Community Corner

Weird News: Peeping Toms, Scaredy Cats, Zombies and Taking Candy from a Baby

Editor’s Note: Patch has 31 sites in Virginia and D.C., and not a day goes by that something weird isn’t happening somewhere in the area. Here’s a look back at some weird goings on over the past week.

As so eloquently put by The Boss, sometimes you can get away with a look, but you better not touch. Unfortunately, that policy doesn’t quite hold the same weight when you’re hiding out in public women’s bathrooms.

Arlington police just arrested a man last week for staking out bathrooms at the Barnes&Noble in Clarendon, along with an Arlington movie theater and another restaurant at the Ballston Mall. The “peeping tom” “physically doesn't touch these people, but he frequently hides out in women's bathrooms," police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck told Patch.

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And old habits apparently die hard: the suspect, Michael Tomlin, 48, was linked to the recent peepings just weeks after he was released from jail on similar charges in May.

At least a thief wanted by police in Georgetown had the sense to take off after he broke into the Rose Park Recreation Center, though there are few redeeming things to be said about someone who more or less took “candy” from the neighborhood’s babies.

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The suspect broke into the center sometime between last Wednesday evening and Thursday morning and stole a DVD player, assorted DVDs, craft kits and games, according to a police report and information from the Friends of Rose Park.

The items are used by children in the DC Department of Parks and Recreation “Little Explorers” summer program.

The Friends of Rose Park has organized a collection to re-stock the center with game appropriate for 3 to 5-year-olds.

Restocking toys is a less expensive venture than restocking the Hyundais ruined when a Manassas roof collapsed after heavy rains last week.

The other culprit: a clogged drain. Fire investigators said rain collected on the roof of the Manassas Hyundai showroom during back-to-back rain events, causing it to fall.

It wasn’t a cat on the roof, though, that brought Alexandria Animal Control to S. Saint Asaph Street late last month. Instead, the scaredy cat — whose owner was in the final stages of packing to move to Massachusetts — ran into an air vent in the wall.

The owner was on a strict deadline to hit the road, and attempts to reach the cat with a net and a catchpole scared the cat deeper into the vent to the point where it could not be reached by any tool.

Finally, a neighbor near the scene offered to saw through the wall to reach the cat. Just one burst of sound from the saw scared the cat out of the vent and into the officer’s hands.

In other animal news, “The Black Widow” Sonya Thomas, who is from the Alexandria area, won the 2013 annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island. She downed more than three dozen hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes.


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