Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 8, August 2003

Copyright 2003 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article and photos below in your research. Be sure to quote the Seattle Sun as your source.

Stapp's 'addiction to the truth'

inspired many

(Editor's note: The following article is the first of a multi-part retrospective of the career of recently retired Seattle Sun columnist Stan Stapp, who was also the former longtime publisher of the old North Central Outlook, a family-owned community newspaper that covered North Seattle for 52 years until its sale in 1974. The second part of this series, which will feature an extensive interview with Stan, will appear in next month's issue.)

By CLAYTON PARK

Stan Stapp's decision this spring to retire from writing new columns for the Seattle Sun ends a career in journalism that has spanned more than eight decades.

For the past 18 years, Stapp, who turned 85 on Jan. 8, has written his column for a succession of community newspapers in North Seattle, beginning with The Forum (a monthly that covered Fremont and Wallingford) from 1985-early 1986, followed by its successor, The North Seattle Press (a biweekly that later shortened its name to The Seattle Press) from 1986-1998, and, since 1998, The Jet City Maven, a monthly which was renamed last year as The Seattle Sun.

Stan gained a sizable following of loyal readers with his highly personalized accounts of notable events and memorable personalities from North Seattle's past as originally chronicled in the old North Central Outlook, a weekly community newspaper his family owned from 1922 until its sale to a citywide chain in 1974.

Stan, who was only four years old when The Outlook was launched by his eldest brother Milton in the basement of their family home at 4203 Woodlawn Ave. N, would go on to serve as co-publisher along with his three brothers of the paper, before eventually becoming sole publisher in 1954, a title he would hold, along with that of editor-in-chief, for the next 20 years.

In addition to managing The Outlook's operations, Stan would often personally cover breaking news, both as a reporter and photographer. He also wrote a column that, unlike his writings in the past 18 years, tackled head-on the contentious issues of the day including the civil rights efforts of the 1960s, which he supported, the Vietnam War, which he opposed, media censorship, which he also fought against, and the hippies, many of whom he befriended.

Stan is quick to note that his controversial stands weren't based on a political agenda he preferred to remain independent, rather than align himself to a particular party. He says he preferred to make his conclusions only after careful, logical examination of the facts, and strived to present all sides fairly.

Trudy Weckworth, the Outlook's longtime news editor who worked for Stan from 1947-1974, notes of her former boss: "He was addicted to the truth. He was always careful to make sure to get the stories right."

Stan's commitment to telling it as he saw it no matter what cost The Outlook some of its advertisers, but it also helped to make the paper a must-read for the community, earning it the nickname in the 1960s and early 1970s as "Seattle's liveliest paper."

It also garnered Stan numerous awards for excellence in journalism including a first-place national award for column writing in the 1960s. He added to his large collection of writing awards in 2001 when he took second-place honors for his column in the Jet City Maven in the non-daily newspaper category for the Western Washington chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

But Stan's accomplishments weren't limited to his own writings. Over the years, he also helped launch the careers of numerous journalists, including several who have gone on to work at daily newspapers.

The Seattle Sun recently spoke with a number of people, including former employees and readers, about the positive impacts that Stan Stapp has had on their lives.

PHIL WEBBER

Phil Webber, who will turn 65 in September, has been a staff photographer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for the past 47 years. He is currently the P-I's chief photographer, a title he has held since the 1980s.

"I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for Stan," says Webber, who began shooting photos for the Outlook when he was 14.

Stan is fond of telling the story of his first encounter with Webber: "I was taking spot pictures of a house fire in Wallingford with my Speed Graphic camera when here came this boy peddling up on his bicycle with a small camera. I smiled and thought it was kind of cute, but the next day his picture was in the Seattle Times. That sure put me in my place!"

Webber, who was a ninth grader living in Fremont at the time, says he was active in the camera club at Hamilton Junior High at the time and got the idea to chase fires and accidents as a way to take photos to sell to newspapers as a fun way to make money.

After his photo was published in the Times, he says Stan invited him to submit breaking news photos to him "and maybe we'll buy them from you."

Before long, the Outlook was regularly purchasing and publishing photos by Webber, sometimes as many as five in a week, at $5 a pop. "That was a lot of money for a kid," he recalls.

But the Outlook publisher did more than simply buy pictures from the young photographer. "Stan basically took me under his wing and was like a father to me," Webber says. "He'd advise me on how to talk to the cops, for example ... He was extremely helpful to me. He just knew I was an eager young kid.

"I just kind of did what he (Stan) did," Webber explains. "I'd just watch what he'd do. ... He was always sympathetic to the people he talked to and he knew a lot of people in the community. That's what you've got to do to be a good newsman."

Webber says Stan taught him so well that he wound up getting hired by the P-I as a full-time photographer at age 17.

Webber was able to persuade his bosses at the P-I to allow him to continue to sell spot pictures to the Outlook for the next few years, something that would never be permitted today, he says.

"Stan made me what I am today," Webber declares, "for good or bad."

KAREN WEST

Karen West retired in 2001 from the Seattle Times, where she worked 16 years, initially as Deputy City Editor, and later as Associate Features Editor. She worked at the Outlook from 1970-1974, where she and Trudy Weckworth served as news editors, helping Stan to put out the paper's two zoned editions (Ballard-Greenwood and University-Wallingford).

Working at the Outlook was more than just a job, West, who now lives in Eastern Washington, recalls. At a small paper, employees learn to do a bit of everything, regardless of title, she says.

"It was excellent training. I could take someone's classified, collect a bad account and go out and cover a story," West recalls.

