Tag Archives: break-in

Beacon Bits

Beacon Bits: Blue Scholars, Homework Helpers, and a School Board candidate

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Found dog 8/4, near 39th Ave S.
Found dog 8/4, near 39th Ave S.
Do you recognize this dog? Know where he belongs? He’s a rather timid and skittish and probably really wants to be home. Contact pateb@foster.com if you can help get him there.

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On the flip side of “found”, Kazi the orange tabby cat has been missing from his home near the Jefferson Park golf course since Sunday. He may be wearing a blue “stinky cat”-labeled collar. If you’ve seen him, please contact his owner through this Craigslist posting.

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Dayna P writes with a question about organizing a trash pickup effort on her block:

Hi. I’m a neighbor on 13th Ave S by Maple Park and recently walked to a friend’s house on 12th Ave, towards downtown. I just couldn’t believe the amount of trash on the street… really awful! I’m wondering if anyone out there is interested in helping me organize a neighborhood trash pickup day. I’ve never done anything like this, so don’t know the best way to go about it. Anyone out there want to help get this going? Does anyone know if the city/parks dept has any programs that help this kind of effort?

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The Seattle Public Library is seeking Homework Helpers for the 2009-2010 school year. Homework Helpers assist elementary, middle and high school students with understanding homework assignments, developing study skills and learning approaches for solving math problems. English is a second language for the majority of the students. Homework Helpers are asked to assist students for just two hours per week throughout the school year, some time Monday through Thursday, between 4 and 8pm. Openings are available at many south-end branches, including the Beacon Hill branch. For more information and to request a volunteer application, please contact Anne Vedella, Volunteer Services Coordinator, at anne.vedella@spl.org by Friday, August 14. Interviews will take place in August. They’re also looking for “Talk Time facilitators” at the Beacon Hill branch — contact Anne about that, as well.

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Local south-end hip-hop duo Blue Scholars turns the music biz on its head: the band signs a label to distribute their album. (Sabzi from the band lives on Beacon Hill. Also, catch their CurrentTV video featuring footage around town, including a stop at Jose Rizal Park.)

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Some strange things are afoot on 14th. Kara on the mailing list wrote yesterday:

We seem to have some suspicious activity going on at 14th Ave S and S Nevada. There is a red Toyota Corolla that waits at the intersection for a “delivery” from someone on foot or in a black extended cab Toyota Tacoma. They make an exchange and away they go. We’ve seen it twice in the last month, most recently this evening (Monday) around 9pm.
I suspect that it is drugs. We have reported it to SPD. If anyone else sees these vehicles hanging around PLEASE report to 911.

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West Seattle Blog says the removal of the leaky membrane is complete at the Beacon Hill Reservoir.

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Three burglary suspects were caught (and one remains at large) following a break-in at a home in the 4100 block of 13th Avenue South on Friday, reports the SPD Blotter. That didn’t make much of an impact, however. Hazel mentioned on the mailing list and in a post on her blog about another break-in which occurred not too far away at her home, 20th and Spokane on Saturday. Any recommendations for security companies? The question has come up on the list since.

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Wilson Chin, candidate for Seattle School Board. Photo courtesy wilson chin for schools.com
Wilson Chin, candidate for Seattle School Board. Photo courtesy wilson chin for schools.com
Wilson Chin joins fellow Beacon Hillian Charlie Mas in the race for Seattle School Board. The Seattle Times has a backgrounder article on all of the candidates for District 7.

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Travis posted several interesting neighborhood-related blog entries over the weekend, including a firsthand account of attempted plant theft from the landscaping around the new Beacon Hill light rail station and the strange appearance of an SPU trailer near Daejeon Park.

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An apprehension at gunpoint (with photo of cops with guns drawn!) was posted by Laura at the Beacon Hill Bungalow blog.

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Cakespy discovers one of the many delicious pastries at Delite Bakery: a Turrón — via Monkey Around Seattle

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I wonder if we’ll see anything like this with our new Residential (or Restricted) Parking Zone: A comparison of what it’s like just inside and outside the RPZ near Swedish Cherry Hill from Central District News.

(Updated 8/5 to correct attribution. Sorry, Laura and Travis!)

Crime

Captain Liggins on recent burglary arrests, more break-in activity

Captain Liggins has commanded the South Precinct since 2008. Photo from seattle.gov
Captain Liggins has commanded the South Precinct since 2008. Photo from seattle.gov
At last week’s NBHC meeting, South Precinct Captain Les Liggins came by and talked a bit about burglaries in the neighborhood. He said that it has been “one of the most interesting last couple of months I’ve seen in my career,” a period of time that “started off with, I felt, a significant burglary increase in the precinct.” He cited one primary reason: “As we enter the summer months when schools are out… kids are getting out and looking for things to do… like raid a few houses.”

“Thanks to timely phone calls, we’ve been able to make significant headway,” performing an arrest during a burglary in progress, and then getting them to roll over on their associates, leading to the recovery of 300 laptop computers and other electronics.

