Vol. 20 Newsletter of the Mt. Paran-Northside Citizens Association, Inc. July 2003

By Mary Louise Floyd President, Mount Paran Woods Garden Club

Jo Ann Rau

SAVE THE DATE for the Fourth Annual

Mt. Paran-Northside Citizens Association Neighborhood Social

to be held Sunday Evening, September 21 at the Fabulous Home of a Harris Trail Neighbor

Details and an Invitation will Follow.

The

CITIZEN’S REVIEW

Pocket Park Transformation Increases Neighborhood Pride

A year ago the West Conway-Broadland pocket park had lost its shade trees and landscaping to a violent spring storm. Now it preens in its new beauty. Thanks to dona-tions from West Conway-Broadland residents, our Citizens Association, and the Mount Paran Woods Garden Club, the $17,000 project will be completed before the year’s end. What you see now is the result of nine months’ planning by the garden club. A stacked-stone wall retains enriched soil in which a fifteen-foot white oak is centered. Also added are four chaste trees and two dogwoods. At the tips of the triangle are clusters of crape myrtles. This fall six witch hazels, two black gum trees, and two camellia bushes will be planted to complete the plan. The viability of this design is assured by a new irrigation system. Garden club members Louise McDermott, Roberta Foley, Janie Merrill, Olivia Evans, and Mary Louise Floyd se-lected the tree and shrub species after consulting the At-lanta Botanical Gardens for hardiness, variety, and year-round color. Because this is a city-owned park and a traffic island, the design had to meet rigid city specifications. The design was drawn and supervised by Associated Environ-mental Landscape’s Ryan Henderson. Because of this project’s extraordinary and unanticipated cost, the garden club sought neighborhood financial assis-

Thank you neighbors! Months of planning and tax-deductible

donations make project possible.

Mount Paran Woods Garden Club thanks community resi-dents for sharing our pride in this community. Through dues and an annual fundraiser the garden club spends $5,460 annually to maintain and plant seasonal color in our neighborhood’s three pocket parks. Member Charlotte Day was the 2003 Southeastern Flower Show chairman, and our club was awarded the trophy for the most volun-teer hours to the Flower Show. If you are interested in joining this community service organization, call Julie Bennett, membership chairman, (

tance. Debbie Leet, Angi Evert, Ruth Anthony, and Susan Smith wrote 200 letters to West Conway-Broadland resi-dents explaining the project and asking for tax-deductible donations. Because forty-two of these residents and our Citizens Association responded with $7,030, the project was made possible this year. Individual garden club mem-bers donated an additional $6150. Karen and Glen Sturm financed the construction of the wall, but some of the labor by Bildon Construction was donated. The Sturms were able to get donated materials from Fieldstone and Lummus Building Supplies. The project’s $4000 balance was raised by the garden club’s highly successful annual fundraiser, a Treasures Sale held April 25 and 26 at Holy Spirit’s St. Jo-seph’s Center. This fundraiser was chaired by Marty Gillin and Olivia Evans, and assisted by Cheryl Beckham, Brenda DiCristina, Kathi Harrison, Judy Jones, Maryanne Mooney, Deedra Hughes and Krist Voyles.

For decades, the City of Atlanta billed for the service of solid waste curbside collection on the county property tax bill. Even though the City asked for a chart to be included on the bill to illustrate that this was a fee for service and not a tax, few people noticed.

Five years ago, the Fulton County Tax Col-lector refused to continue to collect Atlanta’s fees along with the property taxes. For four years, the City of Atlanta billed its own fees for solid waste, and did a very bad job for four years of collecting those fees. Many people simply did not pay their solid waste fees because there was not a threat of tax lien. The Solid Waste Fund is under-funded. Now the City had turned these 4 years of bills over to a collection agency and negotiated with the Tax Collector to take the solid waste fees back onto the property tax bill. LOOK FOR THE FEE TO BE ON YOUR PROPERTY TAX BILL THIS YEAR.

