New Hope Motel In The Woods

A former University of Washington AIDS researcher committed scientific misconduct by altering images and fabricating data, a UW investigation found.

Investigators recommended that Scott J. Brodie be banned from future employment at the university. All his research is now “viewed with suspicion” and subject to independent verification, according to a UW Investigation Committee Report.

“Accepted scientific practices do not allow a scientist to falsely label an image as suits his or her fancy simply because such work is conducted in the scientist’s lab; to do so is instead a gross deviation of accepted scientific practices,” the investigators wrote.

Investigators found that Brodie falsified data in 15 instances - in published and unpublished journal articles, and grant proposals. The research in question included cellular responses to the HIV virus.

The 16-month investigation of Brodie was unusual and disheartening, said Denny Liggitt, chairman of the UW’s Department of Comparative Medicine and one of the three investigators who reviewed Brodie’s work.

Not only did it cast doubt on Brodie’s own work, but it also created problems for many other researchers who relied on his data, Liggitt said.

“The problem with things like this is that people build on someone else’s knowledge. It wastes money, it wastes time and it can lead science in a wrong direction,” Liggitt said. “Even the smallest misguidance can cripple a very large investigation.”

The 2003 report on Brodie, a former research assistant professor at the UW, was released Tuesday, after The Seattle Times last week won a case in King County Superior Court involving the release of the documents.

The Times in January requested all findings of academic misconduct at the UW, dating back five years. Under the pseudonym “John Doe,” Brodie filed a lawsuit against both the UW and The Times seeking to halt release of his records.

Brodie is now living and working on the East Coast. His Seattle-based attorney couldn’t be reached for comment late Tuesday.

In denying Brodie’s request for a preliminary injunction stopping release of the records, Judge William Downing said that because a “thorough investigation” found a public employee had engaged in research misconduct, “the public certainly has a legitimate interest in knowing that outcome, the underlying facts and the process by which they were found.”

The information was released under the state’s Public Disclosure Act, which acknowledges the public’s interest in open government by allowing access to certain records.

Brodie graduated from the UW in 1982 and got a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Washington State University in 1989. He later got a doctorate in infectious diseases from Colorado State University and was briefly an instructor at Harvard University.

He was recruited to the UW in 1996 to direct the retrovirus laboratory of Dr. Lawrence Corey, head of the UW’s virology division in the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Brodie told investigators.

Liggitt said the investigation began when a rival researcher, who was reviewing a paper Brodie submitted for publication, noticed some anomalies and notified the federal Office of Research Integrity, which, in turn, notified the UW in August 2002.

Investigation documents describe an unusual “sequestration” process that followed the next month. A team of doctors and security personnel confiscated nine computer hard drives from Brodie’s lab, as well as computer disks, lab notes and office files. Two doctors went to Brodie’s home and took away his home computer.

In December 2002, Brodie was ordered to work at home. The keys to his lab and his swipe card were confiscated. The next month, with all the evidence removed to other “secure locations” at the UW, Brodie was allowed back on campus. Brodie resigned in June 2003, and the investigation concluded in December of that year.

“It was a very traumatic investigation to be involved with,” Liggitt said. “We got to look at the underbelly of science.”

Liggitt said the investigators wanted to be extremely thorough to give Brodie the benefit of the doubt. But the more they looked into the case, the more problems they found. It became clear that Brodie had been increasingly manipulating computer images and falsifying data as time went by, Liggitt said, though it was hard to detect.

The UW’s Investigation Committee Report concluded that Brodie had committed scientific misconduct in many ways, including falsifying a figure in a paper submitted for publication. In a series of increasingly sharp rebukes, the investigators found that “Dr. Brodie falsified this figure and also that he did so knowingly and purposefully. Honest error was not involved.”

The investigators said Brodie deliberately manipulated an image of a single cell into “two distinct images presented as different types of cells” in order to make a point in a paper.

Even if the false information is presented in “good faith belief that the work could be created if attempted,” it’s wrong to do that, they said. In one case, the false information involved work submitted to the journal Science. “Science is a journal devoted to the practice of science, not science fiction,” the investigators wrote.

Corey said even though Brodie used faulty methods, his conclusions were found to be correct by other scientists - at least in the paper that spurred the investigation. That paper found the HIV virus continues to replicate in certain cells, even in people taking potent antiretrovirals. “Did he set back crucial research? The answer is no,” Corey said.

In written responses and interviews with the investigators, Brodie at times denied the allegations, at other times claimed images were “inadvertently mislabeled,” and suggested lab technicians could have been responsible for mistakes.

During one meeting, he said some primary source data had disappeared and might have been lost during a move between buildings.