Another benefit to working at the Outlook, she says, was having Stan as an editor who "insisted on following the strictest of journalism ethics" and who believed in doing thorough reporting. "We used to win awards all the time," she says, noting proudly that the paper often scooped the daily newspapers on breaking news.

Stan also impressed on his staff the importance of being open-minded when covering a story. "He always saw the good in people," she says, "and believed in giving people a chance.

"One might think that someone who'd essentially been self-employed his whole life and who spent his entire career in the same neighborhood might have lived a narrow life, but that wasn't the case with Stan. He saw the whole world in his own neighborhood. I think that Stan understands human nature and that human beings aren't that much different from each other no matter where they are in the world.

"It's not just that he's tolerant. He was not a stereotypical liberal. What drives Stan is a desire to understand other points of view."

West says she thoroughly enjoyed her experience at the Outlook, even though the meager pay left something to be desired. "There were times when Stan and Dorothy would ask us not to cash our paychecks right away," she recalls. Times were particularly difficult for the Outlook in the early '70s, which was a period marked by Boeing layoffs and a depressed local economy that inspired the famous billboard asking "the last person leaving Seattle to turn out the lights."

What finally forced West to begin looking for another job was when she had to borrow money to pay her rent. Fortunately, her experience at the Outlook "definitely helped me get a job at the P-I," she says.

"Stan's just such a fine human being," West says. "I know he's been proud to follow the careers of those who've worked for him and I suspect that to a person we're all grateful for having worked for him."

ERIK LACITIS

Erik Lacitis recently ended a 27-year run as a columnist with the Seattle Times to become a features writer for the paper.

He began his career as a journalist in 1967 when he began writing for the Outlook the summer after he graduated from Lincoln High School. He continued writing for the paper as a freelance contributor for the next two years.

"Stan was one of the best editors I have ever worked with," says Lacitis, who got paid $20 per story published and an additional $5 if it included a photo.

"Here was this wonderful guy (Stan) who was enthusiastic about my story ideas and who said 'Go for it.' What more can a high school guy ask?" says Lacitis, who added that at Lincoln he had been "asked" to not write for the student paper.

"He (Stan) allowed me a lot of freedom to write the stories," says Lacitis, who recalls writing articles about drug dealers on The Ave. and the University District riots. "He was never negative. He was always encouraging."

A few years later, when Lacitis tried his hand at publishing his own paper, a short-lived publication called the New Times Journal, which he says was modeled after Rolling Stone magazine, he says "Stan was kind enough to let me work at night on his layout tables (at the Outlook office). ...

"I'm forever grateful to Stan," he says.

ARLENE BRYANT

Arlene Bryant is currently the Eastside bureau chief for the Seattle Times. She landed a job as a reporter with the Outlook in the early 1970s, shortly after her arrival to Seattle as a recent college graduate with a degree in journalism.

"Stan was a wonderful, kind, supportive man who was plugged into the community and was so caring of his readers," she recalls.

While there was nothing slick or fancy about the Outlook, she says "what I got out of it was how important community news is." She noted that the paper always got a "tremendous response from readers."

"Stan gave a lot of young people opportunities," says Bryant. "I also remember how he loved to dance. I think maybe that's what kept him so young for so long."

TRUDY WECKWORTH

Trudy Weckworth was employed at the Outlook from 1947-1974, beginning as a volunteer who was soon hired on as a part-time receptionist and later promoted to reporter and, in 1965, news editor.

She became acquainted with the paper when she was a member of the PTA at Interlake Elementary School who was seeking to publicize parents' efforts to fight the School District's plans to close the school in 1940s.

She says the Outlook's coverage of the issue was "greatly instrumental" in saving the school.

Grateful for the paper's support, and having always been interested in newspapers, Weckworth offered to become a volunteer circulation assistant. When she got hired as a receptionist she demonstrated her skill with words by rewriting meeting notices.

Stan agreed to try her out as a reporter by assigning her to write a feature on a diver who lived in Fremont. Pleased with the results, he continued to assign her more stories, including breaking news and, in 1955, the police beat column.

In 1963, she won first-place awards, both nationally and for the state, for a news photo she took of skindivers pulling out the body of a boy who had drowned at Green Lake.

Weckworth praised Stan for his willingness to help those interested in becoming journalists. She credits both Stan and his brother Milton for teaching her how to write news stories.

She said Stan was "very good with helping young people get their start in the business." She added that she was impressed that "he never catered to business people who advertised at the expense of the news. ... I don't think trying to make money was a conscious effort for Stan. It was to put out a good quality product that reflected the neighborhood.

"One of the reasons we enjoyed working for Stan was that he was such a fair person. He never lost his temper. He was patient. We just plain admired him and were proud to work for him and for the newspaper he published."

DOUG MUNSON

Doug Munson is a Lake City resident who recently submitted the following letter, which recalled his experience as a newspaper carrier for the Outlook in the late 1940s and early 1950s:

"As a young kid growing up in the Wallingford area, I would wander up to 42nd and Woodlawn to the Outlook plant. Once there, I would go down to the basement to watch them set type and print the papers. I'm sure I was a nuisance to Stan, Trudy and the rest of the crew. They would say 'Hi,' and keep right on working.

"Finally, in the fall of 1948, they took the hint and gave me a paper route. Only delivering on Fridays, it still gave us kids some responsibility and MONEY. I delivered The Outlook until 1951, switching then over to a Seattle Times route.

"Most memorable moment: Who could ever forget delivering papers during the blizzard of Jan. 13, 1950? I still can't believe I did it.

"I also want to thank Stan, Trudy, and all the Outlook gang for helping to enrich my childhood."