The Under-funding is Not All the Sad News The solid waste program is very broken and, for years, the Ex-ecutive Branch took no steps to make a good program. The program is the responsibility of the Executive Branch and the solid waste ordinance is the responsibility of the Legislative Branch. The program and the ordinance should mirror each other. One of the major things wrong is the front footage fee (for sweeping and cleaning vacant lots etc.—services that are performed as needed) that is included on your bill along with the curbside collections fee (a regular, identifiable service). I believe the front footage fee portion should be part of your gen-eral property tax, which is deductible, because those services are not deployed regularly. That would have the effect of lower-ing your solid waste bill, which is not deductible. Additionally, we have had very little public outreach and education and very little enforcement of even the existing, bad ordinance (such as allowing tree cutters to work for a resident and not haul away his limbs but leave for the City to collect). The general rule of thumb has been—you put it out and we pick it up—mattresses, hot water heaters, trees, you name it.

Other Things are Wrong with the Existing Program In the early 1990’s, the City of Atlanta added a recycling ele-ment to the solid waste collection service and added a charge of $30 per year to fund that contracted service. A couple of years later, the City of Atlanta added (because new State law re-quired) another new service—yard trimmings collection. I asked the Executive Branch at the time how much more this new program would cost our residents, and the response was “nothing”. We never funded out the true cost of that service and have never billed for it. (SOME MIGHT SAY, THAT’S OK BECAUSE IT IS PERFORMED SO IRREGULARY.) For years, I have complained that this Solid Waste Fund could never be solvent unless the services rendered were studied and appropriate fees were collected to ensure that the fund remained solvent. I have suggested for years that with the state mandate of not mixing yard trimmings with garbage, the least the City could do is start “volume-based billing” or “pay-as-you-throw” for yard trimmings, because many people would be willing to

home compost and save themselves that money. The existing solid waste ordinance states that the Commissioner of Public Works shall at the beginning of every year set the solid waste fee needed to ensure that the solid waste fund was solvent. In the 14 budgets that I have debated, I remember only one year that this was addressed. Consequently, the General Fund (your property taxes and other franchise revenues) has subsidized for years the Solid Waste Fund.

Fast Forward to the New Administration During the debate of the 2003 Budget, the Council was told that we must increase the solid waste fee by $100 per year for the average bill to make the Solid Waste Fund solvent. I was very unhappy to be “making the fund solvent” by slapping a rate in-crease at payers before improving the program and getting a rate study done. I fought very hard to get that increase put off until the second half of this year. So when you receive your property tax bill this year, your solid waste fee will be back on the tax bill and it will be approximately $50 more than last year.

In the meantime, the City of Atlanta has finally hired a new Pub-lic Works Commissioner, David Scott, and a new Deputy Com-missioner for Solid Waste, Donna Owens, who are hard at work to fix this program before we have to deal with the 2004 Budget. We have completed a rate study, which does tell us how much it costs us to perform the current program. The study pointed out ways to decrease costs in the program. There are inefficiencies (are we surprised?) such as no transfer stations and trucks having to travel all the way to our only land-fill in south Dekalb with 2-3 people on board for the ride before they could return to the resi-dential streets with an empty truck. They also suggested better technologies, such as one-man trucks with mechanical arms to empty the Herbie into the truck. Using this kind of truck would mean no “extra garbage”—only what is in the Herbie is col-lected. This is common in other cities.

To Get Some Improvement for 2003 I have asked that our new Commissioner negotiate with our recy-cling contractor, DreamSanitation, to collect more paper items for no extra cost, as they do for another customer, Decatur. Pa-per is a huge part of the waste stream and can be easily recycled (recovery companies call it “fiber” not “waste”). If we can get this done right away, it will at least be an additional recycling service for the added $50 in 2003, and the City will pay lower tipping fees for garbage at the private landfill that we use.

Clearly a lot of work has to be done to the program and the ordi-nance before the end of this year. I am hoping the program can be righted so that the 2004 Solid Waste Fund does not require the full proposed $100 per year. I have asked this new Public Works team to look at everything from privatizing the department, to dropping some service (such as yard trimming collection that the City never charged for).

By recycling more, composting yard trimmings at home, and “paying-as-you-throw”, the customer could lower his own solid waste bill.

