Category Archives: Safety

Intersection of 136th & Military Rd.

Safety

One of our neighbors sent me an e-mail about the fact that many people are ignoring the stop signs in the intersection of 136th and Military Rd.  They sent me a picture of the license plate of a vehicle who as they said “Blew through the intersection without even a momentary pause”. We are not posting the picture of the license plate because it is out of context.  However if you wish to see the license plate of the car we know ran the stop sign, send me an e-mail to kahalljr@comcast.net and I will send the picture to you.

These stop signs are there for our safety. Cars coming from the valley on Military Rd are difficult to spot before they reach the intersection because of the curving, downward path of the road. Before the stop signs were installed I was almost nailed a couple of times by cars coming up from the valley.

Please don’t ignore the stop signs at the intersection of 136th and Military Rd.  The wreck you don’t have is the best kind.

The pictures below were taken from the driver’s position at the stop sign on 136th Ave E.  Notice how limited the sight line is from 136th to Military Rd E where Military Rd E is coming up from the valley (middle picture). Please note also the ALL WAY notation on the stop sign.

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Home Break-In

Neighborhood Security, Safety

I received the information below from Kim and Rich Amsden who live across 122nd from our Neighborhood. It is a sorry state that we live in today when things like this happen.  The Amsdens said that the police no longer have a person who can look through video recordings for relevant pictures. One way to solve this is to print out hard copies of the pictures they need to see and burn a disk with short clips showing the bad guys.  These will help if the police do catch the bad guys.

The homeowners in our area might consider an alarm system like one offered by SimpliSafe at SimpliSafe.com.  It is a do it yourself installation which is easy to install and can be monitored by SimpliSafe. The Police report Number for the break-in is 2224601550 (Burglary).  By the  way, the homeowner did just the right thing by calling the Police and waiting outside the house, because someone might have been still inside. Since the break-in the Amsdens have added an alarm system and have cameras and sensor lights installed.

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Just wanted to let you know that yesterday, September 3rd, between 10:30 am and 4:30 pm I came home to find that our house had been broken into, and items were stolen. Our garage door that opens to let your car in had been forcibly opened (it was open about quarter way when I arrived home). Our door into the house from the garage, that was deadbolted closed, was destroyed with wood shavings all over the floor, and the baseboard around the door wrecked. Inside, a wallet, a purse, and a new laptop were taken.

I immediately called the police, and two officers came (I waited outside for them to arrive in case someone was still in the house). With my credit card, they had already charged things at Safeway, Shell gas station, Walmart, and Dick’s Sporting Goods. My bank had contacted me when an attempt for $404.00 was made. Luckily, I notified the bank saying that this was not an authorized charge and had this credit card closed. The other items that were purchased will be credited back to our account (in time).

This was a terrifying thing to go to, especially since we had spent a fun day at the WA State Fair and I was returning home alone. We have lived in this neighborhood for over 15 years now, and the only people to come down our driveway are usually the mailman or Amazon.

We don’t have any security cameras, and even if we did, the police said that they don’t even have anyone to look at footage and look into it like they used to.

So, I just wanted our neighborhood to be aware and to report any suspicious activity or people wandering around that don’t look like they live here. We think that it being Labor Day weekend that whoever did this thought there was a good chance that we may have been out of town. We even had a car parked in our driveway!

Even with doors and windows locked, the police said that if someone wants to get in, they will find a way to do so. It could have been a lot worse—-they could have destroyed the inside of the house while looking for what they got.

Stranger Casing Neighborhood ?

Neighborhood Security, Safety

There was a stranger in our Neighborhood this afternoon. He was spotted on several people’s property and approached at least one neighbor’s back door.

One of the neighbors took a photo of him and asked him his name. He said it was Darren Brewer and he appears to be in his early 20s and has been found on Facebook. He had a different story here at one neighbor’s house, another story when still another neighbor saw him between two and 3 o’clock today, and then had a third story when a third neighbor saw him.  A different story each time he was asked why he was in our Neighborhood. Apparently, he was walking around quite a bit because this was all in a period of at least 3 1/2 hours. The stranger appeared impaired.

The Police were called.  If you see this individual do not approach him. Call the Police immediately.

Picture taken in our Neighborhood

Stranger

Pictures from Facebook

 

 

 

 

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Returned Stolen Cars May Be Hazardous

Neighborhood Security, Safety

I was reading on the Internet about cars stolen in Bellingham and saw something which I thought I would pass along to all of you.

Kirk Hall

Murphy said many owners of recovered stolen cars tell police that they find large amounts of trash, including small squares of aluminum foil in their cars.

“Some of these cars are just full of the aluminum squares and little straws and pipes and needles,” Murphy said. “You have no idea if there are fentanyl crumbs in there, and we all know that fentanyl is extremely deadly. If it’s in a powder form, it can kill immediately.

