Recent stories by Shawn

• Domini Sandwiches losing a familiar face

  May 22, 2013 in City on Page A5 First things first: Domini Sandwiches, home of the largest small in town, is not closing. But Joe Domini, the familiar face behind the cramped front counter, is retiring. Many familiar … 32

• We’ll learn more if we let folks vote

  May 18, 2013 in City on Page B1 As the city amasses legal rationalizations for denying citizens a vote, there has been a refrain from those who object to these pesky citizens’ initiatives. It runs something like this: … 15

• Vestal: ‘Citizen’ and ‘illegal’ are nuanced concepts

  May 17, 2013 in City on Page A7 Is Guillermo Guzman a good teacher and contributing member of his community? Or is he merely illegal? 80

• Sarah Palin to speak at Republic HS graduation

  May 15, 2013 in City on Page A5 Tyler Weyer and his fellow seniors at Republic High School began considering possible commencement speakers last fall. Confronting them was the reality that the most likely speaker would be a … 110

• Sarah Palin to speak at Republic HS graduation

  May 14, 2013 in City Tyler Weyer and his fellow seniors at Republic High School began considering possible commencement speakers last fall. Confronting them was the reality that the most likely speaker would be a … 129

• Vestal: Gun control rhetoric sounds tragically familiar

  May 11, 2013 in City on Page B1 Christin McCarron would have turned 27 this year. Would have, that is, if she had not been murdered by Dean Mellberg at Fairchild Air Force Base on June 20, 1994. … 45

• Hospitals need surgery on pricing

  May 10, 2013 on Page A5 How much of our current predicament regarding health care can be packed, symbolically, into one surgical procedure? A whole lot, if we’re talking about joint replacements. All the promise and … 61

• Vestal: Mike Fagan reaffirms principle over politics

  May 3, 2013 in City on Page A5 Let the record show that Mike Fagan took the high road this week. He considered the contradiction inherent in something he was doing and issued a public statement acknowledging that … 50

• Lobby for our kids’ future can’t seem to get off the ground

  May 1, 2013 in City on Page A5 If only those Head Start kids could do something to make the lives of air travelers more pleasant. Bring them a hot towel, say, or a cool drink or a … 38

• Vestal: Homeless problems can be eased by familiarity, trust

  April 26, 2013 in City on Page A5 Might it be possible that the “thing to do” about downtown loitering – about the discomfort inflicted by the smokers, skaters, panhandlers, ruffians, ne’er-do-wells and others clogging up the tidy … 18

• Vestal: Anti-school message hits the road with Alton money

  April 24, 2013 in City on Page A5 If you thought that Duane Alton’s anti-schools campaign had slowed down since it took a drubbing at the ballot box last fall, think again. It just shifted the battle ground … 50

• Vestal: Obituaries show diversity of community

  April 20, 2013 in City on Page B1 One obituary is a portrait of an individual. Several obituaries are a portrait of a community. The following were condensed from recent obituaries: 19

• Union chief: LEOFF-1 firefighters a minority

  April 19, 2013 in City on Page A5 Kelly Fox has been the president of the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters union since 1996, and he’s been a firefighter in Olympia longer than that. So he is … 24

• For half a century, Ham on Regal has brought home the bacon

  April 13, 2013 in City on Page A1 It’s 7 p.m. and the Ferris High School gymnasium is looking fairly un-gymnasium-like. A chorus line dances in the hall. A vinyl surface covers the middle of the gym floor …

• Fairchild’s casino silence baffling and frustrating

  April 12, 2013 in City on Page A5 Why all the whispering, Fairchild? If the Spokane Tribe’s proposed casino is a threat to the base – which is, in turn, a threat to the local economy – why … 56

• Shawn Vestal: Spiking public safety pensions hurts poor kids the most

  April 10, 2013 in City on Page A5 The firefighters and city governments who gamed the system – and the taxpayers – for massive extra pension payments have cost the state more than the extra million bucks or … 81

• Shawn Vestal: Condon’s civil service remake merits closer study

  April 6, 2013 in City on Page B1 Mayor David Condon’s proposal to skirt civil service rules and expand the number of administration-appointed managers in the police and fire departments is worth considering. In particular, the need for … 17

• Vestal: Hip block of West Main crying out for edgy moniker

  April 3, 2013 in City on Page A1 You know something’s really alive when you get the urge to name it. That’s where things stand in the little block on the east end of West Main Avenue – … 40

• We’re failing in our commitment to education

  March 30, 2013 in City on Page B1 For a bunch of supposedly smart adults, we’re acting pretty dumb about education. It’s not the way we like to think of ourselves, here in the Evergreen State. After all, … 63

• County land deal triggers differing appraisals

  March 29, 2013 in City on Page A5 Did the county just lose its shirt in a land sale? Or did it merely purchase something it needed? Maybe it’s neither, because maybe it’s both. Maybe the recent land … 19

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Recent photos by Shawn