As you probably get tired of hearing, ETS! is an all-volunteer proposition. As we enter 1999, we are at something of a crossroads.

In Sept. 1996, ETS! started with three key people; all have persevered since then, week in and week out, but in a couple weeks we're going to lose one of them. John Reese, a well-known local activist, has played an essential role in photocopying (pre-newsprint) and distribution, as well as regularly writing "Stump Talk." He has taken a job editing the Earth First! Journal in Eugene, Oregon. There will be a going-away party for John on Jan. 30, but in the meantime we need to find someone who can assume his workload in coordinating distribution of ETS! We have also lost several volunteer distributors in recent months; John was out of town much of the fall, and as a result we've been rather disorganized in replacing those folks, too. So we're in particular need of people who can distribute to the following areas: Capitol Hill (especially on 15th), West Seattle, Green Lake/Greenwood, Ballard, Shoreline, Queen Anne, Central District/First Hill, Pioneer Square/International District, and all points south.

Distribution is one of the easiest, yet most essential, tasks involved in producing ETS! Everything we write is meaningless if the papers don't get out around town. So, if you'd like to help, look around your neighborhood for the coffee shops, bookstores, libraries, restaurants, and hangouts where you think people would pick up a copy of ETS!, make a list of those places, and call or come in to see us to pick up some papers.

Speaking of folks who are leaving: we also wanna say thanks to Cameron Parish and Brian Dellert, who are moving on to other projects after having done a fabulous job with the ETS! web site over the last year. We've found one replacement, but need another; you need to know PERL language. For details and info, contact tommy@best.com.

We have other volunteer needs, too. Several folks that we had been counting on to write regular features for the expanded newsprint format have been unable to; while we greatly appreciate new writers like Troy Skeels, John Persak, and Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair's Nature & Politics, it hasn't been enough to prevent a lot of the weekly writing from falling to the editors. We could also use a backup person who's ready to do layout in case our RLG (Resident Layout God) Lance Scott is sick or (here's a concept) takes a vacation.

The expansion last summer to newsprint was predicated financially on our ability to sell a few ads each week to make up the shortfall. That effort has been somewhat anemic to date, and we are now faced with the leanest time of the year, post-Christmas, for ad sales. We could use an energetic ad seller. Or two.

We're also still looking for someone who wants to take on arranging benefits and fundraising events. If you like to throw parties, show films, sell subscriptions, etc., then you've got what it takes to help us break even.

Finally, because we have inserts to stuff into the paper some weeks but not others, our attendance at the Tuesday night stuffing parties has been sort of erratic lately. If you come by the office and there's no work to be done, don't be discouraged; we'll probably need you next week. Please come back! We can always use more help.

This should be a time of triumph for ETS!. We're cited a lot, and our stories are picked up a lot--increasingly by mainstream media. ETS!er Michael Gross has had two auditions so far for a possible regular weekend hosting slot on the city's most listened-to radio station, KIRO-AM; co-editor Geov Parrish is now appearing each week, with a wide audience and unparalleled editorial freedom, in the Seattle Weekly. And both Geov and co-editor Maria Tomchick are embarking on regular columns in Mojo Wire, the on-line version of Mother Jones magazine (www.motherjones.com). Our letters and comments from readers indicate that a lot of people appreciate our weekly work, and those good comments help us continue to crank it out each week.

But we need some fresh blood in a variety of weekly tasks, and we need to stop losing money. Please send us an e-mail (ets@scn.org) or call (206-215-1156) if you can help out. Better yet, stop by the office; we're holding a special business meeting on Tuesday evening, Jan. 26 (7 PM, at Univ. Baptist Church, 47th & 12th Ave. NE, Third Floor, enter off of 12th Ave.), to review our options for either bringing in new people to help, or scaling back to a more manageable level. Please don't take ETS! for granted; if you read us each week, in print or on line, consider what you can do, with time and/or money, to help us continue. And thanks for your wonderful support over the last 2-1/2 years!