All posts by Kirk Hall

Car Theft 122nd & Shaw Rd.

Last night I got a notification on my “Ring” network that a red 1967 Chevrolet Corvette, WA Collector Plate Number 58139 was stolen from the vicinity  of 122nd and Shaw Rd.  This is very near our Neighborhood. Below is the full notice:Car Theft 13 FebThe police are asking for the public’s help by checking their Security Cameras  for the red Corvette. There was no picture in the “Ring” post.  I checked our neighborhood cameras from 12:36 PM to 2:19 PM on the 13th and did not find any Corvette.

Woman Killed In Home Invasion

A woman was killed in a home invasion robbery in Lakewood, WA on 11 February 2020. The police said that there is no suspect description yet, but officers were canvassing the complex for video surveillance and witnesses.

This is just another example of how home security cameras are actively searched for by the police when serious crimes occur. In this case the victim obviously did not have security cameras, but the police are searching for neighbors who do, in the hopes that they will show the killers.

If you do not have security cameras, you ought to at least know which of your neighbors do have active cameras, as opposed to fake cameras which do have some deterrent properties but provide no evidence the police can use.  Remember, even if you do not have security cameras your neighbors might.  If the cameras were installed over 5-10 years ago, they probably need to be upgraded. Most older cameras do not have the clarity of modern cameras and may not provide usable information to our local authorities.

Mail & Package Thefts – AGAIN!!

Any of you who have a “Ring” doorbell have probably noticed an increase in mail and package theft being reported.  In several instances when prowlers noticed the “Ring” camera they made an abrupt turn and left. I have to wonder how many saw other security cameras mounted and never even approached the house where they would have been picked up by the “Ring”camera.

Most of the mail thefts appear to have happened at night, but package thefts normally occur during the day.  Unfortunately it is a fact of modern life that many houses are vacant during the day because all of the adults work.  That is when these sorry excuses for human beings come visiting to steal items you have worked to purchase.

In previous post I have made recommendations for avoiding being a victim of these thieves. You might go back and review these.

Dumpster Divers and Recycling Bin Explorers, Paper Shredding Anyone?

I was talking with one of my neighbors when they told me that people had been observed in Manorwood going through the recycling bins.  It occurred to us both that the only reason people would be interested in what was in the recycling bins would be if they were looking for personal information, in order to steal identities.

It seems that every day there are more reports of identity theft. What we throw away in our recycling bin may be just what the identity thief is looking for.

For example, occasionally credit card companies will include a blank check in their credit card statement, to enable their customers to get cash advances simply by filling out the check and cashing it. The check is usually at the end of the statement along with some uninteresting verbiage, and is easy to overlook.  If you happen to throw that check away and along with it a sample of your signature, you may have given an identity thief an early Christmas present.

If you don’t own a paper shredder, perhaps it is time to think about getting one.

[1] Drawbacks – (1) You have got to discipline yourself to take the time to shred documents.  (2)  Shredded paper can no longer be recycled, it must be put in a sealed bag before it is put in the garbage.

[2] Positives – You may just save yourself a LOT of grief (but if you do you’ll probably never know that you escaped the crooks).

Officer Cooper Dyson – Additional Information

Julie and Jim Zanner have sent this information about Officer Cooper Dyson and his parents; and would like to share it with the community.

There has been at least one sheriff car by their driveway on vigil for 24/7 since the accident, I believe they will be there for a few more days. We have spoken to the officers on duty and took coffee etc. My daughter, on Shawnee, saw on Facebook where you can donate to help the family. Cooper’s wife has a 3 yr old son, and she is expecting a baby girl in less than 2 weeks.

If anyone would like to help the family, they can go to the Tacoma-Pierce County Crime Stoppers website and donate. We have already donated some money already, and at this website we specified that the money go to the Cooper Dyson family.

Officer Cooper Dyson

Early this last Saturday morning, the 21st of December, Officer Cooper Dyson died tragically while on duty. Cooper’s parents, Brad and Casey Dyson live on our street, 136th Ave E. Friends of their family are asking neighbors of the Dyson family to show support by replacing their porch light with a blue light. Blue is associated with the law enforcement profession. Lowe’s, Home Depot, and McLendon’s have  donated blue bulbs and many neighbors were contacted today. If you weren’t reached, there are extra bulbs at the home of the Floods, 11722 136th Ave. E.  Feel free to drop by, holiday or not. It is an important way for us to demonstrate support for a valued family of the neighborhood and community.

Notice about Missing or Stolen Mail

At the October 2019 Sunrise Terrace annual meeting neighbors expressed concern about their mail being stolen or not delivered.  To know which pieces of your mail are delivered the United States Postal Service has a free feature called Informed Delivery.  It is available in our zip codes and is working well for our neighbors who use it.

