product that could compete.

They failed for two reasons: the earlier Android tablet competitors couldn’t match Apple’s juggernaut on price or features. Yes, it was possible to purchase a non-Apple tablet for $400-500 that looked like an iPad and did some of the things the iPad could do, but they were for the most part poor imitations. People that felt like they really needed a tablet computer would fork over the extra $100 and buy Apple. And that’s why 23 million iPads have been peddled worldwide in the past 17 months.

Remember when Apple’s original Macintosh was touted as “The computer for the rest of us?” Ironic, then, that the Kindle Fire could just as easily be marketed as “The tablet computer for the rest of us.”

The universe of people who’ll drop $500 for a gadget — even one as slick as the iPad — is limited. There are only so many technology junkies and people with large amounts of disposable income. There is a much larger potential customer base of less prosperous and more frugal people that couldn’t — or wouldn’t — consider dropping $500 for a tablet, who will take a look at an alternative that offers much of the bang for only 40 percent of the bucks.

Which is exactly what the Kindle Fire does. It lacks the cameras, GPS, 10-inch screen and brushed aluminum of the iPad2. What it does have is a beautiful 7-inch display (with the same high-end IPS technology as the Apple product), an attractive, easy-to-use interface,

A look at the hardware: Kindle Fire

Geeks and gadget hounds (yes, like me) were most excited

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Clockwise from upper right are the Kindle Fire tablet, the Kindle Touch and the basic Kindle e-reader.

© Amazon

and just enough processing speed, RAM and storage to make everything work — and work well. If you want to use a tablet to read an electronic book, listen to music, watch a movie, clean out your e-mail and browse the Web, the Kindle Fire will do it with little or no compromise.

At a bargain price. Is it the iPad “killer?” No. But it will dethrone the iPad as the top-selling tablet computer.

After all, Toyota sells a lot more Camrys than Lexus sport coupes, and a $4 hamburger fills your stomach just as well as a $30 steak.

Improved Kindle e-readers

The original Kindle electronic reader was released four years ago this fall. In 2007, $399 bought you a 6-inch E-ink display that could generate four levels of gray — and a slow, buggy, classic first-generation product. What a difference 48 months make in the tech universe. The fall 2011 entry level $79 Kindle gives you 16-level grayscale display at 167 ppi. E-ink gets better and better. It’s not quite ink on paper quality — yet — but it’s no longer dark gray text overlayed on a light gray background. Page refreshes continue to improve, too.

Spend another 20 bucks and you can move up to the Kindle Touch. Same screen size and other specs, but the hardware page turning buttons disappear and all functions are controlled by touching the screen itself. The most inexpensive member of the new lineup, the Kindle Touch 3G, adds a 3G

data connection so you can download newspapers, books and magazine when you’re away from your home or workplace wi-fi network.

These new products haven’t generated the buzz of the Kindle Fire tablet, but they are just as noteworthy. Eyebrows raised earlier this year when Amazon started flirting with the $100 price point at the bottom end of the Kindle product line. They’ve now embraced the price point, with an even more appealing product to boot.

This is the beginning of the end of electronic readers as niche products. They’ll be firmly part of the mainstream when the holiday season’s sales figures are revealed.

A better battery finally on the horizon?

The Achilles’ heel for nearly all of our commonly used portable electronics is battery life. The amount of time your laptop, tablet or smartphone can survive away from a wall outlet is still measured in hours rather than days.

Researchers at Northwestern University have solved that

problem.

They reported last month they’ve figured out how to incorporate microscopic layers of graphite — and millions of tiny holes — in traditional lithium ion batteries. The result: a battery that holds 10 times as much juice and charges 10 times faster.

Is there bad news? Yes, a little. Early results show that these new generation batteries remain that efficient only through about 150 charging cycles. Still, if you’re only recharging once a week, that is 2.5 years or more of battery life in a device packing the same size battery of a contemporary gadget.

Is this breakthrough coming to a gizmo near you? Alas, don’t hold your breath. It will take a couple of years — or more — to determine if the technique can be used inexpensively enough on a commercial scale to hit the market.

