David's Anthem Journal

Coming Up: An Evening Of World-Class Comedy

 

Two of the most accomplished stand-up comics working in Las Vegas have been booked for Freedom Hall on Friday evening, January 13, and I’ve just learned that the early-bird price of $12.00 per ticket is being extended through Tuesday.

Buy your tickets at the Anthem Center Concierge Desk.

 

 

Cork Proctor is almost a household name in Las Vegas. A comedian, actor, emcee, game show host and popular celebrity roaster, he has an encyclopedic memory for names, details and places that enables him to engage audience members on current events and many other pertinent subjects.

Proctor has performed in showrooms in Las Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City and Lake Tahoe, and has opened for such stars as the Supremes, Roberta Flack and Mel Tillis. He has also appeared in guest roles on many TV shows and in movies with Clint Eastwood and Lloyd Bridges.

Hailing from South Carolina, Chris Pendleton is about as “down home” as you can get, having been labeled as a southern Roseanne with fried chicken and grits.

Pendleton’s topics cover the gamut from stories in the news to the single life, the challenges of two people in marriage, coping with weight gain, and much more. The holder of a Masters Degree in Biochemistry (go figure that one out), she has made many TV appearances and is a headliner at comedy clubs throughout the nation.

Here is a promotional video for the show:

 

 

Evening Freezes Coming. Take Precautions Now

 

Several years ago, we had a hard freeze that caused many of our residents’ water lines to break, with resultant costs as high as $350 if a contractor was hired to make the repairs.

Accordingly, Foundation Assisting Seniors President Favil West has asked that the following public service announcement be published:

A public service announcement from the Foundation Assisting Seniors.

A freeze warning has been issued for the Las Vegas valley. According to the news, temperatures could drop into the 20’s overnight. The weather service said a freeze warning is issued when the temperature dips low enough to kill crops and sensitive vegetation.

Pets and delicate plants should be brought indoors and automatic sprinklers set to run any time between 10 p.m. and 9 a.m. the next day should be turned off, they said.

Those of you who were here several years ago when the temperature dropped into the 20’s will recall that many water supply and sprinkler supply lines that were not wrapped froze and burst.

I strongly recommend that you wrap your anti-siphon vacuum breaker valves with either a towel or purchase an inexpensive insulated sleeve. You should disconnect your hose from the hose bib and wrap it as well.

Favil West,

The Foundation Assisting Seniors.

Bob Frank: Paranoia on Parade

 

From an online dictionary:

Paranoia: An unfounded or exaggerated distrust of others, sometimes reaching delusional proportions. Paranoid individuals constantly suspect the motives of those around them, and believe that certain groups of individuals, or people in general, are “out to get them.”

As I’ve observed Bob Frank in the years since 2006 when I came to know him, I think I’ve finally put my finger on what it is that makes him so different from perhaps 99 percent of our Sun City Anthem residents.

Most of us accept the premise that goodness, not evil, is the most fundamental defining element of human nature. You will find this to be the dominant concept in the “good vs. evil” dichotomy, going all the way back to Mencius, a leading follower of Confucianism, who postulated that goodness is at the core of human nature.

This is how we conduct ourselves in our daily lives. We assume that those whose paths cross ours are good-hearted, well-meaning people who want only the best for themselves and for us. Because of this initial trust that we give to others and receive back from them, we are able to make many friends whose own interactions with us enrich our lives and, as in the case of this community, bring us the joys of friendship, camaraderie, and working together toward common goals.

In some cases, we are disappointed when those in whom we place our trust disappoint us or turn out to be something different from who we thought they were.

But even then, the relationship begins with trust, and that trust has to be violated in order for us to see that not everyone is as well-intentioned as we would wish.

I don’t believe Bob Frank sees things that way. In his world, anyone who does not share his views on a variety of subjects is accused by him of, among other things, having ulterior motives; being “grossly negligent;” committing criminal acts; stupidity; incompetency; and much more.

