NEW REPORT FROM ROGER

Guys, I haven't done a full report in over a month, so I'd better get to it. I am pleased to see Liz Greene back with her http://therealharmanwoodsnews.blogspot.com/ Please note this new address. The one I had in the previous watch reports was different. Back around 1996 when we started having juvenile problems, Liz was the person who got me in touch with the Harman Civic Association and the Western District Police-Community Relations Council. Up to that time, I was like a lot of people. I went to work, came home, but really didn't know what was going on in our community. Liz also did a great job in those days when she published the old Harmans Woods News. It was the only local (hardcopy) publication which covered our areas in detail [with exception of Jerry Peterson's Provincial News publication.]. Liz is very concerned about Lyme disease and will be going down to testify at this Monday night's County Council meeting (21 July 08). If you would like to join her, she will be wearing a green ribbon, so you will recognize her. She has also posted a her picture on her blog and her specific concerns regarding Lyme disease. She is also starting to post general information on her blog. I am going to pass news items to her too. Please check out her blog. Upcoming Dates: Noon-5:00pm, Friday, 25 July-Noon-5:00pm, Sat, 26 July 08-The PCRC (Police-Community Relations Council) table will be set up at Arundel Mills Mall and the Annapolis Mall. We will be handing out information on crime prevention and reminder of the National Night Out event on Tues, 5 Aug 08. With the Neighborhood Watch, we carry out these efforts 365 days a year! 7:30pm, Wed, 10 Sept 08-The PCRC (Police-Community Relations Council) breaks during the summer months. Please note the next meeting in Sept will be held at the Western District Police Station. The public is welcome to attend. The police station is on MD 170 (Telegraph Road) just south of MD 32. The address is 8273 Telegraph Road, Odenton, MD 21113 (across from Greenway Bowl). 7:00pm, Thurs, 25 Sept 08 -The Harman Civic Association (HCA) breaks during the summer months. The next meeting will be held in the Harmans Community Room at Arundel Mills Mall in September. Events: 1) As I mentioned in the previous reports, the Firefighters Appreciation Day held at the Dorsey Road fire station on 28 June 08, was a big success. Art Lisowsky did a great job organizing the event. Many businesses supported the event with door prizes and food. I would like to acknowledge Dipti Singh owner of the Goddard Schools (on Teague Road across from Joe Cannon Stadium water tower). She provided the hamburgers and set up a table with information on her Goddard School. She has a pretty good sized staff of around 30 teachers. The school accepts children from 6 months old to 6 years old. They stress the educational aspects of child development. At the same time, they have an outside playground for the kids to play and I am sure have other physical activities for them. The school hours are 7:00am-6:00pm (Mon-Fri) and offers a summer program for children up to 8 years old. For teacher bio's and more specific information, please go to Hanovermd@goddardschools.com website or call the school at 410-684-260. All of the Harman Civic Association Officers were in attendance for most of the day. They are President Wayne Dixon, Treasurer Rusty Bristow, Corresponding Secretary Chip Woods, Recording Secretary Shay Jones, and Senior Advisor Harry Matthews. [I think most of you know that I am Vice President.] Past Treasurer Marge Liike also helped sign up new HCA members. Sandra Hochstein was a big help through the day setting up for the event and keeping things moving. Shay Jones put in a lot of effort advertising the event and setting up and helping for this event. All in all, it was a great success. We received cash donations (checks via mail) at the event and food from a lot of good folks for this event. If I left anyone out, please forgive me. So many folks helped with this event. Thank you to you all! 2) 1 July 08-One of our watch folks, Kajal, had some really nice things to say about our firefighers. They didn't just come out and take care of the fire, but they also wanted to make sure Kajal's 18-year-old son was ok. Here's what Kajal had to say: "I wanted to let you know that I had a small fire at my house and my son he is 18 year he had to call AA fire dept. They did a wonderful job and I am very happy about it that after finish everything there was person from Fire department called at my house and talked to my son and asked if he is doing OK and did he notified his parent? Also someone from EMS called and asked my son how he is doing everything is alright with him. I sent an email to the Fire department also about doing a wonderful job.( it was not a big damage it could be worst we were blessed)."

3) After the last vandalism in our community, I mentioned the use of surveillance cameras. One of our watch folks, Dave Nation, gave me a link to one of his surveillance cameras he is using in his backyard. Here's what Dave had to say:

"I've had a camera on my backyard for a while to allow me and others to watch my bird feeders." "It also has pan, tilt and zoom controls and can be controlled and monitored over the Internet. It has the ability to record and store on a PC that I had working at one point but I haven't been able to get to work lately." "I used to have another older camera pointed out my window at my front yard but when I put in a new wireless router it stopped working so I have it on my backyard also at the moment directly wired to my network." "You can get to them at: http://backyardbirdcam.net/ and http://www.davenation.com/FrontDoorCam.html" I'm interested in any other surveillance cameras and ideas." I went to his link and was able to control the camera from my computer! Go ahead and give it a try. If you have any information regarding surveillance cameras that you would like to share, please feel free to pass it to me.

