Duke Energy Warns of Phone Scam
Friday, November 18, 2016: A Duke Energy representative has reported that someone is calling customers and falsely identifying themselves from Duke Energy. They are asking people to make a payment over the phone or they will cut off their power.
Detective Mike Copeland from the Sheriff's Office urges people never to pay any bills over the phone.
The calls come through with "DUKE ENERGY" displaying as the caller ID. May be best to just let it go to voicemail. If anyone leaves a message and are asking for some form of payment, it's a scam. Duke Energy (and most other reputable companies) would contact customers by mail for payment.
A Sample Speed Report for Weathersfield Covering 17 Days (October 30 - November 16, 2016)
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| Click on the table to see a larger image. |
During that period of two-weeks and 3 days, 6.694 vehicles passed the monitor and were categorized in the following speed ranges: 1-5 mph, 6-10mph, 11-15mph, 16-20mph, 21-25mph, 26-30mph, 31-35mph, 36-40mph, 41-45mph, 46-50mph, 51-55mph.
As you may be able to see:
- 63% (4,233) of the vehicles were traveling between 1-30mph
- 36% (2,377)were traveling between 31-40mph (the so-called "low-risk" speeders), and
- only 0.01% (84) were traveling 41 mph or higher (the so-called "high-risk outliers")
The monitor plays an important role in reminding drivers of their traveling speed, and it does cause approximately 80% of drivers to slow down to a slightly lower speed that that which is being displayed.
If you now realize that a small percentage (but a significant number) of drivers go right on by without slowing their speed, you may be able to see why we refer to that category as being the "outliers." We have spent time identifying the parameters of this high-risk category over a considerable span of time (i.e., days of the week, times of the day, frequency of occurrence, and locations on six of the most heavily travelled roads in the village, our "arterials"), and have produced some enforcement tables to share with the Sheriff's Department.
FHA Health, Safety, & Security (HSS) 2016 Annual Report
This report will also be included in your information packet, which will be available at the FHA Annual Meeting, scheduled for November 14th at the Galloway Ridge Auditorium. (Note that the meeting will not in the Barn this year.)
Clubs and Organizations will be on hand at display tables between 4:00pm and 5:00pm, when refreshments will also be available. The business meeting will begin at 5:00pm. This is an important annual community event. Please make every effort to attend.
Chatham County's New SAFE (Strategic Action For Emergencies) Program
SAFE is a new special resident signup for those with special needs, such as mobility problems, vision and hearing impairment, lack of transportation, critical health issues and other needs that can be impacted when emergencies or disasters affect Chatham County.
SAFE was jointly created by the Chatham County Council on Aging, Chatham County Emergency Operations, and Chatham County Department of Social Services to provide these residents with special needs a better sense of security. It also gives emergency responders more knowledge to locate and assist residents in need.
SAFE was jointly created by the Chatham County Council on Aging, Chatham County Emergency Operations, and Chatham County Department of Social Services to provide these residents with special needs a better sense of security. It also gives emergency responders more knowledge to locate and assist residents in need.
To learn more about this new program (which we had reported earlier this year was being developed), visit this site for more details and for a hot-link you can use to sign up.
Fearrington-Galloway Ridge Drinking Water Quality
This guest article has been prepared and submitted by Don Francisco. We want to express our appreciation to Don for this very nice community contribution. Residents can find his contact information listed in the 2016 Fearrington Village Directory and Handbook.
I am a retired clinical professor of environmental biology from the UNC Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering. My specialty was limnology (study of freshwater systems), wastewater treatment microbiology, and drinking water treatment. I was the first to study Jordan Lake beginning just after the dam was closed in 1982. I began my career researching taste and odor problems in drinking water reservoirs. We lived in Chapel Hill for 48 years, and we are now residents of Galloway Ridge.
Some residents have told me that they are very concerned about the quality of our drinking water. Some are even regularly boiling their drinking water. I think this concern is overblown.
Our raw (untreated) water comes from Jordan Lake just to the north of US 64 on the east side of the highway bridge. It is transported from there to the treatment plant on the south side of US64. The Town of Cary also takes its raw water from this same intake.
The North Chatham Water Treatment Plant is a standard design treatment facility that provides suspended solids (turbidity) removal, pH control, and chlorination for disinfection. Occasionally, they use powdered activated carbon to control tastes and odors. I have visited the plant and talked with the operators. While the plant is small, it seems to be quite competently operated. They also have a close relationship with the personnel at the much larger Cary plant that treats the same raw water. I’m confident that they do a good job treating our drinking water.