December 2011 8

The Washington Newspaper

Journal marks 125th in Ritzville A bout 65 people from the community joined publisher Stephen McFadden and his staff for an after-hours gathering Nov. 10 to celebrate the 125th year of the Ritzville-Adams County Journal.

“One of the real treats was that (former publisher) John Pavlik was able to be with us,” said McFadden, Journal publisher since 2004.

People paged through the 48-page anniversary section included with the week’s newspaper, finding photographs from each decade since 1887, historical and contemporary advertisements, and stories about significant local events.

To introduce today’s readers to former publishers, the section reprinted editorials from April 28, 1988, when Laverne and John Pavlik announced they had sold the newspaper, and from May 5, 1988, when Dee and Duane Ruser introduced themselves as the new owners.

McFadden profiled John Pavlik, who still lives in Ritzville, in a separate story.

Work on the section started months ago, when former editor Jennifer Larsen began reviewing the newspaper’s archives and boxes of loose 4x5 negatives (1946 and older) to suggest photographs and advertisements for the section to McFadden.

His plans for a 32-page section, with 50 percent contemporary advertising, were scrapped the night before printing.

“We wanted a sampling of all the decades,” McFadden said. “In the two midnight hours I was putting it together, it was clear it wouldn’t work,” he said.

The 48 pages accommodate some hard-news stories and photos but group shots dominate the pages — Girl Scouts, Kiwanis, sports teams, ground breaking ceremonies and other community events, all with the names from the original captions.

“A lot of people have responded nicely to us about getting to see the old photos, remembering friends and relatives from other eras,” McFadden said.

Larsen has processed about 1,000 loose 4x5 negatives, placing them in archival sleeves with dates where available, and has another 1,500-2,000 to process.

SOUND

community affairs.

At the same time, he wants to spend more time working with The McClatchy Company, which his family owns. McClatchy, the third largest newspaper firm in the U.S., is based in Sacramento, Calif.

Maloney also is a board member of the Seattle Times Company.

With minority partner Todd Ortloff, Maloney will continue to own and operate ABC affiliate KONP, an AM/FM radio station in Port Angeles.

“We are thrilled with the purchase of the Sequim Gazette,” Black Press CEO David Black said.

“We have been publishing community newspapers for 22 years in Washington state and see this as an opportunity to expand our operations to the North Olympic Peninsula, which is a good geographical fit with our other newspapers and website titles. The Gazette is one of the best newspapers in the state in terms of quality. We are proud to be the new stewards of the business.”

The new owners have announced that publisher Sue Ellen Riesau will continue overseeing the operations of the Gazette, Forum and the magazines.

“I have been with Brown for almost his entire 23 years here and of course I am sad to see the end of an era,” said Riesau. “At the same time, however, I have known and worked with Sound Publishing almost as long.”

Riesau said through the negotiations she felt “very connected, very comfortable with them. I know they are community-minded people. They really value community journalism.

Their plan is to continue putting out the best possible product.”

Riesau said the Gazette’s advertisers can expect to see “the same great content in the newspaper and the same great service.”

“We will honor all of our contracts and our rates. We’re not changing the game.”

The Gazette has an average circulation of more than 8,000.

Jennifer Larsen/Ritzville-Adams County Journal

At an after-hours gathering at the Journal office Syd Sullivan, mayor of Washtucna, and Janice Sullivan (left) and Jim Lisk browsed original copies of old Journals from the early 1900s.

Jennifer Larsen/Ritzville-Adams County Journal

Former Journal publisher John Pavlik, right, talks with a longtime friend at the Journal’s 125th anniversary open house.

With so many more images available, McFadden is considering putting together

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a coffee-table book of photos to publish on demand.

