By STAN STAPP

After more than 50 years of writing for a number of North End community newspapers, Trudy Weckworth is calling it quits. She's best known by thousands of readers as the author of the police blotter, "Hash, fresh ground weekly," or "Hash every other week" - depending on which newspaper.

Her last column will appear shortly in the Seattle Press and the Ballard News-Tribune.

I first became acquainted with Trudy when she came to work for me at the original Outlook. At first she took on special assignments, then general news, then spot news (mainly police and fire). She relieved me of my daily visits to the Wallingford Police Station where I'd been gathering police news for eight years. This included the popular "Hash" column, which she has been writing ever since. She also became our news editor, and later edited the Ballard News-Tribune for awhile. Her column has also appeared in the Outlook Today and the University District Herald.

Trudy has won more than 80 state and national awards; edited Seattle Town Topics for awhile; edited a book about Governor Dixie Lee Ray; and with her husband, Herb, operated Trudy's Restaurant next to the Guild 45th Street Theatre.

Trudy, at 87 years of age, has been considering whether to quit for some time, finding it harder to get around. She has given up driving, and depends on Herb to haul her to the North End police precinct at N 103rd and Meridian Ave. N. However, Herb is having eye trouble so the future is questionable.

In addition, the Weckworths' son, Bill, succumbed to lung cancer Feb. 25. He graduated from Lincoln High School in 1956 and the University of Washington Law School in 1962, and served on the Board of Directors of the Wallingford Boys Club. At the time of his death, Bill and his wife, JoAnn, resided in Hermosa Beach, Calif., having moved there from Seattle in 1977.