Please let me know your thoughts: cmuller@AtlantaGa.gov

Under-funded Program Cries Out to be Fixed

Solid Waste Bills Change Again

By CLAIR MULLER Atlanta City Council Member, 8th District

Photographs by Mary Ann Kaplan

Garmon Drive Neighbor Hosts Ladies Luncheon

More than 40 neighbors attended the May 15th Ladies Luncheon at the beautifully designed home of Dorothy Mitchell-Leaf. In the house or in the garden, neighbors had a great time welcoming newcomers, getting to know each other and enjoying the glorious buffet.

During the summer months our luncheons are on hiatus. For those new to the neighborhood, catered luncheons are generally planned for fall, winter and spring at a cost of $15. Your check is your res-ervation and everyone is informed in advance via email. If you would like to add your name to our ladies luncheon list, please send your email address to Brenda Smith . Hope to see you at our next luncheon this fall!

Cool Summertime Recipes for Your Garden Herbs and Vegetables

Minted Raspberry Lemonade (1 gallon)

3 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (12-15 lemons) 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh mint 1 cup raspberries, mashed with a fork 1 ½ cups sugar 12 cups water

Stir together all the ingredients until the sugar dissolves. Serve well chilled or over ice. Pour into pitcher and garnish with fresh whole raspberries, sliced lemons and mint leaves.

July Gardening Tips

By PIKE FAMILY NURSERIES

Tomato Pie

4 tomatoes, peeled and sliced 10 fresh basil leaves, chopped ½ cup chopped green onions 1 (9 inch) prebaked deep dish pie shell 1 cup grated mozzarella 1 cup grated cheddar 1 cup mayonnaise Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the tomatoes in a colander in the sink in 1 layer. Sprinkle with salt and allow to drain for 10 minutes.

Layer the tomato slices, basil and onion in pie shell. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Combine the grated cheeses and may-onnaise together. Spread mixture on top of the tomatoes and bake for 30 minutes until lightly browned. Cut into slices and serve warm.

Lemonade with Lemonade Ice Cubes (8 servings)

2 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice 1 cup sugar 1 gallon cold water, or to taste 1 orange, segmented Fresh mint leaves

In a large pitcher, whisk the lemon juice and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add the water to taste. Fill 2 ice cube trays with lemonade and place a mint leaf and a piece of cut up orange segment in each compartment. Reserve the rest in the refrigerator.

Cucumber-Tomato Salsa (6 servings)

2 cucumbers, thinly sliced 2 tomatoes, chopped 3 scallions, thinly sliced 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar 2 teaspoons sesame oil 2 teaspoons minced ginger 1 tablespoon minced jalapeno ¼ cup cilantro leaves 2 tablespoons sugar

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl; serve immediately.

Summer is in full swing! Gardening activities usually slow down as the temperatures continue to climb, but there are always main-tenance chores. The best time to do such chores is early morning or late evening when the sun is not so hot. Remember to drink plenty of water and go inside and take a break when needed.

Conserve moisture. If rain is lacking, practice water-wise horti-cultural techniques. Add another layer of mulch to planting beds and continue to remove weeds that compete for water.

Water an established lawn 1” every 7-10 days. This is typi-cally an hour’s worth of watering. Over-watering produces shal-low root growth, which causes the grass to loose its ability to resist drought-like conditions.

Cut grass slightly higher than normal. This promotes deeper rooting and, therefore, requires less water.

If you feel the need to fertilize in the heat of summer, use water-soluble solutions for plants. Fertilize Bermuda grasses now and then again in August and September. St. Augustine grass can also be fertilized in July.

Deadhead annuals and perennials to encourage continuous blooms and cut back any rampant growth.

Prune back fall-blooming perennials by 1/2 to 1/3, such as As-ters, Chrysanthemums, and Heliopsis. This results in fuller plants in the fall. To encourage flower formation throughout the grow-ing season, continue to deadhead repeat bloomers.

This is a good time to “groom & prune” back fast-growing shrubs such as Privet, Glossy Abelia, Cherry Laurel and Hollies. The new growth will still have time to harden off before winter’s chill arrives.

Plant Fall vegetables. Sow seeds of lettuce, kale, beets, turnips, broccoli, cabbage, radishes, spinach in late July to early August.

If you are still looking for summer color to plant, you are not out of luck. Marigolds, cosmos, vinca (periwinkle), gomphrena, cleome (spider flower), zinnias, purslane and portulaca all do well in the summer heat.

