BURGLARIES, THEFTS

What: Gold rings
Value: $442.72
Where, when: 200 block Treasure Beach Road, June 20.
(SJCSO)

http://staugustine.com/stories/062708/police_062708_037.shtml

Sale to benefit Homeless Coalition

A three-day 4th of July garage sale will be held July 3-5 to benefit the Homeless Coalition.

The sale will be from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day at 6301 Costanero Road in Treasure Beach, off State Road A1A South, at Crescent Beach.

Condo furniture, antiques, books, kitchenware, a Maytag glass-top stove, nice refrigerator plus $1 bags of clothing are among the bargain items to be found.

All proceeds benefit Emergency Services and Homeless Coalition's building program. Donations are appreciated. For information, call (904) 824-6623.

http://staugustine.com/stories/062708/community_062708_041.shtml

Jerry J. Biskner

Jerry J. Biskner, age 32, of St. Augustine, died early Saturday morning, June 14, 2008, from injuries sustained in an auto accident. Jerry was born in Pontiac, Mich., and had resided in St. Augustine since 1995, moving here from Clarkston, Mich.

He was a dedicated employee of Ideal Stant Corp. in St. Augustine for 10 years. He was a loving son, brother, husband and father and was an avid fan of all professional sports teams from the city of Detroit but especially the Detroit Lions.

Funeral services will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 18, 2008, at St. Johns Family Funeral Home, 385 State Road 207, with the Rev. John Fletcher officiating. A visitation will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. and from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the funeral home before the funeral service.


Jerry is survived by his wife, Sherry Biskner; a daughter, Amber Miller; sons, Anthony Griffin and Austin Biskner, all of St. Augustine; his parents, Douglass and Cindy Berndt; and his little sister, Kensy Elizabeth Berndt, all of Treasure Beach. He is also survived by many aunts, uncles, cousins and his dog, Cocoa Butter.

St. Johns Family Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements

Letter: Parking nonexistent off Matanzas Inlet Beach

By Allan Howard

Editor: In response to a letter to the editor published on June 3, 2008, "Suggests electric vehicles for Matanzas Inlet beach."

The writer suggests banning driving on the beach. My question is, where would you have those hundreds and hundreds of cars park? From Ocean Trace to Fort Matanzas there is virtually no off-beach parking. Any available land belongs to the private sector and is occupied with buildings.

Should we park on the highway and if so where would you have access walkways to the beach? Would the access points be the same as those in Ponte Vedra, nonexistent?

Allan Howard
St. Augustine

http://staugustine.com/stories/061008/opinions_061008_054.shtml



==========================================================================
THE JUNE 3RD LETTER:
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Letter: Suggests electric vehicles for Matanzas Inlet beach
By Michael BonDurant
Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Editor: The following is my comment to the National Park Service, The Record, and to John Mica, regarding driving on Fort Matanzas National Monument property.

I am in favor of eliminating automobile driving at the Matanzas Inlet on National Monument beach property. Cars are everywhere and causing pollution in our cities, why do we want to continue to pollute the air, water and sand on our beaches?

As an alternative, I would recommend that the Park Service rent out electric vehicles for driving on the beach, thereby making some money for the park maintenance.

In addition, I would frankly recommend that this would be an excellent plan for all the beaches in St. Augustine. Pollution, wildlife protection, not to mention protection of the people lying on the sand, it's time to eliminate driving on our beaches. There are simply too many cars, too much noise and pollution, and too many injuries caused by our addiction to driving on the sand.

What is the big thrill anyway? Are we too lazy to walk a few feet from the parking area? Do we not value our beautiful beaches enough to park our nasty, oil dripping and smog-emitting cars on the street or in lots where they belong?

Michael BonDurant
St. Augustine

http://staugustine.com/stories/060308/opinions_060308_045.shtml

St Johns County Lighting Ordinance

In August 2006, the St Johns County Commission passed an ordinance (# 2006-82) effective August 3,2006 and reads that NO LIGHT of MORE THAN 25 WATTS is allowed within 50 feet of a dock or any body of water. This includes Treasure Beach!!!

I have had complaints of glaring lights (over 25 watts) shining directly into the canal neighbor across the canal. This is unacceptable!

I am asking the residents who are suffering from this situation to contact the County Code Enforcement Office (209-0734) and report this violation. Don’t even attempt to confront the property owner across from you. This is the county’s job to do. Remember code enforcement is driven by complaints .You don’t need the heartburn. When you call the office – get a complaint number - so you can check on the situation if it seems that nothing is being done.

The complaint is held anonymous so your name is never given out.

To the property owners who have the bright, glaring lights referred to in the above - you know who you are. If you don’t want a complaint made against you that could result in fines and penalties levied by St Johns County and possible court fees – please take correct this situation immediately.

The Board of Directors of Treasure Beach

http://www.clk.co.st-johns.fl.us/minrec/OrdinanceBooks/2006/ORD2006-82.pdf

NOT all dock builders are created equal!

