NOT TO PANIC…but crime is up in North Oak Cliff. There have been a string of car jackings and robberies, and many cars and businesses in and around the Bishop Arts District have been burglarized.

The North Oak Cliff United Police Patrol will hold an informational meeting at 7 p.m. tomorrow (April 26th) at the Turner House to provide residents with details and important safety measures.

The Dallas Police Department will be planting “bait” cars in the area, and the Bishop Arts merchants’ association has hired more security.

Help keep North Oak Cliff safe by attending tomorrow evening’s meeting.

The primary point of our weekly police report is to give you a heads-up about burglaries on your street or in your neighborhood. The secondary goal is to give you a chuckle. Of course, when space is tight, the first things we cut are the ones designed to give you a laugh. Here are a couple of oddball incidents that we had to leave out of the April 22 edition:

At 11:05 a.m. April 14, a resident of the 300 block of West Ninth Street received a text message from her sister that said, “You better stop torching Ama, or I’m going to go through with what I told you.” At 11:30, the sister called and left the following message: “If you call Ama one more time, I’m going to [loving] kick your [rear].” At noon, the threatening sister drove by the victim’s apartment. She honked her horn and pointed while saying something the victim couldn’t quite make out.

At 3:50 a.m. April 16, a resident of the 800 block of North Zang Boulevard woke up to check on a couple of people who were staying at her apartment. Her guests were nowhere to be found, so she stepped outside, where she found that two of her windows had been smashed. The woman suspects the vandalism was done by her missing guests, whom she had argued with the previous day.

Oak Cliff’s Boy Scout Troop 5 is coordinating efforts to aid the firefighters battling the wildfires in the Possum Kingdom Lake area.

You can help by donating bottled water, athletic socks, T-shirts and work gloves. The Scouts are holding a collection at their troop hut behind Kessler Park United Methodist Church (1215 Turner Avenue) this Saturday from noon to 3 and on Sunday from noon to 1.

Troop 5 has personal connections with these fires — their summer camp, Camp Constantin, is located on the north side of Possum Kingdom Lake and Scout Evan Pellitier’s father is a fireman battling the blazes in the area.

A Wynnewood North resident sent out this heartwarming story to her neighbors recently:

At 9am Saturday, I noticed a maroon car parked in front of our home, [redacted].  This would not have been unusual if the car was parking 30 feet to the east (in front of our neighbors).  Our neighbors, frequently have people picking them up, so seeing a car in front of their house is not unusual.  BUT, this car was in front of our house.  I watched the person inconspicuously from behind our blinds.  Two minutes had gone by when I started to observe odd behavior.  He was slouched in the seat, at one point he appeared to be resting his head to take a nap. What I did see is that a car was approaching, that is why he pretending to be sleeping.  When the passing car was gone, he sat up straight again.  At that point, I immediately called 911.  From my vantage point, I could not provide a license number but gave a good description of the car.  Within 5 min, the suspect, was intently focusing on his review mirror.  I guess is he was thinking to himself… “Am I seeing a cop car coming?”  After he was sure it was a cop, he started his engine.  TOO LATE, one car was behind him and within 6mins, 3 Police cars had surrounded him.  Turns out the suspect was a convicted burglar with outstanding warrants for his arrest.   He has been put in jail!  WE GOT ONE!

Calling all fans of Dazed and Confused, Half Baked, Pineapple Express, and Cheech and Chong’s original Up In Smoke, check out Austin High tonight at the Kessler Theater for a sneak preview.

We incorrectly cited it as starting at 8 in last week’s “Oak Cliff Planner.” The doors will open at 8:30 and the movie starts at 9.

Straight from the horse’s mouth, one of the films producers, directors, and actors Kirk Johnson gives us the DL:

“Welcome to Ladybird High, nestled comfortably amongst the soul searchers, aging hippies, and nouveau weirdos of famously freewheeling Austin, Texas. At Ladybird, it’s always 4:20, even for principal Samuel Wilson. But when the community is rocked by a citywide crackdown on marijuana use, local leaders are determined to make an example of Samuel, his staff, and students. When asked to support their iron-fisted efforts, Samuel is beset with the task of cleaning up his beloved school without compromising his life philosophy.”

Here’s to keeping Austin weird! And, oh ya, I think today’s 4/20???