Create a backyard oasis with a stone pathway or pond with ma-terial from Pike’s new Stone & Aquatic Centers.

Control mosquitoes by eliminating all sources of standing water. Empty bird baths weekly and refill with fresh water.

Always remember to have an ample supply of fresh water for pets that remain outside during hot summer days.

July 2003

Continued on the Back Page

Security Patrol Information

The Mt. Paran Security Patrol is a neighborhood-funded patrol staffed by retired Atlanta police officers. The officers patrol our neighborhood and the Randall Mill Civic Association neighbor-hood Monday through Friday and additional weekend hours as crime patterns dictate. To date, there are 410 patrol members, of which 37 live in the Randall Mill Civic As-sociation area. The patrol checks doors and win-dows daily while you are out of town and picks up newspapers. The fee to join the patrol is $200 a year and covers the time period from January 1 to December 31. The fee for new residents will be pro-rated. Subscribers receive a mailbox decal, telephone stickers and access to the security hotline as well as daily surveillance of your house and property. For information on joining, or to meet the patrol officers, call

Be sure to leave a message during off-duty hours and either Officer Cole or Offi-cer Hendrix will call you back.

• Logged 5941 miles patrolling our neighborhood • Made 1664 house checks for traveling subscribers • Responded to 44 alarm calls • Investigated 28 suspicious persons or autos • Investigated 9 incidents of vandalism • Investigated 2 incidents of larceny • Found 1 open door February: A fish tank was taken from a garage on Mt. Paran Road. Mailboxes were damaged on Harris Trail and Randall Mill Road. Checks were stolen, and cashed, from a Conway Valley mailbox. March: Door locks were damaged on a vehicle sitting in an open carport while owner was away. April: Two mailboxes damaged on Glen Devon. May: Mailbox damaged on Sentinel View (Friday night). Several lawns were driven across and damaged during a rainstorm on Paran Pines Drive. One neighbor witnessed the incident and an-other witness wrote down the tag number (see related article). While patrolling the neighborhood, our alert security officer found an open door in a house that was vacant but still contained some items on Monte Carlo. There was no forced entry.

Message from Zone Two Commander J. P. Spillane Zone 2 is the largest of the city’s five police zones, encompassing all of northwest Atlanta from Bolton Road all the way over to the Morningside/Virginia-Highland area. Our neighborhood beat, 201, is the largest in the city. According to Major Spillane beat 201 has gotten too big to patrol with just one officer resulting in difficulty getting to calls. Thus they are redrawing beat lines to increase the number from 10 to 15. (Fortunately our neighborhood security patrol is here to monitor 911 calls and respond immediately during the week.)

Security Patrol Activity

During the four month period of February through May,

The Crime Report The Mt. Paran-Northside Citizens Association produces this public safety report for the benefit of our neighborhood. If you see suspicious activity, or are the victim of a crime, call 911 and then report the details for this newsletter to our Security Patrol ( or Jo Ann Rau

keep the virus from getting into your computer, but it will stop it from using your address book to spread further, and it will alert you to the fact that the worm has gotten into your system.

Continued on the Back Page

Teenage Vandalism: Not a Prank

Neighborhood teens are committing acts of vandalism and their parents may be un-aware. What may seem like “fun” to a teenager can result in very serious and costly offenses.

During a stormy afternoon in early May, a neighborhood teen drove the family SUV over three lawns on a street off of Mt. Paran. A neighbor watched in horror as the large vehicle careened across her front lawn from the yard next door and flew over the curb into the street. Not satisfied with the damage to the properties or the danger to him-self, the teen turned around and did it again! This, he said, was in prepara-tion to drive really fast (hydroplane) through the large puddle of standing water where the storm drain overflows at the corner of Mt. Paran and Senti-nel Post. According to the teen, all his friends do it!

Another neighbor was returning home just in time to witness the vehicle flying over the curb and landing on the opposite side of the street. She waited at the corner and was able to get the tag number of the vehicle that was wreaking havoc on an otherwise quiet, dead-end street. Thanks to the professional manner in which our neighborhood security patrol officer, Doug Cole, handled this serious situation by bringing the teen and his par-ents together with the angry neighbors, no charges were filed.

