WARNINGS
**** From: "Carolyn Long" <carolynlong@earthlink.net>
Yesterday while weeding my front flower garden I noticed a wallet lying
in my neighbor's front yard. It contained credit cards but no money, and
a driver's license identifying the owner as a gentleman on Appleton
Street. I called and the man's son came over to get the wallet. His
82-year-old father had been robbed the day before by two men who came to
the door asking for yard work. When he opened the door, they attacked
him and took his wallet. I have also had the experience of having a man
come to my door several times in the middle of a week day asking for
yard work, which I considered suspicious, since people are not normally
at home at that time. When I reported it to the police, a detective
asked me to come down and look at a photo. It was the same man. He had
just been arrested for burglarizing a house in Woodley Park. It's a sad
fact that we shouldn't open the door for people we don't know. I talk to
them through the mail slot.
 
**** From: KS -- Years ago I had an Airphone doorbell/ intercom
installed by my front door so that I could talk to people in a normal
voice without opening the door.  It was one of the best home safety
purchases I ever made. It helps me to quickly get rid of all sorts of
folks coming to the door soliciting one thing or another. It wasn't all
that expensive either.

**** From: Leslie Marinaccio <lmarinaccio@yahoo.com>
This past Friday there was a rowdy AU house party on 44th Street near
Albemarle.  Lots of noise, etc.  At approximately 2:00 a.m. I heard a
couple of loud thumps.  I got up and looked out the window but didn't
see anything.  The next morning, however, the driver's side mirror on my
car had been ripped off and thrown on the sidewalk.  One of my
neighbor's cars had its driver side window smashed.  We both filed
reports with the police.  The police urged us to call 311 if we hear
strange noises late at night, even if we don't see anything.  People
need to be particularly careful this time of year when students are
letting off steam after finals.
 
 
 

UPCOMING EVENTS IN THE 'HOOD

**** From:  "Paige Okun" <paigeokun@hotmail.com>
Paige Okun
202-364-5391
Mayfair At Turtle Park
Please join Friends of Friendship Park for the fifth annual Mayfair on
Saturday, May 18, at Friendship "Turtle" Park, 45th and Van Ness
Streets, NW. The event will be from 10 am to 3 pm and feature pony
rides, moon bounces, a train, food, carnival games, crafts and a silent
auction. The severe inclement weather date is May 19. Proceeds will
benefit Friends of  Friendship Park. We also need more volunteers to
help out in two-hour shifts. For information or to volunteer, call
966-8309.

**** From: Kathryn Taylor <taylorkl@georgetown.edu>
Lots of great stuff for your baby and toddler!  The Chevy Chase Plaza
Children's Center, a non-profit child care center and preschool program,
is holding a sale of gently used strollers, bassinets, portable cribs,
toys, books, and clothing, donated from 25 families.  CCPCC is located
at 5310 43rd St., NW, Washington DC, behind Borders and the Chevy Chase
Pavilion. Saturday, May  18, 9am-1pm  Rain date May 19.

**** Spruce Up at Ft. Bayard Park
Maria Alonso-Vazquez, malonso@pf.com
Friends of Fort Bayard Park, Inc., invites all neighbors to its third
annual park spruce up this Saturday, May 18, from 9 to 11 a.m. The park
is located at the intersection of River Road and Western Avenue in
Northwest DC. Please bring work gloves and clippers. For more
information, please call Tad DiBiase at 514-7679.
 
 
 

CAR STOLEN ON THE NEXT BLOCK
A car was just stolen on the block next to mine. This reminds me again
about the MPD's new  "Watch Your Car" Program. Maryland and a number of
other states are also enrolled in this program, administered by the
Justice Department. This program  enables police officers to stop a car,
without probable cause, between the hours of 1:00 am to 5:00 am to
determine if the car has been stolen. This is the time when most auto
thefts occur. You can register for this free program online at
http://mpdc.dc.gov/serv/programs/wyc.shtm#f.  A fair number of stolen DC
cars end up in PG County. Because MD is enrolled,  the MD police can
also stop your car if it ends up there.

Every little thing that can make your car less attractive to steal or
easier to find, if stolen, helps you keep it or get it back. The auto
theft rate in this area is huge.
 
 
 

IDENTITY THEFT MANUAL
I have a few copies left of the Federal Trade Commission's manual on
Identity Theft. It contains good tips on preventing it and what to do if
it happens to you. If you have not already received a copy and would
like one, send me a note with your address and I'll drop it off next
time I'm out in the 'Hood on my bicycle.
 
