Neighborhood Woes

As Atticus was napping I heard a huge truck on our street and could feel the vibrations in the house. I looked out the window to see a large fire truck backing up our street. (We live on a dead-end street, so this is uncommon unless it’s a true emergency.) I looked down to the end of the block and saw a hook and ladder waiting there. The fire chief’s van was blocking the end of the street with another van and a cop car on the side of the road. It was beginning to look more and more suspicious. Then they carried big stakes and tarps up the street and set a tent up in front of this tiny rental house about 5 doors up from us and across the street. Neighbors had walked up and they had the two women that live there handcuffed to the bench in front of the house. They later put yellow tarps around the women and blocked off the surrounding area for about 4 houses on either side of their house. The women sat there for several hours while they investigated the house. Turns out the cops got some information that there was a meth lab there and busted them within 24 hours of getting the info. We had seen nothing suspicious and one of the women would walk her dog around the neighborhood and was very friendly to everyone, so it was a surprise to everyone. There hadn’t been a lot of traffic coming and going from the house, and overall it was fairly clean. The fingerprinting van arrived next along with the clandestine drug lab unit. (Chris- here’s the info about the clandestine unit!)

When the ordeal was over a few hours later, one of the detectives spoke with neighbors that were still outside. It turns out it was a very small lab, most likely to support and individual habit, so the house will most likely not be condemned. They didn’t put the usual green sticker indicating contamination, so the house looks as normal as can be right now. We had searched our neighborhood for known meth lab sites using Seattle’s online tool a couple of weeks ago and hadn’t seen anything in this area- not any more! With a 5-day-old baby at home, it freaked me out a bit, but I was so very grateful for the police and fire department. I don’t think anyone dreams of being a fire fighter when they grow up so they can deal with contaminated meth lab sites. Thank goodness it wasn’t a larger operation and there wasn’t an explosion. I’ll probably avoid walking along that part of the street now. My other question is what happens to their dog? If the dog is contaminated do they take it to the pound and does it contaminate other dogs? I don’t know enough about this whole drug operation, but I have sure learned a lot in the last two days. Hopefully the rest of the neighborhood will stay calm and meth-lab free! And on a positive note, here’s another picture of adorable Atticus!