However, it is critical to note that once the line is crossed from vandalism to second degree criminal damage to property, a felony charge will result in a permanent, lifetime record. For future reference parents and their teens should be aware of the following law.

Georgia Criminal Code 16-7-23. Criminal Damage to property in the sec-ond degree: a) A person commits the offense of criminal damage to property in the

second degree when he: (1) Intentionally damages any property of an-other person without his consent and the damage thereto exceeds $500; (2) Recklessly or intentionally by means of fire or explosives damages property of another person; or (3) With the intent to damage, starts a fire on the land of another without his consent.

b) A person convicted of the offense of criminal damage to property in the second degree will be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years.

Thoughtless acts like the ones described above are not fun and games. Moreover, parents need to be aware of what their teenage drivers are doing during unsupervised hours and remind them of the responsibili-ties that go along with driving.

An Attorney’s Advice… And it’s Free!

The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them. This way, if someone takes your checkbook they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name, but your bank will know how you sign your checks.

When you are writing checks to pay your credit card bills, do not put the complete account number on the “For”

Additional Crime News: Take Responsibility and Prevent Crime

line. List just the last four numbers, your credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check, as it passes through all the check processing channels, won’t have access to it.

Put your work phone number on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box, use that instead of your home address.

Never print your social security num-ber on your checks. You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have it printed, everyone can get it.

Place the content of your wallet on a photocopy machine, do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers you need to call and cancel.

Here is a computer trick that's really ingenious in its sim-plicity. As you may know, when/if a worm virus gets into your computer it heads straight for your email address book, and sends itself to everyone in there, thus infecting all your friends and associates. This trick won't keep the virus from getting into your computer, but it will

How to Protect your Computer Address Book

The elbow is the strongest point of your body. If you are close enough to use it, do! If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won’t see you but everybody else will. This has saved lives.

Got your attention? Good.

I attended a safety workshop, and it jolted me. It was given by an amazing man, Pat Malone, who has been a body guard for famous figures like Farrah Fawcett and Sylvester Stallone. He works for the FBI and teaches po-lice officers and Navy SEALS hand-to-hand combat. This man has seen it all, and knows a lot. He focused his teach-ings to us on HOW TO AVOID BEING THE VICTIM OF A VIOLENT CRIME. He gave us some statistics about how much the occurrences of random violence have escalated over the recent years, and it’s terrible. The truth is, many of us will be exposed to, or become a victim of, a violent crime.

The three reasons women are easy targets for random acts of violence are: a) Lack of Awareness. You MUST be aware of your

constantly changing surroundings. b) Body Language. When walking, stand straight up,

keep your head up, swing your arms. c) Wrong Place, Wrong Time. DON’T walk alone in

allies, or drive in bad neighborhoods at night.

Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbooks, making a list, arranging packages, whatever. DON’T DO THIS! The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE.

A few things to remember when getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage: a) Be aware. Look around you, look into your car, at the

passenger side, and in the back seat. b) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car

from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the

Additional Crime News: What You Need to Know and Do

Safety Tips for Women (...and the Men in their Lives) From a Neighbor who Attended a Self-Defense Class

women are attempting to get into their cars.

c) Look at the cars parked on the driver’s and the passen-ger side of your vehicle. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard or policeman to walk you back out. IT IS AL-WAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid, than dead!)

If the predator has a gun and you are not under his con-trol, ALWAYS RUN. The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times. And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN!

As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP IT! It may get you raped, or killed. a) Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good looking,

well-educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked “for help” into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he ab-ducted his next victim.

b) Pat Malone told a true story involving his daughter, who came out of the mall and was walking to her car when she noticed two older ladies in front of her. Then she saw a police car come towards her with offi-cers who said hello. She also noticed that all eight handicap spots in the area were empty. As she neared the car she saw a man a few rows over calling to her for help. He wanted her to close his passenger side door. He was sitting in the back on the driver’s side, and said he was handicapped. He continued calling, until she turned and headed back into the mall, and then he began cursing her. In the meantime, she won-dered why he didn’t ask the 2 older ladies, or the po-liceman, for help, and why he was not parked in any of the empty handicap spots. As she got back to the mall, two male friends of hers were exiting, and as she told them the story, and turned to point at the car, the man was getting out of the back car seat into the front and the car sped away. DON’T GET CAUGHT IN THIS TRAP.

