A regular summary of irregular news and notes from neighborhood blogs and email lists around the District.

Clean Up on D Street: Yesterday, a fight broke out between two dog owners on the New Hill East email list. One wrote, “At 7:45 am this morning I observed (for the second time) a two dog owner (one unneutered, large grey male dog and one small Yorkie without collars or leads) let outside to roam D St SE to do their morning business. They greeted my two dogs on leads at the corner of 18th and D St SE. I looked for some ID on the dogs and the owner came out the door onto the porch to call ‘Diesel’ in with the remark that they had gotten out—implying on their own, yes, right out through a wooden front door. Amazing dogs! I can see why pick up is a problem. I feel sorry for these dogs! 18th St SE is noted for people speeding along and running stop signs.” The owner of these dogs saw the post and answered in defense, “As far as cleaning up, not only does my partner clean up after our dogs, she also cleans up after other leashed dogs whose owners do not not pick up after. In the future, please show some integrity and speak directly with me about it as you know where we live and where our business is.” That’s awkward.

Travel Woes: A member of the Cleveland Park email list might need some help adjusting to the age of the Internet when it comes to traveling. He wrote, “Sorry, but I am driven crazy by the ‘get your own air tickets’ sites. I am neither clever nor patient enough for them. I want to go back to the good old days when you dumped the whole messy business in the lap of your travel agent who called you back with options.” He asked for recommendations for a travel agent but there have yet to be any responses. Probably because no one uses travel agents anymore when the Internet is free.

Bag Snatching: Riders of the Red line should onto their bags tightly. A member of a Brookland email list wrote, “At 2:45 pm today I was riding the escalator down the R. I. Metro when I heard quick footsteps behind me. I immediately moved my shopping cart to the right to allow the person to pass by. A few seconds later, a woman ran down the escalator screaming at the top of her voice, ‘Call the police!’ ‘Call the police!’. A passerby grabbed the thief who then dropped the wallet, and yanked free and ran. There were two of them, young thieves. They looked arrogant and defiant and I wouldn’t surprised if they were now looking to steal elsewhere. The police were at the station when I returned to take the metro home after shopping.” Perhaps after all that attention, those “arrogant” youngsters have been quelled of their desire to steal bags.

Open Wide: Will there ever be enough sandwich shops? Probably not! Even national chains are welcome: New Columbia Heights reported that a Panera will be opening on Friday in Columbia Heights. The blog wrote, “Work inside the Panera on the Irving Street side of DCUSA (next to IHOP) has moved really quickly. I stopped by on Saturday and spoke to a worker there who was setting up, and he said they’ll be open this Friday. The sign is up too.” Commenters are excited by this news and surprised by the fast building development. One commentor wrote, “I’m amazed at how quickly this was built out. They are putting a Panera in Tenleytown and they have been building it since before anyone even knew this was a possibility for DCUSA.”