Bob’s comments about our current Board election process, made during Member Comment Period at the April 28 Board meeting, showed his paranoia in full flower.

His comments about the things he believes place SCA at risk for not having a fair election seemed to imply that our paid management and/or current Board members have an interest in manipulating the outcome so that he and perhaps others will be prevented from securing enough votes to win election.

He suggested that “someone” could hold up the outer envelope, in which the inner envelopes containing the ballot is enclosed, and be able to see the ballots –with the names chosen for election- through the two envelopes.

When I asked Bob after the Board meeting how anyone could see the actual ballots through two envelopes, his reply was that it is possible if a flashlight is used when holding up the outer envelope.

So now we have the image of a nefarious agent, who wants to keep Bob Frank from winning election, holding up the envelopes in front of a flashlight and somehow disposing of envelopes containing ballots with the “wrong” candidate names on them.

Mr. Frank also challenged the quality of the locks on the ballot boxes, which he asserts can easily be tampered with after the recreation centers close at night, and he has hinted on several occasions that management has the means to make selected ballot envelopes “disappear.”

He is careful to say he is not alleging that actual fraud has been committed, but he is worried about it because of his implied belief that current and outgoing Board members and management personnel will do anything to keep him from winning his election.

Last year the complaints were that SCA used a third party to handle the election process, so apparently you can’t win with Mr. Frank.

On another occasion, Bob Frank has written of his belief that people with nefarious motives could “stuff” the ballot boxes with envelopes from homeowners who have not actually voted.

Bob may not understand why it is impossible to do this.

Each outer envelope sent to homeowners contains the name of an owner and the street address of the owner to whom the ballot package was mailed. But the outer envelope ALSO contains a unique, computer generated code that has to be matched up with a master list of the codes and the addresses the packages were mailed to before the returned ballots will be accepted.

The computer-generated code is not related to the voter’s name, address and SCA Member ID Number in any way, and there is no discernible pattern to the codes.

Next Monday we should have a fairly smooth ballot-counting process because of the program that matched the unique outer codes to the master list, in effect pre-validating the integrity of the returned envelopes. Then the outer ballot envelopes will be opened in full view of anyone who chooses to view the process in the Delaware Room. The outer envelopes will be separated from the plain inner envelopes containing the actual ballots, a procedure that will prevent anyone from knowing how any owner cast his/her votes. The ballots will be tabulated and the results made available immediately after the candidates or their representatives are notified of the outcome.

Writer and educator Margaret Wheatley has written thusly:

An important value is that we assume good intent. Instead of developing a story about another’s motivation, we try to stop the storyline from developing, and simply assume that there must be a good reason why they just did something hurtful or foolish. It takes mindfulness to stop the stream of judgments that pour from our lips, but when we can stop them, we’ve been well rewarded. People’s motives usually are good, even when they look hurtful or stupid. And if we pause long enough to ask them what they intended, there’s another benefit--we develop a better relationship with them. Working together becomes easier.

---------------

Postscript: I reported above on Bob Frank’s claim that someone with ill intentions could hold up the outer and inner ballot envelopes to a flashlight and be able to discern the contents of one’s ballot.

I asked Bob about this at the conclusion of the April 28 Board meeting, and here is the pertinent part of how he described our conversation in a posting to the Rana Goodman forum:

In spite of my many serious allegations, Berman only asked me why I thought the ballot package could be viewed through two sealed envelopes. I said because anyone can use a bright flashlight shining through most completed ballot packages and see the location of the votes in the ballots.

I asked him if he had checked my claim, and he said "no".

It may be significant that he claimed to have not tested my allegation of unacceptable ballot materials, and that he did not complain about any of my long list of other major allegations of election system vulnerabilities. Perhaps he and Roz know that all of my allegations of election security holes are 100% accurate?

It is important for my readers to understand that I had to practically beg Bob to stop and discuss the question with me, as he initially said he wanted no conversation whatsoever. I did want to ask about his other claims, but he refused to stay and have that conversation. THAT is the part he left out of his post on the Goodman forum.