CAREER MOVES n Centralia Chronicle Executive Editor Michael Wagar left the newspaper last month after leading its newsroom for the past decade. Brian Mittge, assistant editor of the newsroom since 2007, was promoted to editor-in-chief. Mittge, 35, graduated as the valedictorian of W.F. West High School in Chehalis. He then moved to the Seattle area, returning to Lewis County after six years. He began working as a Chronicle reporter in 2000. He left in 2005 to be a “stay-at-home dad” until 2007, when Wagar recruited him to take on the role of assistant editor. Mittge’s replacement

has not yet been announced.

Wagar accepted a position as external communications advisor for TransAlta USA. Also at the Chronicle, advertising sales representative Brian Watson has been promoted to advertising manager. Watson, 35, started working at the Chronicle in 2006. Publisher Christine Fossett cited Watson’s forwardthinking ideas when making the announcement. n Marysville Globe and Arlington Times hired Jake McNeal, a 2011 graduate of the University of Oregon in Eugene, as a sports and news reporter.

McNeal covered features at the

UO’s Daily Emerald and grew up in Beaverton, which he said has a similar feeling to his newly adopted towns. A sports fan and nearly lifelong writer, he said he is grateful to have the opportunity to combine the two in his first job out of college. n Erick Walker resigned from his sports reporting job to accept a position as a special education teacher at Kent Mountain View Academy. A 16-year veteran of sports reporting, Walker had covered South King County sports for the past 11 years, most recently for the Kent Reporter, but also for the Covington-Maple Valley Reporter, the former

South County and King County journals, and briefly, as a freelancer for the Seattle Times.

Walker graduated this summer from City University of Seattle, with a master’s degree in teaching special education. n Rachel Ayres, 11, of Montesano, is one of 12 students selected to write for “Time For Kids,” a weekly news magazine distributed by Time Inc., to children from kindergarten through sixth grade. Ayres’ mom Gail (Greenwood) Ayres, is a former reporter for the Daily World in Aberdeen. The younger Ayers, a sixth-grader at Satsop School, will write through the end of the

Unleashed alumnus takes its helm

Youth project to offer grades and credits

T

he latest developments at the Yakima Herald-Republic’s award-winning youth journalism program, Unleashed, put the program in the hands of alumnus Scott Klepach and participating students in line to receive grades and credit toward graduation.

With Unleashed serving as a class, the newspaper and the school expect higher productivity from the 23 participating students.

As described by Editor Bob Crider in an Oct. 30 column, this year’s

Unleashed student work could appear on the pages of the daily paper, on section fronts, as well as at unleashed.yakimablogs.com In recent years, stories have be published in alternate weeks’ Sunday Life in the Northwest section and republished on the Web. Klepach replaces Unleashed coordinator Adriana Janovich, who is on leave while completing a fellowship at the University of Southern California.

Klepach was part of the inaugural group of students, in 1999-2000, and the first student-editor. He stayed in the program for three years.

Since then he has taught English at Central Washington University, where he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in English, as well as Heritage University and Yakima Valley Community College.

Although Klepach wrote the syllabus, grading will be by school personnel, either faculty or guidance counselors, with input from him and Herald-Republic photographer Andy Sawyer, who mentors students in the Unleashed program.

The Herald-Republic partners with Educational Service District 105 and several member schools on the Unleashed program.

2012 school year. “TFK” published her first editorial, covering the pro side of allowing kids to use social networking sites, in late September. n Michele Matassa Flores has joined the Puget Sound Business Journal as assistant managing editor for digital media, a new position at the Seattlebased publication. She oversees the newspaper’s two websites, bizjournals.com/seattle/ and techflash.com. Most recently she was an editor at Crosscutt, the online regional news site; before that had been a reporter and editor at the Seattle Times for 20 years.

SHELTON

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community journalism and she looks forward to bringing that emphasis to every aspect of the Journal.

“I’m excited to call Mason County my new home, and look forward to working with the newspaper staff to bring our readers relevant news and information each week,” she said.

“I also look forward to hearing from our readers and community leaders to get their input on how we might better serve the needs of the county.”

Sleight and her husband, Fred, and their Yorkie terrier, Rowdy, are house hunting in the Shelton area. They have lots of family in the area and look forward to welcoming their children and grandchildren to their new Mason County home.