1. CAWSV Membership – Thank you for joining our civic association or for renewing your membership. You are paid in full and should have received an email receipt. Let me know if we missed you. We do ask that all help spread the word especially to the new neighbors.
2. Your Next CAWSV President – OK – Without hearing any opposition and now by unanimous consent Jeff Fasceski (jeffdf@gmail.com) will be your next President of our Civic Association. Yes - we’ll still vote at the 7:30 PM, 13 October meeting but hope that to be just a formality. Expect that meeting will be again on my front porch or some form of online meeting if the weather does not cooperate. Besides voting on your next Board of Directors, we will also vote to ratify the FY22 Audit and vote again to approve a FY23 Budget Proposal with markups as necessary. Please note that Executive Council members are appointed by the BOD – no vote required.
3. Change to Email Addresses – please forget my john.t.cooley@verizon.net address. Anything related to the CAWSV should now be sent only to President@westspringfieldvillage.org. At some point, Bob Havey (our website guru) will switch that address account over to Jeff Fasceski – your next President of the CAWSV. Same address, but a different recipient.
Anything meant for me should now be sent only to john.t.cooley@gmail.com. My Verizon account which has become a real magnet for scams, political appeals for money and other unwanted emails will soon be terminated.
4. Crime Prevention – from a well-respected member of our CAWSV who is also involved with the FCPD: I’m certain you have heard about the recent thefts from people’s cars or the actual cars in our neighborhood. It boils down to something extremely simple – lock your cars whenever you go into the house day or night and don’t leave any possessions in plain view! Victims are always surprised when their things are stolen even though they had left them in plain sight and unprotected.
5. Check Fraud and Debit Card SCAM – Another neighbor who is also well respected reported that he was a target of check fraud last week. Two of our check payments were stolen from the collection box in front of the Springfield Post Office on Rolling Road back in June. Yep, the one next to the police station. One was altered and presented for collection in the amount of $24,000.00 last week! Fortunately, the bank protection systems worked and asked me if we had written such a check.
The following day someone called pretending to be from our bank and said our debit card had been compromised. Having just returned from out-patient surgery I was still under the influence of the anesthetic and, of course, not thinking clearly. Contrary to what Bob Harvey and many others consistently warn, in this time of particular stress and especially after the check fraud of the day before, we gave up critical information. Fortunately, my brain fog cleared quickly enough for me to contact the bank and freeze all our accounts. We’ve suffered no monetary loss, but the strain and anxiety and the work needed to reestablish our bank relationship have been considerable for many days.
The important point here is the astounding amount of information the scammer already had and successfully used to lull us into cooperating with her. Just a word to the wise – listen to those who have been telling us “Don’t click on links in emails and don’t give up any identifying information via phone or email” until you are absolutely sure of the source. Better yet, call your bank, streaming service provider, grandchild, medical service or whoever the caller pretends to be to check things out. Oh, and don’t attempt any financial decisions for at least 24 hours after surgery! Finally, please review Bob Harvey’s guidance and advice in the 4 August 22 eNews.
6. Even Your CAWSV Has Been Targeted – Paypal reports an ongoing issue that fraudsters are using PayPal's platform through “payment requests” to victimize PayPal customers as they did our CAWSV account. PayPal assured us that we will not be charged with that ($699.99) request as long as we did not click on the "Pay Now" button. They asked for the email notice we received from this Hoodlum to be sent to phishing@paypal.com so they can block the email from where the payment request came.
And then PayPal wanted to share a couple of tips on how to identify fake/phishing invoice/payment request. For future reference:
- Greeting part says "Hello, Civic Association of West Springfield Village". With PayPal we always greet our customers with their first and last name.
- Phone number on a fake/phishing invoice, PayPal never place our phone number on our email because our customers know how to get our number and that is through our website at www.paypal.com scroll down and click "Contact".
- And do not to contact a number from a suspicious email unless you want to talk with a scammer.
7. For Sale - Two Propel TILTtm + WiFi quad-copter model drones. Batteries, chargers, mini-cameras and spare rotor blades and one instruction booklet included. $25.00 each or the pair for $45.00. Used, but not much. Great beginner drones. If interested contact Dan Emrick at dsemrick@protonmail.com
8. New Girl Scout Troop - Natalie Regan (Greenview) and Kirstin O'Connor (Vienna) are starting a new Girl Scout troop. A brand-new third-grade Brownie troop is starting up at Keene Mill Elementary, and we're looking for additional girls! Our plan is to meet on one Tuesday evening and go on one field trip per month. If your daughter is (or might be!) interested, please contact Kirstin (kirstinkoconnor@gmail.com) or Natalie Regan (natalie.perl.regan@gmail.com).
9. Oktoberfest – this Saturday (weather permitting), 1 October from 12 noon - 6:00 PM at the Village West Swimming Pool. Summer may be over, but the pool fun is not! This is a fun family event; come join us for great food and drink, live music, games, contests, kids' activities, and raffles! For more info, check out the flyer at the Oktoberfest tab at www.villagewestpool.com. Discounted presale tickets for meals and raffle tickets are available on the website through today, Thursday, 29 September. Tickets will also be available at the door for event entry, raffle tickets, meal deals, and a la carte food and beverage purchases.
Questions, email villagewestpool@gmail.com. This was a ton of fun last year and expect it will be even better this year. Come check it out!
But do keep an eye on that website for weather decisions. There you will find the contingency plans if the rain does come as forecasted.
10. Calendar:
- 1 October – Oktoberfest, 12 noon – 6:00 PM (see article above)
- 10 October – Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day
- 13 October – General Membership Meeting (elect new Board of Directors, ratify FY22 Audit, Pass FY23 Budget with markups as needed.
- 1 November – FY23 Membership Drive ends even though residents can still join anytime during the Fiscal Year.
- 8 November – Election Day - maybe then the emails and phone calls will stop.
- 11 November – Veterans Day
11. Free – Y’all come get this stuff and a whole lot more!
- One queen bed complete with frame, box spring and mattress.
- Two twin beds, both suitable for toddlers given their side rails. Bed, frame, side rails, and stain-free mattresses. These two can be stacked for bunk beds.
- 2 Chests of drawers suitable for garage stuff or for kids’ toys
- And lots, lots more – come have a walk through to see it all! 8131 Edmonton Court. Email john.t.cooley@verizon.net or call 703/451-7055, or text 703/628-3613 to arrange day/time to come have a look to see what you may want.
12. ECHO - needs donations of meals and toys for the holidays. Also, PFC Liam May, Community Outreach Officer of the Fairfax County Police Department’s West Springfield Station, is holding a Food Drive to benefit ECHO in honor of National Faith and Blue Weekend. Faith and Blue is an effort to create strong relationships between local police and the faith communities where they serve. Officer May’s Food Drive will be at the Cardinal Forest Giant, 8320 Old Keene Mill Road, on Saturday, 8 October from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Non-perishable foods are always needed, but ECHO’s special needs are for laundry and dish detergents.
Check out their website at echo-inc.org to see discussions about the above and more:
- ECHO Gets Ready for the Holidays!
- ECHO Fall Yard Sale! – 29 October
- ECHO Now Collecting Winter Clothing
- Special Volunteers Needed
Surely there are mistakes and gotchas in this edition, but time is becoming even more precious. Please forgive the errors.
John Cooley
CAWSV