Please be safe, and not sorry! Just a warning to always be alert and use your head! Pass this information along to every woman — and man— you know. Never let your guard down.

February: A fish tank was taken from a ga-rage on Mt. Paran Road. Mailboxes were damaged on Harris Trail and Randall Mill Road. Checks were stolen, and cashed, from a Conway Valley mailbox. March: Door locks were damaged on a vehi-

cle sitting in an open carport while owner was away. April: Two mailboxes damaged on Glen Devon. May: Mailbox damaged on Sentinel View (Friday night). Several lawns were driven across and damaged during a rain-storm on Paran Pines Drive. One neighbor witnessed the in-cident and another witness wrote down the tag number (see related article). While patrolling the neighborhood, our alert security officer found an open door in a house that was va-cant but still contained some items on Monte Carlo. There was no forced entry.

Message from Zone Two Commander J. P. Spillane Zone 2 is the largest of the city’s five police zones, encom-passing all of northwest Atlanta from Bolton Road all the way over to the Morningside/Virginia-Highland area. Our neighborhood beat, 201, is the largest in the city. According to Major Spillane beat 201 has gotten too big to patrol with just one officer resulting in difficulty getting to calls. Thus they are redrawing beat lines to increase the number from 10 to 15. (Fortunately our neighborhood security patrol is here to monitor 911 calls and respond immediately during the week.)

While overall crime is down, the pattern of nighttime burglar-

Continued from Front Page

Zone Traffic Enforcement Program In February, Major Joseph Spillane created a specialized unit, Zone Two Z-TEP, to deal with traffic concerns throughout Zone Two neighborhoods. This unit deals with your specific traffic complaints by radar speed enforcement.

The officers assigned to this unit do more than speed enforce-ment on neighborhood streets, they respond to school bus stops locations and school safety zones in the mornings and afternoons. They are in the neighborhood to make the neighborhoods a safer place for the children and citizens.

If you have specific concerns about traffic violations, traffic signs that may need to be put up, put back, upgraded, or re-moved, contact Mt. Paran Security Patrol Officer Cole or Of-ficer Hendrix, 1. Be sure to leave a message during off-duty hours and they will call you back.

Keep the Streets

Kid Safe

Of the more than 500 children hit and killed by vehi-cles every year, ages 5-9 have the greatest risk of being hit. They dart with no understanding of a vehi-cle’s SPEED x WEIGHT = DISTANCE. This is their home, they feel safe here, and each car that passes, they think is their neighbor or friend.

The driver is busy, thinking of work, home, their own children, or even talking on the phone...suddenly, a child darts into the street. You have less than 3 seconds to stop and less than 100 feet...IT HAPPENS! EVERYDAY!!

If you are traveling 30mph (44 feet per second), by the time you realize you need to stop and slam on the brakes, you have traveled 66 feet. It takes another 43 feet for you to finally stop. This is a total of 109 feet traveled before impact. SLOW DOWN.

Security Patrol Activity: Be Safe Now...Not Sorry Later

Protect your Address Book

Continued from Page Two

Here's what you do: first, open your address book, click on "new contact" just as you would if you were adding a new friend to your email address list. In the window where you would type your friend's first name, type in AAAAAAA. In the window below where it prompts you to enter the new email address, type in WormAlert@somewhere.com. Complete eve-rything by entering add, click, ok.

Now, here's what you've done and why it works: The "name" AAAAAAA will be placed at the top of your address book as entry #1. This will be where the worm will start in an effort to send itself to all your friends. But when it tries to send itself to AAAAAAA, it will b e u n d e l i v e r a b l e b e c a u s e o f t h e phony email address you entered Worm Alert@somewhere.com. If the first attempt fails (which it will because of the phony address), the worm goes no further and your friends will not be in-fected.

Here's the second great advantage: If an email cannot be delivered, you will be notified of this in your In Box almost immediately. Hence, if you ever get an email telling you that an email addressed to Wor-mAlert@somewhere.com could not be delivered, you know right away that you have the worm virus in your system. You can then take steps to get rid of it!

