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Archive | May, 2011

Adopt-a-Pet: Demona

May 31, 2011

Demona = cat available for adoption
Demona

Today’s pet is Demona.

Demona is a 6 year-old indoor cat. Her owner is moving soon and looking for a new home for her cat.

Demona likes scratches behind the ears, lazy afternoons in the sun, gourmet catnip and playing hide and seek between the shower curtains. Dislikes: other cats, dogs and sitting on laps.

Demona needs to find an owner who will give her the attention she needs to deal with her weight problem. She cannot be around other cats, as she might eat all of the food.

To set up a meeting with Demona, please contact her owner at demonathecat [at] gmail.com

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Hitting the dumpsters for Penn Christmas

May 31, 2011

dumpster
A windsurfing board was one of the items left behind at 43rd and Pine this morning.

 

Do you find it irresistible to pick through (or at least look over) stuff that students leave strewn along the sidewalks or in dumpsters after the school year? If so, WHYY’s Peter Crimmins has a good story for you (see the video below). Crimmins and a West Philly man named “Paul” went dumpster diving recently and came up with some interesting stuff, including a hard drive chock full of everything from Korean dance videos to complete details on a student’s bank accounts.

When picking over stuff, “How far are you willing to go,” Crimmins asks.

This is also a good time to remind folks who prefer to do their used-stuff shopping in a slightly more civilized, but less serendipitous, manner that the big sale of student stuff is this Saturday. The sale, sponsored by Penn MOVES to benefit Goodwill Industries job programs, will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at a warehouse at 3401 Grays Ferry Ave. For $5 you can get early admission and begin shopping at 8 a.m. Sales are cash only and there are no returns.

That warehouse is a little tricky to get to so Penn Transit is providing free transportation to and from any transit stop (except Johnson Pavilion and Fresh Grocer) every 30 minutes. Of course, there are limits to what you can haul onto the shuttle. Refrigerators and large furniture won’t work.

 

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Puppets galore! Open house at Spiral Q tonight

May 31, 2011

Spiral Q Puppet Theater (3114 Spring Garden St.) is hosting an open house tonight from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

puppets

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Neighbor reports on suspicious male at her door

May 31, 2011

A neighbor, Nancy, wrote us to describe a run-in she had very early Saturday morning. We wanted to pass it along just to keep folks alert. We have edited it for length.

I was sleeping and at 2 a.m. someone was repeatedly “buzzing” my front door. I live at 4702 Hazel, first floor. There are three apartment units in my building and 4 people who lived in the building.

There was a man standing at my door — tall, large (not overweight, but not a small person), black, wearing dark clothes and a dark baseball cap, in his thirties, no facial hair and no glasses. He did not seem intoxicated or insane. I did not open the main doors to the building and I only spoke to him through the glass.

He was holding a little piece of paper which he was acting like he was reading. He spoke very low so it was almost impossible for me to hear him. I could see the paper had just a couple scribbles or numbers on them. He said he was looking for “Lewis” (which is my name, and also on my mailbox in the vestibule). He told me my neighbors upstairs were in the hospital. It was very hard to communicate because of his low talking and mumbling. He said he was a tow-truck driver and he was dropping off their keys to a “Lewis.” It took awhile for the red flags to go off.

I think he was talking low so I would open the door in order to hear him. He wanted me to open the door for the keys (I never saw any keys, nor a tow truck…in fact there was no car running in the street or anything…he was clearly on foot).  He constantly referred to his little piece of paper, saying “Lewis.” Finally my boyfriend woke up and came out and said “who are you and why are you here?” and then we told him he had the wrong address and he left. We were both really frightened. It was all very suspicious. But if I had opened the door I do believe something really bad would have happened.

I called the police to let them know, but regrettably I did not have them come to my building for a report. I was very worried that he would try it down the road to someone else and someone would be hurt. I feel stupid for even engaging with him as long as I did, but I also feel very lucky. I am aware that there have been a string of robberies/muggings in my neighborhood and this guy had a lot of “tricks” so I want people to know and not fall for it and not get hurt.

Thanks for listening. And, by the way, none of my neighbors are in the hospital … they are all fine.

Thanks again and be careful. Don’t answer your door and always keep your door locked, especially if you have slacked off lately.


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School budget vote tonight

May 31, 2011

The School Reform Commission is scheduled to vote tonight on a provisional budget that would eliminate full-day kindergarten, many school programs and thousands of School District of Philadelphia jobs.

The meeting will begin at 5 p.m. at the auditorium of the School District Education Center, 2nd floor, 440 N. Broad Street. Although the deadline for signing up to speak at the meeting has passed, it is open to the public.

A summary of the proposed budget is available here.

The budget is provisional and could be revised if funding is made available either at the city or state level.

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Golden 2005 Buick Lacrosse sought in hit and run accident late Saturday night

May 30, 2011

West Philly resident Lene and her fiancee, AJ, were victims in a hit-and-run accident at 2:30 a.m. Saturday night near 51st and Pine. Lene e-mailed us with this information:

Last night [Sat, May 29] at about 2:30 a.m., my fiancee heard a big crash outside. He ran
outside to find our car pushed up on the curb, my scooter, and his
motorcycle tipped over into another person’s car. Behind our car was the
bumper and headlight of a golden 2005 Buick Lacrosse. There was also a lot
of water as if the radiator was blown.

AJ and our neighbor a few doors down, who came running out after he heard
the crash, could see the car a few blocks down on 51st towards Market, it
had stalled and the driver was trying to get it started again. AJ called the
police, who told him to wait by the car. No police showed up in the 10
minute timeframe until the driver got the Buick going again. The car made a
left turn onto Market or Chestnut. AJ spent several hours combing the
streets looking for the car, as he expected that it would not get very far
in that condition, but he was not able to find the car.

We were hoping that people could contact AJ on 215-260-3232 or
theelordwolve  [at] yahoo.com if they come across a golden 2005 Buick Lacrosse
missing part of the front bumper, flat tire, and possibly a busted radiator.
We would love to get the registration information as our car just came back
from the body shop on Tuesday.

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