Vern Anderson was named editorial page editor in 2002, his first professional foray into editorial and opinion writing after 23 years as a reporter and editor with The Associated Press and three years as The Tribune's deputy editor for news. He still can't explain why it took him so long to switch from the hurly-burly of news to the contemplative life of the editorialist.     Born in Salt Lake City, Anderson was raised in California, Illinois, Utah, Brazil and Venezuela, where he graduated from high school. He is an Army veteran who served 14 months as an intelligence analyst in Korea in 1969-70. He graduated in 1974 with a degree in history from Brigham Young University after semester-long stints as managing editor and editorial page editor of the student newspaper.     Anderson worked briefly as a reporter at The Daily Herald in Provo, then joined the AP in Salt Lake City as a reporter in 1976. He was named the bureau's news editor in 1980. From then until his departure for The Tribune in 1999, he supplemented his editing duties with reporting on the LDS Church.     As a Tribune deputy editor, Anderson directed the non-competition side of the newspaper's award-winning coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Six months later, he was named editorial and opinion editor by Publisher William Dean Singleton.     Anderson is the father of five and grandfather of eight. He is married to Tribune reporter Patty Henetz and her aging wonder dogs, a pair of Queensland heelers, Lily and Luna. You can reach him at vanderson@sltrib.com or 257-8743.

Pat Bagley is an award-winning cartoonist whose work has been featured in Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, and The Guardian of London. His syndicated cartoons appear in newspapers around the country.     Bagley was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, but grew up in Oceanside, Calif., where his father was mayor. Politics was an early and abiding interest. As part of a high school civics class, Bagley participated in a PBS interview of Ronald Reagan. He graduated from Brigham Young University in 1978 and was hired by The Salt Lake Tribune the following year.     Bagley is the author of several books including, This is the Place (a young adult history of Utah), Dinosaurs of Utah, Welcome to Utah and the nationally acclaimed Clueless George Goes to War.

Public Forum Editor Malin Foster is a veteran of 47 years in journalism. Most of that time has been spent as a newspaper and wire service reporter and editor in Utah, Montana and Colorado. He has also worked briefly in public relations and television news in Utah and Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of Weber College, the Scandinavian Seminar for Cultural Studies and did graduate research on press/government relations at The City University Graduate Centre for Journalism in London. His primary interests include stewardship of natural resources and foreign policy involving the United States, Western Europe and Scandinavia.     Foster was reared on a small farm and cattle ranch in Henefer, Utah. His understanding of Utah and Rocky Mountain West culture, politics and religion is extensive. He and Ann, his wife of 35 years, live in Salt Lake City. He is a devout reader of history, biography, novels and poetry. Foster has never met a dog he didn't like, and his only religion is fly fishing.     He can be reached at 257-8883 or mfoster@sltrib.com.

Marilyn McKinnon is a lifelong Utah resident and Box Elder County native who grew up on an 80-acre farm, milking cows, riding horses and generally raising hell in typical rural Utah fashion.     She graduated from Weber State College and earned a master's degree from Utah State University. She began her career 38 years ago at the Standard-Examiner in Ogden, then worked at the Deseret News (now Deseret Morning News) for 14 years as a news editor, feature editor, sports editor and editorial writer. She has been writing editorials at The Tribune for nearly three years and is also in charge of editing the Sunday Opinion section.     The mother of four wonderful grown children (her daughter, Christy Karras is an arts and entertainment writer at the Trib), she is also a proud grandmother of five, nearly six, of the smartest and cutest kids around. She took up marriage again almost two years ago and lives in Murray with her husband and two dogs.     You can reach her at (801) 257-8812 or mmckinnon@sltrib.com

Paul Wetzel, editorial writer and deputy editor of the editorial page, started his newspaper career at The Salt Lake Tribune in 1973 as a copy boy, a now extinct species. In his spare time he studied journalism at the University of Utah, where he dabbled in the great books in the Honors Program and graduated in 1980. During his nearly 33 years at The Tribune he has been an obit writer, night police reporter and a local government and courts reporter in Davis County. In 1979 he joined what is now the features department as the classical music critic, a beat he pounded for seven years. Having concluded, to his sorrow, that Western art music has hit a dead end (but we'll always have Mozart), he jumped at the chance to write editorials. After a several-years apprenticeship, he became a full-time editorial writer in 1990. It's the perfect job for a generalist who loves to read about and try to make sense of a different issue each and every day, impossible though that is.     Wetzel, 53, is a native of Salt Lake City, the proud father of two adult children, and has been married for 25 years to the most wonderful woman he has ever met. He can be reached at (801) 257-8881 or wetzel@sltrib.com