We’d overlooked this kudo in the annual Seattle Weekly “best of” awards, but it’s hard to miss the sign outside Judy Fu’s Snappy Dragon.

It was readers of the Weekly that brought the Snappy, at 8917 Roosevelt Way N.E., the reward.

A full list of readers’ choices is here. Note that Ace Hardware was named “best hardware store,” no specific location given. And that Wine World Warehouse, just down Interstate 5 in Wallingford, gets the nod for best wine store.

After a $5 million renovation that included the integration of a Sephora store, the JCPenney inside Northgate Mall is celebrating its new look Friday morning with a grand opening, featuring giveaways to the first 450 customers.

Photo of the new JCPenney store courtesy Northgate Mall.

The festivities will begin with JCPenney cutting its ribbon at 9:30 a.m., followed by the ribbon-cutting at the Sephora store at 10 a.m. Giveaways for the first 450 customers to arrive at the grand opening include an exclusive Sephora giveaway bag stuffed with samples.

Photos are from Jessica’s (and Hope’s) website.

Hope, in this case, was a Golden Retriever.

She spent seven years working daily, side-by-side, with Jessica Thompson, until Hope’s death from cancer last year .

She became my partner, helper, best friend and constant companion. Hope was trained to assist with my neurological disability. She became my partner, fluidly as a team; she led–I followed. I asked–she responded. She became an extension of me, an intricate part of my ability to function.

Hope and Jessica were also regulars at Cloud City Coffee, 8810 Roosevelt Way N.E., and that’s where an exhibit of prints of Hope by Jessica, an artist, is currently hanging.

Jessica is selling the prints - you can pick one up at Cloud City in return for a donation, or go to her online store. They’re not expensive; the suggested donation is $25.

Hope, in this case, is also to raise the money to replace Hope with a new service dog in Jessica’s life. You can read more about it at her website.

Update: Cat is home. See comments, below.

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Grace emails about a cat found under a tarp near Northeast 82nd Street and Latona Avenue.

“It’s a female ash gray tabby. Probably under one year. About 10-12 pounds. Very, very affectionate and sweet. No fear of approaching humans and doesn’t seem to be freaked out by the dog. She very much wants to find her indoor home.”

If you know this cat, please call either 206-265-3405 or 206-853-8562.

Checking out goods just before the Maple Leaf Neighborhood Garage Sale in summer 2010, when the temperature soared into the 90s.

With weather in Maple Leaf forecast to be mostly sunny with a high of 77 degrees, Saturday sounds like the perfect day for a garage sale. Better yet, it’s also the annual Maple Leaf Neighborhood Garage Sale, organized for years by area John L. Scott Realtors Linda Dorgan and Susan Heller. Susan tells us:

Yes we are doing the garage sale on Saturday, August 13 from 9:00am-4:00pm. If people are interested to still paticipate they may call me at 206-551-9447. We are advertising this week and put out flyers this week. We, also will do maps for those that have signed up with their address. Saturday we will put out the garage sale signs for people that are participating.

We’ll also try to put together a list of participating addresses as the big day nears, so please let us know if you plan to participate at [email protected].

When police arrested a suspected burglar hiding in a Maple Leaf backyard last week, he was carrying pepper spray in a holster, according to a six-page police report that’s now become available.

The arrest occurred about 1:28 a.m. in the 500 block of Northeast 9oth Street, according to the report.

Here are some details from the report:

• The suspect was chased out of a home at Eighth Avenue Northeast and Northeast 89th Street after he, together with another man and a woman, opened the front door and tried to grab a cell phone.
• The suspect, wearing a red long-sleeved jacket, ran down the street and jumped a chain-link fence into a backyard.
• A police dog found the suspect “in a planter in the back yard; (he) appeared to be sweating profusely, as if he had been running, wearing pants (with the seat ripped completely apart), a red long-sleeved jacket and had pepper spray in a holster on his belt.”

Yesterday Adrea posted on our Facebook page:

Did you just see the Boeing 747-8 being escorted by the fighter jet (flyover for Seafair)? What a sight over Northgate area!!

From my vantage point on Lake Washington, I was wondering just how close the giant plane came to Maple Leaf.

Anybody else have photos to share? Send them our way or post them on our Facebook page!

In commenting on a post Saturday about what the overnight police activity was about, Diy Seattle wrote on our Facebook page: “All they said was they were chasing a burglary suspect. Seems it is getting more common in our neighborhood.”

Actually, we are having fewer burglaries now than, say, a year ago.

That said, since our last burglary update at the end of June, it appears there have been a dozen home burglaries and six non-residential burglaries in the neighborhood. (That last category includes a break-in at a medical marijuana shop on Lake City Way that we reported on earlier; these home burglaries don’t include the one from early Saturday.)

