And Some Don't...

Shortly after our previous post, THE BUZZ got a call from Bruce -- a NATOMAS BUZZ reader, Natomas Park neighbor, and fellow Heron Traffic Calming Committee member.

Bruce called to let us know he had taken a graffiti removal kit provided to him by the city to clean the tagging off our mailbox and nearby utilities monument. One minute the ugliness was there, the next it was gone.

To find out more about Sactown's anti-graffiti policy, check out the city's website and brochure about its Graffiti Abatement Program.

"Once you sign up the city has been very helpful to deliver the supplies to your door and provide spray, gloves, scrub pad and a T-shirt and when re-fills are needed they re-stock you within a day or two," says Bruce. "The clean up took about 5 minutes -- just spray, scrub and wipe off the mess."

Just gotta say:
You rock Bruce!

A Couple E-mails Later...

Driving home today, THE BUZZ was pleased to see the North Natomas Regional Park fields have been both cut and disked and just in time for Independence Day. It was more than a little unsettling having all that dried grass so close to home during fireworks season...

Too Bad They Don't Read NATOMASBUZZ.COM

Looks like our friends in the media finally got wind the "straw hat bandit" suspect -- believed to have robbed the bank inside Raley's, among others -- was arrested on Monday.

Today, both KCRA.com and cbs13.com are reporting the story we posted Tuesday about the Sac PD and Sac County Sheriff's teaming up to catch, and arrest, the suspect.

Michael Osgood, 47, has been arrested on suspicion of seven Sacramento-area bank robberies and one Stockton-area bank robbery dating back to late April.

Kudos for getting another one off the streets, and making Sactown that much safer...

Woot! Armed Bank Robber ARRESTED

On April 30, at 3:15 p.m. the Tri-Counties Bank branch located inside Raley's, 4650 Natomas Blvd. was robbed by a guy wearing a straw hat. Less than a month later, on May 21 Citibank, 436 Howe, was robbed by the same guy. Several other bank robberies in the County were also linked to the same suspect.

Yesterday, the suspect attempted to rob the bank at Watt/El Camino and then successfully robbed the U.S. Bank at Watt/Arden.

Sac PD's K-9 Officer called his Sheriff's K-9 Officer counterpart and told him the description of the suspects car from the earlier robbery.

The Sheriff's K-9 Officer spotted that car in the area of the Citibank robbery, stopped it and the suspect inside was arrested.

"Great work between SPD and SSD and good prevention work on behalf of the bank at Watt/Arden - this robbery was unsuccessful because of quick thinking employees," says police Capt. Daniel Hahn.

Thank You, Thank You Very Much

Thank you for supporting the Natomas Park Peeps team in today's Komen Sacramento Race for the Cure...

The Natomas Park Peeps exceeded their fundraising goal and raised a total of $2,643!

We at THE BUZZ even participated in the walk to raise money for breast cancer research and save the ta-tas!

Burglar To Police: "Natomas Looks Rich"

Sac PD Capt. Daniel Hahn has released more information about the juvenile arrested yesterday on suspicion of committing a series of cat burglaries in North Natomas.

The 16-year-old male is a resident of Elk Grove and was arrested at Laguna Creek High School by North Area Neighborhood Crimes detectives.

According to Hahn, the suspect chose Natomas for his crimes because the neighborhood looks "rich."

The suspect drove a stolen car from Elk Grove to the burglary on Moonstone and took with him a black Acura from that residence back to Elk Grove, where it was recovered near his home.

The suspect is believed the be responsible for other crimes in Sacramento County and Elk Grove.

"Again, some of the information we had early on in this investigation came from some residents in the neighborhood that the burglaries took place," says Hahn. "Very good observations and keeping your eyes open!"

This is the second big capture for the north-area team in as many weeks! Score another one for the good guys!

First, officers nabbed a suspect in the series of armed robberies at North Natomas pizzerias and now the cat burglar.

Says Creekside HOA prez Angelique Ashby, "I hope this crew gets some recognition ... this should be in the paper."