 

FALSE BURGLAR ALARMS -- THE CITY COUNCIL NEEDS TO MOVE FORWARD.
I understand that legislation has been drafted but is languishing on the
desk of Councilmember Sharon Ambrose. When I asked her about it
recently, on the street, she looked at me somewhat blankly and said that
she didn't think that false burglar alarms were much of a problem in her
district (Ward 6).

They might not be a big problem there but they sure are a problem in our
area. Both police and firefighters in this area are frequently called to
businesses whose burglar and fire alarms malfunction on a regular basis
or whose employees don't know how to use their systems properly. This is
a huge drain on police and fire resources at a time when we need them to
be freed up to respond to emergencies and for the police to be on the
lookout for criminals roaming the 'Hood. The jurisdictions around us
have taken care of this problem. It's time for this city to fix it.

I plan to write to the City Council, and to Councilmembers Ambrose in
particular, and ask them to move this legislation forward before the
Council recesses in July. I would appreciate any efforts by any of you
to do the same. Maybe we can do our part to urge this city to use our
scarce police resources more efficiently. It's no good to complain that
we don't  have enough police or firetrucks, only to have them waste a
lot of time on these false alarms. Ninety-nine percent of the calls from
these alarms are false. As a result of this, my gut suspicion is that
police officers don't bust their guts getting to alarms that they think
are probably false. (They won't admit it though.) It's a lose lose
situation as it now stands. I suggest you not waste your money on an
alarm system until the City Council does what it needs to do to fix this
problem.

At the end of the newsletter are the City Council e-mail addresses --
for this purpose or for any other need you might have for them.
 
 
 

VICTIM'S ASSISTANCE THROUGH THE U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Julie Breslow is the Chief of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit. She
can be reached at 514- 7364.  This office handles the following:
** Keeps victims apprised of what is happening.
** Witness protection
** Helps out of state victims/witnesses get to DC for trail - pays for
travel and hotels
** Publishes information on dealing with a homicide
** Domestic violence
** Sex offenses (most victims know the person who assaulted them)
** Advocate to accompany victims to court
** Help victims at sentencing phase -- how to tell the judge of the
impact the crime had on them or to fill out the victim impact statement.
(These statements can be very powerful when it comes to probation and
sentencing phases.)
** Help with medical expenses for counseling and other bills
** Clean up crime scene.

These services are NOT based on income and are available to all victims
in the city. However, they are there for crimes of violence, not
property crimes. Robbery is covered, but not burglary. In order to
obtain these services, the victim/witness must report the crime to the
police and keep all receipts.

This program is funded by the Department of Justice from block grants
and filing fees in Superior Court. The DC fund is quite flush at the
moment.

Victims are supposed to be notified about this program by the police.
The 2D detectives office contacts victims. That office phone number is
282-0043.  For additional information, you can contact Julie Breslow,
Laura Cordero (special assistant for community outreach) at 514-6930 or
Charlene Graves, the Community Prosecution outreach specialist at 2D.
She's on 282-0584. You can also contact some of  the other "usual
suspects" like Lt. Mark Carter  (MPDCPSA202@netscape.net) or Captain
Anthony Poteat (apoteat@aol.com).
 
 
 

CCOSA -- COURT SERVICES AND OFFENDER SUPERVISION AGENCY
Now that our prison program is handled by the Feds, this is the [I
believe city] agency that supervises offenders before and after their
time in prison -- the time they are out of prison. Elba Gonzalez
<elba.gonzalez@csosa.gov> is the new Community Relations Specialist who
is representing the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency at
2D. Bonnie Andrews on 585-7360 is also a CCOSA representative. CCOSA
(pronounced: seesosa) does the following:
** Supervises offenders
** Restitution and follow-up
** Victims can report violations of court orders to them
** Cell phone program for domestic violence cases
If you think someone is on probation or parole and is violating their
terms of probation, call
202-585-7360 or 7359.

These folks will be pretty busy.  As many as eight persons a day are
coming back to DC from prison. There were 2500 this year, 2500 last
year, and an expected 3000 next year. There are some serious
implications in all this for CCOSA,  DC police, and for public safety.
 
 
 

ONE FINAL NOTE
There are a number of not so well known programs in the city to help
victims. We need to make sure we use them and we need to make sure we
contact various police officials when something serious happens.
Sometimes it's not enough to just call 911 and hope for the best -- KS.
 
 
 

BOATING SAFETY
Boating safety courses are available from MPD Harbor Patrol on the SW
waterfront. Call 727- 4582 for class schedule.  The courses are usually
held on Tuesday and Thursday nights from 7 to 9 pm, for four classes.
This is near the Waterfront Metro stop and  Arena Stage.  They may be
mandatory for certain types of boats.
 
