About the Tacoma Weekly

There is a persistent story, actually several, about the management of the Tacoma Weekly, actually one person who is the owner and publisher, and how he does business. I will restrict this to the details I can verify.

Simply put, there is a long list of writers that are owed money for work requested or authorized, completed on deadline for an agreed upon rate of pay, and then published. That is the event that triggers the cutting of a check in any legitimate newspaper, on the regular payday.

This history of failing to pay writers and editors begins with Bob Lane, also of the News Tribune, who worked on the Tacoma Weekly when it started, tried repeatedly to recover money owed, and finally had to take his pay in the form of equipment.

Meg, one of the editors, was owed thousands of dollars when she finally went on to a real job. She relates that the owner induced her to write different articles under different names, to simulate many writers. This sort of thing is not illegal or inethical, but is part of a general pattern.

And my personal experience is that the owner/publisher avoided me for a long time, left just before scheduled meetings, and when I showed up without warning to collect, actually ducked out. On other occasions, he said that the check would have to be written by an accountant, who I later learned was another of his own aliases.

I can wait.

by David E. Freeman

davidefreeman@yahoo.com

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