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March 2006 Newsletter

Members' meeting
On Monday, March 27 at 7:30 PM in the Chesterbrook Elementary School cafeteria, association members are invited - and urged - to attend our important spring meeting to elect 2006 officers, approve the 2006 budget, establish 2006 annual dues and hear from a responsible County traffic executive about possible measures to improve traffic safety on Forest Lane. Also on the agenda are discussions concerning response to crimes and incidents and the outcome of last year's poll of residents regarding $200 additional fines for speeding on Chesterbrook Road. At 7:30 we will have a half-hour for socializing, with cookies, soft drinks and coffee available. The business meeting will begin at 8:00. Residents who are not association members (those who did not pay 2005 dues) are welcome to attend, though they may not vote. New residents are especially encouraged to attend. Please mark calendars now and plan to attend.

Note about the snow plowing for the storm of Feb. 11-12, 2006
The February 11-12 storm delivered over 10” of snow on our streets. Our contractor’s crew started plowing in the middle of the night Saturday and worked continuously for almost 24 hours. To stay ahead of the storm, they plowed our main streets about 10 times and our secondary streets 2-3 times. By Sunday morning, most of our streets were well plowed and passable, an excellent outcome for a storm this size. By noon, the contractor was informed about 7-8 spots that had not been well cleared. All but three of those spots were plowed by the afternoon. The exceptions were Copely Lane, Oak Lane, and a section of Hardwood Lane. Apparently, the problem at Copely and Hardwood was caused by children throwing snowballs at the truck (hitting the passenger in the face and breaking the windshield wiper activator) and, in one case, trying to grab the blade of the snowplow. So the driver left to come back later. As to why Oak Lane was not well-cleared, there is no good explanation except perhaps driver fatigue. For everyone’s safety, it is imperative that residents – especially children – not interfere with snow plowing operations and get off the street immediately when a plow truck appears. We request that all parents remind their children of this and restrain them if needed. The contractor will simply leave an area if there is a potentially unsafe situation, such as persons sledding or playing in the street.

Nominations for 2006 officers
Pursuant to the Association Bylaws the President appointed a Nominating Committee of three members to nominate a slate of candidates for president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer for the coming year. The committee members are Rosemary Ryan (Chair), Roger Nucho and Maureen Hurley. The committee has nominated the following candidates, all of whom have agreed to serve.

President: Arnold Braswell (current president)
Vice-president: Kevin Connelly (current vice-president)
Treasurer: Charles Hoyt (current treasurer)
Secretary: Nicki Watts

The above slate of candidates will be offered by the Nominating Committee at the members' meeting. Candidates may also be nominated from the floor. Members present will elect officers by majority vote.

Contractor list on the CWCA web site
On the bulletin board of our web site (www.mcleanonline.com/CWCAindex.htm) is a list of contractors who have provided satisfactory service to our residents. The list is a valuable source of information but needs to be updated. All contractors who were reported or who performed services more than four years ago will be deleted. We now need new inputs from members. If a contractor has provided truly satisfactory service for you at a reasonable price in the past two or three years and you believe that others would be satisfied with the service, please submit to CWCA@mcleanonline.com the following information: Contractor name, phone no., type of service performed, month and year of service, your name and phone number, and brief comments, if you wish, of 15 words or less. Please understand that you are not being asked to recommend one contractor over another, only to name a contractor that did good work for you. If you don't have e-mail send your input by postal mail to the association secretary for transmitting to the webmaster, who is Ellie LeBaron in Mauritania. We also will welcome new names for the "young entrepreneurs" list.

For the information of residents not familiar with the publication, the Washington Consumers' Checkbook is a valuable source of information about performance of contractors, stores, professionals and providers of various services in our area. Published twice a year, the cost is $34 for a two-year subscription and access to their web site, which contains reports from past issues. Call 202 347 7283 to subscribe.

Burglaries and other crimes
At the meeting we will discuss ways to improve detection and deterrence of crimes in our community. Members will be encouraged to offer their suggestions, which we may compile and send out to residents in the next newsletter.

Miscellaneous
Virginia Dillon reports that she continues to observe residents walking on the wrong side of the street, i.e., the right hand side. We should walk on the left side where we can better see and avoid oncoming vehicles. It's especially important on our narrow streets without sidewalks. Make sure your nannies who take your children out for a walk understand this.

Some residents continue to report dogs being allowed to bark repeatedly during evening and early morning hours. Please be considerate of your neighbors and don't allow your dogs to be a nuisance. Also, be sure to clean up after your dogs when you take them for a walk.

The county trash collection office (802 3322) has announced changes in provisions for special pickups of brush or bulky items. A household in our community is now entitled to four free pickups a year of bulky household items or brush. Each special pickup must be less than 6 cubic yards in volume. For special pickups of brush, limbs must be cut to six-foot lengths and no limb may be more than six inches in diameter. For more than four pickups a year or for a pickup exceeding the size limit of 6 cubic yards (about the size of a Volkswagen beetle), you may call and request a "MegaBulk" collection, for which you will have to pay. More information is given on the county web site.

New families continue to move into our community. Residents are encouraged to make their new neighbors welcome and offer them advice and help. Also, please advise your block captain when new neighbors arrive. New residents should send e-mail addresses to nabenews@aol.com to receive our occasional e-mail news updates. Addresses are kept confidential.

Dominion Virginia Power has agreed to a request from residents in Quail Hollow Court and nearby streets to re-route the power feed to that area to improve reliability. Those homes are not served by the so-called Maddux line, which previously served most of our area and was re-routed a couple of years ago. Kudos to Bill Howard, Quail Hollow block captain, for persuading the local Virginia Power agent, Chip Gilliland, to get this done. Chip reminds us, however, that power outages can still occur in any part of our community if trees or limbs fall on main lines or branch lines, even when the power company has done everything it is permitted to do in keeping trees trimmed near the lines. If a storm causes widespread outages it may take some time for repair crews to restore power everywhere.

Dranesville District Town Meeting
Joan DuBois, the District Supervisor, invites residents to a Town Meeting on Saturday, March 25 from 9 AM to 12 Noon in the Colvin Run Elementary School cafeteria, located at 1400 Trap Road in Vienna (just off Rte. 7 and Towlston Road). County officials will present the 2007 budget, information on home assessments and will be available for questions. Also planned are updates on Dranesville projects and County services along with interactive exhibits and displays. Interested residents can view the entire budget online at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dmb.

Note: This newsletter will be posted on the CWCA website.


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