 

OTHER HAPPENINGS IN THE 'HOOD
As I have said many times before, I can't possibly cover everything of
interest to this area. I urge you to also get a copy of the Northwest
Current. This week's issue has some interesting stories on the Arsenic
around AU and development along Wisconsin Avenue between Tenleytown and
Friendship Heights. Check it out.
 
 
 

REGARDING HOMELESS AND BATHROOMS

**** From: ckurtz@odonoghuelaw.com
Before Friendship House opened, we were told that it would not provide
services which would make it desirable for the homeless to remain in our
community.  I'm opposed to them now providing outdoor toilets.
Initially, Friendship House should have been located in another area
where homeless presently obtain overnight facilities, meals, etc.   Do
you think that homeless go back & forth from here on a bus or subway
with an old grocery store shopping cart?   Not much.  They choose to
stay within our area.  I'm not against the services Friendship provides
but they are inconveniently located for the homeless needs and as a
result, the vagrants remain.

**** From KS -- I don't want them to find it desirable to hang out here
either, but the fact remains that some of them have been here for years
(I do mean years) and presumably have been pooping on our bushes and
other public spaces every day. It's really disgusting and a health issue
and we need to fix it -- for ourselves not just the people who are doing
it and will continue to do it until a toilet is provided for them.

**** From: "DiBiase, Thomas" <Thomas.DiBiase@usdoj.gov>
Miriam Emilhovich the new director at Friendship Place is coming to the
July 11th ANC3E meeting.
 
 
 

DISABLING THE WORM
From:  "Ciccone, Anthony" <Anthony.Ciccone@usdoj.gov>
I've  heard that one defense to "email spoofing" is to add the following
to your address book:  !00000    (or something similar) ... The theory
being that a worm can't send itself out to such a non-working address,
and since that's the first address to show up on the alphabetical
address list, the worm might crash & burn before it reaches the "real"
addresses below it.
 
 
 

MORE ON PARKING IN THE 'HOOD

**** From: "Ann Navaro" <anavaro@msn.com>
I live in the neighborhood, but our house is 1 mile from the Tenleytown
metro station.  While I would like to walk that mile every day for
exercise, if I drive and park near the metro I can spend the extra time
with my young son.  Yesterday, I was rudely confronted by a woman on
Alton Place who claimed that I had parked in her "usual spot" (in fact
she was so upset she ran right into a moving minivan while trying to
park in another spot).  Of course it is not her spot -- I have a parking
sticker for the neighborhood just like she does and I am as entitled as
she to park on any street in the neighborhood.  While I agree that
people without proper permits should not be parking on neighborhood
streets in order to take the metro, I think that peoples' attitudes have
gotten out of hand.  Although those who live in Woodley Park may
consider AU Park the suburbs, we do live in the city!  If people want to
be guaranteed a spot next to their house then they should buy a house
with off-street parking or move farther out where it is less congested.
Sorry to vent about this, but people should really be more civil and
tolerant.

**** Item from themail@dcwatch.com
Unpaid Traffic Fines
Bill Starrels, mortgagecorp@hotmail.com
I read with interest the Washington Post article concerning fines for
red light violators and speed radar violators. What was sticking was the
number of unpaid tickets. What was left out of the article is the fact
that unpaid parking and moving violations issued by MPD end up on one's
credit record. As a banker, I have seen several customers with otherwise
perfect credit, with unpaid items related to unpaid tickets in DC. Our
friends from Maryland and Virginia should think twice next time they
ignore their tickets.
 
 
 

QUESTION ABOUT VOLVO CAR DEALER
From:  RiceO@webtv.net (Rice Odell)
I wondered if anyone knows whether the Volvo car dealer at Wisconsin and
42nd owns all of that spit of land, or whether they are using D.C. space
(paid or unpaid) for their unsightly sprawl of vehicles.  I think it
would improve the neighborhood greatly, and increase safety, if they
were reined in.

COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

**** From: Jennifer Rose <jenrose1@yahoo.com>
If anyone is looking for the fantastic watch repair person from G.C.
Murphy's he has relocated in the basement floor of Rodman's.