The investigators, however, said they found Brodie’s responses “disingenuous” and “damning,” and noted that “publishing false scientific information in the public record is material because it harms the progress of science.”

They noted that none of the evidence implicated any of Brodie’s colleagues “in his acts of scientific misconduct.”

The investigators concluded that because Brodie is no longer employed at the UW, no immediate employment action was required - only that he “be banned from any future employment or contractual relationship with the UW,” the report said.

The UW turned over its results to federal investigators, who have not yet issued any findings.

In the past five years, the UW has launched two far-reaching investigations into academic misconduct, one of which is the Brodie case. No information is available on the second case, which remains under investigation.

In other, smaller investigations, the UW found problems in the work of at least three other researchers but didn’t conclude that those researchers had deliberately falsified data.

UW spokesman Norm Arkans said incidents of academic misconduct are extremely rare but are taken seriously when they arise, as the extensive investigation of Brodie shows.

Liggitt said scientific-journal editors have become increasingly concerned about the ease with which images can be manipulated through computer programs such as Photoshop. He said an image can often impress a reviewer or make a point that a lot of narrative cannot - and the old adage that an image is worth a thousand words rings true.

He said medical research and HIV research in particular is highly competitive, with the National Institutes of Health making cutbacks and many researchers competing for limited funding. Getting published can help bolster a researcher’s push to land the next grant, he added.

“It’s ugly out there,” Liggitt said. “There are a lot more desperate people because of the cutbacks.”

Carol M. Ostrom: 206-464-2249 or costrom@seattletimes.com

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com

New power plants built to light Washington must limit their greenhouse-gas pollution, according to a ruling Tuesday that affirms a new direction for the state’s pursuit of electricity.

In a critical first test of a new state law meant to block construction of power plants that spew climate-changing gases, a state panel soundly rejected plans for a 793-megawatt plant in Kalama, Cowlitz County, that would be fueled by coal or oil-refinery waste.

The decision by the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, which oversees power-plant permits, is a blow for Energy Northwest, the coalition of 20 Washington public utilities that wants to build the plant.

It’s also among a string of recent setbacks for new polluting power plants nationwide - including ones in Florida, Kansas and Texas - as concerns rise about climate change.

“Burning coal for energy is a 19th-century answer to the problems that we have in front of us,” said attorney Jan Hasselman, of Earthjustice, which represented environmental groups in challenging the Energy Northwest plan for Kalama. “We think that it is time to move on.”

The state energy-facility council’s strongly worded and unanimous ruling sided with the environmental groups and several state agencies. They all had argued that Energy Northwest essentially was trying to skirt a new state law.

That law, passed in the spring, requires new power plants to limit emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, to the same levels of a high-efficiency, natural-gas power plant. Any plant puffing out more than that - such as a coal-fired plant - must capture the extra and find a way to store it permanently.

Energy Northwest claimed that the current state of technology limits its ability to store the greenhouse gases, so it promised that if it could build the plant, it would come up with a more detailed plan in the future.

But the energy council said sharply that Energy Northwest’s approach “misses the mark by a wide margin.”

It said Energy Northwest was basically asking the council to overturn the new state law, which it can’t do. Simply having “a plan to make a plan” wasn’t adequate, the council said.

The council halted any further consideration of the application to build the plant.

Energy Northwest spokesman Gary Miller on Tuesday said the group needs time to review the decision before deciding on its next step. The group’s leaders have previously said a requirement to capture the gases, called sequestration, could thwart the project.

Kim Schmanke, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Ecology, said the agency would work with Energy Northwest to find a solution. Ecology was among the opponents to the Energy Northwest plan for the project, as was the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development.

Meanwhile, the ruling could give a boost to a separate effort to build a coal-fueled power plant along the Columbia River near Wallula, Walla Walla County, in Eastern Washington.

Promoters of that project, led by United Power of Gig Harbor, say it would be able to store much of its greenhouse gases in basalt rocks beneath the site. Tests are planned to determine whether that’s really so. The state energy council hasn’t yet considered whether that plant would meet the new state law.

Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com

Retired four-star Gen. Barry McCaffrey, former drug czar under President Clinton, says Snohomish County needs to increase a cap that restricts the number of patients allowed at local methadone clinics.

McCaffrey, who was in the area last week, sits on the board of the CRC Health Group, which operates a private methadone clinic in Lynnwood. He says allowing only 350 patients at a time at each of the county’s three opiate-addiction clinics won’t negate the problem.

By McCaffrey’s estimates, at least 5,000 Snohomish County residents at a time are addicted to opiates, and methadone treatment is successful.

For nearly four years now, the CRC clinic in Lynnwood has treated patients for addiction, recently expanding its services outside of opiate addiction. But waiting lists there, and at separate clinics in Everett and Arlington, show there is more to be done.

