Dear Village Neighbor / Friend,
I might be preaching to the choir with some of what is contained in these weekly enews messages, but hoping you will advise your new neighbors to contact me to be added to this distribution list. Here goes.
1. ...or Continue Cursing the Darkness – Rolling Road was blocked last Thursday evening causing folks to search for alternate routes to get home or to wherever they wanted to go. Why is RR blocked “they” asked only to hear me give the worst ever answer – “I don’t know”. And then I remembered my own words of encouragement for all to be on our West Springfield Village FaceBook Group. So, I go there and post the same question that I had been asked and voila – the answer(s) came back almost immediately. And updates to those answers kept coming in.
I am often asked by some social-media, non-believers to post for about their lost pet, child, or spouse (ok – I added spouse for humor relief). “Why aren’t you in our FB Group?” I asked only to hear “I don’t do social media” or words to that effect. “But aren’t you (they) using social media, but only through a grumpy old man filter?” Makes me wonder just how many of us are in the witness protection program (WPP)?
Our FaceBook Group Moderator Wendi Dorey assured us that you can keep your involvement “secret” by simply not posting stuff. My son told me a couple decades ago that I forfeit a lot of my privacy when I simply turn my computer on. Is that right Mr. Bob Havey? Bob and my son have instructed me on ways to retain a lot of my privacy and to protect against those who would rather not hold a decent job. But I think you’d agree that I live pretty much in the open out there in cyberworld. Yes – I know – I was hacked a while back, but that just might be the price of glory!
As we near the village side streets being resurfaced, the utilities being moved next year along Rolling Road as part of that Widening Project scheduled for two-year work starting in 2024 – we’ll all need access to up-to-date information. Maybe you will be that neighbor who reports a downed tree blocking RR or that vehicle accident that happened soon after the tree was cleared. I don’t like answering folks with “I don’t know”. Light up the darkness.
2. Stolen Vehicles – and if you are on our FaceBook Group – you are already aware that we had 3 cars stolen last Thursday night/very early Friday morning during that heavy downpour. If you aren’t a member, this may be news to you. There in the comments you’ll find some preventative security measures to include this one shared by Toby Latham: SAPD: Car thieves using technology to hack key fobs, steal vehicles - YouTube. Kathy D’Amato offered another preventative measure (radio frequency identification or RFID pouches or boxes) that can be found on Amazon and surely at other stores or sites. Another suggested a simple aluminum foil pouch to store your car keys and yet another suggested putting your keys into your refrigerator to prevent the scanning devices from picking up their signal. If any of this is news to you – light a candle! Go to FaceBook, log in, and then search for West Springfield Village and then request to join 643 others in the group. It is a closed group to help retain our privacy and to block unwanted promotions or business ads, but not closed to you. Thanks again to Wendi Dorey, our FB Group Moderator.
3. Water Line Leaking - possibly due to recent water main work. We have one home that now has a waterline leak that may have been caused by the heavy equipment used for the recent water main repairs or it could be simply coincidental. Anyone else have similar issues and if so – what remedial action have you taken? Fairfax County Water Authority doesn’t seem interested in any accountability and maybe, just maybe they aren’t responsible.
We do have sewer line and water line coverage available from Home Serve through Dominion Energy (our electrical provider). Some, including me have gone online trying to update our policy only to find neither sewer nor water line coverage offered to our zip code. They are, but you’ll have to call Home Serve at 855/336-2465 to obtain coverage or to update as I just did by adding water line from street-side meter to home.
4. Lake Accotink Dam Stream Crossing Project – the walking/jogging and biking trail will soon be closed or closed now just below the dam spillway for the construction that is to improve about 300 feet of the trail and add 325 linear feet of elevated concrete pedestrian crossing over the dam spillway. Project began 6 June and expected to be completed in March 2023.
Total project cost is just over $3.0 million or about $5K per linear foot of work. This rivals that $1.0 million pedestrian bridge that was installed just beside Huntsman just north of Old Keene Mill Road. I am now feeling good about bridging over 30 meters over the Zab River in northern Iraq for a mere couple hundred thousand. Yes – the bedrock anchor on one side fell into the river, but it still was a very capable heavy transport bridge that undoubtedly is still there and in use today.
More information to include a project map can be found at Lake Accotink Dam Stream Crossing Project Set for Summer | Park Authority (fairfaxcounty.gov).
5. Calendar:
- 10 June Last Day of School (Early Release)
- 19 June Father’s Day
- 19 June Juneteenth
- 23 July Secure Document Shredding at Rolling Valley Kiss & Ride
6. Joyous Family News:
- Birth – Glenn & Dianna DeMarr announced that their daughter Anna and her husband Randy just welcomed their first child, Miss Ellie Grace. Baby, mom and even dad are doing well.
- Birthday – Grandpa Glenn DeMarr also celebrated his own birthday soon after Ellie was born. Glenn & Dianna are those neighbors who go out of their way to help others.
- Anniversary – former CAWSV President Henry Butler and his lovely bride, Sherry celebrated 49 years of their wonderful journey. You might know that Sherry threw in with Dick Denny when he took on the CAWSV all by himself some 20+ years ago. And with Sherry involved, we also had access to Henry’s knowledge of the village and our CAWSV. They are apparently good for each other and certainly were and are good still for our civic association.
7. Slow Down / Drive Even More Carefully - Not wanting to sound like a broken record, but our children begin their summer school break with an early release tomorrow (10 June). Please drive even more carefully knowing that they will be overjoyed and probably not as attentive to traffic dangers as we want them to be.
OK - to be honest about the bridge story – we (DOD and US AID/OFDA DART) contracted that Zab River bridge project with the Save the Children Fund (SCF - Australia). And we (USA) found, refurbished, transported, and provided an old English Bailey Bridge set dumped near the Iranian border for the project. Before the bridge we had to cross the Zab using a tractor-pulled ferry causing many of us to pray as we crossed downstream over a wider and slower-moving channel. I challenge any of you to top that story as long as it is shareable over your name in future enews editions. Embellishments of actual events are fair as long as also entertaining.
John Cooley
CAWSV