(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Salt Lake Tribune reporter Mark Eddington in St. George on Thursday, August 14, 2025.
Tell me a story.
That was my plea each day to my 3rd-grade teacher at the Department of Defense school I attended in Spain while my father was stationed at Torrejon Air Force Base.
Oh, the stories she would tell and the places my mind would go as she read Roald Dahl’s “James and the Giant Peach,” E.B. White’s “Charlotte’s Web” and other children’s classics. The stories she read connected me to the wider world and instilled in me a desire to learn more about what life had to offer.
Later, as a teen, the stories I read were more troubling and thought-provoking. Browsing through books like George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” and “Animal Farm,” and Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” taught me that not all stories have storybook endings.
But it wasn’t until I read Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s thriller about Watergate, “All the President’s Men,” that I realized stories could speak truth to power and help dispel the darkness that sometimes punctuates our lives. It also inspired me with a desire to write stories of my own.
In 2000, I was given that opportunity at The Salt Lake Tribune. Reporting for Utah’s paper of record, associating with talented journalists whom I respected and long admired was heady stuff. And it sure beat the boyhood job I had in Provo, biking through the snow and delivering The Tribune as a paperboy.
My Utah County beat was a veritable gold mine for stories. One of my favorites was about a runaway mayor who fibbed about being kidnapped, later fessed up and then blamed it on the stress of his job. Another, more inspiring gem, was about a Holocaust survivor who survived Adolf Hitler’s forced labor camps as a boy and went on to become a doctor.
I later exchanged storytelling for political spin, leaving the Tribune to work as a press secretary for Sen. Orrin Hatch and following that with an eight-year gig as Utah Gov. Gary Herbert’s speechwriter. Truthfully, as much as I enjoyed that cycle of my life, I learned that spin is best left to washing machines.
Now, I’m back at the paper I’ve always loved — this time as the southwest reporter. Over the past three years, I’ve been blessed to write compelling stories about politicians, public lands and even an outlaw or two.
I’ve also had some fun along the way, penning pieces about some of the county’s quirky and often overlooked history — stories like the Dixie Wine Mission that stoked profits and problem drinking and the D.I. Ranch, mobster Moe Dalitz’s southern Utah hideaway.
I look forward to writing more stories to help readers better connect with their community and gain a greater understanding of this amazing place many of us are fortunate to call home.
That’s my story — and I’m sticking to it.
What stories interest you? Please reach out to me with your tips and story ideas at [email protected], or on X at @sltribeddington.