“Sounds like there’s at least enough need for either raising the cap at each clinic or trying to start another clinic,” said County Councilman-elect Mike Cooper, present for McCaffrey’s tour. “It’s an issue I’ve seen firsthand when working for the fire department, and we need to make sure better treatment is available.”

The Lynnwood clinic struggled to open in 2004, mainly because Lynnwood and Snohomish County officials tried to block its placement. A lawsuit finally settled the issue, allowing the clinic to open.

McCaffrey said there’s a false stigma attached to methadone clinics: increased problems with crime, violence and vulgarity in their neighborhoods.

Local clinic director David Newman says none of that has occurred.

“Maybe once a year you have someone who gets a little peeved, but people that come here for treatment are here willingly,” he said.

State legislators set caps on patient numbers to help control how methadone clinics operate, but county officials have authority to adjust numbers as they see fit.

“I think there’s been a lot of positive talk recently, and we’re getting our message through to the county,” Newman said. “When we opened, you wouldn’t have seen anybody from government visit here, but now that’s changed.”

McCaffrey led a tour of the facility for county, state and federal representatives last week. Included was a representative from the Snohomish County executive’s office, which is studying the cap issue.

“We’re looking at different proposals now as they relate to the cap levels,” said Brian Parry, an analyst in the executive’s office. “But from our perspective, this needs to be handled at a regional level and include more than just Snohomish County.”

McCaffrey said afterward that making treatment available reduces local crime.

“You can look at someone’s rap sheet, and it says theft, fraud or prostitution,” he said. “But 85 percent of the explanation for that criminal behavior is drug or alcohol addiction.”

This wasn’t McCaffrey’s first visit to Snohomish County since retiring as director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. McCaffrey was a keynote speaker in 2004 at the Snohomish County Youth Meth Summit, held in Everett.

There he spoke of the pressure teens face in school to try recreational drugs and how that can lead to more dependent behaviors.

He reiterated that message last week in Lynnwood.

“The issue still is with the eighth- through 12th-graders,” he said. “That’s where it starts.”

Christopher Schwarzen: 425-745-7813 or cschwarzen@seattletimes.com

With Monday’s order from China for 160 aircraft, Airbus has won three big contracts there in two years, compared with Boeing’s one. The estimated $17 billion deal comes with orders already at an all-time high and is a boost as the European company works to end losses.

Some analysts questioned the bottom-line impact, though.

“These are very nice numbers, but you have to wonder what kind of pricing is involved,” said Zafar Khan, an analyst at SG Securities in London with a “sell” rating on the stock. “Even if they were selling these planes at list price, given where the dollar is, are they able to make any real profit?”

Shares of EADS closed down 0.1 percent at 21.38 euros after earlier gaining 2.7 percent. The stock has declined 18 percent this year, compared with a 1.2 percent advance at Chicago-based Boeing. Boeing stock rose 39 cents to $89.93 Monday in New York Stock Exchange Composite trading.

Monday’s plane order is the largest ever placed by China. The deal comprises 110 A320 short-haul planes and 50 A330 widebodies, said Louis Gallois, chief executive officer of Airbus parent company European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.

Airbus won a $10 billion deal for 150 aircraft there in November 2005, followed by another that size last year. Boeing’s last big Chinese order was in 2005, worth as much as $9 billion.

Airbus and EADS executives are traveling with a trade delegation led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on a three-day visit to China. Airbus also Monday won an order for 12 of its new A350 long-haul jetliners from TAP SGPS SA, Portugal’s biggest airline, worth $2.4 billion at list prices.

The European manufacturer is building an assembly line in China that will produce four single-aisle A320 planes a month when the line is at full production in about 2011.

The plane maker will also award Chinese companies 5 percent of the A350’s supply contracts, including wing flaps and rudders, Chief Operating Officer Fabrice Bregier said today. The company is hoping China will become a risk-sharing partner on the 300-seat aircraft, which has been redesigned to meet customer specifications and won’t enter service until 2013, five years after the competing 787 Dreamliner from Boeing.

Boeing has supplier contracts with China’s aviation industry valued at “well over” $2.5 billion, Boeing spokesman Peter Conte said in an e-mail today.

“Airbus has won large orders in China in each of the last three years, which suggests the risk of creating an assembly line there is paying off,” said Yan Derocles, an analyst at Oddo Securities in Paris with an “add” rating on the shares.

Not necessarily, said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va. While the portion of the order for A330 aircraft helps Airbus catch up to Boeing’s lead in that segment of the market, each manufacturer is likely to end up with about half the total, he said.