To sign up for Informed Delivery go to https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action  You will create an account, verify your identity, and then start receiving daily notifications.

Here’s how it works:

“Informed Delivery is a free and optional notification service that gives residential consumers the ability to digitally preview their letter-sized mail pieces and manage their packages scheduled to arrive soon. Informed Delivery makes mail more convenient by allowing users to view what is coming to their mailbox whenever, wherever – even while traveling – on a computer, tablet or mobile device. To automate the sortation and delivery of mail, the United States Postal Service® (USPS) digitally images the front of letter-sized mail pieces that run through automation equipment. USPS is now using those images to provide digital notifications to users in advance of the delivery of physical mail. Informed Delivery benefits the entire household, ensuring that everyone has visibility into mail and package delivery each day.”

To avoid mail being stolen after it’s delivered get a sturdy locking mailbox.  There are many options for locking mailboxes but if you aren’t sure what to get several neighbors have a brand called Fort Knox.  More information is available at https://www.fortknoxmailbox.com/product-category/products/

Just as important, do not put mail out the night before.  There have been cases in the dark early morning hours where mail has been removed from boxes in our neighborhood.

Proposed new road from Tehaleh subdivision to SR162

 

Luke Rambo has asked that I provide an update on the SR162Traffic.org meetings I sometimes attend.  I was planning on doing this at the last Sunrise Terraces meeting but was unable to attend.   —- Wayne Reibold

  • I attend some of the periodic SR162Traffic.org meetings.  They’re very eager to involve Sunrise Terraces residents in their activity.  Currently I’m the only Sunrise Terraces resident that attends the meetings and I’m unable to attend all of them.  Anyone interested in attending meetings please e-mail me your interest at WynsWrld98@yahoo.com and I’ll put you in touch with the SR162Traffic.org meeting coordinator.  sr162traffic.org has a lot of information on their activity and also a link to their Facebook page where you can request to become a member and follow the activity.
  • The attached map shows the activity on/around SR162 that SR162Traffic.org is involving themselves as oversight.  A very notable thing on the map is a new FIVE LANE road being built from Tehaleh to intersect SR162 at 128th St E.  It is expected to be open within 5 years.  This road is of particular concern for many Sunrise Terraces residents due to it being so wide at five lanes and that it runs angled from south to north making it more visible to some Sunrise Terraces residents when looking towards Mt Rainier vs if the new road was running angled north to south.  The County will be putting very tall silver street lights along the new road which will make the road especially visible to some Sunrise Terraces residents at night.  SR162Traffic.org requested of the County that the street light poles be painted green or brown to blend but this was denied since it is a County standard for them to be silver and they can’t make an exception just for one project in the County.
  • Tehaleh (see attachment) is planning on having 9,500 “residential units” (including apartments, duplexes and single family residences) at full build out.  It’s believed currently there are over 1,000.  What this will do to the already significant traffic on Military Road/122nd St E is alarming since it’s the likely artery to get from Tehaleh to Puyallup/South Hill.  And of course the load it will add to the already overloaded SR162…  Here is a link of importance: https://sr162traffic.org/Military-Road-2/Tehaleh Map
  • One of the main things SR162Traffic.org is trying to accomplish is to make sure signals are placed at the intersection of SR162 and 128th St E vs a roundabout that is the current plan.  The SR162Traffic.org proposal is two left turn lanes from southbound SR162 going onto the new road to Tehaleh to keep evening traffic moving.  The decision for a roundabout at that intersection is deemed flawed due to not considering the unique nature of that intersection such as the large number of gravel trucks that travel up and down SR162 that will undoubtedly result in long delays at the roundabout since a gravel truck would require a lot of space to get through the roundabout as well as increased accidents of cars and gravel trucks interacting in a roundabout.  SR162Traffic.org is pushing for proper modeling of this intersection which should show a roundabout is a very bad idea and that signals would be far safer and better move traffic.  But there is a big push for roundabouts so it’s a challenging situation.
  • As shown on the attached map the County may do a study to extend 128th St E up the hill as an access point to South Hill to take some traffic load off of Military Road/122nd St E.  The County is also discussing widening Military Road to 3 lanes but only a short distance west of SR162 due to the “cliff” that exists that would be very expensive to deal with.  It is expected none of these studies would happen until after the new Tehaleh road opens.  The County states its top priority right now is the work they’re doing on Canyon Road extending it from where it ends at Pioneer Way East in Puyallup to 70th Avenue E in Fife.SR162TrafficDotOrg Map
  • NOTE: You can click on the map above to enlarge it on your computer.
  • The current plan is to put several roundabouts on SR162 including at the intersection of Military Road/122nd St E and 128th St E among others.  SR162Traffic.org is against this plan and is pushing for signals.
  • Regarding possible widening of SR162 between Orting and SR410 the only thing being discussed long-term is to add ONE lane.  You’d think four or five lanes would be a good idea due to how much traffic already travels on SR162 but the reason even SR162Traffic.org isn’t pushing for that is they want to keep the area more rural with farms vs a large highway running through the area.  There is talk of having an alternate corridor parallel to SR162 east of it to get people (especially from Tehaleh) up towards SR410/Sumner/Bonney Lake.  The road being discussed is McCutcheon Road East/Riverside Road East.  Many people including myself take the back roads in this area during rush hour to avoid some of the SR162 traffic between Military Road E/122nd St E and SR410.
  • New Tehaleh Road Level 3 Reforestation (see attachment) to deal with removal of trees/foliage during excavation – this is something Tehaleh brought up as a probable “mitigation” they would have to do and that they seemed quite willing to do.  Pierce County has not yet required it.  That’s where we all might come in…to push the County to require it so Tehaleh can’t change their mind and do anything less.  It needs to be in writing from the County to be sure we really get it.Tehaleh_L3_Landscape

