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Spokane visit
helps raise WNC profile
The Washington
Agriculture & Forestry Education Foundation invited WNC Executive
Director John Hamer to speak to its Leadership Program in Spokane
in early December. The program brings about two dozen leaders from
farming, forestry and other natural-resources professions together
for monthly seminars. The December program focused on the news
media. The meeting was held in the conference room of the Spokane
Spokesman-Review newspaper.
Hamer showed the
group an edited videotape of the News Council's June 2003 hearing
in the complaint against KIRO-TV from the Washington State Beef
and Dairy Products Commissions. The group watched the four-part
KIRO series and the commissions' responses, then played the role
of the News Council and voted on the complaint. Their voting
closely followed the actual News Council's votes, upholding the
complaint almost unanimously on nearly every question.
Hamer and new
WNC Media Member Chuck Rehberg, former associate editor of the
Spokesman-Review, also conducted a student mock news council
hearing at Whitworth College. Students in Journalism Professor
Ginny Whitehouse's class watched the KIRO hearing videotape and
voted on the complaint. The students also upheld the complaint
almost unanimously on nearly every question.
WNCĂs 5th Annual Gridiron Dinner "toasts" Jim Ellis and John Ellis
The Washington
News Council "toasted" Jim Ellis and John Ellis at our 5th
Annual Gridiron West Dinner on Friday, Nov. 7, 2003, in the
Skybridge at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.
Nearly 400 people attended the gala event to honor the Ellis
brothers, who have been civic leaders in the Puget Sound region
for decades.
The event was
a fun-filled evening of comedy, song parodies and affectionate
toasts. This year's "toasters" were (for Jim) Charley Bingham,
Slade Gorton, Ken Hatch, Sally Jewell, Gerry Johnson, and Phyllis
Lamphere and (for John) Doug Beighle, Phyllis Campbell, Don Covey,
Howard Lincoln, Bob Myers and Patti Payne.
In response to
their "toasters," Jim and John and Patti Payne teamed up for a
surprise musical song-and-dance routine. The audience was
delighted by seeing Jim and Patti singing and dancing, accompanied
by John on the piano. The evening also featured comedy by Master
of Ceremonies Mike Egan, and Frank Sinatra song parodies sung by
David Koch and David Scully of Cabaret Productions, with Scott
Warrender on the piano. A video tribute done by Larry Cali and Ken
Jones was another highlight.
News Council
Chairman Bob Utter and Past President Eddie Reed welcomed the
crowd. WNC Treasurer Carver Gayton and Executive Director John
Hamer thanked table sponsors. For the fifth year in a row, members
of the Washington News Council took the stage to sing a song:
"High Hopes."
Guests were
encouraged to fill out membership envelopes and two were drawn at
the end of the evening for prizes: 1) lunch for 10 with Jim Ellis
at the Convention Center and 2) dinner for 4 with John Ellis in
the owner's suite at Safeco Field during a Mariners' game next
season. The two prizes were won by Bob Carlile of KPMG and Jim
Warjone of
Port Blakely
Tree Farms. The winning envelopes were drawn by
Kerri and Daniel Ellis, John's grandchildren.
Table sponsors
at the "Visionaries" ($5,000) level were: Boeing, Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, Microsoft, King County Journal, Seattle
Mariners, and PEMCO. Tables sponsors at the "Movers" ($2,500)
level were: The Gallatin Group, Premera Blue Cross, Preston Gates
& Ellis, Puget Sound Energy, Sandy Schoolfield & Jon Kechejian,
Washington State Convention & Trade Center, and Weyerhaeuser.
Table sponsors at the "Shakers" ($1,000) level were Dr. Richard
Baxter, The Benaroya Company, Carolyn Duncan, Daniel J. Evans
School of Public Affairs, Fremont Dock Company, Gorton Legacy
Group, Merriman Capital Management, Barry Mitzman,
Mountains-to-Sound Greenway, Chuck Nordhoff, Parsons Brinkerhoff,
Patti Payne, Bill & Jill Ruckelshaus, Wes Uhlman & Associates,
Robert Utter, William Van Valkenberg, and the Washington Farm
Bureau.
Chateau Ste.