Neighborhood Briefs

Country Store Visit Saves Lab Retriever’s Life Early this spring two neighborhood residents and their dearly loved Labrador, Yosemite, took a 2-mile recreational trek to the Country Store intersection. Remembering that the store had a wonderful new wine department, the walkers tied Yosemite to the hitching post outside and went in to shop. After mak-ing a purchase, the threesome headed homeward. Just as they walked in front of a well-fenced home, its owners pulled up in their SUV and opened their re-mote-controlled electric gates. Out leaped their Ger-

man shepherd to “protect” his turf and attacked the properly leashed Yosemite. The assault was ferocious. The shepherd snapped, growled, and tore off Yosemite’s collar. The lab’s owners screamed at the shepherd to retreat. In desperation, they hit the attacking shepherd’s back with the bottle of merlot we had just bought. This brought the dog to his senses, and his owners apologized. The next morning when Yosemite did not get out of her bed, her owners discovered a puncture wound on her underside. An emergency $97 visit to the vet treated the potentially fatal hole in Yosemite’s abdominal cavity. That night Yosemite’s owners toasted Josh and Vince Kenny with the merlot that saved the life of their beloved Yosemite.

Neighborhood Mother Wants Babysitters Teenagers interested in babysitting jobs are asked to contact Michelle Ventulett, ( who would like to find neighborhood students to sit for her son.

Fun, Games and Picnic Lunch Neighbor Crissy Klaus is hosting a Children's Play

Date on Tuesday, August 5th, 11:00AM—2:00 PM, (drop in anytime), at her home at 1330 Monte Carlo Drive. Parents and children, of all ages, are invited to a picnic lunch, with games, playing on the playground and splashing in the

pool. Parents must stay and supervise their children. Contact: Crissy Klaus, (4

Update: The “New” Country Store The Mt. Paran Country Store has finished the renovation of the fueling facility. The new gas pumps are now equipped with credit card readers at the island so you can “pay at the pump”. Josh and Vince Kenny, op-

erators of the store, have made a commitment to stay competi-tively priced with the Phillips 66 at Powers Ferry and Roswell Road and the Chevron at Mt. Paran and Roswell Road.

The store has also added The New York Times and Premium beer and wine. It will continue to add to its wine inventory in response to customer recommendations. Neighbors also love the breakfast biscuits and fried chicken sandwiches at lunch!

In response to neighbor’s requests, the Country Store recently began carrying fresh flowers and roses from the same company that supplies Eatzi’s. In addition to the new curbing and a safer intersection, there are many more improvements underway. Angi Everet and Ann Woodruff are showing their gratitude to the Kenny’s for their willingness to work with the neighbor-hood, by generously donating plantings for summer, fall, and next spring. Josh and Vince remind us that neighborhood input is greatly appreciated and ask everyone to please stop by and visit the “new” Country Store.

Be a Good “NEIGH”bor!! The Chastain Horse Park maintains a non-profit, equestrian facility offering therapeutic riding programs for students with mental or physical disabilities, programs for children-at-risk and inner-city children, boarding ser-vices and regular riding lessons. Twenty lov-able horse make dreams come true for their students. But a sponsor is needed for each and every horse! A tax-deductible donation of $2,400 will help feed, shoe, and provide routine medical care for the horse of your choice for one year. A plaque with the sponsor’s name will be placed on the horse’s stall. Scholar-ships for students who would not otherwise be able to benefit from therapeutic riding are also gifts that truly make a differ-ence in the lives of those who face difficult challenges every day. Over 400 riding sessions take place here each month. One session is just $50, but the ear-to-ear smile is priceless. Volun-teers are also needed to assist the horse and rider as sidewalkers, or leaders, during therapeutic riding sessions. To volunteer, con-tact Rebecca McClung at (

Northside Youth Organization at Chastain Park The NYO fields at Chastain Park are looking great. Signups for returning baseball, and new and return-ing softball players, will be November 5th and 6th. Registration for all new players for both sports will be December 3rd and 4th. Registration is at the Dowis Building on the dates above from 9:00AM to noon and 1:00PM to 4:00PM each day.

