Saturday, January 30, 2010

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Jury Duty Scam - Don't Fall for Jury Duty Scam (FBI)

 

 

THE VERDICT: HANG UP
Don't Fall for Jury Duty Scam

06/02/06

Jury Duty Graphic

The phone rings, you pick it up, and the caller identifies himself as an officer of the court. He says you failed to report for jury duty and that a warrant is out for your arrest. You say you never received a notice. To clear it up, the caller says he'll need some information for "verification purposes"-your birth date, social security number, maybe even a credit card number.

This is when you should hang up the phone. It's a scam.

Jury scams have been around for years, but have seen a resurgence in recent months. Communities in more than a dozen states have issued public warnings about cold calls from people claiming to be court officials seeking personal information. As a rule, court officers never ask for confidential information over the phone; they generally correspond with prospective jurors via mail.

The scam's bold simplicity may be what makes it so effective. Facing the unexpected threat of arrest, victims are caught off guard and may be quick to part with some information to defuse the situation.

 

"They get you scared first," says a special agent in the Minneapolis field office who has heard the complaints. "They get people saying, 'Oh my gosh! I'm not a criminal. What's going on?'" That's when the scammer dangles a solution-a fine, payable by credit card, that will clear up the problem.

With enough information, scammers can assume your identity and empty your bank accounts.

"It seems like a very simple scam," the agent adds. The trick is putting people on the defensive, then reeling them back in with the promise of a clean slate. "It's kind of ingenious. It's social engineering."

More Information

Want to learn more about new and common scams like this one? Then sign up for our e-mail alerts.

In recent months, communities in Florida, New York, Minnesota, Illinois, Colorado, Oregon, California, Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Hampshire reported scams or posted warnings or press releases on their local websites. In August, the federal court system issued a warning on the scam and urged people to call their local District Court office if they receive suspicious calls. In September, the FBI issued a press release about jury scams and suggested victims also contact their local FBI field office.

In March, USA.gov, the federal government's information website, posted details about jury scams in their Frequently Asked Questions area. The site reported scores of queries on the subject from website visitors and callers seeking information.

The jury scam is a simple variation of the identity-theft ploys that have proliferated in recent years as personal information and good credit have become thieves' preferred prey, particularly on the Internet. Scammers might tap your information to make a purchase on your credit card, but could just as easily sell your information to the highest bidder on the Internet's black market.

Protecting yourself is the key: Never give out personal information when you receive an unsolicited phone call.

Resources: Common Fraud Schemes | Jury Fraud Press Release (09/28/05) | Executive's Identity Theft Testimony

 

Deputy Melissa S. Underwood

St. Johns County Sheriff's Office Crime Prevention

(904)810-3623

Munderwood@sjso.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deputy Melissa S. Underwood

St. Johns County Sheriff's Office Crime Prevention

(904)810-3623

Munderwood@sjso.org

 

 

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Residents Sorrows

 
 
To all my Close Friends, e-mail buddies, and Family Members,
 
          Father Cody contacted the Funeral Director and told them that the Funeral Mass for my Mother would be at 11:00 AM Saturday, Jan. 23.   The Mass will be at  St. Joseph's  Historical Church located on Loretto Rd. in Manderin  Visiting Hours at Hardage Giddens Funeral Home 11801 San Jose Blvd. Jacksonville will be from 6 PM to 8 PM on Friday the 22nd.
  
        Please be patient, my E-mails will continue sometime after the 25th.
 
 
        Ray Robert   
 
 

Friday, January 15, 2010

Treasure Beach News

Hello Treasure Beach!

Treasure Beach News

Dear Neighbors:

We experienced a week of sustained freezing temperatures the first week of January. Nothing like the long, long snowy, cold and freezing winters up North when I was younger. I'm sure like me, you had to protect some of the more sensitive plants in your yard from the cold. For me personally, the cool 'nippy' air was rather invigorating. I might even go as far as saying "delightful". My blood's a little thinner now after being in Florida for twenty years.

Now that the holidays are over for another year, have you wondered what you might do with the Christmas cards you received? I have two suggestions you may want to consider.

First, you could donate the card fronts only (without writing on them) to a local organization "Haven Hospice" (attention: Kathy G.) located at South Park Blvd near St. Augustine Imaging. Office phone: 904-810-2377. These card fronts will be recycled and sold for the benefit of Haven Hospice.

Second, the St. Jude Ranch for Children is accepting all type of greeting card fronts only (without writing on them). The recycled cards are then sold, with all proceeds going directly back to abused, abandoned and neglected children at the three ranches. Card fronts can be mailed to: St. Jude's Ranch for Children, 100 St. Jude's Street, Boulder City, NV 89005-1681.

The following appeared on the editorial page of the St. Augustine Record on January 2, 2010. Some things to think about for the New Year...

In 2010, 'I resolve to....'