The residential burglaries:

• Rear ground-floor windows were broken out of a home in the 2300 block of Northeast 102 Street during the day on Tuesday, Aug. 2. According to the police report: “The suspects locked the family dog in a bedroom and proceeded to ransack the residence. The suspects removed a large flat-screen TV, a watch case with multiple watches, and a laptop computer … the next-door residence was also found to have been burglarized in the same time period.” Next door officers found that entry had likely also been made by breaking a ground-floor window.
• Also on Tuesday, Aug. 2, burglars hit a home in the 9200 block of Fifth Avenue Northeast.
• During the day on July 25 burglars broke the lock on a back door of a home in the 1000 block of Northeast 96th Street and stole a laptop, prescription medication and cash.
• The resident of a house in the 8100 block of Eighth Avenue Northeast came home the afternoon of July 21 and found her dog outside and the kitchen window broken. It was unknown what might have been taken.
• On July 20 a north-side window of a house in the 10300 block of 20th Avenue Northeast was pried open. A television and cash box were missing, but the reporting officer stated: “When I arrived I looked out the window the suspect(s) had pried open and located the victim’s Samsung television and his metal lock-box outside on the ground. The lock-box had been pried open and the money was gone. It is possible the victim interrupted the burglar.”
• On July 18th burglars hit a trailer home in the 2200 block of Northeast 88th Street.
• Burglars hit a home the night of July 14 in the 2000 block of Northeast 90th Street.
• Burglars broke the rear door window of a house in the 100 block of Northeast 98 Street on July 13 and stole electronic items.
• Sometime between June 30 and July 4 burglars ransacked a home in the 800 block of Northeast 89th Street and stole multiple items.
• On June 30th in the 10700 block of 20th Avenue Northeast a $1,300 bicycle was stolen out of a garage.
• On June 28 in the 500 block of Northeast 104th Street a basement window was removed from its frame and computers, computer games and jewelry stolen.

This just in:

Hello Maple Leaf Lifers!

On Wednesday, Aug. 3rd, in the afternoon, my scooter was hit by (I’m assuming) a car. It was parked on 5th and 95th, among several other cars. The scooter was hit pretty hard; it is currently not drivable. No note was left, so if anyone saw anything it would be helpful to know! Thanks

- Sarah

Update Sunday Aug. 8:

Laurie emails this morning that the police were out again east of Roosevelt Way Northeast along Northeast 92nd Street:

At around 1:15 this morning I saw flashlights in the backyard. I went to the front of the house to grab the phone only to find a police car sitting in front of the house with no lights and the motor running. It would be appreciated if the police would have knocked on the door to let me know they were investigating instead of scaring the hell out of me thinking there were theives in the backyard.

I left the front of the house for a minute to find the police car was gone. Five minutes later 3 officers emerged from the neighbors backyard. The nightly police disturbances are getting out of hand. If the police are going to be investigating they need to let people know they are there otherwise someone may mistake an officer for a thief and it may not end very well.

Update Saturday afternoon 3 p.m.

Linda (see below) emails that one of her neighbors, who is a Seattle Police officer, has explained by email:

A couple in the 500 block of NE 90 St. left their front door unlocked. An 18 yo W/M entered the house and stole a cell phone off a table. The husband noticed this and chased the guy outside. The suspect ran into the back yard of a house and started to jump over fences from backyard to backyard. The wife called 911 and SPD responded quickly, setting up a grid containment of the neighborhood.

That was all the lights and sirens we heard. The suspect went to ground, laying down in a large planter behind I believe the house (in the 500 block of Northeast 90th Street).

Two K-9 units arrived and they started a track from where the husband last saw the suspect. In a few short moments, the dog picked up the scent and located the suspect. He said he went into the planter because he was tired and wanted to sleep. He was ID’ed in a show-up and arrested. We think there were 2 others with him, a male and female, but they were not located. He was booked into KCJ for burglary. He has an extensive juvenile sheet for burglary and car prowl.

Everybody, please, make sure your vehicles are locked as well as your home. Do not leave anything that could be considered valuable in open view in your cars.

They commit crime after crime until they are unlucky enough to be caught. If anybody sees ANY suspicious activity, call 911 IMMEDIATELY.

Don’t hesitate. A cop would rather have an unfounded call or an arrest then having to take a report of a crime that will never be solved.

Most car prowlers and burglars are serial prowlers and burglars. This is their job. So getting one into stir greatly reduces the amount of crime.

Thanks, Linda! In addition, the initial report on this instance has shown up on the city crime map. Make that reports: “Offense #1 BURGLARY-NOFORCE-RES - COMPLETED. Offense #2 THEFT-CARPROWL - ATTEMPTED. Offense #3 TRESPASS - COMPLETED. Offense #4 WARRARR-MISDEMEANOR - COMPLETED.”

