The POA will have its September 19 meeting in the Paradise Recreation Center at 7:00 p.m. in front Auditorium room.

The speaker for the evening will be Mr. Will Pruitt, local business owner, gubernatorial appointee, and citizens advocate in the Florida and Federal Legislature.  He has been invited to discuss the legislative process and how it affects the POA.

We also plan to provide an update on the activities of the Vinyl Siding Committee.

Cheers - To The Villages Entertainment Department for the great entertainment programs throughout The Villages.  This includes entertainment on the Squares, Katie Belle’s, the Church on the Square, Savannah Center , etc.  Please keep up the great work!

Jeers - To all the residents who put out yard debris for pick-up days before the scheduled pick-up.  Please, keep debris on the side of your yard and just put it curbside the evening before the Wednesday pick-up day.  CDDs now have the lawful authority to enforce Covenants and Restrictions, and we may start seeing fines for violators.

Cheers - To all the residents who pick up litter in our community.  This is personal pride and responsibility in our hometown.  Thanks.

Jeers - To skateboarders running amok on the Squares.  You may think you are having fun; but, we think you are hazards.

Cheers - To the new members of the Resident Advisory Council.  Thanks for coming forward to serve on this important Board.  This is civic pride at its best.

Cheers - To the Sumter County Board of County Commissioners for the revised agreement giving our residential CDDs additional funding for more mowings of our roadways.

Cheers - To the Sumter County Commissioners for their efforts to lower our County Property Taxes .

Cheers - To Sue Michalson for pushing the idea of garbage re-cycling in The Villages through the Village Greens organization.  It looks like The Villages may finally be picking up on this idea.  Let’s believe it when we see it.

Cheers - To the Chicago Cubs for giving us an early case of World Series Fever.

Jeers - To the Florida Legislature for their dubious work on Home Insurance Reform giving us rate relief in the form of 40% or more rate increases!  Who are they trying to kid? (Hint:  Us!)  These legislators are looking more and  more like the Keystone Kops.

Cheers - To the Central Districts for painting those yellow center stripes on the Recreation Trails.  This should help safety.  Now we need to slow down, also.

Cheers - To the Town of Lady Lake Board of Commissioners for taking over the responsibility for roads in the Lake County Villas.  The developer didn’t want to mess with the roads any more, but Lady Lake came to the rescue.  Thanks.

Cheers - To the local police and sheriff’s departments in Lady Lake and Sumter County for putting out those road-side trailers that tell you your car speed by radar.  This is a great way to get the point across about slowing down.

Jeers - To golf cart drivers who allow the towel on their golf bag to drape over the stop light or turn signal of their cart, thus causing a potential dangerous situation.  It is best to tuck the towel into the top of your golf bag whenever you drive with it.

Jeers - To golf cart drivers who slide past stop signs without coming to a full stop.  The police are starting to give out tickets for this -- and, they are expensive.         

It is apparent to me after reading the latest issue of the VHA bulletin that their objective is totally the opposite of the POA. 

From reading their latest bulletin it appears it is a public relations forum, or cheerleading club to blow the horn promoting the developer.  Therefore it would be logical to expect Mr. Kass to support the developer in a good light to its readership since the VHA  bulletin is an arm of the developer to spread its good will.  It is obvious the VHA bulletin prints all the good the developer is doing.  Therefore, perhaps Mr. Kass does not have a conflict of interest after all. He is just doing his job promoting the developer.

While the VHA is looking out for the good of the developer, the POA is looking out for the good of the residents.

Sym Terhune   

   Ron and Carol Johnson

My vinyl-sided home was constructed in 2006 by the builder known as "McDowell."  When I purchased it in December, I noticed siding had fallen off the house behind me, which was unoccupied.  That home was also built by McDowell.  Since February, I have had various pieces of siding fall off my house, or be loose enough to be hanging from one end.  It has been a nightmare for months.  I've lost track of how many times it has been "repaired."  It is either five or six, and I've been through three different siding contractors.

