Police Blotter: Lights in the Sky; 'Huge Explosion' on Falmouth

A resident on Falmouth Drive heard a "huge explosion" and her neighbor saw "enormous flames" in her yard about 1:30 a.m. Oct. 6.

Neither reported it until about 11 a.m., after they saw a plastic bottle near the curb and wondered if a bottle bomb had gone off.

An officer said it appeared the explosion might have been a lightning strike -- it was storming around that time, a report said.

Nothing appeared to be damaged, the report said, and the bottle was just garbage -- not a bomb.

Police vs. Mother Nature, Part 2

A Potomac Drive resident called for a police officer to explain why there were flashing lights above the clouds in the south sky.

The woman called about 9 p.m. Oct. 6 and said it had been going on for the last 25 minutes.

The officer reported there appeared to be faint flashes of light in the sky, but did not know what was causing them.

The resident said she just wanted police to be aware of it.

Bunch o' Thefts from Yards

At least four residents reported items stolen from their yards in the last few days.

On Oct. 6, a wagon wheel was reported stolen from a Westwood Drive yard.

The same morning, a Whitney Road resident reported a pot-bellied stove and a 4-foot lighthouse taken from the porch.

The next day, a Greenwood Drive resident reported two Obama signs were stolen from her yard. 

And a 4-foot hand-carved wooden bear went missing from a front porch on Kortz Circle.

Most of the residents asked police to keep an eye out for the stolen items because they'd like them returned.

Assisting a Neighbor

Parma police asked officers here to keep any eye out for an elderly man who climbed out of the window of a nursing home near Parmatown Mall Oct. 5.

A report said a dog tracked the man to York Road, which is where he went the last time he escaped. He could have left as early as 3 a.m., the report said.

Mischief

Trouble-makers pulled a mailbox out of the ground on Woodrun Drive the night of Oct. 5.

An officer put the mailbox back into the ground for the resident.