Anyone else think media coverage of North Natomas coverage is lacking? Vote in our poll and let us know where you get YOUR news!

Cat Burglar Arrested!

Woot, here it is -- some good news!

Sac PD Capt. Daniel Hahn reports a suspect has been apprehended for the series of cat burglaries reported earlier by THE BUZZ.

The juvenile suspect, who lives out of the area, was taken into custody TODAY for all three burglaries. The black 2002 Acura stolen during one of the burglaries was also recovered.

"Some of the information we had on this series came from alert Natomas residents who witnessed pieces of the case," says Capt. Hahn. "Great job!"

Detectives are said to be still actively working the case.

Breaking News: Pizza Robber Nabbed

This just in from Sac Pd Capt. Daniel Hahn about the recent series of armed robberies in North Natomas:

"Last night (4/29/08) around 10:30pm Robbery suspect arrested!

Last night we arrested a 19 year old that was part of the pizza/Hollywood Video robberies where the rifle was used.

The arrest was the result of great police work by one of our/your graveyard officers (Officer Bell).

The investigation is ongoing so I will provide more details at a later date. The suspect was staying in North Natomas and the vehicle was recovered.

Thanks for all who were keeping an eye out for that car."

That's Not Trash, It's Community Building

Garbage collected at this weekend's Creek Week cleanup!

More than 80 volunteers showed up Saturday morning to help with the Creek Week cleanup at Redbud Park and Club Center Drive.

There were so many people, cleanup coordinator Natalie Smith reportedly did not bring enough garbage bags!

Area residents of all ages -- including a group of parents doing their volunteer hours for the charter school -- cleaned North Natomas creek land between Creekside and Natomas Park,and further north.

Creek Week sponsors are expected to pick up garbage bags (and other stuff) along the creek, specifically three sites on North Park Drive, Club Center Drive and Mabry, sometime this week.

"I hope this is something we can do every year," says Rosemarie Ruggieri, member of the Natomas Park Master Association's Parks and Schools Committee. "It really energized my community spirit and I hope other's community spirit, too."

North Natomas creek land after the clean up.

Neighborhood Watch Works

A few days ago a Neighborhood Watch leader e-mailed Sac PD Capt. Hahn about a purse and wallet in the detention pond at Regency Community Park.

Apparently some concerned neighbors thought items in the water appeared "suspicious" in nature. Sac PD sent out an officer to check the items and determined they were part of a previous crime.

Turns out some of the items in the water were from a car burglary in Natomas Park back in August of last year.

Says Capt. Hahn, "Great job -- the neighbors' instincts were correct!"

Creekside Clean Up A Success

The Creekside development had quite a turnout Sunday for its first-ever Creek Week cleanup.

Nearly 40 people showed up to participate. While the majority of participants were Creekside residents, neighbors from Westlake and Natomas Park also joined in.

Councilman Ray Tretheway as well as Sacramento police Capt. Daniel Hahn and his daughter stopped by to help out. Also, Rosemarie Ruggieri, from the Natomas Community Alliance, and her family pitched in.

Seven very full garbage bags of waste were picked up. It was a great morning!

-Submitted by Sean P. Avalos

This Is One Party Coming To An End

Update: According to our sources, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department has canceled the last couple of events at the Del Paso site in question and is working on a long-term solution for this location.

Looks like law enforcement officials are poised to crack down on an illegal dance club that has been operating most weekends since February out of 721 W. Del Paso Road in North Natomas.

FINALLY!

For more than a month now, 19 & under dance parties (and other gatherings such as Kasual Enkounters) have been held in the space occupied by Diversified Management Consultants Inc.

For several weeks, crowds generated by the popular underage party scene have put a strain on both Sacramento County Sheriff's Department and Sacramento Police Department resources. The two law enforcement agencies have become involved as the club site is within Sacramento County, but teens leaving the party usually wind up within the Sacramento city limits -- en masse.

The parties have attracted hundreds of young people who have been spotted hanging out in the parking lot, located on the corner of Del Paso Road (where it turns into Main) and Northgate Boulevard, during the parties. The scene inside is just as wild as seen in this picture (photo and fliers all downloaded from MySpace).

