It’s the good life

 

Your membership is important. On the back of the newsletter, we have listed the NSBA member benefits along with a membership form. Just fill out your name and anything that has changed. Remember to put your email if we do not have it already. There are a lot of reasons to be a member, so please consider signing up. We will continue to have our quarterly meetings with free food and drink. Our next meeting is April 12 and will be having a fish and oyster fry. This has always been our most popular event. Tommy Raymond will be in charge of the fry. Harry Hildebrand once again is supplying us with fresh lake trout. We will also have a sack of oysters.

We have not increased the dues even though the dues have been $30 for 7 years. If you consider inflation, the $30 is about equivalent to $24 now. Instead of increasing the dues, we have created a "Patron" Membership category for $50. I hope you will consider a Patron Membership and a contribution to the Tree & Building Fund. I honestly believe these are good investments for homeowners of North Shore Beach. During the last few years, the NSBA has had tangible impacts in the neighborhood, which ultimately are reflected in property values. Free parties and a good investment combined are hard to beat. Oh yes, all those who join at the Patron level will be in a special Patron-only raffle for a $100. gift certificate from Michaels Restaurant. Michael’s is a terrific restaurant and to have a nice, classy restaurant so close is a real asset to our neighborhood. The drawing will be held at the July meeting.

We do have some new worries for the coming year. I believe we should discuss crime in the neighborhood. Although burglaries are still uncommon, I suspect they are on the rise. Remember that being a good neighbor is the best defense against crime. Know your neighbors - and their vehicles. If we all watch for a couple houses either way down the street then we can do a lot of good. Tell your neighbors if you are leaving town.

I am fortunate to have another great board to work with for the next two years. Dennis and Buddy have returned from the past board. We are also very fortunate to have two new board members David Andersen and Dr. Richard Warren.

Fish and Oyster Fry and Membership meeting

We will be distributing NEW Directories and Fire Safety literature

Please bring oyster knives and leads, if you got’em. If anyone would like to bring a dish, please call a board member.

April 12

Start 6:30 p.m.

Short business meeting starting at 7:00

Bonfire at 8:00

The 2002-2003 NSBA Board

President John A. Lopez 847-1889

1St Vice President Dennis Strecker 643-6981

2nd Vice President Dr. Richard Warren 781-8727

Secretary David Anderson 643-7295

Treasurer Buddy Mayfield 639-0303

And the winner is

In the last newsletter, I asked for suggestions for our neighborhood slogan. Aside from a couple of weak ideas of mine, we had exactly one nomination. However, we only needed one. Everyone seems to like it and is simple.

North Shore Beach…Its the good life.

The winner of the slogan contest is none other than Cindy and Paul Rao. For their effort, the NSBA awards the Raos a one-year free membership. Oh one other thing, check out our website with the new NSBA homepage photo and the new slogan. Together they say a lot about our neighborhood. Buddy Mayfield also updated the website with photos from recent NSBA events. www.outlandtech.com/nsb.htm

April is "Fire Ant Month"

Let’s pay appropriate tribute to nature’s tiniest Stinging Obnoxious Bug

No we’re not celebrating the pesky insect, except maybe its death. Here is a plan to help rid ourselves of some of the fire ants in the neighborhood and I think we ought to give it a try. Ants can’t swim. So the only way for fire ants to invade our neighborhood is to slowly work their way nest by nest down Carr Dr, down Debbie, and down Jackie, Terry etc. So the plan is to have everyone try to poison the ants at the same time. If we kill the local population, they will slowly re-invade the neighborhood by coming down the streets. For this to possibly work, we need as many people as possible to destroy as many ants as possible in April. Some people burn out the ants, but only do this if you are extremely cautious. I also understand it’s possible to take a shovel load of one ant pile and put it on another and they will go to war. This is has an insidious attraction, but unfortunately is probably not as effective as an insecticide. Many insecticides may be harmful if they get into the waterways. AMDRO is EPA’s preferred insecticide for use by water. We find it is also effective and so we recommend it over other insecticides. With any insecticide you use, please follow the directions.

SO LETS GO TO WAR AND EXTERMINATE AS MANY FIRE ANTS AS POSSIBLE IN APRIL, AND MAYBE IT JUST MIGHT MAKE OUR SPRING AND SUMMER MORE PLEASANT.

New NSBA Directory

Sharon has worked very hard to finalize the NSBA Directory and it looks great. The NSBA Board worked with her to get all the names and numbers we could, but it is impossible to get information for 100% of the addresses. Nevertheless, I believe you will find the directory useful. In addition to residents’ information, there are a slew of emergency numbers; web sites and anything else Sharon thought might be helpful. Congratulations to Sharon for a great job and a big contribution to our neighborhood!