Was Your Kitec Problem Fixed? Are You Sure?

 

Some Sun City Anthem residents who thought their problems were permanently solved when they had their homes re-plumbed to eliminate their Kitec problem may not yet be out of the woods.

The law firm Kemp, Jones & Coulthard, which served as Class Counsel in the Kitec litigation, sent a letter in early March to SCA homeowners who accepted $7,800 checks from Pulte/Del Webb in late 2006 and early 2007 to apply toward the remediation of their Kitec issue.

In their letter, the law firm says that American Leak Detection, the plumbing company recommended by the developer, may have used plumbing fixtures that contain yellow brass plumbing components similar in nature to those that caused the Kitec-related issues. The firm says the analysis performed by its experts indicates that some homes are in store for a recurrence of the problem, citing one case in SCA where this has already happened.

In its letter, the law firm is offering a free plumbing inspection to determine if a resident's home is experiencing a recurrence of the problem. "The inspection of your home will involve a few small cuts in the walls of your garage to expose the plumbing components," the letter says, with the inspection to take about one hour and to include the repair of the walls.

Residents who received the developer payment and want a reinspection are invited to call the law firm at 385-6000 and talk with Nicole McLeod or one of her associates, who will schedule a visit during the month of April.

Although only American Leak Detection is specifically named in the letter, it would appear that each resident who accepted a check and had the repair done will at least want to verify what components were used in their repairs.

Our work was done by Repipe Specialists, and our paperwork specifies that "high grade low zinc C314 fittings" were used in making our repairs. I called Repipe Specialists to verify that we are safe from risk of a recurrence, and they insisted we are OK. They also said they have had no major follow-up issues with any of the Kitec remediations performed in our community.

This is what Repipe Specialists has to say about the C314 fittings on the company’s website.

If you received a developer's check and had the work done by American Leak Detection, you should call the law firm to schedule an inspection. If you used another company to do the work, you should make every effort to check on what components were used in your job. And if you are in doubt or cannot verify what was done from your records or a phone call, it would be best to call the law firm and arrange to be inspected.

Here is why you may not be off the hook even if you didn't use American Leak Detection for your Kitec remediation. SCA resident Ken Andersen is probably our community's top expert on the subject, and  Ken had this to say when I asked him to contribute to this article:

American Leak Detection was not the only contractor who failed to use the proper materials for re-piping homes in SCA.
We found that the "Sharkbite" fittings which were used by ALD were cast using an alloy with a trace quantity of toxic chemical (Arsenic) which positively impacted the "dezincification" problem. However the fittings were subject to another failure mode.

We observed a number of contractors who, through ignorance or their economic advantage, chose to use the failing C360 brass fittings. The new C316 brass fittings were roughly $300 per home more expensive than the failing C360 fittings. When asked, they would advise the homeowner they installed new fittings and the homeowner was left to assume they used the proper materials.

In large measure Wirsbo was responsible for this tragedy because they failed to adequately inform their distributors and promptly recall the the failing C360 fittings from the market.

Unfortunately, many owners had their homes re-plumbed with materials no better than the failed original.

Mailbox Break-Ins

According to a note left in some Mountain View Village mailboxes by a letter carrier on Saturday (Aug. 28), several mailboxes in that village were broken into on August 27.

It appears that at least four mailboxes were forced open: Two on Libretto, one on Capriccio, and one on Couperin.

I spoke with one of the residents whose mailbox was broken into. She said it appeared to have been pried open with a tool such as a screwdriver. She also said a neighbor told her he took down the license number of a utility vehicle parked near a mailbox after he saw several suspicious-looking “workmen” standing in the vicinity.

Since this report is based only on preliminary information, readers who have additional personal knowledge or wish to offer clarifications are invited to do so.

Meanwhile, remember that it is important for residents to keep an eye open for suspicious activity in their neighborhoods. The common advice is not to confront suspicious individuals, but to take down identifying information such as license plate numbers and vehicle descriptions, and then to call the police.