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Jesse emails: “It’s slightly out of Maple Leaf (the event happens in Wedgwood) but lots of us Maple Leafers are going to be manning some booths at this sustainability event. There’s lots of demonstrations and booths to visit!”

Today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sustainable NE Seattle is holding Plant Home at Hunter Farm Gathering Place.

From Plant Home:

This free community event offers speakers, workshops, conversations and demonstrations on a variety of different topics such as organic gardening, materials reuse, DIY home repair, urban farming, emergency preparedness, food preservation, alternative energy, sustainable transportation, and more. We’ll have local musicians providing entertainment throughout the day and fun activities for kids as well!

For more information click here and scroll down to figure out the schedule.

From Jesse: “This is one of Sustainable Northeast Seattle’s biggest and best events.”

Our news partners at The Seattle Times have a story that begins: “The sudden, unexpected loss of $1.2 million in federal emergency food and housing money will be felt by King County’s most desperate, say local agencies.”

That loss will be felt at North Helpline, whose food bank serves northeast Seattle including Maple Leaf and Wedgwood, because it is supported by Food Lifeline, a nonprofit that provides food to 26 food banks and 33 meal programs in Seattle but will forgo buying more than $235,000 worth of food this year because of the funding cut, according to the Seattle Times story.

“This will have a huge impact,” emails Amy Besunder at North Helpline. “Food Lifeline is one of our major sources of food. We will certainly see significantly less food as a result of this. When you consider our increases in clients, this is a recipe for disaster.”

Want to help? Learn more about North Helpline here.

News from Maple Leaf neighbors:

1) Lost an iPod? Call or email the folks above.

2) Zack posts on our Facebook wall a little before 10:30 a.m. today: “Spotted the Google Maps car in Maple Leaf today. Last seen at 80th & 4th Ave NE. Smile for the camera!”

3) Also on our Facebook wall, Kendra posts: “Ginny Reilly’s (of Reilly and Maloney singing fame) Gallagher acoustic guitar was stolen from her North Seattle residence on the afternoon of Saturday, July 30.

“The guitar is a ‘71 Special’ model, serial # 1032. It was in a soft black canvas ‘gig bag’ case with a black iron-on patch inside, facing the neck toward the upper end. This has been Ginny’s main performance instrument for over 30 years, and we are devastated by its loss.

“With only ~3,600 Gallagher guitars in circulation anywhere, these instruments are unique, noticeable, and rare. Any/all leads welcome: [email protected].”

4) And finally, Arya emails today: “Yesterday at about 7 or 8, a BMW 5 series (e61) came roaring up 89th street. They crossed the 17th street intersection with enough speed (50 mph +) to completely leave the ground, bottom out at the other side of the intersection. They left a lot of car parts on the scene: Transmission/ oil pan cooling fins and a fender/light cowling (which had part numbers that I used to identify the model)

The car had all the windows down, and had 4 young men laughing (all shirtless, maybe one wife beater amongst them).They stopped at the top of the hill (near 15th) the driver got out, looked at rear bumper, then got back in and drove off.

I guess I bring this up for 2 reasons:

One: Maybe that car was stolen, I could probably identify the driver. Know of any stolen BMWs?

Two: The 17th and 89th st intersection is dangerous due to people flying though in both directions at speed w/o stopping to check for cross traffic.

There is no traffic circle or any speed bumps here, and I’m told by neighbors that there have been many collisions over the years.

There are a lot of children on bikes who ride here daily, and I don’t think it is unlikely that some is going to get hurt.

Think you could use help us get some traffic management done here? Requests with the city don’t seem to get us anywhere.

Glassique may be new to the Maple Leaf neighborhood, but the store that is expected to open next week at 9634 Roosevelt Way N.E. actually has been around for decades.

Owner Richard Heath said he designed the above sign in 1982, when Glassique was still a young business in San Diego. And although that business thrived for 22 years, Heath eventually had to follow his heart to Seattle, where his four kids and myriad grandkids had been waiting for him for years.

As his daughter put it: “Pop, your body is in San Diego but your spirit is here.”

Heath’s Seattle store first was located at 10509 Aurora Ave. N., but the new store will offer a bit more for the casual passer-by. As we noted in an earlier post, the Maple Leaf location will feature a 400-square-foot showroom in the front, pictured above with Heath.

Although the pieces aren’t all unpacked yet, the showroom will feature glass items for sale starting at about $12 and ranging from sun catchers and blown glass to stained glass, cast glass, sand-carved glass and much more. Among the artists featured are Maple Leaf’s own Maya Radoczy, who opens her hot shop to the public during the holidays and also is Glassique’s associated artist.

However, most of the space at the new Glassique studio is used for custom glass art, such as stained-glass windows and doors that are built to order. (more…)