We take you inside Atascadero State Hospital

If you want to get a unique look into what it is like to work at Atascadero State Hospital, click here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/482/story/46034.html
That link will take you to an audio slide show by Tribune senior staff photographer David Middlecamp. He filmed ASH psychatric technician Brian Eddy on a recent work day at the state hospital.
Eddy tells viewers what it is like to manage a population of patients who are being treated for mental disorders, all with the goal of helping them regain sanity so they can stand trial in criminal court.
David's slide show accompanies a strong story by staff writer Stephen Curran. The link will also take you to that story.
_ Tad Weber

I took the challenge of Bike to Work Week in SLO

Like you, I read our advance stories about the annual Bike to Work and School Week, which began Monday and concludes today. I wanted to do my part for the environment. And with gas prices being what they are, it made even more sense.
So here it is Friday, and I am proud to report I have biked to The Tribune four of the five work days this week. I've been the guy heading down Tank Farm Road in the screaming yellow-green jacket around 9 a.m. every day.
A few observations:
-- Free coffee from participating coffeehouses in town: A great idea. Just this simple thing was a good motivator for me -- I had to get that free cup! Thanks to the organizers and participating coffeehouses that joined in.
-- There is lots of junk alongside the road. I ride Tank Farm Road to get to the newspaper, and when I am not keeping an eye out for cars and big trucks speeding by at 50 mph or more, I am trying to dodge the flotsam and jetsam along the roadway shoulder. It has me thinking that I should adopt part of the Tank Farm stretch for a cleanup. If you are hauling stuff to the dump, please keep it tied down.
-- Many motorists are cool. Sure, there are the usual jerks out there who buzz by too close. But I found a good number of drivers giving me a wide berth or politely letting me pass. Thanks!
What is the end result of this week's experiment? For one, it took me back to an earlier time, like my high school years when all I had for transportation was a bike. The memories were nice, but the reality is that I can do this. So I plan to keep it up as much as I can, at least while daylight savings time lasts.
If you've been riding this week, share your comments here.
_ Tad Weber

Your commenting on our stories more than ever

Recently we added the ability to post a comment with very nearly every local story on sanluisobispo.com, and you viewers have responded. Here is a summary from Online Editor Sally Buffalo:
" We have seen a huge spike in the number of comments since we started putting it on all stories – more than doubling from a couple months ago and still rising. I guess it makes sense that the more stories you have it on, the more you will get. But it seems our users have really responded.
"We also have started to “reverse-publish” some of our comments in the Opinion section when we get especially good ones on a particular subject. This has gotten a good response, and I think drives print readers to see what more is on the web as well."
Sally is pointing to our "Web talk" feature on the Opinion page. Check it out in the print edition of The Tribune if you've not seen it.
I also want to highlight yet another new Web feature our online team has added to our site: Most-Read Stories. The box, on the right side of the home page, updates every hour. So you can click in throughout the day to see what stories are resonating most.
_ Tad Weber

Making sense of attempted murder-suicide

Staff Writer Sarah Arnquist writes a compelling story today on sanluisobispo.com that addresses why a Grover Beach man in his 80s might have shot himself and his wife. http://www.sanluisobispo.com/183/story/42510.html
She survived the shooting and is now being treated at Stanford Medical Center. The man had been fighting cancer, and as Sarah reports neighbors saying, had suffered declining health in recent months. His wife had suffered from dementia-like symptoms, so theirs was a tough life. Compounding matters, neighbors told Sarah how the man was fiercely independent and did not want help from others. Sarah quotes experts with local agencies that support caregivers about how to look for signs of depression in elderly people as a first step toward seeing their needs and trying to come to their assistance.
This kind of context is important to providing a fuller understanding of such tragedies, and it is a key aspect of the journalism we offer readers and viewers.
_ Tad Weber

Why we named the victim of an attempted murder

We’ve received both praise and criticism for identifying the elderly woman who was shot by an elderly man in a Tribune story this morning. The critics say we lack concern for the family. “The law states that the name of the victim will not be released, so you basically work around the authorities and release it yourself.’’ Supporters noted that it was no secret who the victims were, that The Tribune was just doing its job and that “reporting the victim’s name quells fears and concerns’’ among those who might fear the victim could have been someone else at the trailer park where the incident occurred.
As we noted in the story, Grover Beach police officials refused to provide the woman’s name, claiming it was a domestic abuse case and citing an exception in the California Public Records Act allowing victims’ names to be withheld.
After confirming the victim’s name different ways, we published it because police called the incident an attempted murder-suicide. We rarely, if ever, cover individual domestic violence disturbances but we do report names involved in murders and attempted murders. Moreover, the woman we identified was no longer at risk of danger because, police said, the man who shot her had killed himself.
-- Sandra Duerr

All-Star mother: Did our story send a message?

