June 10, 2015 · Exit133

John Hathaway, Self-Appointed Gadfly of Tacoma, Dead at 69

Gadfly may not be a word we use every day, but it's the most common one we've heard used to describe Tacoma's John Hathaway. Hathaway passed away last week at age 69.

He came onto the public stage around the tragic events surrounding Police Chief David Brame's high-profile shooting of his wife, Crystal, and himself in 2003. Hathaway scooped the story of the couple's divorce, and allegations that the police chief was an abusive husband.

sIn later years Hathaway continued to challenge local government, fostering lively... discussion via his regular email and later on his blog, The New Takhoman. We sat next to him at public meetings - a fedora nearly always on his head. He would occasionally call us late at night to discuss something happening in the city. Hathaway's tagline for the New Takhoman was "the publication that never sleeps."

RIP, John.

CBS News published a tribute to Hathaway calling him "one of the most colorful characters ever to appear on '48 Hours'" Read it at CBSNews.com.

The Tacoma Daily Index is digging into its archives and finding treasure. Read about Hathaway at TacomaDailyIndex.com.

Filed under: Local Celebrities

7 comments

Published Author RR Anderson June 11, 2015

my tribute to JH aka New Takhoman http://comics.feedtacoma.com/tacomic/tacomic-new-takhoman-lives/
- Anonymous for safety June 16, 2015
  
  What you drew is disgusting, RR.
Jesse June 12, 2015

I am going to miss the laugh-out-loud conspiracy theories, the contrarians, and crack-pots on his website. All we have now is The News Tribune comments section for that... and they say nothing about ALF... Thanks for the show, John.
- JDHasty June 14, 2015
  
  Funny you should mention The ALF. Once again, in Lindquist, an ALF Senior Fellow is a principal when scandal raises its head in Tacoma/Pierce. Hey, if you want to defend The ALF you can start by pointing out which of the many scandals do not have direct connections to ALF Senior Fellows. I have pointed that out to you and other FLF defenders frequently, but so far you have not been able to come up with a single example.
JDHasty June 12, 2015

John allowed free and open debate on his blog, something that cannot be said of many other forums. And it was not just the Brame scandal he broke, there were many, many more.
- Anonymous for safety June 16, 2015
  
  This is not true. He not only did not allow some commentary, he actually made up commentary. He is the epitome of an addict. Take away the substance and all you have left is nothing. He was a nobody, just a trouble maker. Apparently not that many people knew him. I had the misfortune of being in a room alone with him once. He was pathetic. He never had his own apartment. He just surfed from one woman's couch to the next.
Anonymous for safety June 16, 2015

Hathaway was a horrible man. He hit and killed a little girl while driving drunk when he was 18. His daughter had not talked to him in years. He was very abusive. He befriended a woman with late-stage cancer and pilfered her every last dime. He met this woman at Stanley and Seaforts where he was later banned from entering. You can look up the case by his name. He managed to get her to sign over her estate to him. Her sister tried to protect her, but he just kept pilfering. Perhaps it is Paul LaRosa who saw some kind of light in this man. I never saw Hathaway sober. Ever. Not once. He was drunk all day, night and into the morning. He went from couch to couch depending on what woman bought his story. These were all very vulnerable women. The most despicable thing this man did during the Brame days was publish disparaging information about Crystal. Hathaway implied her murder was her own fault. How can you even pay any tribute to this man? He was despised by so many people. He wasn't just after city hall, he was after anyone. He didn't sniff out stories. He literally wreaked of cigarettes and booze and oozed evil. I have this to say: Good riddance.