Inside this issue:

Pride Crime Watch 2

Neighbors Watching Out For Neighbors

2

What a Traffic Ticket Will Cost You

3

Treasurer’s Report 4

Quarterly Meeting Minutes

5

Neighbor Spotlight 6

captain.

If you would like to meet more neighbors and get involved, becoming zone captain is a great way that doesn’t require a lot of time.

Our association is in need of a zone captain. The main responsibilities are attending quarterly meetings of the Board (we meet at Largo Family Restaurant in the evening), distribute quarterly newsletters, and most importantly contribute your ideas to further the well-

being of our neighborhood.

The zone has many volunteers to assist in delivering the newsletters. If you would like to participate in our association, please contact Judy Carey, 298-0082 or email info@pridecivic.org. By the way, you do not have to live in the zone to be the

Zone Captain Needed by Linda Bassett

We will be having our annual neighborhood cookout on Saturday, October 13th from 1-4 pm. Yes, I know it is really far away but this is the only newsletter we have before that date, and we wanted to be sure everyone had plenty of notice. The association will provide the hot dogs, condiments, drinks,

plates, and napkins. We ask that you bring a side or dessert to share. Don't forget a chair too. Rick Amorose of Amorose Realty is trying to secure live music for the event.

We have such a great neighborhood and hope many of you will attend. It is a chance to meet each other, find common

interests, and share ideas of what we can do to make our neighborhood even better. We hold the cookout on the south side of Parkside Drive off of Duncan at the vacant lot. We will distribute a flyer in September to remind everyone of the cookout.

Pride Civic Association Newsletter

Annual Neighborhood Cookout by Judy Carey

Special points of interest:

Next committee meeting: Monday, September 10, 6:30pm, Largo Family Rest. Annual Neighborhood Cookout: Saturday, October 13, 1—4pm. Visit us on the web at: pridecivic.org Email us at: info@pridecivic.org

P r i d e C i v i c A s s o c i a t i o n

August 2018

Pride Civic Association Newsletter Page 2

The vehicle burglars have discovered easy pickings in Pride Neighborhood. With school out, some kids are looking for something to do, and they got into at least 8 unlocked vehicles. Thanks to neighbors with security cameras, the Sheriff has received several good videos of the crooks. There was also one vehicle stolen and later recovered.

Pride Crime Watch by Stephan Klein

on their records. They are usually released within days so stay vigilant. Make sure you let friends know to lock their cars when visiting.

An item of interest for burglars is garage door openers. These give them access to your home while you are away. Another item people may be unaware of is an emergency key located in the vehicle owner’s manual on some vehicles.

Local news has reported that 7 kids have been arrested for vehicle burglary and between them, they have 62 prior arrests

Being the victim of a crime can leave you feeling helpless, powerless and violated. We are fortunate that not only is Pride Civic neighborhood a great place to live, but it is a relatively low crime area. When you look at the Pinellas County Crime Viewer, pinellascounty.org/crimeviewer, there is activity all around us. This summer we’ve already had our share of burglaries due to unlocked cars. This is very easily remedied by locking your car and home.

Connect with neighbors. If you know who belongs on your block, it is easier to spot someone who doesn’t belong. One of the best ways we've found to connect with neighbors is walking in the evenings. Sometimes our short walk takes much longer because we have stopped to chat with neighbors and dog owners. Even if you don't have a dog, getting out for

a walk is a healthy alternative to watching TV.

If you see someone entering an unoccupied house, loitering around or peering into cars, call the authorities. If a house suddenly develops a steady traffic of visitors, it could be an indication of an emerging drug business—and again, it's time to call the Sherriff's office.

The best way to help local law enforcement is to try to remember as many details as possible either about the individual or the situation just witnessed. With people, think of height, weight, sex, hair color, race, clothing and other distinguishing details. Write down what happened, when and where it happened and as many details as you can remember. When it comes to vehicles, license plate numbers (even portions of them can help) and as many details about the color, make and model of the car as

possible. The more details, the better so that local law enforcement will be able to find and prosecute the suspect.

Here are a few simple steps you can do to reduce crime in our neighborhood:

lock your car and remove all valuables from sight especially GPS, iPods, laptops, purses lock your house and don't leave your garage door open when you are not present do not leave lawn mowers, edgers, bicycles, etc. in the yard unattended don't leave spare keys under the mat, flower pot, door ledge, etc. Thieves know where to look. a 'No Soliciting' sign can discourage door-to-door sales scams

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Neighbors Watching Out For Neighbors by Stephan Klein

Page 3

Pride Civic Association Committee Members

Chairperson: Judy Carey 298-0082 Secretary: Dot Tonks 447-1245 Treasurer: Linda Bassett 442-0818 Crime Watch: Stephan Klein 441-3824 Newsletter Editor: Candy Helber 441-3824 Zone Captains:

