Snake found in Douglas County home. Photo courtesy of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

Wednesday morning, a Douglas County resident had an experience nightmares are made of.

No, not the bogeyman hiding under the bed. And no, not Freddy Krueger at the front door. In fact, it was much, much worse.

Someone found a HUGE BLACK SNAKE in their Jacuzzi. The person called the Douglas County Sheriff’s office, and a deputy responded to help.

The story reminded me of one of the more unusual reports I’ve heard over the scanner in my years at the Journal-World. About two years ago, I heard dispatchers call out to police something like:

“RP (reporting party) states there’s a bat in her basement. RP is concerned the bat is going to fly upstairs and bite her. RP requests police assistance to remove the bat from the basement.”

That’s the one thing about law enforcement; you never know what your job duties might entail each day. I guess one deputy can add “snake wrangler” to his or her resume, now.

The sheriff’s office posted the following photos to its Facebook page Wednesday.

Snake found in Douglas County home. Photo courtesy of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

Bonus points if you can identify what type of snake this is and comment below!

Courtesy of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

The sheriff’s office said that “the deputy was able to corral the black snake and release it back out to its natural habitat.”

Snake is released into the wild. Courtesy of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

So, happy ending for all, thanks to the sheriff’s office. Now, if you don’t mind me, I’m going to go check all the faucets and drains in my apartment for reptiles…
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Another terrifying animal experience this week didn’t have such a light-hearted resolution. Just after 6 p.m. Tuesday, Lawrence police responded to a report of a vicious animal in the 1100 block of West 22nd Street. A woman had been mowing her lawn when a neighbor’s dog attacked her, Lawrence police spokesman Sgt. Trent McKinley said.

The boxer-pit bull mix escaped as one of its owners was “possibly putting the animal into a vehicle,” McKinley said. The woman sustained “significant injuries to her arm and head,” McKinley said, and was taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital for treatment.

The owner caught the dog after the attack. The dog is now under quarantine at the Lawrence Humane Society. Police and animal control will forward their reports on the incident to prosecutors for a charging decision, McKinley said.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________

In Friday’s Lights & Sirens, I wrote about a convicted sex offender who had been arrested at his home near Sixth and Alabama streets on suspicion of failing to register as a sex offender. A commenter, Tom Thomson, pointed out that he found it “a bit disconcerting” that the offender lived so close to Pinckney Elementary School.

It’s a fair point. To be honest, I thought there was some kind of boundary — say, 1,000 feet — from a school that registered sex offenders had to keep away from.

But as one of my attorney friends told me, “that’s an old wives’ tale.” There is no statute in Kansas requiring sex offenders to live any particular distance from a school.

In a quick cross-reference, it appears that, in fact, registered sex offenders live throughout Lawrence. Below are maps of registered sex offender addresses and local schools to compare.

Pink dots represent registered sex offenders’ addresses.

Pink pins are where registered sex offenders in Douglas County live. Map information courtesy of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Green pins are elementary schools, blue are middle schools and yellow are high schools. (This map is missing a few private schools; I’m sorry, it’s the best one I could find.)

Map of Lawrence schools.

Now, I’m not issuing an opinion on the matter, I just thought folks might find that interesting. And if you’d like to check if there is a registered sex offender living in your neighborhood, you can visit http://www.kbi.ks.gov/registeredoffender/GeographicalSearch.aspx, enter your address and click “search.” It’ll bring up a map showing registered offenders, including violent and drug offenders, near you.

For a rundown of the Kansas Offender Registration Act and its requirements, check out this brochure:

Kansas Offender Registration Act brochure, courtesy of the Kansas Attorney General.

Page 2 of the Kansas Offender Registration Act brochure, Courtesy of the Kansas Attorney General.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

And now for our daily roundup of police calls. As always, I’ll remind you that this is a list of noteworthy calls I pulled from the Lawrence Police Department call log. Not all calls yielded police reports, and many may have gone unsubstantiated. The list is meant to give you an idea of what kinds of calls police are responding to within a given 24-hour period.

This list is a collection of calls that police responded to between Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons:

Violence

– Disturbance (verbal or physical arguments): 8

– Domestic disturbance: 1

– 10-95 fight in progress: 1

Accidents

– Noninjury accident: 10

– Injury accident: 3

Medical

– Medical: 1

– Suicide threat: 1

Miscellaneous

– Trespassing: 3

– Suspicious activity: 4

– Noise or nuisance: 2

– Indecent exposure (typically reports of public urination): 2

Drugs

– Drug Activity: 1

Property crimes

– Burglary attempt: 1

– Theft: 3

Do me a favor, if you will. Tell me what types of calls you like to see in the daily roundup. I’m trying to get a sense of what I should be looking for, and your input is important. Either comment below, send me an email at cvdoornbos@ljworld.com, tweet me at www.twitter.com/CaitlinDoornbos or call (785) 832-7146 with your thoughts.