Golden Valley Community Club Meeting - April 2012

We are back to business as usual at the Golden Valley Clubhouse on Monday night. We’re going back to the third Monday of the month, and it will be nice to get back into our building! We’re also getting back into bringing a covered dish and a dollar (for paper goods). If you’re a guest, by all means come as our guest. If you’ve been before you’re a member – bring a dish and a dollar! Occasionally we’re asked if we’ll accept more than a dollar – of course we will. What’s up in the community? Pop over to our web log (blog) and have a look: http://goldenvalleync.blogspot.com/ here you’ll find Easter news from a couple of our churches and a post about the new business in Sunshine, Lunsford Financial – Warren Lunsford does Insurance and Taxes and if you haven’t turned in your taxes yet, why you run right down and see him. This month we look forward to our guest speaker, Virginia Hawkins. Virginia will be talking about various stages the country Rhodesia took as it became independent Zimbabwe and talk about what life is like there today. Virginia and her husband, Geoff, were both born in Rhodesia. Their fathers were colleagues in the Government. Virginia’s Father-in-Law was Air Vice Marshall of the Rhodesian Air Force and later became Ambassador to South Africa, although he was by birth an Australian. Geoff and Virginia along with their two children have lived in England, South Africa, Zimbabwe, India and Bangladesh. She says “We chose North Carolina for our retirement”. And we’re happy to have them here in Golden Valley. What a lovely place to call home. It’s exciting to have people from all over the world coming to Rutherford County, please join us on Monday night to hear Virginia. I look forward to seeing you there. Don’t forget to friend us on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/kdmccall#!/pages/Golden-Valley/104422519892

Community Meeting March 2012

We're heading back to Mike's Diner on Music Row on Tuesday, March 20th for the Golden Valley Community Club dinner meeting. We'll start the meeting around 7:00 - how about coming early so Mike won't be overwhelmed with all of us arriving at once.

Strategies for Protecting Your Property

Golden Valley, Logan's Store, Duncan's Creek and Sunshine

Twenty-three people attended the meeting.

"There are some simple things you can do to protect your home that you might not have thought of." says Pastor Gary Smith, formerly an officer of the law in nearby VA and currently the Pastor at Feirview Baptist Church.

"Pay Attention".  

Do you know what's going on at your neighbor's house? Do you know who's up to no-good; who's responsible for some of these break-ins, do you know who's on drugs?. Did you know you can call Crime Stoppers anonymously? They will not ask for your name, what they will do is assign you a number, if one of your tips nets a reward the check will be payable to your number and sent to the bank where you can pick it up and cash it. No signatures required, no questions asked. This is to encourage the public to come forward; this is a way you can call law enforcement without fear of retribution.

Gary says the Bible verse Love your neighbor applies. You need to look out for your neighbor's home and property. We're supposed to help one another and sometimes that means being cohesive. Romans 12:18

There are some men you can not live peacefully with, and they ought to be held accountable. And since in NC we vote for our judges, we need to pay attention to what those judges are doing and hold them accountable, too.

While we have had some break-ins and theft in our area and we've been real lucky.... Home invasions... there haven't been any in our area, yet. But the burglaries continue, and Smith says, "This is not going to stop on it's own. Citizens are going to have to make reports, they're going to have to start paying attention, and you can start right now: Look out for your neighbor."

And look out for yourself - take a walk around the perimeter of your house. Are their tools of opportunity? Bricks, rocks, post hole diggers, a rock with a key under it, a flowerpot?

Check your locks, are they in good working order? Do you have a deadbolt? Make it hard to get into your house. Smith warns, "Sliding glass doors are indefensible. Criminals look for the easy target, they avoid lights, barking dogs, further they dislike dead bolt locks, steel doors, motion lights. Keep your bushes trimmed, so as not to provide lurking room. Don't carry purses in town." (But if you have to... Becky Heavener says, "Run the cart strap through the purse handles, it makes a grab and dash less likely."

If you have a long driveway, you might want to consider a driveway motion detector. A receiver in the house goes off or beeps when there's traffic on the driveway. You can use these around your house, as well as in a driveway. It might be nice to know you're going to have company BEFORE you have company.

Alarm systems are often tied into telephone systems. It can take deputies up to 45 minutes to respond to Golden Valley depending on where officers are coming from from. Rutherford county is 454, nearly 500 square miles, it's a huge county and there aren't many officers. You should have a plan of action, a plan to save yourself, and your family. Chances are the criminals will be gone before the police arrive.

Here are some things you should do.

Keep a pen and paper in your car. If you see something suspicious, write down the time, the date, the type and color of any vehicles, a description of the people, and if you have a camera with you or if your cell phone has a camera, take a picture. And if you have a cell phone and know where your Record button is, you can record information along with your picture.

"Take inventory."

Engrave a number (not your SS#) on large items like tool chests, tools... Use an indelible marker to mark belongings that can't be engraved. Some of your things have serial numbers write them down, laptops, appliances, flat screen TVs. NCIC keeps all stolen serial #'s and if an item is ever recovered, you'll get it back. And put your inventory sheet somewhere safe.

After the new sheriff takes office we'll have him come out and help us set up a community watch. Please let us know if you're interested. Let us know if: you want to be informed about the neighborhood watch and if you want to sign the petition for cell phones.

Golden Valley NC Fall Color Tour November, 2010

Sunshine, Golden Valley, Duncan's Creek, and Logan's Store are NC Townships

In the East end of Rutherford County, not far from the South Mountains, between Shelby and Marion, NC, you'll find a rural, scenic, historic area with mountains not too high, but high enough to catch some big view-sheds. And it's in the foothills of the Appalachians, so you know it's beautiful. And there is no more beautiful season in the foothills and mountains of Western North Carolina than Autumn. Poets have written much about colored fall foliage, and whoever knows, "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood," knows fall was the season Frost was thinking about when he wrote that poem. You may read the poem out loud or to yourself here: The Road Not Taken .

Our Photobucket photo tour begins with Yellowtop, not because it's about Yellowtop, but because I was thinking about Frost's poem and yellow trees and it was too delicious not to take advantage of. Here's a little known fact: It's the multiple poplar trees that give Yellowtop it's crowning glory and you'll find some seriously yellow trees in the second picture. I suggest you view the album as a slideshow.

The inspiration for the Fall Color Tour was my neighbor, Sheila Gipson. Sheila bought a new camera. She was anxious to take it out for a trial run and I was anxious to get out, period. It was a beautiful Saturday, the leaves weren't going to get a bit prettier, and it seemed like our last chance, our last shot before the rains came in Tuesday, November 17th, and the leaves went "brown and down". Out we went at 10:30 AM and we shot the sunset before our return home at 6:30 PM. I've only put some of our pictures online.

Feel free to enjoy them but please do not steal them and claim them as your own. If there's one you must have ask for permission, I don't think you'll find us unreasonable.

You may learn more about our area and Golden Valley at our website: GoldenValleyNC.com.

Community Club Meeting

Don't forget our Community Club Meeting Monday Night at 7:00, July 19, 2010.

Chamber of Commerce Director, Rick Austin is our guest speaker. He's going to tell us about some of the exciting new programs the Chamber is launching. Please, join us in welcoming him Monday night.

And we'd like to thank Lieutenant Detective Chris Lovelace for our interesting program last month on Identity Theft and Prescription Drug Abuse. Thank you Chris.

Monday is a regular dinner meeting, come, bring a dish and (at least) a dollar.

For more information on Golden Valley, visit http://www.GoldenValleyNC.com