“I don’t think either side has to worry,” Aboulafia said. “Airbus just made the mistake of spending to manufacture there to get the same 50 percent of the market.”

As of the third quarter, 647, or 58 percent, of the 1,113 commercial jetliners operating in China were Boeing airplanes; 357, or 32 percent, were Airbus; and 109, or 10 percent, were from other manufacturers, Boeing’s Conte said.

Airbus’ new orders this year will surpass the 1,111 amassed in 2005. The company had already won 1,021 new orders through the end of October and announced another 297 contracts or commitments at the Dubai Air Show in mid-November.

“The Chinese market is growing at by far the fastest pace in the world,” Airbus executive Bregier said in an interview. “We hope to have more handsome orders like this.”

Boeing’s new orders this year have reached 1,047, setting a third straight annual record, the company said Nov. 21. Airbus’ order tally is based on gross orders for the year and doesn’t include orders that may have been canceled.

Boeing’s gross orders are at 1,057, up from 1,050 last year, according to the Nov. 21 tally.

David Bruce Hardt had never run a marathon like this before. He usually hates the day of a race, because he’s too focused or too sore, and his competitiveness overwhelms his joy.

On Sunday, however, everything felt different for the Iraq War veteran. Eighteen miles into the Seattle Marathon, his tribute to 48 of his fallen comrades, Hardt recognized just how widespread his message of remembrance had become.

The crowd began cheering him loudly. People extended their hands to offer thanks. Others wanted hugs, and Hardt was happy to break his stride to give them. A little girl even kissed his cheek, just as an Iraqi girl had done several months ago in an alley in Baghdad.

As a soldier, Hardt has become adept at anticipation, so he felt this atmosphere before he ran into it.

“It was pretty electric, pretty intense,” said Spc. Hardt, a Fort Lewis soldier who has done two tours in Iraq serving with the Army’s 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry C Company, 2nd Platoon Reapers. “I knew I was going into it. I could sense it. It was inspirational. It was emotional.

“I can’t even properly express what it meant, and I’m a talkative guy.”

So many cameras flashed Hardt must’ve thought he was escorting Jessica Alba on the red carpet. He was a hero. He also represented heroes.

Now the average citizen understands this war better. Real people, not faceless troops, are dying, many more than the 48 names written on the shirt Hardt wore Sunday.

All political views must intersect at that one point - death. Hardt can’t stand the death.

“We’re human,” he said. “We’re not just machines doing a job.”

While training in Iraq, the soldier learned to become his environment. Hardt could only experience freedom, every runner’s craving, by losing himself in the gunfire and explosions, pretending he wasn’t a moving target.

Back then, he didn’t think about Sunday, the big day that would give everything meaning. He didn’t think about anything, just running.

Survival is a simple goal.

Recognition can be much more complicated. But now he has it.

“I’m not looking at me,” Hardt said. “I’m looking at what’s in the news. We’re talking about what the war has done, the lives it’s taken, the soldiers who are injured and paralyzed.

“The message, it’s really taken off. I walk around, and people are asking me questions, shaking my hand. I’m so glad we finally had a chance to get the names out there of lost soldiers. It was beautiful, absolutely unbelievable.”

Leaders of Hardt’s unit congratulated him afterward as only the military can.

“They said, ‘Good job, go home, relax. Take it easy for a day, and come back to work,’ “ Hardt said, laughing.

Hardt’s recovery involves some pool training and light weightlifting. His body is tired, racked, but he’s feeling better than he thought he would.

This was his first marathon in three years. Hardt, 31, had run in marathons and half-marathons throughout his late teens and early 20s, but he lost his competitive edge. Then he went to war.

He dropped more than 40 pounds running in the 125-degree heat of Iraq. This was his release, despite the dangers of weather and warfare. And four months ago, he put purpose behind his training.

Hardt chose to run the Seattle Marathon to create more compassion for soldiers. He wanted to succeed so much that he worried about every little thing that could go wrong in the race, including the recurring tendinitis in his right knee.

He wound up having few problems in this marathon, just a minor breathing issue because of the cold weather. He barely noticed his knee pain.

“It was very weird,” said Hardt, who finished in just under 4 ½ hours, hugs and kisses included. “I don’t feel bad at all.”

This marathon was, Hardt said, “the greatest run I’ve ever had.” He had fun running one for the first time. He figures this was a nice way to end his obsession with marathons.

“I think that was my last one,” said Hardt, who now plans to focus on half-marathons. “I think I’ve reached the pinnacle.”

Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277 or jbrewer@seattletimes.com. For his Extra Points blog, visit seattletimes.com/sports

The game: Football, Gonzaga Prep vs. Juanita, Dec. 6, 1986, at the Kingdome.

