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Introduction

The editorial board meets daily to discuss news and editorial topics. Together the editorial board comes up with a consensus opinion on topics that are published as editorials in the South Sound section of The News Tribune.

The News Tribune's editorial board welcomes observers to its daily topics meeting, held at 9 a.m. each weekday. For an appointment, contact editorial writer Cheryl Tucker at 552-7033 or cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.

Organizations seeking to discuss specific issues with the editorial board should contact editorial page editor Patrick O'Callahan at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com.

Meet the members

David Zeeck

David A. Zeeck has been publisher since 2008. Before that he was executive editor of the TNT for 14 years. He came to Tacoma in 1994, after 20 years at The Kansas City Star as a reporter and editor. At The Star he was an editor on projects that won Pulitzer Prize awards for local and national reporting.

Zeeck is chair of the Economic Development Board for Tacoma- Pierce County. He also is a member of the Executive Council for a Greater Tacoma and the advisory board for the University of Washington Tacoma. He is on the boards of the Pacific Northwest Newspapers Association and Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington. He is past-president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

He received an MBA from Rockhurst College in Kansas City and a bachelor's of journalism degree from the University of Missouri. He is a Presbyterian and an Eagle Scout. He is married to Valarie S. Zeeck, a partner in a Tacoma law firm. They have two grown sons. He is proud to be a Texan by birth and a Tacoman by choice.

Karen Peterson

Karen Peterson served as managing editor of The News Tribune for three years before being named executive editor in August 2008. She joined the paper in 2000 as suburban team leader. She has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Hawaii and Indiana, and for an Army publication in Germany.

During her husband's first tour at Fort Lewis in the late 1980s, she wrote for The Lakewood Press and started the monthly Pierce County Parent. She and her husband, a retired Army officer, have two grown sons and live in Gig Harbor.

She is a past board member of the Associated Press Managing editors and member of the Society of Professional Journalists, Investigative Reporters and Editors, American Society of News Editors and Washington Coalition for Open Government.

Dale Phelps

Managing editor Dale Phelps has been a senior editor at The News Tribune since 1998 and managing editor since 2008. He oversees the day-to-day operation of the newsroom. Before coming to Tacoma, he was a copy editor and assistant sports editor for 19 years at The Kansas City Star.

A native of Kansas City, Mo., Phelps graduated in 1980 from William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., with a bachelor's degree in communication. Before turning to journalism, his original plan was to be a debate coach.

He's a loyal follower of both the Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs, two teams whose level of futility over recent decades exceeds even the woeful performances of the Seattle franchises.

He's a past chairman of the Northwest Region of the Associated Press Sports Editors.

He and his wife, Julie Kramer, live in University Place.

Patrick O'Callahan

Editorial page editor Patrick O'Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune.

He has been with The News Tribune since 1987. A "nearly native" Washingtonian, he attended public schools in Marysville and is a graduate of the University of Washington. In 1979, he joined McClatchy Newspapers as a reporter for the Tri-City Herald in Eastern Washington.

After covering the Hanford Nuclear Reservation for several years, he served as the Tri-City Herald's editorial page editor before returning to the Puget Sound region to join The News Tribune's editorial board.

O'Callahan has received McClatchy Newspapers' President's Award and other recognitions for his writing. In addition to his bachelor's degree in journalism, he holds a master of fine arts in creative writing from the Rainier Writing Workshop (Pacific Lutheran University). He is a lecturer at the University of Washington Tacoma, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences.

O'Callahan's interests include hiking, literature, history and his three grandchildren. He and his wife, Patricia Lee O'Callahan, live in University Place. They have two adult children, Elizabeth and Patrick.

Cheryl Tucker

Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, Tucker manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages. She has been with The News Tribune since 1978 in various capacities, including reporter, magazine coordinator and features editor.

She has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Florida and previously worked as a reporter and features editor at a daily newspaper in Newport News, Va.

Growing up in an Air Force family, she lived all over the United States and in Northern Italy. She has lived in Lakewood for 22 years and enjoys mystery novels, Gator football, wine touring, art shows and walking South Sound trails.


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