Eyman unmasked

Several editors were commenting yesterday that if Tim Eyman’s referendum to overturn Washington’s gay rights law failed, it might be questionable as a page one story. With the benefit of hindsight, though, it seems obvious that the initiative’s failure is a bigger story than if it had passed, especially considering Monday’s theatrics .

In reference to Eyman’s attire - a shirt bearing the slogan “Let the voters decide,” city editor David Wasson commented: “You could successfully contend that the people have spoken - they didn’t sign.”

A key element of the story that perhaps didn’t get the attention it deserved was the fact that thousands of people in Washington now have civil rights that they didn’t have yesterday. “As written, the focus of this story is on Eyman,” senior editor Carla Savalli said.

Running late

Savalli said that we blew deadline on today’s RPS garage story, but that it was worth it. We didn’t get the report citing safety concerns until 5 p.m., but reporter Jonathan Brunt still managed to turn the story around in fairly short time.

On a related production note, last night’s effort by our perpetually short-handed night copydesk didn’t go unnoticed. With one key editor away at a conference and another hospitalized with appendicitis, the desk still managed to produce three completely different B1 covers for all three editions.