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SEPTEMBER 2012
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CAREER MOVES n William “Scott” Gray has joined the Enumclaw and Bonney Lake-Sumner CourierHerald team in the position of sales manager. Gray has more than 30 years of experience as an advertising executive for Pepsi-Cola. He was also a national account sales manager responsible for the Kroger Company on the West Coast. Prior to joining the CourierHerald team he was vice president of sales for Hostess Brands. He has been a resident of Enumclaw for 10 years. He and his wife have two adult children and three granddaughters. n Lee Enterprises Inc. has announced an expanded role for Daily News Publisher Rick Parrish. He has been appointed regional publisher supervising operations at three Oregon newspapers, the Albany Democrat-Herald, the Corvallis Gazette-Times, and the World of Coos Bay. Parrish was named TDN publisher in 2009 and will continue in that role. n Jack Smith is the new editor at the Review-Independent in Toppenish. A Wyoming native, Smith wrote features and covered sports for the
Toppenish weekly after moving to Washington last year. His previous experience includes reporting for a daily newspaper, serving as sorts editor at three medium-sized papers and as editor at a weekly. n Jorge Rivera and Laura Damron have been promoted to new positions at the Daily Herald in Everett. Rivera, who joined the company in 2002, is the new chief revenue officer. During his tenure he created and launched La Raza, managed business operations for Seattle’s Child, served as publisher of the Weekly Herald and restricted the daily’s circulation department. Damron has been with the company for 12 years, and is the new controller. Previously she managed multimillion-dollar loan portfolios and served as an operations specialist in the U.S. Navy. n Bruce Pritchard penned his last cartoon for the Bainbridge Island Review in July, when his work was cut as part of cost consolidations at the newspaper. He had written and drawn the Review’s editorial cartoons for more than 15 years. n After 29 years Kathleen
Merryman has retired from the News Tribune. Her columns introduced readers to interesting local characters, often the people behind the news. She “inspires us, and shines a light on issues and neighborhoods that don’t otherwise get covered,” wrote TNT Executive Editor Karen Peterson. Larry LaRue, on the Mariners’ beat at the Tribune since 1988, has been named as Merryman’s successor. TNT Managing Editor Dale Phelps notes that LaRue’s capabilities as an award-winning reporter and storyteller will transfer easily to the news beat. Also at the Tribune, Leon Gonion and Eric Lint from the University of Washington Tacoma School of Politics, Philosophy and Economics are working as interns, backgrounding candidates for county, Legislature, Superior Court and statewide offices. More than 150 candidates filed for office in Pierce County. The Tribune set a minimum standard of backgrounding after two elected officials, Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer Dale Washam and Superior Court Judge Michael Hecht, turned out to be unworthy after
they were elected. The interns are verifying military experience and education as cited by candidates, checking court records for involvement in civil and criminal cases, and trying to verify employment and checking for liens against candidates or their businesses. n Four high school students have joined the Beat, the monthly teen page in the Issaquah Press. Nitin Shyamkumar and Salma Mahmoud of Skyline High School and Madeline Wells and Sophie Mettelstaedt of Issaquah High School are new to the staff. Press Managing Editor Kathleen Merrill donates her time on weekends to advise the students, and the students raise $500 per month to cover the Beat’s costs. The Beat is in its fourth year of publication. n Greg Shaw, formerly with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle, has been named publisher and CEO of Crosscut Public Media, a Seattle nonprofit that publishes the online news site Crosscut.com. Shaw started his career writing for newspapers in Oklahoma, and moved to Seattle in 1994. He was in corporate commu-
nications at Microsoft before joining the Gates Foundation. Shaw succeeds Crosscut founder David Brewster, who is stepping down as editor and publisher, but will continue writing and serving on the board. n Christina Crea has joined DeVaul Publishing Co. as a reporter based in the Chehalis office. She is writing for the company’s Business to Business magazine and covering the Mossryrock area for the East County Journal in Morton. Crea’s family moved to Chehalis when she was in third grade. She graduated from W.F. West High School in Chehalis and from Western Washington University, where she earned a degree in communications with an emphasis in journalism. n The (Centralia) Chronicle hired Brandon Hansen, an award winning-writer, photographer and page designer from Montana, for its sports and photo departments. Hansen succeeds Pete Caster, who is the new leader of the newspaper’s visuals department. Chris Geier, formerly in that role, moved to California in a longplanned family relocation.