**** From: "Wisnosky, Kerry" <KWisnosky@MEICOMPANY.com>
Does anyone have any recommended web sites or information that might
provide some useful quantitative information for comparing
Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten schools from private and public DC
area? That would be appreciated.   Thanks

**** From:  <Kathleen.Conley@frb.gov>
ELDER CARE:  Do you or someone you know need help?  I have two people to
recommend -- one for regular care and one for occasional care.  Both
speak English and are legal.  (1) The aide to my elderly mother has her
mornings free.  She is very understanding of the needs of the elderly
and very dependable.  She works in AU Park in the afternoon and uses
public transportation to get to work.  (2) An aide who retired from
nursing homes and has worked with hospice is looking for occasional
work.  She has a car. For more information, please contact:  Kathleen
Conley (202-452-2389 from 7 am - 4 pm; 202-362-7465 after 5 pm; or by
email: kathleen.conley@frb.gov). Thanks

**** From: "Mary Gillilan" <marygillilan@hotmail.com>
Does anyone have a dogwalker in the area that they would recommend?  We
are about to get a dog and would need someone to come midday to walk
her. Thank you, Mary Weiner

**** : "Gail Spilsbury" <gail.spilsbury@asia.si.edu>
 I have a leaky cellar during storms and want to get a referral for
reliable waterproofing help. In the community recommendations, none was
listed. I did try the general services nos.--one, Delbe Home Services
turns out to be member-based. The other, Home connections, I am still
trying to reach--they are a nationwide referral system with a long wait
to get info.

**** From KS -- I had good luck several years ago, when I had a wet
basement problem, with Turf Center Lawns in Spencerville MD. Phone:
301-384-9300. Despite their name, they looked at where the water from my
roof and my neighbor's roof was going, how the land around the house
sloped, etc.

**** From: "Richard Rizio" <rizio@starpower.net>
Could  someone recommend a company/person who does ornamental iron
work?  I want to put up an ornamental railing on my front porch.  Any
help you can give me will be appreciated. Thanks.

**** From:  Caren Ginsberg <ginsbergc@yahoo.com>
Can anyone recommend a good handyman for some small home repairs such as
fence repair and replacing porch steps? Thank you.

**** From: "Emily Yoffe" <eyoffe@worldnet.att.net>
We're interested in finding a reasonable and reliable design/build
landscaping firm that can redo our back yard. Does anyone have
recommendations? Thanks,

**** From: Ray Boshara <ray@cfed.org>
Turn-of-the-century oak sideboard, very good condition.  $750.  Call
202-237-8053.

**** From: (Michael Rhein)  merhein@yahoo.com.
Responsible professional is looking for house-sitting opportunities for
2-6  months.  Please contact merhein@yahoo.com; 202-256-2638.

**** From: "Jock Chung" <jock_chung@hotmail.com>
For sale:
1. Beer brewing supplies for $80: large funnel, wine acid test kit with
box  intact, spring loaded bottle sterilizer, surgical tubing of
different sizes (3),  hydrometer, thermometer (big), giant bottle
brushes (2), baster, airlocks (10),  giant metal stirring spoon, super
funnel, bag of washers for Grolsch bottles,  unopened bag of dried malt
extract light, bottle washer that fits on sink, beer filler (2), bags of
bottle caps (3), rubber stoppers for use with beer bottles  and airlocks
for yeast cultures (3), top for carboy, brewing buckets (4), lauter tun,
sparging, mason (canning) jars and lids for growing brewing yeast
cultures (6).

2. About 144 Grolsch ceramic top bottles priced at 40 cents each or $36
for all bottles.
If interested in any of above, please contact Jock at (202) 326-2984
 
 

 
CITY COUNCIL E-MAIL ADDRESSES
These addresses are many more items of useful information come from the
DC government web site  at
www.dc.gov.

Chairman Linda W. Cropp (At Large)
lcropp@dccouncil.washington.dc.us
Councilmember Harold Brazil (At Large)
hbrazil@dccouncil.washington.dc.us
Councilmember Carol Schwartz (At Large)
schwartzc@dccouncil.washington.dc.us
Councilmember David A. Catania (At Large)
dcatania@dccouncil.washington.dc.us
Councilmember Phil Mendelson (At Large)
pmendelson@dccouncil.washington.dc.us
Councilmember Jim Graham (Ward 1)
jgraham@dccouncil.washington.dc.us
Chairman Pro Tempore Jack Evans (Ward 2)
jackevans@dccouncil.washington.dc.us
Councilmember Kathleen Patterson (Ward 3)
kpatterson@dccouncil.washington.dc.us
Councilmember Adrian Fenty (Ward 4)
afenty@dccouncil.washington.dc.us
Councilmember Vincent B. Orange, Sr. (Ward 5)
vorange@dccouncil.washington.dc.us
Councilmember Sharon Ambrose (Ward 6)
sambrose@dccouncil.washington.dc.us
Councilmember Kevin P. Chavous (Ward 7)
kpchavous@dccouncil.washington.dc.us
Councilmember Sandy (Sandra) Allen (Ward 8)
cmallen@dccouncil.washington.dc.us
 

--END--