Michelle provided wines and Creative Ice Sculptures did the
spectacular centerpieces, which featured a Seattle Mariners
baseball and an evergreen branch inside each ice globe. One lucky
person at each table won the ice globe and got to take it home.
The King
County Journal provided reprints of a front-page article on the
Ellis brothers that ran on Sunday, Nov. 2. David Horsey of the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer did the drawing that appeared on the
invitations and the programs, and presented framed copies to Jim
and John at the end of the evening.
Jim Ellis is
founding partner of Preston Gates and Ellis, founder of Metro and
the Lake Washington clean-up campaign, father of the Forward
Thrust public-works program, chairman of the Mountains to Sound
Greenway, and past president of the state Convention and Trade
Center. He is also a Founding Board member of the Washington News
Council.
John Ellis is
chairman emeritus and a member of the board of directors of the
Seattle Mariners, former top executive of what is now Puget Sound
Energy, a partner in the Seattle-based law firm of Perkins Coie,
and has served on the boards of numerous community organizations,
including Seattle University.
The Honorary
Advisory Committee for the event included: Doug Beighle, Phyllis
Campbell, Don Covey, Dan Evans, Bob Flennaugh, Bill Gates Sr.,
Slade Gorton, Peter Horvitz, Sally Jewell, Phyllis Lamphere,
Howard Lincoln, Bob Myers, Patti Payne, Norm Rice, Charles Royer,
Bill Ruckelshaus, Frank Shrontz, and John Spellman.
Videotapes of
the event are available. Call our office for details.
A Five-Year
"Report Card" on the WNC to CDRT
Bill Gates Sr.,
John Hamer and Wes Uhlman gave a report on the Washington News
Council's first five years to the Community Development Round
Table (CDRT), a prestigious group of Seattle business and civic
leaders, on Oct. 13 at the Washington Athletic Club. CDRT
presentations are off the record and no transcript was made.
However, the three followed an advance written draft. To read the
draft, click
HERE.
IN
MEMORIAM: Herb Robinson (1924-2003)
Herb Robinson,
an original member of the Washington News Council, died on Oct.
15. He will be greatly missed. Herb was Vice President of the WNC
from 1999-2002 and a member until September 2003, when he stepped
down due to his illness. He was also a member of our Complaints
Committee, where his insights and judgment were invaluable. Herb
was formerly Editorial Page Editor of The Seattle Times and
previously news director and anchor at KOMO-TV.
To read his
obituary, click HERE:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/obituaries/2001768110_herbobit17m.html
To help honor
Herb's legacy, the Washington News Council has established the
Herb Robinson Scholarship, to be awarded in spring 2004. It will
join the Dick Larsen Scholarship, which has been awarded by the
News Council since 1999. Herb and Dick were longtime friends and
colleagues at The Seattle Times. These are $1,000 scholarships
awarded to students who are planning careers in communications.
Remembrances may be made to the Washington News Council
Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 3672, Seattle WA 98124-3672.
WNC
adds 9 new voting Council/Board members
Nine new voting
members have joined the Washington News Council. WNC members vote
on complaints and also serve as the organization's board of
directors. The new members are:
MEDIA MEMBERS
Carolyn Duncan,
Public Affairs Manager, King County Department of Natural
Resources
Pat Jenkins,
Editor, Federal Way Mirror
Sandeep Kaushik,
Staff Writer, The Stranger
Barry Mitzman,
Senior Writer, Microsoft
Chuck Rehberg,
former Associate Editor,
Spokane Spokesman-Review
PUBLIC MEMBERS
Dr. Richard Baxter,
President-elect, Northwest Society
of Plastic Surgeons
Tom Downey,
Vice President of Communications, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
Randy Scott,
Owner, ACCESS
Government Relations and Public Affairs, Olympia
William Van Valkenberg,
Partner, Holland & Knight LLP
The new members
were chosen through a competitive statewide application process.
They will serve for three-year terms. The new members were
approved and welcomed at the News Council's annual Fall Retreat on
Sept. 28.
Op-Ed on News
Council appears in King County
Journal
A guest op-ed
column by WNC media members Cyrus Krohn and Herb Robinson appeared
in the King County Journal
(Sept. 10).
Here's the link:
http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/142862
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