4) Dave and Becky Nation are interesting folks. Over the years one of their hobbies has been being "extras" in movies.

If you ever saw the movie Patch Adams with Robin Williams, Dave had a pretty big part in the movie! I don't recall the exact circumstances, but I believe in 1 scene Robin Williams (as Doctor Patch Adams) tries to console a distraught woman at the hospital desk.

In that scene, Dave is prominently seen standing in the background with his long, white beard. Guess they were trying to cast him as a coal miner. Dave, if I missed the description of the scene, please let me know. Of course, Dave got the opportunity to meet and talk to Robin Williams.

If you recall the movie Deep Impact, Dave and Becky spent a rather lengthy period in the hot sun. They were in the scene where all the cars were jammed up in one big traffic jam.

My recollection was that it was filmed somewhere in Virginia during one of our long hot summer droughts a number of years ago.

One other interesting point. Dave and I went out on security patrol about 10 or 11 years ago. It was the first time I met him. We started talking and I found out he was from Iowa like me. Turns out his town is right next to mine in Northeastern Iowa. My sister taught at the high school in his town. Small world!

5) Over the last couple of years, Jim Scoggins has offered the opportunity to our neighborhood kids to help him build a boat. In the process, the kids learn a lot and make some money. I think Jim gets a lot more than the help building the boat. He sees how many good kids we have in our neighborhoods who are eager to learn. I was privileged to be cc:'d on the e-mail Jim sent to one of the parents, Brian (one of our watch folks & a good father), and I wanted to share it with you. You can see Jim teaches them a lot. Here's what Jim said: "Brian - Over the past two days, the boys completed fiberglassing the four remaining -- of five total -- floor-deck sections, which completes that phase of construction." "When I return from NY next week, I can install the decking and the only thing left for that part is non-skid paint and filets (epoxy mixed with filler) for the edges." "Major progress. Today they completed all of the main hull prep-work, which included sanding the entire outer hull, mostly by hand and some power using the random orbital sander, filling all recessed screw holes (two step process) and applying two coats of epoxy to the entire hull." "They also coated the rear-deck framing, sanded and finished the inside transom. The outer hull is now ready for paint and we can build the seating and steering console." "The foredeck will be ready to install once we paint the inside area just below, designed for life-jacket and anchor storage. They prepped that section early-on and it is in the garage." "They did a terrific job on all counts and I could not be more pleased. Before they left, I showed them the wood that is ready to install for the seating and outer rubrail, that must first be scarfed." "Scarfing is an important boat building process to learn but is essentially about joining/butting/gluing two or more pieces of wood together to make one seamless piece." "If they can work on a couple of weekend days or late afternoons, we can do some woodwork -- cutting, drilling, countersinking screws, etc. They have filled a lot of countersunk holes and may be ready to do some true boat-building, to learn about wood types, tools/techniques." "I know people that have built large sailboats and then sailed around the world and lived on them for years. Once you learn the basics, anything is possible. Really nice young men. You guys should be very proud of them. Jim" By the way, teaching runs in the Scoggins family. Jim's wife, Linda, was a teacher at Harman Elementary for many years. Thank you, Jim, for providing this great opportunity for our kids! 6) By the way, a couple of our neighborhood churches (St Mark's United Methodist Church & New Life Fellowship Baptist Church) are also doing their part to guide and mentor our young people. In the coming weeks, I hope to be able to pass more details on their work. 7) Mon, 7 July 08-One of our watch folks reported a vehicle egged in the Mt. Blanc Road area and juveniles vandalizing property. Please remember if you have juveniles cursing and disturbing the neighborhood, you may call 911 or 410-222-8610 to report it (and let me know). Oftentimes, they think they can get away with it. This is not the case! The report below warrants a juvenile citation (equivalent to an adult arrest). Thank you for this detailed report. Great job! Here's his report:

"On another note I had a confrontation in my neighbors yard with some young children. Both of our houses are on the west side of the lake, my neighbor has taken a lot of pride in sprucing up her backyard."

"Unfortunately over the past few years her beautified yard has become a hangout for 5 pre-teen boys. Generally they are just an annoyance by making good amount of noise, moving stuff around and leaving behind trash."

"On a side note their language is a river of filth that would make even a drunken sailor blush. Well, on this particular occasion my neighbor was not home and it was raining, the boys arrived in her backyard along the trail and began crawling around I suppose looking for worms for fishing. Then they started turning over her landscape rocks off the trail in her yard."

"I finally went out to try to get rid of them when they found it amusing to roll her large landscape rocks into the lake."