• Get fired up about St. Augustine's 450th Commemoration of its founding, 2013 - 2015. Join in "Discover First America -- Legacies of La Florida," a series of educational and entertaining programs, free of charge. There are still three programs left: Feb. 5 - "The Great Southern Cracker Road show"; Apr. 13 - "Palaces in Paradise: Flagler's Age of Opulence"; May 18 - "Road to Freedom: African-Americans in Florida". All programs begin at 7 p.m. at Flagler College Auditorium. Plan to arrive any time after 6 p.m. in order to get a seat. Previous programs were filled to capacity. You can also learn more about how to be a volunteer.

• Explore Paradise, St. Johns County style. Make time for yourself, family and friends to enjoy this little corner of Paradise, the beauty of its parks, beaches and rivers. Make your own maps and plans for weekly or monthly walk-a-thons. Have a contest. See how many places you can visit in a month, six months, a year.

• See St. Johns County like a visitor. Pick a local attraction or museum and see what visitors see. Again, make it a fun event sharing with family and friends. Many attractions have a local resident rate, too. Call ahead of time or ask at the admission desk. Be sure to bring your local ID with you.

We had visitors over the holidays. We were able to ride the red train for three days that also included a free game of golf. Enjoyed some great Philly steaks downtown at the South-A-Philly at 1 King Street. Also tried soft pretzels and a pretzel dog from Der Pretzel Haus at 100 St. George Street. Recommend both experiences. Toured the Mission of Nombre de Dios, Lightner Museum (spectacular and can't wait to go back) and St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum (even climbed the 219 steps all the way to the top). What a view. Visited the Alligator Farm. So many places to visit. Couldn't see them all.

• Visit one of the county's six public libraries and see what's free on their shelves to check out. Go to www.sjcpls.org for more information

Why not join St. Johns Reads, the library's annual February book event. Each year, the county invites readers to read a selected book and participate in special programs in February about it.

This year's book is "March," a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Geraldine Brooks. It tells the story of the Civil War through the father of Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women."

Why not gather people you know and form a book club? Who knows? One book may be the start of lasting friendships too.

• Help others by volunteering. Check out the St. Augustine's Record's Volunteer Spotlight that appears on varying days in the Lifestyles section. Or, go to www.staugustine.com. In the search field, type volunteer spotlight, and look over recent listings.

Make up your mind today to resolve to do something special for yourself and others in the new year.

From what I read in the paper, it looks like the new River House Community Center on Marine Street is open. It's across from the Council on Aging Coastal Community Center administrative offices. If your down that way, stop in and take a look.

When Evelyn Delaney was writing this section for the journal, she always liked to remind us of some important dates in history. The St. Augustine Record does this on a daily basis but if you happen to miss them in the paper, here are a few to remember for February:Page 11

• Feb. 2, 1653, New Amsterdam - now New York

City was incorporated.

• Feb. 3, 1924, the 28th president of the United

States, Woodrow Wilson, died in Washington,

D.C. at age 67.

• Feb. 4, 1861, delegates from six southern states

met in Montgomery, AL, to form the Confederate

States of America.

• Feb. 6, 1952, Britain's King George VI died; he

was succeeded by his daughter, Elizabeth II.

• Feb. 8, 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was

incorporated.

• Feb. 14, 1859, Oregon was admitted to the

Union as the 33rd state.

• Feb. 14, 1912, Arizona became the 48th state of

the Union.

• Feb. 18, 1546, Martin Luther, leader of the

Protestant Reformation in Germany, died in

Eisleben.

• Feb. 18, 1564, artist Michelangelo died in Rome.

• Feb. 21, 1885, the Washington Monument was

dedicated.

• Feb. 22, 1959, the inaugural Daytona 500 was

held in Daytona Beach, FL

• Feb. 23, 1848, the sixth president of the United

States, John Quincy Adams, died in Washington

at age 80.

• Feb. 25, 1836, inventor Samuel Colt patented his

revolver.

• Feb. 27, 1801, the District of Columbia was

placed under the jurisdiction of Congress.

And finally

If you have any news – baby news, wedding news, church news, events, birthdays, anniversaries, a class reunion, a school event, someone is sick, visitors recently, club news, if I forget something, etc. let me know. Remember that all news or any news is most welcome. You can contact Sharon by phone at 461-3397 or by email: smcilhenneysphr@bellsouth.net.

Continued on page 12

Haiti

For anyone wanting to help/donate in the Haiti crisis I just received this email:

UPS is shipping anything under 50lbs for free to Haiti. You can send food, clothes or shoes...and American Airlines is taking doctors and nurses to Haiti for free. Please call 212-697-9767. Spread the word...Red Cross needs Creole speaking volunteers for a 24hr phone bank. Call Mr. Wilfrid @305-776-6900 ASAP...Please Repost or Resend this Info. THANKS

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Cold temperatures killing off fish

Deaths of invasive exotic types may be good for native fish

Posted: January 13, 2010 - 12:06am
By MARCIA LANE

Mike Powell, who lives in the Treasure Beach area, only has to look in nearby canals to see victims of the extended cold weather.