Recently a new twin boat lift system is now under construction in the Egret Canal part of Treasure Beach. The dock builder is now facing headaches and the area neighbors appear to be encroached by the lifts openings using the property beside the home owners actual sea wall area to enter or leave the lift system with his boats. Some years ago I personally ran a large dock building company in Savannah, Georgia and learned a few things back then. After watching this job site unfold with its predictable out come, its obvious why we end up with rules and regulations governing our contractors and home properties. The out come on this one is so wrong that even the property owner is having one lift removed or changed, he's now frustrated with the job that is well under way. Without a drawing or any idea what he was getting into, the property owner placed his trust in the builders ability to construct the twin lift system for two twenty foot boats and a floating dock with no regard to the properties next to his. This was leading to disaster and cost investments that would run him into a nightmare that is still unfolding even as I write this. With the job site, still unfinished but still trying to move ahead it appears the builder has no clue or experience with Treasure Beach. First off, I'd like to point out that a twenty foot boat requires more than twenty feet inside the lift area, plus more than twenty feet to allow the boat an entrance. Simple math will tell anyone, you'll need more than the eighty feet for a twin system if your going to stay within your own property bounds in Treasure Beach canals for most of us. The average property is only some eighty feet wide at the sea wall alone for most of our canal owners. Now if we add a floating dock to this system the owner now requires over one hundred feet of property to contain this amount of construction, enough said about this math topic, but I just wish someone else had to deal with the next step. The job site appears to now be going out beyond the fifteen foot boundary set by the county, so perhaps we'll have to get into this next issue soon. The dock builder refused to dismantle the second lift until he could sell it to another job site. The site now under construction for about two months is another sad point. I've never seen a small job take so long and stop so many many times for days without anything further being done. Weather was never a factor, and yet we still see the dock builder show up for a few hours here and there. I pray we don't see this builder in our area again, but I'm sure he'll find work nearby sooner or later. To further add problems, this builder used only a water pump to install the pilings. This is generally ok for decks, but for a hoist system that will see loading and unloading, a good jet and hammering in is the best way to settle the piling. The builder purchased oversized piling and cut what he couldn't use off the top. What this means is the home owner paid for lumber that couldn't be used on the job site, but paid to have it installed. Most builders will charge per piling and per foot. Cutting the tops is normal, but not when you take about eight to ten feet off. The builder admitted he hit something in the mud and had to settle for seven foot depth to nine feet depending on each piling. From my property my first note was that the piling was NOT marked for depth, so its obvious the builder has no real idea how much piling is below the mud line, but also the old sea wall is heading for failure, which means this job should never have been started without replacing the sea wall first.

The home owner has discovered yet another problem that we all face. The lift can't be used unless we have high water levels to load or unload the boat, the lift when it hits bottom unloads the cables and that can be another mess on your hands, and yes, the home owner spent hours on his new lift trying to fix the cables back after the first try using the lift. To add more problems the home owner discovered his second lift would not fit his boat opening if he wished to use it.

I would suggest anyone thinking about getting dock work done to please consider having the dock builder do a drawing of the proposed construction site, and use a tape measure yourself to check for clearances before going ahead with the proposal. Finally, I would also recommend a quick check with our the TBPOA canal committee about your site work for ideas or even a savings in this case before going ahead with the work. The builder should be familar with Treasure Beach and should be able to show past work sites, this should be a must for anyone getting a new dock or deck contracted. On a last note, I would at least have someone monitor the construction from time to time, this can save a lot too before things get too far down the road. Afer a quick meeting with this home owner I discovered the builder was from Jacksonville and doesn't normally do any work in our area.

Report: L.A. Panchuk / Author: The Devil's Magnet / Reporter for X-zone radio

Treasure Beach resident

From the President’s Heart

I was once told by a very close friend - when I was completely overwhelmed by all the problems in the world, that you can’t fix the whole world But you can make your little corner better.

Treasure Beach has had a Board of Directors since our community began. Why?? All of a sudden are we in danger of losing our association???

Are all the retired people in our community too BUSY for 3 hours a month?

Do our families with children care about the neighborhood their children grow up in?

Or is this just another apathetic neighborhood ?

I have worked together with the Board for the past three years to make our neighborhood a better place and now it is very depressing to think that our association may end because NOBODY CARES ENOUGH to volunteer their time.

There are a multitude of things that the Board of Directors do for Treasure Beach. If this association goes away- Who will you call with your neighborhood problems? What will you do to repair an entrance wall ? Who do you think will handle your safety problems in this community with the Sheriffs Office? How about the Beach Walkway? What will happen there in the future? What about our failing canals - Are you ready to deal with the county as an individual ?

Listen I can go on about other situations but I’m not.

Please consider the open positions listed below :

President, Treasurer, Neighborhood Watch Vice President, 2nd Vice President. These jobs need to be filled before the October Meeting.

Please call Paula Murphy at 461-4356 or Rose Larsen at 461-4411 . They are the nominating chairpersons. The board and I will help you with the position you select. I will stay on as president emeritus to assist the board.

Remember- You can make your little corner better.

Sincerely,

Charles Novak
President- TBPOA