The significance: Gonzaga Prep of Spokane’s 14-7 victory for the Class 4A (then AAA) state football championship in Kingbowl X kept Juanita of Kirkland from winning an unprecedented third consecutive big-school title.

The coaches: Gonzaga Prep’s Don Anderson, whose team also won the 1982 title and made five state finals, finished 269-63-4, tied for the fourth-most wins in state history. Juanita’s Chuck Tarbox, whose team won titles in 1984 and ‘85, is No. 16 at 207-99-1.

The hero: Gonzaga Prep quarterback Ron Hawkins, who later played at Washington State, carried five straight times, including a 1-yard keeper with 7:32 left, atoning for a third-quarter fumble on the 1 and underthrowing a sure TD pass.

The play: Juanita’s Clayton Harley caught a 54-yard swing pass from Darrell Cloud to tie it at 7 8:03 before halftime.

The memories: Tarbox and Anderson had known about each other since their high-school days in Seattle - Tarbox went to Queen Anne and Anderson to Roosevelt - when Anderson dated Tarbox’s late sister, Shirley.

Two of the greatest coaches in state history could laugh about that in 1986, when their teams played one of the more memorable finals in state history.

“He says I got mad at him for kissing my sister,” Tarbox said with a chuckle by telephone last week from his home in Surprise, Ariz.

Tarbox insisted he wasn’t upset about losing to an undefeated Gonzaga Prep team that avenged a 28-13 defeat in the 1985 final, was No. 1 all year and survived a two-overtime semifinal against No. 2 Kennewick. Few expected the Rebels to return to Kingbowl until a 22-14 semifinal win over Renton.

“It was not a disappointment because no one gave us a chance,” Tarbox said. “The kids didn’t really catch on until they beat Renton.”

Tarbox, now 70, is battling a rare blood disorder that affects his immune system. He tires easily but still keeps up with football in this state and was well enough to attend a reunion in August at Juanita Beach Park. More than 100 players, coaches and friends showed up.

Anderson, now retired in Spokane, saw many of his former players at a surprise 75th birthday party last June.

“That was a special group of guys who shared an undefeated season,” said Anderson by telephone on Monday. “It was a rewarding experience. It was almost a family-type feeling. That’s what life’s all about.”

Don Shelton

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Dr. Robert Cade, who invented the sports drink Gatorade and launched a multibillion-dollar industry that the beverage continues to dominate, died Tuesday of kidney failure. He was 80.

His death was announced by the University of Florida, where he and other researchers created Gatorade in 1965 to help the school’s football players replace carbohydrates and electrolytes lost through sweat while playing in swamp-like heat.

Now sold in 80 countries in dozens of flavors, Gatorade was born thanks to a question from former Gator Coach Dwayne Douglas, Cade said in a 2005 interview with The Associated Press.

He asked, “Doctor, why don’t football players wee-wee after a game?”

“That question changed our lives,” Cade said.

Cade’s researchers determined a football player could lose up to 18 pounds - 90 to 95 percent of it water - during the three hours it takes to play a game. Players sweated away sodium and chloride and lost plasma volume and blood volume.

Using their research, and about $43 in supplies, they concocted a brew for players to drink while playing football. The first batch was not exactly a hit.

“It sort of tasted like toilet bowl cleaner,” said Dana Shires, one of the researchers.

“I guzzled it and I vomited,” Cade said.

The researchers added some sugar and some lemon juice to improve the taste. It was first tested on freshmen because Coach Ray Graves didn’t want to hurt the varsity team. Eventually, however, the use of the sports beverage spread to the Gators, who enjoyed a winning record and were known as a “second-half team” by outlasting opponents.

After the Gators beat Georgia Tech 27-12 in the Orange Bowl in 1967, Tech coach Bobby Dodd told reporters his team lost because, “We didn’t have Gatorade … that made the difference.”

Stokely-Van Camp obtained the licensing rights for Gatorade and began marketing it as the “beverage of champions.” PepsiCo Inc. now owns the brand, which has brought the university more than $150 million in royalties since 1973.

Cade said Stokely-Van Camp hated the name “Gatorade,” believing it would was too parochial, but stuck with it after tests showed consumers liked the name.

Gatorade held 81 percent of the $7.5 billion-a-year U.S. sports drink market in 2006, according to John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest.

“Gatorade is the clear granddaddy of those drinks,” Sicher said.

Cade said he thought the use of Gatorade would be limited to sports teams and never dreamed it would be purchased by regular consumers.

“I never thought about the commercial market,” he said. “The financial success of this stuff really surprised us.”

The researcher also said he was proud that Gatorade was based on research into what the body loses in exercise. “The other sports drinks were created by marketing companies,” he said.