Lively comments have been posted in reaction to our Saturday front-page story, "An all-star mother." The story, by senior staff writer Brian Milne, tells how Cal Poly softball player Shannon Brooks has juggled mothering her 9-month-old daughter Alannah with playing for the Mustangs softball team this spring.
Some Web viewers questioned our news judgment, especially with the story running on Mother's Day weekend.
Here was one post from an anonymous reader:
"The Telegram Tribune putting an article on the front page celebrating an unwed mother for mothers day? Sick. "
In another posting, a viewer named John wondered if we could have found a more deserving woman to highlight -- one who was married. Shannon and her fiance, Poly football player Julai Tuua, plan to get married this summer.
Shannon's story was not the only one we had this past weekend recognizing motherhood. We published a front-page story on Sunday about a Paso Robles couple who are foster parents to 11 children.
We highlighted both stories because they are inspirational -- they show people like you and me acting with courage, grace, determination and dedication in the face of long odds.
They also both shared the quality of being unusual. It is not often that foster parents take in 11 children at a time, or that a full-time athlete in a high-caliber college program has to be a full-time mom at the same time. Or that the team itself embraces mother, dad and daughter like the Cal Poly softball women did this season with Shannon, Julai and Alannah.
When stories are inspirational and unusual, they make for good storytelling and thus good journalism.
_ Tad Weber

Our headline on school story missed the mark

Two readers questioned our choice of words in the headline Thursday announcing that the Arroyo Grande High School principal was stepping down to become an elementary school principal at Ocean View in the same district.
We wrote: "A.G. High's principal announced a downgrade."
That headline “is an insult to Ocean View and it is a slap-in-the-face to all elementary school principals,’’ wrote Ann Dennis of Cambria. “ You could have used "departure", "reposting,' or even a compound like "job change." It may not be in the dictionary, but it is kinder than "downgrade." They all have the nine letters needed for that headline.”
Colleen Marin, a trustee with the Lucia Mar Unified School District, wrote us that Ryan Pinkerton, the high school principal, has “performed as an excellent leader of one of the county’s largest companies (Arroyo Grande High School),” and simply asked for a transfer. “All of our schools are important and Mr. Pinkerton's new position at Ocean View Elementary will be a win for our district. Perhaps a better headline could have read something like "Pinkerton reaffirms his commitment to Lucia Mar."
I agree with our critics.
Pinkerton had asked for the change of duties so that he could spend more time with his family right now.
Our headline writer did not mean to slight Pinkerton or elementary schools. Still, the headline gave two erroneous impressions – first, that Pinkerton was demoted and second, that being an elementary school principal is somehow a lesser job. Both are false.
-- Sandy Duerr

Speak up: Give us your thoughts on our coverage

As online readers of The Tribune know, we are increasingly seeking your thoughts on stories that we publish, especially on local issues. It's simple to do: Just click on the Post A Comment section on any story on our Web site, sanluisobispo.com. Your comments are helpful in two ways: They foster debate among the community and give us greater insight into the story itself. Increasingly, this interaction is helping our reporters better cover local issues.
We're now beginning to reverse publish some of these excerpts on our Editorial page too. Our intention is to take the best of the comments on a subject and publish those daily. Today, for example, we offered readers' comments on the county board's decision this week to hire a $60,000 expert to fight obesity here.
Speaking of the Opinion Page, I was recently asked if we publish poems there. We generally do not allow them, although we have made rare exceptions for short, cleverly written poems that address local issues. Editorial Page Editor Stephanie Finucane says we'll make a point to include the prohibition on poetry in the expanded letter guidelines.
-- Sandy Duerr