A. Randy Young 447-9019 B. Alveta Bastarache 441-3377 C. Open D. Charlie Frago 501-580-3829

Stop sign violation $264 Speed limit exceeded by:

6-9 mph = $131 10-14 mph = $206 15-19 mph = $256 20-29 mph = $281 +30 mph = mandatory court

Seat belt violation $116 Failure to Stop for School Bus $271 Disabled Parking violation $184 Motorcycle wheels off the ground $1,166

What a Traffic Ticket Will Cost You by Stephan Klein

Once somebody stole our car. I asked my wife if she saw who it was. She said "No,

but I did get the license number". -Rodney Dangerfield

Newsletter Title Page 4

March 2018 - March 2019 $5.00 Donation per Household Annually

Name _____________________________ Address ___________________________ Phone _____________________________ E-mail address ______________________

I would like to Volunteer for the following . . . (check as many as you would like)

Block Captain Distribute Newsletters Christmas Decoration Judging Newsletter Articles Garage Sale Committee Add me to email alert list Activities Committee Committee Member Other ___________________

Pride Civic Association Membership & Volunteer Form

Mail Donation to:

Pride Civic Association 1303 Norwood Ave Clearwater, FL 33756

Please do not send cash in the mail !

All bills to date have been paid. The next expense will be for the printing of our Newsletter. We are in good standing for expenditures that

Treasurer’s Report by Linda Bassett

will be incurred with our fall activities. For your convenience, a Membership form is enclosed below. If you are not sure if you have

paid 2018 dues, call 727-442-0818 as a current roster is maintained.

Page 5 Volume , Issue

The Pride Civic Association’s Committee meeting was held on January 8, at the Largo Family Restaurant. In attendance were Judy Carey, Linda Bassett, Candy Helber, Stephan Klein, Randy White, and Dot Tonks. Topics discussed are as follows:

Linda Bassett provided the Treasurer’s Report. Stephan Klein provided the Crime report. In response to our inquiries to resident’s responses regarding soliciting within the neighborhood, the Board has declared it a “No Soliciting Zone”. “No

Soliciting” will be added to the neighborhood watch signs that are posted around the boundaries of the neighborhood. Information regarding what is considered “soliciting” and what is not, residents can refer to last Pride Civic Association Newsletter. Membership in “Next Door Pride” continues to grow. Due to delivery issues, the fate of the Newsletter was discussed. We are in search of volunteers. Anyone wishing to volunteer as a Zone

Captain or to help deliver newsletters, please contact Judy Carey. Read the newsletter at pridecivic.org. The Neighborhood Cookout is scheduled for Saturday, October 13, 2018, from 1:00pm- 4:00pm. The next meeting of the Pride Civic Association is scheduled for Monday, September 10, 2018 at 6:30pm at the Largo Family Restaurant. All residents of the Pride Civic Neighborhood are cordially invited to attend.

Quarterly Committee Meeting Minutes by Dot Tonks

Pride Civic Association Newsletter Page 6

Neighbors Watching Out For Neighbors

by Stephan Klein

Writing this mini autobiography was a little harder to do than I thought it would be. After all, though I’m one of your neighbors, I probably don’t know you, nor do you know me. But I guess that’s the point of it, so here you go.

I own and run a local home design company, ArcDesign. It was started in my living room back in 2003. I enjoy creating new home designs, or taking an existing home and totally changing its look.

I became interested in politics enough to realize I knew nothing about politics, particularly the political spectrum. The more I read about it the more confused I became. My biggest question was, if

Communism was on the left and Fascism was on the right, where did a political system based on freedom, inalienable rights and equality under the law fit on this spectrum?

After a month of investigation and study, I had what I knew to be the answer to my question. So I decided to write it all up and publish it as a book. It was entitled: The Political Spectrum: Freedom vs. Enslavement. Just for fun, I entered the book in a publishing competition. I mean, why not. The worse they could do was ignore it. One day I received a phone call and was told I had won first place. Wow, I wasn’t expecting that.

I’m married to my wife, Kitty, of 30 years. I have three adult

children and four grandchildren so far. I grew up in the southern most county of N.J. and left there in 1975 to start my life as an adventurous young adult. I’ve lived west of Philadelphia, east of L.A. and moved to Clearwater in 1983, then to Miami in 1990. I moved back to Clearwater in 2001 and have made this my home since.

Oh, I was also a musician, guitarist, singer and song writer. I haven’t picked up either of my two guitars for too long. But I did perform in nightclubs on the Jersey shore so, I get to call myself a professional performer for that fun, short stint of entertaining.

I hope I get to meet you all at the fall neighborhood cook out.

Neighbor Spotlight by Randy Young

when you or your neighbor are out of town, watch each other's houses and use timers on lights so the home appears occupied

With law enforcement agencies cutting costs, it has never been more important for neighbors to work together to prevent crime. If you have any questions or comments about crime in our neighborhood, contact Stephan at: Stephan@pridecivic.org

(Continued from page 2)