 

Barry Friedman Dies

Barry Friedman’s son Alan reports that Barry passed away Wednesday afternoon, August 18, at 1:05 p.m. in his home while attended by family and his closest friends.

A remembrance will be held in the Anthem Center ballroom on Sunday, August 22, at 10 a.m. Dress is causal, as his family wishes to celebrate his life and accomplishments at Barry's commemoration.

More information to follow tomorrow on arrangements, and of course this blog will follow up with a suitable tribute to Barry.

Resident Contacts Urged on Pit Mine Bill

Editor’s Note: On behalf of the Sun City Anthem team leading the opposition to the Sloan pit mine proposal, George Meese has issued the following urgent notice to residents. Your support, as requested at this time, is urgently needed to help assure that the bills taking the land identified for the mining site is taken out of consideration in perpetuity.

OPEN PUT MINE UPDATE

At a meeting at Senator Harry Reid’s Office with Aide Sara Moffat last week, we discussed what Anthem residents could do to show our support for Senate Bill 3313, introduced by Senator Reid that would eliminate forever the possibility of the development of an Open Pit Mine or any similar activity on the 640 acres near Sun City Anthem.

It is important to all of us to get this bill out of committee and signed into law. The hearing on the bill is set for June 16, 2010. If, for any reason, this bill should fail to pass, then it is possible that the Bureau of Land Management could decide that the Open Pit Mine could be developed, if not now, some time later. This bill prohibits any such development now and in the future.

Once again, the Sun City Anthem Task Force is asking residents to send an Email or a letter to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, voicing your opposition to the mine and the reason or reasons for your opposition.

Because there is a similar bill (5219) in the House of Representatives authored by Congressman Dean Heller, we ask that you send a similar Email or letter to the Chairman of the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Congressman Nick Rahall. Although the House bill has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, no date for a hearing has been set.

Below are the Email addresses and mailing addresses for the Chairman of the Senate Committee, Jeff Bingaman.

Email address: Senator_Bingaman@Bingaman.senate.gov

Mailing Address: The Honorable Jeff Bingaman

United States Senate

Washington DC 20510

How to send an Email to Congressman Nick Rahall:

Go to Web Site: www.rahall.house.gov

Then go to Email Me (right hand side of web site)

We also suggest you write a note or Email to Senator Harry Reid, thanking him for introducing his Senate Bill 3313. www.Reid.Senate.gov (then go to contact).

A thank you note to Congressman Heller for his Bill 5219 would also be in order. If you live in area code 89044, you can Email Congressman Heller by going to Web site www.Heller.house.com, (then go to contact). If you live in other than 89044 please write to Congressman Dean Heller, 600 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Suite 680, Las Vegas. NV, 89101.

Let’s all do our part and put this Open Pit Mine problem behind us once and for all.

 

Breaking News on BLM Mining Bill

Readers: Important news forwarded by George Meese of the SCA team leading the opposition to the Sloan Open Pit mining application --

Bulletin from the Sun City Anthem Task Force regarding the Open Pit Mine:

Sara Moffat, aide to Senator Harry Reid, called today to say that Senator Reid’s Bill, Senate Bill 3313, has been scheduled for hearing before the Energy & Natural Resources Committee on June 16, 2010. She has asked the Task Force and other interested parties, including the SCA Democratic SIG, to submit written testimony stating reasons for our opposition to the Open Pit Mine. When asked if messages from residents would be of some help, she replied that all messages of concern regarding the mine would be helpful.

Residents should direct their opposition views to:

Senator Jeff Bingaman

Email Address: Senator_Bingaman@Bingaman.senate.gov.

Now is the time for all of us who have written to Senator Reid and other elected officials, and those that have not yet written opposition messages, to send your information to the above Email Address.

It looks like we’re on the last lap. Let’s put our best effort forward to rid our community of the threat from the kind of undesirable activity and consequences an Open Pit Mine would bring.