Whenever I have asked why it cannot be repaired properly, so that I don't need to keep going through all this, the answers have always been the same.  McDowell sets the rules for what will be done for repairs, and my house needs repairs not approved by McDowell.

I paid for an independent inspection of my siding, and after all these "repairs," significant defects were found on all sides of the house.

We homeowners are told that siding is only cosmetic, so it doesn't matter. One more attempt has been made by a siding contractor to fix my home, but it still looks as though the siding is water on a disturbed lake, as it is very wavy and irregular.  McDowell will not spend the money to fix the problems with the framing under the siding, which is causing the defective appearance.

When is the developer of the Villages, currently represented by Mr. Morse, finally going to heed the hundreds of homeowners trying to have proper repairs done on their homes?  New homes are being constructed, again using the improper techniques that have been identified for months.  Do Morse and McDowell think we are blind, as they pretend to be deaf?

The Letter to the Editor for August, 2007, entitled “Bulletin Calms Down” gave me a good chuckle. 

The writer was referring to an opinion a year ago that the Morse Family had a large yacht, and maybe they should put that money into reducing our amenity fees. 

After reading that article, he wrote and requested his POA Bulletin no longer be dropped in his driveway. According to him it was stopped, but now he writes and said the Bulletin articles have calmed down.

First, I'm stumped as to how he knows this if he took the pains to stop a free publication from being delivered to his home.  Second, I just wondered if when he was a kid if he picked up his ball and went home if he wasn't winning.

Keep up the good work POA.

This isn't black and white.  We know many smart people who think Hometown Democracy is a bad idea.

So by all means, if you think that decisions about growth are best made by "professionals" and local elected officials, then you should oppose Hometown Democracy.

After all, they've done such a good job so far.

HELP SAVE WHAT'S LEFT OF FLORIDA .  LET THE PEOPLE VOTE to control growth! Help put HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY on the 2008 ballot.  Please download and SIGN THE PETITION at: 

 www.FloridaHometownDemocracy.com.

The POA is happy to announce a new Select Sponsor – the Cebert Wealth Management Group, Inc.

Cebert is a local organization specializing in financial planning for individuals.  The company is located in the office building just west of the new Hampton Inn on Highway 466.

In addition to placing a full page ad in the Bulletin (see page 9 on the right), the company will attend each of our monthly meetings starting in September.  That will provide an opportunity for members to talk to Cebert staff, ask questions, review literature, and learn about personal financial planning matters. 

The company will also take the podium for a 3-5 minute talk about some current topic of interest in personal financial planning.  Time will also be allowed for a Q & A session.

Cebert joins Partnership Realty as our second Select Sponsor.  Partnership will also take the podium for a short talk and a Q & A session each meeting.

Also in the attic, the ground wire to the gas line had never been connected.  Where was the electrical inspector?  Last fall I asked Lee Hartman, Sumter County ’s Chief Building Inspector, to find out who signed off on the electrical inspection for this house.  He never got back to me about it.

I never looked further back in the attic because there were so many other issues to deal with at the time: no shims or blocking in the doors, a 40-foot long crack in the foundation going through three rooms, vinyl siding that had to be redone (with a great deal of resistance from the siding subcontractor), fascia and drip edge issues, a dryer vent that was never even attached, a doorbell and cable boxes badly installed, and much, much more.  And then I noticed all the bad siding throughout the neighborhood.  Needless to say, I have been very, very busy this past year.

With the approach of the one year anniversary for the purchase of my home, I decided that, even though I have years of experience in construction, I’m going to have AmeriPro do a whole house inspection for me.  They will look at the construction of my home objectively and provide documentation and credibility because they are licensed by the State of Florida and have the experience, the knowledge and the ability as well as the proper equipment to do a good, through job.

In anticipation of AmeriPro’s inspection, I took another look in my attic, going further into the more remote areas.  In just 20 minutes I found some more major problems: there were two bathroom vents resting on the insulation and one tube is crushed, so it’s not venting properly.  Furthermore, all the moisture from these vents is going on my insulation, not out the ridge vent.  To the best of my knowledge, heat, moisture, and lack of ventilation equal three things: MOLD, ROT and INSECTS.