Green building makes for good news

If you are interested in the green-building movement, make sure to read the lead story under our Business link on sanluisobispo.com. Staff Writer Ermina Karim did a question-and-answer interview with Erik Justesen of RRM Design in San Luis Obispo. The firm was an early proponent of green building techniques, and it offers its employees cool incentives toward becoming more Earth-friendly (such as $1,000 bonuses for the first five to buy a hybrid vehicle this year). Green building and recycling efforts are now key news in today's media landscape. If you know of any local efforts that you think are newsworthy, please share that with our readers here by posting a tip.
_ Tad Weber

Why the Greensburg tornado story didn't make our front page

A reader called Monday, upset that we had failed to run coverage of the deadly tornadoes in Greensburg, Kansas, on our front page Sunday. We published a small A1 photo that day of the damage directing readers to a story and more photos on page A3.
Unquestionably, this was a tragic event that killed nine people and destroyed 95 percent of the town of 1,500.
We made our decision because the news was nearly 36 hours old by the time readers received our paper Sunday morning and the disaster had been widely reported by then on TV and Web sites. (The tornadoes struck Greensboro late Friday, but news of the tragedy didn’t run on our wire services until 4 a.m. Saturday – long past our deadline for Saturday’s newspaper.)
Our intent is always to offer readers the freshest news, context or analysis possible and to give priority to local news since that is our franchise and we know readers turn to us foremost for that. That said, thoughtful people can reach different conclusions. What would you have done?
-- Sandra Duerr

All the crime news fit to print?

This post was written by Popeye and put onto our discussion board on sanluisobispo.com last week:

"Has anyone else ever wonderd why crimes that happen in the town known as "Almost Paradise" aka, Paso Robles don't make the pages of the Tribune. Just last Saturday night at a party of young people in Paso Robles, a young man ... was stabbed in the neck with a broken beer bottle. He was taken to the hospital by friends before both police and paramedics arrived on the scene ... But I think it is not a case of cover up on the part of the Trib as much as it is a cover up by officials in Paso Robles to once again hide the ugly fact that crimes, specifically violent crimes actually take place."

I asked City Editor Matt Lazier whether we'd heard of this incident last week, and he said he had not. Bottom line: If we'd learned of it, we likely would have reported it (i.e., as long as the victim did not self-inflict the wounds. If he had, then we enter a discussion about attempted suicide).
We publish a police blotter nearly every day in our Local section. It includes items from around the county. We do rely on the police and Sheriff's Department to make us aware of newsworthy calls their officers and deputies respond to. We would be similar to most all community papers in that regard. To be sure, there are occasions when police, for their investigative purposes, choose to keep an incident quiet. Sometimes people in a community will tip us to an incident, and we can report it, or at least look into it.
Otherwise, we follow our regular practices of making calls every morning to the police departments to find out what significant calls they have been on. We also regularly review the list of police calls known as the log.
You can also see all the calls reported to the San Luis Obispo Police Department on our Web site. It updates every day.
_ Tad Weber

Don't miss these photos!

If you haven’t checked out our photo galleries on The Tribune’s Web site lately, I encourage you to do so. They are now far easier to use. Check out an example here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/404/gallery/28979.html
It has become common practice for us to post on sanluisobispo.com our own photographers’ pictures that weren’t used in the newspaper. This not only showcases their work, but gives you a chance to broaden your knowledge about the events we cover – and, if you attended them, see if you’ve been photographed!
-- Sandy Duerr

Bears, coyotes and mountain lions on the march in SLO County

Q: What do bears, coyotes and mountain lions have in common?
A: They're wild, they're all around us, and coming to a town near you.
Our story today about a morning sighting of a mama bear and her cub in Atascadero reminded me of the wildlife we have living here with us in SLO County. We broke news of the bear sighting on sanluisobispo.com yesterday morning and it was one of our best-read stories on the site on Tuesday.
This probably won't be the only such sighting this year. We have quoted wildlife experts in previous coverage about how wild animals become emboldened to stray into populated areas whenever droughts occur in order to find water and, perhaps, a quick meal, like a house cat.
So experts say to take care of your pets -- ie, don't leave food for them outside. That just attracts the wild critters.
We are planning a story in coming weeks about the drought and its looming impact on wildlife, so look for it in The Tribune and sanluisobispo.com.
If you have a wildlife story to share, post a comment here. And should any of you snap any photos of bears, coyotes or mountain lions in your yards, let us know!
_ Tad Weber

