The Portland Tribune has been a great addition to the civic life of Portland, but this weekend's edition is really trashy. In a crass move to increase circulation, the editors have decided to give us three and half more pages of yet another profile of the suspected murderer of the two Oregon City teenage girls whose bodies were found in his backyard earlier this year.

This "inside the mind of a killer" line gave the Trib the excuse to rehash the story for the umpteenth time, replete with the stock photos of the girls and the ever-present timeline.

But the worst feature of all -- showing the absolute depths to which an editorial board can sink -- is the 7-by-9-inch color photo of the suspect that runs over the fold on the front page. Now that's obscenity.

The error here goes beyond bad taste. What kind of message does it send when we constantly glorify creeps like this? Here in Oregon we are currently reeling over the murder of a mother and her children over Christmas, on the anniversary of a similar murder last year. Once again, the husband and father is the suspect. The media here will doubtlessly spend months wringing their hands and gravely asking what makes people act this way. What would make someone think it's cool, or sexy, or glamorous, to commit murder?

Well, folks, just look at the front page of this weekend's Trib.

Trib editors, do us all a favor. Save the pictures of Ward Weaver until the day they execute him. And then, a nice little 2-by-4 black and white shot, inside with the jump, will be plenty.