"There are fish all over the canals. Mainly mullet and tiger minnows," Powell said.

It's one more sign of what frigid temperatures are doing in the Sunshine State.

"We have had calls for all over our state because of dead fish," said Lt. Joy Hill with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

While studies haven't been done, Hill said it's "pretty much 100 percent" that the fish kills are related to the cold weather that has seen temperatures drop into the teens.

She said pompano, mullet and tiger minnows are floating in waterways and rivers in this area.

"There are hundreds and hundreds of snook dying all the way down into Indian River County," Hill said. "It's very cold and very extensive."

On the good side, Hill noted the cold weather is also killing exotic fish that sometimes overwhelm native fish and take over their habitat.

"We're finding armored catfish and tilapia killed as well," Hill said.

Sea turtles stressed

Wildlife officials and volunteers further downstate and in the Panhandle are battling another cold weather event -- cold-stressed sea turtles.

On Tuesday, Hill was in the Daytona and Brevard County area where volunteers and wildlife officials are working to rescue the turtles.

"We've had volunteers, biologists and officers stopping to pick up the turtles," Hill said.

The turtles are taken to facilities where they're put in warm water for a few days to help them recovery and then they can be released. However, the length of the cold spell and the sheer number of turtles is crowding facilities.

About 800 cold-stressed sea turtles have been recovered along the southeast coast including Indian River and Mosquito lagoons. About 2,000 have been picked up along the Panhandle.

The extreme cold leaves the turtles basically cold stunned and lethargic, and they either float listlessly in the water or wash to shore. They may appear to be dead, but are often alive. A couple of days in warmer waters with treatment and the turtles usually recover.

"We're hoping to get some rental truck companies to help us out," Hill said. Enclosed trucks are needed to haul the turtles.

Manatees are also threatened.

FWC is asking people to be extra vigilant and stay away from warm-water habitats where the animals may gather.

In South Florida, the FWC is warning hunters to be careful while out because Burmese pythons are sunning themselves in an effort to keep warm.

TO REPORT

Report dead and dying fish to the Fish Kill Hotline at (800) 636-0511.

All other distressed wildlife should be reported to FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline at (888) 404-3922.

http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2010-01-13/cold-temperatures-killing-fish

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Treasure Beach and that mysterious tank

Treasure Beach and that mysterious tank
 
The main rumor this past month is how and when will the county put sewers in Treasure Beach. The second big question locals want to know is how much will it cost once it in service. I have to admit there are some very good reasons for the rumor. Yes, the county is talking about it, and some day we might just see it all pan out. Some locals even tell me they can't wait for sewers because of the troubles with septics leaking into the canals would end. WOW ! This is an odd statement, but I really hope nothing is per say getting to our canals like that ! So, lets all go over the facts about septic while we still have them, and maybe we can help a few owners out from any headaches, or reasons for failures with septic.
 
