Readers respond

Several readers gave us feedback after our recent Seen or Heard in the ‘Hood posting, most of it benign. However, we won’t be making any more jokes on the blog about missing cats, since one reader commented on having found the remains of a white Persian, which apparently had been killed by some animal around the time that a coyote was reported in the neighborhood. The discovery occurred about three blocks south of where the coyote was last seen. As the tag to our coyote-alert posting, we had facetiously asked if anyone was missing a cat.  Not funny in hindsight.

A couple of readers reported sharing the experience of our MPB tipster, who we noted was unable to get a refund from Island Video after it shut down. This, in spite of a notice on the shop's door stating that refunds would be provided to those who had made deposits. Someone asked, “What do I do now?  Small claims court?”   Apparently so.

Another reader reported a similarly irritating experience with a different Madison Park business that recently shut its doors, Maison Michel.  In his case, the complainant says, he had given an antique piece of furniture to the store to sell on consignment. Although the store sold the piece, no payment has been made to him, the consignor tells us. We've heard anecdotally that others have had the same experience, and after our initial post, several readers confirmed these stories to us. [Blogger's Note:  Dee McQuesten, principal of McQuesten Fine Art Services, has requested that we clarify for our readers the fact that the art gallery she operated within the Maison Michel space was in no way legally connected with Maison Michel.  We have not heard of any problems associated with the art gallery, only with the consignment business operated by Maison Michel.]

Our report on how to get Good to Go! passes for paying the new tolls on the SR-520 floating bridge drew an email from a reader who reports that it is, in fact, not possible to get the passes at Safeway stores, as we had suggested.  What you can get at Safeway, apparently, is a packet that includes a pass that still has to be either activated online or at a WSDOT office.  So, if you are trying to avoid the internet, it apparently is possible, just a bit more complicated than we advertised.

Finally, Mark Long of The Attic, corrected our posting with regard to when “The Hollywood Bank Robber” visited Madison Park to rob a bank (it was the 1990s and not the 1980s, as we originally reported). Long says he thinks that two different branches might have been robbed at about the same time. We’re still reading a book on the subject, and we'll let you know in a later posting what we discover.