 

 

Update on 11915 136th Ave E

If you have been reading this blog you know we wrote on October 16, 2019 about people not authorized to be living at 11915 136 Ave. E.  At the annual neighborhood meeting in October the sheriff’s department reassured us that code enforcement has investigated and has a plan in place to mitigate the situation On November 8th a “for sale” sign was placed at the property.  When the realtor was contacted by one of our neighbors he said he is aware that he can’t show the house due to the unauthorized occupants.

Last week Code Enforcement deputies had to deal with an emergency which caused a delay.  However the program coordinator reassured us on Tuesday, November 12, that resolution will still take place in November regardless of the “for sale” sign. 

 Continue to report emergencies by calling 911 and file reports with code enforcement (see directions in October 16 blog).  Long range, keep in contact with your neighbors and keep the directory information up to date.  If your neighbor’s vacant house suddenly appears occupied talk to the owner asap.  If no one is suppose to be there report it and tell the owner to report it.  

STACC Board

Celeste Hurst, Chairwoman

Celestehurst1@aol.com

 

Julie Hrivnak, Secretary

Jewelsriv@hotmail.com

 

Nancy Jo Williams, Treasurer

Nancyjo51@comcast.net

 

Kyle Sidor, ACC member

Kyle.sidor@sslandinc.com

 

Luke Rambo, ACC member

Lukerambo@rambopest.com

 

Vacant House ? — Be Alert for Squatters!!!

As many of you know there is a problem on 136th Ave E.  Squatters have moved into a home and there have been two serious Police interventions there in the last two months.

It appears that once Squatters have settled into a house for a while it is much more difficult to get them out than if the problem were addressed in the first day or two of their occupancy.  For this reason, we are requesting residents of our Neighborhood to be especially vigilant about vacant houses on their street.

We would offer these suggestions:

1. If a real-estate sign goes up, make a note of the agent’s name and phone number.  If someone moves into the house, call the realtor to make certain that it has been sold or rented. If the realtor says the property is supposed to be vacant, call 911 and report a possible burglary in progress.

2. If there was never a sign, call the owner to make certain that the new occupants are not Squatting. ( This is one of the reasons we need to keep the Neighborhood Directory up to date.  ) If the owner says the property is supposed to be vacant, request he call 911.

3.  If you can’t do either 1 or 2 above, then call and e-mail Kirk Hall (253) 840-0411, kahalljr@comcast.net . I will pass the message to  one of the Architectural Control Committee members, and give them all the information you have (house address; when people living there showed up; how many people; what sex are the people; number of vehicles present; changes they have made to the property ( example: garage door removed/ broken; windows/doors broken ); whether you have already called the realtor or owner, and what kind of answer you received.

4. There is a lady named  “Amanda” at the Sheriff’s Department.  She is the  Community Liaison Program Coordinator.  Her number is 253-798-4814.  She said to call her if we notice any further damage to the house or any criminal activity.  If necessary she will pass the message along to the Community Liaison, Deputy Jeff Papen.

If someone calls in a crime they should take the Deputy’s name and phone number and request a follow up from him/her. That way they know an officer checked on the situation.

Note:  Many of our neighbors do not read the post we put on the Blog.  Sometimes it is because they do not get the Alert Notifications we send out when something new is posted, because they never asked to be on the Alert Notification List.  This is a particularly important post.  Please take time to ask your nearest neighbors if they get the Alerts and if they have read this post.