One thing we all have in Treasure Beach is a septic tank hooked up to our homes. It doesn't matter what size of home you have or type, we all have that tank. For some of us its a strange buried concrete box that comes without instructions. First off, the island is built on a very sandy top layer with coral as a base, and this is one main reason septic is a darn good way to work with waste from a home. Sand is used for water filter systems to this day in many more sophisticated systems world wide. To understand these concrete tank eco systems, you have to know how it works, or have some understanding of the technology that goes behind them. History shows us these little tanks have been around for hundreds of years, and some have out lasted a 100year use in other countries and never being pumped out. These old historic septic tanks actually worked well, some are even in far less good soil conditions compared to our area. There are home owners right now heading for failure with these simple systems and don't know it. Some locals tell me they have had been pumped more than once already in the past few years and cannot reason why so much trouble. A proper tank and drain field, also called a leach bed can operate with almost no maintenance for generations. So you ask, how is it, we see so much failure ? The key word on septic is eco system. Before we get into failures, lets talk about how this mysterious thing works. Basically all your drains inside the house are piped to the septic tank, anything going down the drain is headed for that buried tank. A good tank will have a large capacity to hold all the nasty solid stuff or should I say a limited amount before it hits the drain field, but an ideal tank will take a lot before backing up. At this point the tank is holding solids and pushing water to the top, the waste goes to the bottom end of the tank and water is drained off thru openings near the top of the tank. The water goes out to a drain field as I mentioned before, this water flows to a grid like set of pipes that are built with channels which are open to allow water to drain. The idea here is that overflowing water will go to these pipes and soak down into the stone, then sand. In long terms, the water will drain down thru the sand and filter itself doing this. Yes, believe it, but the water will become clean as it passes down thru sand. Basically the tank solids is where trouble can arise. The biggest failures are in the tank itself for most of us. You must feed the tank with bacteria yeast or enzymes such as " Rid x" to get the tank ( hot ) as they say in the business. A good tank will run above 80degs inside or even higher throughout the summer and even winter months. The heat is a key source for the yeast to activate and eat the solids as they arrive in the tank leaving just water mix with light residue that can now drain to the leach bed. Yeah, the little guys need to be healthy so they can eat up waste, paper, and even food grade grease. Basically you need to keep treating the tank or the yeast bacteria will die and at that point the tank will fill with solids and backup up drains. Because we do not monitor or check our tanks, we'll never know something is wrong until the smelly brown water shows up in our drains inside the house. A disaster that could have been avoided. Generally its a good idea to use a product like Rid-x about once per month, or every 2 to 3 months depending on your home living style. A small tank is more likely to fail than the larger ones but any size tank can fail. There are several reason for this, so lets explore them. Like I pointed out, temperature is a working part of the tank, and a small one flushed with too much cold water for example can destroy the tanks ability to eat the solids quickly filling up and backing up to the home. Just imagine the enzymes basically have to eat fast enough to keep up with your homes output for waste solids. For some reason based on use, single wide trailers were allowed to use a very small tanks for example on the properties in this county. In some cases this was fine, but some home owners that later upgraded to a double wide, or full size slab house and did not change out the tank, this was a Big mistake !  Naturally the bigger tanks cost more, they required more space to be buried and the leach bed etc all adds more cost, and mess before the job is completed but the bigger tank will handle and run better in general. These tanks come in various sizes and now even come with more sophisticated types have hit the markets, but lets just stay with the basic ones most us have here. The best way to deal with the tank and treatment is to monitor "you and your lifestyle". The local pump out truck tells me just one cigarette flushed down a toilet for example can kill the tank. WOW uh ? Bleach is about the worst thing you can use around these tanks, but we all most likely use bleach at some point. Personally if I use bleach for cleaning, I must admit we use bleach in our home, but afterwards, I wait about 24hrs to 48hrs and then add new treatment to the tank to insure that it has life or will restart working again incase I've damaged the tanks life. When shopping for household cleaners you might have to check the label for  " safe on septic" , yeah, this one is for Treasure Beach home owners ! IF, for some reason the label on the cleaner says nothing, you might want to check with the manufacture or just NOT buy it for use.  Secondary failures are the leach bed or drain fields. Several things can go wrong here too, but less chance if your tank has been kept healthy or "hot" and active. In Treasure Beach we are a bit tight on lot sizes so we do get people parking their cars near or on top of the drain fields. This can cause the lines to collapse and a big nasty repair bill, so its important to keep the area clear. A few stories about tree roots, bushes etc have rumored to cause the death of a drain field too, but not many in Treasure Beach, but just so your aware. Now, for the "not so obvious" causes for failures but home owners have done these. Any drain cleaner is harmful to the tanks life, so again, wait a few days, and then add treatment to your tank if you've done a major cleaning inside the house and poured a lot of waste cleaners into your drain. By the way, if you have never done this, a box of Rid-x can be flushed down the toilet in a few minutes, so easy and yet very important. YEAH, its that simple. Once a tank does back up, its pretty much up to the pump truck to get your waste removed, but that is again where we need to treat the cleaned out tank once the pump out job is completed. If your expecting guest from up North in the winter time, I'd treat my tank days before they arrive. Other issues not so often thought about, but here's some odd causes for failures and we can laugh at them, but YEAH, I've heard this was done in Treasure Beach ! Rinsing paint brushes, can be a death bomb to your septic tank. Washing out old gas, or outboard chemicals down the drain is a big NO NO. Paint thinners, degrease ( automotive types ) , don't think we've done this one but yeah, its has happened. Most laundry soaps are not that great, so its another reason to treat and retreat the tank often. All the new generation anti bacteria cleaners are harmful to septic tanks but then we all knew that right ? Alcohols in general can be a problem too, but that would take a lot of alcohol to kill the tank. About the simplest one is running TOO much cold water. Draining your hot tub would be another one, but I've noticed most owners are dumping that stuff in the canal these days. Fact is, the hot tub is an eco disaster no matter where you put the stuff so maybe someday we'll see laws regarding these chemicals too or how to deal with the used water. Dumping old lawn chemicals down the drain, rising out ashtrays, even water based paints will kill the life forms in the tank. Simply put, think of your septic tank like a large fish aquarium. Its an eco system that requires heat, food, bacteria to work with and can be very sensitive to chemicals. Ok, maybe you'll read this and save yourself some headaches. Any questions ? There will be a test on Friday !
 
 
L.A. Panchuk ( Author: The Devil's Magnet )
Reporter: Xzone radio