PASSINGS
Daily News’ Alvord dies at 50 Popular columnist, former sports editor suffered colon cancer
Daily News, Longview
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ormer Daily News sports editor Rick S. Alvord died June 26 after a year and a half with colon cancer. He was 50. Alvord’s lively, engaging columns and coverage of local sports attracted a large following and won him national recognition during his 12-year tenure at the Daily News. Many did not realize he was creator of “the Gridiron Grump,” the salty, cigar-chomping curmudgeon who wrote columns about high school football and food while touring the West with his wife, Eleanor, in their ’Bago. In 2010 Alvord tied for fist place in column writing in the Associated Press Sports Editor national contest for the 40,000-and-under circulation category. That year, the Daily News sports staff placed in the top 10 in the APSE’s Best Sunday Section category. Alvord was a top-five finalist three more times in APSE national writing contests and also won first place in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Pacific Northwest annual con-
test seven times. “He was someone who could just kind of off-the-cuff churn out witty, con- Rick troversial, Alvord provocative columns without a whole lot of apparent planning. … He was a stream-of-consciousness guy,” said Daily News sports editor Ben Zimmerman, who had a front-row seat to Alvord’s process for eight years. “He could just bust stuff out — writing that really cracked — and was always witty, entertaining and funny.” Alvord was born in St. Helens, Ore., on June 12, 1962. He attended school in Clatskanie, Ore., and graduated from Longview’s R.A. Long High School in 1980. After earning a bachelor’s degree in English at Eastern Oregon University, Alvord was a sportswriter for the East Oregonian in Pendleton, Ore., the Coeur d’Alene Press in Idaho and the World in Coos Bay, Ore. He covered the Mariners and Seahawks for the Eastside Journal in Bellevue and wrote for Mariners
Magazine. He married his wife, Jan Alvord, in 1997. The couple moved to Kalama in 1998, when the Daily News hired Alvord as a sports reporter. He was promoted to sports editor in 1999, succeeding John Pisapia. “His knowledge and his humor made him a great guy to talk sports with, said Daily News copy editor Mike Yantis, a friend and frequent golf companion of Alvord’s. “Golf was probably the highlight of (Rick’s) life,” Jan Alvord said with a laugh. Alvord also enjoyed traveling, cruises, fishing trips with Jan’s father and attending church at East Hills Alliance in Kelso. In December 2010, six months after leaving the Daily News, Alvord had surgery to find the source of his abdominal pain. Doctors discovered he had colon cancer. He entered hospice in early June, where he welcomed the frequent visits of friends and former co-workers. “He said he didn’t realize that many people knew and liked him,” his wife said. A memorial service was held at his church.
Former Times editor Monahan passes
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obert E. Monahan, whose journalism career began with the “Brown’s Point Bugle” he produced and distributed as a child the Brown’s Point neighborhood of Tacoma, died July 14 in Kent. Monohan pursued his passion for journalism at Washington State College. After graduation he worked
for United Press International, covering the Pacific Rim. Later he was a reporter at the Honolulu Advertiser and a city editor at the Seattle Times. Upon retirement, he developed a second career as a tree farmer and applied his journalism skills to articles in professional journals. Monahan was a member of Kent Covenant Church and
an original member of the jail ministry group. He is survived by his wife Betsy Davis Monahan; his children Mary Alice Monahan, Matthew Monahan, and their mother Adele Monahan of Snoqualmie; a stepson, Alan Jacobson and wife Debbie, of Covington; three grandchildren; and his brother Jerry Monahan, of Tacoma.
Foundation president sets goal for auction Help Wilson keep student journalists from falling to the lure of street gangs
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NPA Foundation President Scott Wilson has set a goal of raising $7,500 for the WNPA Foundation auction this year. All funds raised will go toward internship scholarships for college students who intern at WNPA-member newspapers. The auction, concurrent with WNPA’s annual convention in Yakima, opens Sept. 27 and closes at 6 p.m. Sept. 28. Get your name on the published list of donors by sending an email to Mae Waldron, mwaldron@wnpa.com, listing the item you’ll be donating.
Plan to bring it with you to the convention, or send to WNPA. If you missed Wilson’s news story, Scott Wilson “Alert: Street gangs filling up with college journalists!!!!,” calling for donations, request a copy from Mae Waldron. Wilson is publisher of the Port Townsend Leader.
AUCTION DONATIONS • Painting by Sydney Dilllon —from Mike Dillon, Pacific Publishing, Seattle • Resort Semiahmoo Stay & Play Package —from Mike Lewis, Lynden Tribune • Two-night stay at Iron Horse B&B with 2 breakfasts —from Jana Stoner, Northern Kittitas County Tribune, Cle Elum • Gift basket —from Assunta Ng, Northwest Asian Weekly, Seattle • Gift basket —from Debbie Berto, Issaquah Press, SnoValley Star and Sammamish Review • Gift basket —from Sue Ellen Riesau, WNPA Past President