HomeNewsNeighborhood news in brief for the week of Dec. 11

Neighborhood news in brief for the week of Dec. 11

Fishtown drug bust

On Monday, Dec. 2, a joint taskforce of narcotics unit officers and SEPTA Transit Police made a major drug bust on the 1900 block of E. Dauphin St. just after 8 p.m., according to philly.com.

The bust netted more than $6,000 in crack and heroin.

26th Police District Captain Michael Cram told philly.com that the bust was “huge” for the police district. Eight arrests were made in the bust, a months-long operation, and SEPTA officers joined the effort, the report states, because of the block’s proximity to the York-Dauphin station of the Market Frankford line, Cram said.

26th Dist. crime report

For the period of Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, the 26th Police District released crime statistics for the area of PSAs numbers 2 and 3. They are:

-Zero homicides reported during this time period.

-Zero rapes reported during this time period.

-Two robberies at gunpoint; five robberies at point of other weapon.

-Three aggravated assaults with weapons other than guns.

-Two aggravated assaults with guns.

-Five residential burglaries.

-Eight thefts from automobiles.

-Eleven stolen vehicles.

-Nine other thefts.

For details on these crimes, visit bit.ly/1clp1bP.

To keep up with the 26th Police District, visit phillypolice.com/districts/26th, and also follow @rwcrimewatch on Twitter.

Armed robbery at Fishtown restaurant

An armed robber held up the Loco Pez restaurant in Fishtown in the early morning hours of Dec. 4, according to ABC News. The restaurant, on the 2400 block of East Norris Street, is a cash-only establishment.

Police say a masked man with a sawed-off gun approached two employees and two customers as they were leaving the building around 3:30 a.m.

The robber made out with $70 from one customer and $1,000 from the restaurant. The suspect left the scene and no one was hurt. The robbery was caught on surveillance video, which can be viewed at bit.ly/1cwTdEH.

Head & the Hand Press rolling out new publication

This Friday, Dec. 13, is the deadline for submissions for the newest publication of Fishtown’s Head & the Hand Press, 2011 Frankford Ave.

The publication, The Asteroid Belt Almanac, is the second installment of the press’ almanac series. Its first, The Rust Belt Rising Almanac, was released earlier this year.

Nic Esposito, founder of The Head & the Hand, told Star on the phone Thursday that the newest almanac is science and technology themed, and will be part of a quarterly literary journal series.

“It’s been really fun reaching out to sci-fi writers and people in the science field,” Esposito said. “There’s a creative side of science. It’s cool to see it in a warm, creative context.”

The almanac includes sci-fi short fiction, essays, poetry, scientific theories and ideas, and more. To submit, visit theheadandthehand.com.

Esposito said the press is hoping to release the almanac in April next year.

The Head & the Hand has a few other things up its sleeve. On Thursday last week, it released its latest venture — books by vending machine.

“My cousin owns a vending machine company, and I said, ‘How cool would it be if we sold books in vending machines?’ Then he gave me one,” Esposito said.

That vending machine, at Elixir Coffee in Center City, 207 S. Sydenham St., will dispense “chapbooks,” little one-chapter publications for two dollars each. The books, written by people all over Philadelphia, were printed at Fireball Printing, in Port Richmond, at 3237 Amber St.

“If people really like it, if it’s an interesting way to get literature out to people, we’re going to keep doing it,” Esposito said.

If you purchase almanacs or chapbooks by the press, it will donate books in turn to the Graterford prison and the Reentry Support Project.

“Our thing [at The Head & the Hand] is working with people whose professions, vocations and lives affect their writing. They’re not just writers, they’re human beings. They exist in all these other worlds,” Esposito continued.

— Compiled by Mikala Jamison

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