 

 

Anniversaries

Congratulations To the Al and Carolyn Belcher who in February celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Also Jim and Sarah Petty recently had a 38th anniversary in March. These guys did not know I was going to announce this, but let me know if you would like to have your or a friends announced in a newsletter.

New Flag

A new flag appeared on our flagpole one day at the Community Building. The mystery patriot revealed himself to me later as Tom Bonser. The old flag had served us well, but was starting to get a little tattered. We will try to keep the flag out for all but severe weather. The flag can remain displayed at night as long as there is a light. Since there is a light in front of the building I believe this qualifies. If you see the flag out in a really bad wind or storm, you may take it down. Just put it back up when the weather is clear.

 

Santa Gets Around

Sometimes it’s amazing how things can fall in place. Well, the story started at Christmas in 2000 when Joe Loyacono announced he would retire from Santa on the Bayou after many years of hard work by him, his family, Wayne Ciko and their crew. He told me his elves, after years of toil, were threatening to have a walkout. Without much thought, I said sure the NSBA would continue the fine tradition. Then a year flew by and at the October meeting people started asking about Santa on the Bayou. In early December, I got a call from Sheri Sandoz who wanted to know where to bring the presents for Santa. Yikes! We had not planned anything yet. Dick Pearsall had at some time during the year said we could use his boat – I was worried he had forgotten. But, no, he remembered and no problem we got a boat. The first gift.

Then I checked with Tommy Raymond and, miraculously, his neighbor David Bertucci had volunteered to be the man himself. Gift #2. The date had been set long ago, but we had no plan. A week later I was driving home and saw Carol Pearsall and Dick decorating their trees with lights. (remember they had the nice red lights arcing all the way across Carr Dr.). I stopped to chat and Carol mentioned that she, Dick and their daughter Annette Pearsall were going to pay off their Steak Dinner/Auction pledge on Dec 22. The Volunteer Fire Dept. had auctioned a free ride on the Fire Truck to some lucky kid and by chance they planned do their ride the same day as Santa on the Bayou. Carol and Annette suddenly put them together. Lets have Santa ride first on the fire truck down Carr Dr. and then do Santa on the Bayou. That way everyone in the neighborhood has a chance to see Santa. Gift #3 - a great plan.

Just in time, we got all this in the newsletter to get the word out. We waited and nothing happened. Not one call about Santa or the gifts! Maybe we had a bust on the horizon. By now it was one week to Santa’s ride. Sharon had shopped and bought some gifts and candy to hand out and was working on packaging. But the boat needed to get decorated. You guessed it- we forgot to plan that. I suggested Dick bring the boat to Tommy’s on Thursday and we would gather up some people somehow by Saturday to decorate the boat. Tommy called about 9 pm on Thursday . He had just gotten home a little earlier to find that Dick had brought the boat over and incredibly, his neighbors Terry Manning, David & Julie Bertucci, and David’s brother had seen the boat docked and just started decorating. The boat was already done! They now wanted an official inspection by the "Prez". Well, I bee-lined it over to Tommy’s and sure enough they had already done a very nice job and they were bustling with the finishing touches. David Bertucci stepped back from the dock and studied the boat for a moment and said "How about a reindeer on the bow of the boat?" I said "sure, you got one?". Without a word he strutted out the garage. I trailed behind just in time to find him ripping his own life size reindeer out of his front yard (It was still lit! and so I ran over and unplugged it before David hurt himself). Gift #4 - a reindeer (check the website pictures).

We were almost home, but we had one last wildcard to turn. The weather forecast was not good. But as you can probably predict the weather turned out fine - Gift #5. The presents came in and Santa was outstanding. We gave out over 40 presents and many more "memento presents", including toy firefighter helmets, toy trucks and candy. Everything went like clockwork – just as if we had planned it. No, it went better than we could have planned. So was it the anti-Murphy’s law, anti-matter or an alternate universe? NO, we can only attribute this to Christmas Spirit.

Thanks to everyone who got the Christmas Spirit and made it special for a bunch of kids and one homeowner’s association president. WE’LL BE BACK! Santa at the Beach - December 14, 2002

 

 

Fire Prevention

Frankly, fire prevention is much more important than fire protection. Once it starts, there is a good chance a fire will progress to a point at which the house will be a total loss. The best way to prevent loss of your home to fire is to not let one ever start. We will have fire prevention literature available at our April 12 meeting.

 

 

 

We urge you to consider the following:

1) put smoke detectors on all levels of your home including your attic

2) fire started by electrical wiring or appliances is common - do not overload wiring and use proper wiring standards

3) have a free walk through inspection by a firefighter Call- 649-3665

4) keep electrical appliances unplugged when not in use

5) move flammable liquids (gas, charcoal lighter) to a separate storage shed away from your home

6) clean the exhaust from your clothes dryer with a dry vac vacuum cleaner

7) read the fire prevention brochures

We will have more information in our next newsletter.