Since its introduction, Cade said the formula changed very little. An artificial sweetener has replaced sugar.

Instead of the original four flavors, there are now more than 30 available in the United States and more than 50 flavors available internationally.

Born James Robert Cade in San Antonio on Sept. 26, 1927, Cade, a Navy veteran, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.

Cade was appointed an assistant professor in internal medicine at UF in 1961. He worked until he was 76, retiring in November 2004 from the university, where he taught medicine, saw patients and conducted research.

Cade and his wife, Mary, had six children.

What the Washington Huskies appeared to need after a tough visit to New York - and a long trip back - was a little day at the beach.

But while Long Beach State complied early - Washington led by 16 points in the first half - the 49ers took advantage of Washington’s weariness to tie the score in the second half before the Huskies eventually pulled away for an 84-69 win in front of 8,847 at Edmundson Pavilion.

“We’ve been going at it pretty hard for a while,” said forward Jon Brockman, noting the team’s trip to the NIT Season Tip-Off last week, where it lost games to Texas A&M and Syracuse, and a seven-hour trip home Saturday that included about a 90-minute wait on the tarmac. “When your only day off is a flight back home from New York, it can wear on you a little bit.”

It would have worn a lot more had not Justin Dentmon stepped up to score 15 of his game-high 22 points in the second half to stave off a rally by the 49ers, who tied the score at 61 with just less than 10 minutes remaining.

Dentmon hit six consecutive shots to start the second half, including two three-pointers and a fadeaway that put Washington ahead to stay with 9:22 left.

“I just felt we weren’t attacking the basket, so I decided to lead by example,” said Dentmon, who made 9 of 15 shots.

Even Dentmon, however, couldn’t halt one of UW’s worst free-throw-shooting nights in years. Dentmon, who was playing despite injuring his thumb in practice on Sunday, was 0 for 4 at the line. The Huskies were just 9 for 26 (34.6 percent), including 5 for 17 in the second half.

That continued a disturbing early-season trend for Washington, which came into the game hitting just 61.8 percent from the line.

“I just wonder if the long trip and the quick turnaround had anything to do with it,” said Washington coach Lorenzo Romar of his team’s worst free-throw performance since making 3 for 9 at California on Jan. 29, 2000. “Time will tell.”

Oddly, the Huskies were a season-high 11 for 19 (57.9 percent) from three-point range, making five of their first seven attempts as Long Beach State opened in a zone defense, daring UW to shoot. Washington responded with guard Joel Smith hitting three three-pointers in the first half. He made 4 of 4 for the game and scored a season-high 13.

“They just kept leaving me open, and I kept taking advantage,” Smith said.

Washington led by 16 three times in the first half before Long Beach closed to 41-33 at halftime. The 49ers managed to tie the score before the Huskies regained control. They hit 6 for 6 three-pointers in the second half to pull away.

Washington is now 4-2, while Long Beach State fell to 1-4 in the first season under former Gonzaga coach Dan Monson.

Monson said his team’s strategy was to contain Brockman, who was constantly double-teamed, and make other players beat them - he scored 13, seven below his average.

“Coming into the game we wanted to make them beat us from the outside and they did that,” Monson said. “They didn’t panic. They did a good job of making the plays down the stretch when they needed to to win the game.”

Notes

• Huskies G Ryan Appleby, out the past three weeks with a broken thumb, is now wearing just a wrap on his injury and hopes to return quickly, possibly as soon as Saturday’s game at Oklahoma State. But coach Lorenzo Romar sounded a more cautious tone, saying Appleby has to get clearance that he can return to play without fear of re-injury.

“They’ve got to feel strongly that if he gets hit again that he won’t get reinjured immediately the first time he gets hit,” Romar said, noting the initial prognosis was six weeks, which would put him at mid-December.

• Freshman C Matthew Bryan-Amaning got his second consecutive start and scored a career-high 11.

• The Oklahoma State game is part of the new Pac-10/Big 12 Challenge. The Huskies will host Oklahoma State in the series next season.

LONG BEACH STATE 69

min

fgm-a

ftm-a

or-t

a

pf

pts

Williams

25

4-9

1-1

3-5

3

3

10

Freeman

31

4-8

1-1

4-9

5

4

10

Plater

16

0-5

0-0

0-1

1

2

0

Morris

36

6-10

2-2

0-4

1

0

14

Gant

31

4-9

5-8

1-1

2

3

15

Lazdauskas

3

0-0

0-0

0-0

0

2

0

Porter

30

5-11

0-0

2-7

1

5

12

Clady

6

0-0

0-0

0-0

1

0

0

Johnson

12

2-3

0-1

1-2

1

2

4

Peys

1

1-1

0-0

0-0

0

0

2

Fleming

9

1-3

0-0

2-2

1

3

2

200

27-59

9-13

15-34

16

24

69

Percentages: FG .458, FT .692. Three-point goals: 6-11, (Williams 1-3, Freeman 1-1, Plater 0-3, Gant 2-2, Porter 2-2). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 0. Turnovers: 18, (Freeman, Plater 4, Morris, Gant 4, Porter 4, Clady 3, Fleming). Steals: 5, (Williams, Morris, Gant, Porter 2). Technical fouls: None.