Insulation is also missing over the guest bedroom and in two knee walls.  In some areas, insulation batts were split horizontally into thinner layers to use less material.  Instead of an R-30 insulation factor, now it’s only half of the proper insulation value.  This translates to higher electrical costs for cooling the living area and a waste of precious energy resources.  No wonder my AC unit is running all the time!  We have to wonder if this is another “mistake” because someone spent the time to split those insulation batts.

More insulation problems include material packed too tightly over soffits so there is no air flow.  A properly ventilated attic will be cooler, will keep the home cooler, and will prolong the life of the roof.  Restricting the air flow by packing insulation in the soffits traps heat and moisture in the attic.  As noted above, this should be avoided by installing the insulation properly and maximizing air flow in the attic.

Where I come from, there is an inspection of the insulation before the house is completed, before the walls are even closed up.  Were our houses here ever inspected?  This work would never, ever pass inspection, in my experience. 

Again, this is shoddy, careless work, that is unlikely to be caught unless homeowners have a thorough inspection. 

Though I’m not surprised, as usual, I’m documenting all my findings.  With all the problems I noted in the attic within 20 minutes, I’m not looking forward to the inspector’s list.  But it’s better to find out now than later. 

And I trust AmeriPro to be thorough and conscientious.  They will also be doing a Wind Mitigation Inspection, as they are authorized to do by the State.  It will be interesting to learn whether the gable truss bracing and other factors are sufficient to meet state recommendations.   

                                    Ray Micucci  

I maybe a little late on this subject of winter residents, but I feel that not too many Village resident have a problem with the "snowbirds."  After all, they pay taxes, amenities fees, utilities, etc.  Sure it's hard to get into restaurants and the roads are more crowded, but it's a life style they can afford so I envy them.

Now renters!!!  That is where the real problem is.  I know my friends and neighbors are fed up with them.  If you rent from The Villages, you can only rent for a month, and you can't rent the following year.  It's the renters who use the outside agencies and can rent for as long as they want.

My wife and I played golf with a couple of renters and the conversation went like this: "We have been coming here for 7 years. We have no intentions of ever, ever buying or living in The Villages.  But this is the greatest free golf vacation you can find.  We get all the amenities you get as a resident, plus, we sign up for priority golf."

 This is a prime example of what is wrong in The Villages and the developer let it happen and now he doesn't know how to stop it.  My suggestion: All renters should be given a "renter" card, not a brown resident pass.  They should be given specific ID numbers that identify them as renters.  They should not be allowed to get priority golf memberships (which I understand you can't get if you rent from The Villages).  When they do try to get a tee time, their number will automatically identify them as renters and they go to the bottom of the list.  If there is a last minute tee time then they can be considered for it.

The developer should not be afraid of hurting anybody's feeling.  He isn't making any money off these people.  The one raking in the money is the homeowner whose home they are renting.  A renter like the one mentioned above brings nothing to The Villages.  I don't care if they spend money in restaurants and shops.  They probably stay home and cook just like the rest of us. 

The developer has to do something about this situation.  The rental system has to encourage people to buy here not make The Villages a yearly free golf vacation.

The program will be a particularly interesting one.  We are showing a wonderful film on Solar Power and the latest applications that have been found for this incredible form of renewable energy.  Larry will be with us with his power charges solar Golf Cart as well as a sole tube company.

Be sure to mark your calendar for October 13th.  You won’t want to miss the First Environmental EXPO sponsored by the Village Greens.  Lake Miona Recreation Center .  10 am to 5 pm.  

We will have auto dealers, vendors with energy saving products, organic locally grown produce, representatives from non-profit environmental organizations and much much more.

As a homeowner in Duval, I just want to comment on the problems I have had with the siding and related problems on my home.