Our current NSB Volunteer Fire Fighters are:

Chief Dick Pearsall – 649 8106

President Mo Schwandt – 643-7984

Felix Torres

They would be very happy to speak to anyone about joining the proud tradition of being a fire fighter. If you have the interest and the will, they can help you make it happen. Cindy Strecker has already come forward to discuss being a North Shore Beach Volunteer Fire Fighter.

 

At the April 12 meeting we will have fire prevention literature to distribute.

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NSBA 2002 Calendar

Fish and Oyster Fry April 12

Fire Ant Month ALL OF APRIL

Spring Crab and Crawfish Boil July - date to be announced

Steak Dinner and Auction Late September or early October

Halloween Party (costume optional) October 26

Santa at the Beach December 14

 

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Finger Canal Channel Markers

Dr. Warren and his wife Yvette just would not quit. The Coast Guard suggested that we buy some 3M reflective tape to help mark the channel markers at the finger canals. It sounded easy until I spent a couple of hours calling and searching the Internet without a prospect of locating the tape. Frustrated, I asked Dr. Warren if he could help. Well, they spent even more time, but did eventually locate some good reflective Avery tape. After all that, they even donated the tape to the NSBA, even though the large roll cost $100. So now, thanks to Richard and Yvette, the pilings should be much more visible. In the meantime, we also replaced a piling and put up new day beacon channel markers (total cost about $500). Unfortunately, another piling has been lost and we will have to replace it soon. Happy Boating and remember to be careful and curious on the water.

Dogs

I have had several calls about dogs running loose in the neighborhood and I am, hesitantly, writing to ask those who own dogs to be responsible - for the sake of their pets and their neighbors. Sharon and I have two dogs. We do not always have them on a leash when they are out with us, so we may be considered a nuisance to our neighbors, although no one has complained to us yet. We do try to watch our dogs when they are out. Except for a occasions when they get out by accident, they are not out unless we are with them. There is a Parish leash law that says dogs should be on a leash on public property in St. Tammany. We do know that sometimes dogs ‘escape’, but I believe that the complaints I have heard are cases where dogs are left to roam freely in the neighborhood for much of day and the owner is nowhere to be found. These dogs can get into garbage, frighten kids or walkers, and be hurt. If reported, they can be picked up by parish officials. If they are taken in, there is a charge to get your dog back. Please be responsible for your pets - for your neighbor’s sake and for the pet’s sake.

Oak Trees

It’s the perfect time to trim those oak trees. Many of our trees are severely stressed due to the numerous dead branches. Trimming them now will make a significant difference this summer and a huge difference summer after a couple years. Oak trees are also important buffers for high winds and can save your home. Trimming the trees is a terrific improvement for your home and neighborhood. And the trees will like it too.

In late February, several of us fertilized the oak trees and grass at the Community Building. We also did some fine tuning tree trimming of the oak trees. Warren and Marsha Schambeau were a huge help and gathered up the limbs for our bonfire. Dick Pearsall also helped and let us use his "big drill" to make the holes for the fertilizer. Ray Wetta helped also - as he did last year. The trees are really starting to improve. The canopies are getting high and leafy.

NSBA Member Benefits (for just $30) -- Dues are Due NOW!

** Free weekday communal use of Community Building picnic table and grounds

** Use of Community Building for a fee & Sponsorship rights for Community Building usage

** Huge discount for Building usage fee (one day’s savings will pay for your dues for years)

** North Shore Beach Newsletter (only 1st quarter newsletter goes to all residents)

** Free social events

** A more effective voice through an organization like the NSBA

** Absolutely free use of a nutria trap (its been proven to work)

2002 NSBA Membership and Contribution Form

Please return to: John Lopez, 387 Carr Drive

or: North Shore Beach Association, P.O. Box 1187, Slidell, La. 70459

 

Last Name: _________________________________ email_____________________________

First Name: _______________________ Middle Initial (or Name): ___________

Owner ____ or Renter _____

Spouse Name:_____________________________________________________________

NSB Property Address: ___________________________________________________

Mailing Address (if different): _________________________________________

Home Phone(s):___________________________________________________________

Dues: _______ $30.00 Regular or Associate membership

_______ $50 Patron Level Membership * _______ Tree & Building Contribution

 

 

 

Circle one: Regular member Associate member (NSB renter, Point Carr or Carr spur resident)

I/We would be willing to Volunteer: ___________YES

Other comments or suggestions: ___________________________________________

 

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