Eagle Eyes (Forest Hills Grid 18)

November 2009

11/4/09     The Hillsborough County BOCC voted unanimously to not further pursue the use of a portion of the Floriland Mall Office Complex as a shelter for the homeless.

 

11/3/09      Effective this date, the re-vamped safety features for the pedestrian crosswalk on Linebaugh in front of Forest Hills Presbyterian Church are all in place. The city traffic control department would not place flashing lights there, but agreed to make the following changes instead:

1)      Replace existing incandescent traffic signal with brighter LED traffic signal  (overhead)

2)      Added side mounted LED traffic signals on poles in both east and west bound direction, to assist in visibility of the

         the traffic signal in glare conditions

3)       Replaced existing 7 second pedestrian crossing countdown timers with new 17 second countdown timers

4)      Placed signs indicating 15mph drop down speed (during intake and dismissal hours) approx. 300 feet to the east and west of the crosswalk.

5)      Placed signs advising “Speeding Fines Doubled”  to go along with the new 15mph speed drop down signs.

 

                                                        GOOD GRIEF!                    WHERE DID OCTOBER GO????

 

Now begins the race. The next 2 months should be for relaxing and enjoying friends and family, but instead they seem to bring hurry, short tempers and feelings of “I CAN’T BE EVERYWHERE AT ONCE!!”  The truth is, you can’t be everywhere at once, so don’t even try -- just savor each moment, one by one.   Enjoy the family revelry. Revive some old traditions; make some new ones.

 

 Just don’t throw caution to the wind.

 

 While you are receiving company for the season – for football parties, holiday dinners, etc – remember to not become complacent in matters of safety.  While you’re in the back yard watching that turkey grill, or while you have the surround sound set on “stadium effect” for the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with the volume cranked, the bad guys may be rifling through your guests’ unlocked cars in the front of the house. So please ------ remind your guests to keep their cars locked, with the windows rolled up, and to not leave any valuables in sight. Have them set their alarms, as well. And have somebody walk out front, occasionally – lingering for a few minutes to observe the sights and smells of the holiday, sweep the walkway, or check the oil in the car ---- because simply being seen is a deterrent to crime. In recent years I have seen an influx of strange cars driving slowly down my street during the week of Thanksgiving (it may be innocent, but it just as easily may be somebody looking for a gathering of cars to test out the car doors for a quick heist) and I usually watch closely until they are out of sight, even writing down or memorizing a tag number. That way they know they have been noticed, and hopefully will not return to perpetrate a crime. And if it is innocent, they’ll have another reason to be thankful – that someone is keeping an eye on things in the neighborhood! Let’s all follow that same philosophy – keep our eyes and ears open, and remain vigilant. If everybody does it, we’ll remain a low crime neighborhood

 Since the 4 day Thanksgiving Holiday is often the weekend that people set up their outdoor displays for Christmass, please remember to not leave your garage door open if you can’t keep an eye on it. It’s tempting to keep the garage open for the ease of returning to get more nails, extra extension cords, spare light bulbs. But most burglaries are crimes of opportunity --- let’s not give the criminals the opportunity to make us a victim while we’re busy stringing lights under the eaves or replacing the outlet!

 

 Thanksgiving – have you noticed that this has almost become the forgotten holiday? A lot of folks treat Thanksgiving as if it is a 4 day weekend to simply be rushed through in order to get to the Christmas season. But, in addition to a season of bounty and harvest, it is also a patriotic holiday. So besides the giant blow-up turkey you might place in your front yard, or the team banner you might hang from your front porch for football season ---- it also would be a good and acceptable holiday to fly the flag of our country.

 Since 1863, Thanksgiving has been observed annually in the United States.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that Thanksgiving would be the next to last Thursday of November rather than the last. With the country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought this would give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas. Increasing profits and spending during this period, Roosevelt hoped, would aid bringing the country out of the Depression. At the time, it was considered inappropriate to advertise goods for Christmas until after Thanksgiving (my! how times have changed!!). However, Roosevelt's declaration was not mandatory; twenty-three states went along with this recommendation, and 22 did not. Other states, like Texas, could not decide and took both weeks as government holidays (I like the way they think!). Roosevelt persisted in 1940 to celebrate his "Franksgiving," as it was termed.

The U.S. Congress in 1941 split the difference and established that the Thanksgiving would occur annually on the fourth Thursday of November, which was sometimes the last Thursday and sometimes the next to last.

On November 26^th of that year President Roosevelt signed this bill into US law.

Beginning in 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented the President of the United States with one live turkey and two dressed turkeys. The live turkey is pardoned and lives out the rest of its days on a peaceful farm.

And since 1970, a group of Native Americans and others have held a National Day of Mourning protest on Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

 

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.                 Remember, it's another day to fly the flag.

 

                                            Enjoy the family revelry. Revive some old traditions; make some new ones.

 

                                                                             Just don’t throw caution to the wind.

 

 It’s worth repeating.

 

 

                                            See               you              around           the          turkey            platter