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Archives for December 2016

Menorah Parade Updates, Route, and Watch Parties

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Dear Friends and Fellow Community Members,
Thank you to all our sponsors! IY”H, we will have a police escort for the entire parade, round trip, to and from downtown, along with free parking for menorah-clad, parade-participating vehicles.
The parade will be on Thursday, December 29, leaving at 5pm sharp from Friendship Circle (please arrive at FC at 4pm if possible) and arriving for the Grand Menorah Lighting downtown at 6pm.

PARADE WATCH PARTY!
IY”H the parade will return to Beachwood between 7:00-7:30. If you would like to watch the procession in Cleveland Heights, at approx. 6:45 – 7:15pm we will be traveling southbound on Taylor Road from Euclid Heights Blvd until we turn left, heading eastbound on Cedar Road. If you would like to watch the procession in UH/Beachwood at approx 7-7:30pm, we will be continuing eastbound on Cedar Road from Taylor until we turn right, heading southbound on S. Green Road. If you join our event on FB, we will IY”H try to keep the page updated in real time, as well as try to stream live.

Update: Drivers Can NOT See You Walking at Night!

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Update: Reflective belts are now available for a minimal fee at Frank’s Hebrew Bookstore and Jacob’s Judaic.  This is a joint project of Chaverim of Cleveland and The Jewish Sacred Society of Cleveland/Chevra Kadisha.

This is one of those safety things that is easy to remedy. We don’t want to chas v’sholom have an accident and regret knowing it could have been prevented.

From a reader:

I went to an oneg shabbat on 12-23-16. On the way to the oneg I saw one or two people wearing any kind of reflective gear or any thing that would allow them to be seen, the rest of the people were not wearing any thing to let others know they were there. The men were all in dark coats and dark hats.  Some were also walking on the incorrect side of the street. This is a safety issue.

I know that when I am driving at night I do not see the men and women too walking until I am almost on top of them. It is scary to think that I might hit some one because I cannot see them. It is even scarier when I see a family with young children and strollers that could possibly be hit by a car because they were not seen until it was too late.

I would like to see more people of influence in the community urging ALL those walking on erev shabbos, and during shabbos and motzei shabbos or at night in general to wear some sort of reflective belt or vest etc…so that they can be seen by cars on both the side streets and main roads.

I find it very annoying to see what to me is a lack of common sense. The streets are not all well-lit, there is traffic on all the streets and people don’t seem to think it is important to be seen by the people driving. How difficult would it be to put a reflective belt on over a dark coat?

When I go out at night and I am walking I make it a point to put on a reflective vest so that I can be seen by people driving. I am usually on the side walk, but it is nice to know people can see me when I cross a street or have to walk in the street because of ice etc.. on the side walk.

I hope that you can publish this so individuals can be reminded that they cannot be seen in the dark in their dark coats and dark hats. Maybe with enough publicity and reminders some one will start to use a  belt or vest. I hope this happens before some one is injured or killed by a car.

Update: No Shots Fired at Beachwood Mall; Breaking: Incident, Reported as a Shooting, at Beachwood Place

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Posted on the Beachwood, OH Facebook page:

The following is a statement from BPD re: this evening’s disturbance at Beachwood Place. The mall was re-opened and there were no injuries.

Shortly after 6:30pm, sizable groups of juveniles began causing a large-scale disturbance at Beachwood Place Mall. The disturbance appears to have been loosely organized on social media. Beachwood police and mall security were able to disperse the juveniles and remove them from the mall. There were no injuries reported. One male juvenile was arrested for attempting to strike an officer that was dealing with another disorderly patron. There were no further arrests.

One report of gun shots being fired was quickly determined to be unfounded. Officers from nearby jurisdictions responded to assist to help disperse juveniles in the parking lot.

After a short period of being closed, the mall re-opened for the rest of the evening without incident.

8:21pm

Most of Beachwood Place said to be cleared of shoppers, employees.

8:09pm

Cleveland.com reporting that it was a fight that was broken up with pepper spray. Nevertheless, many calls reported it as “Shots fired”.

8:03pm

From Melissa Reid, Fox 8, on twitter “ Police tell me no active gunman, no shots fired, however the mall is closed for the rest of the night due to this disturbance.”

8:00pm

Source: “NO shots fired no major injuries”

7:30pm

Multiple K9 units, rescue units and mutual aid from other municipalities on scene.

7:28pm

It does not SEEM like an active shooter situation. That is my own opinion based on the police scanner.

Mall is on lockdown.

From the Beachwood Police scanner: There are shoppers that are still locked down inside the stores with employees.

7:16pm

Details are not clear.

Beachwood police scanner available at https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/19482/web.

You can also follow other news sources via Google News search limited to the past hour

Facebook thread on Cleveland Jewish with updates from people there.