“You’re going to need a company to come in and professionally clean that vehicle and very likely decontaminate it from methamphetamine fumes or fentanyl fumes. We recommend people be very careful. Don’t just hop in your car and drive it away, because you just don’t know. And if you see a bunch of drug paraphernalia in there, we would recommend getting it professionally cleaned so that stuff is thrown away properly.”

It’s also important to allow police crime scene investigators a chance to process a recovered car to look for forensic evidence, such as fingerprints, that could possibly lead to an arrest, Murphy said.

SR162 Community Group needs help

Neighborhood Security, Public Service Announcements, Safety

Elvin Lerew aske me to post this for the SR162 Community Group.

The SR162 Community Group has been working alongside the Tehaleh development and Tehaleh has submitting a formal request to the legislature that SR162 be examined along with the other possible state corridors to serve the traffic from Tehaleh’s new highway down to SR162/128th.

The Tehaleh development will be bringing a massive amount of traffic to the valley when their new road is built.  A large portion of that traffic will be westward bound and will be using Military Road as that east-west corridor.  As you may know, the SR162 Community Group has proposed that the county consider a 128th street westbound extension from SR162/128th to reduce traffic on SR162 and Military road.  The county has completed an initial study on this proposal and have agreed that it is viable.

We need to move ahead with the next level of a feasibility study.  Because this new corridor would serve to lighten the load on SR162, the state has a stake in the success of this new corridor and should support it by joining with Pierce County on the assessment process of how to create it.

Your support is needed to convince the legislature that SR162 is an important corridor for Pierce County and needs to be included in the ongoing study for an improved east-west transportation corridor that would improve traffic flow on SR161 (Meridian), SR7 (Pacific Ave) and SR507 (Spanaway McKenna Hwy).

The legislature is now in session, but only for 90 days. Please contact your legislature now and ask that SR162 improvements be examined along with other possible state corridors to serve the traffic from Tehaleh’s new highway.  You can find an easy reference to key legislators and their email addresses on the SR162 Community Group Please Help web page, https://sr162traffic.org/Please-Help/ 

We need your help so that Military Road does not end up with stop and go traffic and so that SR162 does not become even worse than it is. 

 

Mail Thief Interrupted

Neighborhood Security, Safety

Last night (Sunday 9 Jan)  Wayne Flood called me around 10:30PM about a white SUV with one headlight that Cindy had scared away from her mailbox. Wayne suggested that anyone searching for mail on Sunday might actually be looking for mailboxes which were full of several days mail, indicating that the owners probably were away. They might have been marking homes for a burglary attempt later that night.

If you are going to be away overnight it would be a good idea to have someone pick up your mail, or have the Post Office hold it for you.

A Call for Video Security Systems

Neighborhood Security, Safety

I came across an article (in red below) from Pennsylvania about an incident which happened there on 18 May 2021 and thought it was important enough to share with our Neighborhood. The main point I wish to get across is the fact that the police have a good chance of rounding up all of the people who took part in this Home Invasion.  The homeowner who was the target of the Home Invasion had Security Cameras, which recorded the images of the invaders.  Additionally, many of the man’s neighbors also have Security Cameras and the police were able to obtain further images of the invaders, presumably they also recorded the vehicle used by the invaders. With the ever-expanding population in our area, the steady growth of property crimes and the heavy load on undermanned area law enforcement departments it is essential that we take steps to safeguard our lives, property, and community. One thing all of us can do is invest in Security Cameras for our homes.

On the evening of May 18 in Smithfield Township, Pa., a 26-year-old man was home alone when he became the target of a home invasion.  A group of five individuals entered the home and began assaulting the lone occupant. During the assault the victim was able to get one of his guns and defended himself, shooting and killing one of the invaders and seriously injuring a second one. The remaining three suspects fled the scene, but their images were captured by the home’s security video surveillance footage as well as by many of the surrounding neighbors’ security cameras.

Comments I found in other articles are:

Helping the Police: Democratic Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf is calling on residents to install security cameras to help track criminal activity, “Pointing the cameras towards the street and register it with the Oakland Police Department,” she said.

About Catalytic Converter thefts:  Ensure your video system at home captures where your vehicle is parked.

Important Pierce County Survey

Public Service Announcements, Safety

Elvin Lerew ask that this be posted. We need to answer this survey to get our voices heard.

Hello,Pierce County is running a survey through Dec. 20, 2021 to find out how people use active transportation in unincorporated Pierce County. Visit www.PierceCountyWa.gov/Active to learn more and take the survey.Survey available in several languages

The survey is available in English, Spanish, Russian and Korean.

Visite www.PierceCountyWa.gov/Active antes del 20 de diciembre de 2021 para realizar la encuesta en español sobre por qué y por dónde camina, anda en bicicleta y utiliza otras formas de transporte activo.

По адресу www.PierceCountyWa.gov/Active можно до 20 декабря 2021 года пройти опрос на <язык> о том, почему и куда вы ходите пешком, ездите на велосипеде или пользуетесь иным видом активного транспорта.