He also said that the police have been “fortunate lately… to get significant hits on fingerprint evidence… placing people inside the houses…” and “also fortunate… our numbers are increasing… almost at 100 (officers, up from 70)”. They are trying to get their staffing up throughout the department to match workload and “get most officers out on the days and times when most activity occurs.”

Unfortunately, the impact of that well-timed arrest, the leads coming from it, and the accumulation of fingerprint evidence has not fully quelled the rash of break-ins and burglaries nearby.

Kevin on the mailing list wrote about a break-in yesterday, 7/13, at his home near 21st & McClellan. Alma responded with a note about the theft of garden tools and such the same day, 7/13, from her neighbor’s new shed near 15th & Nevada. Suzanne wrote to us about her home being burglarized last Wednesday, 7/8, at 18th & Bayview.

Keep your eyes open and don’t hesitate to call 911 if you see something suspicious.

Update: a number of additional burglary calls today on the scanner, reported by BHNW: 18th & Lucile, 3700 block of Holly Park Drive, 5100 block of 20th Ave S, and the “6500 block” of 19th Ave S (I suspect that’s a typo).

Update: Corrected some dates. It’s not Wednesday yet.

Crime

Blondish burglar brazenly breaking into Beacon bungalows

A few days ago we wrote about a series of possible break-ins on the Hill.

There was also a series of blatant break-ins on Wednesday, with a different MO. A Beacon Hill mailing list reader from North Beacon, near Taejon Park, wrote:

“We woke up to find a young white male, early 20’s, about 5’10”, fairly thin opening our kitchen window. He already had (his) head stuck through the window. We confronted him, he said he knocked (not possible we have three dogs) said he was beaten up and his truck was stolen. We called the police. I watched where he went when he left and wanted to follow him. He preceded to go through a gate in my neighbors yard a 1/2 hour later police were back. He broke in to their house and the alarm went off. Then he went a 1/2 block down and broke a window to get in another house…

“…This guy also only had his left shoe on a grocery bag on the other foot and was limping. He has a tattoo across his neck a name of some sort, short blondish spiked hair, no coat on, thermal long sleeve shirt and jeans. Almost forgot he opened my neighbors window in her bedroom while she was sleeping and tried to get in her window… This guy was seen again in my next door neighbors yard at 3pm the same day as the break in. My neighbor asked what he was doing and he replied he was just resting.”

A BAN list subscriber this week also mentioned having confronted the same guy in a neighbor’s back yard two weeks ago.

In response to this, another reader had a good point. Neighbors should probably have each other’s contact info, so when we see strange people crawling through a neighbor’s window, we can call and ask if the strange person is a stranger or just the neighbor’s son, home from college without his house key.

Thanks to Waldene and Linda on the mailing list!

Crime

Possible break-in attempts on North Beacon Hill

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Tamara reported to the Beacon Hill mailing list that there have been a couple of possible break-in attempts on North Beacon Hill.

In the first incident three weeks ago, two male teenagers knocked repeatedly on a resident’s screen door. The resident was sleeping inside, then got up and stood on his side of the door listening to the activity. The teenagers then opened the screen door, pounded on the wood door and started turning the door handle. The resident, who just so happened to be a police officer, opened the door and confronted the teenagers. When confronted, they asked if “Tommy” lived there.

On November 18, the same police officer saw a group of three 14 year old youths acting strangely. They walked by a house, and one went up to the house and knocked on the front door while the other two kept walking. No one answered, so the kid went down the stairs and caught up with his friends. All three came back to the house and opened the gate to the backyard. The policeman confronted them, and they asked if he knew who lived in the house. He answered “Yes I do, and it’s not you.” The policeman told them he knew what they were up to, and the kids denied it and left.

This is similar to some other incidents that have been reported elsewhere in Central and Southeast Seattle.

Crime

Daylight break-ins and a safety warning

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Kam Yee wrote to tell us:

Our neighbor’s and our house both got broken into last week. I wanted this group to know because both houses were robbed midday when we stay at home moms took our baby out for errands. Our homes are near Macpherson’s Fruit Stand and Maple School. I don’t want to be a fear mongerer, but thought I should warn you as the robbers seem to target during broad daylight when you take baby out for a few hours. During the couple of hours we were out, they have broke in through the basement window and effectively stole our electronics and jewelry. We suspect multiple accomplices watching until we left the house and had a lookout waiting for our return. Luckily we were not hurt.

The police reminded us the if you have any reasons to believe you have or had intruders to get out of the house and call 911. Wait outside or at a neighbor’s even if it takes the officers a long time to arrive. You should never search your house without an armed officer.

This safety warning is a good thing to keep in mind. I admit that if I came home to signs of a break-in I’d be tempted to go in and look around the house, but this is a Bad Idea. Call 911 first.

Kam, thanks for emailing us; we are sorry your house was broken into, but very glad no one was hurt.

Crime

Car break-in at 17th and College

Reported this evening on the Beacon Hill mailing list: a car break-in at 17th and College. Apparently 3 juveniles have been casing the neighborhood cars lately, so keep your eyes open and don’t leave valuables in your vehicle. Remember, if you see anything wrong, call the police and 911 in particular; the SPD uses these calls to determine service levels in the area, so they need to hear from you, even if you think that they won’t be able to help.