Dear Editor,
Great article (May 8, 2024) on the women saved from a scam. Attached is a reply. If anything, please give this to the family of the saved victim.
Editor’s note: It is published unedited below;
Dear Family of the Scam victim:
It’s not over. Although I am thrilled the bank teller and local police forces were able to protect your family I would like to mention, it’s not over. The scammers are very persistent and now that they know your folks are vulnerable, they will come again, and again in ways only crooks can think about.
Some suggestions:
1. Set up 2 bank accounts. Let your folks have one checking with a limited amount of funds in it for their day to day living. Put your name on all the other accounts and make sure the bank calls you if there is any activity. Pay the on going big bills out of the larger account. Keep your folks involved as they will not want to lose total financial control.
2. Put a security freeze on all 3 of the major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Transunion). Why? If the scammers try buy a car or put a loan on your folks house they can’t. Also, a freeze is easy to lift.
3. Notify your family’s money manager and banks to keep an eye out and leave them your phone number.
4. Either go through your folk’s mail or have their mail forwarded to your home. After picking out the scam mail, sit down with them and look at each piece to include them.
5. Change their cell phone number and notify their friends and family. Look for a note where your folks wrote down the scammers phone number. Destroy it.
6. Watch for flower deliveries with notes and asking for return phone calls
7. Be on the watch for other scams: refi of your folk’s home, loan against their car, investment scams and more. This is why you need the security freeze (#2).
The above are the basics. There are more. But for now, that is a good start.
Lastly, I would like to say, great job to the teller, the bank, the police, and the detectives.
All the best,
Bill Cohen
Los Alamitos
RCSD: YOU FAILED YOUR COMMUNITY!
Two years ago this month I walked the perimeter of Rossmoor Park to survey the homes about a little-known plan to insert pickleball on one of the tennis courts. My survey showed that 85% of homeowners wanted an environmental impact study before a noisy new sport called Pickleball was to be implemented. That survey was given to general manager Mendoza in a face-to-face meeting almost 2 years ago to the day.
Since then, Pickleball was implemented WITHOUT SOUND MITIGATION by a vote of three members of this board, Barke, Demarco and Maynard. These three ignored the input of then Directors Mark Nitikman and Jeff Ripps who pledged that “if we do it [pickleball] we must do it right.” They also ignored the input of two of our current board members, Jo Shade and Nathan Searles, who have tried to advance this pledge but are in the minority. Most egregiously, this threesome has ignored its own community’s input.
In the two years since my walk around the park, a sham trial was put in place that involved 3 courts – not 4 that they installed- that measured not one piece of objective data, such as, peak hours played, resident versus nonresident usage, walk-ons versus paid, noise levels at varying times of the day, parking/congestion issues. They made a mockery of two hired and paid acoustic consultants who advised noise mitigation recommendations that were completely ignored.
Most recently the 3 board members, Maynard, Demarco and Barke, ignored two signed petitions from the community, who had the gall to ask for effective sound mitigation, one with over 50 signatures and one with 13 from those who live on Baskerville.
There is apparently nothing that will get any attention, let alone empathy, from this threesome. In fact, their general manager Mendoza answered the petitions in writing with: “…the addition of mitigation blankets and gate panels has not been planned or scheduled.”
Why this arrogant posture to deny noise mitigation for this noisy sport of pickleball?
We see this threesome wasting our tax dollars with reckless spending. $65k to:
Pay for unnecessary premature court resurfacing of all four tennis courts and basketball courts (instead of simply painting lines for the one court converting to pickleball). Resurfacing was just done in 2019 and courts are still in good condition.
Spending money on permanent pickleball posts and nets— when using portable posts and nets they already purchased is working just fine, which is what many parks do.
In a recent board meeting, Director Maynard thought an RCSD LOGO in the middle of the basketball court would be a great idea for RCSD branding. Seriously? It was taken seriously enough to get an estimate on its cost. How did a $15,000 logo ever find its way into this trio’s dialogue – when noise mitigation has been summarily dismissed?
