The weather is causing everyone problems, especially our delivery drivers. Apparently, today’s papers did not get to campus until this afternoon, which is very late. It kind of stinks, because we had some strong content in today’s issue – the “Sense of place” doubletruck and the final installment of Brandon Scheller’s Hot Corner.

Sorry about the tardiness, hopefully the weather will allow us to get papers out on time. Until then, check dailyevergreen.com for the news if you can’t find a paper.

It was recently announced that the Fort Collons Coloradoan (a Gannett paper) was in talks with the Colorado State University president about a potential takeover of the Rocky Mountain Collegian, CSU’s student newspaper. Story available here

The meeting between the Coloradoan and the CSU president was behind closed doors, with members of the newspaper and the student government left out. If taken over, the Collegian would become a for-profit entity.

As a college newspaper editor, I initially did not know how to respond. The Collegian has been around for 117 years. The Evergreen has been printing for 112, and a bit before that as the College Record. To have a president secretly meet to sell your paper without your input is ludicrous. I have long admired the Collegian, I met both their past and current editors in chief at conferences. Their paper is one of the top college newspapers in the nation.

College newspapers have always been lightyears away from corporate media. College papers have always had the guts to print things the corporate media never would (the Collegian is the one that printed the Taser This … editorial earlier in the academic year). And the thought of a corporate takeover of a not-for-profit, educational journalistic entity is frankly disgusting.

As student journalists, we have the rest of our lives to work for a corporation. But now, we must be independent. It’s the only way to serve a collegiate community, and learn a thing or two while doing it.

I stand behind the Collegian staff in opposing this takeover.

This year, the Evergreen will host an ASWSU debate after the primary in February. It is something we, or at least I, have wanted to do for a while. This will be in addition to our enhanced election coverage – last year we set up a special ASWSU election website (aswsu.dailyevergreen.com) and we will do this again this year. The debate is tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 28. The location is still being sorted out. But we want to know what students would like the candidates to be asked. If you have any idea, send me an e-mail at editor@dailyevergreen.com.

As some may have noticed, some Evergreens have been late getting to the stacks this week. First, Tuesday’s issue was late due to the power outage. The Lewiston Tribune press was down, and the paper was printed later than usual. Also, I’m told Wednesday’s issue was late due to issues with the distributor. Please let us know if you have trouble getting an Evergreen.

I really hate to think it is inevitable. With so many students traveling, crashes happen. Regrettably, some of these crashes take the lives of WSU students. In my three years at the Evergreen and time at other papers, I have had to report on these collisions. It is always so hard to talk to the families and friends who just experienced unimaginable loss, and try to memorialize these students with a 12-incher for the paper.

But this weekend was the first time I have known a student who was taken in a crash. Friday night, 21-year-old Tyler Pearson, 20-year-old Benjamin Lockard, 19-year-old Ann Barney and 19-year-old Brooke Smith a were traveling to Schweitzer Mountain for a weekend of snowboarding. Along the way, Pearson’s 1999 Isuzu Rodeo lost control and was hit broadside by a Chevrolet Suburban. Barney and Lockard died instantly, Pearson died early Saturday.

Pearson lived four doors down from me during my freshman year in Stephenson East. The walls of his corner room were covered in snowboarding posters, it was obvious it was a love of his. He would talk about going up to Schweitzer all the time. He was also the best Halo player I had ever seen, we’d tease him by calling him his Halo name – RaZoR – instead of Tyler.

Since freshman year, I would see him every now and then. I last saw him shortly before winter break, briefly joking with him over a beer at Valhalla.

It is always hard when students die. Whenever I heard of a fatal collision involving WSU students, I always hoped I none of my friends were involved. Now that it happened, I can only think of his friends and family back in Kennewick.

RIP Tyler, Ben and Ann.

It’s a new semester, and so we are trying some new things and bringing back some old.

First off, today was the first “Lunch with the Editor” sessions, which are from 1-2 p.m. every Wednesday in The Bookie lounge. Not surprisingly, no one showed up today. I just ate Dorito’s and nursed my long-neglected copy of “Cobra II.” But as the semester progresses, I hope more people stop by. It’s a time to bring up any concerns you have in person, get to know the Evergreen staff or just keep me company.

Also, we just put up the new MiX website. Long in planning, this website will be a strong addition to the weekly section. So check it out, and if you have any comments, please send them to me at editor@dailyevergreen.com

mix.dailyevergreen.com

- Brian Everstine, editor-in-chief.

We got a few e-mails today asking why we had so little about WSU’s remarkable victory over Gonzaga last night. We had a story in the Sports section on Page 3 with a black-and-white photo, along with a crimson banner at the top of the front page celebrating the win. As one reader pointed out, it’s not quite like the two pages of color photos we publish after most home football games.

First of all, we definitely would have liked to play up the win more. So why is it that we didn’t have more coverage? It mostly comes down to the logistics of being a student newspaper.

Here’s a little vintage shot of Brian Everstine, now the newly elected spring editor-in-chief, back when he was a reporter interviewing Casey Murrow, son of Edward R. Murrow, at the symposium in April 2006.

Brian Everstine, longtime Evergreen reporter and newspaperman at heart, was elected Thursday to be the editor-in-chief for spring 2008.

“Since I turned in my first story – a long-winded report on the campus YMCA visiting Chile for spring break, I have known I would do this,” he wrote to the Student Publications Board in his candidacy cover letter.