There is no reason to be concerned about the quality of our water. It is basically the same as all other drinking water produced from reservoirs in North Carolina. The greatest hazard is that runoff containing nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) will promote excessive growth of algae in the Lake. Many of these produce compounds which cause objectionable tastes and odors. This is an aesthetic problem not a human health problem.
The most accepted means for limiting the growth of algae is to limit the amount of nutrients entering the Lake. The greatest current source of these is in runoff from agricultural and urban land uses. This is what the recently canceled “Jordan Lake Rules” were intended to accomplish. The best way to show concern for the quality of our drinking water is to advocate rational means for limiting the input of nutrients into the Lake.
Of course, treated wastewater is introduced upstream from the Lake. Most of the reservoirs in the US have treated wastewater discharged upstream. In our case, the wastewater treatment plants are some of the most advanced in the world. They remove contaminants to very low concentrations. When discharges enter the reservoir, they are diluted by a huge volume of water. This further decreases the concentration of the contaminants.
No Bicycles on Our Paths, Trails, or Sidewalks
Pedestrians and bicycles do not mix safely, especially on our narrow gravel paths and trails, or on our few village sidewalks. All of our pedestrian ways do not have a lot of room for either walkers or cyclists to maneuver, and even much less room when they co-mingle.
Our paths and trails have very few straight sections and wander with many curves and some small hills that make for short clear sightlines. Bicycles move much faster than pedestrians, and many pedestrians do not always walk in predictable fashion or straight lines along the paths and trails.
In fact, pedestrians on narrow paths and walkways can be a hazard to cyclists and could cause an accident if they were to be startled by finding a bicycle suddenly coming their way and move unpredictably--trying to get out of the way--and end up becoming in the way.
The best and safest advice: cyclists, use the roads and not the paths, trails, or our few sidewalks.
Mosquito Control Advice for Village Homeowners
According to Dr. Michael Waldvogel, Department of Entomology and Extension Associate. Professor & Specialist, Structural & Industrial Pests at North Carolina State University, to control the risk of mosquitoes in the community, there actually needs to be a community-wide education program emphasizing homeowner responsibility to inspect and control the great many breeding sources that exist and are largely ignored.
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| Small round mosquito dunks protect up to 100 sq.ft. for up to 30 days and can be broken into smaller pieces for smaller areas. Not practical for very large areas. |
Residents should be encouraged to keep mosquitoes from laying eggs inside and outside of our homes. Items in and around homes can collect water:
Suggestions include: once a week, empty and scrub, turn over, cover, or throw out containers that hold water, such as:
⨀ vases, ⨀ pet water bowls, ⨀ flowerpot saucers, ⨀ rain barrels with open unscreened tops, ⨀ buckets, tarps and outdoor furniture covers that sag and collect rainwater, ⨀ birdbaths, ⨀ trash cans, ⨀ wheelbarrows and garden carts left outside should be turned upside down, ⨀ and gutters and stormwater drains around the house should be inspected to be sure they are not holding any standing water.
Overall conclusions:
- A community’s mosquito problems are proportional to the level of residents’ understanding that the large number of breeding sources in even small pools of standing water around (especially) new homes without developed lawns are one of the largest sources of the problem and, hence, prime areas for prevention and mitigation. Neighbors need to assume some direct responsibility for monitoring and controlling such sources.
- Paying attention to several large stormwater pools, where water may sit for short periods of time, is important, but is dwarfed by the much larger number of unrecognized breeding sources.
Community Health Advisory
During the summer months copperheads are more nocturnal. Residents who go outside in the dark should take a flashlight to see what is in front of them and be aware that snakes are not just in the wooded areas, but can be right in front of your house at night, especially on sidewalks and in, or around, bushes and shrubbery.
According to the North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension Service, copperheads can be found from the Florida panhandle north to Massachusetts and west to Nebraska, and they bite more people in most years than any other U.S. species of snake. Unlike most venomous snakes, copperheads give no warning signs and strike almost immediately if they feel threatened.
While their bite is very rarely (almost never) fatal to humans (small pets are a different matter), the bite often results in temporary tissue damage in the immediate area of bite, and secondary infection can sometimes occur. Children and elderly and people with compromised immune systems may have strong reactions to the venom, however, and anyone who is bitten by a copperhead should always seek prompt medical attention.
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