Ok, I thought the day was over.
But I get home, pick up The World and reread the story on the Washington Apple Commission placing its president on administrative leave.
The reason?
Our story doesn’t say, and that bugs me.
According to our story:
Board Chairman Cragg Gilbert says he can’t talk: It’s a personnel matter.
President Dave Carlson, the target of the board action, says he doesn’t know.
But somebody knows what’s up. Give me a ring at 665-1161.
Any help you can give the reporter who will be tracking this one down will be much appreciated.

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I know it’s a commercial. I know it’s not really on point for anything. But it’s been a long week and this video (the soundtrack, really) makes me laugh. Time for the weekend.

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Dino Rossi was in town this week and spoke to a Farm Bureau gathering.

The Democrats sent someone with a camera to record the speech at Kirby Billingsley Hydro Park. The Republicans or Farm Bureau apparently didn’t want it recorded.

Here’s a video, produced and posted by Democrats. What do you think?

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Feeling pretty glum about the lack of local political races, a small item on The Washington Post Web site caught my eye: “Tell us which comics-page, comic book or animated cartoon character should be running for president and why.”

It made me wonder: Which characters should be running for office in North Central Washington? I know, I know, some characters ARE running. But, stay focused now: Which cartoon or comic book characters should we elect to office?

Here’s an old school choice: Yosemite Sam. He might have to lose the guns, but Yosemite has a git-it-done sorta attitude that might play well in NCW. And then there’s that whole Code of the West thing.

Biscuits might be burned on Yosemite’s watch, but stuff would get done.

The floor’s open for other nominations.

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I’m not sure what this fellow is doing, but he could be a cub reporter.

Or maybe that is a wild animal of some sort on his head. Whatever. I am left feeling a little more grateful for the job I have after viewing this image. I came across the photo at Conservation Northwest’s Web site while reading about the recent discovery of wolves in the Methow. We expect to publish an update on DNA tests that may confirm the animals’ presence in Okanogan County, perhaps as early as Thursday.

There are also some interesting images of other wild animals caught by remote cameras. Click here.

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You may have read about television news shows being paid for product placement, putting cups of McDonald’s coffee drinks on the set as anchors read the news.

If not, click here.

A bit of more weirdness here: the cups aren’t filled with real coffee.

Just for full disclosure. No such deal exists at The World. And the coffee in my cup as I write is real. It sucks. But it’s real.

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Here are some stories we expect to see this week:

Jaime Adame is looking into the history of Taunya L. Hilliard, the woman police say apparently shot her 9-year-old son near the Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail and then killed herself.

K.C. Mehaffey is headed to Chelan today to report a follow-up story on the 3-year-old boy seriously injured by an errant golf ball from a city golf course.

Michelle McNiel is working on a report on the recovery of Michael Hansen, the Wenatchee bicyclist and businessman seriously injured in a crash.

Dan Wheat is profiling Paul Pugh, also known as Guppo the clown, who is the force behind the Wenatchee Youth Circus.

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How good is good enough? That’s a conversation/argument that’s going on in the newsroom lately as we post news at wenatcheeworld.com. And it’s a painful one in an institution like The Wenatchee World, which, like many news organizations, includes many people who are perfectionists. It’s a trait that helps make news outfits what they are, for better or worse.

The good thing — and the problem — is that news now gets posted on our Web site beginning early in the morning until late in the evening.

Odds are, if it’s posted late, it won’t have been edited by an editor.

Our procedure calls for a look by a second journalist, usually a reporter, before a report is published online. Our pals on the copy desk, who have saved our butts more times than I care to remember, want all stories to come through a copy editor before they are posted.

But how do you staff for that without pulling resources away from editing stories for the newspaper?

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Reader Rep Jefferson Robbins, responding to a reader question on the Ninth Street Trailer Park, notes a hole in our coverage of the Ninth Street Trailer Park property: We have not nailed down full ownership of the business partnership that owns the land.

Robbins told the reader “that I’ve referred this one on to Metro staff. It behooves us to know who specifically profits from a mass eviction — and whether they’re local people or outside investors — but so far we’re in the dark after three years of covering this story. We should get Kamkon on the record, and if they won’t say, we should report that fact.”

Robbins is right.

We should have reported it, or at least put the question to Kamkon and reported what we learned.
I don’t know that ownership details, or lack of ownership details, will carry its own separate story. That’ll depend on what we find. But I’d expect the issue to be addressed in the next significant story on the trailer park.

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Daniel Griffin has been sharing his thoughts on the Badger Mountain Fire in reader comments at wenatcheeworld.com. Griffin, who accidentally started last year’s Easy Street Fire, talks about what it’s like to be constantly identified like that: the guy who started a big fire.

His post today was prompted by a report on the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office investigation into the start of the Badger Mountain Fire.

Says Griffin: “My case was not special. But accidents, come on… They will happen. And what good will it do to pin someone for an accident, except give them a HUGE attorney bill, a life long fear and harassment from people who only get there information from the Media, and don’t know the facts.” You can read the rest of his comments by clicking here.

Scroll down below the stories for comments from Griffin and other readers.

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