Yet another incentive to keep your shades drawn. This was posted on the Highland Park Crime Watch site yesterday:

A “Peeping Tom” was spotted by a resident who was walking her dog.

He was looking in the window of an apartment on the first floor of 4700 Abbott – Jacob Apartments.

Description:
Male – Hispanic
5′8″ – 150 pounds
Extremely short hair (buzz cut)
White T-Shirt – Blue Jeans

If spotted or if you think it might be him, PLEASE call 911.

One of the most effective ways of keeping crime at bay is getting to know your neighbors. So it’s a good thing that Highland Park DPS and the Highland Park Crime Watch have teamed up with Highland Park Village to bring neighbors and businesses together for the town’s first-ever Night Out event on Oct. 5.

But the event won’t put itself together, that’s for sure. If you or your business is interested in volunteering for HP’s Night Out, get in touch with Detective Marty Nevil at mnevil@hpdps.org or via phone at 214-559-9487. The committee for the event has a couple of open spots, so if you’ve got a knack for organizing, they could use your help!

If you want to become a member of HP Crime Watch, you can sign up on their website or e-mail info@hpcrimewatch.org for more information.

A University Park resident who has grown tired of lazy dog owners allowing their pets to make yard deposits went on poop patrol this week. She sent a series of photos showing a woman walking her dogs while talking on the phone. It must have been a good conversation because she paused long enough for her pooch to scope out a good spot in this lawn and then totally forgot to pick up the funk.  

Word to the walkers, this poop policewoman is gettin’ serious about feces scattered around her community and she is armed with a camera phone.

Good Morning America has a story about a Dallas man who, via  iPhone app from across the country, was able to see burglars trying to gain access to his home. That’s cool. But the best part of the story was GMA correspondent Becky Worley revealing that she too has installed the system on her property but not to bust criminals, she’s been looking for a neighborhood dog that uses her yard as a toilet. There’s an app for that. And if you live in the Park Cities, you need it too.

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned the nightmarish carpool situation at Highland Park Middle School. But just to be sure, Bohac has sent the first of several emails that parents will ignore this school year.

Parents:

Please click on the links below to view the traffic safety guidelines for MIS/HPMS and a “traffic flow” map for the building.  Please note important changes in drop off and pick up locations.
 
Thank you for helping us maintain a safe environment for our students.

http://www.hpisd.org/Portals/1/docs/about/Traffic_Map_For_2010-2011.doc

http://www.hpisd.org/Portals/1/docs/about/Traffic_Safety_Guidelines_MIS_HPMS_2010_11.doc

Earlier this month I told you about the trunk stolen from a University Park front yard only moments before camp departure. Well, someone returned it last Sunday with everything in it. It was left sitting near the curb without a scratch. Odd. But good I guess.

Rumors about a pedophile getting busted at the University Park Pool (now the Holmes Aquatic Center if you want to get technical) last week were spreading quickly. But hold on. The only true part is that there was a man near the pool. The pedophile and busted part just aren’t true. In fact, that part about the mystery man being inside the pool gates wasn’t true either. Chief Adams responded.

In reference to the matter that occurred at the pool last Thursday; be advised that a w/m was observed by the lifeguards sitting in his car parked outside the fence of the pool. He was never inside the pool area.  They called it in as they felt it was suspicious.  Officers arrived and made contact with the individual who related that he was eating his lunch and reading the paper while parked there.  The individual is not a known pedophile or a registered pedophile and had no criminal record.  We get about two calls a year about individuals sitting in their cars watching the kids in the pool from our life guards who try to be vigilant about this matter.

But truly, it sounds kind of creepy for a guy to be sitting there eating lunch and reading the paper near loads of kids. Hey, I wonder if the cops noticed a glove? Developing.

There’s more than one reason to ride the tollway. When you pony up and pay for pavement, you’re not only getting a less-trafficky road, you’re also getting extra speed limit leeway. The posted limit is higher than the freeway, 65 instead of the normal (and rarely observed) 60, but the real difference is far more than 5 mph. Tacit though it may be, the understanding is basically pay your fee and ride at your own risk. It’s Dallas’ version of the autobahn.

While this offers a certain, expedient advantage, it clearly has its pitfalls. Case in point: Motorcycle Gangs. At 7 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 8, about a dozen motorcyclists took over the 10000 block of the North Tollway, blocking all lanes of traffic, performing stunts and videotaping them, police reports said. One motorcyclist collided with a white 2005 Chrysler, causing $900 worth of damage, and fled the scene.

Senior Corporal Kevin Janse of the Dallas Police Department said although accidents are uncommon, the reports of renegade riders are not. Janse said the department receives calls several times a month about the daredevils on two wheels.

“We try to get out there fast enough to catch them, but it’s such a brief incident,” he said.

Janse said the number of reports have diminished, as they previously received one or two calls a week.

We’re trying to put together a story on this and want to speak with Park Cities residents who have encountered maniac motorcyclists on the tollway. So leave a comment, call us up, or email me at claire@peoplenewspapers.com

By my count (and feel free to correct me), Marx Dale Billingsley has been picked up by University Park Police 28 times, bringing his total number of Park Cities arrests to 36.

UP Police arrested Billingsley on Aug. 7 for soliciting without a permit, just days after our own Charles Geilich spotted him in the ‘hood.

I’ll check in with Captain Leon Holman with the UPPD to see if the department is still looking into escalating charges on Billingsley. Stay tuned.

In July of 2007 I shared the trauma of packing my first camp trunk. Four summers later, I can assure you, digging a swimming pool in your backyard is easier than packing a complete trunk.  

So my heart goes out to the University Park mom who placed her child’s fully loaded trunk in the front yard yesterday afternoon for a few short minutes and returned to find it had been stolen. STOLEN. Gone. Vanished.

Seriously. How do you even make a quick getaway with a ginormous, heavy trunk?