Effective immediately, I'm suspending publication of this column and stepping away from the day-to-day operations of Capitol Hill Blue.

I've done this before only to come back after a brief break. This break will be much longer and probably permanent.

I need to devote more time to my community news web site, Blue Ridge Muse [1] and my work as reporter and photographer for the newspaper in my hometown. In recent days, my involvement with Capitol Hill Blue has become an issue with both [2].

I've been doing this gig with Blue for 13 and a half years and, frankly, I'm tired. I'm growing increasingly weary with politics and with the strain of getting up in the wee hours of the morning and putting this web site together and then trying to keep it updated throughout the day. Blue is a volunteer operation. We don't have a paid staff. We don't make money. The money from ads pay for part of the operation and I make up the rest from personal resources, which are not unlimited.

But Blue is not a one man operation. We have three excellent columnists: Hal Brown [3], Rob Kezelis [4] and Phil Hoskins [5]. We have a great volunteers who manage our reader blogs [6] and moderate ReaderRant [7], our discussion board. Our reader/bloggers [8] provide a more varied voice for Blue than ever before.

Because of the hard work of these folks, Blue can go on without me and, given the lightning rod that I have become to some, perhaps it should.

My focus is shifting more and more towards community journalism. I'm working with several programs that focus on the growth of "hyperlocal" blogs and community web sites and I enjoy covering local government and courts for the local paper and shooting high school sports.

Amy and I moved to the mountains of Southwestern Virginia in 2004 to relax and enjoy life. I need to do more of that.

And I will.

Thank you for all your support this past 13-and-a-half years. Please continue to support Capitol Hill Blue as it moves in new directions. This web site is not about me. It's about you and it will be what you make it.