Inside Opinion » Lakewood

Spanaway’s on the state’s tourism map, but not Lakewood?

Cheryl Tucker — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 18:41:35 +0000

We got an email notice today that the Washington Tourism Alliance has released its 2013 official Washington State Visitors’ Guide. The new print guide is linked to www.experiencewa.com, the official state tourism web site.

Just out of curiosity, I wanted to see what the state website had to say about Lakewood, where I live. Needless to say, I was underwhelmed.

Go to the website, click on Regions and Cities, then on Metro Seattle (which includes King, Pierce and Thurston counties). Then click on Lakewood, and up comes a map – which designates the city with just …

Fluoridation: Where the real tax savings are

Patrick O'Callahan — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:21:27 +0000

I was in my middle twenties before I knew what a cavity was. My friends had them; I almost felt left out.

I happened to have spent my early years in Madison, Wis., one of the first cities to have its water supply fluoridated.

Our editorial today argues for restoring Medicaid dental coverage for poor adults. That would cost the state something on the order of $30 million and the federal government more, since it would be paying for a further expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

Total Medicaid dental in Washington could come in at …

Lawmakers should intervene in rail dispute

TNT Editorial Board — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 01:45:08 +0000

This editorial will appear in Friday’s print edition.

A decision by the Federal Railroad Administration on the controversial Point Defiance Bypass is great for Amtrak. But it could be an economic blow to the future of several South Sound communities and add to the transportation nightmare thousands of commuters already face every day.

And it’s all to shave a few minutes off of Amtrak trains’ time between Seattle and Portland, and run a few more trains on that route. That’s an unacceptable tradeoff.

On Monday, the FRA gave the go-ahead to the $89 million bypass project that would reroute Amtrak …

Power outage created huge traffic snarl in Lakewood

Cheryl Tucker — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:40:29 +0000

I was one of the many drivers who got caught in the huge traffic snarl caused by the fairly widespread Lakewood power outage Wednesday. Read our story here.

The intersections at Orchard and Bridgeport along South 72nd-74th Street (it changes names, a Lakewood thing, I think) were virtually at a standstill because the signal lights were out. At rush hour, when the outage occurred, both intersections are heavily congested with two lanes of traffic in both directions, as well as turn lanes.

At least drivers were slowly getting through the Bridgeport intersection, thanks to a firefighter directing traffic. The …

Lakewood’s losses are Pierce County’s gains

TNT Editorial Board — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 01:55:28 +0000

This editorial will appear in Tuesday’s print edition.

The 12 candidates who have applied to fill a vacancy on the Lakewood City Council are an impressive lot. Most have had either previous elective office experience or have served in some other civic capacity, such as on a citizens advisory committee.

It will be a tough choice for the council, which plans to make the appointment Feb. 4. That person will have the very tall order of replacing Doug Richardson, the longest-serving council member and one of the most respected leaders in Lakewood, Pierce County’s second-largest city.

Richardson – who was …

‘Meth mouth’: Not a pretty sight

Cheryl Tucker — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:38:47 +0000

Today’s editorial on meth addiction was a natural for me to write because of an experience I had about four years ago.

I had just come out of a store in a Lakewood strip mall and had opened my car door to get in, when I heard someone behind me saying something. I turned around and almost gasped out loud.

Standing there was a woman – I can’t even estimate her age – with straggly hair, a face covered with sores and the worst teeth I’ve ever seen. She asked if I could spare some money.

I think I …

Lakewood is no place for sex predators

TNT Editorial Board — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 02:10:34 +0000

This editorial will appear in Sunday’s print edition.

Folks in Olympia may be soon looking for a new community to host 300 violent sexual psychopaths. Lakewood, call your home security service.

Those predators are now housed and supposedly getting treated at the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island. They are the worst of the worst – a small fraction of the state’s sex offenders.

They wind up at the SCC only if a court has concluded that they have committed a violent sex crime and suffer from “a mental abnormality” that hinders their control of sexual violence and are “more …

Our endorsements in Pierce County Council races

TNT Editorial Board — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 00:45:47 +0000

This editorial will appear in Friday’s print edition.

At least three faces on the Pierce County Council will change after the Nov. 6 election, but the political makeup of the council is likely to remain roughly the same with Republicans outnumbering Democrats. The only question is whether the GOP majority is 5 to 2 or 4 to 3.

• The District 2 race won’t affect that equation; it’s between two Republicans – incumbent Joyce McDonald, a former state representative from Puyallup, and Jeffery Hogan, the mayor of Edgewood. The district also includes Sumner, Milton and Northeast Tacoma.

Hogan’s main issue …

South Sound commuters finally get what they’re paying for

TNT Editorial Board — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 08:02:19 +0000

A Sounder train pulls into the Lakewood station during a test run. (Staff file photo)

This editorial will appear in Monday’s print edition.

If all went as it was supposed to as of this writing, the first commuters to catch the Sounder train in Lakewood and South Tacoma in the wee hours this morning are already at work up north.

This is a day that Pierce County has long awaited – and paid for. The region’s citizens voted back in the mid-1990s to tax themselves to extend Sound Transit rail service extending to Lakewood. …

Our endorsements in two 28th District legislative races

TNT Editorial Board — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 00:45:53 +0000

This editorial will appear in Wednesday’s print edition.

Republicans have been trying to reclaim House seats in the 28th Legislative District since 2004, with no success. They think that redistricting – and an open seat – might help them do it this time around.

The 28th – which stretches from West Tacoma through University Place and Lakewood to DuPont – was redistricted to pick up some of Joint Base Lewis-McChord and surrounding communities. That could make the district slightly more Republican-leaning.

Troy Kelley, the three-term Democratic incumbent in House Position 1, is vacating the seat to run for state auditor. …