St. Paddy’s Day Crime Statistics
The statistics on St. Patrick’s Day are in from the Arlington County Police Department. Police responded to more than two dozen alcohol-related incidents as revelers packed local bars to celebrate the holiday.
ACPD reported the following crimes on Saturday, denoted by the number of separate incidents officers responded to.
- Drunk in Public — 13
- Assaults where alcohol was involved — 7
- Driving Under the Influence — 4
- Urinating in Public — 1
- Drunk parent at bar with baby (referred to Child Protective Services) — 1
Each incident resulted in at least one arrest or summons, according to police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.
Crime Report: Bar Fight Leads to Finger Bite
In this week’s Arlington County crime report, a man allegedly had the tip of his finger bitten off by an acquaintance during a fight outside of a bar. Doctors were unable to reattach the finger tip, according to police.
MALICIOUS WOUNDING BY MOB, 03/18/12, 2600 block of N. Pershing Drive. At 2:15 am on March 18, a victim was assaulted outside of a bar by known subjects. During the fight, the victims right index fingertip was bitten off by one of the subjects. Rudy Sales Perez, 21, of Arlington, and Jose Lopez Sales, 23, of Arlington, were charged with malicious wounding by mob and held without bond.
Also in this week’s report, a man was pistol-whipped and robbed after trying to meet up with a woman he met online.
ROBBERY, 03/16/12, 5000 block of Columbia Pike. On March 16 at 8:25pm, a male victim was robbed at gunpoint by two subjects. The victim had been involved in online solicitation earlier in the day and had come to Arlington to meet up with the female. The victim contacted the female by cell phone and was told a family member would meet him to escort him to her residence. When the victim was led to a wooded area, two subjects brandished handguns and demanded him to lay down. The victim was pistol-whipped and robbed of $80, a cell phone and 2 Metro cards. The suspects are described as black males, thin builds, approximately 6’ and 5’6”, and both were wearing black Northface jackets, black pants and baseball hats.
The rest of this week’s crime report, after the jump.
AWLA to Offer Low-Cost Microchips, Rabies Shots
The Animal Welfare League of Arlington will be holding a low-cost microchip and rabies clinic tomorrow (Thursday).
From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at the AWLA offices (2650 S. Arlington Mill Drive), the organization will be offering $30 microchipping and $10 rabies shots.
AWLA recommends microchips for dogs and cats to help with identification should they ever become lost.
“Each year thousands of lost and abandoned animals are taken in by shelters and humane societies across the country. Some of these animals never make it home because they can’t be identified,” the AWLA notes. ”Microchipping offers pet owners the only truly permanent method of identifying your pet and linking the animal back to you, the owner.”
Six other rabies and microchip clinics are planned through the end of 2012.
File photo
Half Off Tickets to Taste of Arlington
Like last year, early birds are getting a steep discount on tickets to Taste of Arlington.
This year the annual food festival, Arlington’s biggest, will take place between 12:00 and 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 20. More than 35 restaurants are expected to participate and serve about 15,000 attendees. As always, the event will be held on Wilson Boulevard in front of Ballston Common Mall.
KGB Deals is offering half off tickets to the event — $15 instead of $30 — through next Tuesday. As of 12:30 p.m., the website had sold just shy of 100 tickets.
Proceeds from Taste of Arlington will be donated to three nonprofits: the Arlington Community Foundation, Virginia Hospital Center and Phoenix Houses of the Mid-Atlantic.
Pershing Drive Shut Down Due to Gas Leak
(Updated at 1:35 p.m.) Pershing Drive has been closed at N. Cleveland Street, between N. Barton Street and N. Danville Street in the Lyon Park neighborhood, due to a reported gas leak.
So far crews aren’t sure how big the ruptured gas line is, but there are concerns that it may be a larger distribution line.
Police are redirecting traffic around the leak until the gas company can patch up the line. The leak is three blocks from Fort Myer and one block from an apartment construction site.
Update at 12:50 p.m. — We hear that Pershing Drive will remain closed for “a couple of hours” while gas company crews dig up the street to reach the leak.
Photos: Opower’s Sweet Offices in Courthouse
The D.C. digs of LivingSocial may have been voted one of the “World’s Coolest Offices,” but Arlington’s own Opower may be giving them a run for their money.
The five-year-old company, which works with utility providers to help consumers become more energy efficient, occupies two floors of an office building in the Courthouse neighborhood. The offices are reminiscent of a Silicon Valley internet startup, complete with fish tanks, scooters, remote control helicopters, Lego sets, inside-jokey signs, a teleconferencing robot, and — of course — copious amounts of free food and caffeinated beverages.
Opower was founded in Arlington in 2007 by two long-time friends, Dan Yates and Alex Laskey. Since then the company has experienced rapid growth. In 2010, when President Obama paid the offices a well-publicized visit, the company had about 75 employees. Today it has 240 employees, about 200 of which are in the Arlington office. The rest are at branch offices, including offices in San Francisco and London.
The company has been on a furious hiring spree, and they’re still looking for new employees, especially computer engineers. We’re told Opower has about 50 active job postings right now, and they’re hoping to hire a total of 100 new employees in 2012 alone. The hiring drive is evident in the offices: rows of empty desks can be seen, awaiting new occupants, and posters advertise a chance to win a free Vespa for helping to refer a new hire.
Also evident around the office: the company’s desire for an initial public stock offering. Each employee has a bottle of Champagne at their desk, to be popped open when an IPO is announced. Employees of the fast-growing firm, especially those who were hired early on, stand to gain big should an IPO take place.
Opower’s services reach about 10 million households, according to the company. The services reduce electricity consumption by an average of 2 to 4 percent — a total savings of one terrawatt since the company first launched.
More photos, after the jump.
Video: Share the Road by Being a PAL
Arlington County’s PAL pedestrian safety campaign — which reminds everyone on the road to be Predictable, Alert and Lawful — now has a video to go along with it.
The video makes the point that many drivers are also, at some point, walkers or bikers. Putting yourself in the shoes of the other guy — and behaving in a courteous, predictable manner — can help reduce conflicts on the road, the video suggests.
The clip was produced by the county’s Arlington Virginia Network.
Morning Notes
TJ Theater to Reopen — The county parks department is hoping to reopen the Thomas Jefferson Community Theater next month. The theater closed for repairs late last summer after damage was found from the Aug. 23 earthquake that shook the region. [Sun Gazette]
Arlington to Host ‘Green Games’ Ceremony — Arlington County is hosting an awards ceremony for its Green Games business sustainability competition. The ceremony will honor achievement in a number of green categories, including energy efficiency, water use, waste diversion and recycling, and transportation choices. “During the year-long competition, more than 100 offices and buildings — representing about 15 million square feet of office space, or one-third of Arlington’s total office space — raced to reduce energy use, waste, and water and set other environmental goals,” the county said in a press release. The ceremony will be held tomorrow morning at Artisphere in Rosslyn. [Arlington County]
W-L Junior Wins National Writing Award — Washington-Lee High School junior Luisa Banchoff has been named a 2012 National Gold Medalist in the annual Scholastic Writing Awards. [Arlington Public Schools]