I have had everything from loose panels, missing finish trim, stepping, buckles & bellies, and bad framing work, to insulation in the walls facing the wrong way.  At every step I have had to fight to get the repairs done.  I have met with developer representatives at every level, from the builder, Dodd McDowell, and his supervisor, Chris André, to the head of all the contractors, Rick Murray, and Home Warranty reps.

 I have met with the Alcoa rep, Joe Breese, who turned out to be their District Sales Manager, a definite conflict of interest in my opinion. 

I have met with the Chief Building Inspector for the county, Lee Hartman, who responded to the backwards insulation of my vapor barrier by saying: “I’ll ask The Villages why they did that.”

My research tells me that, in Florida , having no vapor barrier is OK, but if it’s there it should face the right way.  The builder is still refusing to complete some of the repairs.  At one point I was told they would provide the lumber and I could fix it myself!

Like all the other homeowners here, I didn’t move to The Villages to go through all this.  I wanted to retire and enjoy life.  I had my own business and worked hard all my life and paid for this home with my savings.  I would NEVER have treated my customers this way!

My builder is Dodd McDowell.  If I had known what I know now, I never would have purchased a McDowell home.  I would have insisted on a Carter home.  At least he appears to be standing behind the workmanship on his homes.  McDowell seems to be doing everything he can to avoid responsibility and he refuses to fix mistakes correctly.

                                    Vince Mazone   

Following is a letter sent to the editor of the POA Bulletin.  As it turned out, the writer informed us several weeks later that the “matter has been settled to the satisfaction of both parties.”  We print this now as a information piece for our readers.  Lightning protection is important.  But, be sure you know what you are getting.

On May 13, 2007 we were struck by lightening and lost the air conditioner, computer, garage door opener, a TV a VCR, a timer for the irrigation system a telephone and telephone answering machine.

We had a surge protector placed on the outside of the house and many outlets inside and have been paying an additional $5.50 a month for about 10 years. 

We were informed at the time of installation that it would be a safety measure for such incidents as the lightening strike.

We than had an inspector from SECO come to the house and replace the surge protector.  We proceeded to send it to EFI in Utah for inspection.  Their finding was the surge protector was OK so therefore we were not entitled to any claim.

If after getting hit and all those above electrical appliances were affected, please tell us what could have caused the problem.  Just why are we paying the additional fee each month to SECO if when a problem such as this occurs the answer is it is not their fault?

I believe that according to the "Whole Home" Surge Protection Program which claims a 100% lifetime guarantee we should be entitled to collect for damages.

Also, anyone who is in this program and believes they are still dealing with SECO they are mistaken. SECO directs complaints to EFI in Salt Lake City , Utah .

These worthwhile meetings show our local governments in action.  Residents wanting to know what’s going on should attend, ask questions, and watch the proceedings.

Also, the District Administrator’s office conducts a two-hour CDD Orientation twice a week at 10:00 a.m. on Monday and Thursday at either Laurel Manor or other recreation centers.  Call 751-6700 for details. 

CDD Orientation is informative and provides a good basic overview of how CDDs work and are organized.  The POA recommends the program for all residents.

Have you ever walked across the parking lot, unlocked your car and got inside ... you start the engine and shift into reverse.

When you look into the rearview mirror to back out of your parking space, you notice a piece of paper stuck to the middle of the rear window.

So, you shift into Park, unlock your doors, and jump out of your car to remove that paper (or whatever it is) that is obstructing your view.

When you reach the back of your car, that is when the car-jackers appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off. They practically mow you down as they speed off in your car. 

And guess what, ladies?  I'll bet your purse is still in the car.

So now the carjacker has your car, your home address, your money, your personal information, and your keys.

Your home and your whole identity are now compromised!

BEWARE OF THIS NEW SCHEME THAT IS NOW BEING USED.... 

If you see a piece of paper stuck to your back window, just drive away. Remove the paper later.

And be thankful that you read this story.

A purse contains all kinds of personal information and identification documents, and you certainly do NOT want this to fall into the wrong hands.

Lieutenant Tony Bartolome                  

Bureau of Investigations                   

Florida Highway Patrol                   

P.O. Box 593527 Orlando