07/07/04
AP bureau chiefs Garties, Kuglin gain added responsibilities in realignment of states


NEW YORK – George Garties, chief of bureau for The Associated Press for Colorado, assumes responsibility for Utah, while John Kuglin, chief of bureau for Montana, adds oversight of Wyoming under a restructuring of the news agency's management of six Western states.

William Beecham, Intermountain bureau chief based in Salt Lake City, will focus on regional projects. He also will continue to work with Idaho members on AP business matters during a transition in AP's oversight of Idaho operations from Utah to Washington state.

Chris Clark, the Intermountain news editor based in Salt Lake City, continues to provide daily management of the Utah and Idaho news reports during the transition.

The changes were announced July 6 by Tom Brettingen, senior vice president for Newspaper & New Media Markets.

"These changes align AP's administration of Western states with the news interests of these states and enable us to further develop regional coverage," Brettingen said.

Garties has led AP operations in Colorado and Wyoming since 2002. Kuglin has been bureau chief in Helena, Mont., since 1985. Beecham has been chief of bureau in Salt Lake City, responsible for Utah and Idaho, since 1982.

Garties joined the AP in Los Angeles in 1985 and transferred to New York in 1989 to work on the national editing desk. He became news editor for Arizona in 1991, then returned to Los Angeles as assistant bureau chief in 1995. Garties was born in Charlottesville, Va., graduated from the University of Hawaii and worked for The Honolulu Advertiser before joining the AP.

He has been active in open government and court access issues in numerous states. In Arizona, he coordinated that state's first freedom of information audit in 1995. He led efforts in Los Angeles to improve media access to legal documents and court cases including the O.J. Simpson civil trial, and he currently serves on the board of the Colorado Freedom of Information Council.

Kuglin joined the AP in Spokane, Wash., in 1973 and was promoted to supervisory correspondent there in 1976. Two years later he moved to Cheyenne, Wyo., as supervisory correspondent in charge of the Wyoming news report. In 1979 he was promoted to news editor in Helena and six years later was named chief of bureau.

He previously worked for three Montana papers -- the Missoulian, the Great Falls Tribune and Helena Independent Record as well as for the Gazette Telegraph in Colorado Springs, Colo. He is a native of Chicago and a graduate of Colorado College.

Kuglin is chairman of Montana's First Amendment coalition and the Freedom of Information Hotline, and heads the First Amendment Committee of the Montana Newspaper Association.
Beecham joined the AP at Helena in 1969, transferred to Salt Lake in 1972, and was named supervisory correspondent in Spokane in 1979. In 1982 he returned to Salt Lake as bureau chief.

Beecham supervised bureau coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics. He serves as chairman of the advisory board for the Communications Department at Utah State University. He is a native of Seattle and attended the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minn.
contact: Jack Stokes at 212-621-1720