In the Aug. 15 issue, Eric Mathison writes that the Times/News has not endorsed annexation, in response to an election mailer sent by Burien Residents Against Annexation. This is curious, because we never claimed that it does.

Our claim that the paper supports annexation can be determined through less overt means. For example, in a recent issue, there appeared an unattributed article strongly endorsing Stephen Lamphear (a pro-annexation candidate for City Council), which was written by Mr. Lamphear himself.

In the Aug. 23, 2006, issue, Ralph Nichols wrote an article strongly supportive of annexation, which included numerous slurs against our organization, including reference to where many members live. He accused us of using numbers that don't add up, without bothering to reveal what those numbers are.

Mr. Nichols further sees North Highline as fertile for commercial development, a notion effectively destroyed by a professional economic analysis by Berk & Associates, available on the Burien web site.

The basis of Mr. Nichols' fears appears to reside in his delusion that Seattle will pack the border with high residential density. He fails to notice that the southern boundary of Seattle with North Highline has been there over 100 years, and has not resulted in high density on the Seattle side, or that we will share a boundary with Seattle, regardless of the annexation outcome.

Our assertions regarding the budget numbers have held up to scrutiny. It is the City that has had to revise its budget presentation to reveal a larger budget deficit than originally claimed, in response to our assertions.

While we do gratefully acknowledge the letters that the Times/News has published, we stand behind the opinion that the Times/News is far from unbiased on the annexation issue.

Ron Seale, President

Burien Residents

Against Annexation

Editor's note: The "unattributed article strongly endorsing Stephen Lamphear," to which Mr. Seale refers, was a news release announcing that Mr. Lamphear was running for the Burien City Council. The Times/News routinely publishes campaign announcements from all candidates who submit them. They are written by each individual candidate or by someone in their campaign. As with most news releases, these appear without attribution.