WASHINGTON 84

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fgm-a

ftm-a

or-t

a

pf

pts

Bryan-Amnng

25

4-8

3-5

4-4

0

3

11

Pondexter

27

3-5

2-3

2-6

2

1

10

Brockman

36

6-10

1-5

4-9

2

3

13

Overton

24

2-3

2-6

0-1

6

2

7

Dentmon

33

9-15

0-4

0-2

2

2

22

Smith

18

4-5

1-2

2-3

1

2

13

Oliver

5

0-1

0-0

0-2

0

0

0

Morris

16

3-4

0-0

0-1

2

2

6

Holiday

3

0-1

0-0

0-0

0

0

0

Wolfinger

13

1-3

0-1

2-3

0

1

2

200

32-55

9-26

15-32

15

16

84

Percentages: FG .582, FT .346. Three-point goals: 11-19, (Pondexter 2-3, Overton 1-2, Dentmon 4-6, Smith 4-4, Oliver 0-1, Morris 0-1, Holiday 0-1, Wolfinger 0-1). Team rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 3, (Bryan-Amaning 2, Wolfinger). Turnovers: 13, (Bryan-Amaning, Brockman 3, Overton 6, Dentmon 2, Wolfinger). Steals: 8, (Brockman 2, Overton 2, Dentmon, Smith, Oliver, Morris). Technical fouls: None.

Long Beach State

33

36

-

69

Washington

41

43

-

84

Attendance: 8,847. Officials: Mark Reishling, Tim Gabutero, Ken Ditty.

Guess it doesn’t pay to cut into traffic.

Michael Register, 46, was cited for driving under the influence, driving without a license and driving on the wrong side of the road, Jacksonville, Fla.’s WJXX-TV reported, after police pulled him over going the wrong way on U.S. 17 in Putnam County, Fla.

While driving a riding lawn mower.

Copping a plea

Auburn cornerback Jerraud Powers suffered bites on his hand when he broke up a pass in Saturday’s Iron Bowl win over Alabama and strayed too close to a police dog just outside the end zone, the Birmingham (Ala.) News reported.

K-9 handlers say they’ll have to study game films before determining the snap count.

Paper Roses Dept.

A box containing thousands of rare documents, letters and memos surrounding the so-called Black Sox scandal is up for auction, the Chicago Tribune reported, including documents from the 1921 trial against eight White Sox players accused of throwing the 1919 World Series.

Pete Rose is already claiming first dibs if they discover any Reds betting slips.

Good move, Chris

Snippet from a Q&A between Cory Wolfe of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix and WWE rassler Chris Jericho, best-selling author of “A Lion’s Tale: Around the World in Spandex”:

Wolfe: “You write about ticking off NHL enforcer Dave Semenko when you shared a flight with the Oilers in the early 1990s. You called him ‘Cementhead’ in your book, but would you call him that to his face?”

Jericho: “Now I probably would if I was surrounded by other people. If it was just me and him, I’d call him Mr. Semenko.”

The shocking truth

Using stun guns is a form of torture, the U.N. Committee against Torture has declared.

But, as Taser apologists were quick to point out, it’s still a lot less painful than owning Dolphins season tickets.

Talking the talk

• Doug Segrest of the Birmingham News, on reeling Alabama - loser of four straight - looking at a possible berth in the low-rent Independence Bowl for the third time in seven seasons: “Alabama has spent more time in Shreveport than a traveling vacuum salesman.”

• Bill Lankhof of the Toronto Sun, after Saskatchewan beat prairie rival Winnipeg in Toronto on Sunday to win the CFL championship: “And so the Grey Cup parade goes west: Gentlemen, start your combines.”

• Former NBA star Charles Barkley, to the Dan Patrick radio show, on old pal Michael Jordan reportedly losing more than $150 million in his divorce settlement: “I was going to call him to borrow money, but I think I’ll hold off on that.”

• Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press, wondering about NFL players’ Thanksgiving Day activities: “Did Ricky Williams host a potluck?”

Charging foul

Touhomi Ghazoul, a former basketball player at North Dakota State College of Science, rang up $46,897 on a school calling card by making 395 unauthorized international phone calls at $9.80 a minute, the Fargo Forum reported.