And he has known it, though I’ve also seen him question the decision and show enough hesitation that I know he’s not taking this lightly. At the Evergreen, Brian has been a reporter, News editor, assistant News editor, copy chief, projects editor and even a very reluctant Opinion editor. His experience in the professional sphere includes working at The Inlander and the Tri-City Herald. He was given a national award for investigative reporting, recognition from WSU’s communication school for outstanding journalism, and a number of Evergreen staff awards such as “Outstanding Underclassman,” “Most Likely to Work for the New York Times” and “Most Likely to Break Stuff.”

Most people don’t really know about our editor-in-chief election process, and it’s actually something we’re looking into revising to have more input from the Evergreen staff. As it is right now, there is a Student Publications Board with members representing a number of campus interests, including several faculty positions, some administrators, at-large students, and the general manager and student leaders from within Student Publications. Applications are available every semester and those who apply make a presentation to the board and answer questions. The meetings are open and anyone from the public can comment, though this is typically just other Evergreen editors or staffers speaking up.

Candidates leave during this discussion period and return when the votes are tallied. Even though his victory wasn’t really in doubt as the only candidate, it was still good the vote came in 10-0.

A discussion about whether Brian’s GPA is a problem came up during this process. This was anticipated, and I’ve seen candidates derailed by their poor grades before, but I personally see this as a sacrifice rather than a problem. The Evergreen takes a huge amount of commitment, especially from someone like Brian who’s been in the newsroom as long as he’s been on campus. One board member in particular was concerned that Brian does not put “student” as his highest priority. He doesn’t. None of us do.

Given the choice between preserving our own GPAs and covering campus events that matter to thousands of students and community members, it would be easier to just go to class. None of us at the Evergreen do it because it’s easy. You could make more money in fewer hours by taking orders at any local restaurant. You could build your resume with less effort in pretty much any other student organization.

We do it because we love it, and on the days we don’t love it we do it anyway because we have that obligation to serve the community. I graduated from high school with a 4.0 and I’m glad I won’t be doing the same at WSU. The fact that Brian prioritizes the newspaper above everything else will make him a good editor-in-chief, not a poor one. I was encouraged to hear a number of Evergreen editors at the meeting stand up for him and his grades.

Congratulations, Brian, it’s been a long time coming. Make us proud.

Copy chief Brian Everstine, who has been reporting on the Russell case, watches in our newsroom as the verdict is announced.

Guilty.
We were all waiting around the television in the newsroom, waiting for that simple verdict.

The Frederick Russell case made a deep impact on the local community, and it holds special interest for those of us at the Evergreen. The editors before us followed this story from the time of the crash on June 4, 2001, when most of us who are editors now were barely in high school. They followed it when Russell was arrested in Ireland in 2005, four years after he fled Whitman County. With appeals already in the works, editors will probably still be following the case long after I graduate.

But all those twists and claims finally fell into a simple declaration from the judge, while our staff intently watched Russell’s reaction on TV. The Student Publications office staff came down the hall to wait and watch with us. Office manager Tracy Milano, who we joke has been working here longer than we’ve been alive, said rushing down the hall to the TV reminded her of doing that when the U.S. invaded Iraq – for the Gulf War.

For all the waiting, the verdict itself was not dramatic. It wasn’t like gathering around to watch the closing moments of last year’s basketball games, screaming with hearts pounding. It wasn’t like watching the coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings, shocked and heartsick. It was just sad, a courtroom in Kelso full of torn families. Justice doesn’t smile and dance.

But we didn’t really have time to reflect before deciding how to present the story in our paper. We settled for half the front page devoted to a large headline and photo, with no other stories above the fold. This came after a lot of spirited debate, in which some argued for the full front page and others thought even half was too much. I nixed the possibility of an exclamation mark on the headline earlier in the day. We cut our usual teasers at the top of the page to give more space, and left a lot of the white space that News editor Christina hates so much.

News editor Christina Watts looks on as managing editor Victor Graf prepares different online graphics in preparation for the verdict.

After a brutal 6 and a half hour drive from Kelso, I am back in Pullman. I missed opening statements, but I guess I am a college student, so I had to return.

But, I do have a couple random comments.

- During individual questioning, jurors were obviously getting annoyed, especially at defense attorney Francisco Duarte. Duarte’s questioning took almost all of Wednesday and Thursday, and Judge David Frazier and the prosecutors tried to cut him off. During the questioning, Duarte would ask if anyone had been talking about the case. One woman said “Yes, not about the details though.” Duarte asked her to explain, and the woman said “Some people said they don’t like you.”

- Whitman County Judge David Frazier is an Evergreener. He told me he worked for The Daily Evergreen about 30 years ago while he was a student. He said he worked in the advertising department.

- On Thursday, there was a huge windstorm that ripped through the Kelso/Longview area (and beyond). I was trying to get a little extra sleep to prepare for my drive back. At about 9 a.m., I heard a huge crash. About 10 minutes later, my phone started ringing. I was mostly asleep so I didn’t care at the moment. About 10-15 minutes later, I got up and looked out the window. Two massive trees fell into a wing of the hotel, crashing through a few rooms. Most of the tree was laying on the parking lot, about 8 feet away from the white Taurus WSU so graciously let me take. I had to run outside and move the car while branches were falling everywhere. Luckily, no one was in the rooms and the car was not damaged.