Security Alert – May 8, 2010

The following incident was reported to the Security Patrol by a Patrol member who is also a neighborhood watch coordinator.

Additional information. The BMW HPD was looking for had California plates.

Joe Mihalich

Chief, SCASP

I just left the Police who responded to an attempted break-in on Fieldbrook around 12 noon, today.

The perpetrator knocked at the door, after getting no response, the perp  used a grinding tool, which broke the glass on the entry door. The resident heard the breaking glass and screamed, called 911. The resident saw nothing when she ran into the street.

The police response was immediate because
the police were  at 7 Hills responding to a break-in. The perps at 7 Hills were in
a black or dark blue  BMW, with 2-3 people in vehicle. One had dreadlocks.

These may be isolated incidents, but we must remember to be alert.

A note from the Neighborhood Watch Police: If you are home when some unknown
person rings your bell or knocks at your door, call out to let them know that someone is home, BUT DO NOT open the door. (Most of the time these people are checking to see if no one is home.) You might say: "No solicitors are allowed in our community and I have called the police." Then call
the police to give any description you can give.

Remember: Call police, FIRST 911- emergency/crime in progress, or 311- non-emergency - suspicious sightings
Call Security, Second - 614-6751
Call your Block Captain
--
Striving for a safer community.

Breaking News: Board Votes to Halt Current Election Process and Start Over

Editor’s Note: This report is compiled from interviews conducted with several people who attended the emergency Board of Directors meeting conducted today (Apr. 14) to deal with concerns about flaws in the Board election process. This reporter was unable to attend the meeting.

---------------

Accompanied by a lively discussion among those attending the emergency Board meeting in the Greene Room at Anthem Center, the Board voted to cancel the current election process and begin the voting anew. The vote was 5-0, with directors Dan Forgeron and Carl Weinstein abstaining because they are candidates in the election.

Important: If you are a homeowner who has not yet voted, do not submit a ballot from the package you received, as it will not be counted.

Some who attended the meeting were seeking explanations for what went wrong and information about who is to blame and how additional costs for a “re-do” of the election will be allocated.

The Board’s vote was to have The Ballot Box company, which is administering the election and vote count, send out new, revised ballot packages on April 29, with a ballot-return deadline of May 14.

The major concern was raised by candidate Lyndall Ruiz due to the fact that only one side of her two-sided flier was included in the ballot package. In addition, candidate Kay Frank said that her flier had been altered without her permission; several fliers had the information for one candidate on one side of a sheet and information for a different candidate on the reverse side; Dan Forgeron’s name was misspelled on the ballot.

Board President Jack Troia made it clear that the purpose of the emergency meeting was to take action to re-do the election as soon as possible, and he resisted the demands of several in the meeting room, including Bob and Kay Frank, Richard Arendt, Norman McCullough and Nelson Orth to use the this meeting as a place to assign blame and make a definitive judgment as to where the fault lies, whether it is shared fault, and what it might cost.

“We are not sweeping the matter under the rug,” Troia told me.  “There will be plenty of time to examine the sequence of events in detail, and I can assure our homeowners that we will do that. But the purpose of today’s emergency meeting was to get the election process back on track as quickly as possible.”

After the meeting concluded, Bob and Kay Frank endeavored without success to persuade candidate Lyndall Ruiz to travel to the Real Estate Division Ombudsman’s Office on Thursday to file complaints in person. Ruiz said she would not participate in filing a complaint because she believed the Board had acted forthrightly and sincerely to provide the relief she had sought –a completely new election- in order to redress her grievance.

After the meeting, Lyndall Ruiz submitted the following statement for publication:

I am gratified that the Board of Directors voted today in an Emergency Board Meeting to entirely redo the Election Ballot Mailings.

I am confident that the Board will take appropriate actions to remedy the problems, and address the issues that I have raised.

I want to thank the Board for the decision made today. I am pleased that the new procedures/policies/document reviews and quality control processes are in place going forward.

Thank you!

Lyndall Ruiz