Today, we start a new weekly feature, Best of the Blotter, a look back at the funniest, strangest, distrubing and serious crimes that were too small for a big headline but too important to residents to leave out of the paper.

Richard Irwin, our venerable police scribe, has listing purse snatchings, muggings, shootings and other mayhem for three newspapers and under the close eye of 10 mayors (soon to be 11) and 13 police commissioners. The feature, popular both on-line and in print, turned 30 last year and we celebrated with a cake adorned with Dick's very first blotter published in the News-American in 1979.

So without further ado, here's the first installment:

Western Baltimore
Shooting/arrest: An 18-year-old male was arrested Saturday and charged with the attempted murder of a man, 22, in the 2200 block of N. Fulton Ave. near Liberty Heights Avenue hours earlier. The victim was standing in the block about 9:40 p.m. when he was shot in the right buttock. Police said the victim ran two blocks to a house, where he was found by police and was taken by a city Fire Department ambulance to Sinai Hospital. He was expected to survive. Arrested at an undisclosed location and charged with attempted murder, assault by shooting and a handgun violation was Dion Wilson, of the 2800 block of Gwynns Falls Parkway. Wilson was being held at Central Booking and Intake Center. Police had no motive for the shooting.

Theft -- A 2007 Ford Taurus was parked in the 400 block of E. Eager St. on Sunday when someone broke a window and stole a remote-controlled toy car valued at $40.

Eastern Baltimore
Theft -- Three ladders, all worth nearly $900, were stolen from a vehicle parked in the 3700 block of Duncanwood Lane between Jan. 19 and Friday.

Church burglary -- Someone broke into Israel Baptist Church in the 1200 block of N. Chester St. through a window between Sunday and Tuesday and stole a microwave oven and a soft-drink vending machine.

Robbery -- A deliveryman for a distributing company was outside a liquor store in the 2300 block of Barclay St. about 5 p.m. Tuesday when a man armed with a handgun robbed him of liquor valued at $182.

Theft -- Someone entered a second-floor bedroom of a house in the 1600 block of Cliftview Ave. on Tuesday and stole a Wii system valued at $200.