Know What’s Happening in the Neighborhood Want to stay informed about security and other important is-sues? If you're not already on the Mt. Paran-Northside Citizens Association email list, send your email address to Brenda Smith

Email addresses are for the Association's use only and will not be shared with anyone!

Why should you attend NPU Meetings? If you want to have input into what happens where you live and be informed, you want to attend NPU-A meetings. The NPU (Neighborhood Planning Unit) is the officially recognized body for citizen participation by the city of Atlanta. NPU-A meets monthly to vote on issues that affect us such as: planning, zon-ing, alcohol beverage permits and other matters. Every month you and your neighbors have the opportunity to vote on ap-plications for rezoning, special use permits, variances, spe-cial exceptions, or amendments to existing city ordinances. You can’t change things if you don’t know what’s going on. NPU-A meetings are on the first Tuesday of the month in the Jackson School cafeteria, 1325 Mt. Paran Road, at 7:15PM. Our community needs you to get involved.

Jo Ann Rau

MT. PARAN-NORTHSIDE CITIZENS ASSOCIATION, INC. P.O. BOX 724153 ATLANTA, GEORGIA 31139

OFFICERS President/Brenda Smith Vice President/Communications/Jo Ann Rau Vice President/Membership/Debbie Goot Vice President/Security/Maryanne Mooney Secretary/Jean Smith Treasurer/Jim Carter

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Sandra Adair, Cory Charles, Angelia Evert, Al Goodgame, Greg Lyles, Dick Perkins, Alan Leet, Pamela Tremayne, Claus Halle, Dana Scavo, Glenn Sturm, Karen Swim, Marci Vincent, Richard Wilson.

EX-OFFICIO (PAST PRESIDENTS) Lynne Moscow, Sheldon Schlegman, Robert Hurst, Edward Floyd, John R. Martin (d), Robert Miller, H. Clay Moore, Jr., J. Martin Turbidy Editor: Lynne Moscow Design & Typeset: Jo Ann Rau

WEB SITE www.neighborhoodlink.com/atlanta/

Pre-Sorted

First Class Mail U.S. Postage

PAID Atlanta, GA

Permit No. 3207

Return Service Requested

Association Newsletter and Crime Report Inside

Some Prevention Advice from the Centers for Disease Control

The West Nile Virus Homeowners Checklist Q. What can I do to reduce my risk of becoming infected with West Nile virus? A. Here are preventive actions that you can take: Protect yourself from mosquito bites • Apply insect repellent sparingly to exposed skin. The more

DEET a repellent contains the longer time it can protect you from mosquito bites. A higher percentage of DEET in a repellent does not mean that your protection is better—just that it will last longer. DEET concentrations higher than 50% do not increase the length of protection. Choose a repellent that provides protection for the amount of time that you will be outdoors.

Repellents may irritate the eyes and mouth, so avoid applying repellent to the hands of children.

Whenever you use an insecticide or insect repellent, read and follow the manufacturer's DIRECTIONS FOR USE, as printed on the product. • Spray clothing with repellents containing permethrin or

DEET since mosquitoes may bite through thin clothing. Do not apply repellents containing permethrin directly to exposed skin. If you spray your clothing, there is no need to spray DEET repellent on skin under your clothing.

• When possible, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants whenever you are outdoors.

• Place mosquito netting over infant carriers when you are outdoors with infants.

• Consider staying indoors at dawn, dusk, and in the early evening, which are peak mosquito biting times.

• Install or repair window and door screens so that mosqui-toes cannot get indoors.

Help reduce the number of mosquitoes in areas outdoors where you work or play, by draining sources of standing water. In this way, you reduce the number of places mosqui-toes can lay their eggs and breed. • At least once or twice a week, empty water from flower

pots, pet food and water dishes, birdbaths, swimming pool covers, buckets, barrels, and cans.

• Check for clogged rain gutters and clean them out. • Remove discarded tires, and other items that collect water. • Be sure to check for containers or trash in places that may

be hard to see, such as under bushes or under your home. Note: Vitamin B and "ultrasonic" devices are NOT effective in preventing mosquito bites. For more information on the West Nile Virus from the CDC: Http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/qa/prevention.htm

Mosquito Hotline (404) 730-5296 Dead Bird Pick-Up (404) 524-7368