Readers, bloggers support and criticize our Farm Bureau story

A good debate is ensuing on sanluisobispo.com today, and can also be read in today's Tribune, over an article we published on April 22. It was about the county Farm Bureau and how some detractors think it has become too aligned with those who want to develop rural lands. Others quoted in the story, including Farm Bureau President Paul Clark, a rancher from Shandon, defend the bureau for doing a good job to represent the diverse mix of farming in our county.
Clark has an Op-Ed piece in today's paper, and it can be accessed under the Opinion-Letters link on our home page, too. There you can also post a comment. As of this morning, two viewers had commented in favor of Clark's point of view and against our article; another post was more critical of the bureau.
There are six letters to the editor in today's paper on the same topic as well, and they include some thanking us for raising the topic, and some defending the Farm Bureau and saying we had disparaged that group.
We'd be interested in hearing from you. You can post a comment to this blog or on the letter link.
_ Tad Weber

We are your source for news about SLO County wine

If you are interested in the wine scene in SLO County, The Tribune and SanLuisObispo.com are where you want to go for the latest information.
Every Friday, we publish the Wine Notes column in our Business section. Correspondent Janis Switzer profiles a local winery and its owner/winemakers. Today she highlights Per Bacco Cellars, which is owned and operated by Marco Rizzo (of Cafe Roma fame) and longtime vineyard manager Craig Shannon. You can also see the story on SanLuisObispo.com -- look under the Business heading.
In addition, our Web site has a new feature called Explore San Luis Obispo County. There is a section devoted to our wine coverage. Click on that to find past articles, as well as other special features, like wine country maps and listings of wineries throughout the county.
Another treat for wine lovers arrives in Saturday's newspaper: The official guide to the 25th annual Paso Robles Wine Fesitval. The event occurs May 19 at City Park in Paso's downtown. It is a highlight to a weekend of events. The guide has a useful map showing booth locations in the park for more than 80 wineries, and listings about them. (Disclaimer here: The Tribune is a co-sponsor of the festival).
If you have a suggestion on how we might improve our wine coverage, let us know by posting a comment.
_ Tad Weber

We cover Cal Poly standouts and the NFL draft

I offer a shout out ahead of time to our sports writer Brian Milne and his work to cover the NFL draft this weekend, and more specifically, what happens to Cal Poly standouts Courtney Brown and Kyle Shotwell. See Brian's story today on our Sports front or on SanLuisObispo.com under the sports link about where those two are projected to go in the draft. Brian will track the draft all weekend and file stories once they are chosen. Inside tip from Brian: They will likely be picked on Sunday.
If you happen to miss the draft on TV Saturday, you can to to SanLuisObispo.com for the full listing from the first day.
_ Tad Weber

Bank rates now added to stocks page

In case you haven’t noticed, we added bank rates and futures contracts to our Business section Tuesday through Saturday. They appear at the top of the page along with the stock market recap. We believe this accommodates both consumers and farmers in our county who had sought such useful information. In addition, we have now taken into account all reader requests for specific stock listings; they are incorporated into the 500 listings we publish; the other stocks are the most heavily traded each day.
-- Sandy Duerr

Does putting a murderer on our front page glorify him?

I was greeted with two voice mails from readers commenting on our front page in Monday's edition. On the left side of the page was a story about Jorge Alcantar, an Arroyo Grande High student from a family of field workers. He has earned a 4.67 grade point average and will attend an Ivy League school in the fall. Next to that story was one about John Rodriguez, a 94-year-old prisoner at the California Men's Colony. Serving out a murder sentence, he is the oldest inmate in the state, which made him newsworthy. And the number of senior-citizen inmates is ever growing.