2021년 12월 20일까지 www.PierceCountyWa.gov/Active 를 방문하여 능동 교통수단을 이용하는 이유와 장소에 관한 <언어> 설문조사에 참여해주십시오.

We need your help

This survey will help us develop the Pierce County Active Transportation Plan, so we are hoping for a large response. Please help us by promoting this survey to your customers, clients, families, members, etc.

Visit www.PierceCountyWa.gov/Active to find a toolkit with materials you can use to help spread the word.

Request paper copies or contact us

Please contact us with any questions. You may also request paper copies of the survey, a promotional handout, and a promotional poster.

Online: www.PierceCountyWa.gov/Active

Phone: (253) 798-3552

Email: ActiveTransportation@piercecountywa.gov

Mail: PPW Transportation Planning

2702 South 42nd St. Suite 109

Tacoma, WA 98409

Thank you for your consideration,

Shawn Phelps

Senior Transportation Planner

Pierce County Planning & Public Works

(253) 798-3552 | shawn.phelps@piercecountywa.gov

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The Traffic Mess – 122nd St E. & Shaw Rd. E.

Public Service Announcements, Safety

Currently new roads are being approved or updated without looking first at what the end result of those projects will be. Three good examples come readily to mind.

  1. Shaw Rd. E. on Puyallup’s South hill was closed for many months, which forced traffic to find alternate routes to areas south of Puyallup. Traffic increased on Military Rd./122nd E. as a result, and when Shaw Rd. E. reopened it was with a series of planters down the middle and an extra wide sidewalk on the east side. Effectively it is still a two-lane road, which now will be more costly to widen because of the useless planters and wide sidewalk.
  2. A new road has been approved from the huge Tehaleh subdivision to SR162 in the valley. This will route more vehicles up Military Rd. E./122nd E.
  3. A new 120-unit subdivision is being constructed on the corner of Shaw Rd. E. and 122nd E. The planners stated that it would put almost 1000 new trips per day on 122nd St. E. yet would “have no significant impact on traffic in the area”.

In all three cases the result has been/will be greatly increased traffic on 122nd St. E. with vehicles trying to get to South Meridian and/or points south.  Already Military Rd. E. is a virtual parking lot at certain times of the day.

I live east of Shaw Rd. E. and must take 122nd St. E. to access the main part of South Hill unless I want to go down into the valley and take SR 162 in a very circuitous route. As you know the traffic on 122nd St. E. has increased several fold over what it was as little as seven years ago. I no longer take Military Rd. E. to the intersection of 122nd St. E. and Military Rd. E. when I am going down into the valley as I feel it has become too dangerous to do so. A couple of years ago I was entering 122nd St. E. from Military Rd. E. traveling towards Shaw Rd. E. and had accelerated so that I was a hundred yards or so on 122nd St. E. I was overtaken by a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed which swerved into the oncoming lane to pass me and then swerved back to miss the oncoming vehicles. Fortunately, this is not a common occurrence, but I remember it many times when I go onto 122nd St. E.

Now we have another potentially serious problem at the corner of Shaw Rd. E. and 122nd St. E.  where a housing project with 120 dwellings is being built. I understand that homes 300ft. from the project were notified of it and a yellow sign was posted along Shaw Rd. E. at some time.  Since there is no place to pull off and read the sign it was not very informative. Therefore, the project was kept pretty quiet. I understand that it is estimated that the project will generate almost 1000 trips a day, and this was deemed as insignificant. So insignificant that a dedicated turn lane was not even required.  When the road from Tehaleh is pushed through and traffic uses 122nd St. E. to access South Hill, South Meridian and all the subdivisions to the south, things will become truly horrible.

It seems to me that Pierce County is going at things backward.  They have known for a long time that their plans will funnel traffic through 122nd St. E., turning a sleepy secondary road into a nightmare for residents who live along it.  Especially since some homes have driveways which meet 122nd St. E. directly. Would not it have made more sense to first connect 122nd St. E. to S. Meridian even if you had to exercise Imminent Domaine to do so and widen the existing 122nd St. E. to accommodate the increased traffic that other road projects will bring? Or perhaps extend 128th St. E. so that it meets 128th St. E.  on the top of South Hill. Instead, Pierce County has chosen to create a problem by not looking at the consequences of their actions and doing things backward. When Pierce County closed Shaw Rd. E. for a long project, people discovered that they could go from the valley and up Military Rd. E./122nd St. E. to bypass the construction on Shaw Rd. E. This greatly increased the traffic on Military Rd. E./122nd St. E., and it remains increased to this day. The plan to drive a new road into the valley from Tehaleh will surely increase the traffic up Military Rd. E./122nd St. E. many fold.

It is past time for Pierce County to be proactive in its road planning and to look at the problems new roads will produce.  Then they can start at the correct place to alleviate potential problems the increase in traffic will cause.