Winter 2005

Text Box: During December 2004 three townhomes in Homeland Village were burglarized. In all cases the burglars entered through the basement sliding glass door. Two of the homes were entered during the day, and one in the evening. What steps could have been taken to better secure these homes and what can you do to prevent this from happening to you? First, make certain that your doors are fully locked and that your locks are in good working order. You need to have additional protection for sliding glass doors; a second lock and a jimmy bar or a broomstick or dowel in the track to jam the door. You can further secure your sliding glass door with a pin or screw inserted into a hole drilled in the metal frame that goes through to the fixed frame to prevent the door from being lifted off of its track.

Text Box: An alarm system and alarm service are options to consider for peace of mind. MCPD offers home security inspections—call the 4th District (Wheaton/Glenmont Station) at 240-773-5500 and ask to speak with the Community Services Officer to arrange an inspection meeting. The most important thing that you can do to protect your home and your community is to be aware, pay attention, and call the police to report any suspicious activity that you see in the neighborhood. HVCA started a series of safety presentations last spring led by the MCPD 4th district Community Services Officer. These presentations were announced in two issues of The Pipeline and were held during the March and May 2004 Board meetings. Due to the

Text Box: poor attendance at these presentations the series was cancelled. We will arrange to start this series again if the community is interested—call Nadene at 301-421-1001.

Text Box: Could recent burgularies have been prevented?

Text Box: Schedule of Homeland Village Community Association Board of Directors Meetings: No Meeting in January February 24, 2005 March 31, 2005 April 28, 2005 All meetings are held the last Thursday of the month in the Community Room at 18111 Homeland Drive, starting at 7:00 p.m.. All members are encouraged to attend. The Board of Directors reserves the right to cancel a meeting without notice to its members due to lack of quorum or inclement weather.

New Landscaping Contractor for HVCA	2
Neighbor to Neighbor Network	2
Board Briefs	3
More from the Neighbor Network	3
Annual Meeting Update	4
Winter Weather Reminders	4
WWW.HVCA.NET	4
Verizon Subcontractors in HVCA	5
New Homeowners	5
General Reminders	5

The Pipeline

Text Box: At the start of 2005, HVCA finds itself in the middle of a mystery, asking the question—what happened to some of the 2005 coupon payment booklets? The 2005 coupon payment booklets were printed and sent out from Southdata, Inc. in North Carolina to all HVCA owners on December 20, 2004. This month HVCA received over thirty phone calls from owners on Vintage River, Vintage Spring and Softwood Terraces asking “where is my coupon booklet?”. If you have not received your 2005 coupon booklet, you need to call us immediately at 301-421-1001 and we will send a new coupon payment booklet to you promptly. You can call

Text Box: anytime, day or night and leave a message with your name, address and phone number. If you neglected to mail your January payment (because you did not have a coupon booklet), send the new amount of $75.00 immediately to Homeland Village Community Association, P.O. Box 7436, Silver Spring, MD 20907-7436. This address is for payments only. Do not send correspondence to this address. HVCA uses Southdata, Inc. to print and mail its coupon payment booklets. This is the first time in eight years that we have experienced a problem. Southdata is shipping a new order of coupon booklets to

Text Box: HVCA’s management office. This will enable us to promptly forward coupon payment booklets to owners who report that they have not received a 2005 coupon payment booklet. Depending on what we learn in the coming days, we may mail new coupon payment booklets to all owners on Vintage River, Vintage Spring and Softwood Terraces. We may never solve the mystery of the vanishing coupon payment booklets, but at least we have a solution.