Category Archives: Neighborhood Security

Mail Thieves Are Active All Year

The other day I was on 111th Ave E between 128th St E and 122nd St E when I saw a man picking up mail which had been scattered on the ground. I stopped and asked him what had happened and he pointed to a row of mailboxes on the other side of the street, with their lids open.  He said one of those boxes belonged to his daughter and he had found some of her mail in the pieces he was picking up.

Mail thieves are active all year and right now they are looking for IRS filings or refund checks.  Please make their jobs harder by picking up your mail as soon as you can and do not put out mail after the Postman has passed for the day.  If you have important mail, take it to the Post Office and drop it inside.

Scattered Mail

Mailboxes Opened

Dog Chasing Deer

dog chasing deer through my backyardToday a large dog chased a deer through my backyard.             This was not OK!

I have never seen this dog in the Neighborhood, however it may belong to someone who has just moved in.

If you recognize this dog and know where it lives please let me know at kahall@hotmail.com or (253) 307-9812.

Kirk Hall

 

If you have comments on any post, Please Send Me an Email.  I have just had to delete 750 SPAM comments while searching for actual comments.  If you do not send me an Email when you comment it will not be posted.

Kirk Hall

Bobcat Again

Well it seems like the Neighborhood Bobcat is still in the area.  I suspect it will be a permanent resident of our community.  We may even see little Bobcats sometime in the future. Just remember that Bobcats normally  avoid contact with humans, but under the right circumstances can take down deer sized animals.  So keep your pets fenced in during the day and inside at night.image1 image0

Aggressive Dog In Our Neighborhood

Recently I was informed about an aggressive dog in our Neighborhood. It took several interactions by the person who was attacked and intervention by Animal Control before the owner decided to turn the animal over to Animal Control.  I am surprised that since a bite was sustained, Animal Control did not immediately quarantine the dog for observation. Pierce County has declined to pursue the matter since the dog was voluntary surrendered to Animal Control. However RCW 16.08.040 makes the dog owner completely responsible for dog bites.
In the above instance the victim showed what I consider too much restraint in dealing with the situation. Any animal bite requires the secure confinement of the animal for at least 10 days to rule out rabies. Failure to do so puts the person bitten in the position of hoping that they will not develop rabies, or having to submit to anti-rabies treatment.  Rabies is a disease which is almost 100% fatal after symptoms develop. To my knowledge there is only one person in history who is documented to have survived after developing symptoms of rabies.
Your health is not the only thing at risk in a dog bite case. For example the average cost per dog bite insurance claim rose about 7.1% between 2019 and 2020 due to increased medical costs and the size of legal judgments and settlements. As of 2020, the average cost per dog bite claim was around $50,245.
Without the necessary insurance to provide enough dog bite coverage, individual pet owners could be on the hook for a considerable amount of money if their dog injures another person.
Please insure that your pets are under control at all times. They can be injured or killed if they run out in front of a car or attack or be attacked by another animal. If they bite someone you and your family could well find yourselves bankrupt if you are sued and the judgement goes against you.

Incident on 136th Ave E.

On 31 Jan 2023 at around 4:30PM three teenage friends, one of them black, were walking on 136th Ave. E. toward Military Dr. When they were near the sports court just before 118th St. E. they were accosted by two men in a red Chevrolet, License Number BMB 9859. One of the men asked the boys “Have you ever been robbed nigger” obviously referring to the black teenager. The boys felt threatened, though no physical harm was done to them.  They reported the incident to their parents. Fortunately,  because of the Neighborhood Camera System, we were able to identify the car which had cruised past the boys three times in total. A police report was made.

This kind of harassment has no place in our neighborhood, or in fact anywhere in the US.  It was as vicious as it was unprovoked. Let’s keep an eye out for things like this.

Below are some pictures which show that between 4:08PM and 4:30PM the car passed the kids three times.

First recorded passRed Chevrolet at 408.43PM

Second recorded passRed Chevrolet at 416.51PM

 Third recorded passRed Chevrolet at 419.57PM

Mail Theft

On 12 September 2023 at 0102hrs two individuals on electric scooters came down 117th St E and turned on to 138th Ave Ct E. They went from one end of the street to the other and opened mailboxes to see if anyone had left mail to be picked up that day. They did not bother one Neighbor who has a Ft. Knox heavy steel mailbox. Also if you get the USPS app that lets you know approximately what to expect on a given day it will help you know if someone has gone through your mail. This link will take you to a USPS web page which will guide you through signing up for the service. https://www.usps.com/

Mail theft must pay well because  electric scooters are not inexpensive and judging by the ease they went up 117th they were fairly powerful, therefore probably in the upper end of the price range. It appears that they used a truck as well as the scooters, as the first picture shows a truck stopping at some mailboxes at 0130:29 hrs.

I have heard that they hit another nearby neighborhood. It is tempting to put outgoing mail in your postbox to be picked up the next day.  However remember that unless you have a very heavy steel mailbox like the Ft. Knox, it is easy for thieves to steal your mail in the early morning hours.

Below are pictures of the bad guys:

0130hrs

3 0102.45hrs 2023 2 1

Yes We Have a Bobcat!!!!

Yesterday a neighbor sent me some great pictures of our neighborhood Bobcat hanging out in their yard. The Bobcat lay in their yard for about 10 minutes before walking off.  When I received these pictures I checked with Google Images and it returned pictures of  Bobcats in the US. I guess this put to rest any doubts we may have had about the correct identification of the animal. Anyone with small dogs or cats might consider making them into strictly indoor pets.

image004 image003 image002

Do we have Bears in the Neighborhood again?

One of my neighbors was walking down Jennifer Court and spotted what he thought was bear scat.  He sent me a picture and it looked the same as the Bear scat we found in the Neighborhood several years ago. It appears that the scat consists mostly of the remains of cherries.  Since as far as  I know, we do not have cherry trees around here, if they are cherries they must have come from someone’s home.

I have added the picture I was sent.  If you have an opinion that it is something other than Bear scat, feel free to let me know at kahalljr@comcsast.net.

Addendum: A Neighbor texted me with the information that they have a cherry tree in their backyard and the last time  we had a bear in the Neighborhood it was eating from their cherry tree.  The scat looked the same as below.

Scat

Bobcat den in our area?

My next-door neighbors saw a much smaller version of the bobcat I saw several weeks ago.  Did not get a picture though. The bobcats may have established a den nearby and are raising a litter. Now we appear to have cayotes and Bobcats looking for a meal in our neighborhood.  Take care of your cats and small dogs.

For those who did not see it.  Here is the photo I got previously of the adult Bobcat.

20230507_101038_ch10