The bill was even more staggering than that, investigators say, before Italian cellphone providers agreed to waive the Roman charges.

Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com

Suggesting that all good things must come to an end, Washington State terminated the five-year tenure of football coach Bill Doba on Monday. Since Doba swore he wouldn’t quit, we’ll take him at his word and presume he was fired, becoming the first football coach cashiered at the school since Bert Clark in 1967.

You could conclude that college football 2007 has officially gone daft. The Cougars just fired a coach for having a winning record, while Washington, once the dreadnought of the West Coast, is apparently OK with Tyrone Willingham going 11-24 in three seasons.

Way back when the Cougars excised Clark, they did it partly because he made some unwise remarks after a thrashing at Stanford, to the effect that he wasn’t certain the Cougars could compete in the old Pac-8 Conference.

The autopsy on Doba: He was fired for being too nice.

Principally, that meant he was willing to delegate major authority to his assistant coaches. He trusted all of them, some too much.

Remember, Doba was hired by WSU at 62, after Mike Price announced in December 2002 he was leaving for Alabama. Doba hadn’t been a head coach since 1976 - when he was guiding Mishawaka High School in Indiana. While there’s no statute against a college head coach having success in his 60s, just about everybody who’s having it established himself in a head position before then.

My sense is that Doba, comfortable in an assistant’s cocoon for 14 seasons under Price, was taken aback by the breadth of a head coach’s responsibilities.

So whenever he could, he delegated. For the most part, he concerned himself with the defense and gave great leeway to the offensive coaches. This fall, he became fond of saying, “Alex Brink knows this offense better than I do.” That may have been true, which is both reassuring and alarming.

His assistants had to love him. They got a long leash, multiyear contracts and peace of mind.

In a conversation four weeks ago, Doba told me, “I want [the assistant] to come to work and be able to relax and say something during the staff meeting and not get his head kicked in. I’ve been in situations where you wonder, ‘What’s gonna go wrong today?’ I don’t want that kind of pressure.

“Some people enjoy making other people miserable - and some are very successful and winning games. That’s not me.”

Which is fine, but ultimately, the head coach has to have a vision. He needs to know every nuance of the offense just as he knows the defense. At WSU, you can’t be a caretaker; you’ve got to be a swashbuckler.

A person who would know says Doba came to rely too much on certain assistants’ opinions on matters such as which recruits could overcome academic hurdles. Time and again the past couple of years, WSU lost prospects who couldn’t get in or who flunked out.

Inevitably, that began taking a toll on the field - in depth, for one. Washington State special teams were mostly a disaster. The Cougars’ Apple Cup victory over Washington is all the more impressive when you consider UW seemed to start every possession on its 43-yard line after a WSU kickoff.

Too often the past couple of years, the Cougars, ironically, were done in by their defense, Doba’s particular expertise. If it wasn’t that, it was a maddening series of botched trick plays - from the misbegotten 2-yard onside kick to start the 2004 game against USC, to a cavalcade of failed fake punts. Those are the kinds of plays that, right or wrong, focus attention on a staff’s preparation.

To the end, Doba was a gentleman to the core. After the Cougars presented him a glittering going-away gift - Saturday’s 42-35 victory over Washington - Doba talked about what a classy rivalry it was and hugged Huskies staffers outside the WSU dressing quarters.

Just a guess, but what WSU faithful would really like now is some of the Dennis Erickson fire of 1987 (”Before I go to bed every night, I’m going to ask myself: What did I do today to beat the Huskies?”). Or that of his predecessor, Jim Walden, who last week in an Internet piece noted some tepid performances of recent, favored WSU teams against UW and said, “I’m talking about really uninspired performances. When I was coaching, that would have been a sacrilege.”

Now, WSU needs somebody to rally the troops in and out of the program, to embrace every last facet of the job, not delegate it, and to persuade boosters to surrender their billfolds in the name of WSU’s stadium renovation.

Some history, ancient though it may be: When WSU fired Clark in 1967, it hired a hard-drinking, swaggering Irishman named Jim Sweeney. He used to fling off his sports jacket in front of basketball crowds and lead a Cougars spell-out. He could sell fur coats in Fort Lauderdale.

One of his signature victories came over Oregon in 1971 in Spokane. The defining play came when WSU, in punt formation, had an upback slip the ball forward between the legs of a halfback named Bernard Jackson, who that day set a school rushing record with 261 yards.

Jackson scored on a 46-yard run on that little ploy. Oregon still hasn’t figured out who had the ball.

So today, the question: Where was Bernard Jackson when Bill Doba needed him?

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com