"When I approached the boys and told them to get out of her yard I was told to "shut the **** up", "How about I come out swinging!", and the final "How about I follow you back into your house?". I replied that "that's a GREAT idea, we can call the Police together!". Keep in mind I'm 6'2" and 200+ lbs, these boys are very brazen and have zero respect for my neighbor or either of our properties." "I suggested they go home and was told that they were "not allowed in the house", keep in mind it was RAINING on this particular day."

"This is a VERY typical encounter with this group of boys that happens far too often. I'm sure they are causing trouble all around the lake." "Anyway, I'm beginning to capture their escapades on camera, I figure it is only a matter of time before they doing something that causes serious damage." 8) Early Mon, 30 June 08-I forgot to mention terra cotta figurines (red clay decorative yard pieces) were taken from 2 yards (1 on Aragorn & 1 on Baggins Rd.) during the first night of the fence vandalism in the Baggins Road/Strider Court area. They were smashed in the middle of the Baggins Road/Aragorn Ct. intersection. 9) A while back Regina had requested names of reliable plumbers and/or handymen. I will put in the "general section" in future reports. Thanks, guys, for your help! Here is the list: a) http://www.alphaplumbing.biz/ from Marie. She works at Nationwide and says they haven't gotten any complaints. b) www.SERVPROofTowson.com from Keith in Harmans Farms. c) Mario in Ridge Forest sent this: "I had a handyman come and do some external repairs on my house, and he was great. Good work, and very reasonable. His name is Jim, and he's the owner of "America's Handyman" services. He can be reached at (410) 418-8779." d) Kajal sent this: "I know a handyman his name is Mike Van 410-375-6860. (They do excellent Job they are working for a big construction company but they do side work.)" e) Cindy from the Provinces sent this: "I know a good plumber. His name is Rob McCauley. His # is 410-693-5280." 10) Mario over in Ridge Forest also recommended some other good services:

"There's another company that I use that I would highly recommend. Tom's Painting, Pressure Washing & Cleaning Service. They did some pressure washing for me; did my whole house, the deck, etc. and was very good. He can be reached at (410) 519-6062. His wife, by the way, owns "Bounce Around" near BWI in Linthicum, in case anyone wants to call him to set up a birthday party there or something. It's a huge inflatable indoor playground."

"Finally, if anyone needs a GREAT landscaper, I recommend Miguel Sanchez, of MAS Landscaping. Incredible job and great prices; but it does come at a price. He gets backed up quite a bit, so expect the turnaround to take a little while. But for me, it was worth the wait. People compliment my lawn and landscaping all the time, and he did it all. He did the layout, selected the right bushes and shrubs, did all the mulch work, and finished it up. His number is: (410) 562-4007."

General Items: 1) The Goddard School, 7538 Teague Road, Hanover, MD 21076 (owner Dipti Singh). Please visit Hanovermd@goddardschools.com or 410-684-2601 1) Landscaping Services-John Bridges (community resident). Please call 410-519-9602 or 443-794-8138. By the way, he employs at least one of our neighborhood kids. 2) Mike's Auto Repair (410-850-0999) at7466 New Ridge Road, Suite 7, Hanover, MD 21076 (next group of buildings on the left after the post office, going north toward the airport rental car facility) 3) Tree Cutting Service (410-859-0932) Please call Wayne Dixon. 4) Harmans Woods News blog at http://therealharmanwoodsnews.blogspot.com/. Liz Greene is back with the Harmans Woods News. She can be e-mailed at lizgreene52@yahoo.com. It serves the Hanover, Harmans, Jessup and Severn communities. 5) Tutoring all subjects (410-551-8839 or 443-854-1390) Please call Liz Greene or e-mail lizgreene52@yahoo.com. 6) BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport Noise Complaint telephone number 410-859-7021 to report aircraft noise and specific overflights. Please note the specific time and as much detailed information as possible. Please let me know too. 7) Street light out? Lost power in your house or neighborhood? Please call BGE at 410-685-0123 to report. 8) Animal Control (410-222-8900) 9) Anne Arundel County website is located at http://www.aacounty.org. Good place to go to find out about any county agency or question. You can also get to the Anne Arundel County Police website from here. 10) County Roads (410-222-7940) to call in any county roads needing patching. They also handle trash/litter pick up along county roads. 11) State Roads (410-766-3770) to call in state roads (any roads with highway numbers MD170, MD175, MD713 Ridge Road) to include road patching, traffic lights out, etc. 12) Going on vacation or on a business trip? Please call 410-222-8610 to have your house put on the "police watch" while you are gone. It only takes a couple of minutes and gives our communities an additional police patrol. 13) 3 websites to verify/check out the latest (and all previous lists) urban legends, folklore, or rumors. Anytime you hear some new shocking story about gangs, etc., please go there first before you send out an e-mail to other folks, family, or friends: www.snopes.com www.urbanlegends.about.com www.truthorfiction.com 14) Please call 911 or 410-222-8610 to report any suspicious persons, vehicles, or activities (day or night). Thank you for your support and keep the info coming!