Earlier this month, after Sheriff's deputies scattered the crowd of 500+ young people at a 19 & Under dance, about 100 youths wound up at In-N-Out Burger which shut down as a result of the deluge. More than a dozen police officers were called to the scene to disperse the loiterers.

Just this past weekend (see Natomas Cops Log in the left-hand column), shots were reportedly fired several times -- at the warehouse and In-N-Out Burger -- in connection with a 19 & Under dance party.

At one point, law enforcement limited access to Blackrock Road to area residents only.

A source from county Supervisor Roger Dickinson's office has been in touch with a group of concerned citizens to report officials are "moving swiftly" to shut down these parties and prevent any from being held this weekend.

The Sheriff's Department has identified the building owner, who apparently owns another illegal club off Garden Highway, and the District Attorney's office plans to serve said owner before the weekend. County Code Enforcement has opened a complaint and is in the process of sending advisory notice that the dance club is operating without a use permit and is therefore illegal.

Props For Those Who Recycled E-Waste Today

So THE BUZZ took our own advice and participated in the e-waste recycling fund raiser today at the Charter School.

It felt good to drop off the monitor, old DVD drives and a couple video cards knowing they would be disposed of correctly.

Everyone who made a drop off received an e-waste postcard designed by the school's students to show their appreciation. Here's the one we got.

If you happened to miss today's event and you, like a lot of people, have some old computers, monitors, TVs, etc. you want to get rid of the RIGHT way, THE BUZZ tracked down some information on how to do so in Sactown.

This information comes from the County of Sacramento Waste Management & Recycling website.

Looks like there are a number of local electronic waste recycling companies that accept this material from the public, businesses, school districts and government agencies.

Advanced Computer Recycling Inc. 8535 Morrison Creek Drive, Suite B Sacramento, CA 95828 Phone: 916-387-9988 Fax: 916-387-6886 Email: Jeannie@acrinc.biz http://www.acrinc.biz/ California Electronic Asset Recovery, Inc (CEAR) 3678 LeMay Street Mather, CA 95655 Phone: 916-388-1777 http://www.cearinc.com/ Computer Recycling Center Sacramento, CA Phone: 916-452-5177 http://www.recyclecomputers.biz/ Email: recyclecomputers@msn.com

Hewlett Packard Product Returns & Recycling www.hp.com/recycle HMR Group, Sacramento Central Processing Facility 8301 Belvedere Avenue Sacramento, CA 95826 Phone: 916-381-5504 http://www.hmrgroup.com/ Sims Recycling Solutions 8855 Washington Blvd. Roseville, CA 95678 Phone: 916-772-5600 http://www.simsrecyclingsolutions.com/ Y Not Recycle Old Army Depot 8310 Luzon Ave Suite 500 Sacramento CA 95828 Phone: 916-383-2922 http://www.ynotrecycle.com/

Some types of electronic equipment that are in working, reusable condition may be donated at no charge to:

The Salvation Army Locate donation centers at: http://www.satruck.com/ or 1-800-95TRUCK

You may also check Earth 911 for additional information about electronics recycling.

Earth 911
http://www.earth911.org/
Instructions: Enter your zip code (top left side of page), and then click on Electronics Recycling (left side of page).

Keep 'Em Coming...

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Readers, such as kens can post comments at the end of each post like this one (scroll down to see what was written about the Greenbriar development).

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From One of Our Readers

"I love The BUZZ!! You are doing a fantastic job! I love finding all the Natomas news that I usually have to wait to read (in other Natomas publications…) everyday in one place!!!"

From One of Our Readers

"Just found your blog today… thanks for all the great info. I posted a comment about my purse being stolen Sat. night. I also have a child at Merryhill and witnessed a car of suspicious guys there this morning looking for purses left in the car – when they saw me standing there watching them they left. Hopefully they know we’ve figured it out and we’re not leaving our valuables in the car anymore. It’s just sad really…"

Keep the comments coming!