Here are highlights from the voice mails:

"I am disappointed with you guys. You are glorifying a murderer by putting that story on the front page. You could have done a guy who won a medal in Iraq."
_ Gary Avila, correctional officer at the CMC

"Whoever did the spread on the front page is a genius. It made me feel better in these days of deep sadness. Thank you for displaying that young man, Jorge Alcantar, so prominently. I'd like to meet that young man."
_ Gwen Henry, Los Osos

Both these e-mails address interesting aspects of news judgement.
First, journalists are mindful that front-page stories get high readership. That's why they are on the front page. That's why Ms. Henry saw Staff Writer Nick Wilson's story about Jorge Alcantar and Mr. Avila spied the piece about the oldest prisoner.

But journalists don't think about front-page stories as "glorifying" their subjects. In our world, we seek to report and publish. Of course, we want to cover things we think you will find interesting. But we leave it to readers to decide whether someone is worthy of acclaim. Some of you reading this may think I am being less than truthful. But the fact is, in nearly 25 years of professional journalism, I cannot recall a time when a reporter or editor argued that a story should be on the front page to "glorify" someone.

Do you agree? Post a comment to let me know.

_ Tad Weber

Readers object to use of Cho's photos on front page

“The photo will be seen as a glorification of his acts by some and may easily inspire copy cat crimes. The victims and their accomplishments would have been more appropriate.’’

“It’s really wrong that you do this in a community newspaper. You basically helped the killer do what he wanted to do.’’

“This kind of journalism makes it hard for children to determine what is ‘Hollywood’ and what is real life scary. Please show more consideration when choosing what to print. It shapes our society. Newspapers have influence! Please help to influence the community in a positive way.”

These comments were among about 30 e-mails and 20 calls that we received Thursday and Friday. All but one criticized us for publishing the three photos of Seung-Hui Cho on the front page of The Tribune Thursday.
Mostly, readers believed the publication glorified the killer involved in the Virginia Tech massacre. Many feared it would encourage copy cats and said they didn’t need to see the photos to understand that Cho was severely demented. Several said we should have focused on the victims instead. Still others called the photos inappropriate for children to see – and inappropriate for a community newspaper like The Tribune to publish. Several accused us of doing it solely to sell newspapers.
Unquestionably, the photos that we published are disturbing and extremely painful to look at. As I shared with readers Thursday, however, we made the decision to run the images because they offered new information – more than words alone -- that could shed light into the mind of the deranged young man who had taken so many lives. Essentially, they were yet another piece to the puzzle, as we all try to make some sense of this tragedy.
We had already published profiles of most of the victims, as they became known, and we had covered memorial services at Virginia Tech on the front page Wednesday.
I do not expect anyone who criticized us to change their minds. I’m writing about this now to let you know how readers overall responded to our decision – and to address some of the issues they raised.
For those who believe that the photos of Cho are inappropriate for children, I leave that to each parent or guardian to decide. I have sixth and eighth graders; both had seen the photos by the time I arrived home from work that night. But I did draw the line; when the television news reports repeated the photos later that evening, I switched channels and explained why. We cannot always shelter our children from tragedy but we can help give them the tools to deal with it.
And for those who believe their community newspaper should not publish these photos on the front page, I respectfully disagree. We do focus on local news at The Tribune but there are times when the national news is part of our local conversation, when we are affected by events outside our region. This was one of those occasions.
Looking ahead, it is not our intention to publish these photos again.
It is our intention to continue covering the story as it unfolds, to continue remembering the victims and their families and to continue looking at how our local elementary and secondary schools and higher-education institutions might institute changes as a result of the Virginia Tech massacre.
As always, I appreciate hearing from you. It helps us to have an ongoing dialogue with members of our community.

-- Sandra Duerr

Our defense for using photo of student wounded in Va. Tech shooting

I would really like to know the thinking behind putting that picture on the front page of today's paper! We wonder why we have a violent society and disgruntled students?
_ Jeanne Eggert, San Luis Obispo

For those who have not seen Tuesday’s front page, we used a picture of a wounded student being carried away from the Virginia Tech campus – which showed some blood on his legs. It was part of our coverage of this horrific tragedy. I do not believe the image was too graphic for our readers, especially considering the fact that 33 people, mostly students, were killed in the Monday morning massacre. This photo – and similar photos – helped tell the tragic story. I also think that it’s too far a reach to suggest that by publishing such a photo we’re encouraging a violent society.
I'd love to hear from more of you on this topic.
_ Sandy Duerr