This is not the most thought provoking headline...it is descriptive and I am hoping that this blog will be read because of the signficance of the information. Yesterday. our next door neighbor who is an officer of our Homeowners Association, came to the door asking if we knew a family. He had been contacted by the local police department because they needed to get in touch with them immediately and they were out of town. The family lived several blocks away....we found the address in MLS and we didn't know them but knew people who did. To make a long story longer...often we all have what we call "waving neighbors"....you may know their first names..their dog's name...their kids go to school with yours...but you don't really know them very well. That's fine..your neighbors aren't always your best friends. It did make us think...what if, by choice, just for reasons of emergency...each member of your neighborhood...whether you have an actual formal "association" or not, registers a cell phone...an emergency contact number or person with an officer of the association or someone in your neighborhood.
It brought to mind a number of years ago...friends of the family decided to go on what we call the "flip a coin vacation" with no particular destination in mind...they just drove and went wherever they decided sounded good at the time. During this time, there was a fire in their home...their son was found in bed ...the smoke detector fallen on this chest and he had died of smoke inhalation. After contacting the state patrols in several neighboring states..they finally found the couple.
OPERATION PHONE REGISTER....do it now...be pro-active....save someone the anguish or tragedy of not being able to be reached for an emergency...make it about THEM. Let there be action now...let it begin with Active Rain !
Hey Rain Gods...
Flag this for a feature...I'll donate the points...this is a NO COST PUBLIC SERVICE...DO IT NOW !
Great post and idea! I will soooo flag this post for a feature (something I never knew I could do?)!!
Thank you Kristin....what a coool thing to have started in AR...check the flag,,,copy the url and away we go...we hope !
I flagged it for you, too. I have the cell numbers for most of my neighbors already and they have mine. But that is an excellent idea. In fact, I called one of my neighbors when she was on vacation in Hawaii to let her know that her sprinkler was spraying into the street. She was able to call somebody to stop it because every car that drove by when the sprinklers were running got sprayed.
Thank you Elizabeth...we are letting the entire sub-division know that the officers are registered with the police so every one of the 110 homes here willbe protected....all kinds of emergencies are possible and gee golly...thought it might be a better feature and more appropriate for this forum than ...hmmmm..than Michael Jackson..ya think ?
Sally with the anonymous emailers of today, good luck getting phone numbers even for a good cause like the one you blog about...
There has to be...and in this case...I think there is, a trust factor with the association...it's different when you give someone money and trust they are using it for the good of maintaining the value of your property rather than just the person next door with whom you have a casual relationship.
Sally & David - I ran into this when the home next door- a vacation home where the owners were hardly ever there - had an attempted break-in. I saw it happening from my balcony. I called the police, of course, but didn't have the owners' number. I figured it out by searching public records and google searching. But we often forget basic emergency preparedness like you are mentioning.
You bet...and when you can only find a home number and no cell...and the people are out of town....this sort of registry enables them to be notified for whatever emergency reason...hope this 4th finds you well and celebrating !
I also read through the comments. Unfortunately, some of these associations, and the people who run them, are the last people on Earth whom I would trust with my cell phone number. They are no better than the politicians who believe that because they have a little power, they can, and will, do whatever they want at any time they choose.
Welll.....that's California for ya...:)...not sooo much here....I think I would rather know...the cat jumped off the deck...the house burnt down...