By Ken Robinson
Managing Editor

Note to the grumpy lady who called about the police report for West Seattle: We have had some flux in staffing lately that resulted in not being able to gather the police report. When we got going again with a new guy, he told us the Seattle Police Department public information officer said they were having trouble getting the report done. This coincidence created the void in reporting you called about.

When you said the police report was the only reason you subscribed, I was a little dismayed. We try to bring a variety of good writing and news to you every week (and online, every moment). That's okay. We appreciate your support. A few other people have asked us about the report. Just so you know, there are far more crimes, even serious one, than any newspaper, radio or TV station could report each day. We all do pretty much the same thing. In our case, we select crimes that are not run-of-the-mill things like larcenies, car thefts and vandalism unless these things have a significant impact. Because we can't report everything, we look for things in our local community and that might be unusual or have an odd twist.

Wednesday, within in minutes after I heard your phone message, I got an email from our guy who is trying to cobble together the report and he said the officer who was in charge is leaving her post!

We called the head of that department and he told us they hope to be able to reestablish the report. In the meantime, we will report as much as we can gather.

Lindsay Peyton joins the staff

Reporter/photographer has joined the staff of the Westside Weekly. She is from Houston, where she worked at the Houston Chronicle. In addition to her skills as a journalist, she is a budding artist. Because she is relatively new to the area, she is finding her way around the territory cover. She has been at the airport to meet the new director (who also happens to be from Houston..hmm..what is causing this migration?) in White Center checking out nightlife there and last week to visit with Mo Sanders who is a major figure in local roller skating, in West Seattle with a couple whose art is meant to be shared and working on a story about the future of Terminal 5. She is quickly getting her feet wet here.

Michele Smith has done a short piece on Burien Branding. This story will go on as the community weighs in on how Burien should get noticed in the region. Now, it is a well-established bedroom community that was essentially built up by the mid-sixties. Since, some apartments have been added and there is some growth in housing for seniors. But what the city wants to do, and what they paid a Tacoma PR firm to study, is just how to present Burien to the larger world in a positive way. We have heard rumblings over time that people here don't really like the second-class notion of Burien as "B-Town" and would like to distance Burien from that casual moniker.

If you have thoughts and ideas about this, let the city council know. Let us know and we will tell them. Contact Ken Robinson at kenr@robinsonnews.com